Alien
Party
The
weekend of the 10th till the 11th of March 2012, the students of the
PRESENCE Learning village went to the Baviaanskloof to participate in
the FOBWA hack. Alien clearing at Rooihoek. Literally translated
Rooihoek means ‘Red corner’, and that is exactly what it looks
like. Majestic red coloured mountains, folded in a corner around the
river bed. At the place where the Kouga and Baviaans river meet
(Kruisrivier). A beautiful place to camp, for nature lovers,
adventurers or people who are just searching for peace of mind….Or
not!? Although aliens make no sound, they definitely disturb!
The
alien clearing team, which already works for years in the
Baviaanskloof, did a great job in this area. About two years ago, the
whole river bed was still totally infested by alien vegetation. Now
we could actually see the river bed, and were mainly doing a
follow-up and tackling of some areas that hadn’t been reached yet.
We
started Saturday morning, clearing our enemies, which consisted
mainly of Sesbania, black wattle and few Port Jackson species.
Chainsaws make too much noise, so we chopped, sawed and sprayed, with
machetes, handsaws and loppers. All pure muscle power and fixed
minds. It was good that in our researches we had all experienced the
damage alien trees cause and what nuisances they are, so the
resulting aggression came in handy. We did use herbicides, otherwise
the alien vegetation will return as fast as they are chopped down.
Fortunately the herbicide we used is selective and won’t harm the
native vegetation or animals.
The
work was heavy and there were several encounters with hornets and the
possibility of an encounter with a puff adder or Buffalo. Jumping in
the river with all your cloths on during work, was necessary to cool
down every now and then. The mutual feeling of tackling problems
together, by taking immediate action was great. It was a nice change
for us after sitting behind our computers for days.
The
working atmosphere was very positive, but the weekend was not all
work. On the Saturday we returned from hacking in the late afternoon,
because it was getting buffalo time and we could smell them already.
That evening we gathered for a Braai and got to know each other a
little bit better. Which even resulted in teaching each other some
words in Afrikaans and Dutch. Not all words taught where completely
positive and polite words, but we had lots of fun. The rain disturbed
our evening and some of the students went on with the party in the
car, while some others went on a night drive spotting several animals
and being spotted by the buffalos, instead of the other way around.
The
other hackers were fully equipped with tables, chairs and other
luxuries, like you have at home. They laughed at our tents, because
they were so small, that we would never all fit in them. Three people
ended up sleeping in the car.
Next
morning we had an informative walk with Japie Buckle, explaining
interesting facts about the area and its formation. After which we
put all our energy into the last hours of clearing and finished
totally tired but satisfied with a dive in the clear, refreshing
water.
We are already looking forward to the next FOBWA hack!