KZN North 2nd & 3rd of July, Tree Outing Sand Forest Lodge & False Bay

The Tree Enthusiast Working Group in Hluhluwe is organising tree outings usually every second Saturday of the month. They are led by Dr Du Randt which is a tree specialist in the area. Every time a different area will be visited and will focus on identifying trees and learning about them. This is of course a great way to learn about the trees in this area which are usually considered so difficult to ID. This time the tree outing is actually an exciting full weekend instead of the usual few hours! Moreover, experts such as Richard Boon and Elsa Pooley are going to be there too! The full information can be found below. For more info phone Greg Davies on 0791893996

Make sure you come, it is an awesome way to learn more trees in KZN! 

Click here for a summary of the previous outing in April http://fgasakznnorth.blogspot.com/2011/04/report-on-great-tree-outing-at-ehlatini.html 

Dear fellow dendrologists & tree and plant lovers  (and pass on to interested people not on my e-mail list)

I would like to invite and welcome everybody to the following programme. In case we will be too many on the field outings, we can split up the group in novices, and more experienced tree spotters.

We are hosting quite a few members of C.R.E.W. (Custodians for rare and endangered wildflowers/plants), a division of SANBI, at Sand Forest Lodge, over the weekend of 2 & 3 July 2012. We have also invited well known tree experts from southern KZN to join us. Elsa Pooley and Richard Boon should be under them. Accommodation will be mostly at Sand Forest Lodge.

The programme will be as follows:

SATURDAY 2 July 2011: Meet at SAND FOREST LODGE at 14h00, or alternatively at FALSE BAY MAIN ENTRANCE GATE shortly after 14h00. I will pick up all the CREW people from the lodge and bring them to False Bay Gate. We will then join together in less vehicles to prevent congestion in the forest and drive up to the heart of the sand forest. We will do a walk through the main sand forest from 14h15 to 16h00. Time permitting, we will then drive further along the fence to rare sand forest species and we should complete the outing by 16h30/17h00.

This will be followed by a social evening at SIT-EN-DRINK (our farm adjacent to False BayPark gate) from 17h00 onwards. Please supply our own food/meat and drinks, possibly also plate, cutlery, glass and a chair. (depending on the number of people) This will be a social BRING & BRAAI to meet each other and to have informal discussions. Everybody is invited. The lock on the farm gate will be open - please keep the lock open, but keep the gate close at all times.

SUNDAY morning, 3 July 2011: Join us for a formal meeting at 08h00 at Sand Forest Lodge LAPA. This meeting will be about the activities of CREW in our area, the monitoring of rare plants in future field trips, discussion of volunteers to cover our whole area, including Maputaland and Hluhluwe-Imfolozi areas, etc etc. This will be lead by Suvarna Parbhoo. Even if you are a novice in tree-spotting or plant botanizing, please attend this meeting, as it is all about conservation of our beautiful ecosystem. 

This meeting will be followed by another field trip from possibly 10h30 to 12h00/13h00, depending on our energy levels! Time permitting I would like to take the group to a few selected "hot-spots", especially Berchemia sp novo (in False Bay Park), Warburgia salutaris colony (in False Bay Park) and possibly, time permitting, visiting Makowe Hill for Albizia suluensis. Bring your own picnic lunch afterwards.

We will draw up a list of the RARE, ENDANGERED and SPECIAL plants of our region, and it will be available to all. We need future volunteers to "adopt a plant" and to monitor these plants for our data base.

Hope to see you all.....

Regards

Francois du Randt

KZN North: FGASA Exam workshop

Dear FGASA members,

The KZN North Committee wishes everyone writing the national exam the 2nd of July good luck! For the people writing in Hluhluwe, we do offer an 'exam workshop' for learners writing the FGASA Level 1 exam, where you can come and ask questions about the topics you still might struggle with. The KZN North facilitators will then try to help you by answering your questions and explaining things where necessary, hopefully helping you passing your exam. This service is for free. These workshops will be held in St. Lucia (location to be announced), as well as in the Hluhluwe Hotel on the 28th of June from 7 PM till 10 PM, as well as on the 30th of June from 7 PM till 10 PM.

