As part of my blogexplorations of the internet I have been intrigued with the articles about fly fishing in South Africa that are being published on AllAfrica.com. I really can't tell if they are for the fly fishing or against it but they sure make for interesting reading. The author of this article Neels Blom, talks about the real estate boom that is going on in the village of Dullstroom due to the growth of fly fishing on the water there. I enjoy his ability as a wordsmith when he writes, "but I'll lay money that on any Friday night the kilometer-square rating for wine quaffery and general face stuffing by upwardly mobile professionals must rank with the combined bourgeois gluttony of everything north of Empire Road". I think he is taking a swipe at the yuppies and you have got to love that!
He also makes a good point about conservation and how trout fishing has helped Africa, "Perhaps a more important fact is that trout cannot survive in anything but pristine waters, which means the commercial success of trout fishing requires a fanatical level of water-quality management. If there are trout in the water you can drink it.
You can drink it. That is the point. We may agonize about the riverine rabbit and blue crane, but environmental management is really about our own survival. The earth doesn't care. However much we may stuff it up, when we're gone, the natural way will prevail. In the meantime, we need clean water."
He ends by saying "It is offensive that public resources are exploited for private gain. But, for now, the entrepreneurs are what stand between maintaining clear headwaters and the whole lot turning into a toxic sewer." See what I mean by love/hate?
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