We spend a few days in the Kruger park and came across a few strange items in the shops. Oxygen enriched water, it tastes just like normal water to me. R8 for 350ml. A pocket shower. This is a leaking 10 L bag you hang up to shower under, but it comes in a bag that you can attach to your belt. All for R200. A pocket washing line. A 5 meter string, at least it comes in a little bag that you can also attach to your belt for R150. Handy if you feel the need to carry a washing line on your belt, but then there was just a roll up piece of string for R180. No bag this time but it “glows in the dark”.
The animals (in the park) are still free to watch, once you’ve paid the entrance fee. We came across 3 big herds of Buffalo. Lots of Elephants and all the usual ones (Impala, Zebra, Baboon ext.)
I can’t afford to visit Kruger Park. Plus, I drive a motorbike, which would probably not go down well with park authorities.
But it has the advantage that I am blessedly free of worries about what happens in the park or whether they build hotels and McDonald’s branches there or whether all the rhinos get shot.
Your item reminded me of a team building game I used to use yonks ago: The moon Landing Game see It’ll be insightful to see this forum’s selection of items to survive Moon Landing Game
Instructions: You are a member of a space crew originally scheduled to rondezvous with a mother ship on
the lighted side of the moon. Due to mechanical difficulties, however, your ship was forced to land at a spot
some 200 miles from the rendezvous point. During landing, much of the equipment aboard was damaged
and since survival depends on reaching the mother ship, the most critical items available must be chosen for
the 200 mile trip. Below are listed the 15 items left intact and undamaged after landing. Your task is to rank
them in order of importance to your crew in allowing them to reach the rendezvous point. Place the number
1 by the most important item, the number 2 by the second most important item, and so on, through number
15, the least important item.
My Ranking:
_____ Box of matches _____ _____
_____ Food concentrate _____ _____
_____ 50 feet of nylon rope _____ _____
_____ parachute silk _____ _____
_____ two .45-calibre pistols _____ _____
_____ one case of dehydrated milk _____ _____
_____ two 100-pound tanks of oxygen _____ _____
_____ stellar map (of the moon’s constellations) _____ _____
_____ life raft _____ _____
_____ magnetic compass _____ _____
_____ five gallons of water _____ _____
_____ signal flares _____ _____
_____ first aid kit containing injection needles _____ _____
_____ solar-powered FM receiver _____ _____
_____ portable heating unit _____ _____
Here are the
Answers to the Survival on the Moon Exercise
Item NASA Ranking NASA’s Reasoning
Box of matches 15 Virtually worthless – there’s no oxygen on the moon to sustain combustion
Food concentrate 4 Efficient means of supplying energy requirements
50 feet of nylon rope 6 Useful in scaling cliffs and tying injured together
Parachute silk 8 Protection from the sun’s rays
Portable heating unit 13 Not needed unless on the dark side
Two .45 calibre pistols 11 Possible means of self-propulsion
One case of dehydrated milk 12 Bulkier duplication of food concentrate
Two 100 lb. tanks of oxygen 1 Most pressing survival need (weight is not a factor since gravity is one-sixth of the Earth’s – each tank would weigh only about 17 lbs. on the moon)
Stellar map 3 Primary means of navigation - star patterns appear essentially identical on the moon as on Earth
Self-inflating life raft 9 CO2 bottle in military raft may be used for propulsion
Magnetic compass 14 The magnetic field on the moon is not polarized, so it’s worthless for navigation
5 gallons of water 2 Needed for replacement of tremendous liquid loss on the light side
Signal flares 10 Use as distress signal when the mother ship is sighted
First aid kit, including 7 Needles connected to vials of A 15th Cheltenham (SHURDINGTON) Scouts Resource injection needle vitamins, medicines, etc. will fit special aperture in NASA space suit
Solar-powered FM receiver-transmitter 5 For communication with mother ship (but FM requires line-of-sight transmission and can only be used over short ranges) Scoring:
For each item, mark the number of points that your score differs from the NASA
ranking, then add up all the points. Disregard plus or minus differences. The
lower the total, the better your score.
0 - 25 excellent
26 - 32 good
33 - 45 average
46 - 55 fair
56 - 70 poor – suggests use of Earth-bound logic
71 - 112 very poor – you’re one of the casualties of the space program!
As a navigator, I don’t buy this. It is correct that star patterns are practically the same viewed from the Earth or the moon, but a ‘stellar map’ on its own is useless, unless you happen to have about your person a bubble sextant, chronometer and a set of Norie’s or Burton’s tables (I assume they would bring out a lunar edition), or a calculator with a built-in ephemeris. Some constellations are useful for establishing direction, e.g. big dipper/Polaris, or the southern cross, but you don’t need a ‘stellar map’ to find those, surely?
If you orientate the star map with the sky, it will at least give you an idea of direction. Which is infinitely better than having no idea of direction. At the very least it will ensure that we take our giant leaps in a straight line.
What is a chronometer? A clock? Are the gadgets required to determine our own position accurately?
A more pressing worry for me is if any stars will be usefully visible in the glare of the sun (we find ourselves on the light side, remember). I’m assuming the lack of atmosphere will allow at least some of the bright stars too meekly shine through.
