- by Norman Mann
On many occasions I have been asked, in my capacity of a qualified game guide, about the Indian Mynah, who, according to most people have become the local 'pest' in the bird world. I find this quite fascinating, as I have witnessed many different aspects of 'employment' which this particular bird species has adopted in order to balance out nature. Let me explain.
The Indian Mynah was originally introduced to South Africa in the 1900's as a caged pet - predominantly for their ability to talk, their aesthetic qualities like the yellow stripe drawn through their eye and alertness. Some Mynahs escaped and now breed prolifically - initially in the KZN area - but they have infiltrated most of our urban areas.
The Indian Mynah is possibly one of the most persecuted bird species - even by bird lovers. They have been shot at and nests destroyed, mainly because they have chased away all indigenous garden birds. However, there is another side to this story and quite amazing it is!
Man - having interfered with the environment over many years with pesticides, insecticides and dips - has eradicated indigenous birds that fulfil a specific need. This creates a vacuum for other species of birds, whether indigenous or exotic, to fill that gap. And that's exactly what our Indian Mynahs have done.
For example, in many areas the Red Billed Oxpecker and Yellow Billed Oxpecker were widely distributed and their main job was to clean the ticks and fleas off cattle. Once livestock farmers begun the dipping process to protect their animals against insects, they inadvertently eradicated the Oxbill Peckers from most areas.
Having done numerous walks in this particular area, where Forum Homini is situated, I have recently noticed Indian Mynahs actually riding on the back of Impalas and cleaning the parasites off the animals!
I have also witnessed Indian Mynahs following animals in the grass to catch insects that the Impalas disturb whilst walking through the veld. This is a perfect example of the environment trying to bring itself back into balance and it just so happens that the Indian Mynahs fill this vacuum.
So... my take on the Indian Mynahs is that we should treat this occurence as a waterbed in management and always keep front of mind that for every action there will be an opposite and equal reaction somewhere else in the environment.
Here's an article that Victor Strugo Wrote in the Saturday Star on 1 March 2008 about brunch at roots restaurant.
Homini Crickets by Victor Strugo
When Forum Homini opened near the Cradle of Mankind in 2006, cynics disillusioned with a glut of privately-owned boutique hotel sprouting up in the shrinking green belt between the capital and capitalist cities might well have dismissed it with a Ho Hum. Many other semi-country places had started off with promising intentions before enlisting as mercenaries in the proletarian cash-cow army of JC Le Roux weddings, Don Pedro business conferences and recycled buffets.
Two short years have disproved the critics. Maintaining its declared eco-friendliness and somewhat exclusive prices, the hotel has rapidly topped 70 percent occupancy levels. Hosted weddings drink Laurent Perrier while function rooms attract more board meetings than bored boozing.
To paraphrase a well-known TV commercial, Forum Homini is … a quiet place. Crickets, birdsong and the babbling Honingklipspruit beckons us to forego the DVD player and reflect on mankind’s local origins in a place where architecture, textures and tones pay homage to early hominids, paralleled by a discreet luxury where homo can hold his head erectus .
Fourteen luxurious suites surround the lake (well, large pond), hidden from the main building by highveld vegetation of lowveld luxuriance. But if man is encouraged to commune with nature, the Rousseau philosophy ends at the threshold of the resident restaurant Roots, where Jean-Jacques’ noble savages have evidently been supplanted by kitchen aristocrats.
In the last year, major awards have brought Roots to the attention of city slickers from both Egoli and Tshwane, spurring chef-patron Philippe Wagenführer to entice them with a surfeit of bright new ideas.
What drew me back here were rumours of an enticingly original breakfast menu. Rather than a dawn patrol drive, we braved a 100-minute ordeal in chaotically clogged afternoon traffic to reward ourselves with the calming effect of a night in the country, not to mention the indulgence of a 6-course gourmet dinner.
