The Residents Association of Dana Bay Conservancy We care about our environment

Gedagtes oor Danabaai deur Tannie Alet Strutt van Bethlehem: 

Nr2. 

Na duisende kilometers, deur die versengende hitte van die Karoo, die asemrowende Mairingskloof, oor die berge en nou staan die hek daar ‘DANABAAI'.  Met arms wydoop word jy verwelkom en om elke hoek en draai bruis die vreugde deur jou are - jy kom tuis.  Die besighede, huise, bosse en voëls  skree luidkeels "WELKOM, WELKOM". 

Jy sak teen die bult af en daar lê die groot, blou oseaan, onveranderd, die branders slaan nog in skuimbolle teen die sandduin.  Die ondergaande son skiet goudgeel strale oor die water en omvou jou in ‘n towerland. 

Wat het jy eintlik kom maak?  Miskien stukkies van jou menswees kom optel om blink te vryf en in jou kassie van onthou te bêre om later wanneer die verlange na Danabaai aan jou siel vreet uit te haal en weer blink te vryf. 

Selfs die mense hier is anders. Oral word jy soos die verlore seun verwelkom en die dae van rus en vrede vlieg ongemerk verby. Elke oggend as die son ‘n ligbaan oor die see strooi, smelt jy saam met die son, die sand en die see.  Soms baljaar ‘n paar dolvyne uitbundig in die branders rond, vol blydskap en vreugde.  ‘n Boot ver op die see verkondig ‘n ander lewe, maar die rus is nie elders, dit is hier binne-in jou. 

Dankie, Heer, dit is vir ons genoeg.

Danabaai

Danabaai, die mooiste, mooiste baaitjie - ‘n stukkie Paradys.  ‘n toegif aan Adam en Eva vir al hulle harde werk.

Gister nog net ‘n paar wegkruip-huise tussen die groen bosse wat aangerol het tot by die see waar branders woedend teen die walle probeer opkruip om dan in duisende borrels op die sand te versplinter en die grys-blou see wat aan die horizon met die grysblou lug saamsmelt - ‘n plek van vrede en sielerus.

Wie dit eenmaal ervaar het, hunker altyd terug.

Vandag het baie bosse plek gemaak vir baie huise - groot en klein, meenthuise, woonstelle en ook besighede maar die klowe het onverstoord gebly - danksy Bewarea.

As jy gelukkig is ontmoet jy ‘n Bosbok om ‘n draai langs die pad wat onverstoord, uitdagend die verkeer betrag.  Dit is sy tuiste - wat maak die mense hier?

Patryse kom eet krummels voor jou deur.  Kwikstertjies wip-wip in die huis rond en pik van die matte af.  Klein voëltjies vlieg kortpad deur die huis as hulle aan die anderkant wil wees.

Danabaai roep oor duisende kilometers jou altyd terug.  Hier is nie vermaak en plesier nie.

Hier word jy stil en maak jou siel oop vir mens, bos, see en dier.  Die rus is nie elders nie, dit is binne-in jou menswees en dit vind jy hier.

So was dit gister en so sal dit bly.

Our Honey Badger was caught in a trap set by CapeNature in Aalwyn Street on 11 March 2010, and taken to a Game Farm for release. Residents are requested to be tolerant to wildlife in our area.

MEET THE HONEY BADGER

("Mellivora capensis" which means the "Honey eater of the Cape")

Conserving "the most fearless, meanest animal in the world"

Honey Badgers are listed as near Threatened in the SA Red Data Book and in the Cape Provinces, it is a "schedule 2" protected wild animal, which means that a permit is required to kill/move any individual.

Please don't kill our Honey Badgers - they are part of nature and it is wonderful to be able to see these wild animals on our doorstep.  Remember that we have chosen to live here because of these wild animals and they have the right of way on our roads and in our Conservation!

The Honey Badger's specially protected status is hardly protecting them, and their conservation is being seriously complicated by their reputation as vicious, tenacious creatures with no natural enemies.

In SA you can now buy "honey badger-friendly" honey.  But why on earth would anyone want to be friendly to an animal labeled "the most fearless, meanest animal in the world"?  Due to its reputation for tenacity even a South African Defense Force armored personnel carrier is named after it (Ratel - Afrikaans).  This small stocky animal with the courage of a lion has attracted other superlatives in the popular press including "most fearless animal in the world" in the 2003 edition of the Guinness Book of Records and "pound for pound the most powerful creature in Africa".  What is the truth behind this small secretive creature with the bold black & white markings and the larger than life reputation?

The Honey Badger is muscular and compact, and has a thick skull, a well-developed neck and shoulders and strong forelegs armed with massive claws for digging.  It does not have external ears. Rather, the ear is enclosed in the skin, with an opening that can be closed to keep out dirt when digging. They can easily tolerate both very wet and very dry habitats.  

Despite their name, Honey Badgers do not rely on honey although the highly nutritious bee brood is certainly a sought after delicacy.  This animal is an opportunistic, ferocious carnivore greatly skilled in hunting and although generally catching their own food, they may sometimes pirate food from other animals. Its diet consists of small rodents, snakes, rabbit, tortoises and various invertebrates. Honey Badgers are wonderful generalists not turning their noses up at anything edible!  There are strong regional and seasonal differences in staple diet. 

