In Search of the Horticultural Big Five

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

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Day 11, Tuesday February 15, 2005

We checked into our hotel in downtown Grahamstown for lunch, while we planned our activities for the afternoon. Jim agreed to stay in town and pick up supplies such as a new watch for me, a watch battery for Hans, and to convert more dollars into rand for the rest of the group. Jim's big find turned out to be an African fertility mask that he bought for his wife's birthday. We all thought Jim was a bit delirious from heat that previous day. We'll see what his wife thinks when he returns home.

Our first Grahamstown stop was a wildflower reserve atop a steep grassy knoll across from the university which they are reclaiming from non-native trees such as eucalyptus. As we arrived at the area, it appeared quite barren, but once we got out to look, it was anything but barren. The top of the rocky hillside was covered with gems including a wonderful dwarf crassula with yellow flowers, thousands of clumps of Hypoxis argentea (yellow star grass), Bulbine alooides, and ivy leaf geranium. I was particularly excited to find a large white-flowered Delosperma since most of the white selections that I've grown have had tiny flowers.

At the edge of the hill where the slope began to steepen were more of the Oldenbergia growing along with protea. The cliff down the back side was full of Bobartia...a yellow flowering irid with juncus-like foliage, Agapanthus praecox, Bulbine frutescens, Kniphofia uvaria, and a new blechnum fern that I hadn't seen before. My favorite find on the steepest part of the bank was an amazing clump of compact ledebouria with stunning purple spots.

The second stop several miles away was to see Crinum campanulatum just outside of town. Tony had advised us that the crinum had finished flowering, but that didn't deter us. We arrived to find two dried ponds, filled with 3' tall weeds. It didn't appear that there had been water in these ponds for years and there was certainly no sign of a crinum. The one interesting find here was a very compact and floriferous clump of opuntia. Although opuntias are not native to the continent, they have certainly naturalized and look right at home in the desert climate.

The third stop that we arrived at as the sun was beginning to approach the horizon was a succulent haven. Virtually all the succulents here were plants that I had grown as a kid. There was patches of Crassula argentea (jade plant)... regular and dwarf, haworthia, Strelitzia (bird of paradise), Sansevieria (snake plant), Senecio rowleanus (string of pearls). Carl was particularly excited to see one of his garden favorites, the silver back Hypoxis stepillata growing here. By this time, we were all pretty exhausted, as our tolerance had been worn down by 10 days of physical exertion. We returned back to Grahamstown and the Protea hotel for a shower and nice buffet dinner.

Day 12, Wednesday February 16, 2005

Addo is home to the Addo Elephant Preserve, where many of the regions native animals have been preserved and protected. We wondered, however, if political correctness hadn't gone a bit too far with the Dung Beetle Right of Way sign. Trying to avoid running over Elephant poop in a nature reserve is a bit like trying not to pass another car while driving in New York City. The Preserve is a drive through habitat of several thousand acres where you can view a wide range of large game animals in their native habitat. During our 5-hour visit, we had a great lunch at their restaurant and then observed elephants, warthogs, ostriches, and zebras. You haven't lived until you've driven near a heard of 125 elephants and have them pass within inches of your van, while worrying about being crushed to death.

Fortunately, our drive for the evening was a short 12 kilometers to the Africanos Inn. This delightful clean and modern inn is actually a group of cottages and is the perfect stop for visitors to the Wildlife Preserve... despite no television or phone. Our evening dinner at the Inn was interrupted by a violent thunderstorm that knocked out power to the entire complex. According to the owners, this was the first storm of this magnitude in over 4 years. Our waiter, Elvis (I'm not making this up) was nowhere to be found when the power went out... obviously he had left the building. After 10 minutes of pitch black darkness in the restaurant, Elvis returned with candles and only as the last one was lit, did the power return and the cooking in the kitchen resumed.

Day 13, Thursday, February 17, 2005

The most interesting part of this day was a side excursion from Avontuur south over the Prince Alfred's Pass. This amazing pass rises to 3,500' before a dramatic drop into the low elevation but stunning canyon. The moist canyon is a dramatic site, even for the most jaded of world travelers. We did find a few new ferns on our trip down to the bottom including two beautiful blechnum. I became increasingly impressed with Bobartia which we had seen several times during the trip. This irid resembles a juncus until you notice the terminal sisyrinchium-like flower heads of bright yellow. I was also very interested to find carpobrotus growing along the road near the top of the pass. Carpobrotus resembles a delosperma on steroids and is commonly called fig apple or hottentot fig. The huge fruit can be eaten as one would the fruit from a prickly pear cactus. We have not found the selection in the trade, which has naturalized along the California coast to be winter hardy, but this would represent an interesting new collection to try.

After quickly botanizing the pass, it was a 2-hour drive west to our hotel in Oudtshoorn where we arrived at the 4-star Queen's hotel. Having seen the poor quality of many of the towns, we were pleased to find Oudtshoorn to be a very nice, clean, and prospering town. Compared to many of the poverty stricken areas that we had visited in the Eastern Cape, Oudtshoorn seemed quite wealthy. We had picked a good spot for another of our rare two-night hotel stays. It's a shame that the hotel couldn't find a front desk receptionist that understood being friendly. The young blonde that they had employed couldn't even manage a smile, a hello, or to warn us that bringing luggage up steep the back steps required a hand truck.