Spring Day Down South

A Happy Spring Day to all those “down South”! September 1 is Spring Day here in Southern Africa. So to celebrate the day, I’m posting some of the flower photographs which Estie (my sister-in-law) took on a recent trip to “see the flowers”. In August and September, nature puts on a brilliant display of wildflowers […]

Cactus labyrinth

A guest post by Estie for Notes from Africa I am often amazed at how little one knows about ones own home town. How many times do you explore your own town? Only when you have visitors? Or do maybe you live in a small town with very little of interest? I had read about […]

The Valley of Desolation

A guest post by Estie for Notes from Africa During the winter holidays, I was lucky enough to go to Graaff-Reinet, a historic town in the Eastern Cape. During my research before the trip, I heard about the Valley of Desolation. Surrounding the town is the Camdeboo National Park and you have to go into […]

The Bitter Aloe – Widespread and Adaptable

A guest post by Estie for Notes from Africa Last month in the post A drive to Hell and back there were some photographs of Aloe Ferox (Bitter Aloe) plants near the Swartberg Pass in the Southern Cape. Estie provides further information and photographs . . . Wildspread and adaptable The bitter Aloe can be […]

Guest Post: 320 million year old glacier tracks at Oorlogskloof

Text and photos by Estie. The flowers of Nieuwoudtville are spectacular and well known, but I must confess that I have never been there in the flowering season, when the town is hive of excitement. I plan to go this year and hopefully I can show you some of my own photos. The “season” as […]

Guest post: Quiver Tree Forest near Nieuwoudtville

Known as Choje to the indigenous San people, the Quiver tree gets its name from the San practice of hollowing out the tubular branches of Aloe dichotoma to form quivers for their arrows. Today these rare and beautiful trees have become something you see in pictures of faraway places. They need a special arid habitat […]

Guest Post: Nieuwoudtville

Note from Lisa: Estie is Willie’s twin sister i.e. my sister-in-law, friend and faithful follower of my blog. She’s very modest in her “about me” bit when she says she’s “another scientist trying to write”, as she co-authored a Life Sciences textbook which was published last year! Lisa. Hi! Lisa has a policy about writing […]