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The year started with a delightful forage in the veld with Field Guide Lee Douglas to find, capture on camera, and create a collage with those ‘little’ things so often overlooked in the Egoli Granite Grasslands.
February’s event was presented by someone whose love for Nature developed from a childhood spent growing up in Riverside Estates.
Frank Mohlele’s invaluable work on Wetlands is now benefitting the CRR, and his Walk & Talk on Wetlands opened up a new respect for the vital role they play in our water sources for all who attended.
History was the focus for March’s CRR event as we looked at the influence our history has had on the landscape from early stone age right up to the Apartheid era. Historical sites right here in the CRR abound and the only regret was that it was impossible to visit them all in one morning.
The Scorpion Walk presented by Jonathan Leeming is a winner every single year and April’s Creepy Crawly walk was no different with delighted children and adults alike exploring the fascinating world of spiders, solifugae and, of course, scorpions.
The School Programme is as busy as ever with our quarterly CRR Nature Explorer’s Club Outings as well as monthly home-schooling outings. The children have learned everything from Wetlands and life cycles to plant appreciation. The effort Sulize and Suretha, our environmental educators, put into each event is truly inspiring. No value can be placed on the importance of preparing the next generation for taking care of the environment in the future.
The approach to our snare walk events has taken a new direction. Read all about the reason for this in the section on “Threats to the veld”.
We are also fast becoming one of the preferred places for site visits from Government Departments and organizations.
In February a site visit by DALRRD (Department of Agriculture, Land reform and Rural Development) was carried out with special emphasis on our Pompom Thrips Mass Rearing Project.
Those who attended went away suitably impressed by our test sites on both the Western and Eastern sides of the CRR and our plans for the growth of this project.
April saw us playing host to a CREW (Custodians of Rare and Endangered Wildflowers) meeting and site visit. We were assured the venture into the grasslands in search of wildflowers in the CRR was the highlight of their morning.
This month we showcased the remarkable biodiversity of the CRR to 40 of the implementation team's Technical Working Committee as part of their GEF 7 Project. (The Biodiversity Economy Project).
The interest in the CRR as a valuable resource in Gauteng and an example of what can be done when people are dedicated and determined to make a difference is a credit to all our members, residents and volunteers.
This would not be possible without your commitment to the conservation of the biodiversity in this very special place.
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