Scalesandmore is a result of a passion for nature and the critters that makes most people cringe in fear.
Born on the East Rand of Gauteng, I had the fortune of my father, employed by the Department of Education transferred to Nongoma, a small town in KZN, early 1980’s.
I soon developed the typical bare feet soles comparable to the soles of safety shoes.
Played soccer on rock hard dusty fields, climbed trees, ran through the bushveld, just a hop over the fence away, caught solifuges, (known to many a sun-spiders) scorpions and many harmless snakes and viewed the venomous from a safe distance.
Clambered up and down the Lebombo mountains, enjoying the mountain springs and the Ivuna river toward the Eshowe road.
Fished and swam the town’s dam and soaked up all that nature could offer, blessed by nature loving parents who taught to appreciate down to the smallest creatures and their interaction with their surroundings.
I developed a good solid interest and passion toward all of nature, the little micro habitats within the larger ecologies.
Sad was the day when we moved back to the East Rand with its cold and dusty mine dumps, invasive Khaki, Black jacks, Wattle and Blue gum trees in the late ‘80’s. I always perceived this environment to be dead and sterile.
Soon after having to rescue a Rinkhals, I had to find a safe release spot. Upon release, the smell of the grass, soil and my surroundings woke up the long-lost nature loving child in me.
I started spending more time in the last pockets of natural habitat around the East Rand and soon realised that, right here under our noses we have a jewel that needs our attention, our interest and our protection.
It offered a freedom of the spirit I longed for so long. A very different biome from where I grew up but such an amazing and unique set of flora and fauna. It offered life. But . .
. . . With the progressive onslaught of property developments, mining ventures and more, I realised the urgency of educating my fellow East Randers and fellow outdoors people about the last pockets of nature that needs protection before it is all wiped out.
I dreamt of being able to convince property developers that the term ECO needs a new approach.
How to go about that?
Well, if you look at what’s left around you, you might probably also think of the “empty” veld, rocky outcrops or ridges, bush or vlei area as sterile, uninteresting areas not worth saving. I mean come on!
What is there to save anyway?
It aims to showcase and help you appreciate what you have so that you can appreciate the big WHY.
The big WHY we have to conserve what we have for future generations.
I hope to, though, interaction with my fellow citizens through various platforms, reach a place where everyone may one day enjoy the freedom of spirit I grew up with.
Every child, every adult and every retiree should be co-inheritors of and not viewers or readers of a natural history of what once was.
And now, all the more the “New Normal” (COVID19) with various restrictions, induced a new level of disconnection and a longing to be reconnected.