Name the chick entries now open with lovely prizes to be won

There has been plenty of activity in the Walter Sisulu National Botanical Garden with the main characters being the Black Eagles playing out what seems to be a successful breeding cycle.

The Black Eagle Project Roodekrans (BEPR) has witnessed some unexpected and rather exciting events in the past months. Now, in partnership with the Roodepoort Northsider, Clearwater Mall, Synergetix, Burger Bistro Little Falls, and Nadine van Zyl Photography they are running the Name the Chick competition 2020.

Members of the public and wildlife enthusiasts are invited to send in their suggested names for Makatsa and Mahlori’s new chick and stand a chance to win a R500 Clearwater Mall voucher, a Burger Bistro Little Falls dinner voucher for two, a Nadine van Zyl Photography photo shoot voucher, and a free, one-year domain and website hosting from Synergetix.

The rules are simple:

• Each person can submit only three names to reach the organisers by no later than 4 September. It should preferably be an African name that has some meaning or link to the Garden.
• Each person submitting the names is encouraged to explain the meaning of each name. As the gender of the bird is still not known the public is encouraged to suggest a name that is not gender-specific.
• When the competition closes, the names will be sent to BEPR chairperson, Gerald Draper and his committee to decide the winner through independent voting.
• The winner will be announced in September, a week after the closing date for the submission of names.

Enter here:

The Black Eagles have been breeding in the Walter Sisulu National Botanical Garden since the 1940s, and since the official formation of the BEPR in 1992, two adult birds have been replaced.

Quatele disappeared in 1999 and was replaced by Thulani, who also disappeared in 2019 and was replaced by Mahlori.

Emonyeni who disappeared in 2016 was replaced by Makatsa.