At the outset, allow me to disclaim being a botanical expert. I would also hesitate to describe myself as a botanical enthusiast, but I was privileged to be included in these botanising parties comprising professional and amateur experts and ecologists, in the Kogelberg Biosphere. In some cases I was useful in facilitating access, and in one case, guiding. None of these routes is open to the hiking public.
Brutal Botanising on Buffelstal
Buffelstal (844m ASL) is a tough old climb and descent, a long knife edge, often assailed by gale-force winds. When we departed, the peak was clouded in, but as we approached the summit, the cloud burnt off as forecast, revealing views of the Kogelberg to the east and Hangklip to the west. Along the way, we found a number of Erica cunoniensis, feared extinct but recently rediscovered on the ridge. The flowers were past their best, but the plants looked robust. Lunch on the summit was followed by a steep bumslide down a gulley, which finally destroyed my 15-year-old technical longs that had survived two expeditions to Patagonia. The scars left from the time when Somchem used the valley as a missile testing range are palpable. On these bare patches, forests of Hakea are taking hold, although the local hacking volunteers have removed large tracts already. To top it all, we found some old ordinance lying around. The area is now a nature reserve, managed as part of the Kogelberg Nature Reserve.
The Forbidden Traverse
On the first day of the Great Southern Bioblitz, we undertook the traverse from Harold Porter Botanical Garden to Rooiels. Hundreds of observations were made, to such an extent that they contributed to Overstrand becoming the region with the most observations in the southern hemisphere. The veld behind and beyond Platberg is a bristling mosaic, alive with colour.
Searching for the Marsh Rose
With the blessing of CapeNature, we set off in search of the Marsh Rose (Orothamnus zeyheri), rare and vulnerable, above Betty’s Bay. First described in the early 1800s after being spotted at the Adderley Street flower market, it was traced back to the Kogelberg where is occurs in very specific habitat: on southern aspects in peaty seeps within a high elevation band. The tall plant, tipped by a pink rose flower (actually bracts containing yellow flowers), blooms in September and lives for 5 to 20 years. It is vulnerable to soil disturbance (trampling), which triggers the root rot fungus Phytophthora, and badly timed fires. Although germination of the seeds that are dispersed by ants requires summer fire, it often occurs close to other species that require long inter-fire intervals – all very paradoxical. The seeds can lie dormant for over 35 years. Flowering occurs 3 to 9 years after fire. We found thirteen plants in full bloom, apparently germinated by the 2019 fires.
Of interest is the concrete boot disinfection pit high in the mountains which was designed to prevent people carrying the fungus close to the plants. In any case, that part of the mountain is out-of-bounds to the public now. (Note: none of the photos below features the Marsh Rose)
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