MyJHB

Stuff from Johannesburg

Busy Days for Hartebeespoort NSRI

Arthur Crewe, NSRI Hartbeespoort Dam station commander, said:

At 19h20, Thursday, 26 November, NSRI Hartbeespoort Dam duty crew launched the NSRI rescue craft Rotary Endeavour to respond to assist 3 locals, 2 males and a female, on a boat surrounded by dense Hyacinth after their boat experienced engine failure.

On arrival on the scene we found them safe and they were towed to shore where they required no further assistance.

At 12h28, Friday, 27 November, NSRI Hartbeespoort Dam duty crew launched an SRU (Strategic Rescue Unit) rescue craft following reports of an air boat capsized on the Crocodile River.

On arrival on the scene we found 2 local male crew members and 6 guests, males and females, believed to be from Johannesburg, on the upturned hull of the casualty air boat and they were not injured.

They were taken ashore without incident and the owners are arranging to have the air boat salvaged.

At 19h04, Friday 27 November, NSRI Hartbeespoort Dam duty crew launched the SRU (Strategic Rescue Unit) rescue craft following a request for assistance from 9 people, from Pecanwood, reporting battery failure of their open ski-boat that was caught by a hail storm on Hartbeespoort Dam.

On arrival on the scene they were found to be safe and we towed them to the NSRI Hartbeespoort Dam auxiliary rescue station and they required no further assistance.

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The World’s Largest Man-Made Urban Forest

One of the most surprising facts about Johannesburg is its status as a “green” city. When the first settlers arrived, the Highveld was a barren, treeless grassland (savannah). To support the mining industry, millions of trees were imported and planted to provide timber for mine underground supports. Fast forward to the present day, and Johannesburg is widely considered the largest man-made urban forest in the world.

There are an estimated 10 million trees within the city limits. This includes 1.2 million trees on sidewalks and in parks, and over 4.8 million in private gardens. This forest is so dense that satellite images of the northern suburbs often resemble a tropical rainforest. The most iconic of these trees is the Jacaranda, which was imported from South America in the early 20th century. Every October and November, the city turns a vibrant shade of purple as thousands of Jacarandas bloom simultaneously. However, this “forest” also highlights the city’s historical inequality; during the Apartheid era, trees were predominantly planted in wealthy white suburbs, leaving townships like Soweto as dusty plains. In the last two decades, “Greening Soweto” initiatives have seen hundreds of thousands of trees planted to bridge this “green divide,” emphasizing the role of urban forestry in social justice and climate cooling.