Education is the Key

Although I have to say that I'm not a huge fan of Safari Parks, Zoos and establishments of this sort they do serve a very important purpose... education. Education is quite simply the key to any conservation efforts, if people are not informed about the environment and the impact of man on the environment then we will continue to decimate forests, plunder resources and push creature to extinction after all as the saying goes "ignorance is bliss".

I will be focusing on a couple of these establishments in my blog in the coming weeks as a feel they deserve a little bit of credit for what they are doing in our communities. The first of these establishments is the Bird Park at Monte Casino in Fourways, Johannesburg.
The bird park is conveniently situated at the entrance to Monte Casino itself and offers great security for those who are conscious of our burdening crime stats. Entrance is R32 for Adults and R18.50 for Pensioners & children under 10yrs, group rates are also available on request.

The Bird park house a large variety of bird species, Frogs, Spiders and various reptiles
Highlights of the bird park include
*The largest and most diverse private collection of African cycads in the world
*A collection of over 142 species of birds
*Montecasino Bird Gardens is home to over 1 000 birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians and other small creatures
*Flight of Fantasy (A breathtaking display of many birds in unrestrained flight during the course of an educational and entertaining 40-minute presentation).
The Flight of Fantasy should definitely not be missed by visitors

Gautrain causes the collapse of Oxford road

Gautrain is South Africa's first rapid rail link between Johannesburg, Pretoria and OR Tambo Int Airport. Yesterday part of the tunnel between Rosebank and Sandton colpased causing part of Oxford road is cave in.

Hockey Teams not black enough

Interesting article, essentially why play hockey if you are white and with every other sport begging you to play if you are black it seems hockey will soon be a game people used to play in South Africa... come on the golf course... thank god no one made a previously disadvantaged person play the last 3 holes for Trevor Immelman in the masters this year.



It's quite simple, when I have kids they will be playing Tennis, Golf and any other INDIVIDUAL sport they wish but I won't let them get their dreams shattered like the players of our National mens and womens hockey teams.



Hockey teams not black enough21/05/2008 17:55 - (SA)

Men's hockey team for China

Durban - Once again the spectre of sport transformation has reared its ugly head. And this time it is field hockey that is getting it in the neck.
With both South Africa's men and women's teams having qualified for the Beijing Olympics in August and given the go-ahead by the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Commitee (Sascoc) to attend, questions have been raised about the composition of the teams despite having being selected months ago.
According to South African Hockey Association president Dave Carr, his organisation had come to an agreement with Sascoc late last year that six players of colour out of a squad of 16 would be selected for both teams.
However, the sports portfolio committee, chaired by Butana Komphela, is insisting that there be a 50-50 representation.
Ironically, Komphela's committee is satisfied with six blacks representing the SA women's team but are insisting that the men have eight. Furthermore, the committee would like to see more Africans in that figure as opposed to Coloured and Indians.
Speaking at the women's interprovincial hockey tournament in Durban, Carr said that he did not quite understand the discrepancy in the ruling.
"The sports committee have given this recommendation to the sports minister and I am waiting for a letter from him to see what we do next."
Carr says it is completely disruptive for both teams' preparation for Beijing and especially so for the men.
"There is a squad of 18 men players already in Beijing," explained Carr.
"Now there is uncertainty amongst the players as to whether they will retain their selection."

A new beginning but it's the same old story

Right, so today is the first day of my new blog.

The whole idea of this blog was to be positive about South Africa and the whole African continent, however I made one fatal flaw in designing this blog. I add RSS news feeds from news24.com a local online news agency. Now it's not news24 that i made the mistake with but rather the news that's coming form SA. See as I look at the current set of headlines i can't find a single positive one, it's all doom and gloom. Which is a little upsetting because it's certainly not the case in a country that has the potential to be the shinning light in Africa and a major player on the world stage. It's not just these opportunities that make South Africa so great there's a million other good reasons; National Parks on my doorstep, great sports and sports teams, fantastic weather and wonderful natural beauty that few places in the world can match. I have been fortunate enough to travel to a number of other countries around the globe and believe me I've seen some amazing things but in terms of diversity we here in South Africa have pretty much got it all and I'm yet to find a place that can match my home.

So to give you an idea as to what this blog will be focusing on is the issues and challenges that face us here in South Africa and I'm hoping to get some interesting feedback from readers in how we as a budding democracy can overcome these challenges.... so if you going to add anything here please feel free to be realist and level criticism but hey give us the solution.

Regards,
SouthAfrica2Day