’n Avontuurwedloop in die natuurlike habitat van die Seringveld-bewarea naby Pretoria is ’n lekker wegbreekkans vir veldlopers,
DiCaprio speel hier met ‘leotjies’
MARZAHN BOTHA.
2010-07-27
Die Amerikaanse rolprentster Leonardo DiCaprio het onlangs
met die leeuwelpies gespeel toe hy Horseback Africa besoek het. Die sosiale
vlinder Paris Hilton het ook hier ’n perderit meegemaak. Foto: THEONIE MACRAE
Twee avontuursport-entoesiaste,
Christiaan Greyling en sy vriendin, Landi Visser, se liefde vir veldlope het
hulle aangespoor om die Seringveld Diamond Dash-avontuurdag in die
Seringveld-bewarea noordoos van Pretoria aan te bied.
Die Seringveld-bewarea is ongeveer 20 km buite Pretoria en 15 km noordwes
van die dorp Cullinan. Dit dek sowat 18 000 ha in die Dinokeng-gebied.
Diegene wat op ’n koue wintersoggend uit Johannesburg vertrek, sal lae
klere afskil namate die dag in dié gebied met sy warmer klimaat vorder.
Daar is ’n verskeidenheid akasia- en die inheemse wildeseringbome (Burkea
africana) wat die Bosveldgevoel verklap.
Greyling, Visser en nog twee spanmaats staan saam bekend as Team Gijima,
wat in Zoeloe “om vinnig te kan hardloop” beteken. Hulle het die byeenkoms
gereël.
Avontuurwedloopspanne wat uit twee of drie lede bestaan, moes oor ’n ruwe
terrein van punt tot punt met kompasse en kaarte navigeer.
Deelnemers kon inskryf vir ’n avontuurwedloop oor 30 km of 50 km, ’n
bergfietswedren oor 30 km of ’n tweekamp oor 12 km. Al die deelnemers het by
Bufulong Lodge weggespring.
“Gedurende die navigasiedele van die wedloop moes spanne van een
kenmerkende Seringveld-boomspesie na ’n volgende navigeer, sodat die deelnemers
’n idee kry van wat die plante-erfenis van die gebied is,” het Greyling gesê.
Veldlopers is beproef deur die omgewing se uitdagings, en die
ondersteuners het nader gestaan om te sien hoe die fietsryers oor die
palethoutbrug ry wat deur ’n ingenieur en boer in die omgewing, Jan Visser, en
sy span gebou is.
Interessant genoeg kon wildeseringbome nog nie suksesvol gekweek word nie.
Die gekweekte boompies vrek binne ’n kort tyd.
Boomsoorte soos die Transvaalse boekenhout, die lekkerbreek en die silwer
en groen variante van die vaalboom vind ’n mens ook hier.
Dié gebied is in 1997 deur ’n groep besorgde inwoners gestig om die
natuurlike en geskiedkundige erfenis te bewaar.
“Die Seringveld is deel van die suidelike punt van die Waterberg-geologie
en flora. Dit word gekenmerk deur sanderige grond, wat gespesialiseerde plante-
en dieregemeenskappe huisves,” het Visser gesê.
Plaaslike grondeienaars, lodge-eienaars en inwoners van die omgewing doen
wat hulle kan om na die bewarea om te sien.
Wild is volop. Die kameelperde en sebras het toegekyk hoe die deelnemers
op hul fietse oor die paletbrug ry.
Verder beweeg koedoes, duikers, steenbokke, vlakvarke, ystervarke,
rooijakkalse, bruin hiënas, rooikatte, muskeljaatkatte, otters en die
ondergrondse erdvark vrylik hier rond. Luiperds is ook al enkele kere hier
gesien.
“Ekotoerisme bly die antwoord vir die instandhouding van hierdie gebied,” het
Visser gesê.
Die besoeker aan hierdie boomryke gebied kan in ’n verskeidenheid
verblyfplekke tuisgaan.
