|
Turtle Essays Archives Index
|
Subscribe
|
|
| << August29, 2005 - Turtle Essays edition no 145 dated 29.8.2005 |
September20, 2005 - Turtle Essays edition no 147 dated 19.9.2005 >> |
|
Turtle Essays Edition no 146 dated 12th September 2005 ** In this edition: Editor's blurb Koeberg Nuclear Power Station Fishing the Khoisan way. ** Editor's Blurb. Hi there folks. Welcome to all my new and regular readers. That large millstone that was hanging around my neck is a thing of the past and I am glad to report that I am now an accredited tour guide for the Cape Town metrople having passed my examinations. I am now in a position to offer tours of Cape Town and its surrounding areas so anyone visiting Cape Town from the beginning of October 2005 please contact me if you would like a guided tour around our beautiful city. There are a number of tours available and I will list them below for you. Grand tour of the Cape Peninsula please click link below. Http://www.turtlesa.com/Peninsula_tour.html Winelands tour. West Coast as far as Saldanha bay Hermanus and the whales. Breede River valley. I am still in the process of setting up itineraries and working out prices for the tours. As there are many places of interest in and around Cape Town and many people might want to see something different to what I will include in my tours please contact me to discuss changes you would like me to make if you want to book a tour. As the customer is always king I will do my best to accommodate any changes required. Prices will be available for all tours on request after the itinerary has been finalised. For the moment I must limit tour groups to a maximum of seven people. You can contact me by email at Geoff@turtlesa.com This week I have put together two articles for you. I hope you find them interesting. Geoff Fairman. ** Koeberg Nuclear Power Station Koeberg Nuclear Power Station is situated on the West Coast of the Western Cape some 30 kilometres north of Cape Town. It is the only nuclear power station situated this far south in the world. Traditionally electricity has been produced from coal or oil fired turbines here in South Africa . Coal fired power stations are known for their pollution of the atmosphere so it was decided by the authorities to go the nuclear route and gradually phase out the old type of power station. Prior to 1976 South Africa only had coal fired stations which were powered by coal mined in Natal and the Transvaal or Gauteng as it is known today. In Cape Town we had three power stations before Koeberg. One was in the city centre at the bottom of Long Street and occupied a large site of prime land. The other was on the coast close to the old Woodstock beach in an area now called Paarden Eiland. A third power station is situated near Langa Township and has two large cooling towers which can be seen from miles around. As far as I know its still active. The two Cape Town power stations, other than producing electricity also provided the surfers of Cape Town with an indication of which direction the wind was blowing when smoke from the tall stacks was blown inland or out to sea depending on the wind of the day. By reading the wind the surfers knew what type of surf would be available at their favourite surfing spots. Since Koeberg came online in 1984 both the city power stations have been scrapped and the buildings demolished. The site at the bottom of Long street now has a number of upmarket hotels built on it while the site near Paarden Eiland stands vacant. Koeberg Power station has taken over the role of electricity supplier to the Western Cape. This power station produces enough electricity to power most of the Western Cape's electricity needs and in fact produces 6.5 per cent of South Africa's power. Since its inception it has been an extremely reliable power station and has a good safety record as well. However, over the past number of years a number of issues have arisen which puts a large question mark over the nuclear reactor. According to geologists the Duynefontein area is stable so there should not be a problem if there were to be an earthquake. No mention is made of the Milnerton fault which is situated just 8 kilometres off the Koeberg Power Station and has been the cause of a number of light earthquakes over the years. A second problem is the fact that all radioactive waste is kept onsite and there must be a mighty big pile of it that has built up since 1984. What would happen if the Milnerton fault were to cause a tsunami and the vaults where this waste is kept were to be flooded. Would Koeberg and its surrounding areas still be safe ? Even more scary is the fact that the authorities are looking to build a number of pebble bed reactors on adjacent sites knowing of the Milnerton fault and the problems it could cause should it move. Should a major problem with the Koeberg nuclear power station occur the Western Cape would become uninhabitable and be lost to the world as a tourist attraction. Any emissions of radioactivity would kill off the Western Cape's farming industry as well as pose a threat to the more than four million people living in the greater Cape Town area. We've just seen what nature can do in New Orleans