In Search of the Horticultural Big Five

South Africa Trip Expedition Log
2/5/2005 - 2/24/2005

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Trip Participants: Tony Avent, Plant Delights Nursery, NC
Jim Dodson, Author/Journalist, ME	Hans Hansen, Shady Oaks Nursery, MN	Wade Roitsch, Yucca Do Nursery, TX	Carl Schoenfeld, Yucca Do Nursery, TX

South Africa has long been an interest of ours since we grow so many wonderful plants native to the region. Our goal was to put together a trip to photograph plants in the wild and study the natural habitats in which they grow. By learning new plants which might be adaptable to our climates, we can focus our trialing of new plants based on how and where they grow in the wild. Ferns are a great interest, since virtually non of the rich South African fern diversity has ever been cultivated in the West. Some South African plants that you may recognize are the kniphofia (red hot poker), gladiolus, agapanthus, crocosmia, freesia, most cultivated asparagus ferns, veltheimia, eucomis (pineapple lily), scadoxus (blood lily) lachenalia, moraea, aloe, delosperma, clivia, crassula (jade plants), haworthia, gasteria, strelitzia (bird of paradise), plectranthus (sweedish ivy), cissus (grape ivy), pelargonium (pot geraniums), protea, and much more. Many of these are recognizable as house plants, but their native ranges often reach elevations that should make them suitable for garden perennials in warmer parts of the US.

The two primary areas of focus for our trip are the Eastern Cape and Western Cape Provinces. The Western Cape is the drier of the two areas and is primarily a winter rainfall region. The Eastern Cape is much wetter and is a summer rainfall region. Since South Africa is in the Southern hemisphere, their seasons are reversed from those of us in the north. In the Eastern Cape, the weather fronts come from the Indian ocean and drop their moisture on the eastern mountain slopes, creating a 'rain shadow' or dry area on the western slopes. The moisture in the Western Cape comes from the Atlantic ocean to the south and hence the rain shadow occurs on the north slopes.

We picked a good year since this has been on of the best rainfall years in recent history in the Eastern Cape. The downside is that while we are at the end of the rainy season, the area that we are visiting is still prone to heavy rains and possible flooding. Since we are traveling in the Southern Hemisphere, February would be the equivalent of our month of August. We chose this time to catch the end of the summer flowering season and the start of the seed production season. During our trip, we will be traveling from coastal towns to over 8,000' in elevation. While elevations are an important factor in plant hardiness, it does not seem to always be reflected in the hardiness of some bulbous plants that have been much hardier than their native coastal ranges would indicate.

Before we left and while we were in South Africa, everyone talked about seeing the 'Big Five.' This refers to the fauna list of elephant, lion, rhino, leopard and buffalo. After the trip, we made up our list of the 'Big Five' from a flora point of view. The results of the voting are Aloe, Brunsvigia, Kniphofia, Haemanthus, and Agapanthus. So, if you go to South Africa, don't miss our Big Five.

Day 1, Saturday February 5, 2005

We rendezvoused in Atlanta for our transatlantic flight to Capetown...Hans from Minnesota, Carl and Wade from Texas, and Jim from Maine. At 1030am, we took off in our Airbus 600 for the flight to Capetown. The first 8 hour leg took us to a refueling stop on the Cape Verde Islands off the West Coast of Africa. When we boarded in Atlanta, we were given a re-boarding pass so that we could depart the plane during our refueling stop in Cape Verde. Upon arrival, the flight attendant announced that no one could leave the plane as this has been their policy since 9/11. Obviously, we are at odds with this tiny Portugese island. Perhaps, they didn't send troops to Iraq. It would have been nice if during the last 3 years someone on the plane would have informed their ticket agents of this change in policy. After a bizzarre 1.5 hour layover, we were on our way for the second 8.5 hour leg to Johannesburg.

I probably don't have to tell you that it's a long flight to South Africa...22.5 hours to be exact. On a flight this long with little leg room there isn't much to do except meet the people around you...good, bad, otherwise. Diagonal from me was an aerospace engineer from Texas who designed Michael Gorbachev's personal plane as well as designing a plane to carry the latest space telescope. Across the aisle was a young woman who was born in Tennessee, but returned home with her parents to Durban, South Africa before the age of 1. Now that she had gotten her PhD in pediatric medicine she wanted to work in the US and was returning home from a round of job interviews.

Then, beside me, there was Michael. As we sat on the plane waiting to depart from Atlanta, I had a ebullient feeling that only comes over you when you hear the plane door close and find there is a vacant seat beside you for a long overseas flight. There was only 13 minutes left before our departure time and everyone had been seated for at least 10 minutes. A head appeared at the door, and then, like a stalker marking his prey, he marched directly for the vacant window seat beside me. Throwing his bag in seat, he muttered about visiting the loo, and he was off again. He returned to his seat and we buckled ourselves in...one obviously relieved and one disappointed.

