South-West Cape Province

The plant genus Sceletium is made up of about 20 species which are found in the southern regions of Africa, principally in the South-West Cape Province. An interest in these plants stems frmn early reports 1,2) of the use of certain species of these pkmts by the Hottentots and the Budimen of Namaqualand in the preparation of a drug known as Chanm. The effects of this drug were described by Kolben (2) in the following manner ... 

Blackstroem JW von (1974) Uranium deposits in the Karroo Supergroup near Beufort West, Cape Province, South Africa. In Anonymous (ed) Formation of uranium ore deposits. International Atomic Energy Agency, SM-183/48. Vienna, Austria, pp 419-424... 

The morama bean is an underutilized leguminous oilseed native to the Kalahari Desert and neighboring sandy regions of Botswana, Namibia, and South Africa (Limpopo, North-West, Gauteng, and Northern Cape provinces), and forms part of the diet of the indigenous population in these countries. It is also known as gemsbok bean. 

The drug is obtained by fermentation ivomSceletium species (Ficoidaceae) growing in the southwest Cape province. Channa is considered a favorite stimulant of the natives of South-west Africa. When chewed, the drug is said to have a narcotic and in some respects a cocaine-like eifect (4). 

Luyt J, Lee-Thorp JA, Avery G (2000) New light on middle Pleistocene west coast enviromnents from Elandsfontein, Western Cape Province, South Afrioa. South Afr J Sci 96 399-403 Luz B, Kolodny Y (1985) Oxygen isotope variations in phosphate of biogenic apatites, IV. Mammal teeth and bones. Earth Planet Sci Lett 75 29-36... 

Just as in North America and Europe, electricity reached the African continent in the 1880s and 1890s, and thermal power preceded hydropower. Electrical applications expanded rapidly at the southern tip of the continent in the settler Cape Colony (South Africa s Western Cape Province) during the late 19th century, but did not proliferate non-settler West and Central Africa until the early 20th. 

Fig. 1. Map showing station locations, topography and principal geological provinces in the region of study within southern Africa, Fifty-five broadband (REFTEK/STS-2) stations were installed in April 1997 in South Africa, Botswana and Zimbabwe. Stations in light blue were redeployed in April 1998 to sites indicated in yellow. A total of 82 sites were occupied over the two year deployment. In addition, three global seismic network broadband stations (white triangles) are located in the region and their data incorporated in the analysis. The array extends from the Cape Fold Belt in the south, through the Proterozoic Namaqua-Natal Mobile Belt, across the Kaapvaal Craton and Bushveld Province, through the Archaean Limpopo Mobile Belt and into the Zimbabwe Craton. On the west, the array covers part of the Kheis and Okwa Proterozoic Fold and Thrust Belts of Botswana and western South Africa. To the east, the array extends into the Early Archaean Barberton terrane, near the NW border with Swaziland. Published in James et al., GRL28, 2001, fig. 1.

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