FRIENDS OF THE PILANSBERG
Ruighoek Rebuild 2024
At the beginning of July we started demolishing the Ruighoek Hide. No fear, we are building a new one. 3 work parties later and the hide is completely demolished. We have a team up 23-25 August to begin the work on the new foundations. Other than our normal work parties, we will host a special work party each month purely to work on the hide. We have to work quickly before the summer rains come. Although the hide is closed, the toilets are still operational and we have opened up one of the viewpoints so that you can still see what's happening in the dam. As of the beginning of August there is a tiny baby hippo there. Please remain in your vehicles at the viewpoint.
Potokwane Camp Challenges
In less than a year we have had some huge challenges in camp. In August of last year we painted our tents in camp. During the September Mahale Week a huge fire started in the Fish Eagle Picnic spot which very quickly spread to the Manyane Camp area of the park. On its way it hit our camp not only taking out our tents, but also taking out our water tower. It was all systems go get a new one up before the next work party but in true Green Army fashion it happened. Then this year, in May, we had some members of the Dendrological Society of South Africa come into camp for a weekend and help us label a number of the beautiful trees we had left in camp after the fire. It was a great weekend with lots learnt whilst spending time with some lovely new people of which one or two have now become Fops members. Somebody else however also loved our trees and just before our June work party an elephant broke down our electric fence to get to some of those trees. So our fence was properly repaired during the June work Party. However, between our June and July work party that said elephant decided to invite his family to the tree eating party and they made an absolute mess of our camp not only breaking the fence again and breaking down trees, but also digging up trees. The lower section of our camp looked like the moon with all it's craters. So the July work party our team had to spend an immense amount of time in camp cleaning up the chaos. At our August work party all was good (other than still doing some cleaning up) so let it commence like that for months to come.
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Malatse Bridge Project
At the end of 2022, we began the task of building a new bridge at Malatse Hide. I'm sure you'd agree that the old bridge was very rickety. A new bridge is quite a project with huge amounts of work being done on site, in camp and at some of our homes. But I'm sure you'd agree that it's quite a stunning piece of work. There's still a few bits and pieces to be done and we will be doing some work on the hide after which we will have an official opening.
Annual AGM 2023
On Saturday 18 November 2023 we held our annual AGM. It was set a couple of weeks later than usual due to the fact that some of our team were assisting with the PWT Cycle Challenge on the weekend that we normally hold our AGM.
The AGM was well attended and informative.
We had 2 new positions up for election which were Work Part Co-Ordinator due to the fact that we lost our Paddyo in August, and Work Party 2IC.
The Work Party Co-Ordinator position only had one nomination being that of Roland White. Since Paddy took ill, Roland had stepped into that position and had done a sterling job which was evident when it came to the votes.
The position of Work Party 2IC received 4 nominations being Johan Kleynhans, John Livock, Ken Loveland and Pieter Swanepoel. All 4 got up and said their little "campaign speech" and then left the room for us to vote. The outcome was that Pieter Swanepoel would step into the position of Work-Party 2IC.
Congrats to all involved.
Here's to another successful FOPS year.
Work Party Co-Ordinator
Roland White
Work Party 2IC
Pieter Swanepoel
September 2023
In August and September the park experienced bush fires galore. They happened over separate occasions with the most devasting occurring during the parks Mahala Week.
It's reported that a braai was lit at Fish Eagle Picnic Site and was not extinguished despite signage that under no circumstances should fires be lit. This irresponsible behaviour resulted in extreme damage to the park, distress and danger to animals and humans, and hundreds of thousands of rands worth of structural damage. Thank you to all of those that put their lives on the line to fight this fire. At this time of year conditions for fighting fires is at its worst with brittle grass and windy conditions.
Fish Eagle picnic site was destroyed, 29 chalets at Manyane were destroyed and Bosele Gate (the entrance gate at Manyane) was destroyed and our Iron Age Site was severely damaged. Potokwane Camp which is used by a number of the volunteer organisations within the park and by educational and research teams, lost its' water tank and 9 tents.
