Kruger2Canyons.com

... opens in Hoedspruit.

The African Tribes gallery exhibits collections of excellent tribal art collected in southern Africa during the last 30 years.



The gallery, in the Kamogelo Tourist centre, Hoedspruit, will also be holding monthly exhibitions concentrating on a wide range of different aspects of indigenous culture ranging from beadwork, basketry, pottery, weapons, medical and spiritual devices, ritual and cultural objects.

Alex Zaloumis, the owner, has spent many years studying and collecting African cultural objects, having written an authoritative book on Zulu Tribal Art published in 2001 and was sponsored by De Beers.



Alex is passionate about the conservation of our unique and diverse cultural heritage as many languages, rituals and customs have evolved and adapted to different physical environmental pressures, and until recently ensured the survival of the various groups of people found in southern Africa.

More importantly, our cultures are special, different and the diversity is an important national assets, being uniquely South African. As such they are a sustainable characteristic, marketable and will become an important tourist attraction.



Alex and his associates are involved with many 'self-help' projects where they have encouraged rural people to maintain their tradition skills and art as a source of sustainable income.

Unfortunately, many of the arts and crafts found in local curio shops and markets are imported into South Africa from northern African countries. They realised the income producing potential of their cultural skills a long time ago.

These different monthly exhibitions will open on the first Saturday of each month.

Labels: african art, gallery, hoedspruit, tribal art

HOEDSPRUIT - A shiny new Premier Classe train service between Johannesburg and Hoedspruit has been launched, providing an added attraction to Limpopo's big-five reserves.

The Premier Classe train offers visitors to Limpopo's game belt a five-star service including private cabins, five-course meals and spa facilities.

The service began on July 9 and operates once a week, leaving Park Station on a Thursday evening and arriving mid-morning on Friday in Hoedspruit. It returns on the Sunday evening, arriving back in Johannesburg on the Monday morning.

Premier classe

One of South-Africa's well-kept travel secrets, Premier Classe trains have been getting great reports from travellers who have used them on other routes.

Premier Classe started out in 1998 as an affordable deluxe service from Cape Town to Johannesburg, originally running once a week attached to the regular Shosholoza Meyl 'Trans-Karoo' train. But in May 2006 it was made into a completely separate train and increased to twice a week. In October 2008 they introduced a twice-weekly Durban-Johannesburg train, then a weekly Cape Town-Port Elizabeth train in December 2008.

Hotels on rails

Premier Classe trains are hotels on rails. They use standard South African railways sleeping-cars (in fact, the same 1960s-1970s type used by Shosholoza Meyl) which have been refurbished to deluxe standards, and passengers are given twice the normal amount of space per passenger: Solo passengers get sole occupancy of what would have been a 2-berth coupé, two passengers get sole use of what would have been a 4-berth compartment and so get two lower berths.

The sleeping-cars aren't air-conditioned, a big advantage for photographers as the windows open!

There's a deluxe Premier Classe restaurant car serving 3-5 course meals and a Premier Classe lounge car with armchairs, sofas and a bar. The fare includes all your meals and complimentary tea/coffee, although alcoholic drinks cost extra.

If you can't afford the famous Blue Train, but still want safe, civilised deluxe train travel at ground level through superb South African scenery that you can't see from 30,000 feet, take a Premier Classe train.

PRICES AND BENEFITS

Current prices are from R980 per person one-way to or from Johannesburg to Hoedspruit, around 30% cheaper than flying, but bear in mind that this also includes decent accommodation on the train and food (which you might otherwise pay for).

It also enables local visitors to leave after work with ease without wasting time, and caters for international arrivals coming in after the last daily Hoedspruit flights have departed Johannesburg after noon.

On a similar note, the evening Sunday return from Hoedspruit provides for more time in the bush and no accommodation worries in Johannesburg.

Premier Classe passengers can use the luxury 'Blue Train' VIP lounges at Cape Town and Johannesburg stations.

Comment

Viwe Mlenzana, CEO of Shosholoza Meyl, which owns Premier Classe, said the schedule was aimed at the weekend market. "The service allows guests to get away to the bush for the weekend but still arrive back on Monday in time for work."

He said the service was launched in response to demand from customers who wanted a new travel experience and was aimed primarily at the domestic market.

The train has been recently refurbished and Mlenzana said the product would continue to be refined, including a new point-to- point service for passengers to Johannesburg's Park Station.

Later this year further coaches catering to a more exclusive market would be added. However, Mlenzana said, the aim was to make the service affordable to a range of passengers.

Labels: blue train, hoedspruit, johannesburg, premier classe, Shosholoza Meyl, train, travel

Looking after our natural environment is no longer a cause simply for the conservation-minded. In fact, it may become the only way to ensure a good quality of life in the future, with access to sufficient water, secure food supplies, good health and ultimately even our own survival. It is each individual’s responsibility to make the lifestyle and consumer choices to reduce our personal contribution to the causes of climate change and global warming.

With this in mind, the town of Hoedspruit will be hosting its second annual Sustainable Living Festival.

