Hello! I'm ROBwithaB,
coming to you from sub-tropical south Africa.
It’s the middle of June,
and fire season is almost upon us.
As you can see behind me here,
the grass is long,
and dry
in fact if I put a match to this right now with the wind
it'll probably go.
Of course nowadays we think of fire in terms of its dangers but,
a couple of thousand years ago
fire was vital to survival.
Fire’s always been an integral part
of the ecology of the African savanna,
but being able to control fire
gave early humans a massive advantage,
in terms of survival.
In the olden days,
we were definitely not top of the food pyramid. In fact,
often we were lunch.
So fire was...uuuuh...a
way to keep wild animals away,
specially predators;
it encouraged
grazing animals, which were easier
to hunt;
provided warmth in the winter, because it can get cold, even here.
Fire also provided light so that people could work
after dark doing things like,
chipping tools and so on.
So, it was a huge advantage.
In fact, there is a theory that the
first
migrations of humans out of Africa
corresponded
with the
invention of fire.
By “invention” I mean,
the ability to control fire.
Of course nowadays
you’re far more likely to die as a result of fire
than as a result of not having fire.
But in a lot of survival situations
being able to start and sustain a fire is a matter of life or death.
I started thinking about all the different methods one could possibly use for lighting a fire,
and so far I've come up with over a hundred.
Pretty cool, huh!
Starting today...
I'm going to show you 101 ways to make fire
But, to make it more interesting
I'm only going to use stuff
that I can find in the house,
or around the house.
Okay let's have a look!
Fish bowl...
Girly ornaments...
That’s going to work!
And that, the torch
Crockery...
Cutlery...
Ice...
A broom yeah, that'll work.
Have I got cling wrap? Yup!
Hey it's a long list I’m not going to go through all of them right now,
but if you think this is interesting stay tuned!
In the meantime,
let's go back to the beginning...
