Friends of Iziko South African Museum - December 2015

FRIENDS OF IZIKO SOUTH AFRICAN

MUSEUM Non-Profit Organisation 052-511-NPO Postal address: P O Box 61 Cape Town 8000 South Africa Physical address: 25 Queen Victoria Street Cape Town SA Phone: 021 481 3913 Fax: 021 481 3993 Cell: 072 225 6893 E-mail: samfriends@iziko.org.za Website http://www.iziko.org.za/; http://www.iziko.org.za/ static/page/friends-of-the-south-african-museum

NEWSLETTER – DECEMBER 2015 We have reached the end of 2015, another year filled with exciting adventures with the Friends. Thank you to all our wonderful members for loyally supporting the Friends activities. It is a joy to be part of an organisation in which members are so actively involved.

2016 MEMBERSHIP

Your 2015 membership expires on 31 December. If you have not already done so, please remember to renew your membership in order for it not to expire. Please remember to complete and return the membership renewal form sent to you on 30 October as this assists in record keeping. Please also include proof of payment as we have unidentified deposits in our bank account. We cannot send you your renewal stickers if we do not know who made these deposits.

See the Iziko website to download the membership form: http://www.iziko.org.za/static/page/friends-of-the-southafrican-museum

FRIENDS OFFICE

After thirteen years as the Administrator of the Friends Maxine is retiring. She has been replaced by Charlotte Honiball who has been working in the office since November. Contact details and office hours remain unchanged. Please note that the office will be closed from 18 December until 13 January 2016.

LECTURE PROGRAMME 2016 Lectures are held in the TH Barry Lecture Theatre at 18:00, unless otherwise advertised. Entrance is free to members on presentation of a valid 2016 membership card. Visitors are asked for a donation of R30 per lecture.

To stimulate your interest in the 2016 lecture programme, we have included initial details of what you can expect for the first few lectures.

Tuesday 23 February 2016 Speaker: Norman Larsen Title: Spiders and the myths about spider bites Tuesday 29 March Speaker: Dr Samantha Masters Title: Pottery (and poetry) from the ancient Greek symposium Tuesday 26 April Speaker: Professor Mike Picker Title: TBA Tuesday 31 May Speaker: Dr Jill Weintroub Title: Dorothea Bleek

REPORT-BACKS FOSSIL TRIP - SEPTEMBER Twenty-two Friends joined Roger Smith and Georgina Farrell at Lemoenfontein Game Lodge, two kilometres outside Beaufort West. This was the fourth time the Friends stayed there, and they were made to feel extremely welcome.

Activities commenced with an introductory lecture by Roger and a briefing on what to expect over the following three days. Most of us are old hands, but there were a good number of first-timers, eager to learn what to do and how to be part of the next major discovery.

The first day was spent on Dassiesfontein, a farm on top of the De Jagers Pass, where a number of good finds were made, including a gorgonopsian, a curled-up diictodon (the dassie of the ancient Karoo), emydops and what is either odenodon or tropidostoma. These specimens will be prepared at the Museum and added to the collections.

Another lecture by Roger preceded dinner, which, as always, was excellent.

It rained most that night and we awoke to a grey sky and freezing cold. It snowed en route to the farm Dunedin over the Molteno Pass. After a short drive through the veld, we arrived at our dig site, a low koppie with lots of fossils. We discovered what appeared to be a graveyard that contained five diictodon skulls within about a 20-metre radius, probably evidence of a catastrophic flash flood or some other event that caught the victims unaware. Among the finds was a pristeridon.

The owner of Dunedin, Jan Moolman, made a braai at lunchtime with homemade game and lamb boerewors, which was delicious, complemented with Georgina’s salads and other accompaniments. The afternoon was spent scouring the slopes. Eric Harley delivered a very interesting talk on rhino genetics and a proposal to save the northern white rhino which is on the edge of extinction that evening.

The following day we visited Putfontein, which has some very well illustrated sedimentary features, explained in detail by Roger. A pristerognathus was found here, which was excavated and taken to the Museum. Georgina excelled herself with an Italian-themed gourmet lunch in the field. The outing ended with a braai in the evening.

