CONVERSATION
CONVERSATION
CONVERSATION
HUMAN TRACES:
ETHIOPIA
HUMAN TRACES:
ETHIOPIA
THE BALANCE OF FACTS
THE BALANCE OF FACTS
THE BALANCE OF FACTS
THE BALANCE OF FACTS
DESTINATIONS
DESTINATIONS
The Dreamtime, or the Dreaming, portrays the Aboriginal beliefs in spiritual existence. According to the tribes that first settled down in the continent, the Dreaming's roots date all the way back to the very begging of the creation of the world. The meaning and ideology of the term is generally not so well-understood by non-indigenous people as it is referred to as part of the culture of one of the early nations, which differs from modern perceptions.
The Spirits were the creators of everything. They made the land and the seas, the rocks and the plants, the sky and the earth. They were the higher power and the Australian Aborigines spent their lifetimes honoring this power, which guided their path and shaped their way of thinking. Not only creators of everything, which could be seen as well as felt, the Spirits also gave the Aborigines the Dreaming.
The time when everything started existing according to the initial Australians, was called the Dreaming. This is the foundation of the continent's culture. The origin of the Dreaming goes way back - 65 000 years back in time to be exact. The Ancestors of the nation shaped the land, forming some parts of it as sacred. The Aborigines were very careful and overprotective of those places, strongly believing in their significance.
The Australian Aborigines are known to have believed that the world didn't have any shape and was therefore empty. Darkness dominated, and life was simply asleep, but this changed when the creation began happening. After the Dreaming and the influence of the Spirits, objects began taking shapes and came to be. They created the four elements: water, earth, air and fire, as well as all the planets, the Sun and the Moon. The Dreaming therefore is a continuous process, which never ended. It is a small cosmos on its own, unifying the past, present and the future into one.
The Australian Aborigines' home riches so many vivid areas of the continent, including Fraser Island, Tasmania, Palm Island, Groote Eylandt and Mornington Island. The Aborigines had very strong believes in relation to the powers of the land, claiming that they never owned it - it rather owned them. The only reason they were able to call it their home is because they were looking after it and the land was taking care of the people in return.
Equally important to the Dreaming was the tribes' understandings of the disappearance of the Spirits. There came a time, when the creators of everything vanished from sight. Some of them were thought to have started living in sacred places, which is why the Aborigines perceived their homeland to be so sacred. The ancestors of today's Australians used to believe that the creators started living in rocks, in water holes and some went up to the sky to guide the people from above and keep them safe. Others transformed completely, taking the forms of the rain, the lightnings and the thunderstorms so they could be part of peoples' life.
Among the hundred's different Aboriginal languages, there isn't a word to describe 'time', because to them this simply doesn't exist. Dreaming and Dreamtime are used to replace it and summarize the ideologies of the Aborigines about everything they knew, everything they could see, feel and experience. This is why the Dreaming has such a vivid, and overwhelming meaning and has survived the obstacles of time. For the past couple thousand years, the Dreaming has built a rich cultural heritage that can identify a whole nation.
Read more about the Land, its connection to people and the way it has been perceived from different generations in the very first print issue of ORIGIN. The Land Issue covers varied topics, most of which remain related to cultural aspects of the land and its importance.
A lot of people travel to explore places and learn about them which is the message that ORIGIN wants to spread. With traveling, however, comes certain responsibilities that we should all be aware of. Elephants riding has become a popular way to explore locations by land. People have been doing this as part of their trips, mostly to places such as Thailand, Nepal, Cambodia and other parts of Asia. It is a common thing to see in certain places in Africa as well. We investigated the activity to explain why it is wrong and riding elephants should be banned everywhere.
Our first print issue studies culture and traveling represented through the land. We explored various location around the globe and learned what makes the land so valuable, which nations cherish it and how it helps us establish an identity. Traveling is important to us but traveling responsibly and making an impact is what we feel proud to stand behind. This is why riding elephants as a way of amusement should be reconsidered.
Let’s talk about the details. Elephants are very caring and extremely intelligent animals. It is a well-known fact that they never forget anything. When kept in captivity instead of spending their life in the wild, elephants die younger. Unlike in other species, this is common for the gentle giants and is often a result for stress.
Many African cultures respect elephants, believing they symbolize strength, loyalty and power. However, power can be a very tender concept. Elephant used as a tourism tool suffer from great pain daily. Elephants can be hurt very severely from the weight of carrying people and a trainer on their backs. The reason for this is the design of their spines. They have sharp protrusions, extending upwards from their spine instead of having round spinal disks. The protrusions and the tissue that serves to protect them can be harmed easily from weight pressure. Once a damage to their spine has been made, there is no going back and sometimes the harm can be irreversible. While this can’t be physically seen, the harm that the chairs can do to the elephants’ skin is. It is often the case that the chairs and the weight on their back can damage the animal’s skin and cause pain to their body. The chair, called Howdah, that gets attached to their backs, rubs on their skin and can cause blisters, which can sometimes get infected.
The training that elephants are required to go through when in captivity sometimes adopts a traditional Thai ‘phajaan’ or ‘crush’ technique. Explaining the technique would compare it to the animals’ spirits constantly and continuously being broken by the means of torture and social isolation. This is done in order to tame them. Elephants are wild animals, this is their nature as they are born in such conditions. Making them safe and obedient around people requires them to go through such training. As horrible as it sounds, in some places young elephants are taken away from their mothers to be abused with nails, bull hooks and bamboo sticks to make them obey rules, given by people. The animals often lack sleep and are starved to become submissive.
