Where do different animals live? Lesson summary “Where the animals live”
They say that a city is a single organism. Houses with the people living in them are its living cells. Electricity, plumbing, sewerage - something without which these cells could not exist. Gardens and parks are the lungs of the city, the center is its heart. Roads - arteries of the city - supply and saturate its organs - neighborhoods with the necessary materials. The life of this living organism does not stop for a second and in the process of its life it is forced to get rid of toxins - garbage and waste. If we continue this analogy, then the City of Scavengers, as they call it this quarter of Cairo is the liver of an old and sick organism, whose age has exceeded ten centuries.
It's not difficult to get here. It is just half an hour's walk from the Saladin Citadel, one of Cairo's most visited tourist sites. Already from the walls of the Citadel, you will see on the vast panorama of the ten million metropolis a block with houses of an unusual red-violet color. Another question is whether it is worth going here at all and whether you are ready for what you will see here. I decided to do this, driven by curiosity and the passion of a photographer, although I was fully aware that appearing here alone and in the evening could be unsafe. It was reassuring that in the end long journey in Egypt, my appearance was already far from that of a polished tourist with an expensive camera, and I to some extent mimicked the environment around me. I knew that somewhere there, in the Mokattam Mountains, there was the Monastery of St. Simeon and the road to it just passed through the City of Scavengers, so after some thought, I decided to visit those parts. Only when I appeared on the outskirts of the block did I see the following picture: Teenagers have gathered, music is playing from a tape recorder, dancers, taking turns, come to the center of the circle and passionately rap and dance oriental dances.
According to statistics, Cairo generates 6.5 thousand tons of garbage per day, of which 3-3.5 thousand tons are collected by zaballeen, which is the name given to representatives of a special social group of about 40 thousand people living in the Medina Zebela area. For many years now they have been engaged the only thing passed down from generation to generation through the collection, sorting and recycling of waste. The area appeared in 1969, when the Cairo city administration decided to concentrate all waste collectors in one place.
The garbage is brought here by huge dump trucks, which I saw standing along the road - there were about fifty of them, no less! From here, bags of garbage are transported in smaller cars to yards and houses, where families - from children to the elderly - are all engaged in sorting it.
Piles of garbage hanging from balconies and roofs, bags of waste blocking the already narrow streets are the first thing that catches your eye when you enter the territory of this gloomy quarter.
Metal, paper and cardboard, rags and plastic - everything is put in separate bags. Some things are then simply burned, which leaves a heavy smell of burnt plastic hanging over the block; some are taken away to processing plants.
Meanwhile on the streets are coming usual life. Children play and make noise, men sit decorously and smoke a hookah, fruits and baked cakes are sold here, and on the first floors of the houses there are ordinary grocery stores and eateries. In addition to people, the streets are full of animals - goats and chickens, dogs, cats, as well as pigs, which also make their contribution to the destruction of waste.
A couple of times I tried to look inside the dwellings, but the lower floors were usually so densely packed that I was unable to get through to the top. Before “diving” inside, I filled my lungs with more air, who could hardly breathe even outside, let alone the stench reigning inside... The dim setting sun barely made its way through small windows without glass and doorways without doors. In the darkness, it was difficult to see human figures swarming among the waste. Some made prohibiting gestures when they saw the camera, others continued to busily go about their business, not paying any attention to me. Within a minute I was jumping out so as not to suffocate...
And no one pays any attention to the huge bales that are already blocking the passage in places, hanging from all balconies, lying on the roofs of houses and in courtyards. If you add to this the myriads of buzzing flies, dead rats and cats underfoot and, most importantly, the smell that accompanies all this, you get a very real picture of the apocalypse.
Wandering through the streets littered with garbage, my gaze often came across images of Jesus, crosses and other attributes of the Christian faith. The main population of the quarter are Copts, supporters of one of the branches christian church. Copts became scavengers back in the days of Caliph Al-Hakim. He was a ruler from the Fatimid dynasty who conquered Egypt. He put an end to peaceful life all Christians and Muslims living in the country. The Copts, in particular, lost everything. They were supposed to do the dirtiest and hardest work. So garbage became their life. What struck me most was the chapels made of plywood and cardboard suspended on cables and seemingly floating in the openings between the houses. They are covered with pictures depicting the Creator, decorated with crosses and light bulbs. The meaning of such constructions is quite understandable - the holy faces of Jesus should not touch dirt. How to do this in a city that seems to consist only of her?
