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 South Africa 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 – JULY 2013
The shortest day of the year has come and gone, the Obamas have come and gone and we will soon be looking forward to spring. Friends can look ahead to a great line-up of lectures as well as more interesting activities as the year unfolds.
LECTURE PROGRAMME The lecture programme continues on the last Tuesday of each month. All lectures will be in the TH Barry Lecture Theatre at Iziko South African Museum, as always at 19:00, unless otherwise advertised. Entrance is free to members on presentation of a valid 2013 membership card. Visitors are asked for a donation of R30. Tuesday 30 July Speaker: Associate Professor Mike Picker, Department of Biological Studies, University of Cape Town Topic: Namibian fairy circles, Cape heuweltjies and social insects Polka-dotted landscapes are commonly seen from Google Earth (e.g. -30.906398, 18.213302) when flying above the dry parts of Africa. Closer inspection of these very large (up to 20m diameter) and evenly spaced circles and patches shows that they are free of vegetation. In spite of their large size and ability to change the appearance of landscapes, debate around their origin continues to rage. This talk evaluates the various hypotheses for their origin, and focuses on recent support for the involvement of social insect engineers.
Tuesday 27 August Speaker: Dr Helen Robinson Topic: The villages of the Liesbeek Years of research and personally exploring the area surrounding the Liesbeeck River has revealed interesting stories and characters which emphasise the role the river has played in the formation of the Southern Suburbs, as we know them today. Dr Robinson has written a book of the same name with numerous illustrations, some of which she will use in this lecture. NB: THE SEPTEMBER LECTURE COINCIDES WITH A PUBLIC HOLIDAY AND WILL THEREFORE MOVE TO TUESDSAY 1 OCTOBER Tuesday 1 October Speaker: Dr Wayne K Florence, Curator of Marine Biology at Iziko Topic: African ‘Bryodiversity’: a contribution to the works on the neglected marine invertebrate fauna of southern Africa. Our knowledge of the southern African marine fauna is outdated and fragmented, with previous work focussed on commercial species of crustaceans, molluscs and fishes. In this talk Dr Florence will introduce the Bryozoa; a neglected, but increasingly important group of, lesser known, colonial animals. He will explore their fascinating biology, usefulness and diversity, while making reference to the potential applications of Iziko’s current research on these beasts. Tuesday 27 November Speaker: Patricia Glyn – well-known eco adventurer, radio and television personality and author Topic: Dawid’s return In 2011 Patricia Glyn set off for the Kalahari to find traces of a long-dead Bushman by the name of Makai Kruiper – a legendary mystic, hunter and healer who roamed ‘The Thirst Land’ a century ago. At her side was Makai’s grandson, Dawid, a man as legendary as his forebear. Dawid was 76 years old and easily the most famous Bushman in South Africa, having featured in numerous films, documentaries, books and academic studies.
Patricia’s new talk is about what she witnessed on this trip: the fragments that remain in the Kalahari sand of a longgone life, the extraordinary memory and tracking skills that helped Dawid find his grandfather’s artifacts, some 100 years after they’d been buried and the secrets that have been handed down from son to son. This is a story about just how much the Bushmen can teach us about respect for our natural resources and how to preserve them. Patricia demonstrates how the ‘old’ Bushman attitudes hold the key to our environmental future. She shows how little they consume, how much they value what they consume and how much they leave in place for their children’s children. But it’s also an amusing talk about a journey with a group of irreverent storytellers, free spirits, hilarious mimics and loving people.
DAY TRIPS THE BIG FIVE IN CENTRAL CAPE TOWN? Saturday 5 October It’s been two centuries or more since any of the Big Five were spotted in central Cape Town – or has it?
OUTINGS
A safari sets off on Saturday 5 October to show you the unlikely lairs of the wild beasts of old Africa, some of which survive to enthrall modern tourists. But there is much more: dragons and griffins, dogs and dolphins. Public art and building facades are perches and refuges for an astonishing variety of creatures.
GEOLOGY TOUR OF THE CAPE PENINSULA: Saturday 19 October
Join us on a gentle expedition of about two hours – no palanquins or howdahs will be provided. Have some fun and dress the part with your pith helmet and butterfly net. Shoot if you must – but only with a camera. As far the explorers of old, weather is no impediment. Gather at the van Riebeeck statues at 10:30 and Alderman Owen Kinahan will lead the meander to the Company’s Gardens for lunch just after noon. Cost: Members R50; Non-members: R65 Booking and payment in advance is essential as numbers are limited.
