Greetings N'tsirians

We’ve got going again with some bush thinning, which is great.  Looking at our previously thinned areas, we’ve got really impressive grass stands popped up, it’s something we’ll keep plodding along with.  My father-in-law, now passed on, bless him, gave me some amazing Boere-raad, to look after the land, one must leave it in a better condition in which you found it. 

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EMP Field Weekend 2018

The highlight for the EMP committee this year has undoubtedly been the successful completion of the EMP field weekend held in March. The meeting was attended by 6 EMP members, Mark Griffiths, the new warden of the Umbabat, Bryan Havemann and three conservation and wildlife experts: Dave Wright, Mike Peel and Tim Parker.

Two very constructive days were spent dealing with our list of environmental concerns. It was a valuable exercise and we hope to implement some of these changes as soon as time and budget allows. The full report from this weekend, is available to members on request. Please contact Sara: sara.boyd@mweb.co.za

Building

All members who wish to carry out any alterations, improvements, repairs and painting (including solar, gas and plumbing  repairs and installations) must please complete Form A and submit these to the building directors, Dave Joscelyne on daj1@mweb.co.za OR Peter Smelting on peter@cellchem.co.za.

Current Building Projects.

# 18 The Bert’s thatching has commenced.

Insurance

ANNUAL INSURANCE DECLARATION

As per the communication to members on 14 June 2018: The annual Insurance declarations are now due for calculation and submission. Payments are required in full from members on 29 July 2018. The onus is on members to make sure that any upgrades or alterations on their units have been addressed. Please contact Peter Moon (#34) with queries via email at: peter@adeptadvisory.co.za

Rates and Allocations

As you are aware, rates on property have been introduced in the Umbabat area during 2018. We took advantage of the municipality's offer of a 50% discount on arrear rates accrued from 2014 through to early 2018. Due to the opaqueness of the allocation and in order to recoup the near R800 000 settlement (which the farm was able to settle - a reflection of our conservative financial management) we allocated on a simple "per unit basis".

We are quite advanced with the process of understanding the rates, which are based on improvements only. This is both for the units and the farm’s general infrastructure. The allocation of rates will be based on the insurance values of improvements and will result in some units being required to pay more than the initial allocation and some being refunded. The undeveloped sites will get a full refund for their site based on improvement rates, but will still be required to pay towards the general infrastructure. 

This is targeted to be completed for the July levy run and we will be communicating to you early in the month. Please be assured of our continued efforts to ensure the best possible outcome with these rates.

New assistant management couple joining us

On 12th July we say a sad goodbye to Allan and Pauline Clark, who joined us in April as the New Assistant Management Couple. We would like to thank them for their time at N'tsiri and wish them well with their future endeavors.

Their positions will be filled on 1st July 2018 by Nardus and Susan Ellis, who were part of the board's initial interview process. We would like to send them a warm N'tsiri welcome and we know that our members will do their utmost to make them feel at home.

New Vehicle For Umbabat Warden

In May this year the Umbabat Warden, Bryan Havemann, was handed a set of keys to a brand spanking new Toyota vehicle. This vehicle was very generously sponsored by N'tsiri Member, Fanie Erasmus (#46) and Lydenburg Toyota. We would like to thank Fanie for their generosity. This vehicle will go along way to helping achieve the unified and protected "mega park" that the Umbabat is working so hard towards.

Please click on the link below for the official press release

Member and Users Information

The board is currently in the process of acquiring and updating ALL member's information, as well as member's lists of approved users and share certificates. There have been several requests from Ethel for this information during the past year - only about half of our members have complied. The N'tsiri AGM will be the last opportunity to hand these forms in, before limitations on usage are implemented.

This is a cumbersome, but imperative process. We kindly request that members cooperate with Ethel and Michelle Goble as they correlate this information.

N'tsiri AGM

N'tsiri members are reminded to diarise the date of our upcoming N'tsiri AGM. This will be held at Bryanston Country Club on Wednesday 5 September 2018. We would like as many members as possible to attend this important function.

