Friends of Nylsvley and Nyl floodplain Since 1991

News from Nylsvley

Newsletter # 104

December 2019

www.nylsvley.co.za

Dear Friends

We were very thrilled to receive a set of photographs from Sinkie showing the Nyl River flowing through the

reserve on Sunday 24 November; it had been dry for quite a few months although just before the rains came the

river bed itself had greened up so there was still water underground. This water appears to have been local run-

off. I heard at the beginning of December that Vogelfontein was quite wet. Good rains have been received in the

whole area but before the vlei can fill up

the water has to ‘navigate’ several dams

and other impoundments.

Has anyone ever seen as many as 5

Hamerkop’ s together as was reported a

while ago?

May we introduce the new Officer in

Charge at Nylsvley Mr Rhulani Mabasa:

Rhulani is married to Tsakani; they

have three children: Minkhenso 11,

Malwandla 8, Dzunisani 2 .Rhulani was

born, grew up and went to School in the

Malamulele township in Giyani, Limpopo; he studied nature conservation at Mangosuthu Technikon in Durban

followed by a degree in Management Science (cum laude) at Tshwane University of Technology. Rhulani then

then did a correspondence course on environmental interpretation education and indigenous knowledge through

Rhodes University and followed that with a course in skills for centred community development through

UNISA, he also did community development and conservation and natural resource protection with South

African Wildlife College. He did other short courses in project management, and finance for non-financial

managers.

Then he got a job in KNP as a guide and environmental interpretative and education officer becoming a Senior

Social ecologist as well. In 2011 he moved to LEDET and managed Letaba Ranch for 8 ½ years before moving

to Nylsvley in September 2019. I asked Rhulani what were his first impressions of his new job? I was terribly

impressed when he said all the staff have a passion for conservation and they are very self-motivated keeping

the work going independently. An advantage for Nylsvley is that it is not surrounded by local communities, thus

poaching is not a big problem or issues with land use. His decisions are not hampered by a committee; Friends of

Nylsvley are very supportive and set an example of how to relate to management.

We look forward to Rhulani’s leadership at Nylsvley and hope that with his education expertise we shall get the

visitor / enviro centre up and running.

Memory Garden: Friends of Nylsvley received a bequest with the

wish that some sort of permanent memorial be made for Lucia

Raadschelders. The chosen spot is next to the existing bell tower in the

garden at the back of the Spoonbill Restaurant. We have already installed

a few plain pavers and the first three inscribed ones are being prepared.

Anyone wishing to commemorate a family or friend in this way is

welcome to contact me about the arrangements. The granite pavers are 45

x 45cm and can be any colour expressing Nylsvley’s Biodiversity. As

well as Lucia we are preparing one for Herman & Jo van Dijk and for

Peter le Sueur Milstein and possibly 2 former chairmen of Friends of

Nylsvley as well. PS Please note: It’s not a cemetery!!

Report back: We hosted Jonathan Leeming (16-18 August) he is such a skilled presenter, he enthused us with

his passion for Spiders and Scorpions. The unique ‘One World’ presentation explained how we can overcome

the challenges of our time, that will make the difference between a World that we tolerate, and a World in which

we prosper. Basically the answer is to live a life aware of others needs and to be frugal!

I had to cancel the planned September work party weekend because when it was time to pay for the hire of the

hostel not enough people had booked to cover the cost. But there is still work to do, although we note that the

general care of the reserve and campus is quite good, it is the specialised job’s that need attention now.

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We had a very different weekend in October with Elmé and Johan Breytenbach. The husband and wife team

set up three types of insect traps in two different habitats 24 hours before we went there to inspect and collect.

On arrival at Stemmerskop, Elmé trained us very carefully on how to ‘harvest’ the insects caught in various

types of traps, then we took them back to the ‘laboratory’ and classified the insects collected as best we could.

Elmé provided all the equipment etc. and at the end of the afternoon gave us a lecture on the importance of

insects to our planet. 50% of all species on earth are insects, they are responsible

for an unknown amount of pollination at least 50 crop types are reliant on insects

for pollination which alone is worth billions of Rand. On one ‘Naboom’

(Euphorbia ingrens) 15 types of pollinators have been identified… hence the need

for healthy biodiversity!

Baboons, always curious, found a treat when they discovered a ‘malaise’ trap

baited with a mixture of rum, banana and beer, which they destroyed in their

enthusiasm to get at the free booze. Another creature that succumbed was a male Natal mulitmammate mouse

Mastomys natalensis, females can make up to 24 babies in just 24 days and feed them from 12 pairs of mammae!

An intern thought it was a baby squirrel. The predominate species collected were Dung Beetles, we are thinking

of running another insect course specialising in Dung beetles. The holes in the ground at Nylsvley have always

fascinated me; Pic here shows what was probably a warthog tunnel that

collapsed, revealing the tunnels of other species crisscrossing the first

tunnel. In the fairly harsh conditions at Nylsvley especially before the

rains many species are nocturnal and live underground. I was fascinated

by this profile.

