@ Intrepid !
Snow Watch is definitely an important element on the site, as is Dragon's Wrath, based purely on the number of hits they have recorded.
Whilst there are already a number of fantastic pics on the site, I think ST's idea is great. It will be interesting to see what aspect of the Berg's moods attract most of the votes. Will it be early morning Alpine glow, the brief but awesome sunsets, the white mantle of the winter snows, or the brooding silence of an approaching storm? We wait to see.
The idea of a readily accessible thread on planning also sounds good. This site acts as a social networking forum. The conversations on line could well turn into converstaions in real time, if one were to be expecting to come across a fellow VE commentator, knowing in advance which areas they may be in during certain times. Those who may want to avoid other persons, as is their right, may be able to change a route if they see that 2 or 3 parties may be heading to the same area that they had planned on moving through.
The recent incident at Cathedral seemed to highlight however the need for a thread dealing specifically with security and closely related matters, as the entire discussion of the tragic accident seemed to diverge from the topic, towards one on a discussion surrounding security.
This, i must assume, is what has driven your request for comment?
The hard fact is that this matter has become an issue that one must factor into hikes, not only in the Drakensberg, but also in the rest of our beloved country.
I do agree completely that it should not reflect only the negative. Despite the fact that this seems to be a passionate pastime of many in our country, I have not yet found it to be the case in the forums on this site.
A factual report-back in the fashion that mnt-tiska outlines sounds good. If methods of avoiding trouble have been used, and have worked, we will all benefit from this.
Having though long and hard about the issue surrounding the cross border movement of smugglers, I feel I have to make further comment, based on some cold hard facts.
This site is a public forum. It is apparent that one of its foundations was concern over the ever increasing security issues arising in the Drakensberg.
It is the same security issue that affects our everyday life in the citys, towns and villages of this country. It is the reason that we lock ourselves in night and day, form neighbourhood watches, farmwatch committees and community action networks. It is the reason; and I feel strongly that it is often the ONLY reason, that so many have left behind family, friends and lives and moved beyond our shores.
The equal, yet opposite, reaction is that as good men move on, bad men prosper.
If we wish to continue enjoying the Berg as it is, as it has been for millennia, then as those who care, we need to speak up.
The increasing cross border movement of drugs is not only affecting the environment of the Berg and increasing the threat of the first violent confrontation between armed men and hikers, but it is directly affecting the fabric of our society.
The drug that moves through here into our citys, towns and villages threatens our fathers and mothers, sons and daughters, brothers and sisters. It threatens to erode our families. I do not say this without personal experience. It has taken the brother of a very close friend. It has affected the son of another, along with his family. It is the first step on a road to self destruction, the finger on the trigger.
It is motivated, driven and funded by men who care nothing for you or your families. They do not care for, or respect The Mountain. Their single aim is wealth {without work}.
We can continue to ignore it. Bury our heads in the sand. Or we can, as a single voice, make it known to those in authourity that something needs to be done. If we do not, be assured, nothing will be done.
If the greatest concern is, that in doing so we accelerate an imminent confrontation, then we need to ask "When will the time be right?"
Will it be when mistaken identity has 6 innocent hikers killed by automatic weapons?
Will it be when your 16 year old son, who once loved to walk with you in the mountains, lies comatose in a dark alley, with a dirty needle in his arm?
Will it be when 3 young men, high on 'pipe' break into your house, and in that mental state destroy the future of wives and daughters?
We need to say something now. We need to report sightings, dates, times, numbers. We need to report movement, routes and methods. We need to do it smartly in the right direction, and through the right channels. The method is in front of you, through the worldwide media of your computer.
There is no necessity to spread it over the front page of the forum. The smart method would be to send the reports, via private mail, to selected volunteer members who will then discreetly move these in the right direction. I, for one, volunteer
If you are doubtful then consider this:
Similar methods have recently been used to accelerate the impact on the Rhino poaching syndicates operating in our country. The effects are now well evident. When enough is enough, and enough speak out, action is taken.
There are members here who know the right channels. For fear of your safety, they hesitate.
It's up to you. Modern communication methods today allow for swift response. Lets use them.
To borrow on the words of Ed R. Murrow: [with my apologies, because i could not have said it better..]
We have currently a built-in allergy to unpleasant or disturbing information. Our mass media reflect this. But unless we get up off our fat surpluses and recognize that [i]the worldwide web[/i]] in the main is being used to distract, delude, amuse and insulate us, then ..[i]we[/i]]...may see a totally different picture too late.
I do not advocate that we turn [social networking] into a 17-inch wailing wall, where longhairs constantly moan about the state of our culture and our defense. But I would just like to see it reflect occasionally the hard, unyielding realities of the world in which we live. I would like to see it done inside the existing framework, and I would like to see the doing of it rebound to the credit of those who finance and program it. ... The main thing is to try. ... Responsibility is not something that can be assigned or delegated. And it promises its own reward....
Perhaps no one will do anything about it. I have ventured to outline it against a background of criticism that may have been too harsh only because I could think of nothing better...
I began by saying that our history will be what we make it. If we go on as we are, then history will take its revenge, and retribution will not limp in catching up with us.
We are to a large extent an imitative society. If one or two or three ... would undertake to devote just a small traction of their [i]time[/i]] along the lines that I have suggested, the procedure would grow by contagion; the ... burden would be bearable, and there might ensue a most exciting adventure--exposure ...
To those who say people wouldn't look; they wouldn't be interested; they're too complacent, indifferent and insulated, I can only reply: There is, in one reporter's opinion, considerable evidence against that contention. But even if they are right, what have they got to lose? Because if they are right, and this instrument is good for nothing but to entertain, amuse and insulate, then the tube is flickering now and we will soon see that the whole struggle is lost.
This instrument can teach, it can illuminate; yes, and it can even inspire. But it can do so only to the extent that humans are determined to use it to those ends. Otherwise it is merely wires and lights in a box. There is a great and perhaps decisive battle to be fought against ignorance, intolerance and indifference. This weapon of [communication] could be useful.
Good night, and good luck.
. Its very easy to create special sub-albums for that and there is a voting and commenting system already in place for images. Perhaps it should initially be over a 3 month period. What do the rest of you think about this? Would it be something that many would participate in?
