History is about to be made: nine-year-old chimpanzee Nina stands on the brink of delivering a baby at the Jane Goodall Institute South Africa Chimpanzee Eden Sanctuary in Mpumalanga while being monitored live via a special video webcam. Up until now there has never been a live broadcast of a chimpanzee birth, according to David Devo Oosthuizen, Executive Director of the … [Read more...]
Save the owls, help your garden
I just love falling asleep to the hoo-hoo emanating from our forested front garden. They love the huge and untrimmed trees and probably the healthy supply of elephant shrew that reside amongst the shrubs and hide beneath the ivy. But these wise and helpful creatures are threatened in several ways, with humans at the source of them all. We have encroached on their natural … [Read more...]
Finally free?
Being something of a free spirit, I wasn't too keen to visit a lion park for captive-born lions. Maybe the lions would be depressed and the pens small. Instead I found a genuine sanctuary, and a story of hope and human kindness. Paul Hart is the owner and manager of the Drakenstein Lion Park, situated scenically between Stellenbosch and Paarl. It was a freezing day when I … [Read more...]
Trends for a new earth
The earth is angry. Fuming. Trends forecaster Li Edelkoort's seminars held recently in Cape Town and Johannesburg didn't begin with images of stick-thin models or in-vogue interiors, but rather with pictures of hurricanes, floods and earthquakes, man-made disasters and sea birds strangled in plastic and oil. The trend prophet has spoken. Her predictions hold a wake-up call … [Read more...]
