The Directors of The Bateleurs, and Joan and I in our head office, wish you all safe flying and driving over the holiday season.  May your Christmas be joyous and 2008 be a good year for all, and a better year for our planet.  To our wonderful and willing pilots who fly for the cause,  THANK  YOU!  THANK  YOU!  You do us proud.

The Bateleurs have flown more than 70 missions this year!  And although the vast majority were flown within South Africa, in this Newsletter we also report on three cross-border missions which endorse our name:  The Bateleurs - Flying for the Environment in Africa.  We flew for Peace Parks in Zambia, for the Gorongosa National Park in Mozambique, and for the Namibia Nature Foundation's Wild Dog Project in the Tsumkwe district of Namibia. Paul Dutton's contribution to this Newsletter, his report on his work and flying in Gorongosa, is a 'must read'.  What we haven't reported on here are the 15 missions we flew for Working for Wetlands.  These have been brilliantly described and woven into a special edition Bateleurs Newsletter by Working for Water's Public Relations Officer, environmental journalist Rehana Dada, which we will distribute in mid-January 2008.  Mid January is also the time when work on our offices at the Zoo will resume.  Unfortunately a number of unforeseen circumstances have caused quite a delay in progress - but it will happen. As will the mission to take ten spotted hyena from Madikwe to Gorongsa. After almost two weeks of mad rush to build bomas, catch the hyena (see photo), find pilots and suitable aircraft – 3,  and vets – 3 , and, not least, attend to all the permits, passports and other paperwork required - Gorongosa is under water with more rain promised, including an  81% probability of rain in Beira on the scheduled date for this mission. With everything having just fallen into place, largely due to the enthusiasm and commitment from everyone involved - we had to pull the mission.  So cheers to 2008 - there is much to look forward to.

From the left:   Declan Hofmeyr, Carmen and Magda Goosen, delighted that their late nights of capturing hyena at Madikwe were done, and that they could now hand over their charges to The Bateleurs, temporarily, and then to Gorongosa National Park, permanently.  But heavy rains in Gorongosa changed all these plans. 

This photograph illustrates just how much rain had fallen at Gorongosa in the week prior to our scheduled flight. 

The Directors of The Bateleurs had a meeting with Prof. Willem van Riet and Craig Beech of the Peace Parks Foundation (PPF) who were interested to see whether a 'bunch of hobbyists' would be able to assist them with aerial surveys. Following our meeting they submitted a Flight Request form which read:

What regions are to be covered?  Please be specific
Sioma Ngwezi National Park, Western Province, Zambia
Survey area = 6,812 km2
Description of issues to be covered during the flight
a. Wildlife survey (sample count)
b. Land cover verification & classification (pilot study)
Require a high-wing aircraft with wing struts (the struts are needed to fit the wing strut markers).
What are your preferred dates for the flight?  Please list three dates in order of preference
01 October 2007 (duration +- 4 days)

Well, the answer to their question came with the completion, by the hobbyists, of both a Game Survey and a Land Cover Survey of the Sioma Ngwezi National Park, early in October 2007.

Three Bateleur pilots with Cessna 182 aircraft offered to fly this mission within a day of receiving the call for volunteers. Nico Louw from Namibia was the first to call in, then Chris Rattray from KZN, followed by Wouter van Ginkel from Gauteng.

The final team for the two surveys comprised:
1. Chris Rattray - The Bateleurs (pilot)
2.  Nico Louw - The Bateleurs (pilot)
3.  Wouter van Ginkel - The Bateleurs (backup pilot & observer)
4.  Andrew Nambota - PPF
5.  Craig Beech - PPF (data recorder / land cover coordinator)
6.  Petri Viljoen - Consultant/The Bateleurs (data recorder / game census co-ordinator)
7.  Marina Faber - PPF
8.  An observer from ZAWA

Being both a pilot and a consulting ecologist (and a Bateleur to boot) Petri Viljoen was contracted by PPF not only to arrange and supervise the mission, but also to evaluate and analyse the data that the survey flights provided. He made sure that the data was 'scientifically acceptable' by insisting that the aircraft doing the game count had wing struts in order to fit both a 'shadow meter' and also strip markers which are essential for the visual demarcation of the sample strips (see photo). 

