Image from Google Earth
Several weeks ago an earth tremor rattled the house of HOORC Library Assistant Joseph Matshelo, among other Maun residents. Now data about the earthquake has been sent to us by Dr. A. Cichowicz of the South African Council for Geoscience, through Professor T.S. McCarthy of the University of the Witwatersrand Okavango Research Group. The earthquake of August 16th (20:21...
Blackwinged Pratincole, Glareola nordmanni at Lake Ngami from Birdlife Botswana site
Discovery Metals Limited has reported that the PreFeasibility Study (PFS) for the Boseto Copper Project (previously known as the Maun Project) demonstrates an economically and technically viable project. The project name "Boseto" is an amalgam of the names of the local...
Pan African Mining Corporation has announced that it has now received independent technical reports on its Okavango and Tsau diamond projects in Botswana. The reports cite the prospectivity of both the Okavango and Tsau projects for diamonds, noting the convergence of favourable geochemical and geophysics data from such projects. They include recommendations for work programs for the present...
Mapping of colophospermum mopane using Landsat TM in eastern Botswana recently published in the South African Geographical Journal by Reuben J. Sebego, Wolter Arnberg, Bengt Lunden and HOORC researcher Susan Ringrose, reports results of a study of the range of mopane trees and related soils in Botswana. Methods applied in the exercise used the possibilities of integrated applications of...
The roadside geology of Namibia describes and explains geological features of Namibia in the context of southern Africa and provides a written tour of individual attractions throughout the country. Maps, photos and drawings make the guidebook an accessible resource for visitors and students. You can find the book on the HOORC Library's Reference...
Professor Durrheim installing seismic equipment
HOORC's library has a visit this week from Professor Ray Durrheim of University of Witwatersrand in South Africa, who is installing a broadband seismograph at HOORC as part of the AfricaArray network. AfricaArray is a collaborative research and training programme founded by Wits University, Pennsylvania State University and the South African...
International environmental researchers and policymakers met at the 4th International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP) Congress held in Cape Town from 5 to 9 May 2008 to provide a forum for researchers to share scientific agendas, concerns and resources. The theme of the congress was “Sustainable Livelihoods in a Changing Earth System”. IGBP is an international research programme supporting...
Jackal in Kalahari courtesy of Roger Heath, 2007
A recent story on the Science Daily web site reported research about the contribution of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere from cyanobacteria in Kalahari sands. Description of the research from Manchester Metropolitan University was shared at the Society for General Microbiology's 162nd meeting. Drought resistant bacteria can fix atmospheric...
Workshop participants on field trip to Lake Ngami
Fifty-six natural resources researchers from Africa, Europe and the United States met in Maun on March 3rd to 5th 2008 to discuss and plan for new multidisciplinary research in the Kalahari. The workshop, organized by HOORC, brought together people currently engaged in studying environmental change in Africa, with a specific focus on four topic...
Paste 08, the 11th International Seminar on Paste and Thickened Tailings, will be held in Kasane from 5th to 9th of May 2008. The aim of the meeting is to promote the technology of paste and thickened tailings as a technological alternative solution to conventional mine waste disposal. The objective of hosting this seminar in Botswana is to emphasize the importance of responsible water usage in...
Características mesológicas de Angola : descrição e correlação dos aspectos fisiográficos, dos solos e da vegetação das zonas agrícolas angolanas by A. Castanheira Diniz, and published by the Missão de Inquéritos Agrícolas de Angola in 1973, provides a description of the physiography, geology, soil and vegetation of 32 agricultural zones defined by the colonial administration of Angola. Brief...
Tsodilo Resources Limited released an exploration update for its work in Botswana and Namibia in early January. The company's Botswana licenses are near to two major unexplained surface concentrations of diamonds and G10 garnets across the border in Namibia, one near the village of Tsumkwe and another in the area known as Omatako. The company reports that the characteristics of these kimberlite...
Soil map for Okavango Delta area from EuDASM site
The January 2008 issue of the Spatial Data Infrastructure-Africa Newsletter includes articles about the United States Federal Geographic Data Committee draft wetland mapping standard, the South African National Biodiversity Institute's SANBI Biodiversity GIS, the JRC Institute for the Environment free digital soil maps (EU, the 1Spatial Group's...
