Month: July 2006

WILD HERITAGE is a book that features the superlative Natural Heritage Sites and other wild places in KwaZulu-Natal. A magnificent showcase, it reflects Africa’s poignant moods and wild beauty, its animal and plant diversity, its indigenous cultures and its natural abundance and generosity despite the pressures and assaults it suffers at the hands of people.

The authors and publishers are KwaZulu-Natal-based photographers Philip and Ingrid van den Berg, together with Heinrich van den Berg. They are well known internationally for their superb wildlife photography and this is their seventh coffee-table book. WILD HERITAGE measures 300 x 230mm, contains 208 full-colour pages printed on 130gsm matt paper, in hard cover bound with fine cloth, with a pictorial matt-laminated dust jacket. The book will be ready by November 2006.

Nobody who loves wild Africa, the serenity of the high Drakensberg peaks, the green hills of the midlands, the excitement of bushveld wildlife, the enchantment of the St Lucia Wetlands and the magical marine world, should be without this book.

Rhino Club members are offered the opportunity of becoming subscribers by purchasing the book at a special pre-publication price of R250 (normal price R300) and having their names listed in it as subscribers. As an added bonus, there will be a bookplate signed by the authors, with a personal message.

Book collectors will be pleased to know that a limited Collectors’ Edition of 100 copies, bound in half-leather, with a matching cloth and leather-trimmed slipcase, will be available at R2250 per copy incl. Pre-publication subscribers’ names will be listed as Collectors in the book. A special page, signed by the authors, with the hand-printed name and number of the collector, will be bound into the front of the book.

Sponsors’ Editions will be presented in full-leather binding, with matching cloth and leather-trimmed slipcase for each sponsorship of R5 000. Sponsors’ names will be listed as Sponsoring Subscribers and the name and number of the copy will appear on a special autographed page in the front of the book.

Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife and the Greater St Lucia Wetland Authority support and endorse WILD HERITAGE KwaZulu-Natal. Find more information on the website www.hphpublishing.co.za.

The Greater St Lucia Wetland Park is a unique and vital part of South Africa’s natural heritage. In order to protect and conserve this World Heritage Site the Wildlands Conservation Trust has carried out various projects in this area including rare and endemic species research within the park as well as the Trust’s Indigenous Trees for Life project and other tourism and training initiatives in the surrounding communities.

Long-time supporter of the Trust and the Indigenous Trees for Life project, Unilever have contributed much over the years, in terms of funds, in kind donations and volunteers. The Living Lakes Volunteers initially formed in support of the Living Lakes network which aims to conserve the world’s lakes and uplift the communities surrounding them. With the beautiful Lake St Lucia only a two hour drive from their head offices in Umhlanga, Unilever staff have volunteered their precious weekends for over five years in support of this cause and to learn more about this unique ecosystem.

Khula Village is one of the communities situated on the south-western shores of the Lake where Unilever have assisted the Trust in uplifting and educating its people to ensure the protection and future conservation of the regions biodiversity. During the time Unilever staff have spent in Khula they have amongst other things helped remove thousands of alien plants, planted hundreds indigenous trees and beautified the area by collecting rubbish for recycling. They are now in the process of doing an “extreme makeover” for the Dukuduku Crèche in Khula Village, which supports 64 children, including 10 babies, in only one small room. Another building was erected but unfinished due to lack of funds.

In the first of what will be two or three weekends dedicated to the cresh’s “makeover”, 12 Unilever volunteers, the Wildlands Conservation Trusts’ Indigenous Trees for Life Team, the Khula Green Team and friends and family started their Saturday morning bright and early in preparation for a full day’s work. The Teams were split into four, the builders, painters, landscapers and playground designers but everyone mingled moving from one fished job to the next to help where they could. The unfinished building had the ceiling and air vents put in and was painted inside and out to be used as a nursery for the babies (at the request of the teachers). The playground was totally revamped with a new child-friendly jungle gym built and a sand pit and tire walks put in, washed with a splash of brightly coloured paint. Khula Green Team leader Siphiwe Mjadu designed the landscaping putting in two beautiful beds of indigenous plants and flowers in front of both buildings adding a lovely touch of greenery.