Should you wish to make use of this service, please ensure that you make a reservation with the facilitators, to avoid finding them too busy with other students, and to avoid them sitting there for nothing. For the St. Lucia workshops, please text Nick van de Wiel on 072-7055124, for Hluhluwe the 28th please text Christa Panos on 083-7263826, and for Hluhluwe the 30th text Greg Davies on 079-1893996. Make sure you mention your name, and the date and time you wish to meet. Also ensure that you actually go to the workshop on the specified date and time, and should you not be able to, make sure you cancel your appointment with your facilitator in time.

We hope this free service will ensure a higher pass rate amongst learners in this region.

Sincerely yours,

The FGASA KZN North committee

KZN North: New FGASA Marine Guiding Qualification

What do you really know about barnacles and crayfish? Ever heard about a zoanthid? What do cone shells eat? What is the reproductive cycle of mussels? How do dunes form? What is the history of Mission Rocks? What uses do algae have? How do mangroves deal with salt? Would you be able to tell the species of shark by looking at a beached tooth alone, or the species of whale by the type of ‘blow’ it makes when it exhales? A FGASA marine guide will be able to tell you all of these things!

The FGASA Marine Guiding qualification is an exciting but relatively new qualification offered by FGASA. It offers people the opportunity to learn about all aspects of guiding in the marine coastal environment, which has a lot to offer to tourists. In South Africa there are countless opportunities for marine guiding which have not been fully exploited yet because of the general focus on land based activities, such as game drives, cultural tours and hikes. Especially the iSimangaliso Wetland Park is a great example of a park where having a marine guiding qualification gives you a lot of extra guiding opportunities. To name a few: you could be a turtle guide or a whale watching guide, you could do specialized rocky shore excursions and you can go snorkeling and diving with your clients.

Historically going to the sea or beach has always been associated with fun and relaxation and not so much with learning about the environment. However, the marine guiding qualification offers the opportunity for people to make a difference and open people’s eyes to all the amazing creatures that you may find hidden under the sand or stuck to the rocks. In the Cape where less game drive opportunities are available this type of tourism is already much more established and one of the prominent as well as popular organizations is Strandloper safaris.

Marine Guides can specialize in very different fields, however, this qualification is about having the skills and understanding to interpret the coastal marine environment as a whole. This means that you could offer your guests a game drive to Cape Vidal and will be able to tell them about the animals and plants encountered along the way. Knowledge about the coastal forest and savannah is thus part of the course, albeit in not as much detail as in a terrestrial guiding course. Once in Cape Vidal you will take your guests out snorkeling and you will be able to give an appropriate safety briefing and subsequently can point out interesting fish and invertebrate species. Back on land you might be able to tell your guests a bit more about the dune vegetation and the important role it plays in trapping sand and stabilizing dunes. Or you could stop at Mission rocks and do some incredible interesting rocky shore guiding. These are the things that set a Marine Guide apart from a ‘normal/terrestrial’ guide! And it is these ‘things/opportunities’ that are so abundant in the iSimangaliso Wetland Park. Marine Guiding opportunities are not confined to South Africa as you could also work at lodges in Mozambique, the Seychelles etc.

The FGASA marine guiding course focuses more on the coastal environment and shoreline than the animal life seen under the water surface and therefore your assessment will be done on land in the rocky shore environment. Although for some people it may be disappointing not to spend all your time in the water it is good to realize that as a guide you only will spend limited amounts of time with guests in the water and for the rest of the time you also need to be able to entertain them. Diving and snorkeling activities often do not take longer than one or two hours. Some days you might have planned activities on or in the ocean, but if the sea is too rough alternative plans have to be made. Being able to give an interesting guiding experience on the beach is then a great bonus!