Have you ever wondered why Table Mountain looks like it does? Are you aware it wasn’t ‘born’ in its present position, but ‘hatched’ 1 500 kilometers south of Cape Town, close to the South Pole? Why are the black rocks along the Sea Point beach front aligned the way they are? Do you know they were laid down about 200 kilometers west of their present location? How did the many large granite boulders dotted about at various places on the Peninsula get there and why are they so rounded? If you’d like answers to these and other (geology) questions, you can either Google them or learn ‘at the feet of the master’ by joining us on Saturday 19 October on a geological tour of the peninsula, led by Dr Roger Smith, the Curator of Karoo Palaeontology at Iziko and an international authority on sedimentology, stratigraphy and geology. We guarantee a very interesting and informative experience. Meet at the South African Museum 08:45 for a 09:00 departure by bus, returning at 17:00 and bring a picnic lunch. Cost: Members: R200 per person; Non-members R250 per person
EXPLORE THE TUNNELS UNDER CAPE TOWN: Sunday 20 October Tunnel exploration is a new urban activity below the City of Cape Town. Parts of the underground canals and rivers date back to 1652. They used to supply the passing ships with fresh water. Later these rivers flowing through the City became pleasant walkways with bridges going over them and shaded by oaks. As the years passed and the city expanded they were eventually covered up and forgotten. Cape Town was once known as the little Amsterdam in a foreign country. Matt Weisse will again lead groups of Friends through these tunnels. The journey of exploration begins by descending through a manhole in the Castle grounds then following tunnels under the city streets. Last year this outing attracted great interest and as numbers are limited to 20 per group early booking and payment is essential. Cost: Members: R200; Non-Members: R250. This photograph was taken by Trevor Wilkins at last year’s tunnel adventure.
REPORT BACKS CAMERA TRAPPING with Dr Tali Hoffman On a glorious warm public holiday in May a group of Friends joined Dr Tali Hoffman and her assistants, Elsa and Nicola, in the Newlands forest to learn about the art of camera trapping and the range of cameras that are used to capture different types of wildlife in different environments. Once the basic techniques had been explained three groups went off into the forest in different directions to set up cameras in positions to best capture maximum information. Today it would be curious dogs, small children and the legs of their parents. Nicola even leopard crawled passed a camera to demonstrate how low it should be set to capture ‘low-slung’ creatures. The real test was when the groups swapped over to see if they could find the camera traps set up by another group and offer comments on its effectiveness. This was an interesting and new experience for everyone that gave an insight into the wonderful world of camera trapping wildlife.
ORGAN CRAWL
FOSSIL HUNTING IN FRASERBURG
Join Dr Barry Smith in August to look at the famous organs in the City Hall, St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church and St George’s Cathedral. Dr Smith will demonstrate on each organ, providing much ‘organic’ variety.
As always the excitement and anticipation was quite palpable as Friends met late on the first day of this excursion. Despite the local power cut everyone was ready for the adventure. Because of this Roger couldn’t do his preparatory talk on the first night but nevertheless we were all rearing to go the next morning.
Details will follow.
In perfect weather we set out with enthusiastic zeal to look for ‘the big one’, which is not easy. Everyone had a good day exploring the slippery slopes, river beds and rocky outcrops but despite all this exploration no-one was really successful, but we all had fun. The second day presented more slopes, rocks, fences and a few specimens of interest. Everyone’s enthusiasm remained high as one is always expecting to stumble over something special. The scenery was so special and
searching such fun that the lack of fossil discoveries wasn’t too disappointing. The third day of hunting took place in much easier terrain and everyone walked far and wide in their search for the elusive ‘big one’. This time round three or four exciting finds were made and after lunch we all followed Roger to inspect these specimens. It was fascinating watching him slowly teasing out the 255 million year old pieces of bone from their ancient grave. He then turned his attention to another find where he unearthed various pieces of bone. Eventually we were given the go-ahead to continue with the excavation. Great excitement as seven of us proceeded to bang away with our hammers slowly exposing the old bones to the light of day. We then went over to look at the palaeo-surface just outside Fraserburg. What an exciting visit, especially with Roger interpreting what had taken place there all those millions of years ago in a flash flood event.
