Pondoland C.R.E.W. Blog: Clearwater - Clivias 19 October2023

It was October and the window period for Clivia miniata var. miniata was closing. Should we want to see it flowering we had to set off quickly before we missed the great show and so down the Fish Eagle trail we went past Clearwater.

Walking from Crag's View we saw Psychotria capensis and Ekebergia pterophylla growing in between boulders. Along the trail the tiny pink flower of Drosera natalensis peeked it’s head in between the grass. Aspalathus chortophila gave a magnificent display and Leucadendron spissifolium subsp. oribinum flowered on mass. Raphionacme galpinii flowered on the rocks just before the trail led one into the forest.

It was peaceful in the forest and we found ourselves looking at the Clivia miniata var. miniata. These specimens had been here for many years, their leaves a considerable size. No wonder they are sought after.

After lunch, Hillary, Anne, Tracy and Gail decided to go further down the trail. We wanted to see if any more poaching of the Clivia's had occurred as the previous year hikers had come across men carrying off bags of Clivia's on their heads raping the rocks of these precious plants. It is believed that these plants make their way to the Transkei and are sold to the Chinese market. We scanned the embankment where the Clivia's had been previously poached and our hearts felt better as the few that were there still remained untouched.

Maggie Abbott had once said that she remembered this area to be full of Clivia and it was not the same. She was right! These Clivia's have been secretly poached for years! These plants are categorised as "Vulnerable A2abcd", and vulnerable they certainly are!

There was no-one monitoring these trails or a blind eye was being turned as it is in the new South Africa. We continued walking down the trail and just as we were about to turn back, we saw an old chocolate wrapper lyind discarded on the ground and in an area where an ancient tree had fallen harsh sunlight now scorched the earth and on recently strewn poached Clivias that had not made it into the bag. It was heart breaking to see. We instantly started gathering them and counted over 50 that had been left behind. On a Russian sausage packet lay the evidence of when the crime took place as it was bought at the Fresh Stop at the Caltex garage in Munster with a label that faintly gave away the purchase and sell-by date that being between the 22-26 June 2023 of when the crime took place.

We took these Clivia's and replanted back into the reserve into the crevices of rocks and left heavy hearted. This reserve is seriously under attack. The plant poachers were all over the reserve. They drive in their vehicle in at Western Heights and steal tree ferns and whatever else they can sell into the market. Cattle now roam the reserve too and no-one is chased away. The Parks Board are understaffed and don't seem to have their finger on the pulse. Antelope are poached too with hunting dogs running rife. No-one is held accountable or confronted. It's a sad state of affair. Something seriously needs to be done.

As we walked back Gail placed her hand on a rock and was stung by a bee and she could feel her hand swelling and took off her ring and placed it on her finger of her other hand. By the time she'd reached Clearwater Maggie had gone home to find her an anti-histamine to reduce the swelling but to no avail. In the morning her hand had swelled up so considerably that it had looked like a hot-air balloon. She had never been allergic to a bee sting until now. It had been quite an eventful day to say the least.

Clivia miniata var. miniata
AMARYLLIDACEAE
Vulnerable A2abcd

Anne, Gail's mother who joined the outing for the day.

Heading off to see the Clivia's.

Tracy, Hillary and Anne heading down towards the Fish Eagle Trail to see the Clivia's

Anne admiring the Clivia's growing on the rocks.

Maggie and Hillary enoying the Clivia's that grow in in between huge rocks.

Lunch time.

Hillary finding the perfect rock seat.

A fallen dead brach that looks like a tree carcass.

Rinorea angustifolia subsp. natalensis
VIOLACEAE

Tracy heavy hearted was rescuing the Clivia's lying on the ground and finding crevices in which to plant them back into the earth again.

Anne relocating the Clivia's that had been left behind by the poaches.

Caught unexpected by hikers from Durban men carrying away bags of Clivia's for the export trade and nursery businesses.

The date (22-26 June 2023) on a take-away Russian sausage that was purchased from the Fresh-stop at the Caltex garage in Munster which was left behind after the Clivia plant poachers poached bags of Clivia minuata's.