Barrydale Online

Baboons and humans are clashing all over the Western Cape. With their environment shrinking, the baboons are moving in to cities, towns and villages and they are becoming ever more comfortable with their urban environment and the easy pickings. A solution is elusive... there has been talk of moving our troop (+ 40 baboons) to Marloth Nature Reserve (Cape Nature) in Swellendam. When we contacted Adam Nel of Marloth Nature Reserve.....

Deon Claassen is known to most Barrydalers either because they pop into his bottle store in van Riebeeck Street for a bottle to lift the spirits or for his IT expertise. What many people don't realise is that "Sensei" Deon Claassen (3rd Dan) has been practicing Okinawan Goju Ryu Karate for 25 years and he has been giving Karate classes to Barrydalers for a long time, his students ranging in age from 6 to 60 years old. His endless patience and solid knowledge of his style are demonstrated by the many students who have won gold medals at Western Province and SA Championships

Some less well off students pay a token fee because...

Magpie does it again! Two of their chandeliers now hang in the White House. The designs "Magpie Princess-chandelier" and "Magpie Showgirl-chandelier" are made from recycled material. 

Die Burger

Article in The Times in English:

The Times

Award winning puppeteers Basil Jones and Adrian Kohler of Handspring Puppets have had their "getaway" cottage in Barrydale for the past 8 years though they are seldom able to take time away from their busy, globe-trotting schedule. When they are able to trek up to the Klein Karoo they try to kick back and enjoy some well deserved rest and relaxation.

'Warhorse' has broken all records for the most successful show in the histrory of The Royal National Theatre

Handspring Puppets has recently finished working on the successful production Warhorse in association with the Royal National Theatre in London. The play, based on the..

July is aloe month – the time when the winter-flowering aloes can be seen at their best throughout the country. It is therefore also a great time for the sunbirds and sugarbirds, the nectivorous birds that are specially adapted for the exploitation of this food source.  With their long curved beaks and extendable tubular tongues they are able to probe the aloe florets to extract the nectar prize that the plant offers to reward pollinators.  The common aloe in the Tradouw Pass (and some Barrydale gardens) is the Krantz Aloe -  Aloe arborensis.

Barrydale Hiking Trail links with the World Heritage site, Boosmansbos Wilderness, and also with the Grootvadersbosch Nature Reserve. In addition, it joins up with the local Waterfall Trail, which is now a pleasant 8 kilometre circular route starting at the Municipal Farmhouse.

There are several ways the walk into the Wilderness can be done. The distance from Barrydale to Grootvadersbosch is approximately 20 kilometres direct, and approximately 31 kilometres via the Helderfontein Huts. There are suitable overnight spots at the Campsite on the Barrydale side

Even as a schoolboy, when he came from England to South Africa,  Dr Terry Oatley was a keen birdwatcher.  He soon developed a passion for robins and has traveled widely in Africa to study the different species in their natural habitats. His book Robins of Africa, co-authored and beautifully illustrated by bird artist Graeme Arnott, was published in 1998.  He is a co-author of the large, revised edition of Roberts Birds of southern Africa and is widely known amongst birders for his regular popular feature in Africa – Birds & Birding.  His other interests include....

(Photo: Peter Takelo with, from left; Finando Hartley, Elvina Jool and Clivinia Bron)

"A superb Youth and Community worker... a real leader and role model to the children and young people of Barrydale" . This quote from an EDSA (Education for Democracy in South Africa) monitoring report on the Net Vir Pret Project in Barrydale sums up their high opinion of Peter Takelo....

The Spekboom Carbon and Poverty Alleviation Project

A group of local Barrydale residents, under the leadership of Pierre Janssens have started a project to plant Spekboom (Portulacaria afra) trees.

These trees grow naturally in the arid areas of the Eastern and Western Cape, and have been shown by scientists to have remarkable rates of carbon sequestration (> 4 tons of CO₂ / year / hectare); exceeding those of tropical rainforests. The trees are beautiful, drought-resistant and easily propagated from cuttings...

(Left: Professor Minter with a sculpture of a frog face by local artist Beate Schubert-Huck)

Although Professor Les Minter and his wife Jean are not exactly brand new Barrydalers they finally settled in Barrydale last month after a four years of shuttling back and forth from Polokwane. Professor Minter is widely recognised as an authority on southern African frogs,  particularly rain frogs and he has discovered two new Breviceps species in KwaZula Natal, B. sopranus and B. bagginsi.