Green Options

A 28-year-old man was arrested for allegedly smuggling 70 live animals in his luggage.   Custom officials at the O.R. Tambo International Airport (ORTIA) near Johannesburg, discovered the animals hidden inside plastic tubs and bags. 

Dairy farm anaerobic lagoons without covers

The first large scale biogas plant linked to a beef feedlot, could make a more significant contribution to renewable energy in South Africa than the planned 3.8 MW of electricity, by advancing the technology in South Africa.

The Business

Independent power producer (IPP) Lesedi Biogas Project (LBP) is planning to build one of the world’s largest open-air feedlot manure-to-power plants, in Heidelberg, near Johannesburg, South Africa. Such plants use the anaerobic fermentation (bacterial fermentation of organic waste, with little or no oxygen present) to produce a methane rich gas which can be used to produce electricity or burn for heat.

The plant will be situated at the Karan Beef feedlot, which will supply the manure from its feedlot to the LBP. This would initially amount to 110,000 tons per year of manure, which would allow the production of 3,8 MW of base-load power reaching 6,2 MW of peak power.

Massive untapped solar radiation advantage of Africa - click for numbers

This positive report on the opportunities for Renewable Energy in South Africa is a starting point for a series of posts that will report on developments in and linked to the use of Renewable Energy in South Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa.

Where is Renewable Energy Going in South Africa?

An almost ten fold growth in revenue from renewable energy is predicted by business research and consulting firm Frost and Sullivan’s. This emerges from their Southern African Renewable Energy Equipment Market analysis, which sees the current renewable industry in South Africa having revenues of only $28.4 million in 2008 but projects a growth to over $250 million by 2015.

For the first time in over a century, a black rhino calf has been born in the Baviaanskloof Nature Reserve.

Just two years after receiving six black rhino, South Africa’s Baviaanskloof Nature Reserve has welcomed its first rhino calf. Although black rhino were wiped out by widespread poaching in the area over a century ago, the recent reintroduction is off to a promising start.

This post consists of a few lines and a link to what’s happened since some of my recent posts where there has been significant action. Each item is identified and linked by the date and title of the original post.

July 2009 - Sable Antelope - One Sold for $ 385 000 and Giant Species Rediscovered in Angola.

Three more Giant Sable Antelopes, have been sighted in Angola. This brings to six the number of this rare species, which was feared to have become extinct, that have been sited in the last few weeks.

July 2009 - Mauling of Baboon by “Fighting Dogs”, Reopens the Cape Peninsular Baboon Debate

Two men were attacked by Pit Bulls in Ocean View ,the same Township in Ocean View this week, prompting a warning from welfare group TEARS.

Are poachers in KwaZulu Natal now targeting dogs - in addition to wildlife?

Shocked residents living near the Everton Conservancy in Kloof are fearing for the safety of their dogs. According to a disturbing report in The Times SA, authorities suspect that dogs are being stolen from families and being used as bait by poachers to lure wild animals into illegal snares.

A cooperative effort between police and anti-poaching officials broke up an illegal hunting operation that had been taking place at private Mpumalanga game reserve.

Acting on a tip, Badplaas police and the Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Agency’s (MTPA) anti-poaching unit arrested 20 people for illegally hunting birds, small antelope, bush pigs, and warthogs at the Nkomazi Game Reserve. The suspects - 14 men and six minors - appeared in court last week, and are scheduled to appear again in September.

The Greatest Shoal on Earth, less prosaically known at the Sardine Run, has been an annual event along the east coast of South Africa for decades. What was simply a natural resource that provided an easily accessible protein source for local inhabitants and an income for fisherman has become a tourist event, classified with the Serengeti Migration and Iceland Atlantic Puffins as “Must See Nature Sites“.

The Sardines

The sardines, which are more correctly known as the Southern African Pilchard (Sardinops sagaxis), are the most fished species in South African waters, although not the most valuable industry. The pilchards are harvested on the Agulhas Bank, a broad, shallow part of the continental shelf which extends 250 kilometres (160 miles) south of Cape Agulhas, the southern most tip of Africa. The meeting of the warm Indian and cold Atlantic oceans fuels the nutrient cycle for marine life, resulting in one of the best fishing grounds in South Africa.

Woburn Safari Park has received two female Southern white rhino from South Africa as part of a plan to create a self-sustaining white rhino population in Europe.

After a three-and-a-half day journey from Johannesburg to Bedfordshire, Mtubatuba and Mzuki are settling into their new home at Woburn Safari Park. Once the ladies complete a 30-day quarantine process, they will be gradually introduced to Woburn’s current crash of four white rhino, along with a young male rhino from another UK facility.

Yellowwood                                                     Black Wattle

The destruction of 150 trees by a programme that has made real impacts on South Africa’s environment is regrettable but not really serious, until the underlying cause is questioned.

Removing Invasive Alien Plants

Water is a precious resource in short supply in South Africa. One of the activities directed at the problem is the Work for Water Programme, that works to remove alien invasive species which use large quantities of water unproductively.

Invasive alien plants (IAPs) are those introduced into countries from elsewhere, that then out-compete the indigenous species. They pose a direct threat to biological diversity, water security, the ecological functioning of natural systems and the productive use of land. They intensify the impact of fires and floods and increase soil erosion. IAPs can divert enormous amounts of water from more productive uses.

Sable Antelope Bull in Kafue, Zambia

The Giant Sable Antelope has been positively sighted for the first time in decades, proving that it is not extinct, while a less threatened species was sold for almost half a million dollars.

The Sable Antelope

The Sable Antelope (Hippotragus niger) is an antelope found in the wooded savannah of East and Southern Africa. They stand from 120 to 140 centimetres (4 to 4½ foot) at the shoulder and weighing between 200 and 270 kilograms (440 and 600 pounds). Males are very distinctively black, with white underbelly, cheeks and chin. They have a shaggy mane and ringed horns which arch backward and are up to more than 1½ metres (5 feet). It is a majestic animal mainly as a result of its striking colour and massive  horns.