Things I didn’t know about shark fin soup

Recently I wrote about the effect of shark fishing and shark finning on the Mozambique coastline (see this post). I realized that I didn’t know much about it – what exactly shark fin soup is, who eats it and how it originated. So I did a little research and found some interesting facts about it. […]

Sharks getting a raw deal – on the dark side of Mozambique

This post is part of the Mozambique 2011 series. The previous post in this series is Chicken run to Pomene. This blog has previously featured shark stories focusing on the large number of big sharks off the South African coast, and the dangers they pose to bathers, surfers and divers. Now it is time to […]

The tale of the Delicious Monsters and the unfurling fronds

[Update: Anders Kjellsson has positively identified the Mystery plant as an ornamental rhubarb (Gunnera species) from South America.] One of the effects of the long drought our area has experienced, is that the garden suffered. For about a year we were not allowed to water our gardens at all, so the gardens had to survive […]

An excellent start to 2011

At the beginning of November 2010, I wrote a post about how the climate in our area had changed, and the fact that we were experiencing the worst drought in many years. Just how many was a little confusing. The local newspaper said it was around 60 years; the municipal records said that the last […]

What is missing?

After posting the other day about the changing climate and the drought in our part of the world, I was thinking about what else has changed. When we first moved here we had a lot of these . . . By “these” I mean frogs and toads. As you’ll know if you’ve been following my […]

Last Chance to See by Douglas Adams

In 1989 Douglas Adams (of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy fame) was asked by the BBC to accompany zoologist and conservationist Mark Carwardine, on a series of conservation expeditions. Their task being to investigate some rare and endangered species. The result of this was a BBC radio series, and also one of my favourite […]

Check out these comments

For those of you interested in things ecological see comments under the Kalahari: Herds post: http://southerncape.wordpress.com/2010/10/05/kalahari-herds/#comments