Honorary Rangers
Bankenveld
About the Bankenveld Honorary Rangers
Bankenveld region is situated in North-West and has 16 qualified Honorary Rangers and 12 applicants. Three general meetings per year are held at the Potchefstroom public library and for the rest of the year, Bankenveld is active in training, camps and other activities.
Region |
Members |
Applicants |
Juniors |
Bankenveld |
13 |
13 |
272 |
Bankenveld Region only has 3 general meetings a year held in the Potchefstroom Library. But they have a busy schedule in non-meeting months of training courses, camp and other events. A full schedule of their 2006 meetings is available here. |
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Latest News
Rio Tinto and Bushveld Region combine forces
Date: 2008-11-20
Mining and Industrial giant, Rio Tinto, at the Palabora Mining Company was recently approached by the Chairperson of the Bushveld region Honorary Rangers, for a donation.Bushveld Region HR’s donate equipment
Date: 2008-11-19
Media Release: iKapa Honorary Rangers help TMNP with endangered African Penguin nest boxes
Date: 2008-11-12
Honorary Rangers 2008 NEC has been announced
Date: 2008-11-11
Programme
Training
Bankenveld specialises in training and presents the following courses:
Applied communication
As one of the Honorary rangers compulsory courses, Bankenveld presents this course as a fun learning experience.
This course is characterized by an interactive method of presentation. New materials and approaches are included while presenting the very important primary aspects of expectations regarding our way of communicating in the Honorary Rangers. The course is a fun-filled, yet hands-on way of getting to grips with the course material.
Grass identification
Bankenveld lies in the heart of grasslands. Grass identification is a practical course presented by Prof Sarel Cilliers, a well known botanist and expert in grass identification. The course starts with a lab session and PowerPoint presentation on Friday evening with practical fieldwork in Highveld National Park on Saturday.
National Project: Public Awareness
Public awareness for conservation is one of the Honorary Rangers’ most important tasks and therefore Bankenveld focuses on exhibitions at schools and the annual Spring show in Potchefstroom.
Tree identification
Since the Vredefort Dome was declared a World Heritage Site, Bankenveld has been involved in identifying and labelling trees in various tourist areas.
Get To Know The Bankenveld Region
Written by Christien Terblanche
The Bankenveld Region is not only home to wonderful Highveld Grasslands, but also a group of very active Honorary Rangers with a love for nature second to none!
The region is situated in the North-West Province, and although no National Park falls within this region, it does include the Vredefort Dome, a World Heritage Site with significant bio-diversity and several endemic species.
The group of Honorary Rangers in the Bankenveld Region consists of 13 members, of whom 10 have been Honorary Rangers for longer than 10 years, and 13 new and very eager applicants, two of whom come from previously disadvantaged communities. One of these new applicants is a teacher at Sei-phemelo High School in Ikageng and runs several environmental projects with a large group of previously disadvantaged teenagers.
The members have a wide range of fields of experience and areas of expertise. Since no national park falls within the region, the group focuses mainly on community awareness of nature conservation. The fact that the Potchefstroom Campus of the North-West University is within close proximity, aids the Honorary Rangers.
The Honorary Rangers of the Bankenveld region all share a deep desire to get out into nature, and therefore formal meetings are limited to 4 per year, so that activities can centre on outdoor opportunities for training, learning about nature and teaching the public to appreciate the unique environment that is the Bankenveld Region.
The region’s Honorary Rangers have offered the Applied Communications Course several times, and offer frequent Sense Active Awareness Walks in the Vredefort Dome for school children as part of PEAP. It is their hope that some of these children will become Junior Rangers.
At least once a year they make use of the expertise available in Potchefstroom to offer a course on grass or tree identification. In addition, they have a very successful exhibition on Nature Conservation and the role of Honorary Rangers at the Potchefstroom Spring Festival every year.
The members of Bankenveld have designed and printed their own series of posters dealing with Conservation, National Parks and the national projects and activities of the Honorary Rangers.
Honorary Rangers from this region render services all over the country, so that they often have valuable and interesting tales to tell and new things to teach their fellow participants. In general, they are all passionate about doing their bit for nature conservation.
The Vredefort Dome gives them a unique setting to do this, and since the general public is still by and large uninformed about just how special the area is, there is still lots to do!
Management:
Chairperson: John Botha. John is a professor of Art History. He loves films, large motor cycles and working with bonsai trees. He has offered the Applied Communications Course for several years, and will soon be qualified to offer the new Hospitality Course in our region. John is a natural teacher, and often takes the lead when we offer courses to the public.
Removing fences in Marakele
Pieter Pretorius, Barbara
Willemse,
Betsie van der
Westhuizen and John Botha
Vice chairperson: Pieter Peens. Pieter is a business man and a forensic investigator. He has 18 years police experience with specific focus on fraud. He loves fishing and woodwork, and is a very involved family man.
Treasury: Neels Buitendag. Neels is a pharmacist. He knows the veld very well, especially grasses and trees. He loves the Kruger National Park, and the other members can often listen to his experiences when he rendered service there. He is an involved family man, and he does whatever it takes to promote conservation and often assists people in his quiet manner.
Secretary: Wilna Pretorius. Wilna is a technician in a Laboratory for Electron Microscopy where she helps students and lecturers with their research, especially biological research. In her calm way Wilna keeps our region meticulously organized. She is the mother figure and mentor for all the children who become involved and for applicants. Suiting this aspect of her personality, she is a volunteer for FAMSA and secretary of Child Welfare in Potchefstroom. She is fond of needlework, cooking (and we testify that she does this well!) and gardening. Her family and creating a home is very important to her. She is passionate about conservation, especially trees.
Additional member: Barbara Willemse. Barbara is an Agricultural Economist. She is a good runner, having completed the Comrades twice. She loves hiking and have completed several of the big routes such as the Fish River Canyon and the Otter. You will always find Barbara outside, involved with anything that concerns nature, and if possible, some adventure.
Activities In 2008
In 2008 the Honorary Rangers have already made good use of their time! The year started off with an indoors general meeting, but in February the HR’s ventured out to the Animal Breeding Centre in Lichtenburg. Children of a close-by school joined the group as friends of the Centre.
In March three groups of teenage boys were taken into the Vredefort Dome for a Sense Active Awareness Walk. John first did an introductory talk before Honorary Rangers and Applicants teamed up to take boys out in small groups. Unworried about a steady drizzle, the boys came up with lots of questions, a new awareness and artworks. Whitey van Pletsen is a keen birder and loves to share his knowledge of bird ringing with children.
April was time for a general meeting in the Public Library once more. The members and applicants learned about Malaria and Bilharzia from Dr Kennè de Kock, a pioneer in research on this field. For the rest of the meeting we dealt with business and members and applicants shared in the excitement of the Indaba to come.
Several of the applicants intend attending the Indaba and going on the Kruger National Park Orientation Course while some members will participate in the Mopanie tree survey in Kruger National Park.
Still to come is learning about batear-jackal, aardvark and aardwolf conservation with a group of children, a bush camp, an AITG workshop in the Dome, the Spring Festival, the September Hospitality Course, a tree identification course and many more activities with teenagers.
Keep an eye open for the Bankenveld Region Honorary Rangers! Their passion for conservation and eagerness to serve nature might sweep you off your feet!
Contacts:
Chairperson: John Botha 018 299 4090 or Secretary: Wilna Pretorius 018 297 3435 or 076 996 2849
Postal Address: P.O. Box 5077
Kockspark
2523