I returned home from a trip to Egypt and heard a question from my friends: "What did you like best?" And to them, unexpectedly, I am a city of scavengers! The questioner's face suddenly changes color, and surprise appears in his eyes. So, imagine a city in a huge metropolis. Manshiyat Nasir has a population of about 60 thousand, it has its own hospitals, schools, churches, shops, bakeries, etc. And all these people have been doing the same thing for generations - receiving and processing waste from the capital. And about 25-30 million people live in Cairo and its environs. And what was I doing in this hellish place? I drank coffee in the middle of a street with garbage and even went shopping :) Yes, a crazy adventurer!
As soon as you get here, a wild smell of stench immediately hits your nose. It could be decomposed dogs and cats, or maybe rotten food, or maybe something else. Everything was mixed up in a huge dump. I’m even glad that I forgot my iPhone at the hotel that day and didn’t take my camera on the trip. That's why in all the photos I'm a model with trash in the background :)) Thanks for the nice shots puerrtto , they will remember this for a long time great place where he dragged me!
The Coptic quarter of Manshiyat Nasir is not at all tourist place, I would even add the prefix “anti”. It is unpleasant to be here, and in the evening it is simply unsafe. And there were cases when journalists and photographers did not return from here. But now the revolutions have passed in Egypt, the military is in power, the people are not behaving so aggressively. And the children are even very friendly.
The “City of Scavengers” is populated mainly by Coptic Christians; Muslims do not engage in such dirty work. Not even all taxi drivers wanted to take us here. Pick-up trucks with loud Egyptian hits drive back and forth along the narrow streets, children frolic on bales. Child labour here they are no different from adults; from an early age they climb on bags of garbage, helping to disassemble or pack. And you can’t tell from their eyes that they had an unhappy childhood. They haven't seen anything else...
The inhabitants of this area have a name - Zabbaleen, this is a separate social group. They are the descendants of farmers whom life forced in the 30-40s to move to Cairo, when Agriculture stopped providing them. They settled in an abandoned quarry at the foot of Mount Mokattam, but the authorities did not give them the right to rent or buy the land. Therefore, they initially lived in makeshift huts made from barrels. And gradually they began to unofficially collect waste in Cairo. And the quarry in which they live poses a danger of landslides. In 1993, it claimed 40 lives, and in 2008, 100 people died. Here high level morbidity and infant mortality, especially from tetanus. Now the rate has decreased, but 30 years ago, every 4th Zabbaleen child died at birth.
The state does not regulate their activities in any way. It would also be stupid to interfere, who else would do such a thing? dirty business? For a pittance they remove waste from all over Cairo and process 85% of it near their home or in it. The lower floors are used specifically for work, and the higher floors are used for residential apartments. Bales of sorted recyclables are stored on the roofs for removal. There are metal platforms on top of houses where waste is burned, which contributes significantly to air pollution in Cairo. And the city is among the leaders in the world in terms of this poor parameter. Food waste is used as pig feed, which is why Muslims consider this work “unclean.” They even lift the garbage in bags using a cable to their apartment!!!
Take a closer look at this frame; on the right you will see a store with women's Egyptian dresses. I went inside, there were a lot of people, many came just to have their clothes hemmed. There was also a mini-atelier; a guy used a machine to hem someone’s pants. Out of curiosity, I asked how much the dress cost. Not knowing English, he reached for a calculator and typed in the number 70 pounds. I’ll say right away that in no other city have I been offered such clothes for such ridiculous money (7 euros). That is, they didn’t lie, as Arabs usually do. I decided to support the local guys and bought what I liked. Of course, there was no question of any fitting, and at the hotel I thoroughly washed it from smell and dust. Then I put on the dried one and realized how comfortable it was, and all because of the lightness of the fabric.
