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AFRICA
Wow, just the very word has invoked flights of fancy in my brain for my
entire life. A place real yet unreal, factual yet legendary, accessible
but at the same time, inaccessible. Somehow, in traveling the world,
Africa was left off of our itinerary. Every year that we didn’t go, made
it less likely that we ever would. So when a rare opportunity to travel
there came along, I jumped at the chance, knowing it may never come
along again. With the help
of friends and the support of family, I was soon off on my very first
trip to the dark continent. Specifically to South Africa, for a
month-long sojourn.
As an experienced traveler, I can tell you that the first visit to any
country is always a mystery. No matter how prepared you are and no
matter what you imagine it will be like, it is always different in
reality. The mystique around South Africa was maybe more so than most
countries we had visited. With a past of political turmoil I envisioned
something akin to a police state, based on years of television news. So
it was something more than a shock to find that if that kind of South
Africa ever existed, is surely wasn’t evident now. Sure, like any
country they have their problems and big cities there have the same
kinds of troubles common to cities in much of the world. But as a whole,
a more beautiful, well structured and diversely
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cultured
country you would be hard pressed to find. To an outsider like myself,
visiting a land where apartheid had been a long time policy, it was a
surprise to see almost no trace of racial strife. The people were on
average quite friendly, and some extremely warm and gracious. Most paid
us no mind at all and we went about our travels much as
any local might. Suffice to say, it was as nice a place
to visit as any I have ever been to. That said, this is
about all I will comment on about the ‘political’ side
of this country as basically, it was simply not a factor
in my travels.
My opportunity
to go to South Africa came as a ‘stopover’ on the way to
Madagascar. Initially planning a few days, it grew into
a full fledged expedition before it was over. With an
opportunity to visit, I contacted a few people that I
knew through our nursery business, and asked their
advice. In the end, Bernard Fischer of Nylstroom,
Limpopo volunteered to take me on what became a trip of
a lifetime. Bernard is a |
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| Bernard Fischer with cycads
near Cathcart |
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David & Bernard at the base of a
steep trail |
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nurseryman
and has specialized in African palms, but also
has quite a number of Cycads, landscape sized
succulents and much more, including a growing
collection of bromeliads! His interests lie in
every direction with regards to natural history
topics, much like myself, add to that his
encyclopedic knowledge of all things South
African made traveling with him a non-stop joy.
Before my arrival in Johannesburg, Bernard
outfitted his jeep-type vehicle with all the
supplies needed for an extended road trip and
back country travel. With all of our gear, extra
fuel and tires, us two big guys were a tight
fit, but within a day of my arrival, we were off
on our adventure.
It was early September and in this part
of the world, below the equator, it was late
winter approaching spring and there was still a
distinct chill in the air, even during the day.
In some areas winter rainfall is common,
following which the desert becomes a blaze of
colors with wildflowers and succulents of every
kind in prolific and glorious bloom. The
famed Namaqualand attracts visitors from around
the world who come just to see this amazing
wildflower spectacle. This too was on our
agenda, but first our sites were |
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set on the Eastern Cape, south to the Indian
Ocean and the coastal mountains and valleys
famous for
Haworthia
and myriad other succulent plants. On the way we
chanced to pass through the town of Cathcart,
proving that not all of my Irish ancestors
emigrated to America. Outside of town was a
valley bordered by a steep, rocky escarpment
peppered with towering
Aloe ferox
in full bloom,
Cussonias
and to our surprise,
Encephalartos friederici-guilielmi,
a rather giant-growing cycad endemic to the
region but certainly not common. A strenuous
climb to the top of the cliff afforded us a
spectacular view and a chance to get familiar
with this obscure species.
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| Haworthia coarctata |
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When we reached the town of East London, situated on
bluff above the Indian Ocean, we were in for a special
treat. One of South Africa’s best bromeliad growers
lives there, along with thousands of beautiful
bromeliads. Lyn Wegner and her husband Trevor have a
lovely house completely surrounded by a wondrous garden
of the most brilliantly colored bromeliads likely to be
found on this continent. Arranged in decorative
mini-gardens around a front-yard swimming pool and
filling every niche on all four sides of their property
is a collection consisting of choice
Billbergias, Neoregelia, Tillandsias
and many other treasures,
each grown to it’s best potential. After an all too
brief visit and luncheon with our gracious friends, we
were once again on our way.
Our next destination was Bathurst and a B&B run
by Tony and Alida Marais which became a very home-like
base for our travels of the next several days.
Travel we did! With famed
Haworthia
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general succulent expert David Cumming as a guide, we
spent the next three days ‘flying low’ along dusty
gravel roads between myriad locations known only to
David on koppies (hilltops), in valleys, beach dunes,
grassy fields, craggy mountain passes and desert-like
savanna scrublands checking off an amazing list of
Haworthias, Gasterias, Euphorbias, Aloes,
Pachypodiums
and ever so much more.