In die aangrensende Tweedespruit-bewaringsarea is die eksklusiewe lodge
Horseback Africa, wat aan dr. Colin MacRae behoort. Bekende persoonlikhede soos
Paris Hilton en Leonardo DiCaprio het op verskillende tye gedurende die
Wêreldbeker-sokkertoernooi hier tyd op die perd se rug en by die leeus
deurgebring.
“Ons is bekend vir ons perdry-safari’s en vir die staptogte saam met
leeuwelpies van vier maande na ’n jaar toe oud, wat saam met die besoeker rivier
toe stap,” het Theonie MacRae gesê.
Casa Riparia is die lodge van die Goodland Estate in die
Seringveld-bewarea, en dit bied ook verblyf vir gaste en het ’n uitsig oor ’n
mooi dam.
Besoekers kan uit hul voertuie na die wild kyk of die voetpad oor 12 km
aandurf, vir swartbaars hengel en na meer as 200 soorte voëls kyk.
By die Bukhutso Lodge kan besoekers jukskei speel en na die wild by die
watergat kyk.
Die Seringveld-bewarea is naby aan Cullinan, waar besoekers op myntoere
kan gaan, historiese geboue kan besoek en by oulike eetplekke kan eet.
Kontak
- Jan Visser – taem@lantic.net of 012 732 0034
- Bhukotso Lodge – khutso@gmail.com of 082 377 3221
- Horseback Africa – www.horsebackafrica.com of 012 735 9908
- Goodland Estate – www.goodland.co.za of 082 520 2232
- The African Butler Exclusive Game Lodge – www.africanbutler.co.za/overview of 012 430 2217
- Bergsig-kwekery vir inheemse plante – louis@agriwebsa.com of 082 461 7262
- Besoek ook www.cullinanmeander.co.za.
Die veldlopers wat deelgeneem het aan die Seringveld
Diamond Dash-avontuurdag naby Pretoria.
Bergfietsryers wys hul slag in die Sering-bewarea noord
van Pretoria.
Die paletbrug in die Seringveld-bewarea waaroor die atlete en fietsryers moes ry. Foto: FANIE PRINS
Groot lastereis moet wag
Apr 23 2009 09:11:21:607AM - (SA)
Hettiën Strauss
’n Vier jaar lange hofgeding waarin R170 miljoen van omgewingsaktiviste geëis word, is vir nog ’n jaar uitgestel.
Die maatskappy Wraypex, wat aan Robbie Wray behoort, is die applikant in die hofgeding, wat in die Pretoriase hooggeregshof uitgestel is.
Wraypex beweer lede van die Renosterspruit-bewarea het hulle skuldig gemaak aan naamskending omdat hulle glo sê die “ontwikkelingsregte” vir die Blair Atholl-gholflandgoed naby die Lanseria-lughawe is “onwettig”.
Dié gholflandgoed van 600 ha is noordwes van Johannesburg, tussen die Wieg van die Mensdom, die Renosterspruit-bewarea en die Lanseria-lughawe geleë.
Die grond het voorheen aan die gholflegende Gary Player behoort. Hy het ook die gholfbaan op die landgoed ontwerp.
Die verweerders is die vier komiteelede van die Renosterspruit-bewarea. Die voorsitter van die bewarea, Helen Duigan, sê:
“Ons hou voet by stuk dat dié ontwikkelaar nie die nodige prosesse wat deur die wet voorgeskryf word, gevolg het nie. Waarom is sy ontwikkeling dan ’n tyd lank deur die departement van omgewingsake gestaak?
“Ons het genoeg dokumentêre bewyse van die departement om ons verweer te staaf. “Die afgelope vyf jaar was daar al 22 aansoeke vir ontwikkelings, groot en klein, in en langs die bewarea.”