The Festival will be held over the weekend of the 24th-26th April 2009, at the unique Southern Cross School - home of the phenomenal concept of "Nature-based Education".

SCHEDULE

Friday 24th April

09h30 Festival Opens
10h00 Tourism Workshop – Mike Gardener : School Hall
10h30 Tourism continues – Open Africa : School Hall
10h30 School Public Speaking Competition : Founders Circle
11h00 Tourism continues – Kevin Leo Smith : School Hall
11h30 Tourism continues – Green Leaf Enterprises : School Hall
12h00 Jacaranda Broadcast to start : Festival Grounds
12h30 Biosphere Symposium (Stewardship Programme & Schools in Biospheres): Leadwood Lapa
13h00 Public Speaking Prize Giving : Founders Circle
13h15 Wilderness Vision Pledge Drive : Founders Circle
12h30 Agrisymposium – ZZ2 Natuurboerdery Talk : School Hall
13h30 Agrisymposium – Biogrow talk : School Hall
14h00 Schools Music Festival : Founders Circle
14h30 Agrisymposium – Kevin Leo Smith : School Hall
15h30 Singita Cooking Course : Jackalberry Lodge
16h00 Jacaranda Broadcast to end : Festival Grounds
16h30 Miko Coffee Course : Founders Circle
17h30 Exhibitors Close
17h30 Food & Wine Pairing (Ultimate Wines): Founders Circle
18h00 Wine Tasting (Ultimate Wines) : Founders Circle
18h30 “Spirit of the Beat” drumming circle : Founders Circle
20h00 Founders Circle Closes

Saturday 25th April

07h00 Start of Cycling Race
07h30 Start of Adventure Orienteering Race
09h00 Festival Opens
10h00 Jacaranda Broadcast to start : Festival
10h00 Margaret Roberts Workshop : School Hall
12h00 Adventure and Cycle Race Prize Giving : Founders Circle
13h00 “Die Nutsman” Workshop Founders Circle
14h00 Jacaranda Broadcast to end : Festival Grounds
14h30 Wilderness Vision Pledge Drive : Founders Circle
14h30 Eco Design - Andy Horn : School Hall
16h30 Wine Tasting (Ultimate Wines) : Founders Circle
17h00 Super 14 Rugby – Vodacom Bulls vs Chiefs : Founders Circle
17h45 Prize Giving for “Greenest Blue Bull”
18h30 Exhibitors Close
19h00 Freshlyground Gates Open : Earth Circle
19h30 Southern Cross Drummers & Marimbas : Earth Circle
20h00 Lemongrass to start : Earth Circle
20h30 FRESHLYGROUND to start : Earth Circle
21h30 Concert Ends & After Party : Safari Junction
22h00 Festival Grounds Close

Sunday 26th April

09h00 Festival Opens
09h15 Cobb Building Course
10h00 Sandbag Building Course
10h00 Reptile Demonstration : Founders Circle
11h00 Michelle & Riaan Garforth Venter showcase : Founders Circle
12h30 Grade 2 Eco-play : Founders Circle
13h00 Cotton & Outdoor Clothing Fashion Show : Founders Circle
14h00 School Kids “Recycled” Fashion Show : Founders Circle
15h00 Final Pledge Drive
16h00 Festival Closes

Labels: biosphere, hoedspruit, sustainable living festival

Some highlights of next month's inaugural Kruger to Canyons Sustainable Living Festival have now been revealed:

Thursday Night 15th May 2008

STARGAZING & Marshmallow Braai

@ Southern Cross School Pre-primary School

Time: 19h00

Cost: R30 per adult & R20 per child

Tickets available from the Southern Cross School

Friday Night 16th May 2008

Mango Groove Live Concert

@ Southern Cross School - High School Buildings

Time: 19h00 for 19h30

Cost: R200 per person

Tickets Available at Desperate Housewives @ Kamagelo Centre or by email from festival@bushveldconnections.co.za

Saturday Night 17th May 2008

Final Gala Dinner

@ Dumb Waiter Restaurant

Time: 18h30 for 19h00

Cost: R150 per person

Tickets available through festival@bushveldconnections.co.za

Programme for Gala Dinner

Opening Address

Mr Colins Chabane (MEC Limpopo Province): K2C- Two Provinces, One Biosphere

Keynote

Prof Manfred Niekisch (IUCN Regional Counselor, Director Frankfurt Zoo, Germany): "Biodiversity- the basis for Sustainable Development and Poverty Alleviation"

STARTERS

Findings from Biodiversity Day

Ms J Newenham (Scientific Advisor to K2C): The Grassland Biome

Dr M Peel (Agricultural Research Council): The Afro-Montane Biome

MAIN COURSE

Dr M Peel (Agricultural Research Council): The Savannah Biome

Ms J Newenham (Scientific Advisor to K2C): Aquatic Systems

Launch of the "From the Region, For the Region" Project

Ms D Thomson (Project Coordinator for K2C Biosphere)

DESSERT

Message of Support

H E Dieter Walter Haller (German Ambassador to South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland) "From K2C to Bonn: Implementing the Convention on Biological Diversity"

The Way Forward

H E Rejoice Mabudafazi (Deputy Minister- Dept of Environmental Affairs & Tourism): "Linking Landscapes, People & Minds- Restitution & Sustainable Development in K2C"

Vote of Thanks

Ms M-T Uys (Chairperson K2C EXCO)

Labels: biosphere, conservation, hoedspruit, kruger to canyons, sustainable living festival

The Kruger to Canyons Biosphere will be holding its first Sustainable Living Festival from the 15th-17th May 2008. It is expected that these will become an annual feature in the Hoedspruit calendar.