The course covers topics such as guiding skills, safety briefings, astronomy, weather & climate, estuaries, mangroves, rocky- and sandy shores, coastal & marine plants, fish biology, invertebrates (corals, sponges, jellyfish, sea stars, crayfish, prawns, mussels, periwinkles and many many more), marine mammals, turtles, frogs and toads, animal behavior, historical human habitation and conservation. During the Bhejane Marine Guiding course also a specialized Marine First Aid course is given as well as a Padi Open Water Diver scuba diving course.

If you pass both your theory exam and your practical assessments you will be qualified as a FGASA Level 1 Marine Guide, as well as a THETA NQF 2 Nature Site Guide.

TKZN (Tourism KZN) however does recognize the Marine Guiding qualification as being a specialty on top of your “basic” guiding qualification. Furthermore, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) has earmarked this qualification to be the entry level qualification of any Marine Protected Area manager.

How can you get qualified as a marine guide? Bhejane Nature Training, as the only FGASA accredited training provider in the region, offers Marine Guiding courses. As per the new requirements from FGASA and THETA these courses are now 10 weeks long. It was found that many people struggled to take in all the information over a 6 week period and although 10 weeks seems long, for most people this will be a good amount of time to familiarize yourself with the theory and practical aspects of marine guiding.  As mentioned above, included in the course is a Padi Open Water Course with one of the best dive centers in South Africa, Coral Divers in Sodwana Bay. Andrew Millers (from S.M.A.R.T.) has adapted his Wilderness First Aid course especially so that it applies to accidents in the marine environment and it is therefore called Marine Wilderness First Aid. It is recognised and endorsed by the Department of Labour.

For the people who do not manage to find the time to do the full course Bhejane Nature Training now also offers a marine workshop (2 weeks) for those people who are able to do a great deal of the theory through self study, and/or already have a guiding qualification. The workshop offers practical outings in Kosi Bay and St Lucia. The workshop will be intense and packed with lectures, exercises, presentations and other educational activities. For more information have a look at

http://bhejanenaturetraining.com/MarineGuiding.html

The Marine Guiding Course is for those people who have an interest in the marine environment and who are open to learn about all aspects of it. Job opportunities once you are qualified could vary from working at a lodge like for example Thonga beach lodge, to being a guide on a fishing charter, or to diving with guests for a lodge in Mozambique. Not even to mention how much your entertainment value and guiding quality on the Eastern Shores will have improved after having done a marine guiding course!

For more information, please email Freya.Adamczyk@gmail.com

KZN North: Welcome ECTA Members!

Dear ECTA Members,

The FGASA KZN North Region Committee would like to welcome you on board on our shared mission to make this region the best and most popular tourist destination in Southern Africa. From our part, we focus on promoting excellence and professionalism in guiding, and know that you do your part too by offering great tour and accommodation products.

We hope to make available relevant information for tour and safari guides, and to organise various kinds of activities where guides can improve their knowledge. We also provide information about the opportunities FGASA offers in terms of attaining new qualifications and career development.

The easiest way to stay up to date is to leave your email address on the right of this page, so you'll get a notification per email once we post new content to this site.

Should you want to become involved in what we do, please feel free to contact nick.vandewiel@gmail.com. If you want to advertise a job opportunity for free, also send Nick an email, and he'll post it online.

To learn more about FGASA, feel free to have a look at http://fgasakznnorth.blogspot.com/search/label/Frequently%20Asked%20Questions

Please note that, even though our initiative is run and supported by FGASA, also non-FGASA members are welcome to subscribe to this page and partake in our organised activities.

