To build a house in Stilbaai

TheLastGreen

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I’m wondering is there a plan, materials, etc. i see lots of unspoiled land.

What kind of house?
The area is covered in thick fynbos, a tall shrub that provides dence cover for the torts.
On the first day, we'll clear all the shrubs, hopefuly not the entire 2 hectares, but a large area.
The house will have a few rooms. The main structure will be supported by large poles, so we'll have to dig some holes for the concrete, the ground is sandy, but it'll be fine.
Then the construction crew comes and builds the walls out of wood.
The walls will be covered in sink plates, to protect it from fires.
The area has water from bore holes, we have a mobile water tank, about 200l, so we'll have to make some trips!
We have four solar pannels, we'll do the electricity ourself and do the plumbing.
The house will have a gas stove, and running water from a waterbag. (A large bag thatfills itself with fresh wate from the borehole).
 

Maro2Bear

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Glenn Dale, Maryland, USA
The area is covered in thick fynbos, a tall shrub that provides dence cover for the torts.
On the first day, we'll clear all the shrubs, hopefuly not the entire 2 hectares, but a large area.
The house will have a few rooms. The main structure will be supported by large poles, so we'll have to dig some holes for the concrete, the ground is sandy, but it'll be fine.
Then the construction crew comes and builds the walls out of wood.
The walls will be covered in sink plates, to protect it from fires.
The area has water from bore holes, we have a mobile water tank, about 200l, so we'll have to make some trips!
We have four solar pannels, we'll do the electricity ourself and do the plumbing.
The house will have a gas stove, and running water from a waterbag. (A large bag thatfills itself with fresh wate from the borehole).

Interesting. Keep the photos of progress coming our way. Bonus points accrued for wildlife shots! ?
 

MenagerieGrl

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I would suggest selling the property after salting the land with small DIAMONDS....to generate interest.

Full disclosure...........I am just a wee bit biased b/c I'm allergic to Antivenin (or "antivenom"-either is correct and when one finds they are allergic, it does involve "coma") so meeting a snake that you call "native" would likely make me "dead" or at least to have a really bad day.


Wow, these aren't your small North American Timber rattle snakes (most BadA snake in North America) but the "real deal in death": how it was described to me before we went to Belize a couple years ago....9 venomous native snakes and 2 hospitals in the county!!!...,and make no mistake folks,,,,,,when a King cobra rears, he is as tall as a man, if bites you, it's in the face, not the leg. Same with the Mamba....it looks to eye to eye before it strikes if cornered....let that sink in................LOL

Best of luck brother....my ex lived in Johan for a few years before we met....she's be disgusted to know that all the snakes are still there and I'll be only too happy to tell her! She left preArp in '77............when the Maasai would eat you if they caught you, or so the kids were told <LOL>!


jeff
"I would suggest selling the property after salting the land with small DIAMONDS....to generate interest." Oh, Jeff Ur too much! ?
Stop! Ur killin me!
 

Maggie3fan

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PacificNorthWest
While it looks wild and out there...you said people walked by...so is the area behind you populated? Can anybody just drive up and pick out a spot and put up a house?
 

TheLastGreen

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Can torts eat it?
I'm not sure, it isn't poisonous to humans, @RosemaryDW may know?
"The main active component marrubiin has both antioxidant and cardioprotective properties and has shown to significantly improve myocardial function.[10][11]
One experimental animal study suggests that the aqueous leaf extract of Leonotis leonurus possesses antinociceptive, antiinflammatory, and hypoglycemic properties.[12]
An animal study in rats indicated that in high doses, lion's tail has significant toxicological adverse effects on organs, red blood cells, white blood cells and other important bodily functions. Acute toxicity tests in animals caused death for those receiving 3200 mg/kg dose. At 1600 mg/kg extract led to changes in red blood cells, hemoglobin concentration, mean corpuscular volume, platelets, and white blood cells" from Wikipedia (nothing on torts or lizards though)
 

TheLastGreen

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While it looks wild and out there...you said people walked by...so is the area behind you populated? Can anybody just drive up and pick out a spot and put up a house?
The area is surprisingly dense shrubs, for 250 hectares. The people that walked by were our "neighbours" from where we camped until the area where we are building was cleared. They walked about 3 km, past our plot, and that's where they found the snake. The original buyer wanted to buy this area, but it costed a lot of money. So he decided to give loads of people the opportunity to build on this farm, and he would get a smaller plot. So there are 250 plots, each one hectare, we have 2 hectare. So it was a smart move, he could live here, extremely remote, with other people, for a cheaper cost. Here there are about 10 to 20 people on sight, and more construction people living off grounds
 

RosemaryDW

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Snake update: Yesterday some people were walking past the area close to us, when a snake with a rounded mouth slithered past, they thought it was a harmless mole snake, and then it stood up! It was a cape cobra!
What a beautiful place!

I'm probably naive about it but my assumption is always that most snakes want to stay far away from humans; deaths from snake bites seem to be fairly rare in South Africa if one can believe the internet. I love to see snakes in the wild—quietly, from a distance! We don't have that many near my house though, and few that are dangerous.

I guess that cape cobra may actually enter houses and bite though!? Keep some pressure bandages on hand!
 
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