Good Learning Co.
SavannahYear 8
← Geography
GeographyWhere animals live30 min★★★ difficulty

Two regions compared: Kenyan savanna and the Himalaya

Conservation is never only about animals. Compare a region in Africa with one in Asia and the same human questions appear in different clothes.

Lesson overview

What you'll learn in this lesson

Understand geographical similarities, differences and links between places through the study of human and physical geography of a region in Africa and a region in Asia

Key learning points

  • • Kenyan savanna
  • • The Himalaya
  • • The shared problem
  • • Links between the two

This lesson at a glance

  • 30 minutes
  • 19 parts to scroll through
  • 4 quick checks
  • Marked quiz at the end
  • Gentle pace: short sittings with pauses

Words to know

geographicalsimilaritiesdifferencesplacesphysical

Scroll down — the lesson carries on below

Part 1 of 19 · Discover5%
1

Watch & discover

Part 1 of 19

Watch first

Two regions compared: Kenyan savanna and the Himalaya

An English teaching video on this topic from Learn Bright. Watch it, then scroll down for the lesson.

In a nutshell

Understand geographical similarities, differences and links between places through the study of human and physical geography of a region in Africa and a region in Asia

2

What you already know

Part 2 of 19

Before we start

What you already know

You should already know how to describe a place using both physical and human geography.

3

Key words

Part 3 of 19

Key words

Words you'll need today

Physical geography
Landforms, climate, soils, water and ecosystems.
Human geography
People, settlement, work, movement and decisions.
Pastoralist
Someone whose livelihood depends on herding livestock.
Human-wildlife conflict
Harm or loss arising where people and wild animals overlap.
Ecotourism
Tourism intended to fund conservation and benefit local people.
4

Learning cycle

Part 4 of 19

Learning cycle 1 of 2

Two regions in outline

A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.

5

Explore the idea

Part 5 of 19

Learn

Kenyan savanna

Southern Kenya sits between about 1,000 and 2,000 metres, with two rainy seasons and grassland dotted with acacia. Maasai pastoralists graze cattle across the same land used by elephants, lions and migrating wildebeest. Tourism, farming and herding all compete for water and space.

6

Explore the idea

Part 6 of 19

Learn

The Himalaya

The Himalaya rise above 8,000 metres, formed as the Indian plate collided with Eurasia. High valleys are cold and dry, farming is terraced and seasonal, and herders move livestock between altitudes. Snow leopards prey on wild sheep and, sometimes, on herders' goats.

7

Quick check

Part 7 of 19

Quick check

Which pairing is correct?

8

Quick check

Part 8 of 19

Quick check

The Himalaya were formed by

9

Reset break

Part 9 of 19

Pause

That's sitting 1 of 2 done

Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.

Stop here for now
10

Learning cycle

Part 10 of 19

Learning cycle 2 of 2

Same problem, different answers

A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.

11

Explore the idea

Part 11 of 19

Learn

The shared problem

In both regions, a poor family can lose a large part of its income to one predator in one night. If protection produces no benefit locally, killing the predator is the rational choice. Fences, guarding dogs, predator-proof corrals and compensation schemes all attempt to change that arithmetic.

12

Explore the idea

Part 12 of 19

Learn

Links between the two

Both regions are connected to distant places through tourism money, conservation funding, wool and meat markets, and climate change driven mostly by emissions elsewhere. Decisions taken in London or Beijing show up in a Kenyan grazing pattern or a Himalayan snow line.

13

Quick check

Part 13 of 19

Quick check

Predator-proof corrals aim to

14

Quick check

Part 14 of 19

Quick check

A geographical link between both regions and the UK is

15

Common mix-ups

Part 15 of 19

Common mix-ups

Things people often get wrong

  • Human-wildlife conflict is an economic problem, not a sign that local people dislike wildlife.
  • The Himalaya are not uniformly snow-covered; many inhabited valleys are cold deserts.
  • Ecotourism only helps conservation if income actually reaches local households.
16

Challenge round

Part 16 of 19

Game · Sort it

Which of these are true?

Drag each card into the right column. Tap a card first if dragging is fiddly.

True

Not true

17

Challenge round

Part 17 of 19

Game · Fill the gaps

Finish the sentences

Choose the word that belongs in each gap.

Both regions are connected to distant ____ through tourism money, conservation funding, wool and meat markets, and climate change driven mostly by emissions elsewhere.

18

Mastery quiz

Part 18 of 19

Marked quiz

End of lesson quiz: Two regions compared: Kenyan savanna and the Himalaya

6 questions, marked with the reasoning shown. No timer.

  1. 1. Two rainy seasons is a feature of

  2. 2. Terraced farming is used to

  3. 3. Human geography includes

  4. 4. Compensation schemes for lost livestock aim to

  5. 5. Snow leopards prey mostly on

  6. 6. Ecotourism is most effective when

19

Lesson round-up

Part 19 of 19

Lesson round-up

Ready when you are

Quiz score

Not sat

Games

Not played

Points this lesson

0

Best run

0 in a row

Luna: 0 out of 4 on the practice checks. Only if you feel up to it — one more?

Ask Luna

Do the work

Your written work for this lesson

This is the part you'd do in your book at school. Pick the pieces below, write here or on paper, and photograph anything you draw or work out.

Case study

Flooding on the River Calder

The town of Harbrook sits where a steep valley opens onto a flat floodplain. In December 2015, 120 mm of rain fell in 36 hours onto ground that was already saturated. The river rose 2.4 m in five hours, and 380 homes and 54 businesses flooded. Two roads and the railway closed for eleven days.

Geographers pointed to physical causes — steep slopes, impermeable rock, heavy rainfall — and human causes: moorland drained upstream, new housing built on the floodplain, and drains designed for smaller storms.

Since then the town has planted 40 hectares of woodland upstream, built leaky dams in small streams, and raised flood walls to 1.8 m. In the storm of 2020 the peak river level was 0.3 m lower and 40 homes flooded, not 380.

Written for Good Learning Co.

Reading questions

  1. List two physical and two human causes of the 2015 flood.
  2. Explain how planting woodland upstream lowers the river's peak level.
  3. Using the figures, judge how successful the scheme has been. Quote data in your answer.

  • Case study notes

    Writing

    Write the place, the facts and the figures from this lesson so you can revise them later.

    Half a page

  • Explain answer

    Writing

    Answer in full sentences, giving causes and effects. Use one figure or place name as evidence.

    8–10 sentences

  • Map or sketch

    Diagram

    Draw the map, cross-section or field sketch with a key, title and labels, then photograph it.

    1 map with a key

  • Data work

    Working out

    Plot your figures as a graph on paper and write one sentence about the pattern.

    1 graph + 1 sentence

Saved as you type.

Part 1 of 19 · Watch & discover

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