The big five

South Africa’s climate, beaches and vineyards are all popular tourist attractions. But it is the big five that people really come to see – the elephants, rhinos, lions, leopards and buffalo in the great game reserves.

Kruger National Park is visited by almost three quarters of a million tourists a year. Only five per cent of it is accessible to visitors, yet it is still not crowded. The park is home to white and black rhinos, lions, elephants, and thousands of other species of birds, animals and plants, living wild on the bushveld. Although the park is almost half the size of Denmark, the numbers of some animals, such as lions and elephants, have to be controlled by culling. This causes controversy among conservationists. Both elephants and rhino are in danger of becoming extinct in some places, because of hunting by poachers. Rather than cull herds when numbers grow too great, it is sometimes possible to move them to other parks.

There are nature reserves in all of the country’s many different geographical areas, from sub-tropical forest to the Kalahari desert. Whales can be seen off the West Coast National Park; for energetic hikers there are long trails in the semi-desert Karoo Nature Reserve, inhabited by many different species of antelope. Hippopotamus (and almost every other kind of African wildlife), can be seen in the Hluhluwe-Umfolozi Game Reserve, in the east of the country, north of Durban.

1. What / Who attracts visitors in South Africa?

2. Which of the following words are associated with Kalahari Desert, West Coast, the Karoo Nature Reserve, Durban, the Kruger National Park?

elephants / rhinos / lions / leopards / buffalo / antelopes / hippopotamus / whales / white and black rhinos / hikers

Fill in the table

Kalahari Desert
West Coast
the Karoo Nature Reserve
Durban
the Kruger National Park

3. What animals are in danger of becoming extinct?

4. Why are some herds of elephants culled? (to cull – to kill the weakest in a group)

5. Is it possible to solve this problem humanly?

6. What geographical areas are mentioned in the passage?

7. What other representatives of African wildlife do you know?

8. What would you like to see and do on a visit to South Africa? Make a list of things.

4.19. Study the factfile and then do the exercises after it.

From large Royal parks to smaller community parks, London is a city that has lots of open spaces, and the gardens are to be admired. Almost all public gardens are free, and are a popular spot in the summer.

St James Park is probably the most beautiful and intimate of the capital’s central parks. Originally a marsh, the land was drained by Henry VIII in the 15^th century to provide a deer park for St James’s Palace. In the 17^th century, Charles II converted the deer park into a garden. Now the most ornamental park in London with good views of Whitehall rooftops, St James’s Park is a popular place to stroll, feed the ducks or watch the pelicans.

Popular in the summer with sunbathing office workers, a band plays throughout the summer. There is a café providing refreshments and a playground at the Buckingham Palace end.

The lake is now a wildfowl sanctuary, with ducks, geese, pelicans and black swans. The bridge over it gives a view of Buckingham Palace.

Holland Park is the most romantic of London’s parks. The park opened in 1952, on what remained of the grounds of Holland House, the rest of the land had been sold off in the late-19^th century for the construction of large houses and terraces to the north and west.

The woods and formal gardens of Holland Park surround the reconstructed Jacobean Holland House.

The small, but lively, park is more wooded and intimate than the large royal parks of Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park to the east.

Features include the Kyoto Japanese Garden, laid out for the 1991 London Festival of Japan, rose gardens, woodlands, wildlife ponds and an ecology centre. The park’s abundant wildlife includes tame rabbits, squirrels and peacocks.

There is also an adventure playground, café, and, during the summer, open-air theatre and opera under an elegant canopy.

Queen’s Park is in Kingswood Avenue in London. This small park offers a haven away from the hustle and bustle of a big city.

Features include a small pitch-and-putt golf course, tennis courts, a petanque rink and a good café. There are also Sunday bandstand concerts in the summer. Popular with children as it has a paddling pool, pet’s corner and playground. In the summer there are supervised play schemes, bouncy castles and children’s entertainers, such as clowns and jugglers.

In the early 17^th century James I opened Hyde Park as London’s first public park. Today, despite being surrounded by some of the world’s busiest streets, Hyde Park is a peaceful haven for the capital’s office workers and tourists. At 1.5 miles long and just under 0.5 mile wide, it is central London’s largest park. There are 350 acres of woods, grasslands, lakes and gardens.

Hyde Park also has a horse riding track, a children’s playground, boating on the Serpentine, open air music concerts and a famous Speaker’s Corner.

At around 10.30 am every day the Household Cavalry can be observed riding through the park from Hyde Park Barracks to Buckingham Palace. On royal anniversaries and other important occasions a 41-gun salute is fired in Hyde Park.

► Answer the questions.

