Today we are going for a walk in the hills of Bloemfontein. It is interesting. One can see some interesting animals.
Grandmother (granny) tells us about the elephant nose shrew. It is a very strange/funny animal.
[kindness of Rean Opperman]
in Afrikaans:
Vandag gaan ons in die koppies in Bloemfontein stap. Dit is interessant.daar is interessante velddiertjies te sien.
Ouma vertel ons van die klip-klaas-neus (in Engels is dit 'n elephant nose shrew). Dit is 'n baie snaakse diertjie
[by Rohan Smit, 7 jaar]
To page 3
Questions for Rohan from Argentina:
From: Ines N. Valente
Hello students from South Africa !!! This is Ines and her students from Argentina.
*** We would like to ask you some questions........... but please, do answer them!!! We are looking forward to know about you all. This sentence is to conclude a sentence and a greeting but I wrote it at the beginning to reinforce your ANSWER BACK and remember that in this wide world we all want to know about the others. Is Victoria Falls near your place? We learned it is the largest in the world !!! UAAAAAAAA!!! We saw it on the TV and it is MARVELLOUS !!!
Rohan replies to Ines and her students:
Ines and friends
Your questions about Bloemfontein:
Bloemfontein (pronounced Bloom-fon-tyn -) meaning flowers at a fountainor spring - got its name form the first settler who claimed his farm near a spring back in about 1840. The spring still bubbles today and is basically in the centre of the city. Today the city totals about 450 000 inhabitants. The surroundings are not at all flat. Actually the greater part of the city lies between hills(koppies) This kind of hills are about a 100 to 150 metres(about 300 to 450 feet) high. The slopes are grass and shrub covered and the tops are quite flat. In the years when the Anglo Boer war was fought the British erected some forts (fortified building) on these hills. The biggest of the hills is a nature reserve - one of only a very few in the world to be in the middle of a city. Today only a few antelope like springbuck, blesbuck, gnu and other species like ostrich and giraffe are still been seen. Bloemfontein itself is very famous for its roses and is there for called the 'City of Roses'. We held a annual rose show and rose form over the city and the Free State are entered into the competion.
I hope that we answered some of your questions. Please feel free to send in more questions. We would also like to know excactly where in Argentina you live.(I recall that in the late 1930's some of our farmers went to Argentina to farm there. Maybe you can find out something about them?) What is interesting about your city and the surroundings?
Keep well
Rohan and friends
PS. How far south are you? We hope it is not too cold in Argentina now!
From Carolynn Bruton in Cape Town, South Africa:
Victoria Falls is on the South African border with Zimbabwe
I went to www.askjeeves.com and asked the search engine exactly where
it was on the map and he sent me the following information:
Go to www.zambezi.com (which is the large river the Falls is on) - it is the
largest "curtain of falling water".
Once I visited the Victoria Falls and I had to drive in a car for a very long time to get there.
Perhaps you could work out how far it is from Victoria Falls to Cape
Town?
You will find a map of the Victoria Falls at
www.africantravel.com
The Victoria Falls is quite far from us as we are on the Southern tip of Africa - in Cape Town
** What are the hills of Bloemfontein like? Does it mean something like "Blue Fountain?"
From Carolynn:
I thought that Bloemfontein was quite flat - but perhaps you mean the
"kopjies" or little flat-topped hills nearby in the Karroo.
You will fin more information on Bloemfontein (yes, blue fountain)
If you go to this web site:
and select a "B" for Bloemfontein. There are maps of Southern Africa there as well.
Perhaps you could look up why it is called the City of Roses? ;-))
Children, we do not understand when you say that you have a very interesting animal, in fact, an elephant with an elephant nose " shrew." We do not know what " shrew" mean here. .......would you mind explaining us? Friends, WE ARE LOOKING FORWARD TO YOUR ANSWER, TRULY!!! Answer back.
English students and Ines.
A shrew is a tiny rat-like creature with a long protruding nose just like an
elephant's trunk.
I did a search at www.alltheweb.com
and found this picture at a shrew animal group home page:
http://members.vienna.at/shrew/fotos.html
You can see how tiny it is - like a little mole but I think it can see better.
Do you think it can see? Perhaps you could find out for me?
I looked up the word "shrew" in the on-line dictionary
http://www.dictionary.com/
and it gave me this answer:
1. Any of various small, chiefly insectivorous mammals of the family
Soricidae, resembling a mouse but having a long, pointed snout and small eyes and ears. also called shrewmouse.
2. A woman with a violent, scolding, or nagging temperament; a
scold.
...so a shrew in the English language is also a cross and "nagging
woman" (dont call your Mama's that Please - they will be cross!)
Best wishes all of you
Carolynn and the Springfield Convent girls
To see more of these exchanges look in the KIDPROJ message archives. Begin your browsing at the third week in July, 2000.
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