“I can’t believe we achieved so much” was the statement uttered again and again at the end of the day and onto Sunday. After a trip to the St Lucia Croc-Centre on Sunday morning to learn more about the regions history and biodiversity, in particular it’s reptilian inhabitants, the volunteers left full of satisfaction and eagerness to return to complete their “makeover”. The remaining tasks amongst others include carpeting and wall murals in both buildings (including ocean and African wildlife theme’s), swings in the playground and more landscaping work in the garden with the planting of a few indigenous trees, The Teaches will also be provided with lot’s of toys, educational materials and other resources to use upon the completion of the buildings.

The tenth annual Giant’s Castle Mountain Bike Challenge, which took place in April, proved to be a major challenge for the participants in many respects. First cyclist home Brandon Stewart – with 5 wins from 6 starts – completed the course in a time of 3 hours, 46 minutes and 20 seconds. The first woman home was Tania Raats who was also fourth overall in a time of 4 hours, 14 minutes and 35 seconds. This was her fifth consecutive race. The oldest rider was 71-year-old Arthur Duncan and the youngest was 16-year-old Timothy Underwood. But participants faced far more than a grueling race in their record-breaking attempts: the weather also turned nasty as soon as the race was under way.

“Conditions proved to be testing for the majority of the riders,” says organizer Bruce Houghting. “What started out as a clear cool day, by late morning had turned into a cold overcast day with some hail and plenty of rain.”
“As a result of the rain the route along the Njesuthi Track from checkpoint 3 to Checkpoint 4 became somewhat treacherous and the riders had to concentrate harder to stay upright. Rocks became slippery to ride over and cold mud was flung into their faces. As for the final river crossing – where riders descend an extremely steep slope to a rocky river-bed at the bottom and then up a steep bank on the other side – the riders splashed through as usual, this time getting rid of some of the mud.”

Despite the unpredictable conditions and exceptionally rugged terrain, race entries are keenly sought after. The Challenge is definitely not for sissies! The trail follows a varied route which includes some tar road, unused bridle paths and a 4×4 track: much of which forms part of the 16km tooth-gritting “downhill” to the Bushmans River before re-joining the 8km tar road back up to the start/finish. For many people the Challenge lies, not in winning the event, but finishing the course at all.
The field is limited to only 400 riders, in order to protect the mountain habitat. This is a decision that was taken by EKZNW in conjunction with the organizers in order to prevent degradation of the route. It has had the unintended consequence of making the race an exclusive and sought-after event. Entrants come mainly from Gauteng, although there were also entrants from as far afield as the USA and Holland.

“This event has most certainly done a huge amount for the credibility of the sport of mountain biking,” says Houghting. “It has become the event against which others are measured – both from the organizational point of view and because of its route through one of KwaZulu-Natal’s World Heritage Sites.”

The race is unique in another respect: the participants, as a condition of entry, are required to collect a minimum ‘personal sponsorship’ of R200, which is donated in its entirety to the Wildlands Conservation Trust, an independent fund-raising and project management organization concerned with conservation-based community development in KwaZulu-Natal. This year’s race raised R165000 for conservation, with Bruce Houghting raising the highest amount of a personal sponsorship – an amazing sum of R22 500. The funds will be used to support the conservation efforts of Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife.

“By raising funds, the mountain bikers are showing their commitment to the future of this land on which we enjoy our activity,” adds Houghting. “The Challenge has certainly made many people take notice of the mountain-biking fraternity who really do care for the environment and are committed to doing something worthwhile to ensure the future of the great outdoors for our children.”

A further effort by the organizers to integrate the event into the local community is by employing local people to keep the route upgraded, thereby providing jobs for the local community. This year 5 ‘development riders’ from the local community were brought into the fold and they were sponsored bicycles and kit by two of the corporate sponsors of the Challenge. These ‘development riders’ are still however required to meet the conditions of entry that all the other participants are required to meet, in order to include them in the conservation effort.

The organizers of the Giant’s Castle Mountain-Bike Challenge and the Wildlands Conservation Trust would like to thank the generous sponsors of the event: the Title Sponsor Old Mutual Corporate, and support sponsors McCarthy Land Rover (Pmb), ABI Powerade (Ladysmith), Stihl (Pty) Ltd, Tomlinson Mnguni James Attorneys, Lufthansa, The Supply Company HBF Group in association with Medi Clinic, Greg Minnaar Racing Cycle Store and Intermap.

For further information, or to find out how to enter next year’s race, contact Bruce Houghting at 082 – 402-5654 or check out the website  www.ecomotion.co.za.