This survey was not for the faint-hearted, but our pilots knew what to expect on receipt of one of Petri's early emails:

Royal Barotse Safaris/Mutemwa Lodge.
Mutemwa Airfield: S17.05469 E24.00253
Survey area: S16.910 - S17.640; E23.022 - E23.846
Approximate centre point of survey area: S17.284 E23.429
Approximate distance Mutemwa Airfield to survey area centre point: 68 km
Direct distance Mutemwa Lodge / Mutemwa Airfield 7.8 km
Actual survey time: about 17 hours (total combined strip distance about 3,260 km)
Local ferry flight distances (approximate total for the 6 survey sessions): 660 km (about 3.3 hours)
Strip calibration flight: 50 min

There is no doubt that participating in this survey was an experience of a life-time for our pilots.  They would all volunteer again, in a heartbeat, to repeat the mission. Here are some quotes from e-mails received after the mission:

From Dr Andrew Nambota to Petri - (Andrew is also the Technical Advisor for the Sioma-Ngwezi National Park as part of a co-management arrangement between ZAWA and PPF):
ˇˇ±Thank you so much for your mail. It was indeed a pleasure and honour to work with your very experienced team. You made the exercise look so simple and yet we all know how difficult it can be when not well planned. Thank you so much indeed and please convey my appreciation to the other team members. I cannot wait to receive the report and hope that it will assist us make future plans for the park. Best regards, Andrew."

From Petri to our pilots, Nico, Chris and Wouter: 
"I would like to thank you as well for your very dedicated hard work and patience during the planning and those long hours in the air which made the Sioma Ngwezi survey such a great success. I certainly look forward to undertaking more surveys with you all ˇK"

From Craig Beech, GIS Manager of PPF to the entire team and The Bateleurs:
"Many thanks to you all for a very productive last week in Zambia. We are extremely happy with the verification of the Land Cover Mapping, and certainly see value in making use of such surveys in the future. The identification of animal corridors surrounding the Park was also of great value and the estimation of villages in the region will assist with the planning and management of this park as part of the KAZA region. Again thank you to you all for your time and contribution."

This is the report from pilot Nico Louw to The Bateleurs:

"The Sioma survey is but one piece of a much bigger plan to create the biggest park in the world in the Angola/ Zambia/ Namibia/Botswana/Zimbabwe corner. All the countries have signed the master plan agreement. Maybe we won't see the final result in our lives, but hopefully my children will be able to visit this huge area which will be fully protected with conservancies in between. Let us hope this dream materialises. The total flying hours were just over 32, of which the ferry made out about 11 hours. As the observation flights were done at low speed, fuel consumption was around 40 ltr/hr. It was fun and I hope the small contribution the team made will eventually contribute to the birth of the Kavango-Zambia Trans Frontier Conservation Area. It was a real honour to meet great souls and to fly them around. I would do it again tomorrow."

It was a huge mission to put together so well done to the entire team!! And thanks to the owners and staff of The Royal Barotse Lodge for transport to and from the Mutemwa airfield.

We have a PDF copy of the full provisional planning document for the Sioma Ngwezi part of the Peace Parks survey project, prepared by Dr. Petri Viljoen.  If anyone would like a copy of this, please contact us at info@bateleurs.org .  

Flying for Wild Dogs in Tsumkwe, Namibia
By Nico Louw

"On 19 and 20 November 2007 I did three flights locating three packs of Wild Dogs in the Tsumkwe area in Namibia.

The project leader, manager, tyre repair man, cook and laundry man, Robin Lines, must be applauded for diligently working in impossible conditions to gather data on wild dogs - and Robin is passionate about them.

Working for a project sponsored by the Namibia Nature Foundation. Robin is gathering data on pack sizes, movements and diets of wild dogs.

The area has virtually no roads and the bush is thick.  By thick I mean 5m visibility with 30m the exception, and on top of that the area is flat and big, around 40,000 sq km. A pack of wild dogs covers an area of around 3500 sq km.

So even when a dog has a VHF collar, how do you locate it after a week, even if it has only moved 20km?  To drive 20km through the bush takes about five hours.  You need two spare wheels for every trip, plus a lot of patience. Without an aeroplane this work is virtually impossible.

On my Sioma (Zambia) trip, the guys had state of the art software, GPS real time positioning, etc. Robin has only VHF locating collars, one GPS collar, a 1987 Hi Ace, limited software, and a dart gun that, for me anyway, was a glorified windbuks.

On the positive side, Robin has a helper, Anna, a Zoologist from Columbia, and a dog, Sunny.  He also has friends like Dr Ingrid Wiesel from the Hyena Research Group in Luderitz, who flew with me to Tsumkwe.  Because she does similar work and feels strongly that scientists should work closely together, she came along purely to lend a hand, as she is the only one who has the equipment to download data from a GPS collar.