Already from the Internet I learned that the Manshiyat Nasir district is not connected to the gas network of Cairo, which means that people live without hot water. In 2003, for the first time, an entrepreneur and researcher proposed to solve the problem using a solar heater. People responded with enthusiasm, and 13 were ordered at the beginning. But the price turned out to be unaffordable for many - $650 back in those years. But this was not the worst thing... People began to think that such water, heated by the sun, would bring them new diseases...
In 2009, the Cairo authorities decided to destroy all the pigs in the city due to swine flu, for the Zabbaleen it was like death. All organic waste eaten by pigs. Yes, they can be turned into biogas, but this again requires expensive installations. There is no one from the Zabbaleen in the government, which means that there is no one to represent the interests of 60 thousand people in the capital, to protect them and to demand something from the state. I don’t know all the details about that law on pigs, but to this day they eat food waste in Garbage City.
Having already walked quite a bit, we unexpectedly met good fellow, inviting you to sit down and drink tea or coffee. I was in a stupor. How can you drink anything in this unsanitary environment? But my friend reassured me - they boil the water, so it’s not scary. The coffee tasted strange, but was drinkable. Opposite there was a bakery, but the sight of the buns covered in garbage dust - bebebe...
<Молодой парень вертел в руках недешевый телефон Самсунг, неплохо говорил по-английски и хвастался нам, что это его район, он тут родился и живет всю жизнь. Типа он царь и повелитель мусора:) На мой вопрос "Есть ли тут больница, школа?" он ответил “There is a hospital in the city, but it’s better not to go there, it’s impossible to get cured, many die.”. In general, the 10-minute conversation was strange. He looked at us with disbelief, asking if we were journalists? We ask a lot of strange questions; tourists are usually not interested in this. Or maybe we work for the local KGB? My companion had a political conversation with him, he avoided calling anyone good or bad, and didn’t say anything bad about Muslims either. His fears can be understood, nothing good has been happening in the country for 3 years, the government has already changed a couple of times, and blurting out too much or complaining to foreigners once again could cost him dearly.
This area officially appeared in 1969, when the Cairo city administration concentrated all waste collectors near the Mokattam Hills near the Saladin Citadel. Homeowners, restaurants, and businesses pay a fee to garbage collectors to remove trash from their property. According to statistics, Cairo generates 6.5 thousand tons of garbage per day, most of which is collected by the Zabbaleen. This quarter is the epicenter of the spread of hepatitis and leprosy, as well as an environmental disaster zone. It’s amazing how I remained alive and well after visiting this landfill... But I washed myself in the evening and washed everything thoroughly; I was disgusted by how my hair and clothes began to stink.
When the men return to the village with collected garbage in pickup trucks, their wives and children are waiting for them. Some families specialize in sorting certain materials: paper, aluminum, glass, plastic, etc. In total, waste is divided into 16 different types. Every day women and children can spend up to 10 to 12 hours on this work. Even if they buy a home in another area of Cairo or move for work, they will not be as happy as they are here. This is a religious community, and they feel like brothers and sisters here; about 90% of Christians here, if not higher.
At the top of the quarter, the Coptic Orthodox monastery of St. Simeon the Shoemaker was built. Its amphitheater can accommodate up to 20,000 parishioners. There are a total of 7 churches hidden in the caves. When we came here, it felt like we were already on another planet - cleaner and more pleasant :)))
Scenes of various gospel and biblical subjects are carved and painted on the steep rock walls. Revered by the Coptic Orthodox Church, Saint Simeon (known as the “tanner”, “shoemaker”) lived here in the 10th century and became famous for moving Mount Moqattam from its place in the face of Caliph Al-Muizz. In 1991, his relics were found during archaeological excavations in one of the churches in the old part of Cairo, which are now kept in a monastery named after him in the city of scavengers.
There is also a kindergarten, school and Christian institutions located here. We got here at lunchtime, when school was over. There were a lot of children from Sudan, apparently refugees. But they are dressed neatly and brightly, the girls are in jewelry, with their hair done and manicured. They are radically different from Arab children. Such cleanliness and beauty. There were adults too, maybe teachers or just parents. I was simply lost against the background of their colorfulness.
