The theme for the Friends of the Liesbeeks AGM this year was ‘Jewels of the Liesbeek’, a collection of photos from friends and committee members. What follows are just some of the animal and plant ’Jewels’ captured during the daily Maintenance Project activities along the River. Click more to view photos.
Jewels of the Liesbeek
August 24th, 2010Remote controlled sailing on the Liesbeek
August 14th, 2010The Friends of the Liesbeek were there to witness the interests of a group of remote controlled sailing enthusiasts. Its another fantastic way to use the river for recreational activity. All agreed that if this activity grows it could have all sorts of benefits especially in improving the Observatory section of the Liesbeek. Already the Maintenance Team have plans to remove the weed in this part of the river and to assist the sailors in creating a stretch of water that will hopefully attract many more sailors. Thanks to Neil, Colin and Alan for demonstrating the potential to use the Liesbeek for sailing. It certainly attracted the attention of the passing public.
Neil standing alongside his model yacht (below)
Construction of signage alone the Liesbeek trail
July 20th, 2010At the end of 2009 the Liesbeek Maintenance Project team and volunteers from the South African Breweries (SAB) constructed three signs along the Liesbeek trail. The signs were made using rocks from the area, cement and wooden ‘plinths’, which had been cut from fallen Oak trees along the river.
Construction of sign opposite Josephine Mill in Rondebosch
SAB volunteers and David Nyalathele with finished base of sign at Alfred stream in Rondebosch
The idea was to then attach a perspex sleeve to the wooden ‘plinth’ into which laminated signs could be placed and changed at ones discretion. These perpex sleeves were ready and attached at the beggining of 2010.
David Nyalathele attaches perspex sleeve
The finished product
The Liesbeek maintenance Project team will be constructing more signs along the trail from the end of July 2010, and will be looking at other creative ways of doing so.
Friends welcome Mike Tanner from Wisconsin
June 15th, 2010The Friends will again benefit from the Global Environmental Ambassador program (GEM), an initiative of the University of Wisconsin. Mike Tanner, a major in Ecology and Public Administration, will be working on various projects for the Liesbeek including signage proposals and content; rehabilitation plans for the Valkenburg wetland; and assessing the habitat of the Liesbeek. We are grateful for the support we have had from GEM students in the past and look forward to making progress on various initiatives over the next two months with Mike.
Kevin talks to 567’s John Maytham
May 28th, 2010FOL Chair and one of 4 intrepid Peninsula Paddlers talked briefly to John Maytham on Cape Talk 567 recently.
Here what he had to say. The MP3 file will play (stream) in the player below and is about 6MB in size for those with limited bandwidth.
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Some more pictures from the Peninsula Paddle
May 25th, 2010Well done to Kevin and the team of paddlers for a great effort. Here are some more shots of the paddlers at the Bridge over the Liesbeek near The River Club
Testing the water at the River Club bridge
We paddled across the Peninsula!
May 25th, 2010It was such a fun thing to do and hopefully we raised some interest and awareness about the state of Cape Town’s waterways. En route we gathered some fascinating stories: great work being done by Zandvlei Trust; private owners along the canal in Lavender Hill and Cafda trying to improve conditions by creating a park alongside; 35 youngsters meeting us on Princess Vlei all in boats loaned to them by Gravity Adventures; conservation of wetlands at Kenilworth racecourse with funding support from Gold Circle; great turnout of Friends of Liesbeek and public on bridge over Liesbeek; environmental education centre at Zoarvlei; and a glorious paddle down the Black River and into the sea at Woodstock beach. All done in 11 hours. Will I and others do it again…yes of course!!
Kevin in Princessvlei
Please have a look at The Zandvlei Trust website for a more complete pictorial of this paddle.
Also see a podcast of the expedition produced by Rory Williams at http://www.men-about-town.co.za
AGM 2010: Report from the Chair
May 13th, 2010Friends of Liesbeek – 17th Annual General Meeting
Report from the Chairperson: Kevin Winter
Tuesday 11 May 2010
Enviro Centre, Valkenburg Hospital Grounds, Observatory
Dear Friends
It is with some satisfaction that I report on the activities of the Friends since our last AGM. Read the rest of this entry »
Raising awareness about Cape Town’s rivers
May 13th, 2010
This is an adventure that no one else has done or at least in recent times using Cape Town’s waterways as the route. Kevin Winter (current Chair of the Friends) is kayaking from False Bay to Table Bay on 23 May together with 3 other wildcats. The idea is to raise awareness about the state of Cape Town’s rivers. A film and media crew will accompany the team. Various environmental groups will meet the paddlers along the way to talk about rivers and to take some water samples. See the proposed route map attached. More details to follow.
Environmental Education
April 21st, 2010St Georges Grammer and Rhodes high school walk, 16 April 2010
Friday 16 April 2010 saw about 40 grade 11 learners from St Georges Grammer and Rhodes high schools enjoying an educational walk along the upper reaches of the Liesbeek below Kirstenbosch.
