Who, Where, Why, How?

Who??
I am a dynamic figure, often seen scaling walls and crushing ice. I have been known to remodel train stations on my lunch breaks, making them more efficient in the area of heat retention. I translate ethnic slurs for Cuban refugees, I write award-winning operas, I manage time efficiently. Occasionally, I tread water for three days in a row.

I woo women with my sensuous and godlike trombone playing, I can pilot bicycles up severe inclines with unflagging speed, and I cook Thirty Minute Brownies in twenty minutes. I am an expert in stucco, a veteran in love, and an outlaw in Peru.

Using only a hoe and a large glass of water, I once single-handedly defended a small village in the Amazon Basin from a horde of ferocious army ants. I play bluegrass cello, I was scouted by the Mets. I am the subject of numerous documentaries. When I'm bored, I build large suspension bridges in my yard. I enjoy urban hang gliding. On Wednesdays, after school, I repair electrical appliances free of charge.

I am an abstract artist, a concrete analyst, and a ruthless bookie. Critics worldwide swoon over my original line of corduroy evening wear. I don't perspire. I am a private citizen, yet I receive fan mail. I have been caller number nine and won the weekend passes. Last summer I toured New Jersey with a traveling centrifugal-force demonstration. I bat .400. My deft floral arrangements have earned me fame in international botany circles. Children trust me.

I can hurl tennis rackets at small moving objects with deadly accuracy. I once read Paradise Lost, Moby Dick, and David Copperfield in one day and still had time to refurbish an entire dining room that evening. I know the exact location of every food item in the supermarket. I have performed covert operations for the CIA. I sleep once a week; when I do sleep, I sleep in a chair. While on vacation in Canada, I successfully negotiated with a group of terrorists who had seized a small bakery. The laws of physics do not apply to me.

I balance, I weave, I dodge, I frolic, and my bills are all paid. On weekends, to let off steam, I participate in full-contact origami. Years ago I discovered the meaning of life but forgot to write it down. I have made extraordinary four-course meals using only a Mouli and a toaster oven. I breed prizewinning clams. I have won bullfights in San Juan, cliff-diving competitions in Sri Lanka, and spelling bees at the Kremlin. I have played Hamlet, I have performed open-heart surgery, and I have spoken with Elvis.

But I have not yet finished 'varsity.

[From Harper's "This essay, by Hugh Gallagher, won first prize in the humor category of the 1990 Scholastic Writing Awards. ]

No really...Who??
Untamed South Africa is created and maintained by Gerhard Louw. I am a Civil Engineering Student at the University of Pretoria and currently work full time at the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry. I am not a computer programmer or graphic artist, but somehow I manage to get along with the design of this site, and enjoy every minute of it!

Where??
I live in the beautiful city of Pretoria in Gauteng, South Africa. I love Pretoria and think that it's great because it's not too small (booooring) and not to big and busy. (Although it's growing pretty fast) I've even heard some people say that if Pretoria was next to the see, it would be the best place in the world. (hmm?? :-)

Why??
Since I was born in Benoni, Transvaal, just over 24 years ago, I traveled all through this beautiful country on tours, camping in the bush, hiking, site seeing, etc. etc... I love the beauty of this country and would like to introduce it to people from all over the world. We need to forget about the horrors of the past and move on to create a better place to live for all the people of this great nation. Yes, there have been many hard times, and even now it's far from moon shine and roses, but through positive thinking and hard work we can make this a country to be proud of - not only for South Africa, but for the whole continent of Africa.

When??
I got my homepage at Geocities somewhere in October of 1996 but the counter was only activated in February the next year('97). Since the start, the site have seen many drastic changes and I have put in many hours of hard work to provide visitors with the best possible viewing experience.

How??
Although I have used WYSIWYG HTML Editors like FronPage97/98 and Netscape Gold in the past, I feel much more comfortable doing all the coding on good 'ol NotePad. To me most WYSIWYG Editors are not flexible enough and make a page much more browser specific. Almost all graphics and animated gifts were created by me, and are not free to be used by everyone. (Ask first) I surf on both Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator (both recently upgraded to version 4) to ensure that the site is viewable to both browsers (Geeesh, and that can be hard sometimes!) Generally I prefer IE because the site looks better, but I am still a loyal fan of good 'ol Netscape.

Future??
In the future I will be making use of many more internet technologies, like JavaScript, Dynamic HTML, ActiveX and Java. I have some very ambitious plans for the use of these technologies, but it will depend on how much time I have available to work on it.

Disclaimer
Untamed South Africa is a non-profit personal site and is aimed at providing good quality information on South Africa to anyone why might be interested. I do this only for fun, and to give something back to the Internet community. All photos remain the property of the various photographers and I am not trying to steel or discredit their work. If for some reason you don't want your photos displayed here, please e-mail me, so I can remove it ASAP.