Domestic safari
From mixed martial arts to the benches of the international court, there has been a lot of winning done by South Africans.
The live entertainment this past Sunday was different, though. The Hadeda ibis is one of the many birds around our house. He/she, or they, and our Weimaraner Louis XIV were the entertainment this week. While I was trying to feed our 10-month-old by making swooshing airplane sounds, his attention was held by Louis's focus and calculated steps, almost mimicking Mufasa when teaching Simba how to hunt in The Lion King. As these guys were occupied, my mind went to Hakuna Matata. There are no troubles, no worries, my brother. Another saying I have heard way too much is "pole pole," meaning slowly-slowly. After a couple of years of living in Zanzibar, I dreaded these words. They're just not what you want to hear when time is of the essence.
In the spirit of slowly, this past Sunday morning, I decided not to rush the oat blitzkrieg, make another cup of tea, and read the news.
Our SA legal team won their case against Israel in The Hague, Netherlands. The international court decided that SA has a "prima facie" case, meaning the charges of genocide have merit. What the win means depends on the same variables controlling the petrol price. It starts with a few logical points: the cost of crude oil, supply, and improvement in extraction technology. Then, in the end, economists will throw in something like the intruder ants in East Africa.
"The court ruled that Israel must do all it can to prevent genocide, including refraining from harming or killing Palestinians. It also ruled that Israel must urgently get basic aid to Gaza and that the country should punish any incitement to genocide, among other measures". Other measures, right at the end.
Back to the ants. It is estimated that 15 years ago, intruder ants somehow ended up in the plains of Laikipia, Kenya. The ants, seemingly from an island in the Indian Ocean, have taken shelter in whistling thorn acacia trees and killed the native ants, leaving the trees vulnerable to herbivores like elephants.
The trees, being without their native biting ant army, are being grounded by the elephants, forcing lions to hunt without their element of surprise. Luckily, there is no evidence that the island ants have negatively influenced the lion's population.
The lions changed their strategy from camouflaging under trees to hunting in larger groups for larger prey.
Pole pole, an island ant, probably intoxicated when arriving in Kenya, has caused a dietary change for the king of the jungle.
Louis didn't catch the bird but lives to fight another day.
Photo by Mikell Darling on Unsplash
😀👏 loved this piece, Q. Thanks!