Geoff Lockwood presented his cleverly classified LBJ Course during the

weekend 15-17 November, just when the heatwave started! LBJ’s are

many birder’s greatest challenge, some tips: Learn the characteristics of

the Larks, Pipets, Cisticola’s etc, long or short tail? thick or thin beak?

Bobbing or no bobbing? and the most important question of all: Where

are you? Many LBJ’s are only seen in a specific habitat.

In mid-September we published a series of photographs taken with a camera trap set up near the river below the

campsite and financed by new members Theo and Meghan Boshoff. Thanks! The animals caught in the trap

were: Jackal, Civet, Caracal, Hyaena, Serval, and Leopard…….

Pics in the gallery of the FoN website: www.nylsvley.co.za

It was the Leopard that caused some interesting responses!

Some friends were scared to even walk in the reserve, others

were very proud that the reserve supports a top predator and

others felt that although it is good that Leopard are in the

reserve but, that the Friends need to make sure they are covered

in case of an incident?

Fortuitously just a week or two previously I had had a

discussion with Natasha Möller (in her new role) and Riaan

Visage they had identified that the Friends do not sign into the

reserve or sign an indemnity when they attend a Friends event.

We thank Mike Pierce who very kindly prepared an indemnity

which we now ask everyone to sign on arrival; they are

archived at the reserve. I did not realise that the Friends, as an independent group, utilising the reserve can cover

themselves by taking this precaution. We thank everyone who has gone through this procedure for their co-

operation and the reception staff for the nice way they handle it.

Syd Catton (our man in Modimolle) is a very active committee member and networker he represents us on the

Waterberg Bioregional Committee and the Waterberg Tourism Commission. He also visited the Ostrich farm on

the Olifantsspruit that delivers water to the floodplain. For at least 15 years there has been an Ostrich Farm in

this valley. We had alerted the authorities (with thanks to John Barrow, a member, who owns the farm across the

valley) to the poor quality of water coming from the farm some 10 years ago. It seems that now there is no

slaughtering on the farm, all production is exported which means the farm operations have to comply with very

strict international standards. To the best of our knowledge all systems are now in a very much better state. The

plan is to have the stream water tested now that the rains have commenced.

Syd attended two days of the Presidential Launch of the Waterberg District Development Model in an

unbelievably hot Lephalale and afterwards compiled a document putting the case for Tourism. He was concerned

that the President rated tourism after mining (for investment) in the Province. Thanks Syd again for your hard

work. The document is available on request.

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A BIG welcome to new members: Nicky Wood & Alan, Gordon & Sue Hay, Dawn Needham, Martin Beyers

& family, Theo & Meghan Boshoff, Dave & Lynne Randall, , Lyn Bunce, Tinky & Peter Day, Felicity & Ed

Martin. Thank you for joining; enabling us as we do everything possible to help look after Nylsvley and the Nyl

floodplain.

It is such a joy to keep in contact with our regular members, the friends listed here sent in their annul subs in the

last few months, Thank you, more reminders to follow once this letter is distributed: Barbara Brown, (please

pray for Barbara she is not well at all) Hedley Herring, Carol Taylor, Astri & John Leroy, Helen & Bernard

Shaw, Ann & Otto Winter, James McLuskie, Amelia Viana, Nicky & Ray McCullough, Sonia van Wyk, Tromp

& Renske Hofmeyr, Brian & Caroline Frank, Lance & Hanneline Smit- Robinson, Johan & Annanien Pretorius,

Ben Prinsloo, Jacus & Fay Pienaar, Brian & Dee Watson, Antje & Chris Lenhard, Neville & Charlene Forssman

(Have you read Richard Wadley’s book Waterberg Echoes?), Anton Cilliers, Michael & Merryl Pierce, Glynis

Wimpey and Margo Scheepers.

We thank Naboom Bird Club for their donation and remind our members that if you wish to get an 18a Tax

certificate for your donation of more than R1000 to Friends of Nylsvley we can arrange it for you but please

contact me before sending any money.

Our special Thanks to Henry Annandale for what he has done for us on the reserve.

A message from long term member of Friends of Nylsvley: Hennie du Preez, who lives in a retirement Village in Dainfern:

Thank you for your as-always interesting news-letter!

In Newsletter # 103 you related the amusing story of your printer’s embarrassment over the Mallard duck

images that appeared on your new bumper stickers, you wrote ‘…Mallard ducks are an introduced species in

South Africa and have the nasty habit of raping other ducks and also interbreed with our own …’. Your use of

the word ‘raping’ raised the ire of a purest in our village, but first some back ground.

As you know, we live in the Evergreen Lifestyle Retirement village near Broadacres in Johannesburg. We have 2

ponds in our village and recently some residents introduced 2 pairs of Abacot Ranger domestic ducks. As you

probably know, the Abacot Ranger looks very much like the Mallard duck, and 2 knowledgeable birders in our

village incorrectly identified them as Mallards and demanded that they be removed, citing the same reason that

you gave. One of them also claiming that they ‘raped’ other ducks. As it happened, the 4 ducks were chased

away by a pair of Egyptian geese that occasionally spend a few hours in our ponds, so the problem disappeared.

