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A world without humans - IOL SciTech | IOL.co.za: "A world without humans

February 17 2011 at 09:19am
By Neo Maditla

INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPERS
MARKING TIME: A Sivatheres jaw, with teeth still intact. Marks on the teeth give clues as to how the animal died. Picture: Ben Loveday
Digging around in dirt all day may not be considered the best job by far, but when the end result is finding a fossilised bone dating back millions of years, it can’t get more exciting for paleontologist Pippa Haarhoff, who manages the West Coast Fossil Park in Langebaan.

For Haarhoff and her co-researchers, their finds hold clues to reconstructing, in as much detail as possible, “what exactly happened” millions of years ago to make this part of the West Coast an “amazing burial site” for more than 200 different species of fossil animals.

The site is outside Langebaan on the R45 and is known scientifically as the Langebaanweg fossil site. It was home to a phosphate mine until operations ceased in 1993."

New development for Golden Mile

10 February 2011 - 16:00

Author: Thrishni Subramoney

Durban officials say they would like to see a high-end luxury hotel built on the old Natal Command site.

The city has applied to the province's Heritage Council - AMAFA - for permission to demolish some of the old buildings on the site, along the beachfront's Golden Mile.

It's the same site that has been at the centre of a legal dispute, after the city awarded a private sale of the land to movie entrepreneur Anant Singh.

Deputy Mayor, Logie Naidoo, says they want to make way for a new development.

He says Tata's Taj Hotel group from India has already put in a proposal to build a 6-star hotel on the site.

Naidoo says the municipality is set to make a public call for proposals for a hotel project, or high-end accommodation.

He however says they are also keeping part of the land to work with the city's sport precinct.

"We will be calling for proposals. But we would love to see an upmarket hotel like the one proposal we had from the Taj hotel group in India. In addition to that we have had developers from who have come with proposals to do apartments, but at the same time we want to ensure that we keep land that will link to the sporting precinct that we are developing, with the talk of Olympic games etc."

(File photo)