Showing posts with label vegetation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label vegetation. Show all posts
Friday, July 30, 2010
Healing at Rietvlei
Retvlei, Cape is showing signs of recovery after the ongoing tree-xenophobia that is taking place here
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Friday, December 19, 2008
Rietvlei a scary sight.
Photographs of Rietvlei Cape 2001 and 2008
2001 lush wooded bushland and bird haven
December 2008
Even though this land is scorching under the hot sun, it is still a pleasure to look out over the water and admire the mountain.Newcomers who have never seen the vlei before it was stripped from "alien" vegetation, may think it is a wonderful place. It is still nature.
I admired the birds. It was only when I compared today's photographs with some of those taken back in 2001, that the impact of our conservation efforts hit home.
On the photographs, this place, Rietvlei looks like a window into the future. It is a scary sight. It looks like life "after the holocaust" or something like "global warming and the Armageddon".
It could be part of a film set for "After the Koeberg nuclear meltdown"
Not all of Rietvlei looks like this. There are many new trees growing up. New plants have been planted and the conservation department has big plans for the area. It is this interim period that is scary. This period of nothing but desolation.
(Photographs will be placed in the album soon to show a more balanced view of the area and some of the new trees and plants)
Friday, November 28, 2008
Saturday, October 13, 2007
Introduction
While living in Australia for seventeen years, I never found a better place to be than near Table Mountain.
It is as if this giant flat rock energizes and inspires those who live near it. Table Mountain is a sacred place, one can say that it is the most southern sacred natural phenomena in Africa, perhaps even in the world?
Table Mountain is officially accepted as one of the natural wonders of the world.
The best view of Table Mountain is from Marine Drive (Blaauwberg) strand, or finding a FULL mountain view holiday apartment in BIG BAY area, WALKING DISTANCE FROM THE BEACH is something that visitors should aim for.
I may have expressed negative views about the changes in this area in my blogs. I love nature in all forms and it hurts when humanity tramples over God's gifts driven by a limited vision with little thought about the long-term effect on the environment and the heritage we leave to our descendants.
The thing I missed most while living overseas was Table Mountain.
We saw Table Mountain every day of our lives. We got so used to the mountain that we took it for granted. Table Mountain was our subconscious compass. Whenever I left Cape Town, I could not find my direction.
When I was a child, Milnerton was a small town in the bush and Tableview the forest where we would come for a picnic on Sundays.
Blouberg was just a windy beach with shifting sands belonging to nature and the birds.
I returned to South Africa in 1990 and decided to make Tableview my home, now a fast expanding town.
We saw Table Mountain every day of our lives. We got so used to the mountain that we took it for granted. Table Mountain was our subconscious compass. Whenever I left Cape Town, I could not find my direction.
When I was a child, Milnerton was a small town in the bush and Tableview the forest where we would come for a picnic on Sundays.
Blouberg was just a windy beach with shifting sands belonging to nature and the birds.
I returned to South Africa in 1990 and decided to make Tableview my home, now a fast expanding town.
When I first moved there, we could safely walk through bush land near our home but in less than a ear it was considered too dangerous as crime and violence became a way of life.
Soon this bush land was to make place for houses; the town of Parklands and beyond. That too is now totally replaced by houses and shops. There are so many new residents in this area, with the majority totally out of step with nature.
MOST OF THE TREES ARE NOW REMOVED. African settlers are now living in formal and informal settlements where nature used to abound.
Where we once used to picnic, when I was a child, is now an expanding built-up area.
Only Rietvlei was to be preserved for nature and generations to come.
That changed when the conservation department decided to remove all trees they regarded as alien to encourage the growth of fynbos (Natural Cape Vegetation) yet not taking in account the effects of global warming, the birds and animals that have for many years made this vlei area their home.
We fought for the last few large trees to remain so that the Fisheagles had somewhere to sit but our pleas fell on deaf ears.
The birds had to find somewhere else to go. They were no longer welcomed at Rietvlei. They are tall tree loving birds thus regarded as alien.
All this had to give way for the folly of conservation.
Most of the land that has been cleared turned into dry grassland that catches fire every year, killing animals and plants in its wake.
Africa is in my blood.
At cellular level I can never swap the lion for the kangaroo, but sometimes I now long for the peace and crime free existence we had in Australia where racial discrimination is focused on empowering the minority aboriginal groups.
Soon this bush land was to make place for houses; the town of Parklands and beyond. That too is now totally replaced by houses and shops. There are so many new residents in this area, with the majority totally out of step with nature.
MOST OF THE TREES ARE NOW REMOVED. African settlers are now living in formal and informal settlements where nature used to abound.
Where we once used to picnic, when I was a child, is now an expanding built-up area.
Only Rietvlei was to be preserved for nature and generations to come.
That changed when the conservation department decided to remove all trees they regarded as alien to encourage the growth of fynbos (Natural Cape Vegetation) yet not taking in account the effects of global warming, the birds and animals that have for many years made this vlei area their home.
We fought for the last few large trees to remain so that the Fisheagles had somewhere to sit but our pleas fell on deaf ears.
The birds had to find somewhere else to go. They were no longer welcomed at Rietvlei. They are tall tree loving birds thus regarded as alien.
All this had to give way for the folly of conservation.
Most of the land that has been cleared turned into dry grassland that catches fire every year, killing animals and plants in its wake.
Africa is in my blood.
At cellular level I can never swap the lion for the kangaroo, but sometimes I now long for the peace and crime free existence we had in Australia where racial discrimination is focused on empowering the minority aboriginal groups.
I NO LONGER LIVE IN CAPE TOWN. IT IS MY INTENTION TO BLOG SOME OF THE BEAUTIFUL PHOTOS IN MY ALBUMS AND TO SHARE SOME STORIES FROM THE OLD DAYS - IF I GET TIME BECAUSE I NOW LIVE AT THE MOST SOUTHERN POINT OF AFRICA AND A NEW BLOG "MY MOST SOUTHERN VIEW, WILL SOON BE IN THE MAKING" TO REPLACE THIS ONE.
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