Duigan sê hulle benader elke aansoek deur te registreer as ’n geaffekteerde party en dit van die begin tot die einde te monitor. “Ons is al deur diep waters, maar ons wil nie hê ons omgewing moet vernietig word nie.”
Mervyn Gayland, ’n chemiese ingenieur en lid van die bewarea, sê hy het verlede week drie dae in die hof deurgebring. “Geen vordering is gemaak nie. Die sage sloer al van 2005 en veroorsaak vir ons baie frustrasie.”
Wray sê elke mens het die reg op ’n mening en hy respekteer dit.
“Ons voer die hofstryd omdat ons reeds in 2005 die wettige regte verkry het om met die ontwikkeling voort te gaan. “Ten spyte daarvan het die omgewingsaktiviste ons met ’n hofbevel probeer keer.” Die bevel is nie toegestaan nie.
“Die omgewingsgroep maak nog sekere aantygings teen ons en oor die rekord van beslissing (RoD) wat glo in ons guns verander moes word. Hulle sit kwansuis met die bewyse. “Die aantygings is van alle waarheid ontbloot.”
Wray sê sy maatskappy het niks om weg te steek nie. Hulle is baie trots op dié ontwikke-ling. “Die gholfbaan is verlede jaar aangewys as die naasbeste gholfbaan in die land
March 14th 2009
Vet’s unique operation gives injured bullfrog a new lease on life
Anne Mearns, who has been working in conservation since 1981, is rehabilitating
this giant bullfrog, estimated to be about 25 years old, at her home in Benoni.
A vet put a pin in the bullfrog’s leg after it was bitten by a
dog
and
it seems to be healing well.
PICTURE: CARA VIERECKL
By Sheree Béga
A RARE giant bullfrog has been given the chance to hop again
after a Benoni vet inserted a steel pin into its broken leg during a unusual
operation.
The leg was hurt when the frog was attacked by a dog.
The amphibian, believed to be about 25 years old, would have died from his
injuries if the “amazing procedure” had not been performed, says conservationist
Anne Mearns, who has spent two months nursing the frog back to health. “Someone
had left the frog at our vet’s surgery,” explains Mearns from her Benoni plot.
“He took X-rays and saw that the frog’s leg had been broken.
The vet had contacted Onderstepoort for advice. “He rubbed a drop of the
anesthetic that they use for cats and dogs, that had been very diluted, on to
the frog’s skin. “It went to sleep for three days. The vet put a steel pin in
the right hind leg of the frog.
“I’ve never heard of a frog going through this kind of operation. The vet was
amazing to connect two broken pieces of leg, put a pin in and stitch it back up
again,” she says, of the operation.
Mearns, a recipient of the UN Environmental Global 500 Role of Honour for her
work on wetlands, has devoted her life to protecting giant bullfrogs on
Gauteng’s East Rand, spending the past year leading a frog awareness campaign in
conjunction with the Gauteng Conservancy Association.
But it is through nurturing this injured bullfrog that Mearns has gleaned the
most insight into the behaviour of these colossal, carnivorous amphibians, which
are threatened by rampant urban development.
“I looked for insects for him to eat on our plot and write down everything that
he eats every day. He loves dung beetles, termites, crickets, flies and moths.
Dung worms are his favourite and he has eaten 900 so far.
“I let him go out for little jumps so he gets some exercise,” Mearns says. “He
does trust me. He eats out of all of our hands. He is really quite something.”
Giant bullfrogs spend most of the year underground hibernating and only emerge
to breed and feed with the first spring rains. Mearns’s frog is keen to
hibernate now “The frog has been back to the vet, who said that the leg had been
connected to the part that was broken. It was split in halt “He still has
stitches in his leg and we’re waiting for those to dissolve before we can put
him into hibernation in a special container.
“He will be released into the wild by the end of the year.
“We’ll put him into one of our conservancies and implant a monitor to see where
he goes at the end of the year, when he comes out of hibernation,” Mearns adds.