Save the date

A very active group of Elephant conservationists are doing a great job in the Umbabat. Mark has let us know of their fund raising dinner which is being held on Thursday 20 September at the Corner Cafe in Craighall, Johannesburg. He has asked that as many members as possible to support this wonderful initiative.

Please click on the link below for the full invitation. 

Water Conservation

Please all members be extremely careful with water usage at the moment. We are by no means over our extreme dry spell. Our boreholes are currently in a good way, but we have a long dry period still ahead of us. Members are reminded not to water gardens and trees, unless by bucket. Please report any leaks or plumbing issues to Mark as soon as they are detected.

Malaria Update

Malaria update June 2018

The cold weather of June seems to have halted the number of cases of Malaria that were being reported in the Hoedspruit area. Members are however, reminded that we are still a "Malaria area" and mosquito precautions should be continued throughout the year. 

Cleaning solar panels

Solar panels are generally self cleaning, but in particularly dry areas (like our farm), dust and other substances such as bird droppings can build up over time and impact on the amount electricity generated by a module. Tip of the month: Wiping down your panels carefully with a damp cloth, to remove visible dirt, may significantly improve their efficiency.

Spotting news

Members of N'tsiri are not the only ones enjoying the new Marula picnic spot... this beautiful leopard is often found making herself at home here. Thank you Lesley Henderson (#16) for submitting this real "caught in the act" photograph.

Male leopard - Jackalberry Pan

This magnificent and very "chilled" male leopard was seen by the Prangleys (#22), lying up at Jackalberry Pan on N'sheli. Good sighting!

Baby elephant without a tail

Thank you to Natalie Prangley (again), who has been happily snapping away with some interesting sightings seen on their bumbles.  

Triaspis glaucophylla - Blue Shieldfruit

This pretty shrub was seen flowering happily on the rocky section of road North of Ellie Hill. They are Endemic to Umbabat region and can grow up to 5m high, but seem fairly stunted in our arid region. They have a perennial rootstock, but throw annual shoots which develop the pretty flowers and at a later stage 35mm fruit capsules. Look out for them on the way to R15 borehole.

Limeum sulcatum - Klosaarbossie

This small,annual plant peppers our bushveld in April / May. It has delicate white flowers which strongly contrast with its rich green leaves. Common name is the Klosaarbossie - look out for it, they are very common. 

Tephrosia grandiflora - Large flowered Tephrosia

Small shrublets that don't grow much taller than 1 m. they have 5-7 pairs of elliptical leaflets and bloom with very pretty magenta flowers. They are commonly found in Eastern regions of South Africa and about 50 species occur.

Glanies is a Granny again

Congratulations to one of our longest standing and extremely loyal employees, Glanies. Her grandson was born on 18 May. Remember her, if you are throwing out any baby clothes or suitable toys.

The Beautiful Marula Tree is in trouble

Members have embraced our newest EMP project and their hard work is starting to pay off. At last check we were up to 108 netted trees. The netting on the trees, although barely visible, has been shown to be 88% effective in preventing the destructive debarking behavior of elephants.

Members will notice that our neighbours, both Ngwelala and Ndlopfu have also been practicing this. We are hoping that this project will start really gaining momentum and that we will be able to protect and save as many of our Knob thorns as possible.

See full article below (put together by Peter Anderson (#R13)...

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New on Tree Conservation

Some exciting new developments are happening in terms of tree conservation on N'tsiri. Dr Michelle Henley has joined Mark and the EMP committee, in our campaign to deter elephants from damaging some of our key species. Dr Henley  will embark on a research study which incorporates our efforts with tree netting, as well as with spraying of vulnerable trees with Organic Neem Oil. Neem Oil is environmentally friendly and relatively cost effective. Large numbers of trees can be treated and results are completely aesthetically acceptable. We look forward to updating you on some of these projects.

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Springhare - Pedetes capensis

These very strange looking rodents, have been seen on N'tsiri with increasing frequency. They share communal burrow systems on our Roodekrantz plains areas adjacent to the river and also at no 15 borehole plains. Powerful hindlimbs are used for hopping like a kangaroo, whilst forelimbs are only used for eating. They are nocturnal, terrestrial and not territorial. Look out for their strange spoor which have 3 large claws in a rosette shape.