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When Kolobe was originally
planned, great care was taken to sacrifice as few of the big Thorn
trees as possible. This led to the runways not exactly facing into
the seasonal wind directions....
The Kolobe "jive" was well known
to all visiting pilots. Even when there was no wind, the micro
climate around Kolobe ensures that pilots are welcomed by a little
wake up jiggle on short finals.
The decision was made - a new
runway had to be graded facing directly into the prevailing North Westerly. |
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Kolobe boasts a
variety of wild flowers |
Below: Kolobe after
the addition of the new runway
Putting the finishing
touches on the runway on Friday 26 May 2006
 
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Having to keep away from rocky
outcrops to the east of the current runways, the resulting runway
would be only 380 meters long and face the recently constructed
power line to the North East of the field. Keeping in mind that
the runway is intended for the strong North-easterly, this
presents no problem.
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Left: The
very thick brush after the grader made the first pass.
Only after the third pass did the ground resemble anything
like a runway. A pole for the electric line feeding the
Chalets is just visible above the thorn bushes. |
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Putting the blade into virgin soil at 09:30 on 28 March 2006
A
pensive Flip seeing his grazing being turned into a runway
Small
Thorn trees and the tough "Katbos" were no match for the grader
Two
blades wide and going strong
Dense
Katbos and muddy soil made the going tough
Almost
finished when....
the
rains came down! |