The 3 day festival will showcase projects, products and organisations involved in Sustainable Development, as well as Biosphere-related projects and practices.

The Festival includes a local celebration of international Biodiversity Day on Saturday May the 17th.

The Kruger to Canyons Annual General Meeting will start off the festival.

A number of workshops will follow focusing on Sustainable Development, Responsible Tourism and Organic and Biodynamic Agriculture.

At the venue (Southern Cross School) a number of stalls and exhibitions will underline the central challenges of the festival: what is our ecosystem doing for us - and what can we do for our ecosystem?

Associated with the festival will be Art and Craft competitions for the school children (illustrating eco-system living), an adventure race exploring the local environmental and use of land within the region, evening activities and a wide range of entertainment.

The entire festival will culminate in a Gala Dinner which will be attended by a number of national and international role players and decision makers and other invited guests. There will also be a number of additional tickets sold to interested parties.

Entrance to the festival will be charged at R30 per adult and R15 per child per day. Special "Full Festival" Tickets will be available at R60 per ticket and will enable you to enter the festival on all 3 days.

Dates: 15th - 17th May 2008
Venue: Southern Cross School, Raptor's View Wildlife Estate, Hoedspruit, Limpopo

Labels: biosphere, conservation, festival, hoedspruit

HOEDSPRUIT (The Lowvelder)- It's only on those rare occasions that the famous Blue Train snakes its way through Mpumalanga and the Lowveld en route to Dar es Salaam, via Pretoria. In this case it was a private charter by First National Bank for a Game Safari.

On one of these occasions two locals from Hoedspruit realised their dream of travelling on this prestigious train, in a non-conformist manner.

Our two intrepid travellers, farmer, Fritz Pohl (40) and indigenous plant specialist Preston Kaplan (50) were enjoying a couple of drinks at their local inn in Hoedspruit two Friday evenings ago when they heard a train stopping behind the pub.

"Someone said it was the Blue Train and I thought it was a joke, but went outside to have a look anyway, and by golly, it was! I couldn`t believe it as I have never even seen the Blue Train in Hoedspruit," says Fritz, who has always aspired to a trip on it.

It was there and then that he decided to catch a ride since an opportunity like this did not come around twice in a lifetime. Fellow patron and newly found friend Preston thought this a jolly good idea and joined Fritz on his illicit rendezvous.

"We headed straight for the pub to grab a few happies, but immediately stood out like sore thumbs with our short pants and flip-flops. The other guests were clad in snazzy feathers getting ready for supper."

It would be an understatement to say that the odd duo raised immediate suspicion and it didn`t take too long for train staff to realise they had a situation on their hands.

"We were asked all sorts of questions and tried to keep up with tall stories and a few fibs to prolong our journey, but before long the proverbial hit the fan."

They were caught out and Spoornet Security was contacted immediately.

By the time they arrived at Kaapmuiden, police vehicles were already waiting for them and they were "cordially" escorted off the train. "At the police station we were charged with illegally boarding a train and had to pay an admission of guilt fine of R1 500 each. Luckily for us we knew someone in the area who could fetch us at the police station, but that was only three hours later!"

When asked what they were thinking and whether they would ever do such a thing again, they roared with laughter. "It was great fun and nobody has ever done it before, which makes it even more memorable. I don`t know if I will ever do it again, but it`s hard to say with the naughty forties underway."

Apart from good memories, the duo also received a little surprise, two tickets issued by the Blue Train Company, reading "unauthorised travel, Hoedspruit to Kaapmuiden": a polite little souvenir.

Eish, as they say... only in the Lowveld!

Labels: hoedspruit

JOHANNESBURG- The Industrial Development Corporation (IDC), a quasi-governmental body, has announced a R3.2 billion investment to establish two new South African biofuel projects.

Biofuel is a sustainable source of energy derived from plants that can yield ethanol or be further processed to produce an alternative source of diesel. South Africa is currently the world's seventh largest producer of ethanol from plants, which can be used to power specially adapted vehicles.

One of the projects will be near Hoedspruit in Mpumalanga and the other at Cradock in the Eastern Cape.



Both projects are at the detailed engineering study level. The studies are due for completion in September. Construction is likely to start in January. First production is set for early 2009, project leader Noel Kamrajh said yesterday.

The IDC funding parastatal is likely to take a 49 percent stake in both projects, with 25 percent warehoused for empowerment and community groups.

The remaining 51 percent interest will be taken by the CEF and outside partners, who are yet to be selected.



The plan is for the Eastern Cape project to use sugar beets to produce about 90 million litres of biofuel each year, and the Mpumalanga venture to make 100 million litres of fuel from sugar cane.

