New Yorkers take note - March 23–August 14, 2011!
In an upcoming MoMA exhibition called Impressions from South Africa, 1965 to Now, nearly 100 prints, posters, books, and wall stencils will be on view—many for the first time in the United States—providing striking examples of how printed art can be used as a tool for social, political, and personal expression.

Impressions from South Africa is organized around five themes: the use of linoleum cut, which exemplifies the accessibility and bold expressiveness of printmaking; the suitability of printmaking, particularly screenprint and offset lithography, for disseminating political statement; the use of intaglio, which has a strong history of graphically narrative work full of political allusion; the integration of photography and printmaking to expand on the notion of the documentary; and, finally, the variety of topics and formats present in post-apartheid printed works, many of which revitalize these other techniques and strategies.
Many of the works were acquired after the worldwide cultural boycott of South Africa dissolved in the 1990's, and the collection is a firs-of-its-kind look inside South Africa's turbulent era of social upheaval.
For more detail see the MoMA press release here.
Dates: March 23–August 14, 2011
The Museum of Modern Art: 11 West 53 Street, New York, NY | www.MoMA.org

As students we used to ski down sand dunes on pieces of plywood. Pretty unsophisticated technique but the result was always a lot of fun (and occasionally some missing skin).
I'm sure there are still plenty of plywood dune boarders around, but today there are more sophisticated dune skiing and dune boarding options available. Have a look at the stylish video below (posted on youtube by CorCash):



If you'd like to give dune boarding or dune skiing a go it can be arranged in a number of excellent locations including Namibia (some of the largest dunes in the world), South Africa (right outside Cape Town) and Mozambique (Bazaruto).

(Readers on FaceBook etc... please go to original post for video)

It may seem obvious, but now it is now documented that elephants pay particular attention to their elders especially when they hear the sound of an approaching lion.
Apparently elephant herds with older matriarchs react faster to the sound of predators than those with younger matriarchs. They also distinguish between male and female lions' roars. These findings of Karen McComb and Graeme Shannon from the University of Sussex, UK are reported in the Royal Society journal Proceedings B.
This fact reinforces the importance of the family group. It's a complex social structure that can be severely damaged by outside interference like hunting. One has to assume that removing the matriarch would inhibit the learning process of the herd and endanger their safety. I find this particularly poignant as we are discussing both elephants and lions here. As film makers Dereck and Beverly Joubert ("The Last Lions") have pointed out, hunting the alpha male lion can case the death of over 20 lions. The social structure of the pride is destroyed and an incoming male will kill cubs of the previous male.
This story of the elephants is covered on BBC Earth News here along with a video of the elephants reacting to recorded lions. At ROAR AFRICA we have witnessed elephants bunching protectively around their youngsters in reaction to our own presence. Here is a video of exactly that occurring last year: Elephant Encounter, Linyati, Botswana

For more on the amazing documentary film "The Last Lions" and the trailer, click here.