Our "Christmas in July" social care project, the brain-child of Lourie Laatz, was a huge success.
Clothing, shoes, blankets, dog food and eggs were donated by members and handed out to local needy people by Lourie and Astrid Dobree-Bell, on 18 July.
Many thanks to these two ladies and to all the Conservancy members for their donations.
We are starting our conservation debate with a discussion on all kinds of pollution and how to manage our resources. This edition will deal with the effect of the noise pollution on our area, caused by aircraft.
Over a period of time, the Management Committee have received a number of complaints from landowners about low-flying aircraft, resulting in much irritation for people, livestock, game and birdlife.
Existing legislation that should be adhered to, differs from area to area:
No legislation exists that forces an aircraft owner to land safely on his/her property and to store his/her aircraft on the property. He/she also does not need special permission to register a landing strip for exclusive private use.
If such a landing strip is, however, used for commercial purposes, an environmental impact study must be done by the owner and, in our area, the landing strip must be approved by the Gauteng Department of Agricultue and Rural Development. An environmental impact study implies, among others, that all parties living in the vicinity of such a landing strip must be afforded the opportunity to lodge a complaint or comment about it.
In previous newsletters, we reported on various conservation issues in our Conservancy. As time went by, it became clear that the various landowners had different views and ideas regarding what was desirable or undesirable for the Conservancy. Unfortunately, some landowners conveniently exploit the idea that this area is located within a Conservancy and thereby promote their own businesses. Their actions, however, do not contribute to justify and ensure the right of existence of the Conservancy. If people’s harmful activities for personal gain or their carelessness is allowed to continue, the Hartebeestfontein Conservancy will most certainly lose its status, and as a result there will be a decrease in property value.
In future editions of the Newsletter, we will attempt to gauge members’ opinions and views of what can be to the advantage or disadvantage of our area, in order to create a balance and establish some norms. We will discuss a number of topics, and members will be welcome to comment.
Your comments will be dealt with discretely; please communicate with us! We are going to start with a discussion on all kinds of pollution and how to manage our resources. Our debate begins with the...
Every corporate mogul may consider the top of the food chain to be a safe perch. In Nature this is not always the case. Vultures serve a vital role as one of the species at the top of the food chain and their presence is a barometric reflection that the system is healthy.
Dr Rob Little of the Percy FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology says: “Although vultures are often and correctly associated with death because of their scavenging nature, their very presence can be regarded as an indication that all is well. In addition to cleansing the landscape of carcasses, they may well help decrease the spread of diseases such as anthrax and rabies. We are doing the right thing to safeguard these magnificent cleaners of our landscapes.”
Kerri Wolter is a name synonymous with vulture conservation in the region. An education function is central to Kerri's programme, taking the form of talks and presentations to schools, wildlife and bird clubs, land developers and the general public.
Kerri says: "Our aim is to bring a wide recognition to the importance and value of these birds within the overall biosphere."
Of the nine vulture species resident in southern Africa, seven are...
It has been my dream to run a successful self-catering venue and was on the look out for a property that had the potential to realise this dream. For many months I would page through the property guides and ear-mark properties that I thought might be worthy of a visit. However my husband was not as enthusiastic as myself and we never got to view any of those properties. Then one day, you can imagine my surprise and glee, my husband picked up the property magazine that I had been researching and showed interest in one of the pages that I had selected. "Do you want to take a look at this property?" he asked (silly question?). We set up a viewing with the agent and went to look at said property. Funny how things work out...a couple of weeks prior to the land being advertised I had been traveling my usual route and decided to take a detour to see where and what this little town of...