The IDC and CEF are also looking into the production of 150 million litres of biofuel made from sweet sorghum and sugar cane in Pondoland, which spans KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape.

A fourth project aims for production of 150 million litres of biofuel a year from maize in Ogies in Mpumalanga. Here the maize will be bought from local farmers or traders. The fifth project is to produce 100 million litres of biofuel from cassava in Makhathini in KwaZulu-Natal.

Kamrajh said this strategy would allow a mandate for blending ethanol into petrol at a maximum level of 8 percent.

This required the production of 1 billion litres of bioethanol a year and could contribute 1.3 percent to gross domestic product. These were sufficient incentives to kick-start the biofuels industry, according to Kamrajh.

The draft biofuels strategy proposed a 30 percent rebate on the fuel tax for ethanol, while the proposed rebate for biodiesel was 40 percent.

Kamrajh said that for the IDC's biofuels projects to succeed, there needed to be a 100 percent fuel tax rebate.

The IDC's biofuels projects would be viable at between $50 and $75 a barrel. An oil price below $50 would require incentives for the biofuel sector.

Labels: development, hoedspruit

HOEDSPRUIT- A group of ten educational volunteers has recently arrived in Hoedspruit from the United States, the UK and Australia. Employed by the local not-for-profit organisation Amazwi (meaning “voices” in Zulu) the volunteers bring experience in writing, editing, publishing, photography, public relations, and marketing.



The organisation was established by Maggie Messitt in 2004, and will open a School of Media Arts (SOMA) in March 2007. SOMA will offer an adult certificate program with training in narrative journalism to unemployed women from Acornhoek and other local communities.

Several of the volunteers will also participate in the Amazwi Writers & Artists Residency Program, while others will spend their time in Hoedspruit establishing "A. Magazine"- Africa’s first non-fiction literary journal.

Amazwi was recently awarded a grant from the Lonely Planet Foundation, part of the world’s largest travel information company. The grant money, equivalent to approximately US$15,000 or 105,000 ZAR, will be used to establish a regional narrative-form newspaper. This publication will serve as the cornerstone of curricula for Amazwi’s School of Media Arts (SOMA).


Amazwi volunteers enjoy a traditional meal in Rooiboklaagte, a section of Acornhoek, during a community tour.

Messitt and her volunteers have moved into their new offices in Hoedspruit. In addition to headquartering the South African/U.S. organization’s operations, this space will also host the first class of the Amazwi School of Media Arts (SOMA). Amazwi’s offices are located at Hoedspruit Crossing, next to Imagine Africa Safaris.


Thoko Makwakwa, sangoma (traditional healer) and local tavern owner, teaches Amazwi volunteers about throwing the bones. Photo by Sheri Booker.

For more information on Amazwi, please visit their Web site: www.amazwi.org.

Labels: acornhoek, bushbuckridge, development, hoedspruit

HOEDSPRUIT (Kruger Park Times)- Raptor experts hunting for South Africa's rarest breeding bird on the border of Limpopo and Mpumalanga have discovered a total of four pairs of breeding Taita Falcons in the Drakensberg escarpment, and believe that there may be more pairs lurking on the mountains' inaccessible cliff faces.

Over the last month, a team of raptor specialists have been scrutinising the cliffs in search of the diminutive birds of prey, and team leader Andrew Jenkins called their mission “a qualified success”, saying that they did not find as many pairs as previously hoped for.

He added that there were some logistical issues to be overcome, but the team learnt a lot and any further work in the area would be “meaningfully informed by what has already been done." Jenkins hopes to return later in the year as the birds’ breeding season really gets into full swing, when he believes he will find more pairs in areas where the recent survey did not reach."

If our suspicions become reality then the area supports a very significant part of one of the world's rarest raptor populations." The name ‘Taita’ comes from the place in Kenya where the bird was first identified.

It is a naturally rare bird, and is hard to spot in the areas where it occurs because it habitually perches for hours on cliff faces. The highest density of Taita Falcons confirmed is thought to be in the Batoka Gorge between Zimbabwe and Zambia, where ecotourism activities are thought to be threatening the population.

The falcons also occur from Tanzania to Ethiopia. Little is known about these birds because of their rarity and the inaccessibility of their nest sites.

Whilst searching for the small and elusive Taita Falcon, the birders kept track of the other cliff nesting raptors that crossed their field of view.

Although not all the observations are compiled yet, Jenkins estimates that they saw about 12 pairs of Lanner Falcons, three pairs of Peregrine Falcons, about 20 pairs of Rock Kestrels and five pairs of Verreaux’s Eagles.

He says that the statistics gathered will help provide a benchmark for the management of the Blyde Canyon National Park. He commented that there has been a striking change in the numbers of Lanner Falcons, which have increased significantly when compared with a previous survey carried out in the area some years ago.

The numbers of peregrine falcons have declined when compared to the previous survey." It is an interesting thing to note. The figures are telling us something…The trick is to figure out what the reason is." He said that the change could have been caused by something as concrete as a change in land use practices in the area, or something not immediately transparent to observers, such as global warming.

by Lynette Strauss, Kruger Times


Explore our birding safaris: the Blue Swallow Southern Birding Safari, and the Limpopo Lanner (Birds of the North) Safari.

