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Mpenjati Nature Reserve
The Mpenjati Nature Reserve is situated on the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast south of Margate. The reserve lies on the Mpenjati River Lagoon. The residential town of Trafalgar is on the northern border of the reserve, and Palm Beach lies to the south. The reserve is managed by Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife, and consists of a system of interconnecting riverine and floodplain marsh habitats, areas of coastal forest, coastal grasslands and open coastline, as well as the river estuary. In the reserve the following bird species may be seen: water thick-knee, osprey, swift tern, half-collared kingfisher, Kittlitz's plover, African black oystercatcher, giant kingfisher, black-bellied starling, red-capped robin-chat, white-browed scrub robin, brown scrub robin, black-backed puffback, forest canary, green twinspot, orange-breasted bushshrike and grey-headed bushshrike. The Mpenjati River Lagoon is also a popular venue for water-based recreation including angling, boating and swimming ...
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KwaZulu-Natal
KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN and known as "the garden province") is a province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu) and Natal Province were merged. It is located in the southeast of the country, with a long shoreline on the Indian Ocean and sharing borders with three other provinces and the countries of Mozambique, Eswatini and Lesotho. Its capital is Pietermaritzburg, and its largest city is Durban. It is the second-most populous province in South Africa, with slightly fewer residents than Gauteng. Two areas in KwaZulu-Natal have been declared UNESCO World Heritage Sites: the iSimangaliso Wetland Park and the uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park. These areas are extremely scenic as well as important to the surrounding ecosystems. During the 1830s and early 1840s, the northern part of what is now KwaZulu-Natal was established as the Zulu Kingdom while the southern part was, briefly, the Boer Nata ...
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White-browed Scrub Robin
The white-browed scrub robin (''Cercotrichas leucophrys''), also known as the red-backed scrub-robin, is a species of bird in the family Muscicapidae. It is native to sub-Saharan Africa, especially East and southern Africa. Within range, its ''Turdus''-like song is one of the often-heard sounds of the bush. The flitting of the tail is characteristic of this species, but also of some near relatives. Taxonomy Louis Jean Pierre Vieillot described the white-browed scrub robin in 1817. The specific epithet is derived from the Ancient Greek words ''leukos'' "white" and ''ǒphrys'' "eyebrow". Subspecies For the white-browed scrub robin, some 9 to 12 subspecies are recognized: Two groups of subspecies are recognised, namely the 'white-winged' group of arid country, and the 'red-backed' group of mesic to moist habitats. Intergradation between these is apparently limited to subspecies ''brunneiceps'' and ''vulpina'' around Simba, Kenya. Otherwise the variation is clinal, though the extreme ...
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Protected Areas Of KwaZulu-Natal
Protection is any measure taken to guard a thing against damage caused by outside forces. Protection can be provided to physical objects, including organisms, to systems, and to intangible things like civil and political rights. Although the mechanisms for providing protection vary widely, the basic meaning of the term remains the same. This is illustrated by an explanation found in a manual on electrical wiring: Some kind of protection is a characteristic of all life, as living things have evolved at least some protective mechanisms to counter damaging environmental phenomena, such as ultraviolet light. Biological membranes such as bark on trees and skin on animals offer protection from various threats, with skin playing a key role in protecting organisms against pathogens and excessive water loss. Additional structures like scales and hair offer further protection from the elements and from predators, with some animals having features such as spines or camouflage servi ...
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Barbecue
Barbecue or barbeque (informally BBQ in the UK, US, and Canada, barbie in Australia and braai in South Africa) is a term used with significant regional and national variations to describe various cooking methods that use live fire and smoke to cook the food. The term is also generally applied to the devices associated with those methods, the broader cuisines that these methods produce, and the meals or gatherings at which this style of food is cooked and served. The cooking methods associated with barbecuing vary significantly but most involve outdoor cooking. The various regional variations of barbecue can be broadly categorized into those methods which use direct and those which use indirect heating. Indirect barbecues are associated with North American cuisine, in which meat is heated by roasting or smoking over wood or charcoal. These methods of barbecue involve cooking using smoke at low temperatures and long cooking times, for several hours. Elsewhere, barbecuing mo ...
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Public Protector
The Public Protector in South Africa is one of six independent state institutions set up by the country's Constitution to support and defend democracy. According to Section 181 of the Constitution: * These institutions are independent, and subject only to the Constitution and the law. According to the Constitution, they must be impartial and must exercise their powers and perform their functions without fear, favour or prejudice. * Other organs of state, through legislative and other measures, must assist and protect these institutions to ensure the independence, impartiality, dignity and effectiveness of these institutions. * No person or organ of state may interfere with the functioning of these institutions. * These institutions are accountable to the National Assembly, and must report on their activities and the performance of their functions to the Assembly at least once a year. Public Protectors The first person to hold the office was Selby Baqwa, appointed on the ince ...
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Nude Beach
A nude beach, sometimes called a clothing-optional or free beach, is a beach where users are at liberty to be nude. Nude beaches usually have mixed bathing. Such beaches are usually on public lands, and any member of the public is allowed to use the facilities without membership in any movement or subscription to any personal belief. The use of the beach facilities is normally anonymous. Unlike a naturist resort or facility, there is normally no membership or vetting requirement for the use of a nude beach. The use of nude beach facilities is usually casual, not requiring pre-booking. Nude beaches may be official (legally sanctioned), unofficial (tolerated by residents and law enforcement), or illegal. In some countries, nude beaches are relatively few and are usually at some distance from cities, and access is at times more difficult than at a regular beach and the facilities at these beaches tend to be very basic with a few notable exceptions. In other countries, like Denmark ...
