Number 24: June/July 2007
Full-size PDF of cover (344 Kb)

the heat is on
The weather seems to be a bit topsy-turvy at present, with birds and plants equally confused. The Malachite Sunbirds, who are supposed to be an inconspicuous grey this time of year, are bright green, and the Cape Weavers are starting to don their yellow breeding plumage. Shrubs are flowering and our young yellowwood trees are topped with light green growth. Next door even the neighbour’s Namaqualand daisies are a bright patch of colour.

Nature, including commercially grown crops, require a cycle of cold to rest and then warmth to grow. Is this unseasonable spring, after the recent heavy snowfalls in large parts of the country, just the “normal” quirkiness of the weather, or are these concrete signs of the effects of global warming?

There is clear evidence that the Earth is heating up, and even the strongest doubters have trouble denying humans’ contribution to the high level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Experts warn that we have only about 20 years left to reverse this trend. Industry and governments will have the most to do in this regard, but everybody should help by using less energy, whether by switching off that light or not starting the car.

contents
2: At the office
The winners of our subscriber prizes, new appointments, and two cats are fired for bad behaviour

Win a stay at Aquila Safari
Subscribe and stand a chance to win

4: The travelling dassies
The strange journey of a furry family under the bonnet of a car

6: From flower-seller to businesswoman
By Annalize Mouton
Suraya Cassiem worked hard, and has achieved much. Read the full story (PDF 696 Kb)).

12: Gardening for wildlife
A new series by well-known authors Charles and Julia Botha

18: Alan Paton’s roots at Ixopo
By Darryl Earl David
Ixopo in southern KwaZulu-Natal became known the world over with the publication in 1948 of Alan Paton’s acclaimed novel Cry, the Beloved Country. A local community project now combines this literary heritage with a narrow-gauge steam train, the Paton Express, to attract visitors

22: The diary of Iris Vaughan
Sigi Howes traces the life of the girl whose diary became a best-seller and continues to delight

28: Nine generations of Smit at Coenradenberg
Annalize Mouton concludes her history of this pioneer farm in the Swartland

34: A vision that died
Text & photographs by Jens Friis
Waterkloof in the southern Free State just never became the town its founders hoped it would. After a difficult birth in 1869, it slowly faded.

36: The siege of Makapan’s Cave
By Dr Judy Maguire
The town of Mokopane in Limpopo Province is named after the Kekana Ndebele chief known to the early Trekkers as Makapan. The incursion of white hunters, traders and then settlers into the area was marked by continuing clashes, which culminated in the siege of Makapan’s Cave

42: Hoodia: From veld plant to wonder drug
By Dr Geoff Tribe
The plant variously known as Hoodia (scientific), ghaap (Nama) and kougoed (Afrikaans), has become a celebrity appetite suppressant. The active ingredient cannot be reproduced synthetically, and over-exploitation of the plant now threatens it in South Africa and Namibia

46: The face of South Africa
By Maré Mouton
Grahamstown has a wealth of historic buildings, all in a neat line

48: A crane named Tappie
Veteran birder Nico Myburgh shares his stories about birds – read full text

52: It came from Germany
Some "traditional" recipes of German origin from our Country Table

54: Bright red from the deep
Jen Lemmer continues our series on edible seaweeds

56: Travel note
Moose van Rensburg, curator of the Fort Beaufort museum, takes his pets for a walk (including three cats in a bag)

enchanting diary
She said the wrong things at the wrong times, so her father gave her a big book to write in. Iris Vaughan went on to record not only her own childhood, but also social and historical events in the Eastern Cape a hundred years ago. Her diary was later described as a “major literary find” – page 22