The Great Karoo, the Klein Karoo, & the Garden Route--part 4

In keeping with what has become one of the secondary themes of our trip, eating our way across South Africa, we had wonderful, and large, breakfast to start our day in Calitzdorp. And a pot of brewed coffee, how nice! We chat with Zurika about things to do and decide to head to one of the wineries and then to drive one of the other passes while she checks on a visit to a working ostrich farm. We will check with her in the afternoon about the ostrich farm.

Here is a picture of the back of the guest house, a very attractive building with much care given to the grounds outside. Beautiful thatch roof and inside the ceilings in the rooms are of bamboo that is harvested locally. The original building is from 1830 and it is in great shape. Very well taken care of. And the pictures below are of the view from our window across the vineyard to the mountains. Certainly makes it easy for one to relax.



















Should have paid a bit more attention to the sky. It was already beginning to gather some clouds. And these would bring us rain throughout the day.


We once again took advantage of the informational materials provided in our room and drove toward a winery by way of a tour of the buildings of Calitzdorp. That also provided us with some of the history of the city and region. And it led us to De Krans winery, which had a path through the vineyards and orchards with information about the different grapes and fruit trees being grown. We set off on the path and quickly realized LRW wasn't happy about the loose sandy substrate. I parked Marcia under a nice trellis and continued on the walk to see the rest. I passed a number of workers busy pruning the new growth of the grape vines. And as I neared the end of the walk the rain began to fall. So back I headed as quickly as possible to get Marcia in before the rain became too heavy. I am sure there was some puzzlement among the workers as Marcia sat in the rain and didn't head in. I think a rescue party was being organized as I helped her make her way back to the tasting building. And taste we did! But first an ornithological interlude. This bird is a hoopoe. What a striking bird it is. And it is even more so when it has its crest raised. This is the third or fourth one we have seen. I still get excited when I see one.So here it is about 10 in the morning and Marcia and Edward are tasting wines. We at least get our hostess to only pour one glass for the two of us, not two! When the dust settles we have purchased one bottle of the tawny port, one white, one rose, and two reserve muscat. The grand total was less than $20! Great prices for some very good wine. I am amazed at the number of wineries around and continue to wonder how they all survive. And I have to say I have never seen so many grape vines!

We finished our drive through town and looked at more buildings and historical sites and then headed west to Seweweekspoort pass. This is a less traveled pass and only has a gravel road. And this pass was through the Klein Swartberg Mountains, though they were pretty spectacular to me. We just ambled slowly through the pass, stopping as we needed when something caught our attention. And we did this through periods of heavy and light rain. As has been the case in all areas we have visited, there were numerous wild geraniums to be found. Here is one of the large ones, both is terms of plant and flower. Many individuals of this species of Pelargonium were as tall or taller than the car. And the flowers were 2+ cm across.


Upon our return to Port-Wine we learned that the weather and other circumstances will prevent us from seeing ostriches this day. Maybe tomorrow. Not a problem. I can work on editing and labeling pictures before dinner, again to be in house. Tonight is a traditional South African entree, bobotie. Bobotie is a slightly sweet spiced minced dish with a custard topping. Add to that squash fritters and Malva pudding for dessert and you get two very full and contented tourists from Virginia. And what made the meal even nicer were our table companions. They were a younger couple from Joberg/Pretoria and their young daughter. He is an economist and his dad was a farmer. Learning of his family's experiences and his views of the state of the country was most enjoyable and educational. Quite a nice way to finish a very enjoyable day.

Edward

The Great Karoo, the Klein Karoo, & the Garden Route--part 3

Time to leave BW and to head south and a little west. That means we leave the Great Karoo and cross the Swartberg Mountains to get to the Klein Karoo. To do this we have to drive through one of the numerous passes through the mountains. We take the pass through Meiringspoort, a route that follows the valley of the Groot River gorge. What a ride this is, twisting and turning through the folds of the sandstone layers of the Cape mountains.
And along the way there are very nice places to pull off to admire the view, each with big open areas with restrooms and picnic shelters with braai facilities of one sort or another. South Africans love to braai!

