Chatham Hall in South Africa

I’ll wrap up the last two days in Cape Town with a quick overview – others may add some write-ups and photos over the next couple of days as well.

After the first day at Rondevlei (Monday), we ended a little early to take advantage of a relatively windless day to take the cable car to the top of Table Mountain.  The ride was steep, and the views from the top absolutely breathtaking.

On Tuesday, we returned to Rondevlei, this time for some serious work (at least for a while).  We walked out into the fields in the reserve, where Penny explained to us some of the challenges of non-native flora in the fynbos region (especially the amount of water they consume).  She showed us some samples of the Erica plant:

  which had become extinct in the wild but was being brought back by careful cultivation.  We then went to work pulling “Port Arthur” plants – pernicious weeds that were much stronger – and harder to pull – than they looked!  Note the strain and the triumph on our faces!

After the hard work, we were treated to a tour of the rest of the region, which included Zookevlei Nature Reserve, a sewage treatment plant, and a land fill.  All of this (with Rondevlei) is supposed to become the False Bay Ecological Park in the next several years, when the landfill closes.  It already is host to innumerable birds, and there are plan to bring in more animal species and significantly develop the educational programs for the region.

Finally, on Tuesday evening we were honored to have the chance to meet with Ms. Bandi Biko, sister of murdered resistance leader Steve Biko.  She stayed for dinner and talked with us about her own work developing homes for AIDS orphans, and about her brother and his life and work.