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Boating
Boating is the leisurely activity of travelling by boat, or the recreational use of a boat whether powerboats, sailboats, or man-powered vessels (such as rowing and paddle boats), focused on the travel itself, as well as sports activities, such as fishing or waterskiing. It is a popular activity, and there are millions of boaters worldwide. Types of boats Boats (boat types) can be categorized into 3 different types types of board categories, unpowered, motor boats, and sailboats.Recreational boats (sometimes called pleasure craft, especially for less sporting activities) fall into several broad categories, and additional subcategories. Broad categories include dinghies (generally under 16 feet (5 m) powered by sail, small engines, or muscle power) usually made from hardwood or inflatable rubber. paddle sports boats (kayaks, rowing shells, canoes), runabouts (15–25 ft. (5–8 m) powerboats with either outboard, sterndrive, or inboard engines), daysailers (14–25 Ft. (4–8 ...
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Angling
Angling is a fishing technique that uses a fish hook or "angle" (from Old English ''angol'') attached to a fishing line to tether individual fish in the mouth. The fishing line is usually manipulated via a fishing rod, although rodless techniques such as handlining and longlining also exist. Modern angling rods are usually fitted with a reel that functions as a cranking device for storing, retrieving and releasing out the line, although Tenkara fishing and cane pole fishing are two rod-angling methods that do not use any reel. The hook itself can be additionally weighted with a dense tackle called a sinker, and is typically dressed with an appetizing bait to attract the fish and enticing it into swallowing the hook, but sometimes an inedible fake bait with multiple attached hooks (known as a lure) is used instead of a single hook with edible bait. A bite indicator, such as a float or a quiver tip, is often used to relay underwater status of the hook to the surface. ...
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Grey-headed Bushshrike
The grey-headed bushshrike (''Malaconotus blanchoti''), colloquially known as the ghostbird, is a species of passerine bird in the family Malaconotidae. It is widespread throughout sub-Saharan Africa, although relatively absent in Central Africa and the interior of southern Africa. It is the most widespread species of its genus, which consists of large bushshrikes with massive bills and mournful hooting calls. It occurs sparsely in a range of wooded habitats, though typically in denser vegetation within dry or moist savannah. The monogamous pairs occupy woodland with sufficient cover. They are sedentary, but will undertake limited post-breeding movements. Subspecies Six or seven subspecies are recognized. The tropical subspecies intergrade widely, and are locally not separable. * ''M. b. blanchoti'' Stephens, 1826 — subtropical West Africa to subtropical Cameroon * ''M. b. catharoxanthus'' Neumann, 1899 — subtropical Cameroon to tropical East Africa * ''M. b. interpositus' ...
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Orange-breasted Bushshrike
The orange-breasted bushshrike or sulphur-breasted bushshrike (''Chlorophoneus sulfureopectus'') is a species of bird in the family Malaconotidae. Another bird, Braun's bushshrike, is also sometimes called the orange-breasted bushshrike. Distribution and habitat The orange-breasted bushshrike is widespread throughout Sub-Saharan Africa (relatively absent from most of Central, Southern and the Horn of Africa). Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forests, dry savanna A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach the ground to ... and moist savanna. It is not a migrant species. Behaviour The bushshrike eats mainly insects, such as beetles, caterpillars, bees, ants, and wasps. References * BirdLife International 2016. [BirdLife International. 2016. Chlorophoneus sulfureop ...
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Green Twinspot
The green-backed twinspot or green twinspot (''Mandingoa nitidula'') is an estrildid finch found in many parts of Sub-Saharan Africa. The IUCN has classified the species as being of least concern. Subspecies The green-backed twinspot has four sub-species: * ''Mandingoa nitidula chubbi'' * ''Mandingoa nitidula nitidula'' * ''Mandingoa nitidula schlegeli'' * ''Mandingoa nitidula virginiae'' Habitat The green-backed twinspot inhabits lowland moist forests of the tropical region. It may also be found in grassland and shrubland habitats. Males are distinguished from females by their bright red facial feathers. Females have an olive-green face and darker (almost black) beak. Aviculture The green backed twinspot prefers its privacy in regards to breeding. Males in the breeding season will raise their heads, looking straight up while "dancing" on the perch next to the female, moving in a side-stepping fashion. The female, if receptive, will crouch down and point her tail to the m ...
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Forest Canary
The forest canary (''Crithagra scotops'') is a species of finch in the family Fringillidae. It is found in South Africa and Eswatini. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest and subtropical or tropical moist montane forest. The forest canary was formerly placed in the genus ''Serinus'' but phylogenetic analysis using mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequences found that the genus was polyphyletic. The genus was therefore split and a number of species including the forest canary were moved to the resurrected genus ''Crithagra ''Crithagra'' is a genus of small passerine birds in the finch family (Fringillidae). They live in Africa and Arabia. The species in this genus were formerly assigned to the genus ''Serinus'', but phylogenetic analysis of mitochondrial and nucl ...''. References External links * Forest canary Species text in The Atlas of Southern African Birds forest canary Birds of Southern Africa forest canary Taxonomy articles crea ...
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