Robin recently obtained a receiver with antennae for aerial surveys, and this was the first time he did not have to hang out of an aircraft door with one hand holding the antenna. With the C182 and the new antennae and receiver, we located the three packs within two hours of flying, something that normally takes weeks. 

For me (I hate to say this) the experience was like a month's holiday.  The isolation, basic living and the company of three people who are genuinely champions for wildlife was heaven, compared to the city life of e-mails, cell calls, meetings, and so on. 

Interestingly all three, Robin (England), Ingrid (Germany) and Anna (Columbia) all come from very far away.  I wondered where the Namibians were.

In all we flew for ten hours (including the ferry) and it was nice to help and to see the expression on Kgha's face when we were flying just above the flat clouds at 10,000 feet.  (Kgha is a Bushman tracker.)  It was also good to polish my skills again, flying from really short runways. I hope to help them soon again.

PS:  Robin lives in a tent, no hot water, buys his meat from the local Bushmen, has no electricity (yes, some panels and batteries), spends his time fixing tyres, etc., has a 1987 car with nearly 500,000 kms on the clock, makes his own bread, and more.  If you want to support a really good cause, this is the most worthy one I have seen for a long time."

Ecologist and pilot Paul Dutton, wearing his Bateleurs cap, participated as usual in the wildlife survey of the Parque Nacional da Gorongosa, following which he submitted the following report with some stunning photographs:  

“Herewith Paul's epistle and images from my recent Bateleurs mission to Parque Nacional da Gorongosa (PNG) during October. For initial training of participants in the survey I flashed wildlife images onto a large screen for a matter of seconds, as is the case in real flight, having the participants estimate numbers and species. 
 
Carlos Bento is one of those exceptional individuals passionate about the natural environment. Dr Richard Beilfuss supervised his first research project on the Zambezi Delta's Wattled Cranes for his first BSc degree and he is now researching the role of Buffalo in grazing succession in Parque Nacional da Gorongosa. We used the Cub to track down some of his radio collared study animals.

From the left:  Paul Dutton (the pilot), Greg Carr, his executive director Joao Viseu, PR director Vasco Galante and his daughter with Spirit of the Wilderness on the Park's airstrip.
 

The objective:  Fly Spirit of the Wilderness ZS-DLI up to participate in wildlife surveys in PNG and training of potential participants in aerial and ground survey method as a Bateleurs mission in collaboration with the Mozambique wildlife authority and Greg Carr Foundation in the current rehabilitation process for the Park.
 
Spirit of the Wilderness has a long history flying in Mozambique's most famous and internationally acclaimed national park, situated in the climatically torrid Great Rift Valley inland of the Port City of Beira.  My first flight to the Park with Ann, my wife, in 1969 was to assist Ken Tinley with his magnum opus ecological framework for the Park which included the first wildlife air surveys ever done in Mozambique. With Ken Tinley in the Cub's middle seat and Warden Jose Tello in the space designated for luggage we navigated by means of an erratic compass along 80km survey lines across the Rift Valley, three hours every morning and afternoon, daily for a week.The wildlife in those days was abundant and diverse. After leaving the Natal Parks Board in 1972 I continued to do annual aerial surveys initially while working for the colonial government and later for the independent Frelimo government. The Park, because of its potential harbinger of meat to feed the feuding factions and tusks and horn to exchange for sting missiles,  became the epicenter of a debilitating war without victors that dragged on for nearly 20 years. It was during this time that I became embroiled in these conflicts which finally ended in 1993 when most of the Park's wildlife had been depleted. Spirit of the Wilderness was the last to flee from the Park in 1981 and the first to return to an airstrip that had to be first cleared of mines as well as the removal of a well developed savanna in 1994.  
 
Doing air surveys after the prolonged Armageddon conflict was very relaxing with very few animals to count but as the Park gained some normality wildlife started returning to the sanctuary offered by the Park albeit in small numbers each year. Wardens Baldeu Chande and Roberto Zolho were the first Mozambicans to implement an IUCN funded rehabilitation plan for the Park working under extremely dangerous and challenging conditions on miniscule budgets. Help came about five years ago when Greg Carr used his Foundation to invest in the rehabilitation of the Park. I was delighted to be included in his team, initially to provide historic and ecological data that Ken Tinley and I had accumulated over the years, and concurrently to train selected staff in ground and air surveys of wildlife. 