Contact Anne Mearns on 073 210 3340 or a.mearns@mtnloaded.co.za with any
information
about frogs in your region.
The bullfrog tannie
September 13, 2008
By Sheree Béga
Anne Mearns remembers her childhood spent playing in the wetlands on Gauteng's East Rand, surrounded by her "living friends" - frogs. But today most of those wetlands have vanished along with their gentle, croaking inhabitants.
"Many of the wetlands are built up into roads and cluster homes," says Mearns from her Benoni plot.
"These wetlands were the treasure fields of birds, animals, mammals, fish, amphibians and many species of plants that are gone."
Now Mearns, a recipient of the UN Environmental Global 500 Role of Honour for her work on wetlands, is leading a one-year frog identification and awareness campaign with the Gauteng Conservancy Association, which hopes to gather data on the status of frogs across South Africa.
"For this frog identification census we want information on all kinds of frogs, where they occur, what type, what numbers, from all over the country. Call it a national frog count," explains Mearns, adding three-quarters of SA's 110 species are dependant on disappearing wetlands.
The initiative started in March. But frogs have spent the past few months in hibernation and will start to emerge to breed and feed only with the first spring rains.
Mearns is urging residents to identify frogs in their gardens and in local wetlands and grasslands, and report back to the project. She has already received hundreds of phone calls and e-mails. "There's a very big awakening about frogs. We started as a provincial project but people all over South Africa are involved. This is a way to make people aware that there's a place for nature - and for frogs too," says Mearns, who is compiling information booklets on frogs for nursery, primary and high schools, to be delivered within weeks.
In the late 1990s Mearns led a wetland count in the Benoni region that identified about 135. Few remain. Mearns reserves her scorn for property developers destroying the region's wetlands, and questions the authorities who continue to approve development in sensitive areas.
"These people couldn't care less about wetlands or frogs. It's all about money. I've had developers chase me out of their developments, or who laugh at me and call me the 'old bullfrog tannie'. But if you take out a wetland, you destroy so many different kinds of life."
Frogs are vital indicators of the health of ecosystems. "Our water is so polluted, and if frogs are no longer there, it's a sign of how bad it is. I've put myself in the place of these thousands of frogs. If my home is polluted, I have to leave." Mearns is enamoured by the area's giant bullfrogs that live and breed in the surrounding Bullfrog Pan and Sand Pan, which is increasingly encircled by housing developments and major roads. "If you pick up a dead adult giant bullfrog that has been driven over, it's very sad. It can live for 30 years. Last [rainy] season, we rescued 105 adult bullfrogs. We're so happy when we find them because it means they're still around.
"When the first rains come I know I'm going to be so busy. Last year, people arrived at our plot with hundreds of frogs in their car boots that they rescued from being squashed on roads, and we reintroduced them to the wetlands in Benoni."
Conservationists declared 2008 the Year of the Frog because, globally, one in three of the 6 000 known amphibian species, including frogs, toads and salamanders, faces extinction from habitat loss, climate change, pollution, pesticides and invasive species.
A deadly parasitic fungus called amphibian chytrid, believed to have originated from the export of African clawed frogs in SA for use in pregnancy tests abroad, is having a catastrophic effect on global frog populations.
Martin John van Rooyen, an aquarist at Johannesburg Zoo, which is running a breeding programme for local frog species, says places like Boksburg used to be "frog country". "It's amazing how habitat destruction and development have not only changed the life of frogs but also that of birds like the blue crane, which used to be in the wetlands in Midrand. We need to protect these places and invest in our future."
Contact Mearns on 073-210-3340 or
a.mearns@mtnloaded.co.za
This article was originally published on page 8 of The Star
on September 13, 2008
Jozi to get its own green thumb
21/06/2008 17:38 - (SA)
A
planned conservancy along Joburgs southern edge will
link the Klipriviersberg Nature Reserve with the
hills of Roodepoort, writes LUCILLE
JOZI’s distinctive ridges are to be the links for a huge conservancy that could connect Ekurhuleni’s green spaces in the east to the tall koppies of Roodepoort in the west.
