Number 9 : December 2004
• Activity on our website keeps on growing. It contains over 40 pages of background information, unpublished material, summaries of our archives and useful links, with more to be added.
• Our print order has grown from 1200 copies a year ago, to 5000. Many people buy back copies, and we are now offering the first nine issues (100 pages) in a bound volume.
1. The Overberg is in their bones
The Overberg is one of the premier areas for raising horses. It also produces the finest wool quality; merino sheep from here are of the best in the country. Milk production is also very good with butterfat content being extremely high. What makes this particular area so very good? Horse breeder Marion Naudé of Prinskraal explains.
3. Accolades for Overberg wines
The Hermanus/Overberg region looks set to become the Next Big Thing in the South African wine industry, writes Emile Joubert, wine columnist
4 & 5. Opulent days at Ratelrivier
The early days at Ratelrivier were turbulent, with a slave buried alive and forgotten, and the wife of an owner meeting a violent end. We now continue our history of this farm in the Strandveld with a segment compiled from the memoirs and photos of the late Nell Naudé, kindly made available by her son, Henry Naudé of Prinskraal.
6. Don't trample on our Oyks!
by Sara Stark, Oystercatcher Nanny from Betty's Bay
We have 12 pairs of endangered Black African Oystercatchers breeding on the beaches of Betty’s Bay. Unfortunately these comical, gentle, intelligent birds, that pair for life, have a rough time during the breeding season that falls during the December holidays.
7. Alien invaders in the Western Cape
By Dr Krystal Tolley, Department of Botany & Zoology, University of Stellenbosch
There may be small, strange alien invaders in your neighbourhood. They are green, or maybe brown, with strange colour patterns, weird feet, and long tongues. What are they? Dwarf chameleons!
8. In the footsteps of the Khoisan
The people who inhabited the Overberg long before the arrival of Europeans, left no written records or permanent structures, but they are remembered in place names such as Knoflokskraal, Hessekwaskloof, Bakkelijsplaats, Kalbaskraal and Boontjieskraal.
The wagon route later known as the Cape Highway was basically established by Dutch traders who followed the indigenous herders from kraal to kraal looking for livestock to barter. Annalize Mouton and Simon Streicher looked at the early travel journals.
9. Its the time for festivals
(Photographs from the Napier Horse & Cart Festival, the Greyton Rose Festival, and Heritage Day celebrations at Genadendal and Bredasdorp.)
10. Forum tackles projects with vigour
Much has been happening in the Agulhas Plain Tourism Forum (APTF) since its launch in September 2004, ranging from plans for the rehabilitation of Klipgat Cave at De Kelders to establishing heritage centres at Elim and Cape Agulhas. The Forum, headed by Napier tourist-guide trainer Louis Willemse, has an informal structure of 25 active members who drive projects, with others involved as consultants.
The Village Gardener, by Tracy Paton
Go on! Be creative!
Two questions which I am frequently asked are, “How many of these should I plant?” and “Does this shrub go with that perennial?” My answer is always, “There ain’t no rules. If you like the combination, then go for it!” A garden is an individual. No two will ever be the same, even if you wanted them to be. Site differences, small soil variations and a myriad of other factors would ensure their uniqueness.
11. Lady Anne's hearty fish dinner
With the help of friends at Die Dam, Annalize Mouton recreated a fish braai served up for Lady Anne Barnard at the mouth of the Breede River in 1798. The recipies are already doing the rounds... "The best fish I've ever tasted!"
12. Try some scary beers!
A look at Belgian fruit beers, brewed under somewhat unmodern conditions...
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Nauprins Pan’s Promenade, resident stallion at Prinskraal, with Julien Lekay. She has been working with him for only a year, and is the only person who now handles him. Photo: Annalize Mouton
The story of Ratelrivier continued: Every afternoon after tea, Stephen and wife Ethel went horseriding
The Black Oystercatcher, once mature, will return to breed at the same place where itself was hatched. Photo: Nico Myburgh
The Cape Town/Stellenbosch form of Bradypodion pumilum, the Cape dwarf chameleon. Photo: Krystal Tolley
The hearty fish soup done on an open fire
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