Well alright I will mention it, briefly. A well-paced succession of six small, imaginative and poetically plated courses, reflecting the chef’s vision of harmonising classical French cooking methods with Asian flavour principles, using high-quality African produce.
Each course is paired with a different selected wine, poured as a 100ml “teaser”. Most of the course-matching was apt, some controversial, all interesting to taste and talk about. With variety instead of volume, tastebud titillation replacing tummy tautness, we left the table satisfied on all levels except the redundant piped music. Contextually, what Roots needs is metaphorical Simon & Garfunkel, i.e., the sound of silence.
Whereas dinner was very much the domain of intimate stay-over couples, breakfast brought in a number of non-residents including a well-behaved family birthday party. What they came for was no traditional continental, English breakfast or self-service buffet. Instead, it is a lighter early-bird application of the tasting menu model, likewise aiming more at pleasure than plenitude.
Between fruit juice and coffee (deliberately served at the end, so as not to jar with the gentler intervening flavours), breakfast’s five courses always start with fruit and end with pastries. Between these, there is cereal, an egg dish and something fishy or meaty (but lightly so). The words hardly sound original: indeed cereal, eggs and kippers seem traditionally British, but like so much innovation, the magic resides in variations on familiar themes.
First, a divine fresh fruit smoothie was paired with chocolate-coated pear, apple and strawberry. The choc-tactics returned with white and dark shards melted with butter over hot maltabella porridge. It’s nice to see this old local favourite revived, and appropriately so since it contains sorghum, which is said to be the first grain milled in ancient Africa.
A poached egg came covered with hollandaise, beside a bacon rosette. Three nice twists: French toast under the egg, balsamic syrup beside the bacon and fragrant green herb oil (coriander, parsley and basil from their garden) as a lighter alternative to Eggs Benedict’s spinach.
Even that was eclipsed by a slab of polenta, beside a delicious medallion of salmon fillet, topped with a substantial prawn. True natural flavours, enhanced with a little chowder sauce and topped with tiny sprouts.
Ensuing croissants, muffins and scones were all miniaturised and home baked, served with a ripe fig jam. A plunger of robust filter coffee arrived now, with enough hot frothed milk to pour a do-it-youccino.
Another novelty: instead of eating first, for meetings of up to 16, they will breakfast in a function room, unobtrusively, such that you experience punctuation without distraction. Hmm, I think I’ll call a Board Meeting.
ROOTS
1st March 2008
Address:
Letamo Game Reserve
Bartlett Road
Kromdraai
The Cradle of Humankind
Tel: 011 668-7000
Web: www.forumhomini.com
email:reservations@forumhomini.com
When:
Breakfast, Lunch
& Dinner daily
Seating:
50 inside
20 side room
30 terrace
Cost:
5-course breakfast R135
Weekend brunch R175
4-course lunch R150
6-course dinner R245
6 wine teasers R 85
BYO Preferably not
Rating:
Breakfast menu * * * * ½ [keenly original]
Winelist * * * * [versatile selection]
Service * * * [very relaxed]
Ambience * * * [elegance meets nature]
Value * * * * [reasonable in context]
At a gala evening held recently, Jason and I attended the EAT OUT Restaurant Awards , whichcelebrate and pay tribute to the top foodie talent in the country.
The night was filled with anticipation and excitement as we waited for the evening to begin. Setting us all at ease was Marc Lottering, who had everyone in stitches with his comedy sketches. He created a thrilling atmosphere of suspense for the nominees. Nail biting stuff.
Sitting amongst celebrities, we were impressed by the magnitude of the event which was spectacularly well attended.
The suspense increased as one-by-one the Top 10 names were called out in no particularly order…. Suddenly, we heard Marc’s “ roots! ” We burst out of our chairs and yelled with delight - Eureka! We’ve got it!
It was time to celebrate!
To our patrons, thank you for your support and of course to our staff, you made roots what it is today.
Joyeux Noël et Bonne Année,
http://www.eatout.co.za/restaurants/topten.asp
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