VANITY

When not prompted by vanity, we say little.

-       François de La Rochefoucauld

ADMIRE

We always like those who admire us; we do not always like those whom we admire.

-       François de La Rochefoucauld

CHOBE NATIONAL PARK: LIONS

The original inhabitants of this area were the San bushmen (also known as the Basarwa people in Botswana). They were nomadic hunter-gatherers who were constantly moving from place to place to find food sources, namely fruits, water and wild animals. Nowadays one can find San paintings inside rocky hills of the park.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the region that would become Botswana was divided up to different land tenure systems. At that time, a major part of the park's area was classified as crown land. The idea of a national park to protect the varied wildlife found here as well as promote tourism first appeared in 1931. The following year, 24,000 km² around Chobe district were officially declared non-hunting area; this area was expanded to 31,600 km² two years later.

In 1943, heavy tsetse infestations occur throughout the region, making the idea of creating a national park momentarily left aside. It was only in 1953 that this project received governmental attention again: 21,000 km² were suggested to become a game reserve. As a result, the Chobe Game Reserve was born in 1960 with an area smaller than originally wanted. Finally, in 1967, the reserve was declared a national park.

At that time there were several industrial settlements in the region, especially at Serondela, where the timber industry proliferated. These settlements were gradually moved out of the park, and it was not until 1975 that the whole protected area was exempt from human activity. Nowadays traces of the old timber industry are still visible at Serondela. Minor expansions of the park took place in 1980 and 1987. (from wikipedia)

Google earth image:

Situated among four southern African Countries, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Namibia and Angola, Chobe National Park is the hub of tourism for entire region. 

(PHOTOS BY: ANOOP SHARMA)

NATA BIRD SANCTUARY

Nata Bird Sanctuary:

Nata Bird Sanctuary, Water birds of Africa flock to this place during winter; the bird species reported are teals, ducks, geese, pelicans, spoonbills, Greater Flamingo and Lesser Flamingo.

Established in the early 1990s, is situated to the far northeastern edge of Sowa Pan. It is an area of 230 square kilometres (89 sq mi) and maintained as a community project to preserve its 165 bird species. Some of the species reported are the kingfishers, bee-eaters, eagles, bustards and ostriches.  The flamingos and pelicans also breed here.

(photo credit: ANOOP SHARMA)

CLING?

A Living Example:









YOU DON'T HAVE TO CLING TO ANYTHING IN ORDER TO GROW OR TO BE ALIVE.

ELEPHANTS

(KASANE: CHOBE NATIONAL PARK - DECEMBER 2011)
PHOTO CREDIT- ANOOP SHARMA


Nature's great masterpiece, an elephant;
http://elephantswithoutborders.org/blog/?p=812

The wildlife of Botswana refers to the flora and fauna of Botswana. Botswana is around 90% covered in savanna, varying from shrub savanna in the southwest in the dry areas to tree savanna consisting of trees and grass in the wetter areas. Even under the hot conditions of the Kalahari Desert, many different species survive; in fact the country has more than 2500 species of plants and 650 species of trees. Vegetation and its wild fruits are also extremely important to rural populations living in the desert and are the principal source of food, fuel and medicine for many inhabitants.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wildlife_of_Botswana

MEMORY

SILENCE

BEING

A PROBLEM

LIFE

PLANS

WISDOM

Do It

A Moderate Man

Landscape

December 2011 at  Makagadikgadi Salt Pan in Northern Botswana. Pink Flamingos migrate every year. 

These salt pans cover 6,200 sq mi (16,057.9 km²) in the Kalahari basin and form the bed of the ancient Lake Makgadikgadi, which evaporated many millennia ago. Archaeological recovery in the Makgadikgadi has revealed the presence of prehistoric man through abundant finds of stone tools; some of these tools have been dated sufficiently early to establish their origin as earlier than the era of Homo sapiens. Pastoralists herded grazing livestock here when water was more plentiful earlier in the Holocene

  Kasane: Abundance of wildlife makes Kasane biggest tourist attraction in Botswana.

Gaborone: A view from the top of Kgale Hill: Gaborone is situated between Kgale  and Oodi hills.

Life

CURIOSITY

DISORDER

Search disorder for its unifying principle.

MAGALIESBERG

MAGALIESBERG:

Said to be 100 times older than Himalayas. In above picture two trees against the rock face are known as Transvaal Candelabra. A very poisonous tree oozes a white latex. If touched this latex can burn the skin.

A LOVING THOUGHT

With the ocean set ablaze

The smoke yet manifests not

Only the one who gets burnt

Envisions the heat of loving thought.

- Kabir ( Mystic Poet)  1398 AD

DAY & NIGHT

ONE SHOULD COUNT EACH DAY A SEPARATE LIFE. - SENECA

50 Years of Solitude

There are many ways to live a life. In present time people are designing life, checklisting things, defining aims and experiences to be achieved and trying to positivised every hour of their life.

Majority of our experiences, feelings and expectations are inside our head, some we boldly announce and some we quietly denounce. These chatters inside our heads defining our experiences while experiencing things we perceive something else. Like a time lapse photos we think we have life motion controlled by self. A clock on the wall keeps reminding its independence from our time lapse life photography.

Epic Soul

Unity

They who know the truth are not equal to those who love it, and 

they who love it are not equal to those who delight in it.

- Tao Te Ching

 The material (above)was created for NASA by Space Telescope Science Institute and for ESA by the Hubble European Space Agency Information Centre.

The concept for material (above) was created in 6th-5th BCE

Gone But Not Forgotten

Gone But Not Forgotten

Gone But Not Forgotten

Gone But Not Forgotten

Everyday is a New Beginning

A new day brings many possibilities. However, when starting a new day we all relate it and refer to it as an extension of the previous day and sometimes a previous incidence or occurrence. Like a book we open every new day from the previously read page or paragraph, in turn, days of our lives become a long story, woven around and taken from interrelated incidences.

Instead of having this long interrelated story, can we manage our life as a book of short stories, independent, and not based on previous episodes?

Is it worthwhile to start everyday of your life as an extension of yesterday or a previous occurrence?

If we consider a new day with new possibilities, new opportunities and new ideas with no substantial (remember that some effects of the previous day will always be there) influence of yesterday or past incidences we will definitely be able to live more creatively and happily. Atleast we can drop the story of yesterday and carry only the moral of yesterday's story for the purpose of improvement.  

The problem is that we are conditioned to accept today as a part and parcel of yesterday. We should try to overcome this script. It is not possible to segregate or compartmentalize every new day as a new story of our life, but we sure can try to isolate negativity from yesterday to minimize its influence on our today.