Benguela Current Marine Ecosystem

The Benguela Current Marine Ecosystem is located along the south-western coast of Namibia. The area experiences a wind driven upwelling of cold, nutrient rich waters being pushed to the surface from the deep ocean. This nutrient rich water leads to high growth of phytoplankton that support a thriving ecosystem. In fact, the Benguela Current Marine Ecosystem is one of the most productive costal upwelling zones, supporting many species of zooplankton, fish, sea birds, marine mammals. The ocean contains sardines, anchovies, horse mackerel, pilchards, and a variety of other fish species. In turn, the fish help support bird populations of African Penguin, Crowned Cormorants, Bank Comorant, Cape Gannets located on islands off the coast. There are also numerous whale species and Cape Fur Seals.

         Unfortunately, this ecosystem is under threat from overfishing, marine pollution, and invasive species. Some of the pressures on the ecosystem began in the 1870s when ships arrived to collect bird guano deposits on the islands to use as fertilizer. At this time, they built wooden platforms to help harvest bird guano. The platforms are still in place today. One of the other major threats, overfishing, is now being strictly controlled by the Namibian government. Since independence the Namibian government has made an effort to regulate fisheries, try to rebuild depleted fish stocks, and develop sustainable fishing practices.

-Laura Spielman

http://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/6094/

Reflection on Earthsys 115N

         Before taking this class I knew very little about Namibia. Over the past ten weeks I have learned so much about the history, culture, and ecology of this country. It makes me feel more prepared in some ways, but part of what this class has shown me is how much there still is to learn. I feel confident in all that I have learned, but every new piece of information opens up more questions and more areas to study. I know far more about Namibia and about desert biogeography now than I did at the beginning of this quarter, and now I am even more excited to actually go to Namibia. Namibia has started to feel like a real place rather than just a country I read about or heard mentioned on the news.

         I’m very thankful to be going to Namibia with a lot of background knowledge about the country. In the past when I’ve traveled I learned about the location when I was there. While this can lead to amazing discoveries and revelations, I’m excited to try traveling with the background knowledge to understand what I’m seeing. I’m hoping that the things I have learned in this class will help me make connections that I otherwise wouldn’t have seen and better understand Namibia.

-Laura Spielman

Pre-history of Namibia

The earliest human artifacts found in Namibia so far are stone-age tools dating back 200,000 years. They were found in gravel deposits near Victoria falls and are thought to have been made by Homo erectus. The oldest rock paintings were found in the Apollo 11 Cave and were created around 25,000 years ago.

         The site of Twyfelfontein is located near a spring in the north-central coast region of Namibia. The site contains numerous rock engravings that are thought to have been made over a period of 2000 years by the San people. The rock engravings show a huge diversity of animals including rhino, elephant, giraffe, oryx, ostrich, flamingo, zebra, and more. The rock art at Twyfelfontein was produced during dry season when people congregated near spring. This was a time with lots of ritualistic activity. The carvings were important to the ritual and belief systems of the hunter-gatherer tribes. The rock art was created by shamans as a means to enter the natural or spirit world and record the shamans experience. The creatures were deliberate symbols and held specific meanings that we do not know the full meaning of.
 
-Laura Spielman 

https://www.africanworldheritagesites.org/cultural-places/rock-art-pre-history/twyfelfontein.html

http://www.namibia-travel-guide.com/bradt_guide.asp?bradt=1023

http://www.sahistory.org.za/article/namibian-timeline