An Island in the Sky
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a group of students more eager to trek up a mountain at the crack of dawn as our group this morning. The terrain was definitely rocky and arid, but the amount of biodiversity was shocking and there were signs of fog and moisture everywhere. After just one brief lesson with Dr. Fog, Vicky Marzol, it became clear that much of the technical research had been conducted. The fog nets can indeed capture a large amount of clean water, but what they cannot do is transport the water collected at the top of the mountain down to the villages at the base of the mountain that have the greatest need. The efficiency of the fog nets is based primarimy on elevation and orientation with regards to the direction of the fog. In a region where fog hangs overhead for the majority of the year, it is hard to imagine that there is as of yet no feasible way to harvest and distribute it. The radio tower guards at Boutmezguida record the daily measurements in exchange for use of the fog water for drinking, cooking, and plumbing. Their extreme generosity in aiding this research effort if grealy appreciated, but we need to find a way to get water down to the peopl who need it most. After seeing the vegetation and signs of moisture on the hike up, Vicky suggested looking into a catchment system that utilizes the local vegetation.
When the fog the rolled in around 5 pm it was as if we were slowly becoming more and more isolated from the rest of the world. I was truly speechless as I sat watching these enourmous moutains become enveloped by the fog. Within 30 minutes it was as if we were all sitting on an island in the sky. The trek down was bittersweet. I was not only sad to leave the soldiers, but also to leave my view from up above the fog and descend down into it.