Work was underway within 24 hours after the fires were out to clean up and start repairs. Bosele Gate is not functional as it was but you can still enter the park at this gate. You now collect your permit at the old Visitors Centre.
August 2023
Workparty
On Thursday 3 August 2023, we lost our leader. Paddy, to say you will be missed is an understatement. You touched so many lives in so many ways. Nobody has the knowledge or ability to share it like you did. You have been referred to fondly as “our walking library”. Our morning work party wake ups nor talks will ever be the same (We all know what you’ll do with the cigarette butts and the toilet roll inners). You are a huge loss to Fops and all of those involved in the park. Our condolences to Lindy and the family.
Quite a few Lion Lagers were drank in his honour. We paid tribute to him at Diggers Rugby Club which was hugely supported - Paddy you were loved by many. At our September work party we also had a tree planting ceremony and scattered Paddy's ashes. The afternoon was spent with many of his parks board friends.
December 2022
Workparty
Our December work party is traditionally our Christmas party and traditionally it rains. For the first time in many years that we can remember, we did not get a drop of rain. We also changed tradition a little in that we had different potjes instead of our traditional meat on the spit. Our party with our Fops family was awesome.
In terms of work, you’ll notice some progress on Malatse Bridge. We had a 2 big teams going out to clear some alien vegetation with one of the teams taking quite a hike to destroy a jacaranda tree. Some road clearing was also done and the team that was in camp cooking the potjes also did some tidying up in camp including some grass cutting.
Fops would like to wish everyone a safe and happy Christmas and a prosperous new year.
See you in 2023
November 2022
Workparty
We absolutely love this time of year in the bush. Summer has arrived! The summer insects have also arrived with the dung beetles going crazy amongst other interesting little critters.
Our weekend was that of appreciation and birthday celebrations. Appreciation to Selly Park Secondary School for their input to Fops and particularly the Iron Age Site. Principal Heidi Louw was presented with a certificate. Then 3 birthday celebrations from Friday to a Sunday - John Pitchford, Debbi and John Livock in that order.
Saturday morning started off misty but the most was soon lifted and it turned out to be a hot an humid day. A huge amount of work was done again:
Selly Park and some of our work party members took on the Iron Age Site with force.
Some work was done at the HO headquarters.
New signage is going up on the G sites. You may have noticed it.
A new footbridge is being erected at Malatse Dam. This is quite a project and will take us a few months.
And then some much needed road clearing was done.
Thank you to all concerned once again.
Our next work party is our annual Christmas party. Don’t forget to bring all your festive decor
October work party was a hottie but it didn’t stop the green army from working.
Toilets at Mokorwane were improved, Iron Age Site was worked on, the last little bits on the G sites were completed, road clearing was done, some work on the tents in camp was undertaken ahead of the cycle race and some “potholes” on Tau were repaired.
We had 3 snakes in camp and ellie sightings in an abundance.
See you all in the park this coming weekend
October 2022
Workparty
September 2022
Workparty
We celebrated, some climbed mountains, one of us took aerial photos of the park, but we all worked hard and had great fun doing it with the most fabulous people. It was a great start to spring with amazing weather - 31 degrees on work party Saturday - and an extra hour in the park each day with gate times having changed.
Thank you to Ken, Lindy and Trevor for the birthday cakes. Happy belated birthdays to you all. Then Roelien celebrated a milestone birthday on Thursday and treated us all to the most delicious wors rolls and brownies on Friday night. Thank you so much and congratulations.
Tasks attended to:
Cutting of grass in camp. The risk of fires is huge at this time of year.
The Iron Age Site - please take a look at our aerial photos of the site and see how great it’s looking
Completion of the Geological sites. We’re sure visitors to the park have noticed the difference. We just need to work on the numbering and signage now.
A small team went to Tamboti to attend to grass cutting and other tasks.
The floor at Batlhako Hide was completed as well as repairs to the fence and some grass cutting.
Two road clearing teams went out and attended to some much needed work. Also, part of the team from Batlhako assisted once their work at the hide was done.
One Queen of the Night was taken out on Tswene on Saturday and another on Tshukudu e Ntsho on Sunday.
Thank you Fops family for all the work.
See you all again 7-9 October 2022
