|
Featherbed Nature Reserve
Featherbed Nature Reserve is a privately owned nature reserve on the Western Headland of the Knysna River Estuary on South Africa , South Africa’s Garden Route. It was founded by South African television teacher, William Smith (teacher), William Smith, on land that was bought in the 1950s by his father, the chemist and ichthyologist Professor JLB Smith, with the proceeds of his best selling book, ‘Old Fourlegs The Story of the Coelacanth,’ published in 1956. The reserve opened to visitors in 1984, and is only accessible to the public by ferry. Smith sold the reserve to Eastern-Cape-based businessman Kobus Smit in 2008. Fauna & Flora Featherbed Nature Reserve is situated within the Cape Floristic Region. Its vegetation is characterised by Knysna Sand Fynbos and coastal dune thicket. Large portions of the fynbos, and large stands of invasive alien vegetation (particularly rooikrans - Acacia cyclops), which once infested the Reserve, were decimated by fires in the Cap ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Smith (teacher)
William Macdonald Smith (25 June 1939 – 21 August 2024) was a South African science and mathematics teacher who was best known for his maths and science lessons on television. Born in Makhanda (Grahamstown), he is the son of the ichthyologist Margaret Mary Smith and Professor J. L. B. Smith, the renowned chemist and ichthyologist who identified the coelacanth. Early life and education William Smith was born on 25 June 1939. He attended St. Andrew's Prep before matriculating at Union High School in Graaff-Reinet. Smith then went on to study at Rhodes University, where he obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in physics and chemistry, followed by an honours degree ('' cum laude'') in chemistry at the same institution. Following that, he obtained a master's degree from the University of Natal ( Pietermaritzburg campus) in only seven months. During his time at school and university, Smith showed an interest in film and camerawork, scripting, shooting, and producing the 50 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cape Storm (2017)
An unusually large south Atlantic storm struck the southern coast of South Africa on 7 June 2017 with wind gusts as high as 120 km/h. Wave heights of 9–12 metres were recorded between Cape Columbine and Cape Agulhas. The storm directly caused eight deaths and damaged 135 schools across the Western Cape. Around 800 homes were flooded across the city of Cape Town due to the storm. Despite dropping up to 50 mm of rain, the storm did not break the Cape Town water crisis affecting the region. Knysna fires High winds of 50 km/h caused by the storm fueled around 20 to 30 significant fires that swept through the town of Knysna and surrounding areas in the days after the storm. The fires killed seven people and displaced around 10,000 with around 600 structures in Knysna and Plettenberg Bay being destroyed. The fires were notable for involving the largest deployment of firefighters in South Africa to that date. A total of 985 firefighters along with 78 vehicles, t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tourist Attractions In South Africa
Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as being limited to holiday activity only", as people "travelling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure and not less than 24 hours, business and other purposes". Tourism can be domestic (within the traveller's own country) or international. International tourism has both incoming and outgoing implications on a country's balance of payments. Between the second half of 2008 and the end of 2009, tourism numbers declined due to a severe economic slowdown (see Great Recession) and the outbreak of the 2009 H1N1 influenza virus. These numbers, however, recovered until the COVID-19 pandemic put an abrupt end to the growth. The United Nations World Tourism Organization has estimated that global international tourist a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nature Conservation In South Africa
Nature is an inherent character or constitution, particularly of the ecosphere or the universe as a whole. In this general sense nature refers to the laws, elements and phenomena of the physical world, including life. Although humans are part of nature, human activity or humans as a whole are often described as at times at odds, or outright separate and even superior to nature. During the advent of modern scientific method in the last several centuries, nature became the passive reality, organized and moved by divine laws. With the Industrial Revolution, nature increasingly became seen as the part of reality deprived from intentional intervention: it was hence considered as sacred by some traditions (Rousseau, American transcendentalism) or a mere decorum for divine providence or human history (Hegel, Marx). However, a vitalist vision of nature, closer to the pre-Socratic one, got reborn at the same time, especially after Charles Darwin. Within the various uses of the word t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nature Reserves In South Africa
A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, funga, or features of geological or other special interest, which is reserved and managed for purposes of conservation and to provide special opportunities for study or research. They may be designated by government institutions in some countries, or by private landowners, such as charities and research institutions. Nature reserves fall into different IUCN categories depending on the level of protection afforded by local laws. Normally it is more strictly protected than a nature park. Various jurisdictions may use other terminology, such as ecological protection area or private protected area in legislation and in official titles of the reserves. History Cultural practices that roughly equate to the establishment and maintenance of reserved areas for animals date ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
African Oystercatcher
The African oystercatcher or African black oystercatcher (''Haematopus moquini'') is a large charismatic wader resident to the mainland coasts and offshore islands of southern Africa. This oystercatcher has a population of over 6,000 adults, which breed between November and April. The scientific name ''moquini'' commemorates the French naturalist Alfred Moquin-Tandon who discovered and named this species before Charles Lucien Bonaparte, Bonaparte. Description The African oystercatcher is a large, noisy Charadriiformes, wader, with completely black plumage, red legs and a strong broad red beak, bill. The sexes are similar in appearance, however, females are larger and have a slightly longer beak than males. Juveniles have soft grey plumage and do not express the characteristic red legs and beak until after they fledged. The bird call, call is a distinctive loud piping, very similar to Eurasian oystercatchers. As the Eurasian oystercatcher is a bird migration, migratory species the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Knysna Turaco