The Reuters UK site reports that a consortium of companies, including Russia's diamond monopoly Alrosa, has received a license from Angola's oil ministry for crude oil exploration in Lower Congo, Upper Kwanza, Etosha, Okavango, Kassanje and will also work offshore on Angola's sea shelf under the Atlantic...
From the Botswana Government Gazette, Vol. XLV, no. 82, 21 December 2007
Tender: Republic of Botswana: Ministry of Works and Transport. Preparation of the environmental and social management framework (ESMF) and resettlement policy framework (RPF) for output and performance based long term road contracts (OPRC)
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From the Botswana Government Gazette, Vol. XLV, no. 83, 28 December 2007...
In situ rounding of quartz grains within an African surface weathering profile in North West Ngamiland, Botswana by M.J. McFarlane, S.H. Coetzee, J.R. Kuhn, HOORC researcher Cornelis Vanderpost and F.D. Eckardt, was published in the September issue of the Zeitschrift für geomorphologie. The study looked at a basal sandstone in the thick, unconsolidated sands and silts assigned to the Kalahari...
A rock discovered in the Kalahari has featured in worldwide news this week because of an article published in Nature on December 6th, 2007. The article, Cryptomare magmatism 4.35 Gyr ago recorded in lunar meteorite Kalahari 009 by Kentaro Terada and colleagues, claims the rock is evidence of volcanic activity on the...
From the Botswana Government Gazette, Vol. XLV, no. 72, 2 November 2007
Tender: Republic of Botswana: Ministry of Works and Transport: pre-qualification bids for the construction of Maun Airport improvements : airside works
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From the Botswana Government Gazette, Vol. XLV, no. 73, 7 November 2007
Government of Botswana: Bill No. 20 of 2007: Mines and Minerals (Amendment) Bill, 2007,...
Guest editor of the November 2007 issue of the newsletter of the Southern African Society of Quaternary Research (SASQUA) is HOORC researcher Dr Philippa Huntsman-Mapila. The newsletter reports activities at the 17th SASQUA congress held at Umgeni Nature Reserve in KwaZulu Natal, the 17th International Union for Quaternary Research (INQUA) held in Cairns, Australia, and research news and updates...
Recent publications issued by HOORC academic staff and associates make a multidisciplinary contribution to natural resources issues relevant to Okavango Delta planning and management. Dr Lapologang Magole's paper in the conservation and human rights special issue of the IUCN's Policy Matters, The history of conservation evictions in Botswana : the struggle continues, with new hope provides an...
Two research teams from the University of Botswana's Dept. of Environmental Science, Main Campus, are visiting HOORC today on their way to carry out fieldwork in the Okavango Delta area. Mr K. Tlhalerwa and his fourth year students are conducting microclimatological observations. Professor O. Areola and his students will be looking at soil profiles in the Mababe Depression. HOORC 2007 Winter...
Tsodilo Hills photo from Botswana Tourism site
AllAfrica.com reports another Mmegi story: launch of a new funding mechanism for development of tourism through villages near the World Heritage Site, Tsodilo Hills. Funding for the projects will come from De Beers and Debswana's Diamond Trust for...
A recent item in Botswana's newspaper Mmegi, republished by AllAfrica.com, reports discussion of possible environmental impacts of the Discovery Metals copper find near Lake Ngami, a gathering place for migrating...
Winter Course Student Presentations
HOORC’s 2007 class of University of Botswana Winter Course students were completing their project reports this week, following six weeks of intensive study and fieldwork in the Okavango Delta and Ngamiland. Seanokeng Kedisaletse and Boikanyo Mokgweetsi looked at different aspects of solid waste management with Solid waste management in Maun, and Household...
Pan African Mining Corporation has reported that reprocessed geophysics data has confirmed strong diamond targets on the Company's license area in Ngamiland. A combined area of 5476 sq. kilometers -- the Okavango block, located to the west of the Okavango River, just south of the Namibia Caprivi strip and the Tsau block, adjacent to the north-south section of the Botswana-Namibia border -- were...