Koggelberg new route hike : Unfortunately this walk had to be cancelled due to wet conditions

Seed planting : 7 children and 3 adults joined Andreas on this lovely morning to learn about our beautiful trees. Each child got a hip pouch to use to put the seeds in. We went on a walk in the reserve, looking for tree seeds to collect. We found 6 different species. Bags filled with seeds we walked to the nursery. The first thing we had to do is to sort all the seeds, each kind on a different heap. Then trays were filled with soil and Andreas explained how seeds must be planted. After all the trays were filled and planted, the watering cans were filled and the newly planted seeds were watered.

We will keep an eye on our trees. Every once in a while we will check that no weeds are growing in the trays. Once the seedlings are big enough, we will pot them. If trees are big enough, we will use them in a rehabilitation project.

Wagon trail – Sir Lowry’s Pass:
On this lovely sunny morning, 3 children and 4 adults joined Andreas on a wonderful walk up the old wagon trail. It was interesting to hear where the wagons were prepared before the big trek over the mountains, which route they took and that there was another camp at the top of the pass for oxen to rest. We saw the wagon tracks carved into the stone. It is amazing to think they managed to get up that rocky pass.

We had the most lovely views over false bay at the top. We also looked at the cannons that are still stationed at the top, which were used to inform farmers on the other side of the mountain when ships arrived.
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June/July 2010 holiday program

This coming holiday ECO-Rangers will be offering the following:

• Saturday 19th June : Kogelberg new trail
• Wednesday 23rd June : Trees: Collecting seed and planting
• Saturday 26th June : Wagon trail (Wedderwill to Sir Lowry’s Pass)
• Wednesday 30th  June : Owl nest building
• Sat & Sunday 3-4 July : Snow camp : Heksrivier mountains (Worcester)
• Wednesday 7th July : Bird ringing
• Friday 9th July : Waterfall hike (Jonkershoek)

All events are weather dependent.  The event will be postponed or  canceled in case of bad weather. Continue reading this post »

Making Toad Houses  :  28th May 2010

As the weather was real frog weather, we learned about frogs and toads. Andreas told us interesting facts about frogs and toads. We saw pictures of the tiniest frog, the biggest and the most beautiful frogs! We were shown what influence man has on these lovely creatures.

Painting the toad houses

To encourage the children to become aware and care for toads and frogs in their environment, we let them make a toad house. This is a ceramic pot which they decorated. They then went home to find a suitable spot in their garden to put it. We hope this will provide many toads with a comfortable and safe home!

I'm sure a toad would love this house!

Hard at work : digging, planting & watering

After all 30 trees were planted the children had time to play and explore in the river.

Clothes dirty and wet but everyone in good spirit, we headed back to the cars.

On our way back we explored a porcupine hole. Max was lucky to see a young porcupine looking out of the hole while we were on the other end of the tunnel.

Every time we have an outing on Wedderwill in future, we will look for our trees, see how they’ve grown, talk to them and water them.

I planted this tree!

Geology Tour : 15 May 2010

A group of 12 children and 8 adults joined Andreas on a walk starting in Camps Bay. We couldn’t have asked for better weather: The sun was shining and just a slight breeze could be felt. The mountain stood towering up in the sky in front of us, dropping down into the blue sea.

On our way up Kasteelpoort, Andreas showed us the different rock layers of Table Mountain. First we looked at the Graafwater formation. These mudstones were mostly a reddish colour, caused by iron oxide. The children also found black markings in some stones and we learned that these were from Manganese minerals in the stones. We were shown some outcrops of granite. The upper layer of sandstone created the huge cliffs. The children’s hip pouches got heavier the further we walked!

There was water dripping everywhere after the good rains in the last two weeks.

It took us about 2, 5 hours to reach the top. Everyone, except Max who had already had his ‘noodles on the go’ was starving. We found a nice sheltered spot where we had our lunch.

After lunch the ‘young ones’ (those aged 45 years were welcome to join) sat down with Andreas and rubbed stones together to show how soil forms. I’m sure these children won’t forget how precious soil is after seeing how small a heap they had after such hard work!

After a bit of clambering on the rocks, it was time to move on. We walked through wetland areas (where we wished we had  Continue reading this post »

Iziko Fossil Outing :  24 April 2010

Our tour started at 9h00, an hour before the official opening of the museum. So we were the only group in the museum for the first hour. They had a Paleontologist that is working on the Australopithecus sediba fossil, from Gauteng, at the display of the famous fossil. She took her time explaining which bones were found first, and how the excitement grew as more fossilised bones were found. She explained all the special features of this fossil, e.g. long arms like an ape but long legs capable of striding like a human. The children and adults could ask all questions they wanted.

After 10h00, when the museum was open to everyone, the fossil was surrounded by so many people that we were very thankful to have been able to be there early!