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Towers and Crashes and Memories, Oh My!

a beautiful male Rothschild giraffe

Feb 29 2020

By Siri

In Uganda we went to Murchison Falls National Park for Safari, we went on a walk in the rhino sanctuary and on some games drives when I got to ride standing up through the sun-roof like a giraffe. We learned some amazing animal facts, here are just a few.

Hippopotamus are the 3rd largest land mammal on earth and their closest relatives are whales and dolphins. A group is called a pod or a bloat that spends most of the day in water and graze in the cool hours. Hippos are good swimmers and can stay under water for 6 min 

Southern White Rhinos have a wide (not white) mouth; it is not white but grey. A Rhino group is called a crash and can run up to 28 mph crashing through the grassland. They are the second largest land mammal and eat 120 pounds of grass a day. Northern white Rhinos are now extinct due to poaching. In 1895 southern white rhinos were thought extinct but they found 100 in south Africa and after over a hundred years of protection and management, like at Ziwa sanctuary we visited, they are making a comeback.

Nile Crocodile group is called a bask. A croc can stay under water for 45 minutes and pull prey down to drown them. Nile crocs can grow as long in length as a giraffe is tall – 20 feet

Rothschild Giraffes group is called a tower. Males have darker coloring pattern than females. Male Giraffes grow to 19 feet and 8 inches tall and can run up to 37 mph

Baboon group is troop they are the largest monkeys. When a female is ready to mate her bottom becomes red and swollen as give a sign to the males, they can run up to 28 mph

Lion groups are called prides. Lionesses do most of the hunting because they are faster, running up to 50 mph. Their eyes have round pupils (not like house cats) that let in more light for night hunting. A males lion roar can be heard 5 miles away

an egret for every water buffalo

Water buffalo groups are called gangs or an obstinacy. Water buffalo are plants eaters. They bathe in mud for sunscreen and insect repellent and have special hooves, so they do not sink in. Egrets ride on their backs eating the ticks and bugs on their bodies

Elephant groups are called a herd or a memory. Elephants have the longest memory of animals; they will visit family graves sites they can recognize friends and enemies from long ago. Elephants can make many sounds; their low rumble can be heard for 6 miles and the “listening” elephants hear the sound with their sensitive fatty feet.

Wart hogs don’t need that much water, and graze but can be omnivorous so they are more resistant to climate changes. Matriarchal groups are called sounders. Their tusks are large canine teeth used for defense and they can run up to 31 mph.

Colobus monkies are arboreal, living in the forest canopy where they can eat foliage toxic to other animals. They use branches as trampolines, bouncing up and down to get lift off for leaps up to 50 feet! Their tail is almost as long as its body which helps with balance. Gestation takes 5 months in the womb and babies are completely white when born and slowly get black color.

Hartebeest can reach up to 43 miles an hour. They are very forgetful and even forget that they are chased by a predator and may stop to graze – which is good for the predator.

Grey Crested cranes are Uganda’s national bird and they like to hide with cattle so predators can’t spot them easily. They roost in trees and both parents help build the nest and raise their chick which can run as soon as they hatch.

We saw many other birds and animals and hope to safari again to see and learn about even more.

Reflecting On Riots

Dec 6 2019

By Haakon

Last week, on our way from Peru to Patagonia, we enjoyed a gracious, cozy visit with family in Santiago, Chile. When we first arrived, everything seemed normal – the buildings were nice, and lots of people were enjoying family walks in the park.   However, the next day we started to realize that things were far from normal. The day after we arrived, we decided to go to the mall to replace some of our worn-out clothes.  As we walked to the mall it almost seemed as if there were no ground-level shops. All the ground-level shops had 10-foot temporary metal walls covering them and were closed even at 11 o’clock in the morning on a weekday. When I got back to Nicole’s house, I asked her why all the metal walls were up.  She said the walls were up because of the rioters, and she explained that there was a city-wide curfew that prohibited congregating in public after 10 pm. Most of the main shops had been opened only for very limited business hours for the past two weeks, so nobody could break into them.  Some shops selling high-end goods had private security.

One afternoon, my dad and I decide to get haircuts, so we walked down the boarded-up streets to the barber shop.  At around 5:30 pm our haircuts were finished, and we started our walk home along the same streets.  To our surprise, there were about 30 national police officers, dressed in riot gear, outside the main mall. Now, they weren’t your basic mall cops.  They didn’t have rinky-dink Taser’s; they had machine guns.  They didn’t have helmets; they had full-body plates and riot shields.  They didn’t have mall cop segues; they had bullet-proof Sprinter vans that bore plenty of signs of heavy abuse from rioters, such as deep dents to body work, and cracked windows.

              Interestingly, once we arrived into the rural areas where we spent time visiting national parks, there was little evidence of the civil unrest we observed in the Santiago and the smaller city of Puerto Montt.  In the small town of Chaiten, life was quiet.

The weekend we were in Santiago, Chile was the 20-year anniversary of the 1999 Seattle WTO protests. It is a strange connection in way. The protest in Seattle had some roots in concern many would be left behind by globalization. From what I understand, in Chile, the cost of living has been rising, tuitions are getting more expansive, and pension values going down. In Chile, a country where low wage workers spend 20% of their income on transportation a 4% rise in the metro fare sparked huge flash metro-fare dodging mobs that led to the Metro shutting down and then flash mobs devolved into a weekend of intense rioting and looting and the destruction of 40% of the metro stations.

              I am glad that now in United States there is not violent social unrest and the economy for the most part is stable. Still, today in America many feel the economy is leaving them behind, the odds are stacked in favor of the rich and powerful and the cost of higher education is more and more unaffordable. I suppose we are not immune to similar demonstrations. Maybe they will come.

It was an interesting Thanksgiving week, I was reminded to be grateful where I live, I am reminded not to take the ease and safety I feel at home for granted and to be more grateful for what I have.