Rob and his real-life fantasy

Long before fossils were found outside Grahamstown in the mid-1980s, Rob Gess was bitten by the palaeontology bug.
“I grew up in Makhanda – the new name for Grahamstown – but I often visited my uncle’s farm in the Colesberg district of the Karoo. I found a Dicynodon skull there when I was eight years old and I’ve been hooked ever since.”
Dicynodon was a herbivorous animal that was toothless except for two prominent tusks – the name means “two dog teeth”. They thrived in the Upper Permian period around 250 million years ago, but it was fossils from an earlier period – the Late Devonian period around 360 million years ago – that catapulted Rob’s career.
“I was still in high school when the fossil site at Waterloo Farm was discovered in 1985. A new highway bypass was being cut through the hills south of Grahamstown as part of the government’s response to anti-apartheid protests. Protesters would block the road through the town and the township. When the road was diverted, fossil-bearing black shale was exposed.”
Following Rob’s earlier Karoo discovery, Dr Norton Hiller, a palaeontology professor at Rhodes University, had fostered his love of fossils. Norton led the early research on Waterloo and encouraged Rob’s exploration of the site, supervising his collection of material. Years later, after Rob had completed a science degree at Rhodes, Norton hired him to systematically excavate the site.
Waterloo had been a brackish estuary all those millions of years ago, where a river mouth opened to the sea. The remains of animals and plants settled in the dark mud where they often didn’t decay due to a lack of oxygen necessary for bacteria.
この記事は go! - South Africa の October/November 2023 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,500 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です ? サインイン
この記事は go! - South Africa の October/November 2023 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,500 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です? サインイン

For the love of pasta!
Few dishes are as comforting as a bowl of pasta. Here are six recipes for everything from a quick dinner to a long kuier.

On high alert in West Africa
In 2023, Jean Cooper and De Witt Oosthuizen rode their motorcycles from Pretoria to Madrid. In this instalment, they're deep in West Africa, slogging their way through Benin, Togo, Ghana, the Ivory Coast and Guinea.

Backing with purpose
Over the last two decades, the writers at go! have formed close relationships with different cars. In the 2000s and 2010s there were Toyota Condors and Renault Dusters, and now our dirt-road tourer of choice is a Suzuki Jimny. This diminutive 4x4 is very capable off-road, but packing space comes at a premium. As a result, we’ve discovered some great gear to make life easier when travelling in a small car.

FESTIVAL OF HIKING A HUGE SUCCESS
Nearly a thousand people gathered at Meerendal outside Durbanville over the weekend of 14–16 February, for the second go! Festival of Hiking, presented by Stanley in association with Salomon, and supported by Solal, Cape Nature and Trail Food.

Easy in the EC
Kenton-on-Sea is a holiday town between the Kariega and Bushmans rivers. It’s a place for walking barefoot and looking for hidden beaches, and where you might see a lion swimming across the river…

The Table is set!
Behind the famous postcard photo of Table Mountain lies a rich history among the forests, reservoirs and beaches of the Cape Peninsula. On the new Cape Point to Cable Car Trail, you can experience it all.

A feather for your thoughts
Befriend some birds and they'll make you smile for free. They'll impress with their incredible feats, and they might even show you a glimpse of the past.

BIRDS
WAIT YOUR TERN

Where the Lord rested
Wupperthal is a village deep in the folds of the Cederberg. The people who live there are no strangers to suffering, but they’re also full of hope.

The Mushroom Fundi
Table Mountain attracts all kinds of people – cyclists, hikers, tourists and the “mountain goats” who run to the top every day. And then there’s Gary Goldman, wandering around with a basket… What’s he doing – going on a picnic?