I spent this past October flying the vast open floodplains and woodland, seeing how the wildlife has proliferated in numbers and species. To hear lion once again near the main camp of Chitengo is indeed very rewarding after my 38 year association with this natural ecosystem without boundaries that will one day extend from Serra Gorongosa to the Zambezi mangrove Delta. Poaching has also proliferated which opens up potential opportunities for adventurous Bateleurs pilots to participate in future survey and surveillance flying missions. I learnt recently that the Tanzanian wildlife authority supports the use of microlight aircraft to carry out most of the anti-poaching forays into remote areas, (Dr Paul Ferguson of Friedkin Conservation Trust pers com 10 November 2007). 
 
My flight in the Cub from Durban International to Gorongosa with stops in Maputo, Pomene, Vilankulo and finally to Chitengo, took 11 hours of challenging flying over continuous closed canopy forest and vast mangrove Deltas. October is veldfire time in Mozambique, making ground and sky blend into one brown haze reminding me that I should have paid attention as a pupil pilot to keeping wings level and straight in near QBI conditions (not Quite Bloody Impossible but Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) compliance). Monsoon rains had just started to flood parts of the Park but with computers in Chitengo camp linked through Wireless, I was able to identify a two day weather window through which I could penetrate for my return to Durban International.  Otherwise I would still be up there swatting squadrons of mosquitoes. It was a Super Cub pilot's dream - having a 20-30 knot tail wind to impel me from Vilankulu to Maputo and homewards, but my short term euphoric state was soon replaced by having to battle a cold front with a lowering sky after passing Richard's Bay. Durban International for which I was destined in order to clear my cross-border flight ordered me to climb to 1000ft  to fit me into a busy sky when in fact the low ceiling had me pinned down to below the Bluff.  I think that the control tower recognized the quaver in my voice because he ordered me to expedite a short landing on runway 24 not many seconds before a scheduled heavy emerged from the rainy clouds to land - after I had taken the first available offramp. Although it's not considered protocol to use radio for chitchat the controller appreciated my heartfelt thanks for fitting me into his busy radar screen. 
 
One may well ask what spin off was accrued to The Bateleurs from my October 2007 visit to Gorongosa National Park.  I like to think that The Bateleurs participation in the rehabilitation process of one of Africa's prime conservation areas, in collaboration with Mozambique's wildlife authority and the Greg Carr Foundation, affirms our commitment to helping conserve Africa's rich but threatened natural treasures. Part of my participation on this occasion was providing training in aerial and ground surveying the Park's wildlife. For me personally it was a reward for the many years that Spirit of the Wilderness and its pilot enjoyed traversing the Greta Rift Valley sky over  Parque Nacional da Gorongosa.    
 
PS. Readers may wish to emulate the tests that I carried out with my students, to test their acuity for estimating the species and numbers of wildlife featured in the attachments for a maximum period of from 3 to 10 seconds. You might be lucky and apply for an opportunity to participate in aerial game surveys for the Park!  Happy flying!"
 

From the left:   Kate Henderson, David Weaver, Glenn Ramke and Dries Lategan (pilot). 
Dries Lategan responded to our request for a volunteer pilot to help Glenn Ramke of the South African Crane Working Group to look for Cranes and nests in the Free State.  Here are their accounts of the mission:

"Yesterday I flew Glenn Ramke from the SA Crane Working Group in the Harrismith-Verkykerskop area.  We managed to see some Blue Cranes and Bald Ibis, and enjoyed the magificent Nelsonˇ¦s Kop and Tandjiesberg from close up.  Kate Henderson and David Weaver from Harrismith joined us. Kate is busy with a study on the Southern Bald Ibis, and David is a local birder. 

P.S.    I met with Trevor Pike from Working for Wetlands yesterday.  I will fly him around the Qwaqwa area early in September 2007." 

While the following report from Glenn Ramke is long it is well worth reading - it shows her dedication and contains many interesting facts about cranes.

"Thanks again - on behalf of the Cranes.  Once again The Bateleurs came to my assistance when I requested yet another flight to look for cranes from the air.

My first experience with this great group was to fly over Wakkerstroom/Groenvlei, which was my immediate monitoring area last summer, looking for nests.  But as I have been trying to get to the Harrismith district a few times a year, this time the request was for a flight over that beautiful part of the eastern Free State to look for flocks during winter, together with a flight over Platrand, about 35 km south of Standerton.  This is another favoured place for large flocks of Blue cranes during winter. Greedy?  Hope not! My application for these flights gained a response from  Dries Lategan in Harrismith who flies a fixed wing aircraft, and also from Andreas Hohne who was prepared to fly his micro-light from Johannesburg to take me around the Standerton district.