The complex is richly decorated and well equipped, there is no longer any garbage, children are frolicking, couples are making dates, young people are flying on the Zip Line. And I took advantage of the opportunity to take photos with colorful Africans. For some reason, the monastery had 90 percent of them, and only 10 were Arabs.
In one of the churches there was a service with dancing and sermons by the pastor. We sat down to listen.
On the way out we saw a crowd of onlookers, they approached, and a terrible action was happening there - a man was giving tattoos to everyone. The real ones, without any sanitary measures. The children cried, but went into battle bravely. Many people wanted to have a unique tattoo.
And then another crowd of onlookers formed - around me, these were Arab children.
The minute of fame quickly gets boring, I want to scream at everyone to take their phones and hands away from me, and run for the hills.
Just a few minutes, and from a clean area with a monastery you again find yourself in the dirt and stench. I stayed in this area for maybe an hour or two, only at the end my nerves and receptors gave in - I wanted to break out of the “garbage captivity”. But I constantly asked the question in my head: “How can you live in this shit and not want to get out of the hellish area and do normal work in Cairo itself?” When we were on the way back, I could no longer stand being next to a car filled with bones. The smell of rotten meat was terrible, I felt sick. I covered my nose and waited until she moved away, but I understood that it would take us another half hour to get out on foot. And then a miracle happened - a car began to honk, two guys pointed to the empty rear seats. And happiness came - we were kindly and freely given a ride to the highway.
Why did I need to climb into such slums and look at this trash in Egypt?
I have one answer - to begin to truly appreciate my life, the country of residence, the living conditions in it, its laws, my education, work, salary and much more that Montenegro gives me. To begin to appreciate clean air and healthy food, good ecology in the country where I live, normal water that I drink from the tap. Therefore, there is less need to complain that everything is bad with us and more to find positive aspects. And when I’m moping again, send me a link to this post :))
One of the strangest and most controversial areas to visit in Cairo is Medina Zebela or the City of Scavengers.
This neighborhood, at the foot of Mount Muqattam, consists of the traditional housing developments of Cairo's poor neighborhoods - three to nine-story brick houses with an unfinished upper floor. The same satellite dishes, the same street hookah barsBut there’s just a lot of garbage.
Bags of garbage are stacked in multi-meter pyramids along the streets, all the roofs of houses are littered with bags of garbage, alleys and staircases are blocked. Children play in it, adults dig in it.
Garbage is the basis of the life of the area. Sorting the city's garbage is a job for the zabaleen (scavengers) who inhabit this area.
Visitors, and even those with cameras, are not welcome here. But, holding our nose, we’ll still try to enter
In fact, this is the property of the Scavenger Guild. Here live those who bring garbage here in wheelbarrows and cars from all over the city of 15 million. Its sorting and processing is their bread.
The City of Scavengers is located at the foot of Mount Mukattam. It's a 10-minute walk from the citadel. Or through the Northern Cemetery (the notorious city of the dead) from the Al-Azhar Mosque (about half an hour's walk).
The city of Scavengers is located close to the monastery of St. Simeon. Therefore, tourist buses sometimes pass here, taking pilgrims to the monastery.
Probably due to this proximity, the residents of the quarter are Christians. Although most likely the investigative chain is as follows. Here, near the monastery, a cop quarter arose, and since the Copts were still oppressed in Muslim Cairo, they took up the most “menial” work - sorting out garbage.
The scavengers are busy manually sorting the garbage they bring. It is clearly seen that if Cairo implemented the European system of separate containers for plastic, metal, etc., their work would become easier. Or it would lose its meaning.
Selected plastic, paper, iron, and zabaleen are handed over to the appropriate processing plants.
I also read on the Internet that the Zabaleen supposedly keep 40 thousand pigs that eat food scraps from garbage. And zabaleen manure obtained from pigs is sold as fertilizer. We did not see any hint of pigs in the area we visited.
Brought garbage is stored on the roofs
It is lifted there using special cranes.
About the smell. They say that in the summer you cannot enter the area. People are literally sick of the word. In winter the smell is not particularly noticeable. On the main street. If you go into the gateways and houses where recycling takes place, it’s already hard there.
