South Africa - January 2001 January 30, 2001

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South Africa - January 2001

4th trip to Port Elizabeth - Grahamstown area in 2000/2001. January 8 to 16, 2001Reed Valley - Tyolomnqa River Bridge west of East London along R72 found the tiny hairy Haworthia again.
Drove the dirts roads between Southwell, Bathurst, & Alexandria looking for rocky ridges along the several rivers that run through - the Kowie, Bushmans.Grahamstown - Hellspoort, no one home at the farm at the northern end of the poort, so didn’t hop any fences. A wonderful place with lots of interesting crassula and mesembs. Spent the afternoon at the beach at Port Alfred befor heading back to Grahamstown and north again to Fort Brown.

Bucklands

Buckland Farm - searched for Haworthia Lepida at Kwandwe (The Fort) along the Groot Vish Rivier. Didn’t find any haworthia but did find Astroloba, Aloe, and Gasteria. We saw zebra, impala, wildebeest, springbok. And a awful infestation of Opuntia growig on the cliffs of the Great Fish River.

Kwandwe was just a run down collection of farms to the west of the national road and south of the Great Fish River, Now it is an exclusive private game reserve. Can’t go walking were Lynn Phillips and I went because there are lion, and rhino there now. Whatever Haworthia grow there are now safe from development, farming, and poachers. Too bad I wasn’t able to locate anything remotely like the Haworthia lepida we have in our collections.

Valley View B&B in Addo on Sundays River. Paardepoort, Jansenville, Stytlerville, and rain. Then back to PE for the flight to Cape Town and on to the States.

South Africa - September 25, 2002 September 25, 2002

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After numerous lonely solo scavaging treks my daughter Gretchen and I joined a group tour with Kotie Retif, Gerhard Marx, Harry Mays, Mary Stone, and Dr. Hayashi for ten days in the Eastern and Western Cape in late September 2002. Botanical guide for the trip was Gerhard Marx, devoted student of the succulents of the area. Gerhard lived in Grahamstown for many years and has studied the succulent flora of the Eastern Cape and the Little Karoo extensively, and has a passion for the area.

Wednesday 25 September we departed New Britain (Bradley Hartford) for Atlanta and Capetown. Flight to Cape Town left Atlanta 3 hours late. Felt like a nursery room with kids whining the whole time – one poor woman with 3 in diapers all by herself. Seats too close, closer than before. On Demand Video is an improvement. Relatively painless flight, slept maybe 5 hours of the 14 despite the kids and the folks behind me banging my seat every time they got up.

Drove up to the Table Mountain cableway, too crowded, so Gretchen and I drove around to Camps Bay and then back to Sea Point. A relaxing first day. Winchester Mansions under construction – noisy during the day, lovely rooms. Sushi for lunch at Victoria & Alfred Waterfront, Italian at Hildebrands for dinner. Went to see the seals sleeping on the docks – sea dogs.

Friday, slept late, slept well. Foggy morning drive to Cape Point. (Friends Kobus on vacation to Rictersveld, and Bruce in Kwazulu Natal). We saw penguin at Boulders in Simonstown. Then at Cape of Good Hope we saw baboon, collected sponges, but didn’t see any marine mammals except a seal carcass. Later that night we had a nice fish dinner at Cape Town Fish Market at the Victoria and Alfred Mall.

Winchester Mansions
Beach Road, Sea Point
Tel: ++27 21 434 2351
sales@winchester.co.za
http://www.kapstadt.de/winchester/

Saturday 28 September flew from Capetown to Port Elizabeth

Flight to PE was uneventful, weather overcast. Drove to Gamtoos River and found Haworthia on the cliffs near the bridge – long thin toothed things. Drove on to Gamtoosriviermond – rustic, quiet, wonder why it’s not more developed. Drove RT102 and RT75 back to PE through Uitenhage, had lunch, then took a hike in the Baakens River Valley to see the cymbiformis.

Got to Lemon Tree Lane Guest House around 3:30. Harry Mays arrived at 5:30. Return the car at 6:45 and then to dinner with the group for the first time. Surprise, Dr. Hiashi joined the trip in place of Kanoh Kazumi.

Lemon Tree Lane Guest House
Port Elizabeth
Tel: ++27 41 373 4103
Fax: ++27 41 373 1015
lemontree@intekom.co.za
http://www.lemontreelane.co.za

South Africa - September 30, 2002 September 30, 2002

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Sunday 29 September: Port Elizabeth - Coega - over Alexandria to Ghio Bridge - Kariega River - Charlwood - Bathurst - Bloukrans – Grahamstown

Just outside of Port Elizabeth is Motherwell where the miniture Aloe bowiea (syn: Chamaeloe bowiea) is ever more threatened by urban sprawl. This plant is considered endanged due to its limited range and habitat distruction. Development of a new ocean port at Coega is likely to disrupt ever more of this unique area. Also in the area of flat lands and scrub brush are a number of medusoid Euphorbias that Gerhard is fond of (Euphorbia meloformis, E. gorgonis, E. stellata, E. globosa, E. clava, E. ledienii, E. polygona), and also some Gasteria bicolor, and several species of Aloe.

Near by we found Haworthia arachnoidea var. xiphiophylla growing in large numbers.

At Kariega River Horseshoe we found large clumps of Hawortha cymbiformis and Haworthia coartctata growing right along side of the road. The cymbiformis growing on the cliff face seem to get a lot of wind coming up from the river valley.

At Charlwood, west of Kasouga Crossing, near Port Alfred we made a visit with the mysterious and hairy Haworthia cooperi var. venusta. As far as I know this and another population near by are the only locations for this variety. With all of the people who know it’s whereabouts I hope it doesn’t get collected out. At Bloukrans, north of Bathurst we took a look at the very large growing Gasteria excelsa.

While in Grahamstown Gretchen and I stayed at a bed and breakfast on Henry Street, near the center of town and Rhodes University. The historic home and has been beautifully restored to its original English Settler style. The back gradens were very beautiful. Our hosts, with Pip and Nan Townshend were warm and made us feel very welcomed.

Arthur’s Seat
6 Henry Street, Grahamstown, 6139
Tel/Fax : 046 622 7516
Cell : 072 341 7027Email: townshend@telkomsa.net
Website: www.grahamstown.co.za/arthursseat

Monday 30 September: Grahamstown - Glen Craig - Ecca Pass - Fort Brown - Hell’s Poort - Dikkop Flats - Willow Fountain - Riebeeck East - Grahamstown

The next day we took a loop west and north of Grahamstown. Some 23 km east of Grahamstown toward Peddie we found Hawothia angustifolia. This would be as far east as we would go for the rest of the tour. Coming back west we stopped at Govenour’s Kloof and took a look at Haworthia cymbiformis growing on the cliff side. Next stop was Glen Craig, north of Grahamstown on the way to Ecca Pass. Here the Haworthia cooperi var. pilifera where just starting to come up out of the hard pack mud, near by we found Haworthia gracilis.

South Africa - October 1, 2002 October 1, 2002

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Tuesday 1 October: Grahamstown - Coldsprings - Alicedale - Ann’s Villa - over Zuurberg Pass to Addo Elephant Park

Leaving Grahamstown behind we went west to Swartwaterspoort, but due to river erosion the road through the poort was impassable. We then went up and over the Zuurber Pass. Just south of Ann’s Villa we can upon Haworthia aristata and at the top of the pass are fields of Haworthia glauca.