Kwazimane Terraces burn - 4 weeks on (Thursday 1 August 2019)

Having seen the firebreaks below the Kwazimane terraces being burned at the beginning of July, and having seen how well this area had greened up in the weeks following, we decided to investigate what new flowers had emerged. With Dorothy back after her second knee replacement, we drove right down to the reserve - giving Mark his first offroad driving experience.

Just inside the reserve fence we saw several Othonna natalensis and a few Ursinia tenuiloba. We walked down to the nearby stream and along its banks to the gorge cliffs. A flowering Nuxia floribunda peeked over the clifftop and far below us we had stupendous views of a tranquil Umtamvuna river. The cliffs in this area are sheer for some distance with a total drop of over 250 m to the river.

Ursinia tenuiloba

Othonna natalensis

Athrixia phylicoides

Everywhere in the blackened earth were tiny clusters of bright red buds of Indigofera rubroglandulosa emerging from the ashes and dotted around were new buds on Albuca setosa bulbs. There were a few Helichrusum aureum var monocephalum buds perched close to the ground. In the shelter of some cliffside shrubs was Haemanthus albiflos and nearby was Cotyledon orbiculata in flower. A Tricalysia capensis shrub had a few open flowers among the many buds and we found an Othonna natalensis plant with buds just starting to open.

Indigofera rubroglandulosa

Albuca setosa

Helichrysum aureum var monocephalum

Haemanthus albiflos

Cotyledon orbiculata

Nuxia floribunda

Tricalysia capensis

Just waking up - an Othonna natalensis bud

Interesting reflections in a placid Umtamvuna river far below us

Mark and Gail tried to get the landscape photo of the day peering over the edge of the gorge.

Mark found the perfect spot to get the photo to make his friends envious

Gail doing the same - slightly more elegantly

With a sneaky wind blowing we found a relatively sheltered spot and had our lunch before setting off back to the vehicles, passing several clusters of Wurmbea kraussii on the way. We also had to wade through some very good massed displays of Gerbera ambigua and close to these were many buds of Merwilla plumbea - these should be a show in about 1 to 2 weeks' time.

Who forgot to put the handbrake on?

Wurmbea kraussii

Participants: Dorothy M, Gail B-W, Graham G, Kate G, Maggie A, Mark G, Tracy T.