Sorting is mainly done by women and children.
Men work transporting garbage
Sometimes there is so much garbage that you don’t even notice people right away.
Taking photographs in the area is more difficult than in the rest of Cairo. Many people, especially those sorting garbage, express open dissatisfaction. So most of the photos are without particularly careful aiming.
What is most striking is that this is an ordinary city block. Children in school uniforms walk around, fruits are sold, people sit in hookah bars.
And of course, the children sitting and playing in heaps of garbage are amazing.
The border of the district is beyond the railway. and the highway (Nasser Street) begins the city of the dead
So, you are welcome to the City of Scavengers. After visiting it, you will begin to idolize your work.
Whoever you work for
They say that a city is a single organism.
Houses with people living in them are his living cells. Electricity, plumbing, sewerage - something without which these cells could not exist. Gardens and parks are the lungs of the city, the center is its heart. Roads - the arteries of the city - supply and saturate its organs - neighborhoods - with the necessary materials.
The life of this living organism does not stop for a second and in the process of its life it is forced to get rid of toxins - garbage and waste.
If we continue this analogy, then Manshiyat Nasir or the City of Scavengers, as this quarter of Cairo is called - the liver of an old and sick organism, whose age has exceeded ten centuries.
It's not difficult to get here. It is just half an hour's walk from the Saladin Citadel, one of Cairo's most visited tourist sites.
Already from the walls of the Citadel, you will see on the vast panorama of the ten million metropolis a block with houses of an unusual red-violet color.
Another question is whether it is worth going here at all and whether you are ready for what you will see here.
According to statistics, Cairo generates 6.5 thousand tons of garbage per day, of which 3-3.5 thousand tons are collected by zaballeen, which is the name given to representatives of a special social group of about 40 thousand people living in the Medina Zebela area. For many years now, they have been engaged in the only thing that has been passed down from generation to generation - collecting, sorting and recycling waste.
The area appeared in 1969, when the Cairo city administration decided to concentrate all waste collectors in one place.
Garbage is brought here by dump trucks, then bags of garbage are transported in smaller cars to yards and houses, where families - from children to the elderly - are all sorting it.
Piles of garbage hanging from balconies and roofs, bags of waste, blocking the already narrow streets - this is the first thing that woulddews into your eyes when you enter the territory of this gloomy quarter.
All the first floors of buildings are littered with garbage. You can only get to the second (residential) floor through a narrow passage. The smell is appropriate, insects and clouds of flies too.
Metal, paper and cardboard, rags and plastic - everything is put in separate bags. Some are then simply burned, which leaves a heavy smell of burnt plastic hanging over the block; some are taken away to processing plants. Organic waste is used to feed animals.
Meanwhile, life goes on as usual on the streets. Children play and make noise, men sit decorously and smoke a hookah, fruits and baked cakes are sold here, and on the first floors of the houses there are ordinary grocery stores and eateries.
In addition to people, the streets are full of animals - these are goats and chickens, dogs, cats, as well as pigs, which also make their contribution to the destruction of waste.
And no one pays any attention to the huge bales that are already blocking the passage in places, hanging from all balconies, lying on the roofs of houses and in courtyards.
If you add to this the myriads of buzzing flies, dead rats and cats underfoot and, most importantly, the smell that accompanies all this, you get a very real picture of the apocalypse.
Children among the mountains of garbage find a field for their fun...
The main population of the quarter are Copts, supporters of one of the branches of the Christian church. Copts became scavengers back in the days of Caliph Al-Hakim. He was a ruler from the Fatimid dynasty who conquered Egypt. He put an end to the relatively peaceful life of all Christians and Muslims living in the country. The Copts, in particular, lost everything. They were supposed to do the dirtiest and hardest work. So garbage became their life.
Floating in the openings between houses, chapels are made of plywood and cardboard. They are covered with pictures depicting the Creator, decorated with crosses and light bulbs.
The meaning of such constructions is quite understandable - the holy faces of Jesus should not touch dirt. And how to do this in a city that seems to consist only of her.
That's life? Or does it just seem like life?
Where there are many more animals than people. And today we will show you these places and tell you about them!