The Knysna turaco (''Tauraco corythaix''), or, in South Africa, Knysna loerie, is a large turaco, one of a group of African musophagidae birds. It is a resident breeder in the mature evergreen forests of southern and eastern South Africa, and Eswatini. It was formerly sometimes considered to be a subspecies of the green turaco of West Africa. The Livingstone's turaco, Livingstone's and Schalow's turacos were once considered subspecies. This species lays two egg (biology), eggs in a shallow platform nest made from sticks and placed in a tree or clump of creepers. Within its range, this is an unmistakable bird, although often inconspicuous in the treetops. It is 40–42 cm long, including a long tail. The small but thick orange-red bill and a white line just under the eye contrast with the mainly green plumage. It has a tall green crest, which is tipped with white. The eye is brown and the eye-ring deep red. In flight, Knysna turaco shows conspicuous crimson primary flight fea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
African Clawless Otter
The African clawless otter (''Aonyx capensis''), also known as the Cape clawless otter or groot otter, is the second-largest freshwater otter species. It inhabits permanent water bodies in savannah and lowland forest areas through most of sub-Saharan Africa. It is characterised by partly webbed and clawless feet, from which their name is derived. The word 'aonyx' means clawless, derived from the prefix a- ("without") and onyx ("claw/hoof"). Taxonomy ''Aonyx capensis'' is a member of the weasel family (Mustelidae) and of the order Carnivora. The earliest known species of otter, '' Potamotherium valetoni'', occurred in the upper Oligocene of Europe: ''A. capensis'' first appears in the fossil record during the Pleistocene. ''Aonyx'' is closely related to the extinct giant Sardinian otter, ''Megalenhydris''. Subspecies ''Mammal Species of the World'' lists six subspecies of the African clawless otter: * '' A. c. capensis'' (Schinz, 1821) * ''A. c. hindei'' (Thomas, 1905) * ''A. c. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blue Duiker
The blue duiker (''Philantomba monticola'') is a small antelope found in central, southern and eastern Africa. It is the smallest species of duiker. The species was first described by Swedish naturalist Carl Peter Thunberg in 1789. 12 subspecies are identified. The blue duiker reaches at the shoulder and weighs . Sexually dimorphic, the females are slightly larger than the males. The dark tail measures slightly above . It has short, spiky horns, around long and hidden in hair tufts. The subspecies show a great degree of variation in their colouration. The blue duiker bears a significant resemblance to Maxwell's duiker. Activity is diurnal (limited to daytime). Secretive and cautious, the blue duiker confines itself to the forest fringes. Territorial, individuals of opposite sexes form pairs and occupy territories, nearly large and marked by preorbital gland secretions. The blue duiker feeds on fallen fruits, foliage, flowers and pieces of bark, provided mainly by the for ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cape Bushbuck
The Cape bushbuck (''Tragelaphus sylvaticus''), also known as imbabala is a common, medium-sized bushland-dwelling, and a widespread species of antelope in sub-Saharan Africa. It is found in a wide range of habitats, such as rain forests, montane forests, forest-savanna mosaic, savanna, bushveld, and woodland. It stands around at the shoulder and weigh from . They are generally solitary, territorial Browsing_(herbivory), browsers. Taxonomy The taxonomy of bushbuck, and of the Tragelaphini tribe in general, has been contested. Bushbuck have been fractured into over 40 subspecies in the past. mtDNA profiles of a large number of samples were resolved in 2009 as belonging to 19 groups, some corresponding to previously described subspecies, while others were previously unrecognised and remained unnamed. These groups were then organised into two taxon, taxa - a Nominate subspecies, nominate northern subspecies (''T. s. scriptus'') and a southern subspecies ''T. s. sylvaticus''. In the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Acacia Cyclops
''Acacia cyclops'', commonly known as coastal wattle, cyclops wattle, one-eyed wattle, red-eyed wattle, redwreath acacia, western coastal wattle, rooikrans, rooikrans acacia, is a coastal shrub or small tree in the family Fabaceae. Native to Australia, it is distributed along the west coast of Western Australia as far north as Leeman, and along the south coast into South Australia. The Noongar peoples of Western Australia know the plant as wilyawa or woolya wah. Description It is found in locations exposed to coastal winds, red-eyed wattle grows as a dense, dome shaped shrub; this helps protect against salt spray, sand-blast and erosion of soil at the roots. When sheltered from the wind, it tends to grow as a small tree typically to a height of but can reach as high as . Like many other ''Acacia'' species, red-eyed wattle has phyllodes rather than true leaves. The phyllodes range from four to eight centimetres long, and from six to twelve millimetres wide. Its flower heads ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Knysna Head West
Knysna (; ) is a town with 76,150 inhabitants (2019 mid-year estimates) in the Western Cape province of South Africa. It is one of the destinations on the loosely defined Garden Route tourist route. It is situated 60 kilometres east of the city of George on the N2 highway, and 33 kilometres west of the Plettenberg Bay on the same road. Etymology A number of explanations exist for the origins of the name "Knysna" – including ''xthys xna'', purportedly from a Khoekhoe language term that might have meant "place of timber", "place of ferns", or even "straight down" (referring to the cliffs at The Heads). However, it is also likely that the name is related to, or a derivative of, similar place names that do or have existed in other parts of Africa. In colonial times Lake Malawi was known as Lake Nyasa (very similar to "Knysna"), while ''Webster's Universal Unabridged Dictionary'' defines the word "nyanza" as a noun: "(African): An expanse of water, as a lake or wide river". ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