Intrepid palaeontologist on trackway – Roger Smith demonstrating the “dinocephalian walk” on the unique 255 million year old trackway preserved on a sandstone surface.
We returned to this site the next day and the early morning light enabled us to see even more imprints which was memorable. This was a truly wonderful excursion. Report by Rosemary Smythe Below: Enthusiastic young fossil hunter, Luc Pegram concentrating on his excavation of a 255 million year old mammal like reptile. Photo by Dr Roger Smith.
We were welcomed by Warrant Officer Dreyer, the military environmental manager, and Binks MacKenzie, a South African National Parks honorary ranger. Binks pointed out interesting fauna and flora and gave us interesting facts, for example that the granite dome in the area is 540 million years old. Warrant Officer Dreyer pointed out various landmarks and gave instructions about what we may and may not do, after which we set out to visit the old graveyards, coastal areas, the harbour and the battery. Friends reminisced about their past visits and there was a lot of pointing out of beaches, places, and even old houses where boats had been launched in the past.
VISIT TO DONKERGAT After several months of planning the Friends excursion began at the Postberg gate at Donkergat. It promised to be a hot and exciting day. Some of the group had spent holidays at Donkergat many years ago, before it was requisitioned by the South African National Defense Force (SANDF) in 1978. The SANDF now conducts various training programmes and act as custodians of this land.
We stopped at Rietbaai which was once used as a dry dock to clean ships because the bay emptied completely at low tide. The graveyards were very interesting and it was good to see that the SANDF cleans them regularly. The grave stones were extremely worn and it was difficult to read the names but the dates that we could see went back as far as 1882. We stopped at the main buildings to enjoy our picnic lunches and to visit the harbour. Friends then looked at the remains of whale oil storage tanks before driving and walking to the old battery which served as defense quarters against German U-boats in World War Two. It was a lovely outing which everyone enjoyed. Report by Rosemary Smythe
GROENFONTEIN VALLEY EXCURSION The journey to Calitzdorp began in pouring rain which continued beyond Barrydale, putting our nature walk the following day in question. Fortunately for both the Friends and the Calitzdorp Port Festival the skies cleared and we began our itinerary with a charming private organ recital in the imposing national monument Dutch Reformed church given by the accomplished Reverend Prof Noel-Jean Criel, who gives a short performance every week day. After wending our way some 20 kilometres along a back road to the Swartberg pass we arrived at the retreat in Groenfontein to a warm welcome and lunch, and then settled into our comfortable rooms. In the late afternoon we had an illustrated talk on the interesting fauna and flora of the area by Louis Jordaan. He is fascinated by the miniature wonders and interactions in the natural world and has amassed a wealth of information after years of personal observation. The following day Louis led the Friends on a leisurely mountain hike after handing out magnifying glasses so that we could examine some of the fascinating phenomena we had seen on his slides before breaking for a picnic lunch at the summit, surrounded by mountain vistas. We enjoyed delicious dinners and breakfasts, the latter overlooking the garden and trees full of birds, which were also to be seen in abundance outside some of the rooms, especially sunbirds, providing great opportunities for the keen photographers amongst us. On our last morning we woke to a white world, heavy frost, a novelty for Capetonians, and blue skies for our journey home after a great weekend retreat. Report by Gill Grose Photograph below by Dan de Langristin
Donkergat photo below by Matt Wiesse.
FACEBOOK AND TWITTER You can now keep up to date with Friends activities by clicking on our group Facebook page: facebook.com/FriendsofIzikoSAMuseum You can also see what is happening and add your comments on Twitter @FriendsSAMuseum. Your interaction, comments and ideas on these sites will be appreciated. WELCOME TO NEW MEMBERS It is a pleasure to welcome new members to the Friends and we look forward to meeting you all at future Friends activities. Jennifer Cohen Michael Cohen Jack Cohen Lynn Danzinger Josephine Frater Jean Stephenson Gerald Stiles Robine Stiles I look forward to seeing you all as the year continues. Maxine Davies Friends of Iziko South African Museum