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Grootvadersbosch Nature Reserve
Grootvadersbosch is a historic farm in the Overberg, and the surrounding area is currently a nature reserve in the southern portion of the Boosmansbos Wilderness Area, in Western Cape, South Africa. Location Grootvadersbosch is in the foothills of the Langeberg, east of Oude Post and the Tradouw Pass to Barrydale and north of the gravel road from Swellendam over the Buffeljags River to Suurbraak and Heidelberg. Both the Slang River (not the one in Mpumalanga) and the Duiwenhoks River spring from the region. Nature reserve Grootvadersbosch is the largest remaining native forest in the Langeberg. Both a foot trail and a mountain bike trail have been developed in the reserve. Animal life The Cape bushbuck was first seen by European scientists in this forest in 1776, when the Swede Anders Sparrman visited. After searching for more than 50 years, herpetologist John D. Visser finally found eggs of the frog species known as the Eastern ghost frog (''Heleophyryne orientalis'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Overberg
__NOTOC__ Overberg is a region in South Africa to the east of Cape Town beyond the Hottentots-Holland mountains. It lies along the Western Cape Province's south coast between the Cape Peninsula and the region known as the Garden Route in the east. The boundaries of the Overberg are the Hottentots-Holland mountains in the West; the Riviersonderend Mountains, part of the Cape Fold Belt, in the North; the Atlantic and Indian Oceans in the South and the Breede River in the East. The area has always been considered as the breadbasket of the Cape and is largely given to grain farming — mainly wheat. The wheat fields are a major breeding ground for South Africa's national bird, the blue crane. Another important crop in the Overberg is fruit, with the Elgin Valley producing about 60 percent of the total annual apple crop of about 819 000 tonnes (2012 data). Nestled in the Overberg, one can find the Kogelberg Biosphere Reserve (recognised and registered with UNESCO) populated wi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cape Bushbuck
The Cape bushbuck (''Tragelaphus sylvaticus'') is a common and a widespread species of antelope in sub-Saharan Africa.Wronski T, Moodley Y. (2009)Bushbuck, harnessed antelope or both? ''Gnusletter'', 28(1):18-19. Bushbuck are found in a wide range of habitats, such as rain forests, montane forests, forest-savanna mosaic, savanna, bushveld, and woodland. Bushbuck stand about at the shoulder and weigh from . They are generally solitary, territorial browsers. Taxonomy The taxonomy of bushbuck, and of the Tragelaphini tribe in general, has been contested. Bushbuck have been fractured into over 40 subspecies in the past. mtDNA profiles of a large number of samples were resolved in 2009 as belonging to 19 groups, some corresponding to previously described subspecies, while others were previously unrecognised and remained unnamed. These groups were then organised into two taxa - a nominate northern subspecies (''T. s. scriptus'') and a southern subspecies ''T. s. sylvaticus''. In the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fruit
In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particular have long propagated using the movements of humans and animals in a symbiotic relationship that is the means for seed dispersal for the one group and nutrition for the other; in fact, humans and many animals have become dependent on fruits as a source of food. Consequently, fruits account for a substantial fraction of the world's agricultural output, and some (such as the apple and the pomegranate) have acquired extensive cultural and symbolic meanings. In common language usage, "fruit" normally means the seed-associated fleshy structures (or produce) of plants that typically are sweet or sour and edible in the raw state, such as apples, bananas, grapes, lemons, oranges, and strawberries. In botanical usage, the term "fruit" also i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wheat
Wheat is a grass widely cultivated for its seed, a cereal grain that is a worldwide staple food. The many species of wheat together make up the genus ''Triticum'' ; the most widely grown is common wheat (''T. aestivum''). The archaeological record suggests that wheat was first cultivated in the regions of the Fertile Crescent around 9600 BCE. Botanically, the wheat kernel is a type of fruit called a caryopsis. Wheat is grown on more land area than any other food crop (, 2014). World trade in wheat is greater than for all other crops combined. In 2020, world production of wheat was , making it the second most-produced cereal after maize. Since 1960, world production of wheat and other grain crops has tripled and is expected to grow further through the middle of the 21st century. Global demand for wheat is increasing due to the unique viscoelastic and adhesive properties of gluten proteins, which facilitate the production of processed foods, whose consumption is inc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wood
Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulose fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin that resists compression. Wood is sometimes defined as only the secondary xylem in the stems of trees, or it is defined more broadly to include the same type of tissue elsewhere such as in the roots of trees or shrubs. In a living tree it performs a support function, enabling woody plants to grow large or to stand up by themselves. It also conveys water and nutrients between the leaves, other growing tissues, and the roots. Wood may also refer to other plant materials with comparable properties, and to material engineered from wood, or woodchips or fiber. Wood has been used for thousands of years for fuel, as a construction material, for making tools and weapons, furniture and paper. More recently it emerged as a feedstock for the productio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Southern Africa
Southern Africa is the southernmost subregion of the African continent, south of the Congo and Tanzania. The physical location is the large part of Africa to the south of the extensive Congo River basin. Southern Africa is home to a number of river systems; the Zambezi River being the most prominent. The Zambezi flows from the northwest corner of Zambia and western Angola to the Indian Ocean on the coast of Mozambique. Along the way, the Zambezi River flows over the mighty Victoria Falls on the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe. Victoria Falls is one of the largest waterfalls in the world and a major tourist attraction for the region. Southern Africa includes both subtropical and temperate climates, with the Tropic of Capricorn running through the middle of the region, dividing it into its subtropical and temperate halves. Countries commonly included in Southern Africa include Angola, Botswana, the Comoros, Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namib ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Benjamin Moodie
