Crags View

The CREW group was small on Thursday, so we decided to explore the open grasslands of the Umtamvuna Nature Reserve from Crag’s View. Just days before, ferocious winds had torn through the area, leaving a trail of destruction in their wake. Roofs were mangled, vehicles crushed under fallen trees, and fences collapsed as massive trunks toppled. Banana plantations lay flattened, their heavy bunches of banana's  sprawled across the ground. Macadamia orchards looked as though elephants in musth had stormed through, trees leaning awkwardly or completely uprooted, their roots exposed to the sky.

A record-breaking gust was recorded—250 km/h—confirming what we suspected: this wasn’t just any storm. A cyclone had lingered offshore, battering the coastline and causing widespread havoc.

And yet, as storms do, it eventually passed.

On Thursday, the wind had disappeared. The winter sun offered its gentle warmth as we stepped into the landscape, grateful for the stillness. Though not much was flowering, the quietness of the day was comforting in itself.

Among the golden grasses, helichrysums stood resilient, their petals frayed by the wind’s fury. The first tree to catch our eye was Nuxia floribunda, also known as the Forest elder. True to its name, “floribunda”—meaning “profusely flowering”—it was adorned with delicate, honey-scented cream blossoms, a soft reminder that nature renews.

Nearby, we came across Cryptocarya wyliei, the Red Wild-quince. Endemic to South Africa and considered near threatened, this species is being pushed toward vulnerability as scarp forests are cleared for agriculture and urban sprawl. Invasive species further fragment its habitat, isolating once-connected populations. We noticed something interesting—the leaves on this individual were completely hairless, in contrast to the softly hairy form we’d seen at Oribi.

A short while later, Pittosporum viridiflorum, or cheesewood, captured our attention with its glossy red seeds. Gail rubbed one on her hand to show Tracy how it left the skin silky smooth—like a natural silicone. It wasn’t sticky at all. She joked that she wished she could bottle the substance and keep it at home.  Cheesewood gets its name not from its smell, but from the texture of its wood and seed pulp—soft, resinous, and faintly cheesy in consistency, especially when freshly cut.

We wandered down to Stanard’s farm to see if anything else was in flower.  There we found Voacanga thouarsii in fruit. Most of its yellow-green pods lay scattered on the ground, violently flung down by the voracious wind.

Despite the relative lack of flowers, we left with full hearts. 

Kalanchoe rotundifolia

Umtamvuna Nature Reserve

Tracy

Nuxia floribunda
Forest Elder

Helichrysum adenocarpum subsp. adenocarpum

Helichrysum herbaceum

Helichrysum auriceps
South African endemic

Phymaspermum acerosum 

Schistostephium crataegifolium

Pittosporum viridiflorum
Cheesewood 

Voacanga thouarsii 

Wild-frangipani

Pondoland CREW
Dorothy McIntyre, Tracy Taylor & Gail Bowers Winters with Tao.

“Nature’s silence is the universal antidote to life’s nois, healing us without a word.” - Unknown