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Cape Splendour
The Tour
Arrivng in Capettown on a windy chilly morning Peter and Rosemary were met by Cape Splendour Tours. Julie driving and Ann, ready to give us all the information about the route and the flowers.We set off north for Clanwilliam under grey skies ,with just a little sunshine and warmth breaking in by the afternoon. A stop at Ramskop flower reserve introduced us to the myriad flower species of South Africa. Ann valiantly started to help us identify them, but by the end of the afternoon pigs snot (the Afrikaans name) grielum humufusum was the only one we remembered.A nasty name for a pretty pale lemon flower.The weather worsened as we stopped at the Karukareb Wilderness reserve for the night.We were the only guests and found the place rather cold and unwelcoming.
By the next morning the rain had started,Julie and Cape Splendour drove on bravely through the rain while Ann entertained us with tales of Boer settlers trekking through these same mountains.We stopped at Garies, at the best information centre in the area I should think. West Cape music ,lots of local stuff to buy and a knowledgeable lady called Sonia. Ann discussed flowers and roads and in view of the weather changed our itinerary round. We then drove on over the pass to Naries Namakuru Retreat. We passed a lone photographer standing on the ridge of the pass obviously waiting for a picture. Questioned he told us, he was taking pictures of sun rays!! As we left we could see what he meant as the sun drifted down through clouds towards sunset,beams of light illuminated the valley landscape below.
An unexpected encounter at Naries with Andre,a game ranger we had met previously at Bartholomeus Klip was a bonus and we enjoyed the warmth and food at the lodge.Ann was concerned for the flowers and we hoped for more warmth and light for the following day.Next morning it was still cold, but the rain had stopped. We bundled ourselves into coats, scarves and gloves and set off for Goegab Nature reserve. We stopped on the way to explore the old copper mining towns near Springbok. The sun came out and so did the flowers,Namaqualand daisies,brilliant orange, stained the hillsides with colour. In other places yellow oxalis and purple mesembryanthemums interrupted the orange glow. Even the cracks in the granite mountainsides were studded with daisies, almost like rivulets of lava
Goegab was spectacular landscape with granite turrets and towers but the flowers were disappointing whether because it was still too cold or the rain had not fallen at the right time we didn't know. However, by three in the afternoon, when we arrived at Skilpad nature reserve the fields and hillsides were covered with millions of flowers. Lots more Namaqualand daisies(dimorphoteca sinuata) but amongst them lots of other species.
The most curious of these were the Lapeirosias and babianas,both are pollinated by bees and flies which have especially long legs and tongues to fully penetrate the flower. The flowers have long tubes filled with nectar and oil and as the insect reaches down into them the pollen is brushed on to their thorax to be carried on to the next plant. Each flower had a series of patterns and dots to guide the insect to the exact entry point.
As we returned the hesparantha flowers were opening, as the moth which fertilises them only flies in the late afternoon.Another colchichum is fertilsed by a mouse and the proteas by sun birds. Clearly South African plants are into a variety of sexual partners!!
We spent the night at Kamies Kroon Hotel, a rather ordinary hotel but made extraordinary, by the quality of the photos hanging on the walls, and the photo show we saw in the evening. Six would be photographers had been doing a course organised by the hotel and each shared 10 of their favourite shots. All were amazing some dreamy and arty and some, wonderful studies of flowers. Peter was all for joining their next session in March, camping on the seashore on the Western cape but then realised it would clash with the Cape Argus ride.
The next morning we set off through the mountains for Niewouldtville, a small village famous for its flowers and bulbs. Ann's husband was brought up in the area and she knows it well.The ride over the mountains on gravel roads towards Liliesfonteine was quite an adventure . We were really excited to find a pure white colchichum growing on the road side in profusion, presumably the lilies, but nowhere could we find the village. However the rain the day before semed to have stumulated the reptiles into movement and we saw four tortoises and a beautifully marked puff adder walking or sliding across the road. None of us got out to ooh and aah at the puff adder though.
More rocky passes and rough roads and the Cape Splendour VW bus finally drew to a halt at Matjeisfontein farm, in time for the flowers and the sunshine. Here the colour scheme had changed a little, more yellow daisies amd bulbanillas, white Cape rain daisies,hesperantas and leiporosas. A marvellous sight enhanced by the sun. Cardigans and coats were thrown away and like the flowers we turned our faces to the spring sunshine.
We stayed at De Lande guest house for two nightsand met a number of fellow enthusiasts for both the flowers and birds.The second day we managed to fit in the waterfall and the Quiver tree forest and do a tour of the Hantan Botanical garden This is the farm once owned by Ann's father in law and given to a conservation group a few year's ago. A ride on an old Bedford bus circa 1960 with Eugene the reserve manager gave us a fantasic overview of the work they are doing. They hope to recover the flower species which were removed by farming methods and the. introduction of foreign grasses. Lots of species but the romulas, one yellow with blacmarkings and the other the satin flower in a wonderful bright red, show what careful grassland and ecosystem management can do. The variation of the species as the soil type changed was amazing even the bulbanillas changed to orange from bright yellow.
Similarly the next day as we set off over the Butterkloof pass and the Biedonow valley the flower species changed again.The valley sides were covered in fields of pale orange moorea. There were also orange daisies including the beetle daisy which reproduces almost exactly the shape and form of a beetle in the flower ,to kid the real insect into alighting to mate. In some cases there are two or even three of these pseudo beetles, group sex anyone?
Throughout the fields there were lots of other species and Ann could be heard having little excited squeaks, as she identified yet another rarity. The lilac coloured gladioli orchiflora were especially lovely and smelt wonderful too.Our picnic surroinded by flowers was especially memorable and no one really wanted to move. Further down the valley another walk through flowers and here a small stall selling packs of rooibos tea was set up in the field. I felt it was bit of of a shame the kettle wasn't there too!
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