Labels: blyde canyon, conservation, hoedspruit, taita falcon

HAENERTSBURG- A Cape Robin Chat sits on my garden fence every morning and evening and sings his poor little lungs out. It’s a bit anthropomorphic, I know, but one just cannot help feeling for our little feathered friend, ridding my adjacent manicured green grove of tiresome insect pests and the like.

So I suppose it’s not too bad after all. With all his voracious, indeed vicious by intention, singing, it seems the seasons are changing and our avian compatriots are heralding the changes for us no less than the plants have started to.

It is an exciting time for local birding enthusiasts to start searching, and for some, ticking off, the first arrivals and special not-very-often-seen feathered visitors to South Africa.

During October and November many migratory birds are arriving in drips and drabs, as they are starting to now. An early visitor was Klaas’s Cuckoo, seen and heard a number of weeks ago along the Limpopo River and other places. The difficulty in correctly stating whether this bird was the first arrival is compounded by the fact that some individuals of some species, mostly some of the young of local breeding migrants, stay for the winter and various bird-sighting records prove this.

As the seasons move from one to the next, subtle clues like changing day-length, drought (in the case of waders) and ambient temperatures prod many birds into behaviour-changes that ready them for a journey to ‘greener pastures’, or, at least comparatively speaking, greener that the ones they find themselves in.

Some move only locally or sub-regionally due to local weather conditions or fire events to which they may be attracted or from which they may be repulsed for a short time. Whatever the many causal factors, birds come this time of year are moving all over the globe... some flying over 10,000km from their summer residencies to ‘overwinter’ here in Southern Africa!

Others move within Africa only and their annual migratory round-trip flights will total anything from 1,000 to 12,000km.

The Red-backed shrike is a lovely bird to look at and observe as it is relatively confiding to prying human eyes (looking mostly though various makes of binocular). This little diminutive bird travels great distances from Germany and Russia to spend time in lower latitudes, catching and sometimes hawking from mid-air breakfast and afternoon tea with great gusto and showmanship if one allows oneself the time to observe carefully.

European and Broad-billed Roller, Woodland Kingfisher, Yellowbilled Kite and Wahlberg’s Eagle, the Barn and Lesser-striped Swallow, Wood Sandpipers and Greenshank are all common species that we look forward to having with us here in the South every year.

Black Swifts from Zimbabwe and northwards will soon be skimming the Drakensberg cliff-faces and Black Cuckoo will relay their solemn calls from the forest edge and dense bush below the tall ramparts of the mountain tops...

By Steven Roskelly
Kruger2Canyons.com

Labels: birds, haenertsburg, hoedspruit, migration

NELSPRUIT- A geographical names committee has been set up in the densely populated Bushbuckridge area and is expected to consider changing the names of about 40 villages.

Bushbuckridge, which was recently transferred from Limpopo to Mpumalanga, has a population of about a million, most of whom live in deep rural villages.



"We are expecting many people to come forward and raise their concerns as we have realised that many villages' names have to be changed because they have no meaning or relation to their historical backgrounds," said Zondi Mkhabele of Bushbuckridge local municipality.

He said the name of Bushbuckridge itself could change.

Name of police station

At a recent public meeting, an elderly resident called Mabel Nkuna, 79, suggested that Bushbuckridge's name be changed to Khwahlamba and that a statue be erected in honour of King Ma'nyeleti.

She said Bushbuckridge was the name of the first police station that was built by white people on Masana hill in the early 19th century because the nearest police station at the time was 25 km away in Graskop.

She said King Ma'nyeleti was a great leader who led four peoples - the Mahlangana, Swazi, Mapulane and Tsonga- and that he had referred to the area as Khwahlamba. She said the king's ancestors also had used this name.

"Ma'nyeleti was one of the kings in the Mnisi royal kingdom who fought with whites in the Lebombo and Drakensberg mountains and who also summoned thundering rain when there was drought," said Nkuna.

She said the drought had stretched from Mashishing to Pilgrim's Rest, Bushbuckridge and even Badplaas.

Nkuna explained that the king was friends with King Sekhukhune of the Pedi people during the Anglo-Boer war and helped hide some of his people.

'Shooting star'

She said Ma'nyeleti was killed when a bull elephant trampled him.

She said Ma'nyeleti literally meant "the shooting star" because a star fell from the sky the night he was born in a kraal, less than a kilometre from where the Kruger National Park and Manyeleti Game Reserves are today.

Nkuna said the name of the game reserve should be corrected to Ma'nyeleti instead of Manyeleti.

Labels: bushbuckridge, hoedspruit, manyeleti, restitution

The Blyde River Canyon will officially be declared as a National Park on Heritage Day, September 24, this year. This was announced by Environmental Affairs and Tourism minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk during a budget speech made to the national council of provinces.



The official name of the new national park has yet to be decided upon, but according to Chris Clarke who has been coordinating the initiative for the Department of Environmental Affairs and the World Conservation Union (IUCN) for some time, the preferred name of the new park is Mapulaneng National Park.

