It has been quite a while since you have had a regular newsletter from us and I do apologize but things have been hectic.  However, while the office has been reeling under Africa MegaFlyover pressure, our stalwart Bateleur pilots have done us proud again and we have 9 "local missions" to report on. We need to catch up.  As many of these missions were flown for TV conservation programmes and thus only videos taken, we don't have many pictures for you now.  But we will shortly be bringing you a full report on the launch of the Megaflyover and an update on Mike and Peter's progress so far - and that will have quite a few fun visuals as well as acknowledgments.

I would nevertheless like to take this opportunity to thank every one of you who has contributed to the gigantic Africa MegaFlyover project in one way or another.  We have literally hundreds of people to thank for their generous sharing of knowledge, resources, time, facilities and so on and on...no matter how much or how little. It was just the sheer willingness of everyone to help that all of us working on the project, including Mike Fay and Peter Ragg, found so overwhelming.  I think that this is what makes The Bateleurs so special.  Our members are unstinting in giving of themselves, their talent, time, expertise and knowledge, aircraft and hospitality. 
THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH.
Fly Safely
Nora

A mission that took a huge amount of organizing and dedication was the De Hoop Game Count which our sterling Prof. Jan Coetzee “managed” in every sense of the word. He and his wonderful wife, Elzabe, towed their microlight all the way from Gauteng to De Hoop Nature Reserve (near Cape Agulhas), as did Gerrie Haasbroek and Peter Vosloo who towed not only his own trike but David Levy’s as well.  The fifth Microlight team member was Herman Marincowitz from Oudtshoorn who had just recently joined up as a Bateleur.
Not many people realize the amount of time and energy the preparation of a count like this takes, let alone the traveling and flying, so I would like to show you just how Jan went about this mission – a true professional (no pun intended).  Some of Jan’s emails follow:

The Bateleurs received a flight request to fly over the Walter Sisulu Botanical Gardens to film the urbanisation and development taking place in the vicinity of a nesting pair of Black Eagles.

Graham Wallington of 50/50 wrote, "We flew from Crosswinds airfield in Tarlton shortly after dawn on Saturday the 9th May 2004.  Our objective was primarily to film the urbanisation and development that is taking place in the vicinity of a pair of Black Eagles that live at the Walter Sisulu Botanical Gardens in Roodepoort. 

We flew in two microlights piloted by Tony Venables and Jaco Britz along the northern slope of the Roodekrans Ridge.  We filmed the developments along the Crocodile River and up into the botanical gardens.  We spent several minutes making a few circuits of this area before heading off to the Magaliesberg.  After a short flight, during which we filmed a few hot-air balloons floating around the Swartkoppies, we arrived above the Tonquani Gorge just south of Buffelspoort Dam.  It is at the northern tip of this gorge that we filmed the territory and eyrie of another pair of Black Eagles, which are not threatened by over-development.  Again we made several passes before making a leisurely trip back to the Crosswinds airfield. 

It was a great day for flying.  The lack of wind and the lowish temperatures made for a very stable flight, perfect for aerial photography.  We are very grateful to the pilots for their enthusiasm and skill as pilots not to mention their volunteering their time and aircraft. Additionally we are extremely grateful to The Bateleurs for the support that was kindly provided to this production."

The newly formed butterfly valley conservancy is lobbying for the protection of the Mvutshini Valley, a green wedge of largely indigenous vegetation on the heavily developed Hibiscus Coast.  Now two rare butterflies have been discovered in the Little Ibilanholo Valley and the Mvutshini Valley along the Little Ibilanholo River around the little town of Ramsgate on the South Coast of KwaZulu Natal.

And this home to the Ramsgate Piper is up for development.

The Bateleurs were approached and Steve McCurrach volunteered to take a cameraman up in his microlight to get footage for a 50/50 programme which was shown on Sunday 25 June 2004.

Producer Andre Walters had this advice for us, "Having got back to Margate after having found and filmed the valley we discovered that either Steve's cell phone or the craft's radio caused serious interference on the video tape, making the shots totally unusable and we had to go back with special permission to switch the radio (and the remaining cell phone - mine was dropped overboard during the first flight!) off for short periods of time to allow us to shoot.  This time all was Ok.  Thank heavens we checked before I said goodbye to Steve.  Your might bear this in mind for future flights - I used a Sony DP 150 DVCam camera.  This info might be relevant for other camera operators in future.  Steve was marvellous.  Will fly with him anytime!"

Andre wrote,  "Thank you once again for this really useful and marvellous service.  You should know that you may have made a meaningful contribution to the survival of not only the Ramsgate Piper butterfly but also the many other rare species that live in that unique little valley."

A MSc student at the University of Kwa Zulu-Natal requested flight over Hlambamasoka Farm, Wartburg in order to carry out a census which would assist her in researching the feasibility of reintroducing captive-bred Oribi back into the wild.  Once approval was received from The Bateleur Executive Committee the mission was arranged for 3 April 2004.

Three Bateleur microlight pilots Steve McCurrach, Harry Antel and Craig Jones, two students, and the landowner took off in search of the Oribi, but to no avail.

The student wrote, "I recently had the pleasure of experiencing the services your organization has to offer, and I just wanted to write a formal letter of thanks.  Your pilots were extremely helpful and patient when it came to organising the aerial census I requested to search for Oribi considering I have no prior experience with microlights or censusing!!  Unfortunately, we never did find an Oribi, but I had a fantastic time and value the unique opportunity you gave me." which Nora found rather amusing but on enquiring further learnt that the fact that there were no territorial Oribi in the area made the reintroduction programme both more necessary and more viable.  So indeed it was a worthwhile conservation exercise.