Category: Environment
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South African Sunset Painted By The Master Scientist
This photo was taken just after sunset with a Canon Powershot A460. If you painted this incredibly beautiful sky just this way . . well, it would look as if you changed your mind somewhere, wouldn’t it? The Bot River Estuary lies against the foothills of the Kogelberg mountains in the Kogelberg Biosphere Reserve and…
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Smoke and Fire in the Kogelberg Biosphere Reserve – Day 2
The Kogelberg Biosphere Reserve is in the heart of the Overberg about 16 kilometers (10 miles) from Hermanus in the Western Cape, South Africa By late yesterday afternoon the wind was a factor, blowing strongly from the south-east. The fire was moving rapidly into the mountainous area north of the N2 national road, threatening farms…
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Smoke and Fire in the Kogelberg Biosphere Reserve
After sunset the fire continued to burn as it marched over the peaks of the mountains in the distance at left casting a bright yellow glare in the night sky. Within minutes, yesterday afternoon, this fire had blossomed from a wisp to a towering column of smoke. The vegetation of Fynbos contains plant matter with…
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Japanese Tsunami and the Amazing Resilience of Japanese People
Day five and utter devastation and mounting problems face the deeply shocked survivors of the worst Japanese seismic event in history. The Japanese people, in the first moments realised that something was different from the intensity and duration of the movement of the ground. The one-meter drop in sea level which occurred immediately after the…
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Hottentots Holland Mountains of the Western Cape
Almost equidistant between Hermanus and Cape Town lies the beautiful Hottentots Holland mountain range. The excellent N2 national road must negotiate the Sir Lowry’s and the Houwhoek mountain passes. The recently upgraded road is in superb condition and is well graded and contoured. This region is the heart of the Western Cape’s successful fruit-growing export…
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The Grande Hotel in Beira Mozambique is Squatter Heaven
On the North-Eastern border of South Africa lies the country of Mozambique. Here, in the port city of Beira, the magnificent Grande Hotel was built in the mid 1950’s when the country was still under Portuguese colonial control. It was by far the most luxurious Hotel in Africa. In the mid 1970s I visited Mozambique…
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Deepest Sea Shoot for Avatar Sequel in the Marianas Trench
The author of Avatar, James Cameron, is assembling a team to dive to the bottom of the deepest sea. He is planning to shoot footage for a sequel to Avatar. The movie is set in the turbulent waters of Pandora, an alien moon, and it’s expected to hit the circuit in 2014. Cameron has commissioned…