- Joined
- Aug 18, 2018
- Messages
- 1,749
Thanks @Scott Chandler ! Rick and I have to go back and see the rest 
The straight line borders have always surprised me.... just draw a line in the sand. But it's common in North America, Africa and the Middle East. I grew up in Europe surrounded by all kind of borders and I remember being glued to the TV when the Berlin wall fell... We often had to carry a passport & many wallets with different currencies. You could drive just a couple of hours and suddenly not understand a word anyone spoke, unless you took the effort in school to learn their language. Languages and borders, both interesting topics!
Highways can be borders for animals. The Netherlands is a tiny country and it has an extensive amount of wildlife bridges ("ecoducts") and tunnels, all above and below highways to facilitate gene flow (essentially migration) and to help avoid the death of animals.
Europe eventually converted to more open borders where natural borders like coast lines became the new 'outer' border. Now the open border structure is slowly closing one checkpoint at a time. I also crossed borders which would be impossible to cross today. I many times visited an old shool friend working for an embassy in Beirut. One time she had an embassy meeting in Damascus and I tagged along on the trip. It was total chaos at the border between Beirut and Damascus. We turned that trip into some sightseeing by continuing driving south via Amman to visit Petra in Jordan's southwestern desert.... Fantastic memories and I am glad to have seen it, but such a road trip is impossible in the Middle East today.
The straight line borders have always surprised me.... just draw a line in the sand. But it's common in North America, Africa and the Middle East. I grew up in Europe surrounded by all kind of borders and I remember being glued to the TV when the Berlin wall fell... We often had to carry a passport & many wallets with different currencies. You could drive just a couple of hours and suddenly not understand a word anyone spoke, unless you took the effort in school to learn their language. Languages and borders, both interesting topics!
Highways can be borders for animals. The Netherlands is a tiny country and it has an extensive amount of wildlife bridges ("ecoducts") and tunnels, all above and below highways to facilitate gene flow (essentially migration) and to help avoid the death of animals.
Europe eventually converted to more open borders where natural borders like coast lines became the new 'outer' border. Now the open border structure is slowly closing one checkpoint at a time. I also crossed borders which would be impossible to cross today. I many times visited an old shool friend working for an embassy in Beirut. One time she had an embassy meeting in Damascus and I tagged along on the trip. It was total chaos at the border between Beirut and Damascus. We turned that trip into some sightseeing by continuing driving south via Amman to visit Petra in Jordan's southwestern desert.... Fantastic memories and I am glad to have seen it, but such a road trip is impossible in the Middle East today.