Last week a workshop was held with many of the stakeholders in the project, and the communities who have a strong land claim over the park land said that although the Blyde River has been renamed the Motlatse River, they prefer the Park to be called Mapulaneng.

This roughly translates to "place of fortune" (ma -mother, pula -fortune, neng -place of).

The new National Park will be a place of many firsts, and is already being heralded internationally as representing a new era in national park creation. It will bring one of the richest collections of plant and animal species on earth under formal protection, linking up a mosaic of different landscapes like mountain grasslands, mist-belt forests and woodlands and savannah bush.

It will incorporate some of South Africa’s rarest species, many of which are threatened with extinction.

It will also be the first national park to be looked after by a provincial authority. In terms of new environmental laws, the Mpumalanga Parks Board (now officially known as the Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Agency - MTPA), will manage the park instead of SANParks.

In keeping with new visions for bringing conservation and people together, such as discussed at the last World Park's Congress, the MTPA will also be looking after the park for successful land claimants. The descendants of those people evicted from the land many years ago will become partners with the state, allowing the state to become custodians of the land, while the communities benefit from the area's tourism potential.

As highlighted at the signing of the memorandum of agreement for the creation of the park at Bourke's Luck in 2004, local communities will also be empowered to play a significant role in the new park which van Schalkwyk said "is expected to inject R500 million into the local economy over the next ten years."

Over the next three years, Environmental Affairs has budgeted R18 million for the development of the park. The first R10 million of this will be spent on the creation of a public-private partnership luxury hiking trail, which is expected to cost guests in the region of R800-R1,200 for a night's accommodation.

Also on the cards for the national park are 500 beds, restaurants, adventure activities like river kayaking, abseiling and forest canopy trails, and a cableway.

The park will initially cover an area of 44,000ha, but in excess of 10,000ha will be added as commercial pine plantations in the area are rehabilitated and returned to a more natural state over the course of several years.

Minister van Schalkwyk was positive about the creation of the new park, saying, "Blyde has the potential to become one of the fastest growing malaria-free tourism destinations in Africa."

Labels: blyde canyon, hoedspruit, national park, van schalkwyk

HOEDSPRUIT- "Farm workers should take care of each other- always use a condom", reads a poster at a bus terminal in the small town of Hoedspruit, in South Africa's Limpopo province, where hundreds of farm labourers arrive daily searching for work.

Migrant farmworkers in Southern Africa are often a forgotten population, with little HIV/AIDS support provided despite being a high-risk group. The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) is trying to address that lapse with 'Project Hlokomela', an initiative offering prevention and care in Hoedspruit.

In the northern province of Limpopo, situated along the Mozambican border, many of the farm workers are male labourers from Mozambique who stay on farms for short periods and have a high level of mobility.

When the project was launched in 2005, Armindo Sitoi was one of the first people to be tested- and found out he was HIV negative.

Born in southern Mozambique, Sitoi fled from the civil war in the 1980s and has been working in South Africa ever since. "My parents died during the war and my brothers are all missing ... perhaps they're living here in South Africa," he told PlusNews while loading oranges into the back of a trailer.

Fellow Mozambican Alice Sambane has been living in Hoedspruit since 1988, and welcomed the move to introduce HIV/AIDS awareness among farm workers. "There was little information about AIDS here. I think they should do the same everywhere else."

The new project reaches more than 3,000 workers in 18 of the 300 farms in Hoedspruit. In each farm, a farmworker known as the Nompilo ("Mother of Life" in Zulu) is selected to create awareness among the workers on issues such as prevention, nutrition, stigma and discrimination.

Hlokomela is also hoping to soon provide free antiretroviral (ARV) treatment, as public health facilities offering the life-prolonging drugs are up to 75kms from the farms, said the project's coordinator, Christine Du Preez.

Travelling to the local ARV site can cost up to R90 (US$12), out of reach for the majority of farmworkers who earn about R800 (US$111) a month. In addition, fear of deportation has meant that hardly any Mozambican immigrants made use of government counselling and testing facilities.

The IOM estimates that between 10,000 to 80,000 Mozambicans live in Limpopo, one of the country's richest agricultural areas. According to a survey conducted by the agency in 2003, despite high levels of HIV prevalence, farmworkers still did not know enough about the virus.

Researchers noted that high-risk sexual behaviour between men and women working on farms was common, and the "incidence of concurrent sexual relationships was unexpectedly high".

With a "striking lack of ... HIV/AIDS interventions directed specifically at farmworkers and migrants", there was poor knowledge of HIV/AIDS, allowing many myths about the disease to go unchallenged, the report found. It noted the belief that AIDS could be cured, was widespread.

"When one's daily life is a struggle in so many respects, HIV/AIDS appears as a distant threat - only one of many faced daily by workers," the researchers remarked.

Labels: disease, HIV/AIDS, hoedspruit

HOEDSPRUIT (Kruger Park Times)- A 40-year old motorist and three children all sustained minor injuries when an elephant bull overturned their vehicle in the Kruger National Park (KNP) on Friday April 8th.

