Where we go one, we go all

Bogenoemde is die leuse van een die uitdagendste avonture waaraan `n Suid-Afrikaanse hoërskoolseun hom kan blootstel.  Sewe dae van honger en uitputting...  Oorgelewer aan die natuurelemente...  Karakteropvoeding deur avontuur!

Die Grosvenor Oorlewingstap is `n kursus wat lewens verander.  `n Kursus wat jou wegvat uit jou comfort zone, jou grense verskuif en jou leer om te oorleef in die natuur.  `n Kursus wat van seuns jong manne maak.

Met net die nodige klere aan hulle lywe en geen tente, kussings of slaapsakke nie, word daar van die jong manne verwag om binne 7 dae die 83km vanaf Wildernis tot by Hartenbos, te voet te voltooi.

Op die oog af lyk dit nie te erg nie... Maar probeer dit sonder kos in jou maag...
Want dit is die ding wat die Grosvenor so tough maak.  Elke kursusganger moet hoofsaaklik hul kos en water uit die natuur kry.  As `n man honger is, lyk selfs `n brandsiek hond uit `n lokasie na `n heerlike maaltyd.  Al gou leer hulle dat honger die beste kok is en word naarstiglik na enigiets te ete gesoek: paddas, mossels, riete en selfs skerpioene.  

Dit was juis Jacobus wat in 2013 op sy eerste Grosvenor vir die manne geleer skerpioen eet het.  Daardie jaar was `n besonderse moeilike jaar aangesien die weer ook nog teen hulle was en dit vir drie dae lank aaneen gereën het en bitter koud was.  Natuurkos was skaars en Jacobus het 11kg verloor binne `n week.   Dit was egter ook die week waarin hy nog die meeste Bybel gelees het...

Tydens hierdie kursus word jou uithouvermoë en karakter tot die uiterste getoets.  Manne wat swaarkry word deur spanmaats gehelp.  Soms moet jy ekstra gewig dra om jou maatjie te help.  Ander kere moet jy motiveer of selfs van jou kos deel as ander nie meer het nie...  

Where we go one, we go all.  Turning back is no option.

Almal is trots en dankbaar as die eindpunt in Hartenbos bereik word en hulle gulsig kan weglê aan die kos wat voorgesit word.  Mammas (en pappas) staan met trane in hul oë.
Oom Ewald Crause, of “Seevader” soos hy aan die Suid-Kaap bekend staan, het 41 jaar gelede hiermee begin. `n Kursus waarin seuns deur swaarkry hulself leer ken, hul karakter bou en deursettingsvermoë leer.  Deur die jare is oom Ewald bygestaan deur `n handjievol instrukteurs – manne met hare op hul tande wat jaar na jaar terugkom vir nog...

Vir die afgelope drie jaar was Jacobus so bevoorreg om deel te wees van hierdie groep en het hy `n hegte vriendskapsband gesmee met manne soos Kosie Gericke, Johan Potgieter,  Josef Krone, Alain Krog en Anro Taljaart.  Manne vir wie hy `n geweldige respek het.

In die afgelope jaar het die Here een van hierdie besonderse mense, Alain Krog, tot Hom geneem.  Hy was iemand wat altyd `n groot inspirasie was vir Jacobus en baie ander Grosvenor-manne.

Jacobus het skuldig gevoel omdat hy hierdie jaar sy eie ding doen en die ander instrukteurs vir 2017 se Grosvenor drop.  Veral omdat hulle nou sonder hom en Alain moet regkom.  Hy weet dat hulle nou al begin gereed maak vir die uitdaging oor drie weke... 

Daarom wil hy met hierdie post sy Grosvenor-makkers die Here se seën toewens.  Mag Hy julle beskerm en alles gee wat julle nodig het.  Mag Hy julle gebruik om vanjaar net so `n groot rol in die lewe van die jong manne  te speel, soos wat julle in sy lewe gespeel het.

Dit is te danke aan die drie Grosvenors waaraan hy deelgeneem het, dat Jacobus hierdie groot projek “Footsteps to Good Hope” aanpak.  Hy hoop om oom Ewald en van sy Grosvenor-maats by Kaappunt te sien as hy DV die 13e Januarie 2018 by Kaappunt klaarmaak.

Where we go one, we go all...

Even more blessings and miracles

During the first stages of planning, it was a big concern for the Footsteps-team that we have to cross high security and high risk areas where no man has set foot or where no one outside a certain circle, is ever allowed. In a previous post we were so happy to mention Alexcor coming on board and giving permission to cross the diamond fields.

We are once more humbled by the grace of God and the goodwill of man: 

Yesterday, we received written permission for Jacobus and Maricia, who will be his hiking buddy by this time, to hike the coast line cutting through Koeberg Power Plant. 

Today we got an official letter from SAS SALDANHA, confirming the hoped-for permission to walk the coastline of the extensively big area which is part of our National Navy's base of operations around Saldanha Bay. And not only did we get permission, we also got a very personal message endorsing and blessing Jacobus and the Footsteps' enterprise:

SAS SALDANHA applauds your for this tremendous initiative and also recognizes your passion for the environment. We wish you all the best and may the objectives of the walk be attained, in naval terms, allow us to say "Fair wind and following seas!"