1. Which park is the biggest and which is the smallest?

2. In what parks can you: stroll / listen to music / boat / ride a horse / feed tame animals / watch birds / observe the Cavalry / sunbathe / enjoy roses / admire a salute / express your ideas? Fill in the table.

St James Park
Holland Park
Queen’s Park
Hyde Park

3. Which words in the text have the same meaning as:

a) not paid, v f) visitor, n

b) swamp, n g) glade, n

c) city, n h) various, adj

d) consist, v i) shelter, n

e) official, adj j) performance, n

4. In which park can you meet a real wildfowl sanctuary?

5. Where can you meet deer, ducks, black swans, squirrels, rabbits, peacocks, clowns, jugglers, horses?

6. Which park is the oldest?

7. Where can you see Buckingham Palace?

8. Which facility is mentioned in the all four parts?

9. Explain the phrase hustle and bustle.

10. Which words in the text have the opposite meaning to:

close, v buy, v walk, v wild, adj small, adj

11. Can you go in for sports in the parks? Which ones and where?

12. Which park has attracted your attention best? Why?

4.20. Are these statements true (T) or false (F)?

1. London is a city of public gardens.

2. Kensington Gardens is a large royal park.

3. The most popular with children is an ecology centre.

4. Queen’s Park offers a pet’s corner.

5. A 31-gun salute is fired in Hyde Park on important occasions.

6. Holland Park is the largest central park.

4.21. Match the two parts of the compounds.

1. grass a) life

2. wild b) bathe

3. sun c) ground

4. play d) hall

5. wild e) stand

6. wood f) fowl

7. band g) land

8. White h) land

4.22. Match the descriptions with the parks above.

a) wooded, romantic, lively	c) large, famous, touristy
b) ornamental, intimate, beautiful	d) small, peaceful, popular

4.23. Write the review of the text in activity 4.19. (See Unit 11).

4.24. Read an article about the Siberian reserve Yugansky. Write the review of the passage using a dictionary.

The nature reserve ‘Yugansky’ is located to the south from Surgut between the Bolshoy Yugan and Maliy Yugan Rivers, its territory covers 650,000 hectares.

National reserves play a very important role in preserving the landscapes and biological variety, conserving rare species of animals and plants, protecting unique natural resources. ‘Yugansky’ is not an exception, it is a model of typical Western Siberian taiga, so it plays a very important role in nature conservation.

The reserve’s territory is situated in the southern part of Middle Obskaya lowland, which occupies the central part of the Western Siberian plain. The climate of the region is continental. Air circulation in the atmosphere is very intensive that causes an intensive change of cyclones and anticyclones and leads to a sudden weather change. Daily temperature variation can reach 30-35°. The amount of precipitation almost entirely depends on the winds bringing moisture from the Atlantic Ocean. Cold arctic masses provoke light frosts and snowfalls even in summer.

The vast swamped territories keep up the stable water level in rivers because a thick layer of swamped mosses give the water back gradually. High swamps are like a natural ‘sponge’ and they not only nourish rivers but also maintain the hydrological balance of the territory. Usually freezing-over begins in November and ends in May. The ice is very thick, up to 30cm. Numerous lakes are small and shallow, different types of swamps prevail, they occupy one third of the territory. Soil overdamping causes the growth of moisture-loving plants such as bog mosses. A soft carpet of mosses is very common in the reserve and we can count 113 species of them. What is more we can count more than 200 species of fungi. They are everywhere and the most widespread are wood-attacking fungi.

Coniferous forests including a fir-tree, silver fir, pine and cedar force out deciduous (an aspen, birch) in the process of natural change. And the main factor that causes the vegetation change in the taiga zone is forest fires.

The reserve’s fauna exposes 36 species of mammals, among them a musk beaver, mouse, squirrel, hare, weasel, sable, wolf, lynx, bear and reindeer. The variety of bird’s species is limited by severely cold winters. Among adapted birds are: woodpeckers, owls, different types of grouses. In spring the population of birds increases greatly. Eagles, swans, crows, sparrows, hawks, ducks hurry to use the warmth of short summer time. And by the end of September flocks of birds leave their native places. Little by little frosts become lifeless and the weather is very cold. The taiga is covered with snow. But after long winter months, there will be spring and active life will begin again.

4.25. PROJECT Work in a group to talk / write about reserves in our country. Think about these questions:

1. Can you name any reserves (National parks, zakazniks, etc.) in our region?

2. What kind of environment do they protect – mountains, coastlines, wetlands, lakes, forests?

3. Who pays for the maintenance of the reserves?

4. What restrictions (if any) are placed on tourists?

5. Should we try to preserve nature by stopping people from going to protected areas of the country?

6. Can there be tourism without pollution and damage?

7. Have you ever been to a reserve? If so, which one? What are your impressions?

UNIT 5 FLORA AND FAUNA