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| << July18, 2005 - Turtle Essays Edition no 139 dated 18.7.2005 |
August01, 2005 - Turtle Essays Edition no 141 dated 1st August 2005 >> |
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Turtle Essays Edition no 140 dated 25th July 2005 ** Sometimes one gets lucky! I did when I came across this site by accident. Its offers stunned me so I decided to try it out to see if it was for real. It Was! This amazing members-only website run by a top internet marketer, is UNIQUELY available: at http://www.pr-pl.com/a.php?ELn Check it out today and get some of the free stuff offered as bonuses. ** In this edition: Editor's Blurb Table Mountain in Winter. African Black Oyster Catchers ** Editors Blurb; Hi there folks! Welcome to all my readers new and old. This week it has been back to the grindstone for all the teachers and pupils or learners as they are now known in South African schools. Of course that means back to work for me as well and for the next two weeks I will be doing a tour guides course to enable me to lead tours around Cape Town and surrounding areas. With the knowledge I have gained by writing my weekly articles and going out to get the photographs hopefully the course will be a breeze for me. This week I have done some exploring at the top end of Cape Town and have put together an article for you. The second article is about the rare African Black oyster catchers (seabirds) which can be found along our shores. My aim in all this is to show you something of what Cape Town has to offer. Enjoy! Geoff Fairman. Ps Visit http://www.turtlesa.com/ezine140.html to see the photographs. ** Table Mountain in Winter. Table mountain the most prominent feature in Cape Town is extremely beautiful during the winter months. The normally dry vegetation seen by visitors in summer is now a lovely shade of green and there are many little rivers and streams flowing down the mountainside especially after it has rained. Many of these streams can be seen from a long way away as the water tumbles down the rocky slopes and forms waterfalls on its way down. In van Riebeeck's times the streams used to flow above ground to the sea. Today most of them have been diverted into storm water drains and flow beneath the city in canals. One such stream still feeds the moat around the Castle in Strand Street as it did in the 1650's. Of the larger rivers that flowed off Table Mountain only one exists above ground these days. The Salt River's course has been canalised and it enters the sea at Woodstock beach near the container terminal. With the construction of the container terminal Woodstock beach all but disappeared and only at low tide can one actually get onto the beach to walk along its sands. Exploring Cape Town is a great adventure even to residents like me. This week I paid a visit to to the lower reaches of the mountain and explored some of the streets that cling to the hillside. Driving up almost vertical concrete roads is an experience as the higher you go the more you begin to wonder if your car is going to make the top and also be able to stop on the way down. It's all worth the effort once you get there. The views out over Cape Town are quite spectacular. There are still a number of parks with large pine trees and rivers flowing through them. Some of them are not fenced and the woodland paths through them are waiting to be explored. It appears that the higher up the mountain one ventures the further back into Cape Town's history one ventures. Many of the houses that were constructed in the early 1900's have been restored to their former glory. There are entire streets that only have these old style houses in them. Unfortunately however, amongst these lovely old buildings are scattered some very ugly buildings. One of them is the Disa Flats complex which can be seen from miles away and spoils any photo of the mountain. The three circular towers of apartments are built in such a prominent position on the slopes of the mountain and spoil the view of the mountain as they do not blend in. For residents in the apartments the views over Cape Town are spectacular. If the top three or four floors could be removed the towers would not be so noticeable and would blend into the surroundings. Of course no one is willing to pay for the loss of income to the owners so these ugly buildings will remain. If only those buildings could be treated like some of the other aliens on Table Mountain. Many trees growing on the mountain have been declared aliens and have to be removed. It was pleasing to note that the old pine trees that have grown along the lower tree line for decades on are still there. They add character to the area and provide shade for people wondering along the paths that abound. For anybody with time on his hands exploring this part of Cape Town can be a very pleasant experience. Enjoy the beauty of the city while sitting on a rock under a shady tree with your feet in a cool stream and a frosty glass of your favourite wine in your hand. That's Cape Town for you! For people intending to visit Cape Town, Spring is just around the corner and soon the mountains and valleys will be filled with wild flowers. Get here soon to experience it for yourselves. Geoff Fairman ** African Black Oyster Catcher With the coming of spring and the warmer weather the beaches of Cape Town once again come into their own. This however is not good news for the African Black oyster catchers who nest above the high water mark on our South African coastlies. They are one of the rarest sea birds along our coastlines and with only about 5000 pairs left are on the endangered list. Oyster Catchers breed in other parts of the world but this is the only species that breeds in Africa. The birds are quite distinct as there are normally two of them together. The African variety is a medium size bird with black feathers and a long red beak. It uses this beak to forage on the rocks and beaches for limpets, muscles and any sea mollusc that it can find. As the Oyster Catcher can only feed at low tide when muscle banks are exposed it is one of only a few birds that feeds in the day and at night. As birds go the Oyster catcher is one of the longer living birds with a life expectancy of up to thirty five years. Another interesting fact is that they usually only have one partner in a lifetime and normally only breed after three or four years. On a visit to Yzerfontein recently I came across a number of Oyster catchers sitting on a rock near the sea. There were a number of other seabirds with them and it appears that the birds believe in safety in numbers. As I wanted to get some photos of them I approached the rock they were on by devious means to try not to scare them away. I got reasonably close and then one bird let out a warning cry and they all flew away. The other sea birds in the group sheltering on the rock did not move at all. On examining the photos later I noticed that two of the birds had white rings on their legs so they must have been captured sometime in their lifetimes as chicks. As there were four Oyster Catchers in the group and the ringed birds appeared to be older I assumed the second pair were their chicks. Its good to know that the birds have chicks reaching maturity along the west coast. Next time you visit the west coast see if you can spot these rare birds feeding along the shore. With a bit of luck you might even come a cross the baby chicks on the rocks feeding like I did a number of months ago. If you do find them watch them from a distance as they go about their business. Geoff Fairman. ** Turn your dog into the best behaved pooch on the park with Secrets of a Professional Dog Trainer Guide Book http://www.dogproblems.com/clicksecrets.htm?hop=brerrabbit ** Turtle Travels new blog is online now. http://turtleessays.blogspot.com There are some interesting new articles being posted today. Be sure not to miss them. ** Start your own home nursery and earn yourself some pocket money! Find out how to do it from an expert. Here is his link: http://hop.clickbank.net/?brerrabbit/mcplants ** For my personal details, contact address, and warnings regarding products advertised in this ezine please read the disclaimers which can be found at: http://www.turtlesa.com/Disclaimer.html |
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| << July18, 2005 - Turtle Essays Edition no 139 dated 18.7.2005 |
August01, 2005 - Turtle Essays Edition no 141 dated 1st August 2005 >> |
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