Aerial View of the Canals

This isn't the greatest photo, it was taken through the window of a Cessna light aircraft a few years ago, when our son was busy getting his pilot's licence, and took me for a flip to St Francis. But I thought it might be interesting to show you the canals in their context. The dark strip that runs diagonally up the picture with a road on either side is the Kromme River. The white area to the top of the picture is a continuation of the dunes of the sand River system, which extends far to the left off the picture.

There has been a lot of development since this was taken, and a whole new section of canal has been made. Sadly it is unlikely I will be going back for more aerial pix anytime soon..... our son now lives on the other end of Africa and just after this photo was taken I lost my breakfast, I suffer from terrible airsickness!

Coastal Erosion

Since we discussed coastal erosion on the PE blog today, and St Francis is in the midst of a bit of a crisis because of this, we thought it apt to feature it here too. This shot was taken in January 2007, from the beach car park at St Francis Bay. Since then it has got worse, and in a recent storm, some of the roads leading to the beachfront properties were washed away, as well as the ablution block here and the foundations of some houses are beginning to be undemined.

When we went there for the first time in the mid 90s, we went for a walk along the 2 km wide sandy beach all the way to the Kromme River Mouth and back. Now it is impassable in many places, as the sand has been eroded away by currents, and due to the development and cutting off of the migratory sand river dunes from the rest of the coast, it is not being replaced. All sorts of expensive and controversial plans have been put forward to fix it, but as there are not enough funds, nothing has been done. At last, there may be light at the end of the tunnel, and a cost effective scheme which has been successful along the North Sea coast is being looked at. Let's hope something comes of it soon, as this situation can't be left to continue as it is for much longer.

Floods

Why is man so slow to learn? Mess with Nature, and she bites back. We have featured the fascinating sand river before, and mentioned that the road is frequently bulldozed to keep the dune from encroaching over it. When the road was built it was basically just put across the sand river, with small pipes to allow for the river to flow under it. Because, for much of the year, it is a subterranean river system, with minimal flow, this seemed like a good idea at the time.


However, dunes migrate, and rivers flood. And natural wetlands act as giant sponges which absorb much of the water which causes flooding, thus reducing the impact. And when you mess with any of these, you will cause problems. The vlei (wetland area) adjoining the sand river system has been turned into a golf course. And in recent years the sand river has come down in flood more frequently, dumping vast quantities of the dune sand on the lower lying properties across the road.


This is all that can be seen of the very large bulldozer which used to be kept on site for regular dune clearing on the road.... after the flood of August 2006. 2007 was an unusually wet year, and the river flooded again in March and December. At some point a plan will have to be made to channel it more effectively and re-make the road so that it does not cause so much damage, but that may be a while. Judging by the state of all the roads in the area (pothole dodging could become a popular local sport) fixing the infrastructure seems to be low on the list of priorities for the local council.

Sand River

As you enter St Francis Bay, where main road crosses the Sand River there is a sign warning motorists to be careful of sand in the road. Do not ignore this sign, as the Sand River is aptly named, because most of the year it is literally a "sand river" and when the wind blows, which it frequently does, the sand quickly starts building up over the road and has to be buldozed away.

However, when it rains the water starts flowing and the Sand River is transformed into a wetland paradise. The Sand River forms part of an ecologically sensitive dune system, which starts near Oyster Bay and ends up at the canals at St Francis Bay. One of the many objections to the proposed nuclear power station at Thyspunt, is that it will be situated at the start of this dune systen and will have the potential to contaminate river, with disasterous results.

The Sand River was also home to the Khoisan people many years ago and there is still evidence of their habitation in the area.

This link to the maXfiles will take you to a stunning sunset picture at the Sand River