Friday, October 17, 2014

Experiencing the Steppe

The wind whips through the steppe in an all consuming roar.  Every once and a while, the wind bursts will lull into a gentle breeze, revealing the hidden chirps and songs of the feathered inhabitants of this harsh environment.  Yet with each new burst of wind, the flap of clothes or the whistle through hair and clapping through shrubs and grasses create a staccato of sounds.

It's amazing that with as much wind that whips through this landscape that rocks remain as sharp as they are, giving the impression of fresh frost wedging.  I would have expected more rounded stones from wind erosion, slowly molding and reshaping the seemingly barren landscape.  Yet the steppe is very much alive.

Each jagged rock is covered in an assortment of lichen from the curly fruticose to the sheet-like crustose.  Browns, greys, and plate greens with speckles of yellow and orange add depth to the tan stones.  

Between the rocks in small patches of soil an amazing diversity of plants take root.  Succulents grow close to the ground, while grasses blow in the wind.  Flowers are interspersed between the other vegetation and range from delicate white to eggshell, straw-like flowers to little blue and wind-beaten yellow trumpets amid a mat of pink.

Ants travel through the rocks and under the wind breaks of the plants.  Some carry little pieces of lichen to take back to their nest to share.  Others seem to search or patrol through this arid landscape.

In a country renowned for its "big blue sky," there is so much more to experience and explore when one just takes a moment to notice.