Actions from such nature are cruel and harmful as the technique is used to crash the animals’ spirit. Once wild and free, elephants become a source of tourism and entertainment. Nobody, who cared about sustainable tourism should ever ride an elephant.
In a sense, elephants have a human soul. They socialise and feel everything – pain, happiness, grief, sadness etc. They spend their life building families and finding friends. The largest land animals are a gift from nature and it is our responsibility to take special care of them and make sure they live according to their nature. Many animals, who are kept in captivity, are forced to live in isolation and carry heavy loads all day long, which is a wrong way to treat them. Their strength and power shouldn’t be abused but treated gently and celebrated by people. Elephants require minimal care to stay happy and healthy, which comes from giving them freedom to behave naturally and socialise. It is our responsibility to be culturally aware while traveling and make sure to spread awareness about the problem.
You can read the rest of the article as published in the LAND issue.
DIVE SUSTAINABLY WITH THESE 5 TIPS
As adventure travelling is on the rise and the ocean pollution crisis continues to grow, we look into the top 5 ways to keep yourself and marine life safe by diving sustainably
Words: Aleksandra Georgieva
Photography: Altin Ferreira
27 July 2020
Pollution is one of the main human-infused marine issues but there are many other factors that endanger the world’s oceans. Litter takes a long time to break down in the ocean. While paper dissolves between two to four weeks, plastic bags take up to 20 years, while plastic bottles break down in 450 years. Think of the next five years of your life, because that’s how long your cigarette butt would take to break down underwater, while a glass bottle would outlive your grandchildren’s grand kids.
The world’s oceans cover over seventy per cent of the surface of Earth, but only about 5% of the underwater world has been explored. More and more people are keen to dive deep towards the ocean floor in search of pure adrenaline and marine beauty. Whether you are new to diving or you are set to swim at the best diving sites on the planet, it is important to understand the crucial need for a healthy Blue Economy.
Marine preservation is crucial not only for the health of the ocean and its inhabitants, but also for the livelihood of thousands of people in coastal areas and the economy of countries far beyond. Since adventure travel is on the rise, we explore the best ways to dive sustainably.
-
Know Your Surroundings
It is important to be aware of the area you are swimming in. Whether you are chasing dolphins or exotic fish, you are simply a visitor to their natural habitat. There are many ways to harm the world below the surface. If you swim too close to corals, you can kick and kill it. The reef is fragile and swimming too close could easily harm it. Kicking the ocean floor can stir up sediment and smoother coral, or you could easily hurt marine species that blend in with the sandy bottom.
-
Gain Marine Knowledge
If you know more about the vast wilderness of the marine world, the instinct to preserve it would come naturally. Don’t rush into diving. Try to gain better understanding of what lies beneath the ocean’s surface first. Nowadays divers gather plenty of data to increase the public awareness and participating is easy. You can try coral-monitoring or fish-counting initiatives to gain more marine knowledge before you dive.
-
Keep It Clean
As mentioned above, pollution is one of the main threats to marine health and biodiversity. Plastic kills millions of marine species every year, including fish, turtles, marine mammals and seabirds. While the majority of debris pollution comes from in-land activities, it is crucial that divers do not pollute the world beneath the ocean’s surface. If you think scientists exaggerate when speaking of the garbage that floats at the surface, remember that an estimate of 18,000 plastic pieces litters every square km of the world’s oceans.
-
Be Respectful and Stay Safe
If you dive among coral reefs, it is crucial to remember that corals are living animals that collectively provide habitat for a third of the fish species. If you need to rest, don’t lean or stay on coral. You can naturally float back to the surface without wasting energy by inflating your BCD (buoyancy control device). For your own safety, be aware of the fish at all time. To protect yourself and the surrounding environment, keep your hands streamlined by your side. In locations such as the Maldives, camouflaged fish such as scorpionfish, lionfish and stonefish are venomous.
-
Say NO To Sunscreen
This may come as a bit of a surprise, and yes – it is important to protect yourself against the harmful UV rays. Yet, most products we put on our skin tent to get absorbed in our bloodstream. Products such as sunscreen often consist of dangerous chemicals, which will leak into the ocean and impose danger to marine life. An alternative is to use eco-friendly or biodegradable sunscreen brands. The best thing you can do – if sunscreen is not essential – is to simply avoid it altogether and wear full-length suits or rash vests and long board-shorts.
PASS THE KNOWLEDGE ALONG: If you know any diving enthusiasts, make sure to let them know about the importance of marine preservation and contributing to a healthy Blue Economy.
By joining this conversation, you are already attempting positive changes with global effects. Follow NOMADSofORIGIN into the mission to help marine ecosystems to prosper and local communities to preserve their cultural scene.
RELATED STORIES
NOMADSofORIGIN is an independent annual publication with a focus on sustainable travelling and global cultural values. Each issue features interviews, engaging articles and photo guides, which take our nomadic readers through different destinations and introduce them to local people's perspectives.
SOCIAL
© NOMADSofORIGIN Magazine 2023. All rights reserved.