50|50 Episode 29 Season 7: 1 September 2016
Wilde bure: Doves
Living in such close proximity to doves and pigeons as people do in cities right around the world, it’s easy to overlook them or to see them as pests rather than wild animals. But they are in fact remarkable animals that adapt to almost any environment including our gardens and windowsills.
Bangweulu Wetlands Park:
Bangweulu Wetlands Park is one of Africa’s most spectacular wetland systems with vast stretches of seasonally flooded grasslands and permanent swamps fringed with huge virgin miombo woodlands. This vast and lush wetland landscape is a stronghold for the threatened endemic Black lechwe and also an important breeding area for the primitive-looking Shoebill. The fact that the wetlands are located in north-eastern Zambia, a four day drive from Johannesburg, was not nearly enough to deter our very own intrepid explorer, Bertus, from venturing to this watery wonderland about which he’d heard such amazing reports.
Palm Oil:
Palm oil is a substance used in 50% of all packaged items on supermarket shelves and in order to grow enough palm oil to satisfy demand, large tracts of rainforest are cleared in Indonesia and Malaysia. 63 million tons of palm oil is currently consumed annually around the world but demand is set to increase to a staggering 240 million tons by 2050. Surely there must be a better way?
The hunt is on here in the VF studio tonight, and creatures great and small are out and about in search of dinner. Lions use perfect teamwork to secure a meal fit for a king, while smaller creatures focus on more manageable prey species.