in a few short days. Just imagine what would happen should a large earthquake or tsunami hit Koeberg which is situated on the coastline just 8 kilometres from a known fault. Cape Town, situated on the southern tip of Africa, has an alternative which should be investigated. Each year starting at the beginning of spring the prevailing south east winds start to blow and if this wind could be harnassed enough electricity could be generated throughout the year to take Koeberg Nuclear Power station out the equation. That would make Cape Town a much safer place to live in and would keep the city on the tourism map for future generations. Geoff Fairman ** Fishing the Khoisan way. About four hundred years ago before the Portuguese, Dutch and British started settling in South Africa the Khoisan tribes roamed the countryside. Some of them owned cattle and sheep while others were hunter gatherers. Being hunter gatherers it was necessary for them to explore all forms of food supply. Along the south coast of South Africa they scoured the rocks for shellfish and also caught small fish in rock pools. Big fish were however not on their menu as they had no way of catching them unless they trapped themselves in a shallow rock pool when the tide went out. The Khoisan had spears made from taaibos which were very ineffective especially in water and so to put fish on their table they had to devise a way to catch them. Scouring the rocks every day allowed them to notice that when the tide was very high with dark nights caused by the new moon larger fish often got caught in rock pools when the tide went out. The thought occurred to them that if they could have their own rock pools they might trap more fish in them when the tide was high. With this in mind they set about building their traps. They found a nice flat piece of beach that was not too deep and built a wall of rocks around it. The idea was to allow fish to swim in over the wall of rocks when the tide was high and then be trapped inside the rock wall when the tide went out. Building the kraals was hard work as rocks had to be placed carefully so as to allow water to flow through them and not allow fish once inside to escape. Stilbaai on the Southern Cape coastline is one of the areas where the Khoisan built their viswyvers or traps. When the farmers arrived in the area long after the Khoisan had left they found the foundations of the traps still intact and recognised that they were an ingenious way of catching fish. The farmers set about repairing the viswyvers and used them to catch fish for themselves. As there are not many sites where Khoisan traditions can be seen the authorities have declared the traps a Khoisan National Heritage site. Keeping the traps intact takes a lot of hard work as the sea when it is rough washes many of the rocks off the walls. As there is a benefit for farmers to keep the viswyvers in good shape they do not mind doing so. The traps are a ready source of fish at new moon and farmers use nets to catch the mullet which enter the traps. Unfortunately this has landed them in hot water with the Department of Environmental Affairs, Marine and Coastal Management who say that the gill nets used to catch the mullet kill other endangered species which find themselves in the traps. The farmers disagree as they say its an impossible task to catch the fish without nets as the traps are too big. It appears that the authorities in fact don't want the farmers to catch any fish in the traps but instead want them to install a system of pipes in the walls of the traps to allow the fish to escape. If the authorities choose to enforce the pipe system the farmers will have no incentive to keep the viswyvers intact. It would be a great shame if this were to happen as one of the few authentic Khoisan sites left in South Africa would slowly disintegrate and disappear as the sea took its toll on the rock walls put their so many hundreds of years ago. Lets hope this will not happen and that a compromise can be reached. Next time you visit the Stilbaai area take a walk down to the beach at low tide and inspect the many traps that are to be seen along the coastline. You might even find a fish or two in them. Geoff Fairman ** ** Ezines R Us Ads: http://www.ezines-r-us.com/cmd.php?af=293028 ** Have you ever wondered what it would be like to have your own private income? Well now you can. No I'm NOT joking... Look here for yourself! http://tinyurl.com/altc2 ** Investigate this opportunity FREE... sign up for Free and study the results... then make an educated decision... forced matrix program...just launched... http://forcedlistprofits.com/go/toppeddler ** 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 ** 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. ** 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 |
|
| << August29, 2005 - Turtle Essays edition no 145 dated 29.8.2005 |
September20, 2005 - Turtle Essays edition no 147 dated 19.9.2005 >> |
|
Turtle Essays Archives Index
|
Subscribe
|
|
|
Archives powered by Zinester's Mailing List Service
Details on Turtle Essays |
Browse for more newsletters at Zinester's Ezine Directory
Managed by Zinester's Mailing List Management |