On a cold and rainy evening there was an excellent turn out of more than 60 members and friends to our
 20th Anniversary celebration, AGM and talks on Leopard Toads and Chameleons.

Part of the audience 28 May 2008.

The new Executive Committee elected is;

Chairman         – David Muller
Deputy Chair    – to be elected from Exco members at the first monthly meeting.
Secretary         – Lucia Rodrigues
Treasurer         – Gerrard Wigram
Exco members – Sharon Mccallum
                        – Joyce Brandt
                        – Peter Kruger
                        – Catherine Fedorsky
                        – Bowen Boshier

Presentation of Certificates
Then a special presntation was made to the people below.

(L to R) Sharon McCallum presented the Certificates to recipients,
Vincent Marincowitz, Joye Gibbs, Cherry Giljam and Una Hartley.

Vincent spoke about the importance of continuity        Cherry spoke about the continued process of learning
and new people and ideas being introduced                 and passing on the "knowledge base" to successive
and for all to get involved.                                          generations so that the ZVT legacy carries on.

See more about these hard working members.

Then our speakers were John Measey and Krystal Tolley local residents, who work at SANBI (South African National Biodiversity Institute)

John Measey                                                    Krystal Tolley

John opened with a historical look at the distribution of Western Leopard Toads with records going back to the early 1800's. Then showed how their habitat has dwindled due to the massive expansion of urban development in the Cape Town Metropole in 2007.
He showed us how to photograph Leopard Toads back patterns as each is unique and a definite way to identify individuals. At SANBI where he works there is much work being done on the Leopard Toads. A Steering Committee has been formed to promote and help with the research being done. John has a student Farrah Feldman an ex student at the Zandvlei Nature Reserve researching the Leopard Toads. A website will soon be launched to submit photos and information about Leopard Toads you may come across.
There were many questions from the fascinated audience.

Krystal put forward the theory that chameleons evolved with the Fynbos Biome when it started and moved around through the hot and cold periods adapting. She showed the distribution hotspots for Dwarf Chameleons in RSA to Something most did not know was the worlds distribution for chameleons is mostly in Africa, Madagasca and a small distribution on the Asian continent. She told us there are about 6 species not yet describbed by scientific world which they are working on at SANBI.
There were also many questions from the fascinated audience.

Krystal forgot to mention that she and Marius Burger have a wonderful book about Chameleons! 
ISBN978 - 1 - 77007 - 375 - 3
Buy a copy for yourself a friend or family member and go looking for Chameleons in your neighbourhood.

SANBI need to know more about their distribution and you can help by submitting the info.

Special Thank You
A special thank you to the following local businesses who donated food and wine for the evening;

Buitenverwagting Wine Estate
Steenberg Wine Estate
Constantia Uitsig
GetWine - Cape Town

Jakes - Steenberg Village Shopping Centre
Cape Town Fish Market - Steenberg Village Shopping Centre
Peddlars on the Bend - Constantia
Cafe Mosaic - Muizenberg
The Bizz - Blue Route Centre
Cafe au Lait - Blue Route Centre
High Tea - Plumstead.

Thank you to Dianne de Villiers for organising most of the above.