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Number 25: August/September 2007
Full-size PDF of cover (420 Kb)
a village celebrates
The first issue of Village Life was published in October 2003 as a newspaper for the community of Stanford. It soon became a regional paper for the Overberg, and then changed to a magazine format and ventured over the mountains to Cape Town, the West Coast and the Boland and later even as far as Plettenberg Bay and Graaff-Reinet. With the expanding distribution (now countrywide) came expanded coverage. As a result we have not written anything specific about our home town for more than three years.
In this issue we make amends with the first of two articles on the history of the village and the early colonial farmers, including descriptions by early travellers. The research brought some interesting new facts to light.
The advertising support we received especially from local businesses enabled us to add eight pages to this issue, making it the biggest one to date. The stories cover the country, from Limpopo and Northern Cape, to the Zulu kingdom and the Eastern Cape – not to mention ostriches and the breaking-up of the super-continent Gondwana, or the sex lives of dung beetles. We trust you will find it a good read!
contents
2: At the office
Letters from readers, the winners of our subscriber prizes, a some old cameras on our shelves
4: Save our toads!
The Western Leopard Toad is an endangered species. Dr John Measey asks readers to help with a project to identify breeding populations
6: The face of South Africa
By Maré Mouton
Picture gallery: With fewer trains rolling, Klipplaat in the Eastern Cape shows signs of decline
8: Billy Eagle and the lion
This Canadian Indian came to South Africa, missed the war, but was eventually mauled by a lion near the Limpopo River while doing duty as a constable. Charles Leach of Louis Trichardt has put together the pieces
12: Gardening for wildlife
Our series by well-known authors Charles and Julia Botha features the bird-friendly Bushtick-berry (known in the southwestern regions as Bietou)
18: The Diary of Iris Vaughan
The first instalment from this famous diary portrays life in Cradock a century ago.
24: John Dunn: The white Zulu chief
By Elsabé Brink, with photographs by Cedric Nunn
He flouted the Victorian values of white settler society to become a hunter, trader and Zulu chief
32: Stanford 150: A valley green
Annalize Mouton delves into the history of early farmers and travellers at the Kleine Riviers Valley
44: Ostriches and Antiquity
Dr Judy Maguire looks at the long and interesting history of the world’s largest living bird
50: Oasis for the faithful
Steve Moseley visits the Moffat Mission at Kuruman, where the Bible was first printed in Africa
54: The intriguing world of dung beetles
Dr Geoff Tribe explains how these hard-working insects identify and attract a mate in the competitive world of dung removal
58: The “blusher” bird
Veteran birder Nico Myburgh shares his first-hand stories about the African Harrier-hawk (formerly Gymnogene). Read full text
62: Soup and dumplings
We cook, eat and share some more recipes for our Country Table
64: Book end
Frustrated birder Missy brushes up on her reading
Book offers in this issue:
15% discount on selected nature books from Briza Publishers: tel 012 329 3896
The Diary of Iris Vaughan @ only R80,00 incl. postage, from Cederberg Publishers. Download order form
Stanford 150: Portrait of a Village, with text and photographs by Annalize Mouton, coffee-table book to be published in October by Village Life (hard cover, 240 pages, 280 x 280 mm). Download order form
Songs of the Veld, a rare piece of Africana to be reissued by Cederberg Publishers. Download order form
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