While at Rondeburg near Clanwilliam a flight of fancy saw me heading back to Vredenberg to have another look at the land I mentioned previously, in order to make up my mind about it. Hasn't happened. About 5 km of the road from Eland's Bay to Velddrift was bordered on both sides by an almost continuous strip of Oxalis pes-caprae which doesn't have a common English name but in Afrikaans is known as Geelsuuring, which roughly translates as Yellow sour-weed. As children, my sisiter and I used to eat all sorts of weird things and the leaves of a member of this family was also on the menu. So from first hand experience I can tell you that's very apt.
Another section of the same road was carpeted in stunted daisies that were no more than 30 mm tall, no point in wasting precious resources when you're in a low rainfall area.
On a pass coming down into the Eland's river valley is this natural arch known as Vensterklip or Window rock.
Back at Rondeberg another visit to the Cederberg was deemed necessary as the rock formations on the Pakhuis Pass are just something else and the Bidouw Valley was supposedly good for flowers, unfortunately the lack of rain made for very few.
However during what the Americans refer to as a 'comfort stop' I found this little beauty which again lacks a common name so you'll have to be satisfied with Babiana scabrifolia, shame. I consider myself very fortunate as it has an extremely limited range, but the family contains some of the most outrageously spectacular flowers imaginable.
Next stop was a bit of a culture shock as the caravan park in Vanrunsdorp was packed to the gunnels and very basic compared to the luxury of Rondeberg. What I couldn't fathom was the number of people who set up camp and then just sat. It wasn't as if there was a magic view or anything, perhaps they just like watching other people. Three nights was enough for me though this mighty lump of rock which forms part of the Gifberg (Poison mountains, not even Google could explain) had presence. Having decided that Kamieskroon and Springbok could wait till the rush died down, the search was on for somewhere a little saner.
Vredendal was checked but the only thing that held any interest was this enormous Quiver tree Aloe dicotoma, the hollowed branches of which the San used to hold their arrows. This must have been planted though as it is well outside the normal range, but I'd never seen one in flower before.
A trip up to Nieuwoudtville was a little disappointing as far as the flowers were concerned apart from a small clump of Renosterblom (rhino flower) or Arctotis aculis adding a dash of colour to the roadside. Dare say someone saw a rhino mucnhing on it 400 years ago when they still existed in the area.
Oorlogskloof, which was an absolute riot of flowers when Jo and I visited only produced a small patch of Bulbinella divaginata - I'd looove to know what the specific refers to.
I also found a road leading up into the Gifberg which sported this waterfall in spite of the drought.
Plus a patch of Ursiniea cakifolia with pretty two-tone petals.............
....... going back down.
Vanrynsdorp is known as the Gateway to Namaqaland and T V Bulpin provided a very comprehensive description of the problems that the flowers that bloom there face. Not only is rain scarce, 50 - 150 mm a year, but pollinators are also in short supply as bees are incapable of surviving on resources that only last for a couple of months. Hence flowers are short stemmed and they also resort to devious means of attracting beetles and flies by providing visual cues as demonstrated by this Osteospermum. Those black marks are randomly scattered over a few petals and look just like bugs feasting on nectar.
I discovered relative peace and sanity in the little dorp of Strandfontein, near the mouth of the Olifant's River, seen below. There are two massive municipal caravan parks most of which have on site facilities. Perdeskoen (Horseshoe) is sculpted out of a crescent shaped valley and the most imaginatively named A-block is on a ledge just above the beach. I didn't know about the second one and when booking in assumed the A-block site assigned to me was part of Perdeskoen. It was only while wandering around the next day that I found where I should have been - "old-timer's" strikes again.
One of the most spectacular raptors in this part of the world is the Black Harrier as they have wonderfully patterned wings and tail. While driving around atlassing I found one cruising next to the road and immediately slammed on anchors, grabbed the camera and leapt into action - no bird. Back into the bakkie, u-turn and roar off in the direction it was last seen - gone. Blast, another u-turn and there it was in the ditch next to the road having a quiet meal - fantastic.
Aother day took me along the Crayfish trail that runs between Strandfontein and Doring Baai, a very rugged cliff-top pathway with marvellous views but very little in the way of birds apart from a most unexpected encounter with a group of Alpine Swifts.
Scattered patches of flowers were on offer too...........
..........and in one spot almost a carpet.
Not all of them showing off though and the only bees seen in the area were all over this Euphorbia caput-medusae or Medusa's Head, very appropriate.
And THAT railway also ran past very close to the caravan park and after a while I could distinguish between the empty up-tains and the loaded down ones. How? There are 20 cross-over points along the route and one of them was mid-way to Doring Baai, so the loaded trains were slowing down when passing and the up ones accelerating, which could easily be heard.
I'd already taken a picture of the viaduct over the Olifant's River but it was definitely lacking without the train. About 8 am one morning I heard an up-train and the race was on to get to the viaduct before the train. Fortunately they are limited to 80 kph so though I had further to travel I managed to get there about 5 minutes before it. At 1.3 km the bridge is only a third of the length of the train!
I thought I'd take a stroll up to the river mouth along the beach one afternoon, but after about 3 k's gave up - just as well as it was another 5 to get there. Eventually found a road and drove down- far more civilised.
No comments:
Post a Comment