Where we pulled over there were additional informational displays and a short path to one of the many waterfalls in these mountains. The buildings in these areas were all thatch-roofed structures. These roofs are constructed of a species of restio. Restios are southern hemisphere plants that in appearance are very similar to our rushes, Juncus. But there are so many different species here, over 300 ranging from a few cm in size to meters. Many species were used for thatching historically but now one species is commercially most used, Thamnochortus insignis. The literature states that good thatch roofs can last from 30 years along the coast to 70 years in dry regions such as the Karoo. And they are very attractive!

It appeared that a number of the buildings where we stopped had been damaged by falling rocks. Workers were busy reconstructing the roofs of two of the buildings. Thought this might be of interest.

Note how thick the thatch layer is, and how flat and smooth edged the finished roof is.


Just a note about the informational display. As has been the case for informational displays in a number of settings, there were numerous fresh plant specimens presented. With each were scientific name and common names, usually both English and Afrikans, and use and/or importance information. Where would you see this in the States?

The Meiringspoort is a botanically rich region. Plants from four different veld types can be found: forest (more found along the coast where we are going), Great Karoo, Klein Karoo, and fynbos. The result is very high soecies diversity and many endemics. It is from here that the wild geranium Pelargonium zonale was collected in 1689. This is one of the most important parent plants in the modern geranium industry. Quite a place.

Once through the mountains we stopped in Oudtshoorn, the hub of the Klein Karoo and the center of the orchid feather boom in the 1880s. It is a big city now and ostriches still play a large role in its life. But now it is not for feathers but meat and leather are the products. And to perform for the tourists at one of the many ostrich show farms. After lunch we strolled through a bit of downtown Oudtshoorn, calling it quits when LRW couldn't overcome the barriers. Then we packed up and headed to Calitzdorp.

As we got closer to Calitzdorp we noticed a large whitish raptor on the telelphone poles, not just a few but many. These were southern pale chanting goshawks. And the Calitzdorp area is a hotspot for them. There was also one jackal buzzard that played hard-to-see with us. It flew just out of view as soon as we approached too close. Pretty to watch it fly at least!

And before we knew it we had driven through Calitzdorp. It is even smaller than BW. I don't remember seeing a robot in town! We found Port-Wine Guest House, thatch roof and a grape vine arbor and a vineyard and the mountains out our window. We decide to have dinner here tonight. Good decision. Delicious food and Malva pudding for dessert. Had a nice chat with Zurika, number two in charge and in charge of the kitchen. She spent a year in Winston-Salem, NC, as an au pair. Small world. She will help us in deciding what to do the next day. Great people once again.

Edward

The Great Karoo, the Klein Karoo, & the Garden Route--part 2

After a full breakfast at the Donkin CH we took a quick tour of Beaufort West using the guide from the lodge. What I finally realized was that the famous heart surgeon Christian Barnard was a BW son. There were many references to a Chris Barnard around town, but I was slow in making the connection. Given that we stay just down the road from Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town, where he worked and performed his famous operation, I shouldn't have been so slow. Once done looking at the famous places in BW we began our tour of Karoo National Park. And to balance the family picture in the previous post here is one of my copilot and spotter. Styling, don't you think!

This is a typical view of the landscape, low shrubs with much bare soil. Notice the patches of color on the soil's surface. Hard to imagine these are plants that are in bloom!
And this is one of the plants responsible for the color. Another of the vygies. Notice the leaves even show some yellow color.And notice the stones on the soil surface. They were of all sizes and all over. A very tough environment for a plant!

Along the road we drove, very slowly, with me and my copilot looking for anything interesting. When something interesting was spotted the car would stop and out I would go to investigate. It was after doing this for some time did we realize we were not to leave our car unless in designated areas. How could that work for a pair of curious foreign botanists surrounded by new and different plants! And we would have missed seeing this beauty, a member of the milkweed family, Hoodia bainii. What a find by Marcia! This specimen was a bit more than a foot tall amidst all the other scrubby shrubs.