A little background for the readers is that I am The Old Lady or, as I prefer and others call me, the "matriach" of the South African Crane Working Group (SACWG) which is a working project of the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT).  I have been involved with the SACWG for the past twelve years or so, in and around the Mpumalanga highveld and the eastern section of the Free State. The SACWG is a wonderful group of young and passionate people who are doing their very best to ensure that there will be a future for all  our cranes.

The Blue crane, as it stalks gracefully through the beautiful grasslands, Karoo or Cape regions, appears to know the importance of being the national bird of South Africa, with its elegant blue/grey feathered mantle and, light, proudly poised head on a long neck, with its wing feathers forming a long dark trailing ˇ§tailˇ¨. This bird is a near-endemic, which means it is found only in South Africa - although there is a small flock in Namibia and in the past a few have been seen in Zimbabwe.  Also, at one time before horrific poisoning  wiped them out, they were not uncommon in Swaziland. Now South Africa is the stronghold for these lovely and proud creatures.

Of course during the flights we also looked out for the other two species of cranes that can been found in SA but are actually African cranes, being widely spread in a few other countries on this continent, but in all cases, having to bear the consequences of the constant increase in human population.  This results in the loss of essential habitats for the Wattled and Grey Crowned cranes, both of which are to be seen in limited parts of South Africa, but are a little more abundant in more northern African countries.  And here, the Black Crowned crane is also found.

The majestic Wattled crane is a bird that may not be around for too much longer. It is a huge bird, the second tallest of the crane species, and at full standing height can be six feet tall - an awesome sight indeed. Both these and the Crowned cranes are dependent on wetlands for breeding and, as wetlands have been disappearing in a variety of ways for many years now, the numbers of these birds has decreased alarmingly. There is also a very large illegal trade in (especially) Crowned cranes, and estimates are that 50% of the population of these delightful cranes has disappeared in the past 25 years or so.

So we at SACWG are doing the best we can to encourage landowners to take pride in having cranes on their properties and to do their best to keep them there and consequently, keep them around for the enjoyment of their children and grandchildren ˇV and hopefully far longer even than that.

The Blue crane begins nesting in early summer when the grasslands start picking up from the winter cold with an occasional nest found in a wetland. On the other hand, the Grey Crowned cranes begin to nest a little bit later than this, after a bit of rain has started the reeds growing. They prefer to choose a site well into a reed bed and trample down a fairly large platform of reeds on which they lay their eggs, hidden from view  - except from the air!

Wattled cranes nest in mid to late winter and build a nest in water, mostly a meter or more in from the edge of a dam or pan in a wetland. All cranes brood their eggs from 32 ˇV 34 days although the Wattled cranes can sit for up to 40 plus days.

By winter, the chicks of both the Blue and Grey Crowned cranes have fledged and, together with their parents, they join a flock.  This is the time to try and get a really good idea of the numbers of birds.  This is more accurately achieved from the air as the flocks move around a bit during the day and from the ground you are not always sure that you are not counting the same flock twice.

The above story is to let you know why we are so very grateful to the great people who give of their time and the use of their aircraft to help us in our endeavours to give the cranes a chance into the future.

If you would like to know more about cranes and their lives, please contact me - Glenn Ramke - on 017 730 0001:  072 770 4646 or cranenut@vlr.dorea.co.za . Our administrative manager works from the EWT offices in the grounds of the Johannesburg Zoo.  Her name is Sharon Magro and she can be reached on 011 486 1102 x 234.

Back to the flight with The Bateleurs:   Unfortunately with the incredibly dry times experienced in the eastern Free State and Mpumalanga highveld, the flocking patterens of the cranes was different to most other years and I misjudged the timing of my request for a flight.

Dries flew me over the Harrismith area on a clear, and very crisp morning and as I had expected from reports from farmers, the usual flocks around Eerem were not there.  However, we did see a few flocks in the direction of Verkykerskop, totalling around 140 birds.  This was great as we did not know about these flocks.

Unfortunately the flight with Andreas did not take place as I knew the birds were no longer around the Platrand district and, more importantly (for me anyway), we seldom had a day when the wind did not howl around.  From previous micro-light experiences, I knew that flying in those conditions is not what a pilot (or passenger) enjoys!  But kindly Andreas has assured me that all I need to do is pick up the phone and he will be down here "to fly for crane"! 

Thank you Dries and Andreas, your kindness and efforts are appreciated more than you can know.  And also to the ladies in the office who always start the ball rolling, a BIG thank you."