The initiative is being driven by development consultant Andrew Barker and Clem Kourie, the honorary chairperson of the Klipriviersberg Nature Reserve Association (KNRA), together with Johannesburg City Parks.
“The
KNRA,
This
project will include the stretch of land from the N12 southern bypass to the
A conservancy is a registered voluntary association between land users and landowners who wish to cooperate to manage their natural resources in an environmentally-friendly manner without changing the land use of their properties.
“The establishment of conservancies gives the ordinary member of a community the opportunity to get involved in the conservation and management of the local environment,” says the KNRA’s website.
There
are 32 conservancies in the province registered with the
Kourie
says residents of the southern suburbs, including Glenanda,
Glenvista, Mulbarton, Mondeor and
“A
critical component of this proposal is the sustainable promotion and
development of the natural environmental resources and rehabilitation of areas
located along the
The conservancy will focus on the 680ha nature reserve south of Mondeor. Game has recently been introduced to the reserve, making it possible for residents to hike and watch game just 10km from the city centre.
“The
area is rich in natural resources, varying from the beautiful wooded Klipriviersberg range of hills to grasslands and wetlands
and to prolific birdlife along the
“It contains red-data species as well as numerous heritage sites such as the ruins of the dwellings of Sotho and Tswana people who lived there 300 and more years ago, an old Voortrekker farmstead, Boer War fortifications and sites of interest from the goldrush days.”
Kourie says the wider area has “considerable tourism, recreational, cultural, educational and developmental potential”.
The
initiative has the backing of many of the players in the area. The South of
Sojo’s main aim is to promote business, tourism and the environment across the southern side of the city.
The Sojo Development Band, established in 2001, is a key focus in Region F’s spatial development framework. The aim is to maximise the value of existing economic and tourism nodes to enhance job creation and investment in the south.
This
will incorporate business, tourism and heritage facilities in
This initiative is to be called the Sojo Business, Tourism and Recreation Loop and will benefit from the establishment of the conservancy.
The
nearby Afrisam quarry and the
The
conservancy will also include the
To the east is the Rietvlei Zoo Farm, the Thaba Ya Batswana and Stonerivers Arches developments, Rand Water property and, further east, the wetlands and pristine hillsides of Ekurhuleni. The estates across Meyersdal to the east will be a valuable addition. All these parties are interested in the new development.
To the north, the Mondeor and Ridgeway hills will also be part of the conservancy and various residential and agricultural holdings will be included.
These areas have valuable recreation facilities already in place. These include cycling, mountain biking, golf and canoeing and extend to micro-lighting and model airplane activities, says Barker.
The agriculture department and City Parks are helping to push the process. City Parks’ conservation specialist, Kenneth Mabila, has been driving the initiative on behalf of the city.
He
says the conservancy ties in with the city’s grasslands project and
The
grasslands project entails the preservation of the biodiversity in the
The conservancy has been incorporated into the city’s integrated development plan and spatial development framework. Once established, it will be the city’s second conservancy.
A conservancy was launched in March 2007 in the northern reaches of Joburg. Called Gekco or the Greater Kyalami Conservancy, it encompasses 4 500ha of mostly agricultural land west of the N1 in Midrand.
Its goal is to “conserve, sustain and share the ecology and natural character of the greater Kyalami area”, says the Gekco website.
Close to a thousand landowners are members of the conservancy and their activities have so far included cleaning up the Jukskei River, planting indigenous trees and removing alien species, keeping an eye on irregular developments and monitoring cellphone tower erections, the rehabilitation of three wetlands in the area, and caring for endangered fauna and flora red-data species.
They are working on creating an eco-trail that includes cycling, hiking and horse paths.
The area contains a major equine industry which creates thousands of jobs. Gekco aims to protect this industry and the main open spaces in the conservancy.
