The Way to and In The Cape Point Nature Reserve

THE CAPE POINT NATURE RESERVE

Sim singing opera for the baboons

This was my first time going on a field trip in one of the world heritage site in South Africa and it was quite an experience as a lover of nature. I was stud before I even reach my destination (cape point) by the beauty of Cape Town with wonderful natural structural land forms which are part of the beautiful Cape Peninsula. The view of Table Mountain and the well vegetated area of Rondebosch kept me alive as I approach the Cape point. The reserve greeted me with the wild dry type of vegetation and on entrance it looked nothing interesting than an area than will soon be a desert in few decade to come. On the same vein the weather was just another factor which made the place to be even more unpleasant but I waited to observe the entire reserve before I can make my final judgement about it.

In the middle of the reserve as my transport (bus) moves further, then I started to notice the beauty underneath the dry conditions of the place with the vast flora and fauna adapted to the area. The bus took a stop and along the road there were some few buildings and in them there were inscriptions on the walls, the one that caught my attention was that the cape point is the smallest and the richest flora kingdom home for 8200 species, 25% of which occur in the Cape Peninsula and 1016 found on the southern tip. That was not the only thing that started to interest me about the place, I started to experience two types of weather conditions; coming from the entrance the right side of the ocean was cold and windy while the left side was calm and warm. In the heart of the fine bushes I became aware of different animals forming part of the Cape Flora kingdom among which I noted the Ostrich, Baboons and some lovely birds. 

The Land scape and the different types of structural land forms were just majestic to view.  I am  very fond of nature not only the animals but also the abiotic components of the biosphere. I Therefore enjoyed myself observing different structural land forms and the associated vegetation, I looked at the tor formation which is the sand stone type of rock and I climbed it. On top of the beautiful tors I was trilled to experience different types of weather conditions, this is mainly due to the fact that the cape point was once seen as the point were the Atlantic and the Indian ocean meet even though the geographical emergent of these oceans is the cape  cape agulhas. The effect of the agulhas and the benguela current are felt very well and I could feel them too while I there on top.

Ndu and Sim

Then I went to the light house, that is where I brought back to memory lane being taught of the history of the lighthouse. The reserve was first named the Cape storms and the lighthouse was build as the landmark that will give directions and warning to the ships in the sea. There are two lighthouses in the Cape Peninsula the second one was build because the first one would from time to time get covered by mist, thus prompting the construction of the second lighthouse. The second lighthouse is now the best in the world with 10 million powers of handle. The trip educated and developed me as a scientist about the importance of preserving nature for future research and future generation.

LFS 151 And MAM 150 Experiences

 My life sciences 151

Well I have been having fun in life sciences 151 while learning especially in the lectures, they are stimulating and enjoyable. There are a number of things that I've  enjoyed and a few that just seemed to be a total waste of time for me. What I like about the lectures is that they keep my interest at all the times in a sense that every time I attend them I learn something new and therefore I always look forward being in them. The other thing that I enjoy about the lectures is that I get a one on one chance to ask what I do not understand while it is still fresh.

What I do not like about the lectures however is that we learn from either pictures, diagrams and movies all the time and most of the deep concepts that are asked in the exam or test therefore become new I get there. The movie thing does not help us to know most of the wording that we are expected to know in or about  that particular chapter. Then the other thing is that in some of the classes we are given test to write base on movies without being given a chance to get over the chapter by ourselves. The overall of the lectures beside that are very interesting as they challenge and stimulate my scientific thinking.

Practicals 

The practicals are very interesting and I look forward in attending them every day. The introduction to microscopes is the part that I have enjoyed a lot so far. I have never been exposed to microscopes until this year and it was very fun to view cells under the microscope and get cell the whole structure of it. The experience with microscopes and how to function them properly has been amazing and enjoyable. I was also intrigue to to see a cell under the microscope with all the stages of division (mitosis and meiosis) and I had a chance to redraw the whole process on paper just looking  from the microscope.

Mam 150

Maths 150 has been fun, and easy for me because most of the things that we do are not new therefore the only part that am challenged in is getting to understand the rules and how to apply them. In maths we also have workshops and I regard them as a part of maths class where I really test my understanding of maths and where to improve. The only thing that is disturbing at times is that we have two Lecturers, in few occasions they seem to contradict each other and we tend to be confused of what is right and what to study for the test. This also makes me to develop an attitude because I can understand one better than the other.