In mid-2007 The Bateleurs were approached by Teresa Brosnan, the founder of clouddog , a UK-based charity supported by J.P. Morgan.  Clouddog exists to give committed teenagers an insight to the world of conservation, environment and wildlife, and Teresa wanted to encourage the enthusiasm of the South African teenagers who had won clouddog scholarships for 2007.  We were lucky enough to secure three volunteer pilots to fly all twelve clouddog students, on the same day, and we will feature reports or articles from selected students in a newsletter in 2008.  In the meantime, here is a short report from Teresa Brosnan:  

“How can we enhance the environmental knowledge of our passionate SA students? Give them knowledge of issues in the Johannesburg area that they can get involved with, so as to make an impact at a local level. 

The Bateleurs, a South African non governmental organisation made up of pilots interested in protecting the environment by using their flying skills and aircraft to fly "stakeholders" over areas under threat, kindly offered to fly our 2007 clouddog students over three areas under serious threat:
 
1.  The destruction of Granite Koppies by legal and illegal mining operations, with no rehabilitation; 
2.  Pollution in the Klip River Wetlands; and
3.  Damage caused by sand mining in the Seringveld.

Students took early morning flights in a helicopter, a twin engine Albatross and a Cherokee 6, flown by Jan Hugo, Martin Marx, and Craig McKenzie, respectively.  Each group of students was accompanied by an expert/educator to guide them through the details of what they were seeing on the ground.  Retief Grobler  acted as guide to the Klip River flight, Jan Visser assisted with the Seringveld flight, and Andrie Loubser accompanied the flight over the Brits Granite Koppies.

Martin Marx, one of the volunteer pilots with clouddog students, Hope Masilo, Janice Swartz, Simon Valiatham and Lerato Pela.

After the flights all twelve students were reunited back at JPM Johannesburg for a lunch and cross forum discussion on the issues they had witnessed first-hand.  This informative day was filmed by the local SABC 50/50 crew and a video of the article shown on SA National TV can be viewed on our clouddog website. Students were shocked by the damage to local areas and want to raise awareness in their communities and involve themselves in halting further destruction.

clouddog is grateful to the educators - Andrie Loubser, Retief Grobler and Jan Visser - and to the pilots - Craig MacKenzie, Jan Hugo and Martin Marx - all of whom volunteered their services for the day. Thank you also to Nora Kreher, the founder of The Bateleurs, for creating and implementing such a wonderful opportunity.

The right to care about the planet is a universal one, regardless of background or upbringing.  So the opportunity The Bateleurs offered our students enables us to continue creating a nucleus of incredibly motivated young people with a real passion for environmental change and conservation projects.  Thank you to The Bateleurs."

The Bateleurs has again supported the work of Quinton Martins and the Cape Leopard Trust throughout the year.  By the end of November pilots Johan Ferreira and Jock Kannemeyer had assisted Quinton with no less than eight flights to track collared leopard in the Cederberg in 2007. Keep up the good work to Quinton, Johan and Jock!

The Bateleurs received a short-notice request, during a spell of really bad weather in September, from independent TV producer and correspondent, David McKenzie, who needed a flight over the titanium mining areas near Richards Bay, for a news story for CNN.  Here is the thank you message we received from David following hs flight with Donovan Barton-Hobbs - who stepped in to assist at the very last moment.  Thank you Donovan!

"Thank you so much for helping to organise the flight over Richard's Bay Minerals and other mining concessions.  It was crucial to my story and will give an excellent context to the effects of dune mining. Donovan was a superb pilot and his mirco-light proved perfect for a smooth ride over the region. The piece is for CNN and it is  looking at the proposed mining in Pondoland, on the Wild Coast, and it was impossible to get an 'after' picture of what mining does to a landscape.

Though the weather was inclement right up to the schedule of the flight, The Bateleurs worked tirelessly to make sure something happened, working out various options and plan b's. Without your assistance it just never could have happened.

I have flown all over Africa in a variety of circumstances and this was the best flight yet in terms of putting the story across and being flexible to make things happen. Keep up the great work."

Here is the brief report from Harold Bloch on the last of the pelican surveys in the Western Cape, for Marta de Ponte Machado of the Avian Demography Unit at UCT:

“Martha, Pierre and I did the last pelican survey flight on Saturday morning. The weather was great and the flying awesome. We flew the standard route and found a number of pelicans further north than usual. Marta was very happy and satisfied, but we were all sad that the flying is now over while her thesis gets completed."