Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Roedtan (J 6)

Name: Roedtan

Roedtan, a village in the Limpopo Province, South Africa

Roedtan is a small town in the Limpopo province, South Africa. The surrounding area is known as the Springbok Flats, a reminder of the great herds of Springbok that once populated the plain. These plains were also frequented by lions and other wild animals. With the arrival of advanced agriculture and farmers with their domesticated herds in the 19th century, the nature of the flats changed permanently as the habitat was put to agricultural use. Slowly the open grasslands were either cultivated or invaded by acacia species, resulting in the thorn bush which is seen here today.

Towns and Cities near Roedtan
Vlakte - 6km;
Naboomspruit - 46km;
Potgietersrus - 53km;
Marble Hall -54km.
Roedtan has a rail road station 85 km (53 miles) from Pietersburg (Polokwane). At the road junction to Roedtan stands a monument to the battle of Moordrift in 1854 when 33 Afrikaners were killed in a skirmish with the local tribe headed by Makapan. The cave, Makapansgat, is now known to record early hominid occupation (1,500,000 years ago) and is a national monument.

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It was one of our newest and most enthusiastic pilots, Hill van Schalkwyk, who volunteered to fly for the survey of white backed vultures requested by Joseph Heymans of the Department of Economic Development & Environment, of the Limpopo Provincial Government. This is the report written by Hill:

"We did not exactly know what to expect from the survey as neither Mr Joseph Heymans nor myself had ever done a survey of this nature. Although it was obviously done before we had to plan it to the best of our individual experiences. The aircraft we used is a C182 , although Mr Heymans initially suggested a microlight for the survey. We logged some of the ground sightings into a GPS and set off from Nylstroom to the South East of Roedtan."

http://www.bateleurs.org/2008-Missions/vulture-nest-survey-roedtan.html

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