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| << August23, 2005 - Turtle Essays Edition no 144 dated 22.8.2005 |
September12, 2005 - Turtle Essays edition no 146 dated 12.9.2005 >> |
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Turtle Essays Edition no 145 dated 29.8.2005. ** Watch this space for Cape Town tours I will soon be offering. Interested in what I will be doing Email me today at Geoff@turtlesa.com ** In this edition: Editors Blurb Berg River Dam The Braak in Stellenbosch. ** Editors Blurb: Hi there folks. Welcome to all my new and regular readers. Its great to have you all back again this week and I hope you are going to enjoy the articles I have put together for you. For those who are interested I have posted a number of photogtraphs of the dam and the Braak on my webpage which you can find at Http://www.turtlesa.com/ezine145.html As I will be writing my tour guide exam next Monday and need to study this week I will not be publishing an ezine on the 5th of September. I'll be back the following week with some new articles for you if all goes well. The 5th will also be my birthday so I will give myself a present of a day off. LOL I will hopefully qualify as a tour guide shortly and will be able to conduct tours in the Cape Town area and into the Overberg and along the west coast as far as Saldanha Bay. If you are visiting Cape Town from October onwards and would like to be taken on a conducted tour please contact me via my email address which is Geoff@turtlesa.com I am still trying to grow my mailing list for this ezine so if you know of anyone who would like to receive it ask them to send a blank email to this address to become a reader. 50058-subscribe@zinester.com Thanks once again and I'll see you all in two weeks. Geoff Fairman ** Berg River Dam It was back in the late 1680's when Simon van der Stel was governor of the Cape that the French Huguenots came to the Cape Town and were given farms along the Berg River. Since then the farmers have used the Berg River for irrigation of their crops. Due to the increases in the population of Cape Town it has become necesssary to find additional sources of water to provide for the future needs of the people. The Berg River which has its source in the Hottentots Holland Mountains, flows through Franschhoek, Paarl and northwards entering the sea near Velddrift on the west coast. It is an important river as it supplies water to a number of dams and towns along its course and it is these places that could be threatened when the new dam comes on stream. The Voelvlei Dam near Gouda has a gross capacity of 172 million cubic metres of water and a net annual yield of 105 million cubic metres which is fed into the Cape Town water scheme. Being an off course dam it gets its water via canals from the river. The Misverstand dam near Moorresburg is built in the river and got its name from a misunderstanding between two farmers who were building the dam. As a result of the disagreement the dam wall was never completed. The Berg River dam being built near the source of the river will when completed have the highest concrete faced rock filled dam wall in South Africa. Other interesting statistics are that the dam will have a surface area of 535 hectares and a net storage capacity of 129 million cubic metres of water once complete. The dam wall including its foundation will be 70 metres high and 990 metres long. Before being granted contracts contractors had to agree to stringent guidelines set up by the authorities to enable the participation of people in the area and to gain their buy in to the project. In terms of the contracts 75% of the labour force to be used on the dam had to come from the Franschhoek area and a total of 80% of the workforce from the Western Cape. Black Enterprise Participation (BEP) also had to be actively involved in the procurement process of goods and services. So much so that contractors supplying cement had to employ black transport contractors to transport cement to the dam. The area that is to be flooded once the dam is complete is covered with alien bush. Part of the requirement by the authorities was that this bush had to be cleared. The four year plan to clear the bush seems well advanced as when I visited the dam site this weekend much of the alien bush had already been removed. It was estimated that the bush clearing exercise would create work for an additional 180 people. A question that must be asked is why Cape Town has a problem with water. Statistics show that Cape Town's population has grown by an average of 50,000 people per month since 1994. With many of the gold mines on the Rand laying off staff due to unprofitable mines the workers who once worked on them have to find employment elsewhere and so move to Cape Town in order to look for work. As they have nowhere to stay many of them join the millions already in the squatter camps on the outskirts of the townships. Table View along the west coast is another growth area. It has one of the fastest growing populations being housed in formal housing and the demand for water in this area is growing steadily each year. Over the years the west coast has always had a slow growth due to the fact that there had never been enough water to allow for a large population. Since water from the Berg River and the Breede River have come on stream it has allowed the West coast to flourish. Today however, the farmers are worried that the new dam will curb their supply of water from the Berg river. Rationing of water will affect food production where wheat is farmed in the drier areas towards the north and fruit and grapes in the Paarl area. Authorities have already limited the building of new farm dams along the course of the river so farmers could have a valid gripe if the new dam stops the flow of water lower down the Berg River. I am no expert but to me its only logical that each dam in the river will take its share of water before allowing water to flow further down the river. Of course authorities cannot allow that to happen so there will have to be extensive monitoring of the entire river once the new dam comes on stream. It would be a great shame if the West coast once again found itself without water. Completion of the new dam is scheduled for 2008 so anyone who has a problem with the new dam should take it up with the authorities before then. In the meantime paddlers and farmers should take advantage of the full river after the recent good rains we have had here in Cape Town. Geoff Fairman ** The Braak in Stellenbosch. The braak (Village green) in Stellenbosch is an open area about the size of two rugby fields. It borders Bird Street which on one side has modern shops and offices while on the other the history surrounding the Braak. The first building we come across on the northern side of the green is St Mary's Church which was built in 1852 and is an example of the type Cape Dutch architecture that was in fashion in the 1850's. To the west are a number of buildings and the most interesting is the old VOC Kruithuis which was built in 1877. Kruit is the Afrikaans and Dutch word for gunpowder and ammunition and this building was used to store the local supplies for the Dutch East India Company. Its round roof is not thatched like all the other other buildings of that era but is built of cement to protect the ammunition stored in it. Outside its main gate are two cannons that date back to the 1800's as well. In the old days the Kruithuis was on the outskirts of the town but due to the growth of Stellenbosch which is the second oldest town in South Africa it now finds itself in the centre of the town. Two other old buildings can also be found on the Braak. They are the Coachman's Cottage and the old Burgerhuis. On the southern side of the green is the lovely old Rhenish church which dates back to 1823. It was built by missionaries and was inaugurated on the 5th February 1824. The northern wing was faces the Braak was added in 1840. Very interesting are the two church bells which hang closeby in the church garden. Both of them still have their bell ropes so are obviously rung on Sundays to invite worshippers to worship. Lettering on the bells is in German so they must have been cast in Germany and brought to South Africa. Also to be found on the Braak is the P J Olivier Art Centre which houses an educational centre for the arts. Most of the old buildings around the Braak have been declared national monuments and as such are not allowed to be altered in any way. Stellenbosch is a very beautiful old town with hundreds of oak trees dating back to the time of Simon van der Stel who was the instigator of them being planted there. No visit to Cape Town is complete without a visit to the Stellenbosch area. When you come to Cape Town on your next visit let me show you around and explain some of the local history to you. In addition to all the history there are enough wine farms and places to taste the wines to make your head dizzy. Email me at Geoff@turtlesa.com if you are interested in a tour. See you here soon. Geoff Fairman ** Ezines R Us Ads: http://www.ezines-r-us.com/cmd.php?af=293028 ** FINALLY... A Legitimate Home-Based Business That Works "Ive tested almost every business opp you can imagine. Been ripped-off, mislead, burned, cheated, scammed & lied to... 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