Solar Flares
You wake up in the morning to a silent house. No electricity. No water. No radio or TV news of what has happened. No cellphone communication. No telephone of any sort. Your electric gate is stuck and security system has stopped working. You cannot draw money from the ATM and your credit cards are useless. The only money you have is what is in your pocket. Your bank records, pension records, insurance and investments have vanished into thin air. Possible?

Kobus Olekers of the Hermanus Magnetic Observatory believes that this is a very real possibility. A solar flare is a sudden, rapid and intense variation in brightness which occurs when magnetic energy that has built up in the solar atmosphere is suddenly released. According to scientists, solar storms are already pounding the earth and a large enough one could result in a planet-wide sterilisation of plants and animal life by deadly ultra-violet rays and a total destruction of all electric and electronic devices. We speak to Kobus about the possibility of a solar flare large enough to do this that could possibly hit earth next December. He will explain a day in the life of a post-solar-flared city would be.

South China Tigers
We last visited the Tiger Rewilding Ranch near Phillipolis in the Free State, shortly after the second pair of South China tigers were brought to South Africa. Since then the population has grown to 11 and so more than 10% of the planet’s South China Tigers are now found in South Africa. The original idea was to “rewild” the offspring and then return them to China to be released into specially created tiger reserves. None of the tigers have been returned to China as yet. We talk with Li Quan, founder of the Save China’s Tigers Foundation to establish why none of the tigers have been returned to China.

Namaqualand Daisies Beach Camp
During the flower season the Namaqua National Park is one of the prime places to see the spectacular display of flowers. It is situated within the Succulent Karoo Biome and is one of 34 internationally recognized biodiversity hotspots. The park is spread over 140 035ha with little infrastructure for tourism, apart from a few self-catering cottages and campsites. It is also currently undergoing an environmental recovery program after the extensive damage caused from diamond mining, overgrazing, illegal collection of flora and fauna and climate change. It is because of these factors that huge floods of tourists are not encouraged and only eco-tourism activities are allowed like mountain biking and hiking. The idea is to focus on the “flower season” mainly for tourists, and rather to create a temporary tented camp for people to come and enjoy the flowers and through their experience here they then discover the value and richness of this valuable stretch of coastline and thus support SanParks biodiversity agenda. SANPARKS together with “The Chief’s Camp” are offering this luxurious tented camp experience from 1 August to 30 September. The camp is located right on the beach and you fall asleep with the sound of crashing of waves whilst snug as a bug in beds that have electric blankets and you wake up to dolphins and whales frolicking in the waves. The food, attention to detail, friendly and comfortable facilities are outstanding. The journey of discovery when one is there encompasses a wealth of information about the area, seeing the damage from the diamond mines, seeing a 500 strong wild seal colony, discovering a cave rich in history, learning about the flora and fauna and the unique way that plants survive and depend on sea mist, shifting dunes, lichen etc. for survival, as well as seeing the Wild Guava which is an extremely rare plant of which there are only 13 species in the world and all of them within the Namaqua National Park. This leaves one with a deep feeling of appreciation for the immense value of this rich biodiverse stretch of land.

Volkswagen Handover for Rhinos
Volkswagen has recently joined the fight to protect Rhinos by donating six cars to the Wilderness Foundation. They recently handed over the vehicles at a press conference at the Johannesburg Zoo as an aid to the Rhino Protection Initiative. Volkswagen is dedicated to the responsible approach to environmental issues and as part of this is donating cars to environmental initiatives under the Blue Campaign. Conservation programmes all over South Africa will benefit from the new cars which will be used in proactive moves against poaching.

There's also a review of SANParks’ recently released book, The Arid Parks Captured Experiences.

VeldFokus focuses on the smaller critters …

Braam gets connected with the possibility of extinction of creatures in our lifetime …

Catch up with the winner in 2011’s Greening the Future Awards