Captain Benjamin Moodie (1789 - 2 April 1856) was the 10th Laird of Melsetter who led a party of 200 Scottish immigrants to the Cape Colony in 1817, three years before the arrival of the 1820 Settlers. Moodie served in the Ross and Caithness Militia and returned from the Napoleonic wars in 1815 as a half-pay officer, and was forced to sell the heavily indebted family estate in the Orkney Islands. In 1817 he led a party of indentured Scottish artisans to settle in the Cape Colony. The first party arrived in Cape Town on 14 June 1817 on the ship ''Brilliant'', followed by a further 50 on the ''Garland'' on 23 August 1817, and a third party on the ''Clyde'' on 24 September 1817. Among the party was David Hume, who became an explorer and big-game hunter, and his brother Donald Moodie. A second brother, John Moodie, joined him in South Africa in 1819. Benjamin Moodie settled on the farm Groot Vaders Bosch near Swellendam and later at White Sands, now known as Witsand, at the mouth of th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hendrik Swellengrebel
Hendrik Swellengrebel (Cape Town, 20 September 1700 – Utrecht, 26 December 1760) was the first and only Dutch East India Company governor of the Dutch Cape Colony who was born in the Cape. Life Swellengrebel was governor from 14 April 1739 to 27 February 1751. In his time, new districts were added to the colony. The town of Swellendam in the Western Cape is named after him and his wife Helena Wilhelmina ten Damme. In 1751 he was succeeded as governor by Ryk Tulbagh. Upon return to the Netherlands, he bought the land now known as the ''Kaapse Bossen'' (Cape Forests) in Utrecht. References {{DEFAULTSORT:Swellengrebel, Hendrik 1700 births 1760 deaths 18th-century Dutch people 18th-century South African people 18th-century Dutch colonial governors Governors of the Dutch Cape Colony Politicians from Cape Town ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dutch Cape Colony
The Cape Colony ( nl, Kaapkolonie) was a Dutch United East India Company (VOC) colony in Southern Africa, centered on the Cape of Good Hope, from where it derived its name. The original colony and its successive states that the colony was incorporated into occupied much of modern South Africa. Between 1652 and 1691 it was a Commandment, and between 1691 and 1795 a Governorate of the United East India Company (VOC). Jan van Riebeeck established the colony as a re-supply and layover port for vessels of the VOC trading with Asia. The Cape came under VOC rule from 1652 to 1795 and from 1803 to 1806 was ruled by the Batavian Republic. Much to the dismay of the shareholders of the VOC, who focused primarily on making profits from the Asian trade, the colony rapidly expanded into a settler colony in the years after its founding. As the only permanent settlement of the Dutch United East India Company not serving as a trading post, it proved an ideal retirement place for employees ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Trekboer
The Trekboers ( af, Trekboere) were nomadic pastoralists descended from European settlers on the frontiers of the Dutch Cape Colony in Southern Africa. The Trekboers began migrating into the interior from the areas surrounding what is now Cape Town, such as Paarl (settled from 1688), Stellenbosch (founded in 1679), and Franschhoek (settled from 1688), during the late 17th century and throughout the 18th century. The Trekboer includes mixed-race families of partial Khoikoi descent that had also become established within the economic class of burghers. Origins The Trekboers were seminomadic pastoralists, subsistence farmers who began trekking both northwards and eastwards into the interior to find better pastures/farmlands for their livestock to graze, as well as to escape the autocratic rule of the Dutch East India Company (or VOC), which administered the Cape. They believed the VOC was tainted with corruption and not concerned with the interests of the free burghers, the soci ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dutch East India Company
The United East India Company ( nl, Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, the VOC) was a chartered company established on the 20th March 1602 by the States General of the Netherlands amalgamating existing companies into the first joint-stock company in the world, granting it a 21-year monopoly to carry out trade activities in Asia. Shares in the company could be bought by any resident of the United Provinces and then subsequently bought and sold in open-air secondary markets (one of which became the Amsterdam Stock Exchange). It is sometimes considered to have been the first multinational corporation. It was a powerful company, possessing quasi-governmental powers, including the ability to wage war, imprison and execute convicts, negotiate treaties, strike its own coins, and establish colonies. They are also known for their international slave trade. Statistically, the VOC eclipsed all of its rivals in the Asia trade. Between 1602 and 1796 the VOC sent almost a million Eur ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eastern Ghost Frog
The eastern ghost frog (''Heleophryne orientalis'') is a species of frog in the family Heleophrynidae. It is endemic to Western Cape Province, South Africa. Its natural habitats are forest patches surrounded by mountain fynbos heathland. Adult frogs live near slow- to swift flowing perennial mountain streams in isolated canyons. They are typical sit-and-wait predators which hunt at night near to the splash zone of the mountain streams. Breeding takes place in fast-flowing, perennial streams. Clutches of 120–190 eggs are laid extra aquatic under moss-covered rocks. Their tadpole A tadpole is the larval stage in the biological life cycle of an amphibian. Most tadpoles are fully aquatic, though some species of amphibians have tadpoles that are terrestrial. Tadpoles have some fish-like features that may not be found i ...s take two years to complete their development and possess unique larval features such as the appearance of both the admandibular and the adrostral cartil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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