‘Cross-breeding’ is an understandable term for birds and animals, but ‘raping’?. Do they really ‘rape’ or do they

simply ‘cross-breed’, perhaps rather aggressively?

I’m raising this question purely out of academic interest, and in no way to question your use of the word. It is

intriguing that 2 knowledgeable birders, from totally different back grounds, should use exactly the same word to

describe the cross-breeding habits of Mallard ducks, so perhaps the use of that word is justified and you can shed

more light on the subject.

According to references in Google, all domestic ducks, with the exception of Muscovy ducks were originally

hybridised from Mallards. The Abacot Ranger is clearly descended from Mallards and so the question is, will the

Abacot ranger also cross-breed with our Yellow-billed ducks? If they do, then why are they an accepted

domestic breed in S.A.? Or are they not?

Our ponds are infested with Duckweed (genus Lemna), and again according to Google and other sources,

domesticated ducks happily feed on Duckweed and are a recognised means of controlling it. That explains our

interest in getting some ducks into our ponds, but we want to be sure we do the right thing.

Sorry for all the questions, but I hope you can help us!

Sincerely, Hennie du Preez.

My response was that the males occasionally copulate with females without proper courtship??

A bit of history: About 70 years ago the district road was put through from what is now the R101 east towards

Witkoppies caves and the property now known as Monate Game Lodge. The design cut off sections of existing

farms including de Nijlsvleij and Deelkraal. Much to George Whitehouse’s grandmother’s annoyance the new

gate had to be closed at least once a year. So old man Visser (Ivan Visser’s father) used to do it at times that

were apparently the most inconvenient!!!! There is a similar cut off triangle by the river on the southern

boundary which for convenience has been entirely fenced in by the present owners of Deelkraal.

I also learnt from John Wesson (Chairman of WESSA Northern Areas) that it was at an Ornithological Society

of South Arica’s meeting that happened to be held at Nylsvley in 1995 that the decision was made for the

organisation to change direction from just viewing birds to developing education and conservation programmes.

Fairly soon after that the Society changed its name and became BirdLife South Africa (BLSA) and is now, under

the leadership of Mark Anderson, probably the most successful conservation organisation in South Africa at

present. To me it was nice to know that Nylsvley happened to be the birthplace of BirdLife’s ever so successful

conservation strategy…….

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Upcoming events: 24-26 January : Woodland Bird Census * Please book soon…..

13-15 March : Beginners Bird course / Geoff Lockwood

17-19 April : The Business of Being a Bird / Geoff Lockwood…… A new course

Saturday 9 May : AGM in Irene area, speaker: Prof. Bob Scholes on Climate Change.

(Long ago, as part of the Savanna Biome Research Programme, Prof. Bob did research on the

effect of fire on the Nylsvley Savanna Ecosystem).

*We are thrilled that the census data is being analysed; both researchers Billy Attard and Fanie du Plessis will

present their findings during the 2020 census. Some of Billy’s preliminary graphs are on our website www.

Nylslvey.co.za/Info on Nylsvley/Woodland Bird Census

LEDET Bioregional plan a first in SA: Great news is that LEDET has gazetted a bio regional plan that

provides legal protection to areas designated as ‘Critical Biodiversity Areas’. I believe Limpopo Province is the

first to produce such a plan.

Some comments from Dr Warwick Tarboton:

I went to a presentation by Dr Karen Steenkamp, research director at LEDET, on the bioregional plan and it

sounds like having this gazetted really gives LEDET teeth, providing legal protection to areas designated as

'critical biodiversity areas' (CBA1 and CBA2), eg no prospecting allowed, never mind mining. I've attached a

copy of the map that shows how the region is zoned, purple being CBA1 areas, mustard being CBA2, lighter

orange and yellow areas being 'ecological support areas'. I don't know how they got this legislation through! The

mineral and energy people must have been asleep. You'll see that

essentially all the floodplain and much of its catchment is a

CBA1.We thank Dr Karen Steenkamp for all the hard work she

put into this document.

Another initiative welcomed by Friends of Nylsvley is the

Waterberg Monitoring and Research programme.

Info in attachment.

After a week of nearly continuous rain at our house in Irene (266

mm) the sun is trying to come out and the birds are sitting on the

lawn trying to get warm!

May we wish you and families a wonderful relaxing Christmas

season and all the very best for 2020.

With love from Marion x x x

Nylsvley is the green patch lower right

Recommended Christmas reading:

Richard Wadley was the speaker at

our AGM in 2019

his book:

Waterberg Echoes is available from

Protea Book House

Pretoria & some

Exclusive books.

ISBN 978-1-4853-

0935-2

We so enjoyed this

in depth

dissertation on the

Waterberg

This delightful read is

about Walter

Eschenburg who lived

and worked as an

unconventional vet on

the Nyl floodplain. His

childhood was spent in

Germany during the

war.

Available from: www.

Peppertreechronicles.

com

ISBN –13:978-

1492324928

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