Namaqualand and Tankwa Karoo: A cloudy day

A cloudy day in Namaqualand is a bad one for going to see the flowers. No sun means that the flowers do not open properly, and you don’t see the carpets of colours that you do on a sunny day. But there are some advantages to a cloudy day. The light is less intense and […]

The Namaqualand National Park

A guest post by Karl-Heinz for Notes from Africa The previous post in this series is The Clanwilliam Flower Show. The Tuesday, 28 August was a glorious sunny day and we went off to visit the Namaqualand National Park. As if by magic a tapestry of brilliant colours unfold enticingly along the winding roads of the […]

Namaqualand and the Tankwa Karoo: The Clanwilliam Flower Show

I want to welcome Karl-Heinz Niemand, a new guest blogger to Notes from Africa. Karl-Heinz and his wife Sonette love going on camping trips to some of the more remote areas around Southern Africa. As it has been years since I’ve been to Namaqualand to see the Spring flowers, I was very happy when Karl-Heinz […]

Whales . . . what whales?

Willie and a small party of family and friends recently did The Whale Trail hiking route in the Southern Cape. Unlike the gruelling and spectacular Otter Trail (See the Here Be Dragons post) which this group hiked last year, The Whale Trail is a somewhat gentler – and more civilized – hike. It is “slackpacking” […]

A fresh start

When we moved into our house years ago, the garden was still at its peak. It had the right balance between there being plenty of plant cover, but not being too overgrown. A long severe drought during 2009/2010  helped keep the undergrowth in check. Then at the end of 2010 the rains returned and the […]

Mystery plant – do you know what this is?

Thank you to Bob Rutemoeller and Mary Sue Ittner (from the Pacific Bulb Society) for identifying my mystery plant. The mystery plant has been identified as Phormium tenax or New Zealand Flax. According to Wikipedia Phormium tenax (harakeke in Māori, New Zealand flax) is an evergreen perennial plant native to New Zealand and Norfolk Island […]

Nossob

This post is part of  Kalahari  Series II – 2011. The previous post in the series is Slip-Slap-Slop-Slide and other Bush Beauty Tips. Also see Kalahari Series I – 2009. In Kalahari Series I – 2009, I wrote about six of the unfenced wilderness camps in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park or KTP (read those posts here). […]

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 […]

Nature never got the memo that it’s Autumn down South

While everybody in the Northern Hemisphere is noticing the early signs of Spring, here in the Southern Hemisphere, I am trying hard to recognize any signs of Autumn being here. Although the calendar says it is now officially Autumn, Nature never got the memo. Though maybe after the long drought we had, Nature is making […]

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 […]