And here are some of the other interesting plants we found. Just amazing how many different species there are and how many were in bloom. This is Karoo violet, Aptosimum indivisum, and it is not a true violet.

This is Dicoma spinosa, a member of the Asteraceae. Just one of many with spines.

This was a shrub we saw all over the Karoo. It is Grewia robusta.


And now for some really big thorns! These go with the pretty white flowers below. They all belong to Maytenus heterophylla. The Master Gardeners should be happy Marcia doesn't have this in the arboretum!



We saw animals as well and could identify many of them. There were springbok and female kudu, birds of all sizes, at least two different skinks, and tortoises big and small. Here is one of the big ones.Probably a leopard tortoise. Marcia really enjoyed seeing these guys!

And there were insects! This is the elegant grasshopper that is often found in great numbers on a particular milkweed, which this is. Only found this one.

And one of the many butterflies visiting the available flowers.


We were able to take The Fossil Trail as it was wheelchair friendly, but the heat was once again a bit too much for Marcia. Once refreshments were gotten we headed up the road to Klipspringer Pass. What a beautiful drive that was all ours. We could look back across the park and see all the way to BW, at least 30 km away. This picture doesn't begin to convey the grandeur of the landscape. What a great drive up and back.

It was on the drive down that we spotted the kudu in the valley grazing in the shrubs along the waterway. No males with the big horns, but neat to see anyway.

Finding some shade for Marcia I headed off to follow the Bossie Trail. This is a trail up the side of a koppie, hill, along which many plants have been numbered. A small pamphlet is available to tell you about each of the numbered plants. Sixty-five different plants are numbered and some have more than one specimen marked. A nice hike and plenty to see along the way. Great way to learn new plants!

As the day progressed the sky filled with some dark and heavy clouds. Should have been a sign of things to come, but we had other plans. It was dinner at the restaurant at the reception area and then a night ride to look for animals.

Had Karoo lamb as we were supposed to do while in the Karoo and it was delicious. Then we got loaded on the vehicle that would drive us around in the dark. But first it was put on the parkas as the rain was starting to fall. And then the lightning and thunder began. But off we went to see animals. What a ride! Very few animals out as they knew better than to be out in a storm as energetic as this was. The lightning lit up the sky for huge distances and the thunder was deafening. But onward we bounced. We did see a few animals but mainly saw rain and lightning and thunder. And the temperature dropped markedly. A good Karoo storm! Though we didn't see much it was a good ride.

On the drive out of the park we did add to our species list. We spotted a hartebeest grazing on the side of the road. It seemed to enjoy the spotlight of our headlights and made no attempt to change what it was doing. We left it to its feeding and finished our drive back to the Donkin CH. We were exhausted. What a great day. What an interesting habitat to visit.

Edward

The Great Karoo, the Klein (Little) Karoo, & the Garden Route--part 1

It's Saturday, October 15th, and we are packed and ready to go. We went to the From the Earth Expo at the Cape Town International Convention Center on Friday evening. This was a display of agricultural products and activities brought to the city. Many animals and much food to sample and buy. Not many people in attendance but maybe there were more on Saturday and Sunday. Had some good conversation with a beekeeper and folks from WWF-SA. Also got information on different degree programs in agricultural fields. Glad we went.

