Weekly Prompt: Wilderness Found
This week we’re explorers of new wild places to set our stories
In reserching this month’s theme I came across a fact that I found at first surprising but when you review it on a map it makes a lot of sense.
70% of the world’s wilderness is in five countries
The five countries are Australia, the US, Brazil, Russia and Canada. The Sahara is that big African spread of wilderness hosted in many countries.
As a South African, proud of our natural heritage, I was saddened to see that The Kruger National Park is not even a pixel on this map. Game Reserves don’t count it seems, which makes sense if we consider them man-made.
The Kruger has a web of roads and rest camps and is enclosed by fences on most sides. So indeed perhaps not a wilderness.
University of Queensland researchers define wilderness as
A biologically and ecologically largely intact landscapes that are mostly free of human disturbance.
This does not exclude people, as many wild places are critical to certain communities including for indigenous peoples.
Rather, wilderness has lower levels of human impact such as large-scale land conversion, industrial activity, or infrastructure development.
Pick a country, you’re not from or haven’t been to. Or if you’re amazingly well travelled find a regions you’ve not seen. The map above should provide ample inspiration.
Forests are new for me, we don’t have many real forests where I live, so I find them endlessly fascinating. They seem so peaceful and rich in age and quiet.
What’s new for you?
Why not explore these webcams they’re an easy way to lose a few hours (fair warning workday writers). They also provide a window into the wider world if you find yourself locked down and hemmed in by four familiar walls.
You can also listen in to the wilderness in some. I don’t know about you but I neglect all the senses when I write, being such a visually dominated designer.
Find something new to you, a wilderness you’ve never known about. Make your own discoveries learn about a new place. Now that you have your setting, now that you know something of this land — drop us into a story here.
Throw us into turmoil, in medias res. Help us learn about the place, to feel like we’ve been there with you. Let us stand on the same soil, smell the same grasslands, and have our hairs raise at the same lion’s roar.
If you can’t pick one, then write as many as you want. Send us one a day.
This week you have 200 words exactly to show us what you’ve found and make us feel something.
Use the sorting tag: Wilderness Found
Next week we look into the idea of rewilding the world in Wilderness Remade.
*Apologies my internet connection was so poor out on the farm where we’re staying for the weekend that I couldn’t search for the most inspiring images.