Our backs braced against the
unrelenting wind, our feet tenuously anchored by gravity, we were happy to
surrender to the elements and be swept along with the leaves, letting nature
point the way we were to go.
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Othonna natalensis blowing in the wind. |
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Tarchonanthus trilobus |
As tradition would have it, we
began with tea at Beacon Hill, happy to be joined again by Maggie. There was
also a lot of banter about Dorothy’s aniseed rusks, dipped into our hot drinks
and setting us up for the day. But
something was different about them, and there was much toing and froing about
perhaps too much salt, or was it the aniseed? Discerning tastes all at odds.
But it was reassuring that old friends could share in the chit chat, with no
slights or hard feelings.
Plotting our way from there, we
decided to investigate the slopes beyond the beacon, hopefully to escape the
full blast of the wind, our chief concern being that it might cause stumbles or
falls. Still, at times, we hand to stop and anchor ourselves to the earth. Gone
were our hairstyles, which were transformed into porcupine quills, and the soot
from the burnt earth made us look like coal miners – white faces freckled with
soot. The dirty faces also made you think of Van Gogh’s famous “Potato
Eaters”.
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| Vincent Van Gogh's "The Potato Eaters" |
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Charred Leonotis seed head.  |
At some stages, while we were prying closely at details, the ash stirred up by our feet clouded our eyes, forcing us to wait until our vision had cleared before carrying on.
However, the burns are good,
giving some plants a chance to flower. In the cleared earth were clusters of
flowers, their faces all pointing in one direction – out of the wind.
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Gerbera ambigua |
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Gerbera natalensis |
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Senecio speciosus |
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Ursinia tenuiloba |
Curiously, our path took us to
the forest edge, where we meandered for a while, finding a species that we
initially thought was an alien; but on closer visual and odiferous
investigation, time will tell to see if we found something that is rare and
critically endangered. Watch this space!
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Alberta magna |
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Bulbophyllum scaberulum |
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Bulbophyllum scaberulum |
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Alf and Dorothy |
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Tracy taking a great inhale to see if the Wurmbea has a scent. |
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Wurmbea kraussii |
We made our way up the hill, now pitching ourselves against the elements that seemed intent on keeping us back. It’s a great strength to have friends who are happy to keep on exploring, be there torrents of rain, relentless wind and brutal sun. They endure and don’t complain.
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Maggie, Tracy and Dorothy |
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Tracy |
We nestled down in cavities among
the rocks for lunch and sat among tiny flowers.
Excited, we turned our heads when Anne called out she had found “little
people”, which were anchored on a stem and branching out like puppets screaming
– Bonatea porrecta!
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| Bonatea porrecta |
| No social distancing with Bonatea porrecta |
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A happy Tracy taking a look at the little people. |
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Gazania krebsiana |
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Haemanthus albiflos |
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Helichrysum's new leaves |
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Ledebouria revoluta |
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Rhipsalis baccifera in oasis. |
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| Female cone of the Stangeria eriopus after a burn. |
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Tulbahia acutiloba |
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Asparagus species snaking out from its sheltered rock. |
It was a blustery walk back to the vehicle, where we again all congregated, windblown but content. Six more sleep with a chant of "Wind wind go away come back another day...".
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Alf Hayter, Anne Skelton, Tracy Taylor, Maggie Abbott, Gail Bowers-Winters and Dorothy Mcintyre. Special thanks to all who contributed in making this blog possible (Kate and Graham Grieve). |
“And forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair”