The
first public meeting to take the southern conservancy proposal forward was held
on Wednesday at the Klipriviersberg Recreation Centre
in
Uitroeiers van indringerplant
‘nie xenofobies’
Jun 12
2008 09:24:28:247PM
Die
“Slag van Lantana-laagte” is die naweek
geveg toe sowat 30 inwoners van die Seringveld Bewaria, noord van Pretoria, meer as 400 van dié indringerplante uitgekap en -gegrawe het.
Elise
Tempelhoff
Die
“Slag van Lantana-laagte” is die naweek
geveg toe sowat 30 inwoners van die Seringveld Bewaria, noord van Pretoria, meer as 400 van dié indringerplante uitgekap en -gegrawe het.
Volgens mnr. Jan Visser het 12 grondeienaars en helpers besluit om dít te
doen omdat lan-tanas (Lantana camara) die hele gebied inneem
en inheemse plantegroei “dooddruk.”
Volgens
dr. Alan Urban van die Landbounavorsingsraad (LNR) se
instituut vir plantbeskerming, en lantana-kenner,
is dié struik een van die mees geharde indringers wat die meeste skade, veral aan
weiding, aanrig.
Urban het gesê as al die lantana in die land “skouer
aan skouer” staan, sal dit
’n gebied van 70 000 ha beslaan.
Op plekke waar lantana dig bymekaar groei, is die gebied ondeurdringbaar omdat hulle dorings met mekaar ineenvleg.
Die
Seringveld Bewarea het die lantana-oorlog die naweek gevoer op die Boekenhoutkloof-grondpad se padreserwe
en 1,2 km pad skoongemaak.
Volgens
Visser is die struike afgekap en die stamme daarna met ’n goedgekeurde gif geverf.
Visser het vertel toe hy 20 jaar gelede
in die Seringveld Bewarea kom woon het, was daar
nie ’n enkele lantana op sy grond nie
en hy het toe nie geweet wat
dit is nie. Hy het wel op ’n dag
een struik op ’n buurplaas raakgeloop. Iemand het toe aan hom gesê
dit is lantana.
“As
ek vandag op my grond loop, trap ek heeltyd op lantanas of loop teen hulle
vas.”
Visser meen die pes het
sedert die laat jare tagtig in dié omgewing vertwintigvoudig.
Urban
het gesê ’n lantana is ’n hibried wat
ontstaan het weens die kruising van twee verwante spesies.
Die moeder- en vaderplante kom oorspronklik van Sentraal- en Suid-Amerika. Iemand het in die 1700’s die twee verwante spesies
na Europa
geneem en dit gekruis.
“Daar is tans 650 lantana-hibriede
en hulle is wêreldwyd vervuil. Feitlik die hele wêreld
voer tans ’n stryd om van hulle ontslae
te raak,” vertel Urban.
Hy het gesê in die 1800’s was dit mode om ’n lantana in jou tuin te
hê en die (hibriede-)plante is opsetlik
wêreldwyd versprei.
“Vandag voer ons
’n stryd teen die lantana omdat
hy ons inheemse
plante verdring en beeste van weiding ontneem.
“Ons is dus nie
xenofobies nie en voer nie ’n stryd
teen alles wat vreemd is nie, maar hierdie plant bedreig ons eie
veld en plante se voortbestaan,” het Urban gesê.
Die
LNR het al sowat 12 natuurlike agente vir die biokontrole van lantana landwyd vrygelaat. Dié biokontrole is suksesvol aan die kus van KwaZulu-Natal, maar in die res van die binneland is nog min welslae behaal. As deel van ’n aanvoorprojek is ’n snuitkewer wat sy hele lewensiklus
in die lantana se blaarstingel voer
en die plant se natuurlike vyand
is, asook ’n siekte wat die plant se wortels aanval, in Richardbaai en Nelspruit losgelaat.
eliset@beeld.com