This blog comes from Cape Town, one of the world’s most beautiful cities at the south-western tip of the African continent.
Feeding the wolves: Musings about Hyobanche sanguinea
Mention the word parasite and a number of things may spring into one’s mind: squiggling flesh-eating maggots, blood sucking fleas and ticks, giant nematodes and many other gruesome critters too numerous to mention. It is fascinating to note that there are thousands of parasites within the plant kingdom as well and one of South Africa’s most well-known and widespread examples, Hyobanche sanguinea is pink and furry and really rather beautiful.
Life in miniature: Solving the mysteries of Biological Soil Crusts
So what do a tuna tin, a paint scraper and several thousand sosatie sticks have in common? Confused? The answer is elementary my dear Watson: all are important tools of the trade in undertaking research into Biological Soil Crusts. Last year I spent two months in Namaqualand assisting a German colleague with her research work and discovering that there is far more than meets the eye to these tiny members of the Succulent Karoo plant community.
Tandskoonmaak – The place to keep your teeth clean….
Instructions were clear and to the point. “The first rule is not to leave the door open otherwise the mice will come in. The second rule is not to leave the door open otherwise the snakes will follow the mice in”. We’d just arrived at Tandskoonmaak, translated literally from Afrikaans meaning the place to keep your teeth clean. Clean teeth or otherwise, we were feeling as though we’d arrived in a different world, one that was only three hours drive from the bustling city of Cape Town.
A Stink on the Stoep
This autumn the weather of the last few weeks has had Capetonians all over hunkered down with their hot chocolate and warmest clothes and blankets, as unusually early winter rain has arrived. There has been a distinct chill in the air and reports have come in of snow falls in the mountains further inland. While drinking my morning tea on the stoep and watching raging torrents of water cascading down the eastern face of Table Mountain, I noticed this curious and beautiful plant flowering at my feet for the first time.
Conserving the triffids…..
The photo above shows Drosera regia, the King Sundew, growing wild in its natural habitat. It is incredibly rare, only occurring in one valley in the Cape Fold Mountain Range of South Africa. There are just two populations with a small number of individuals, making this the most endangered species of Drosera in the world and it is threatened with extinction in the wild. Despite this, the species remains absent from the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
Planting endangered cedar trees in the Cederberg
A bitterly cold winter weekend in June brought us to the Cederberg Mountains which lie three hours drive to the north of Cape Town. This beautiful and rugged range is 100km in length and is known for its spectacular sandstone rock formations (such as the Maltese Cross and the Wolfberg Arch), ancient San rock art and being the home of rooibos tea! The shy Cape leopard is fairly common here but rarely seen. The highest peak in the area is Sneeuberg at 2,026m asl. which is one of only two mountain peaks in the area that is home to the Cederberg endemic Snow Protea (Protea cryophila).
Cape Town is situated on the rugged and mountainous Cape Peninsula, stretching from the iconic profile of Lions Head, Table Mountain and Devil’s Peak in the north to the Cape of Good Hope in the far south. Table Mountain was voted one of the new Seven Wonders of the natural world.
What makes the Cape Peninsula so special?
The Cape is characterised by a type of vegetation known as fynbos, a Mediterranean climate shrubland that is both fire prone and fire dependent. Fynbos is renowned for its phenomenal plant diversity with a total of more than 9,000 species of vascular plants in an area less than the size of Portugal. The Cape Peninsula has 2,285 plant species and Table Mountain alone has almost 1,500 species in just 57 square kilometres.
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Taking Action
There are many environmental organisations based in Cape Town and beyond that require the services of volunteers to undertake their work. So if you have a little time to spare please get involved.