We really are on the way with Good Hope!

Project Oystercatcher

The African Black Oystercatcher (Haematopus moquini) is one of the most conspicuous birds of the Western Cape.  Few people know, however, that this iconic bird species was classified as Near Threatened in the International Red Data Book in 2000, because of its restricted range and limited population.  In the early 1980's there were still only about 4800 of them left – the majority on the Islands on the West coast of South Africa (75%) and Namibia (25%).

There are several reasons for their low numbers: African Black Oystercatchers first start breeding when they are older than three or four years and also have only one clutch per year.  Although they lay 2-5 eggs, the annual breeding success is only 0.6 young/pair in protected sites and 0.3 in unprotected sites.  The first-year survival rate is also very low - at 20%. A survey of breeding success carried out in March 1997 yielded alarming results – along some parts of the west coast the number of chicks reared was barely one tenth of that needed to maintain a healthy population. 

African Black Oystercatchers live mainly on filter feeders such as bivalves and limpets and is therefore highly susceptible to harmful algal blooms (“red tides”) which can cause severe local mortality – up to 30-50%.  Avian cholera is also a huge threat.

The African Black Oystercatchers live on both rocky and sandy coasts and to a lesser extent, in estuaries and lagoons.  About 53% of the world’s population can be found on the 1000 kilometre coast between the Olifants River and Mossel Bay.  Of these about 30% are on the offshore islands, mostly in and around Saldanha Bay. Between the Orange River and the Olifants River, oystercatchers are believed to be quite scarce. 

Because Oystercatchers` lives are confined to the coast, they are potentially at risk from all sorts of human factors, ranging from pollution and coastal development, to straightforward disturbance by man, his pets and his toys.  One of the reasons why 4x4s were prohibited to drive on the beaches in 1994, was precisely the plight in which the Oystercatchers were found, and despite the huge public outcry the African Black Oystercatchers' breeding success significantly increased within one year.

An unforeseen fortuitous factor was the introduction of the alien Mediterranean Mussel (Mytilus galloprovincialis) after which island oystercatcher populations increased by 83-156%.  This highly invasive species has taken over our coast at an alarming rate of 115km per year. Since this alien species started to supplant our indigenous mussel, the African Black Oystercatcher adjusted its diet and started feeding on the abundant Mediterranean Mussels.  These alien mussels are also bigger and therefore offer more energy.  It has been reported that the oystercatcher`s reproductive potential has increased following these aliens` establishment.  Good news for our oystercatchers.

Ongoing conservation and monitoring efforts, and the proclamation of marine reserves, have also been of great benefit to this iconic species.  Although the Oystercatchers` numbers have grown to about 6700 birds today, it is still restricted in range and numbers, and potentially vulnerable.

The Oystercatcher Conservation Programme is a multi-organisational project spearheaded by the Percy FitzPatrick institute of African Ornithology at the University of Cape Town.  The aim is to develop a conservation strategy for the oystercatcher and to raise awareness of the conservational needs of Southern Africa`s coast.  Its success, to a large extent, is dependent on public support and participation.

This is why the awareness of the real state of emergency in which this endemic bird species find itself, is so important to us at Footsteps and from the start it was one of Jacobus' chief objects during his eco-walk.  

With the help of Carl Swart, Chairman of A Rocha SA, we came into contact with Dr Mark Brown of the Nature's Valley Trust.  He is very excited about the prospects of working with us and especially to receive important data about the range or distribution and numbers of oystercatchers in the unknown diamond areas north of the Olifants River.  

In the past week Mark Anderson, CEO of Birdlife SA, contacted us and pledged their full support.  To make this oystercatcher-project part of our Footsteps-awareness even more special, is the fact that the African Black Oystercatcher is South Africa's bird of 2018.

Mermaids' tears

In the midst of a havoc-causing storm in KZN, two container ships collided in the Durban harbour mouth on 10 October 2017 .  At least one damaged container carrying small plastic pellets (nurdles) fell overboard and was allegedly left submerged in the harbour for almost 24 hours.  During the days following the incident, millions of nurdles washed out on Durban's beaches. Sea currents picked up the lightweight nurdles and carried them north as far as Richards Bay, and south as far as the Eastern Cape's coastline.

https://journeytotheplasticocean.files.
wordpress.com/2012/08/spw2kaitak.jpg

Conservation and environmental organisations are calling it “An ecological disaster and an environmental emergency” and have asked volunteers to help clean the beaches.  In the past few weeks, thousands of people ventured to the beaches armed with spades, buckets, nets and containers to begin the painstakingly slow process of ridding our beautiful coastline of nurdles.

Not long ago, most South Africans didn't even know of the existence of nurdles and the enormously dangerous impact they have on nature. We were part of that group not knowing... And when Dr Bob Sluka from the UK contacted us through A Rocha to help with nurdle research on the west coast of South Africa, we had to turn to Google to teach us what we needed to know!  Even with Google-assisted new knowledge, we were unsure if we would be able to recognize the nurdles on the sand of the western coast beaches, and more over, if we would be able to send accurate data concerning nurdles to our Christian eco-friends in the North...

