Web Report by Des Mahony (Team Rocky Slopes)
It is really nice to realise that weekend, 26-28 July 2024, was the first of many for the Bushveld Mosaic Class of 2024/25
Everyone started the weekend with some uncertainties, especially when Ulrich’s first question was what happened 55 years and one week before our first lecture. We immediately realised that our brains would be used for the first time in a while. But nobody anticipated having to use maths (and historical trivia) to conclude that it was Armstrong going bravely where no one else had. Being the first to walk on the moon.
Well, being the first group to start Bush Mosaic in the middle of a year, we could relate. Others will follow, but we were the ones making history. The lecture contextualised the significance of this milestone. Its first message was that we are all insignificant (in time and space) in a grand creation. Nonetheless, we occupy time and space in the Pilanesberg Educational Centre by choice. The lecture’s last message was that choosing what we do is up to us. And we left feeling we had made a good choice.
This was the first time the Bushveld Mosaic Class of 24/25 got together. Some firsts included pitching tents for some, braaiing for others, and introductions to our classmates and lecturers, ecology, and taxonomy.
This is an interesting group, with people from Jo’burg and Pretoria, the West Rand, and even further west, from Rustenburg, and even more west, from Oregon on the west coast of the USA.
We will learn a lot about ourselves in addition to what we learn in our notes.
You may wonder two things: Firstly, why did I write this? Well, I put up my hand when Peter asked for a volunteer to write the first report. And what is the second thing? Exactly! We are the one and only….first of a kind.
It is so exciting to think that this is only our beginning.
I should have said this first: thank you, Peter, Ulrich, and Britta.
Editor’s note: Thank you Des, for raising your hand and submitting the first web report for BM2024/25.