January Scribbles

11 in the Morning

A few months before I went off to do the Camino, Lisa gave me one of those fancy sports watches that are indestructible.

Part of the wrist band is of titanium and super doopa extra strength rubber, the face is shatterproof glass and it is so waterproof that I can dive to depths of 100m if I like. It also has nice date functions, multiple alarm settings and I can time my laps (what!!!). If I was crushed in a rock fall at least the watch would survive. I was very grateful for the watch and very pleased to see that Lisa had set it for me…it reflected the correct date, day and time.

Then of course, I started to fiddle…..you need to be a brain surgeon to work these things but I very smartly set the alarm to buzz at 11.00am and do you think I could work out how to ‘unset’ it…no, no,no. I knew the look on Lisa’s face would be too much to bear (you know how kids give you that look?) so I decided to live with it..

When I was on the Camino my 11 o’clock alarm was great. It was either time to move it along a bit, slow down or take a break – depended on where I was on the route. People walking with me also tuned into it and would comment when the alarm went off that we had better move it. One guy even set his alarm at 11h00. 11h00 is a nice mid-morning marker.

The alarm is still set and I run my days by it now. I mostly try to work my days along the lines of ‘eating the frog’ first thing in the morning – this gets all the mundane, grotty, boring jobs out the way, usually, hopefully; and then I have the time to provide a bit of real value to the job, usually, hopefully!

BTW there is a great little comedy piece on TED Talks by Rives called 4am. Link is here:

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/rives_on_4_a_m.html

The Rhino Story

I am as appalled as the next person with the wholesale slaughter of our rhinos. In the last couple of weeks there have been outpourings of condemnation of the killings; the statistics for last year topped at way over 400 rhinos killed and at the beginning of the year, another 8 (and since then quite a few more) were found dead and de-horned in the Kruger Park; and if I am not mistaken, all in the same spot.

Apart from my feelings being rattled for these poor creatures, my feelings for what is being done about it are being rattled even more. I, like many others, click on the like button when something appears on facebook about this; I have signed petitions and shaken my head in horror and shame that us humans can be so stupid as to think that taking a bit or rhino horn will make big fat willies or cure cancer and AIDS.

But, and here’s the thing, we all say something must be done and I agree wholeheartedly. I, like many, many others, have contributed to various organisations that are flying the ‘Save the Rhino’ banner. And this is where I suddenly have a problem. Every uncle and his brother (maybe a slight exaggeration) and corporate and smaller companies have set up funds and NPO’s, NGO’s, to fight the scourge that is rhino poaching. And they are collecting money left right and centre for night vision goggles, WMD for fighting poachers, vehicles for tracking poachers and training course for trackers to track poachers; and it is possibly quite a s*&t load of money to fight this battle. There are billboards showing blood-soaked rhinos, there are bumper stickers, there are adverts on radio and TV advertising the campaigns to fight rhino poaching. Companies proudly say they have a Save the Rhino fund and Rx of your purchase goes towards this. Better yet: the SA Parks Board trotted out a figure of R400 million the other week that they reckon will be needed to fight the battle in Kruger…where does this figure come from? What is the plan? How did they get to this amount of money or was it just a big fat thumb suck?

Well, with tears in my eyes let’s face it: With all this support the situation is getting worse, by the week. More rhinos killed last year than ever before and 8, yes 8, in one week in one of our National Parks…good grief. So what the heck is actually happening with all these organisations and money and contributions, petitions and ‘like clicks’. And here’s another thing: Another of our most profitable natural resources (ito tourism, Big 5 etc) is being plundered by foreigners – because the big market place for this resource is outside of SA– sort of similar to the rape and plunder of our mineral resources by foreign powers in days gone by….

Moving on: Does anyone know how many organisations are out there fighting for the rhinos? Does anyone know how much money (or goods – vehicles, night goggles etc) has been raised by all these organisations? Does anyone actually know what they have done with it – I mean apart from a big advertising spend to tell everyone that they support the Rhino cause, the printing of bumper stickers and paying marketing and advertising agencies to come up with fancy logo’s and tag lines?

Is what they are doing effective……well, go figure! I certainly don’t think so – and certainly not based on last year’s results and the appalling slaughter that took place this week. Nope….whatever is happening is not doing a hell of a lot of good. It is extremely noble that people set up these things – we all feel passionate about this and are grateful that some good souls out there actually do something – but what are they doing?

We need a consolidated plan…everyone together …. with the various parks boards, private game parks, interested parties, trainee tracker schools, NPO’s, NGO’s etc etc . We need a person to take charge…just one person to take charge if this for the entire country; to put a crew together, consolidate all the efforts and come up with a proper plan, like a military campaign would be done…and then they must go for it – then I don’t mind handing over my money.