'That was close,' he said, introducing himself as Michael. I asked if he missed his connection. 'No,' he replied, 'I couldn't get out of the airport pub.' That should have given me a hint of the night that was in store. Michael was returning to his native Capetown after his first visit to the US...a week-long training session for IT workers in Boston. Michael began to regale of his all night exploits going from bar to bar, staying up all night partying before his flight to Atlanta. I knew that this could only mean lights out as soon as the plane went airborne. I was wrong.

After an hour in the air, the lunch service arrived and I was shocked to see Michael ordering 1 beer and 2 bottles of vodka to go with his lunch. With boundless energy and talking a mile a minute, Michael seemed oblivious to the video sign in front of our seats warning about consuming too much alcohol on flights. I would find out later that Michael's energy came from a small vial of white powder that he kept in his shirt pocket and indulged on his frequent bathroom visits, returning each time with a short duration sinus issue. With the energy that it seemed to give him, I'm sure it must have been powdered sugar. To counteract the effects of his white powder, Michael made frequent trips to the galley, returning each time to his seat with more and more liquor. He found that by going to a different galley each time, he would never be turned down in his quest for more alcohol. By the time we reached Johannesburg, Michael had polished off 4 beers and 24 airline-size bottles of liquor. You can imagine how much rest those around him got with him getting up every few minutes to retrieve more alcohol, relieve himself, or 'powder' his nose. Continually rattling his huge array of bottles and drumming on his tray table like the ghost of Buddy Rich, everyone around was now taking notice of my row mate.

Finally with only a couple of hours left before touchdown, he mercifully passed out and left us with only an inebriated snore to contend with. Before we landed, a burly flight attendant jabbed Michael to get him to take his breakfast tray, only to have the untouched tray removed an hour later after Michael passed out again. Michael finally awoke again as we prepared to land, wondering why no one ever offered him breakfast, and demanding his food. He then began wildly spraying huge quantities of aerosol deodorant all about his body...over and over again. In the row behind me, Jim thought someone had dropped a cologne bomb as the aerosol clouds overtook the better part of the main cabin. Thank goodness someone else would get to enjoy his company for our flight from Johannesburg to Capetown.

Day 2, Sunday February 6, 2005

First rule of South Africa... you must be a pathological liar to work for a rental car company...or at least at National/Alamo. We rented a Mercedes Vito van, the only rental vehicle in South Africa to accommodate 6 people and luggage. After completing the requisite paperwork, the agent replied that our van was at the International Counter and was being brought around... only a couple of minutes. This story was repeated at least 6 times over the next thirty minutes. After thirty minutes passed and no sign of our vehicle, I got a new story...our van was at their downtown office and was being brought up...10 minutes...15 max.

Thirty minutes later, no van, and time for a new story. 'The driver is on the way and nearly at the airport,' the counter agent tells me. Thirty minutes later... no van, and yet another new story. There was no van downtown since it was never returned from a earlier rental. 'When was it due back,' I asked? '630pm...' the agent replied. 'It's almost 5pm,' I replied. 'Why did you rent a vehicle for 3pm and not expect it back before 630pm.' I asked. Time for another new story.... The van you rented was wrecked and is unavailable,' the agent explained. 'When was it wrecked,' I asked? 'Oh, much earlier' he replied. 'You will have to rent two cars and drive to your hotel 30 minutes east and we will bring the van to you when it is returned at 630pm.' 'Yes, and Elvis is alive and living in Capetown,' I informed the agent.

The agent sensed that this line of lying wasn't working and after another phone conversation told me that they found a van at their downtown store and it is being brought to the airport. I had heard this story earlier, but this was actually my favorite from the previous 2 hours. I figured that they must have run out of their pre-planned stories at this point and resorted to recycling. Finally at 530pm the van amazingly arrived as the counter agent announced proudly, 'They gave you a brand new van for all your trouble.' Beaming as we walked to the van, the outside attendant help point out the dents and scratches that adorned our 'new' vehicle along with the noted two thousand kilometers on the odometer. I get it, in South Africa they figured if Americans could re-define the word 'is', then they could define words like 'new' and 'right away.'

After re-learning how to drive on the wrong side of the road and shift gears with my left hand we were off to find our hotel, the Lord Charles Hotel in Somerset West. After only one wrong turn and 32 cutoffs trying to get from 1st gear into 2nd, we arrived at our wonderful hotel for the evening. Imagine arriving at your first hotel in South Africa to find it landscaped with US natives including Taxodium distichum and Gaura lindheimeri. It didn.t take long to begin recognizing South African native plants that we had grown since Plumbago auriculata was everywhere. After cleaning up what were now five very smelly Americans, we enjoyed a delightful buffet dinner at the hotel including the likes of springbok, lamb, squid, and ox-tail, and some stunning deserts. It was the impromptu dinner renditions of 1940's German folks songs that we could have done without. Finally, it was time to call it a day since the adventure begins tomorrow.