Bonamanzi and beyond

With my time in Durban drawing to a close, a walk in Ktantzkloof was called for and the chosen route was from Uve Road up to the beacon and back.  This involved crossing a stream that shortly after this spot plunges about 30 m into the Molweni Gorge and was pictured from the opposite side of the gorge in a previous blog.

Up at the beacon I came across this gorgeous brute who was manfully defending his territory from all comers. The aptly named gaudy commodore has two totally different morphs and what emerges from the chrysalis is dependant on ambient temperature, this being the winter version, while the summer ones are scarlet.

I believe it was Ian Fitzpatrick, the man in charge of the reserve in the 90's, who showed me what must have been used by bushmen in eons gone by. As visitors are not encouraged there is no path to the site and you need to know which tree guards the entrance.

A narrow squeeze between a rock and a hard place...............

.............leads to a spacious ledge with an ample overhang for protection against the elements...........

...........and a sheer drop of around 50 m to the bottom of the gorge!

A very special bedroom but if you roll around in your sleep.............

As I still had some nights left from my previous visit it was back to Bonamanzi where I managed to get a rather fuzzy shot of a purple-banded sunbird who actually sat still for a microsecond or two.  Very handsome in the early sun.

Though still very dry spring had begun in the area and an African dog rose Xylotheca kraussiana was absolutely covered....

............in delicate white blossoms that were a magnet for carpenter bees by the hundred.

Though I've met the tree before it was a novelty to see a Swazi ordeal tree Eryhtrophleum lasianthum in flower.  Parts of the tree are poisonous and it was used to determine guilt by the rather brutal method of administering an infusion to the suspect and if he or she died, good riddance and if not they were obviously innocent.

Also in copious bloom the caper bush Capparis tomentosa has a particularly powerful, sweet-smelling scent and it surprises me that no-one has ever used it for perfume - business opportunity anyone?

Managed to get a slightly better shot of the elusive lemon-breasted canary, but only the female, oh well if at first...........

Have been keeping an eye out for the pygmy geese that used to frequent a dam near the gate but actually found them on the big dam at Lalapanzi and managed to sneak close enough for a picture of the female............

...........and her very handsome mate.  Though there are three species of birds called geese in southern Africa, none of them are true geese, merely ducks that look similar.  Think of one of those large honking horrors that frequent barnyards - that's a goose.

My beauty sleep was interrupted by much twig snapping followed by thunderous branch cracking and belly rumbles the other night.  I didn't dare investigate in the pitch black but the following morning it was clear who the nocturnal visitor was, the broken branches............

............and oversized foot prints - with my puny foot as comparison pointed to something big and wrinkly.  Ah yes, said Andre (who rescued the Beast from a sand trap when I first arrived) that's the big bull elephant, did you get to see him?  You've gotta be joking.

My lovely lady returned from a 3 week stint in Croatia and Italy and as it was a long weekend I took a drive up to Whiteriver - getting to be a habit! The Botannical Garden in Nelspruit is probably second only to Kistenbosch and the clivias were in majestic bloom.

 Not sure who mentioned it but as Graskop was just up the road I managed to fold myself into the bright yellow Mercedes SLK that she had repurchased 20 years after owning it from new.  Unfortunately the roof refused to fold down but it was still an entertaining ride to the Gorge Lift.  This drops one 51 m to the bottom............

 

.........where a 600 m boardwalk winds through the forest.  Unfortunately there is also a bungee swing and the silence was periodically shattered by screams as various loons did a 60m free fall before the swing took over.

A massive fig had madea natural arch by dropping an adventitious root to prevent it from toppling.

Right at the bottom of the cliff a little waterfall trickled into a natural swimming pool.

Although the weekend turned into a week I was eventually forced back to Bonamanzi as the site my van was on had been booked and I needed to move.  When I arrived at the other site, I was greeted by a massive bush absolutely laden with tiny, white, sweet-pea shaped flowers.  A quick consultation with the book and voila a species I'd never come across previously a glossy flat-bean Dalberia nitidula.

Also in luxuriant bloom currently are the weeping boer beans Schotia brachypetala - and that's shottia not scotia as it was named after Richard van der Schot, head gardener of Schonbrunn (not Sconebrunn) in Vienna.

Had to go to St Lucia to get laundry done and returned via the Western Shores section. I carefully maintained the speed limit but at the exit was told that the minimum amount of time to traverse the park was and hour and a half so was basically held hostage for another 40 mins, ridiculous.  However it allowed time to pop up to Charter's Creek and it was great to see the extent of the water in an area that was dry for many years.

Have mentioned before the ever changing scenery outside the van windows and currently these two huge Zulu pod berries Dialium schlechteri fill the frame and provide wonderful shade.