Ironic capital
The South African town with the most affluent residents is in the Kalahari. The Daily Investor, quoting statistics from the South African Revenue Service, reports that the average taxable income of the 10,979 taxpayers in Kathu, in the Gamagara municipality of the Northern Cape, is R508,901. This puts the town, the iron-ore capital of South Africa, at the top of the municipal wealth rankings in South Africa — above Joburg, Stellenbosch and Cape Town. At provincial level Gauteng leads the pack, with the average taxpayer earning R414,000 a year, followed by the Western Cape at R348,000.
All lit up in B’Bos
Baardskeerdersbos, a hamlet just up the road from Pearly Beach on the Overberg coast, was in the middle of the wildfires that raged through the region in January. But last week a blaze of a different kind lit up the skies: the southern lights (aurora australis). Powerful solar flares hurled protons towards Earth at speeds of a super-bullet, according to scientists, making for a spectacular display just before dawn.
Too many humps in the Outback
News that Australia is preparing to cull 6,000 of its 1-million wild camels has led to Saudi Arabian offers to rescue the animals, indigenous to the deserts of the Middle East. Feral camels in Australia’s Northern Territory compete with sheep and cattle for food, crush vegetation and invade remote settlements in search of water, sometimes terrifying people by storming into houses and ripping up water pipes in kitchens and bathrooms.
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