Luckily for us, PlasticSA's John Kieser, a real miracle worker, managed to contact us and it was in his office in Maitland that we had our first real meeting with the "mermaids' tears”, another name for nurdles – small plastic pellets or pipes, all colours and sizes. To tell the truth, we were now even more confused. How on earth will we know which are real nurdles and which are just waste plastics shapen in time by water and sand?  John had an answer for this question too: practice makes perfect!  As we said our good byes, he had a smile on his face and a twinckle in his eye - he handed us a bucket full of plastic pieces. "Go search for your nurdles here. This rubbish was picked up at Yzerfontein."  It worked. We really are getting the hang of it, but we still need more exercise!

John, who has been busy with the cleanup of beaches for a long time now, was very enthusiastic to hear about our project.  A lot of research and work has been done on the Eastern S A Coastline. But on the sparsely populated West Coast, especially in the Northern Cape, data is non-existing. We will be doing groundbreaking work! And obviously this is very exciting to all of us in the Footsteps-team!

But what are nurdles? Where do they come from? And why is it such a problem?

A nurdle is a very small pellet of plastic which serves as raw material in the manufacture of plastic products. During the manufacturing, transport or use of nurdles they are often spilled accidentally into rivers and oceans or fall in drains where they are washed out to sea.  In Europe this is a major problem.  A search of 279 beaches around the UK has found that almost three-quarters (73%) of them were littered with tiny plastic nurdles.  Campaigners estimate that up to 53 billion of these tiny pellets escape into the UK`s environment each year and that 230 000 tonnes enter the ocean in Europe annually.  In 2012, 150 tonnes of nurdles leaked from shipping containers into the sea around Hong Kong and cost the company responsible $US 1,2 million (at that time) to clean it up.

https://www.goodthingsguy.com/environment/nurdles-sa-beaches/

Nurdles are harmful to animals which mistake them for food items.  Not only are they toxic, but they cannot be digested, causing digestive blockages, starvation and death.  In the raw stage (pre-moulded and packaged) new nurdles are not toxic to touch.  Once released into the marine environment they will, over time, attract and concentrate harmful substance and background pollutants like DDT and PCB`s to high toxic levels.  These substances come  from land-based pesticides, herbicides and other organic pollutants that end up in the ocean.  Nurdles never go away, but they break down into smaller and smaller particles that then gets eaten by even more animals and so suddenly are part of people`s food.  

Because nurdles attract toxic substances, they can give scientists a very clear idea of the type of toxins found in the oceans.  Therefore - since there is no data for the northern West Coast of S A - Jacobus, as part of the nurdle project, must search for and collect older nurdles, wrap them in foil to prevent contamination and send it to Dr Hideshige Takada (Laboratory of Organic Geochemistry, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, Fuchu, Tokyo) where it will be used in Dr Takada's Global Pollution research. http://www.pelletwatch.org/ 

The thing that makes the nurdle problem even more catastrophic, is the fact that nurdles are very, very lightweight and these “mermaids' tears” are carried by the winds and currents of the world, till they are spread around in each and every corner of our planet.  No wonder everybody is concerned. It makes the West Coast and in particular the part of the unpopulated Northern Cape the ideal testing ground. These nurdles would not be locally manufactured and thus will be a very accurate indicator of how far this cancer has spread already...

Find attached Dr Sluka's assignment for Jacobus, for those interested:

It is, of course, possible that there aren't any nurdles in that area. Negative data (not seeing any, while looking for them) would be important scientific information. It does matter where you look on the beach. They are almost exclusively found at the high tide strand line, so that line of algae and debris that accumulates at the high tide mark of the beach. So if you look elsewhere, you don't see any. 

The method is very simple.

1) locate the high tide mark and strand line and identify the location, date, and any other observations that might impact the state of the beach. For example, in some places they regularly clean the beaches, so that would impact how much you see. I doubt that will be the case where Jacobus will be walking! But if there was obviously a very large storm a few days previous, that would be good to note. The FIDRA site asks for "Where did you gather most nurdles? Was it a sandy, rocky or pebbly beach? What were the conditions like? Had there been very high tides, strong winds etc."

2) have a watch/phone to mark the time and start looking, going slowly along the strand line, picking up algae, etc and looking. Sometimes styrofoam balls look like nurdles, so if you squeeze them, you can easily tell if they are plastic or not.

3) search for a pre-determined time. I would suggest 15 minutes as it is long enough, but not too long that it gets dull.

4) Count the nurdles that you see. If it is possible, you can collect them and then take a picture at the end. That can be uploaded and then later we could do some basic looking at whether the type, colour, etc of nurdles changes through the walk. You don't need to keep the nurdles.

You can see the upload page where we will eventually upload and report the data here: https://www.nurdlehunt.org.uk/take-part/share-your-findings.html

Regards
Bob

https://www.fidra.org.uk/