THE WILD GUIDE

“Hip bone connected to the back bone; Back bone connected to the shoulder bone; Shoulder bone connected to the neck bone; Neck bone connected to the head bone…”
From Dem Dry Bones by James Weldon Johnson

This month, I would like to take you on a journey ranging from several hundred million years ago to the present day. Although this may seem like a strangely ambitious and long safari, I promise it is one worth taking. Our safari begins in what is now the Karoo, but 265 million years ago when rivers, it was approximately 30cm long and had a rather peculiar part-lizard, part-turtle appearance.