The incident occurred at about 10h45 between Phalaborwa gate and Letaba camp. An eyewitness said that the people in the car had been watching the elephant from a distance with their car switched off.

The elephant then advanced on the vehicle, and before the driver could drive off the elephant attacked the vehicle between the driver’s door and the bonnet. It then overturned the car. The elephant was driven off by other tourists in the area hooting at it.

Park rangers instigated a helicopter search but could not find the bull.

Kruger’s executive director Dr Bandile Mkhize said, “A few incidences of elephant aggression have been reported recently in the park and we would like to advise tourists to be extra careful when they are at an elephant sighting in order to avoid incidents such as this one.”

by Melissa Wray, Kruger Times

Labels: elephants, hoedspruit, letaba, Phalaborwa, rangers

HOEDSPRUIT (Kruger Times)- During the first week of 2005, Hoedspruit was privileged to host one of the leaders in the Natural History Presentation field– Sir David Attenborough.

He visited Hoedspruit, on a week’s stop over in South Africa, to film a segment of his latest series– “Life in the Undergrowth” based on invertebrates, their trials, relationships, interactions and adaptations, before continuing onto various other exotic destinations for different segments within the documentary.

Meeting someone of Sir David’s calibre was an absolute honour and a total pleasure. He is even more of a gentleman than he appears on screen, and to be able to hear that voice in person, is an experience one will never forget.



It is due to his innovative and enterprising activities as a young man that Natural History Documentaries have become so popular and so successful over the years– he is a true leader in this field. I’d even venture to say that men like Sir David are largely responsible, not only for the interest and the awareness of Nature and all her complexities, but also the passion that he has been able to create in many a young mind, for our earth and all her creatures large and small, and thus has added decided influence on the increased protection and conservation status, that is continually been added to, in many areas around the world- Hoedspruit included.

David Attenborough joined the BBC’s fledging television service in 1952, with his first documentary series– “Zoo Quest”– a breakthrough wildlife series that established the international reputation of the BBC Natural History Unit at Bristol. The first of these, “Zoo Quest for a Dragon”, established Attenborough as an intuitive performer, so prepossessed by his fascination with the subject at hand and unconcerned for his own dignity in front of the camera that he seemed to sweat integrity– a sense of daring has always surrounded him both on and off screen.

Sir David’s Natural History Documentary Career has spanned four decades and during that time he has travelled to some of the world’s remotest regions. He took his first international flight in 1954, before the world was shrunk by jet engines and modern navigational aids. Since then, he has flown in a variety of aircraft and rested his weary head in countless hotels (as well as many that could barely be called hotels).

Like anyone who has flown for a number of years, he has many tales to tell- trips to New Guinea for instance could take weeks to arrive. However, it is his stories of Nature and his many and varied encounters with all her creatures and inhabitants that are the most fascinating. There can hardly be a person alive that can claim to have seen, witnessed and experienced all that he has during a single life-time surely there can be no-one more knowledgeable on all the many incredible facets from micro-interactions to macro, as Sir David.

HOTEL LIVING

During his travels, Sir David has not always endeared himself to hotel management. “The main problem I used to have staying in hotels is that I used to collect all these animals; and of course we used to have to smuggle them into the rooms. We put pythons and anacondas in sacks under our beds, armadillos in the bath and had bats hanging up on the curtains! Of course everything would always escape and get out in the middle of the night”.

He tells a story of a trip to Madagascar– “I remember I found some marvellous things called pill millipedes which are about the size of a golf ball. For some reason, I found a group of about a hundred and fifty of them– it was the most extraordinary sight. I thought they’d make a wonderful display at London Zoo, so I gathered up about a hundred or so and put them in a sack. That night, I had to stay in a hotel. In the middle of the night they found a hole in the sack and by morning they were all gone. I went out into the corridor there were pill millipedes everywhere and I had to go dashing around picking things up. I got into a lot of trouble for that!”

A DREAM COME TRUE

We are very happy to report that he did nothing BUT endear himself to the Owner Management at the Blue Cottages where he stayed during his visit to Hoedspruit and certainly did not feel the need to bring any of the little creatures (termites and Matabele ants) that he was filming during the day into his room at night.

Calli Williams– owner of the Blue Cottages says that “Having Sir David Attenborough stay with us for five days at Blue Cottages was a dream come true, the highlight of 30 years in the catering and hospitality trade. What a giant of a man. He was warm, gracious and modest. He was incredibly appreciative of every small gesture in making his stay a comfortable one. He ate with great enjoyment and loved trying our best South African wines.

He really amazed me with his huge energy, up long before light, and out into the field with the camera crew until mid-morning, with packed breakfast, then back for an hour or two before heading out yet again until dusk and then still sitting up with the rest of the crew until fairly late talking, laughing and sharing his many experiences across the globe.

On leaving us he was flying on to New Zealand to film glow worms in caves and onto Australia to film the giant earthworm and various spiders... now isn’t that just remarkable? And all this in a man in his late 70’s. Sir David, I salute you... I am now even more of a fan than ever... and it was a TOTAL pleasure to have you stay.”