We are really privileged to have an A-rated scientist and world expert on the ancient Karoo, fossils, sedimentology and stratigraphy as our leader, complemented by a gourmet caterer. We thank and salute Roger and Georgina for a huge amount of preparation and effort to make our fossil trips memorable.

Munro Bloch

VISIT TO HAROLD PORTER - OCTOBER We were privileged to have Jane Forrester as our guide on this excursion. She welcomed the Friends on the outing and, after a quick briefing, we set out to explore a very interesting botanical paradise featuring a huge diversity of plants from various bio-zones and soil types, neatly laid out in the ten hectares which have been formally ‘gardened’ to show the many plants endemic to the area.

The conservancy stretches from the top of the mountain all the way down to the seashore. Jane was an excellent guide, imparting sufficient knowledge to make the excursion interesting without an overload of detail and scientific jargon.

One would have thought an area so tiny in relation its bigger sister Kirstenbosch could be covered in a few minutes. However, we had only covered part of the garden by lunchtime, and planned to visit Disa Kloof after a picnic lunch on the lawns. Unfortunately, Mother Nature had other ideas, as we set out for this last part of the visit, the heavens opened, ending the outing.

The good news is Jane agreed have us back; we look forward to visiting again in the future. For those who were not on this excursion, I can recommend the experience. Besides being a pretty place to visit, it also acts as a refuge for many highly-endangered species whose continued existence is threatened by habitat destruction and farming.

Munro Bloch

COMPANY’S GARDEN AND THE SA NATIONAL LIBRARY In November the Friends enjoyed a very informative morning visiting the Company’s Garden and the National Library. Dale Barber, senior horticulturist, led the tour, starting with the newly established organic vegetable garden. The layout of this garden has been done in the original Dutch style started in the time of Jan van Riebeeck. This garden is unique in that it is an exhibit that shows the cycles of vegetable growing as well as the produce being used by the restaurant. Plans to sell produce at Saturday markets are being explored.

Due to the safety of the area being improved by having four security guards patrolling and the opening up of the hedges and dense growth, the number of visitors has increased and tour operators are once again bringing tour groups to enjoy the garden. An ingenious waste management system which separates recycling and uses garden waste for compost has greatly reduced the amount of waste going to the landfill.

When the 250 year old tree in front of the restaurant fell down late last year, the wood was much too heavy to be moved resulting in the trunk being replanted to form a feature. Next to the restaurant a 150 year old tree was found to be unstable and cut down to prevent it too from falling. The wood from these two trees has been cut into sleepers and sculpted into animal figures, all of which beautifully adorn that area ensuring that both trees are still in their original place in different forms.

We then had Zahida Sirkhotte give us a tour of the S A National library which is housed in a very beautiful building near the entrance to the Garden. She explained how the library operates and what books and documents are kept there. We were very fortunate to be taken into the archive area which the general public are not able to access. The tour ended with a visit to the Abe Bailey room where the rare book collection is kept.

Thank you to Dale and Zahida for a most interesting and informative morning.

Charlotte Honiball

CAPE POINT OVERNIGHT OUTINGS NOVEMBER

These two outings turned out to be a great success but unfortunately late cancellations meant that the number of participants was lower than expected.

The three and a half hour walk with guides from the Friends of Cape Point added great interest and knowledge, especially as we walked in the fire burnt area and therefore saw many early recovering plants.

Some, apparently, never seen before. Fortunately the weather was pleasant for walking.

Following the walk we were able to have access to the Olifantsbos cottages and what a lovely surprise it was to discover such a well-appointed place. An afternoon of relaxation was followed by the excitement of watching a herd of eland walking along the beach in front of us. A pleasant evening was enjoyed by everyone. The folli9wing morning saw more eland in the area.

This really a very worthwhile place to visit and I thoroughly recommend that you consider visiting it with your families sometime, even in winter as there is a good sized fireplace.

Rosemary Smythe

We wish you a very happy and safe holiday season.

We look forward to seeing you in 2016.

Maxine and Charlotte Friends of Iziko South African Museum