A collage of photo’s of trout caught at Treeferns Trout Lodge. If these pictures do not convey a message of superb trout fishing all year round, I do not know what will :

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           Click on any picture to enlarge                                                                                                                               

Radio Pretoria het op 7 Mei 2012 ‘n lewendige opname vanaf Treeferns Trout Lodge uitgesaai. Die opname is gedoen en uitgesaai deur Dr Kriek van der Merwe bygestaan deur Jaap Roux, die klank regiseur en Emile Deysel, tegnikus.  Dit het gegaan oor vlieghengel van forelle. Dr Kriek is een van die mees ervare vlieghengelaars in die land en hy bied ‘n gereelde hengelprogram Saterdae om 14h00 op Radio Pretoria aan. Jaap Roux is ewe bekend onder Radio Pretoria luisteraars. Op die foto hieronder is vlnr Dr Kriek, Jaap  en Emile.

The following photo’s are a representative selection of the various attractions at Treeferns Trout Lodge, viz. accommodation, fishing, scenes on the hiking trail, farming, fauna and flora, etc.

Sitefinder’s ranking of www.treeferns.co.za :

Visitor Rankings for www.treeferns.co.za

Visitor Rankings for www.treeferns.co.za

A collection of indigenous flowers at Treeferns Trout Lodge :

A collage of pictures of Treeferns

We have collected a couple thousand or more photo’s of Treeferns over the years taken by ourselves and our guests. With this gallery we have tried to compile a representative sample of what it looks like :

Treeferns Trout Lodge’s web site was designed by Cor Basson using WordPress. It was put together in such a way that we ourselves  manage it, i.e. we add new information, pictures, alterations, delete, etc. This turned out to be very productive because in this way you continuously look out for new data which is relevant to add or change existing facts which are obsolete. The most important spin-off therefore is that the web site remains up-dated. It also encourages creativity as every picture has a story, and every story has a picture. Literally there is no end to it. Almost every day something new or interesting crops up which is relevant and news worthy.

By profession Cor is a teacher in maths and science. He gave it up   years ago to practise IT on a full time base. Since then he designed  web sites all over the country. His web site designs are rated very highly, our own having an Alexa rating of  3,1 miljoen, meaning that it falls within the top 10 % successful web sites  of the 30 million  Alexa is rating.

Cor is married to Petro, and they have two off-spring,  Cor and  Anja. Cor junior is also in IT.

Cor and Family at Treeferns, l.t.r.  Petro, Cor, Andre ( friend), Cor (jnr.),  Anja, and Christiaan(friend).  His contact details are : 083 443 2600 ; cor@nitormedia.com

How many people know how a spider-web is made ?  I for one did not know for sure.

First of all and contrary to believe, a spider-web is woven by both male and female spiders.

Secondly, the secret is its main component, the thread or line, which is ingeniously but simply released by the spider and glued together in the shape of a wagon wheel, the web. The beginning somehow resembles the construction of a bridge from two opposite sides.The two completed sections are lowered down till the ends meet and fastened. Only in the case of a spider-web the length of silky thread from the spider is blown around by the wind until it touches a surface like a branch. Because it is sticky it easily attaches itself to this anchor finishing the most difficult step in the construction process. As the thread is also fastened at the spider’s  side, it spans the gap and the spider can easily but carefully cross to the other side and simultaneously  releasing another thread sticking  to the first one and thus reinforcing it. The spider then moves to and fro until the thread is strong enough to carry its weight and movements.

Next the spider produces another thread away from the horizontal line and back to make a V or Y shaped stretch, from where more radial lines and Y patterns are woven till it is completed to the spider’s satisfaction, forming the familiar wagon wheel, a most  clever piece of construction serving as food trap, dinner table, mating nest, alarm and signal system.

The most common spider-webs are  circular hanging in the air between tree branches or fences,  others are flat on the ground, some resemble hanging mats, etc. We have been lucky to capture two types.

This is  only an introduction ; there are a lot more to spider-webs than meet the eye, eg. the threads,  its strength, shapes and sizes, etc. The following  slideshow illustrates some spider-webs  after completion:

A rare sight awaited me when I  have  been to Treeferns last :  the biggest flock of white Cattle Egret (Bubulcus ibis),  (Afrikaans Veereier or Sprinkaan voël) I have ever seen, blanketed the herd of black Drakensberger cattle  as close as the farm house, creating a spectacular  black and white contrast.  These birds are often mistakenly called Bosluisvoël because they perch on animals’ backs presumably to feed on ticks clawing on  them. In stead they catch their food by following  cattle grazing and thus disturbing insects on the ground. They will naturally  also eat insects on the animal.

The Cattle Egret is a white bird of medium size with a long yellow bill and light orange  legs and feet. They normally live in colonies often in a single big tree. When together in numbers they make a hummimg chorus. Indigenous to Africa they have now distributed themselves to most continents.

I was fortunate to take some nice pictures of them on the ground  and in flight :

( Courtesy :  Google.com )

http://www.honoluluzoo.org/cattle_egret.htm