Addo and the Sundays River Valley: July 2015

Friday 24 July 2015

Tuesday 21 July 2015

The Cango Caves, situated in the enchanting Klein Karoo in the Western Cape, are a true showcase of evocative dripstones. You will meet, among others, the Madonna and Child formation, which portrays Mary carrying her son, Jesus, in her arms. This and other formations will fascinate you.

South Africa’s oldest tourist attraction could well be closing its doors due to a lack of adequate management, corruption and heavy financial losses.

As reported by Africa Geographic, R16 million was removed last year from the cave’s investment fund, resulting in the disbanding of its scientific committee, unpaid supplier accounts and other problems stemming from this – the attraction is at the brink of collapse because of this.

The Oudtshoorn municipality is currently locked in a major tussle between the DA and the ANC, bringing unrest to the Karoo town as well as inadequate management of its major attraction. That R16 million was supposedly spent on renovations and upkeep of the Cango Caves, but no changes have materialised since – leaking roofs and broken toilets are among many of the fixes needed. More urgently is the lack of spending on new ways to reduce human impact on the caves, a necessity needed for the longevity of them.

It saddens me to read about the situation. When politics starts affecting a major tourist attraction, there is a serious problem.

Monday 20 July 2015

THE ADVENTURE PROVINCE

Monday 13 July 2015

Snakes, birds & local facts

Darren Kleinhans, from Addo, Eastern Cape, came to talk to guests at Chrislin African Lodge.

It's fascinating how one can live in an area for so long and still be so unaware of what is around us. And what people do.

What makes a bird of prey different to other birds? Why is it a bird of prey? Because it uses its beak to kill animals? No, because it uses it claws.

Darren works with Eskom (South Africa's national electricity supplier) to try save birds who die as a result of the power lines and educate on snakes and birds of prey.Did you know that vultures are closer to extinction than rhino? That there is an African superstition that owls are bad luck and they are therefore killed? Power lines in the northern Eastern Cape, King Williams town and Queenstown area are littered with owls and, worst of all, Cape Vultures. There are less than 5000 cape vultures left in the wild.

Darren enlightened us on the wind turbines on nearby Grass Ridge. Apparently these wind turbines do not affect birds of prey at all, however bats are taking strain. The birds see these wind turbines, and thus avoid collision but the bats are affected by the sonar waves they give off. So, basically, mid-flight, and not even near to smacking into these turbines, the lungs of these little bats basically pop, and they die mid-flight. He also elaborated on snakes in our area. There are over 200 species of snakes in South Africa but only 15 are venomous, only 6 deadly. You have more chances of dying from a car accident or bees than a snake bite! Although, the Cape Cobra is a very dangerous snake and is very common in Addo...

Darren then brought out a puffy on site. Puffadder snakes have Cytotoxic venom….aka flesh eating. Venom can be ingested, it can’t take any effect unless it comes into contact with blood. Puffadders strike incredibly fast…they can strike a balloon twice before it has popped.