Stranger in a Strange Land: South Africa

i-4a7177161c305857aa19fc200cd42e8f-600px-Moon-Mdf-2005.jpgI've arrived in South Africa. The Southern Cross is visible and the moon is spectacularly bright from where I sit. Seasons and skies are backwards here. On June 24, it's the start of winter and 6 hours into the future. Tonight finds me pondering whether I'm now upside down on this great continent. More likely, I was never right side up to begin with.

Over dinner our team discovered we're all birders. This countryside has a great deal to offer in that respect and I hope to see bee-eaters. We also discussed this [Though I'm too exhausted for details, well worth reading]. For now, I'm looking forward to the curious dreams that find those of us taking anti-malaria pills. Last time I slept was overnight Friday in DC. Now half a world away, it's two hours short of Monday. So Goodnight Pretoria Moon. In the coming days I look forward to seeing you again from my sleeping bag under the stars in Kruger National Park.

Tags

More like this

"The deeper reason we fear our own glory is that once we let others see it, they will have seen the truest us, and that is nakedness indeed. [...] It is an awkward thing to shimmer when everyone else around you is not, to walk in your glory with an unveiled face when everyone else is veiling his…
"Do not look at stars as bright spots only. Try to take in the vastness of the universe." -Maria Mitchell It's time again for Messier Monday, where we highlight the various wonderous deep-sky objects of the night, and show you how to find them against the expansive backdrop of stars. The (almost)…
"I would rather have one article a day of this sort; and these ten or twenty lines might readily represent a whole day's hard work in the way of concentrated, intense thinking and revision, polish of style, weighing of words." -Joseph Pulitzer When it comes to the Messier objects, though, it isn't …
“Once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the Earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return.” -Leonardo da Vinci Welcome back to another exciting Messier Monday here on Starts With A Bang! As Comet ISON dives towards the Sun and a…

Hey Sheril,
Is the water rotating differently in the sinks and toilets?

Just kidding, we all know that's a myth...or at least, I hope we do.

A happy and colorful picture painted in my mind from your short written piece under the Pretoria moon. Many adventures to come, lucky you...

Hey, welcome to South Africa... :)

I can verify the water rotates the same way, but hot and cold faucets appear on opposite sides. Traffic does too.

And coturnix, the birds are as upside down as I am.

Thanks Graeme, happy to be wandering about this beautiful landscape.

By Sheril Kirshenbaum (not verified) on 25 Jun 2007 #permalink