1. Sable Island
This is a small Canadian island located in the North Atlantic Ocean 180 km southeast of Nova Scotia. There are five permanent residents living on the island - the staff of the meteorological station. But more than 400 wild horses live here. Many years ago, the animals were left on the island by sailors whose ships were shipwrecked. The horses not only survived, but also began to reproduce successfully; fortunately, there are no problems with food for them on the island.
2. Tashirohima and Aoshima - cat islands
These two islands are gradually being populated by more and more cats, while the natural population of the islands is aging and dying. Veterinarians periodically visit these areas to ensure that all cats are healthy. However, is it possible to keep track of everyone, because cats are completely free to move.
3. Lambay Island (Ireland)
Lambay Island is a small island offshore in the Irish Sea. This is where many wallabies live - a group of species of marsupial mammals from the kangaroo family, much smaller in size than their marsupial relatives.
4. Queimada Grande - “Snake Island” (Brazil)
The island has an area of only about 0.43 square kilometers, but is known as the habitat of one of the most dangerous snakes in the world - the island botrops (Bothrops insularis), whose bite causes rapid tissue necrosis. For this reason, as well as for the sake of preserving flora and fauna, the country's authorities prohibit visiting the island, which is included in the list of the most dangerous places on Earth.
5. Sau Island (Bahamas)
The island is favored by wild pigs, who happily bask both in the salty waters of the ocean and in the numerous fresh reservoirs available on the island.
6. Kauai Island
Kauai is the oldest of the main Hawaiian Islands, dating back 6 million years. The population of chickens inhabiting the island has long gone beyond human control.
7. Ramri Island (Burma)
The giant saltwater crocodiles that inhabit the island reach a length of more than 6 meters.
8. Japanese Fox Village
If you happen to visit Miyagi Prefecture (Japan), do not deny yourself the pleasure of visiting Zao Fox Village Park. While there, you will feel like you are in a real fox kingdom, where you can admire, play or just sit next to red, black and gray foxes - there are hundreds of them!
9. Rabbits of Okunoshima Island
In 1971, Japanese schoolchildren conducted an experiment by releasing 8 rabbits onto the deserted island of Okunoshima. A few years later they multiplied so much that they could be found in every corner of the island.
10. Grand Cayman
This island is home to a huge number of green iguanas. They reproduce here unhindered, since they have practically no natural enemies.
11. The Roman Colosseum is the abode of cats
There are more than 120 thousand wild cats in Rome, and most of them chose the ancient Colosseum as their place of “reign.” According to Roman law, a flock of 5 or more cats is considered a protected colony, so people are prohibited from disturbing them, much less dispersing them.
12. City of Churchill (Canada)
In the north of the province of Manitoba, near the shores of Hudson Bay, there is the only Arctic port in Canada - Churchill. It is home to a large population of white polar bears. The snow-white, furry “rulers of the pole” migrate north every year in October–November. It was during this period that there were a lot of them in the vicinity of Churchill.
13. Sacred rats of Deshnok village (India)
Sacred rats - Kaba - live in the Karni Mata temple in the village of Deshnok near Bikaner. Rats are revered here, fed with sweets and milk, in which they sometimes even bathe. Local Indians believe that the Kaba rats are the embodiment of the inhabitants of this village, who live in the bodies of rats, awaiting their rebirth in human form.
14. Peacock Island - Palos Verdes
The number of these colorful birds inhabiting the island exceeds a thousand. Thanks to this, among other things, there is no need to complain about the lack of tourists there.
15. New Delhi and its many macaques
There are so many macaques in this city that they feel like full residents and enjoy all the privileges available to humans. They also walk the streets, stare at passers-by, and can even sneak into public transport and ride a couple of stops. Here you need to keep your eyes open so as not to lose any of your personal belongings!
16. Bangkok, abandoned New World shopping center
The 11-story New World shopping center in Bangkok was built with violations, so it was closed. Over time, rainwater began to accumulate in the building, which led to the active breeding of mosquitoes. Then, to combat mosquitoes, fish were released into the resulting reservoir. Over the years, the fish population has increased incredibly. Now the waters of the former shopping center are home to several thousand individuals.