Off to the east we head along the N1, one of the main national highways. This one is the one that goes to Johannesburg, known as Joburg, and Pretoria and ends in the far northeast of the country, at the border with Zimbabwe. We weren't going that far, just to Beaufort West in the heart of the Great Karoo. Our first stop is for gas at a garage along the highway. Getting gas is an experience no matter where you get it in SA, but this was quite an experience. When you turn into a garage at least one if not many attendants greet you and attempt to direct you to a particular pump. In this case there were many attendants guiding me in. I told one of them to fill the tank and before I could say anything else the others were giving the whole car a wash. Not with a hose but with buckets of soapy water and rags. They even scrubbed the tires and hubcaps and towelled the car dry. Usually they wash the windscreen, and usually after asking. But this time it was the whole car. I rummaged through my pockets and collected some bills and change to give them. It wound up being 24 Rand, a little over $3. And that was probably generous by SA standards. Wow!

The next stop was the Karoo Desert National Botanic Garden in Worcester. Karoo is a term that is applied to the arid regions of SA. This encompasses a huge area and extends from the Atlantic coast above the area of the fynbos across more than half the interior of the country. As you probably already guessed there are differences across this huge area, thus the Great Karoo and the Klein Karoo (and these are only two). And the differences come down to rainfall, when it occurs and how much falls. The Great Karoo is a summer rainfall region while the Klein Karoo is a winter rainfall region. The result is that though the landscape is a harsh one, there is tremendous plant diversity present. Some of the descriptions of the Karoo seen are 'richest desert flora in the world', 'largest variety of succulents found anywhere on earth', and 'more species than in the whole of Great Britain'. And one source puts the number of plant species in the Karoo, all varieties, at 9000. Thus the stop at the botanical garden. And it was worth it. Plants of all shapes and sizes and flowers the same. Not all of what we saw would be in the Great and Klein Karoos, but much would. And the others were from areas we probably will not get to see in person so this would have to do. Here are a few pictures to give some feel for what we saw. But first I have been instructed that photographic proof was needed to show I am actually still around! And the hat proves it!!

This is what the landscape looks like. Notice the patches of color. And notice there is much silver and grey to the foliage as might be expected in such a water limited environment.


Here is what some of the patches of color are. And there are reds and purples and whites! Most of these plants are called vygies. And if you think you've pronounced that word correctly you are terribly mistaken. I am still trying to get it!



The big plants below are a species of aloe (Aloe dichotoma). The common name is quiver tree. Guess what is made from the trunk. And the trunk is used as a natural fridge! The sap is also used. This plant is found in the very dry regions of the Karoo known as Namaqualand and Bushmanland. These areas are to the north of the Cape and continue into Namibia. Neat plants! And notice the mountains, they are everywhere!

Great run through the garden but it did get hot. A bit too hot for Marcia and she was showing the signs of overheating. So after a spin through Worcester looking for a convenient place to get some lunch we got back on the N1 and made a stop at a little shop next to a local garage. Marcia got her ice cream and I got a toasted ham, cheese, and tomato sandwich with a ginger beer. I am going to miss these sandwiches! Everybody makes them and with some wonderful fillings. Then on the road we were again. This was for a lengthy drive to our evening's destination, Beaufort West. BW is a small town in the middle of nowhere, but it is on the edge of Karoo National Park, and that is where we wanted to be.

It was a long drive with many delays for road work. Not just any type of road work but three very specific types: maintenance, rehabilitation, and construction. And lots of it! The landscape became noticeably drier after we made our way through vineyards and olive groves. Then there were sheep and every once in a while a few cattle. We were in the Karoo.

We arrived in BW and drove through town in about 5 minutes, and that was even with time at robots, those are traffic lights. We found our place of residence for the next two nights, Donkin Country House, and I was not impressed. We could manage with the wheelchair but it was not wheelchair friendly. The chef was not going to be in town to prepare our Karoo lamb dinner on Sunday evening as planned (not a problem as it turnd out). And there were a few too many bugs in the room for Marcia. It could have been worse. Next up was to find a place to eat. That was something of a challenge, remember how big BW is, but Mac Young's A Taste of Scotland Restaurant was found. I am still trying to figure out why Scotland in the middle of the Great Karoo in SA! And we were the only ones there. Once again, it could have been worse! At least we got to head to bed early. Good thing as it turned out, the next day was very full!

Edward