MATABELE ANTS AND TERMITES

During his film shoot in Hoedspruit, assistance was requested from Sean Thomas from Cape Town, and our own local expert Donald Strydom from Khamai Reptile Park in the filming of incredible interactive experiences between Matabele ants and termites. As can be seen in the production of this, his latest series, Sir David is not only fascinated and committed to saving the larger “cuter” or more “attention grabbing” species, but puts just as much energy and commitment into drawing attention to the smaller, lesser regarded species. “The only way to save a rhinoceros is to save the environment in which it lives because there is a mutual dependency between it and millions of other species of both animals and plants. And it is that range of biodiversity that we must care for– THE WHOLE THING– rather than just one or two stars.

It is not just that we are dependent on the natural world for our food and for the very air we breathe– which is, of course, the case– and that the very richness of the natural world continues to provide us with all kinds of assistance. But it’s a moral question about whether we have the right to exterminate species and leave a world that is more impoverished than the one we inherited– simply because of our carelessness and greed – to our grandchildren. People must feel that the natural world is important and valuable and beautiful and wonderful and an amazement and a pleasure”. Words of a wise man...

by Debby Thompson, Kruger Times

Labels: hoedspruit

HOEDSPRUIT (Kruger Times)- For the last 23 years Johannes Hamman and Salmon Mohlabine have been growing and nurturing 19 Encephelartos transvernosis cycads, in Johannes’ nursery and later in an open garden. Four years ago, Johannes moved these plants from his farm to a smallholding in Kampersrus, a village at the foothills of the Mariepskop Mountains.

On Monday morning, March 23, at 03h00, Salmon was woken up by the noise that nine men, three white and six black, were making as they hacked off the cycads’ leaves before they removed the plants. They had cut the fence and were loading the trees on a white bakkie, that seemed to be a one-ton bakkie.

"The moon was up and although Salmon could see the men clearly he could not alert anyone as he had no cell phone and was afraid they might shoot him or his wife if he disturbed them", says Johannes.

According to Johannes, the Department of Nature Conservation suspects the cycads are taken to a place on Mariepskop Mountain from where a buyer takes lots to Gauteng. It is believed the 19 E. transvernosis have already changed hands.

"It seems reasonable to assume the Lowveld and Gauteng groups work together. The local group allegedly 'employ' jobless people to do once-off removal jobs in areas where they do not reside. For instance, the thieves may get unemployed people from the Tzaneen area to remove cycads in the Klaserie area, and at night, and in this way, cover their tracks", says Johannes.

He appeals to anyone who may have noticed anything suspicious on the night or in the week before to contact himself on 015 7955562 or Bert Howard, Limpopo Department of Nature Conservation, on 015 793 2471.

by Lynette Strauss, Kruger Times

Labels: hoedspruit, mariepskop

HOEDSPRUIT (Kruger Times)- Six problem cheetah were taken from the Hoedspruit Endangered Species Breeding Project to be released in the Eastern Cape.

The cheetahs were all from the Lowveld area and have been at the Centre for at least three months.

One adult female found a new home at Sanbona in the Western Cape, another female went to Tswalu in the Northern Cape and two adult males are now at Bushmanlands in the Eastern Cape. The two male cubs, aged about nine months, were flown on a British Airways/ Comair sponsored flight to their Amakhala home in the Eastern Cape.

Lizanne Meiring, part-time resident vet with the Centre, checked each cheetah to ensure the passive transponder chips were secured. The chips are inserted into each animal before they are released. The transponders enable the various projects to keep an accurate database and monitor the movement of relocated cheetah in the country.

The translocation took place under the auspices of the National Cheetah Conservation Forum of South Africa. The Forum comprises the Hoedspruit Centre for Endangered Species, De Wildt who sponsored the road transport, organised labour and nature conservation sectors, the Endangered Wildlife Trust, the hunting fraternity and Cheetah Outreach in the Cape.

by Lynette Strauss, Kruger Times

Labels: cheetah, endangered species breeding project, game relocation, hoedspruit

HOEDSPRUIT (Kruger Times) - The Kamogelo Tourism Centre in Hoedspruit held its first wildlife art exhibition on September 25 and 26. According to the organisers, the event was relatively well supported in terms of sales, and they are already planning a bigger and better event for next year.

Four artists displayed their work in the offices of 1 Africa Safaris, with an impressive life-size bronze sculpture of a hippo wallowing in a specially built pond greeting entrants to the exhibition. The sculpture was the creation of Phalaborwa resident Mark Watson. His work was displayed along with Sue Dickinson’s exquisite watercolours, Fuz Carforio’s detailed acrylics and Kim Wolhuter’s award-winning wildlife photographs.

A total of about 35 pieces of artwork were on display over the two days and local people were able to meet the artists in person while purchasing their works.

According to Gezina Malan, one of the organisers of the event, there appears to be a trend developing amongst wildlife artists who have been making a living overseas to return to South Africa. Their artwork, which is of a very high standard, then becomes available on the local market at a reasonable price.

by Lynette Strauss, Kruger Times

Labels: hoedspruit