A typical stop went like this; Stop the
jeep in a swirl of dust, get out and stretch a moment
and follow David up a steep trail through thorn bush to
an obscure species of
Haworthia’s
only known habitat. After straining to actually
see the plant, he would typically give a half frustrated
sigh and point out the plant with the tip of a 24in long
screwdriver he carried as a tool/weapon. Upon seeing the
plant and taking a few pictures, it was back up the hill
or down the cliff to the jeep and off to the next stop
without delay. Only rarely did we stop at a place
unfamiliar |
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to David where we could actually explore a bit. Let me
assure you that although rushed it was, it was anything
but uninteresting.
Left to our own pace, likely we would have seen
only a tiny fraction of the species that
occur in these intensely complex and restricted
habitats. And besides, between our primary
‘target species’ we still saw many
many dozens of others no less interesting to us. In all
it was an exhausting and intense three days, but
endlessly fascinating and memorable.
Our next destination was
the area of the Oudtshoorn Mountains, across the Little
Karoo and into the Eastern Cape. Each day
the trip became more interesting as we entered wilder
places and habitats more suited to succulent plants.
Although plants were our main focus, you can not visit
South Africa without being absolutely taken in by the
abundance and variety of wildlife one encounters.
From the very first day as our
route took us past Jo’burg and Pretoria and
south, we started seeing
wildlife.
Warthogs
and Blesbok with
flocks of wild Guineafowl and the occasional Ostrich. It was pretty
much still too cool for reptiles though we did see one Egyptian cobra.
Heading west we crossed the bushveld along the Sundays River and entered
the Addo Elephant National Park, an amazing place where large animal
herds still roam and many different species can be found. Here we saw
Elephants and Burchell’s Zebra, Eland and Kudu as well as smaller
animals such as Yellow Mongoose and giant Leopard Tortoises. In fact, in
the park and out we saw animals every day in every type of habitat,
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including herds of Springbok, thousands of Ostriches, Vervet monkeys and
Chacma Baboons, Secretary Birds, Duikers and many more
species roaming free. The area around Oudtshoorn in the Little Karoo was incredible. One of
the truly world famous succulent destinations with habitats varied from
scrubby plains to rocky mountains and deep gorges.
A brief visit to the home of renown succulent expert
Gerhard Marx was an eye opener. As daylight left us we
quickly viewed his most incredible private collection
and saw some of the many species of succulents growing
naturally around his home. While a troop of Baboons
raucously called out in the valley below, Gerhard gave
us invaluable localities to search for rare succulents,
assuring us a successful journey. The bounty of the area
was matched only by the beauty of the |
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surroundings. The time we spent exploring the
koppies, mountains and canyons in this area will never be forgotten.
From vividly colored
miniature
Aloe variegata
to spiny miniature
Aloe longistyla,
the variety is astounding. Fields of white quartz were ablaze with the
flowers of
Gibbaeum. Muiria
too which is known from a single such field. Bizarre medusoid
Euphorbia gamkaensia
and
Hoodia grandis
were found in a debris strewn field around a small farm house. Canyon
walls yielded spectacular
views of
Euphorbia horrida
and blazing Aloe flowers while Rock Hyrax
or Dassies, the rodent-like closest relative of the elephant, kept a
watchful eye.
Upon leaving the Little Karoo, we breezed south through Cape Town and
headed north through the western cape towards the northern cape and
Namaqualand. We detoured to Eland’s Bay to glimpse the south Atlantic
Ocean. A wild shoreline to be sure with strong winds and abundant
wildlife. We stopped to see some
Euphorbia caput-medusae which we had known from potted plants
only. They were huge! Plants reaching over three feet
across were everywhere. Curiously the land was
posted with signs saying that the area was patrolled by San Bushmen. (We
didn’t see any.) When
we finally entered Namaqualand proper, the landscape was
transformed to that of the Succulent Karoo in which most of the plants
were succulent in nature.
Mesembs
and
Euphorbs
dominated, but with a sprinkling of almost everything
else imaginable. As the environment became increasingly
more arid nature, trees |
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disappeared, replaced by tree-sized succulents, such as
Aloe dichotoma.
Spectacular, ancient specimens dotted the hillsides with gnarled trunks
and canopies weighing tons. The floral show was in it’s full glory with
a rainbow pallet of colors in every shade. Hillsides of succulents and
wide swaths of composits lined the roads.The hillsides of
granite, shale and sandstone were a treasure trove of
botanical goodies. Unusual succulents of every stripe
were packed between rocks, under shrubs and poking out
of the colorful quartz gravels. It was the dream of any
succulent plant enthusiast to see such an array of rare
plants in one area. With cameras clicking we fairly skipped along from rock to
rock, scaling the steep hillsides and prowling, head bent downwards, the
fields of gems. Things that were familiar but that I’d never seen in the
wild were as thrilling to witness as those new to me. There is just
nothing to compare with seeing plants in their natural habitats.
By the time we reached the Northern Cape, we were deep
within Namaqualand. This succulent desert is divided
into coastal desert and various kinds of rocky and sandy
desert and scrubland. |
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 A more glorious
place for a succulent lover is hard to imagine...unless it would be the Richtersveld! When we finally arrived in Springbok, known as the capital
of Namaqualand, we were also on the doorstep of the famed Richtersveld,
perhaps the last true wilderness area left in South Africa and home to
yet more bizarre flora and dramatic scenery. In some ways we saved the
best ‘till last, but that story will have to wait until next time!
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