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A new visitor to the garden- African Harrier Hawk
We have sighted this magnificent bird in other parts of Fish Hoek, but not close up and certainly not in as dramatic a way as happened this morning in the Garden when an African Harrier Hawk swooped majestically in front of our window.
For a two years now a weaver bird has been trying (and failing) to start a colony in a pine tree bordering our property. This year he was joi...
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Cape Point Baboons prove their intelligence
Continuing Conflict between Cape Points simian neighbours
One of the big ongoing conflicts on the Cape Point Peninsula is that between humans and baboons. It is sad and tragic that Cape Points two simian neighbours cannot live in peace, learning from each other. Wisdom dictates that one proves their humanity and strength, not by proving your dominance but through understandi...
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Cape Point Peninsula Tortoises
The weather is changing into autumn here on the Cape Point Peninsula, something that always seems to surprise us Capetonians. A decidedly chilly South Easter meant that our usually Saturday morning trip to Fish Hoek beach was replaced by a walk up the bridal track around Black Hill (above Glencairn- click this link for a guide to this walk).
This is one of my favourite w...
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Cape Point Peninsula Tortoises Under Threat
Poachers Now Targeting the Cape Point Tortoise Population
I have received a most disturbing press release from the Minister of Local Government,Environmental Affairs and Development Planning (in full below). Apparently the humble tortoise is now the target of poachers. Luckily we live in a very busy, built up area so there are a lot more eyes and ears available than in rural...
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Dassenberg Development- correspondence with the MEC’s office
I recently sent a message to the DA party headquarters via their web site questioning the validty of the proposed development at Dassenberg.
A very prompt reply told me that my concerns had been forwarded to the Ministry of Local Government, Environmental Affairs and of Development Planning in the Western Cape.
This is the email I got from them and my response back.
...
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Toll Roads to be rolled out country wide- how will this effect the Cape Point Peninsula?
I was trolling through my RSS feeds this morning, one of which is News24 (a South African internet news service) and was disturbed by a report titled 'Toll Roads Planned Across the Country'!
The plan is to duplicate the Gauteng pay-per-kilometer road toll system, currently being implemented on a busy commuter route, and use it nationwide to fill the R149 billion hole (no pun...
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What To Do If You Find A Snake In Your House Or Garden
Living in Cape Point means being surrounded by nature. Some people embrace this, and some fight it (though why they would move into an area such as this and then complain that there are things living amonst them amazes me.) The layout of the area means that quite a lot of people have boundary fences that border onto fybos areas. This may mean that you have fantastic views o...
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Cape Point Chronicle Exclusive- Capri SRA looking to up its game
It has come to the attention of the Cape Point Chronicle that the residents of Capri are less than satisfied with the prospect of gaining SRA status for the area. The major resistance is the extra levy on their rates. In an attempt to make the proposal more appealing to all residents the committee is looking into the possibility of creating an independent state.
At present t...
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Coastal Protection Zone By-Law: Cape Town Takes A Step In the Right Direction
The city of Cape Town has released a draft proposal for a new by-law, designed to protect what is left of our 230km of coastline from further development, and hopefully save the city some money in the process.
Several developments around the coast cost the city a small fortune to keep maintained, several of them are in the Cape Point Peninsula area (the railway to Simons T...
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