Best Regards,

The FGASA KZN North Committee

News: Rhino released in Ozabeni section of iSimangaliso Wetland Park

Great news: 

Ozabeni covers 46000ha north of Lake St Lucia, west of the Maputoland Marine Reserve. The fencing of it has recently been completed and it is currently home to several species, including 59 blue wildebeest, 1850 plains zebra, 150 bush pigs and 50 impala. Last week a number of black and white rhino have been released, as part of the park's plan to reintroduce 28 rhino, 15 white and 13 black, this year. This is great news as the iSimangaliso Wetland Park now has more than 100 black rhino within its boundaries, and once these are all linked up and the animals can interbreed the park will have secured the highest status possible, a 'KEY 1 population' in terms of the IUCN African Rhino Specialist Group, which is a major achievement in rhino conservation. 

To counter poaching the rhino have transmitters in their horn to allow easy tracking, and extra park rangers and anti-poaching units have been deployed in the area. 

Well done to the iSimangaliso Wetland Park and KZN Wildlife!

Did You Know: That leaves can take up water?

On the latest tree outing last Saturday, a question was raised whether plants can also take up/absorb water through their leaves, instead of only through its roots. Opinions differed that day so I conduced a bit of research and this is what I found:

Yes, leaves often can absorb water through their leaves, and in fact, in some plants it is almost the only means of water uptake. Think about epiphytic bromeliads for example. These have a root system that only serves to anchor the bromeliad against its host tree, but it does not parasitise on the host tree's sap. The bromeliad meets all his moisture requirements for photosynthesis by trapping water with its leaves, and then absorbing it.

How do leaves do this: There are two means. First of all it is important to remember that most leaves have a  waxy layer (the cuticle) which is impenetrable to water. However, that layer is interspersed with stomata and trichomes (hairs), which both can take up water. The trichomes are similar in morphology and function as root hairs, so it comes as no surprise that they can indeed absorb water. Through the stomata and trichomes, water can bypass the waxy layer found on most leaves. Please note that water uptake through stomata is much more difficult than the uptake through trichomes, so the latter play a much more important role in water uptake, whereas the stomata play a larger role in gas exchange.

How well a plant can take up water through its leaves will obviously depend for a large part on: how many trichomes and stomata are present on the leaf surface, how efficient they are, humidity levels, temperature, climate, light intensity, leaf age, nutritional status of the plant etc.

KZN North, Firearm, First Aid and ARH Training

Hi everyone

We are running the following First Aid and Fire-arm Training courses over the next two months.

FGASA ARH Training:                      22 - 24 June

SASSETA Firearm Training:           11 – 13 July
Wilderness First Aid:                       26 – 28 July

Please let me know as soon as possible if you would like to book yourself or any of your guides on these courses.

For prices and more information, please contact me.

Kind Regards

Christa Panos

dpanos@tiscali.co.za

Cell: +27 83 726 3826

KZN North, 11th of June, Tree Outing Bushlands

The Tree Enthusiast Working Group in Hluhluwe is organising tree outings usually every second Saturday of the month. They are led by Dr Du Randt which is a tree specialist in the area. Every time a different area will be visited and will focus on identifying trees and learning about them. This is of course a great way to learn about the trees in this area which are usually considered so difficult to ID. On the 11th of May 2011 the outing will explore the surroundings of the Isinkwe Bushcamp at Bushlands, which has nice variety of trees. All FGASA members are welcome to come and participate for free. Start at 11:45 AM, Isinkwe Bushcamp, Bushlands. The outing ends about 3 PM. 

Optional hamburger or chicken burger meal and salad + 1 soft drink afterwards. Cost R40.R50 for 2 burgers and salad. Please rsvp who is attending both the outing and staying for drink and burgers afterwards so we can plan and cater. This can be done by commenting on this post or by emailing greg@isinkwe.co.za

For more info phone Greg Davies on 0791893996

Make sure you come, it is an awesome way to learn more trees in KZN! 

Click here for a summary of the previous outing in April http://fgasakznnorth.blogspot.com/2011/04/report-on-great-tree-outing-at-ehlatini.html

Venue for burgers, salad and drinks afterwards

How to get to Isinkwe Bushcamp

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