Little is known about its social life. They are generally solitary but sometimes go about in pairs. Once a female Honey Badger comes into heat, courtship is energetic. After days of deliberation, a male is accepted as a mating partner, and the badgers will remain in a burrow for 3 - 4 days of mating. The female badger will give birth to a cub two months later. Cubs are hard work even though only a single cub is raised at a time. There is no male involvement in parental care. It relies on its mother for food and shelter. Cubs can handicap a badger's hunting, therefore, they are usually left at the den, where they can be vulnerable, only half of badger cubs live to adulthood. The badger is not born with vital skills for survival, they must be learned.  Honey Badgers spend up to two years with their mothers learning just how to be a Honey Badger!

Yet rightly so the reference to its love of honey is what gets the Honey Badger into fatal trouble with bee keepers and farmers. It is now threatened with extinction due to increasingly, indiscriminate poisoning, death by gun or dog and the extremely cruel gin trapping still practiced by man.  There are however many effective interventions which result in the "badger proofing" of bee hives. These methods need to be implemented to ensure that the badgers remain safe and that the farmers don't suffer economic losses.

Conservation: Regardless of its fierce temperament, the Honey Badger's low birth rate (a single cub born every 16 - 18 months) makes it vulnerable to hunting and habitat destruction. They are scorned and hunted by farmers who own commercial beehives and believe this animal to be a threat to their livelihoods. Many badgers are killed by farmers, hunted by uninformed human beings or stung to death by bees after becoming snared in a hive trap.  

  Syncarpha paniculata in disguise: Asteraceae (Daisy Family)

The commonly known vernacular names of the species of the genus Syncarpha are Everlastings and Sewejaartjies. This is because of the several rows of showy colourful (white, yellow, pink or brown) glossy, dry, papery bracts of the flowerheads, which keep well in dry flower arrangements. These bracts subtend the yellow, tubular florets in the centre.

Syncarpha paniculata, fully in bloom, seems to be one of the few smaller shrubs on the limestone coastal slopes of Dana Bay to survive this currant extreme drought we are having. This completely silvery-felted, rounded shrublet, to more or less 30 cm in height, looks like a silvery cushion covered with shiny white flowerheads. The flowerheads, about 10 mm in diameter, are white from bud to the finally open yellow centred stage.

The shrublet's compactness and its pure white flowerheads, which are usually solitary to only a few clustered together, make it difficult to be identified as Syncarpha paniculata. In Fynbos page 389 (see description and photo) Syncarpha paniculata is described to have few to several flowerheads in clusters (panicles) and the papery bracts of the flowerheads are yellow or pink in bud but only age to white or cream.

In Southern Overberg (South African Wild Flower Guide No 8) page 244, Syncarpha paniculata is described as an upright shrub, about one metre tall, with narrow silvery leaves.

This makes one think that the Dana Bay compact shrublet with pure white flowerheads (even in bud) must be a completely different species of the genus Syncarpha.

In November a dried specimen of the Dana Bay shrublet was investigated by Dr Marinda Koekemoer of Pretoria National Herbarium (an expert on the genera Helichrysum and Syncarpha) who was at first also puzzled by the specimen. However, a few days later it was confirmed that this Dana Bay shrublet was indeed Syncarpha paniculata.

On a resent four-wheel drive on top of Gamkaberg (Gamkaberg Nature Reserve) I found, to my surprise, Syncarpha paniculata growing on quartzite with the same pure white, yellow centred flowerheads and the same silvery-felted leaves as in Dana Bay, but with few to several flowerheads in clusters (panicles) and with a more upright, not compact, completely different form of growth!

On this photo is Syncarpha paniculata as it commonly occurs in Dana Bay.

   Ornithogalum cooperi 
Baker  Hyacinthaceae (Chincherinchee family)  

This is a very interesting bulbous plant which is currently blooming in open areas close to the sea in Dana Bay and also along the St Blaize Trail. The vernacular name "geldbeursie" probably derives from the flower's capsule in its developing stage when it is neatly covered by the old flower's outer three tepals which have faded to a characteristic orange-brown colour and thus closely resembles a leather money-bag of the past. It is also interesting to notice that the developing capsule in its "money-bag" always turns from its nodding flower position to upright on its pedicel.

The plant has further quite unusual features. Its nodding, lightly sweet scented, flowers have three outer tepals spreading like a miniature lampshade while the three inner tepals stand close together, each with an attractive, whitish, hinged flap at the tip. See photo. Each flap shelters underneath it on the inside (obviously against the wind) a fertile anther while the other three outer stamens are sterile and even without anthers. The flat filaments of the sterile stamens have each the duty to cover or guard the slit between the three inner tepals from the inside.

All of this makes the distribution of the pollen of this plant and a few other Ornithogalum spp. with the same exceptional flower features, incredibly unique. The visiting insect, attracted by the sweet smell of the flower, has to press the flap to enter the flower. This triggers the anther underneath it which, acting like a see-saw on the top-front of its angled filament, shoots a dust of ripe pollen over the incoming insect. The insect, dusted with pollen, leaves unaware and pollinates the next flower that he is attracted to! 

One month later - Seeds of Ornithogalum cooperi (Geldbeursie)

The leathery, deeply three-angled capsule (money-bag)  is now fully developed and has opened at the top with the black smooth, flat, rounded seeds (like coins) ripe and loose inside – ready to be distributed.