Reading the travel book one page at a time - Tree lined lane

The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page - St Augustine

Very true words indeed.  But I also believe that while travelling you need to go off the beaten track every now and then as well otherwise you will just keep seeing what everybody else sees.  There really isn't anything wrong with that, it's just nice to see a little more sometimes as well.  And often it's something simple, like driving along this tree lined dirt road surrounded by citrus orchards between Addo and Kirkwood. 

A flowering Kapok Tree, also known as a Silk Floss Tree

Since I started blogging nearly 7 years ago, the post that has received the most attention wasn't some exotic location, epic once in a lifetime animal photo or mind blowing sunset.  It was a post about a flowering Kapok Tree.  Up to now it has received over a whopping 20 000 page views.  I've been wanting to do another post but the problem was that I haven't had another chance of encountering one while it is in flower and having my camera on hand.  A camping weekend at Sitrusoewer outside Kirkwood in the Eastern Cape was my chance.  There were a couple of trees above the campsite and one afternoon I took my camera for a walk and snapped a few pics. 

I had a few people tell me on the other post that the tree in the post isn't a Kapok Tree.  A little bit of research and I came to the conclusion that there are actually five or six different types of tree that is known as the Kapok Tree.  Other than this specific tree (which I will get to just below), a Kapok Tree can also refer to the following:

•  Bombax ceiba, an Asian tree with red flowers,
• Calotropis procera, a shrub with white and purple flowers, native to Asia and North Africa, but a weed in other places,
• Ceiba pentandra, a tree of the tropical Americas with white flowers, cultivated particularly in south-east Asia for its seed fibre,
• Two trees with yellow flowers native to northern Australia and Papua New Guinea, the Cochlospermum gillivraei and the Cochlospermum fraseri.  

 

The tree in this post is a Chorisia speciosa of the family Bombacaceae (bombax or baobab Family).  It's common name is a silk floss tree or kapok tree.  This Kapok tree is native to Argentina and Brazil but is grown in many tropical areas.  It also grows well in parts of southern California and apparently, right here in South Africa.  

The tree (being an deciduous exotic to South Africa) drops its leaves just before they put on their spectacular autumn display of five-petaled flowers. The flowers vary from pale pink to rose, purple or burgundy at the tips and grade into a white or ivory.  The flowers are then followed by pear shaped capsules filled with many seeds embedded in silky white floss.  Hence the silk floss tree name.

 

The tree's trunk is mostly green in colour and is covered with big warty triangular spines.  These spines turn gray as the tree gets older and will put anybody off from trying to climb one without a ladder or proper protection.  Not that you would really want to climb it for any reason.  The tree has a straight trunk with an umbrella canopy.

 

After my research I now also know a lot more about the Kapok / Silk Floss tree.  In closing I just want to say, the tree may not really have any specific use, but it does make for a great conversation piece because of the spiny green trunk and beautiful flowers.  Enough reason to want one in the garden.

Pine forests in the Tsitsikamma

The Tsitsikamma's three biggest industries are tourism, dairy and forestry.  So by the last one you can gather that the area is more than just indigenous forests.  The Tsitsikamma also has a huge amount of commercial pine plantations.  Pine trees were first planted early in the 20th century to replace indigenous forests that were cut out due to extensive logging.  The exotic trees were a bad replacement for the indigenous trees but the fact that they grow quickly meant that they could be grown on a commercial scale keeping up with the demand for wood and wood products.  They also make for great photos.

A thousand years in the making -The Tsitsikamma Big Tree

One of the best know attractions in the Tsitsikamma is The Big Tree, one of the giants of the forest and thought to be up to 1000 years old.  The Garden Route from the Tsitsikamma through Knysna to Wilderness is famous for its indigenous forests and precious trees, amongst them the Yellowwood.  The Outeniqua Yellowwood tree is also South Africa's national tree which makes this particular Outeniqua Yellowwood even more special.

 

Getting to the Big Tree is very easy.  First of all there is a big parking area right next to the N2 highway where you can leave your car.  From here its an easy 10 minute walk into the forest on a boardwalk.  In total the walk is about 500 meters each way and a great way to get away from the rush of the main road and get closer to nature.  Walking along you get to see what the forest looks like inside and plaques name some of the trees you pass along the way.  Suddenly the queen of the forest looms up in front of and over you.  A magnificent tree that was spared the woodcutters' axes during the late 19th and early 20th century.

This tree stands 36,6 m tall and has a trunk circumference of 9m.  An information board next to the tree gives all the relevant stats.  The Big Tree may not be as tall as American Redwood trees or as wide as a Baobab, but she is magestic.  I really enjoy seeing people crawl around on the path to find the best angle to try and show her size.  I kinda had to do that to take this picture above.  From the tree there are two additional trails covering 2,6 km and 4,2 km for those who would like to get in touch with the forest a little bit more.  So next time you fly along the N2 through the Tsitsikamma, why not pull over and go and pay homage?

Karoo hotel - a bit of a thorny issue

A trip up to Nieu-Bethesda a week or so ago gave me the opportunity to detour into the little village of Wolwefontein between Uitenhage and Jansenville.  There really wasn't that much to see but the old hotel sign behind a sweet thorn tree made for an interesting photograph. 

Outeniqua Yellowwood Tree at Natures Valley

I used to travel down the Garden Route quite often while I was still tour guiding but these days don't often get a chance to go further than the Tsitsikamma.  Driving down to Natures Valley on our recent Easter weekend Sho't Left in the area I had to stop at one of the view points on the way down on the Grootrivier Pass.  Its not a view point as much as it's a tree point.  The view is of a little valley next to the pass with a massive Outeniqua Yellowwood standing out above the rest of the forest.

 

The Outeniqua Yellowwood (Afrocarpus falcatus) is South Africa's national tree.  It is an evergreen conifer that often grows up to about 45 meters tall with some known to reach 60 meters.  Some of the largest individuals occur in the Knysna, Tsitsikamma and Amatole montane forests, where some specimens are over 1000 years old.  Outeniqua Yellowwoods are protected by law and can only be cut down with a special permit.

 

Just a couple of other facts courtesy of Wikipedia - The trunk can be 2 to 3 meters wide with a gray-brown to reddish and smooth but flaky bark.  The leaves are arranged in spirals on the branches.  They are small and narrow, up to 4.5 centimeters long by about 6 millimeters wide.  The yellowwood is a dioecious species, with male and female structures on separate plants. The male cone is brown with spiralling scales while the female cone has one scale bearing one seed between one and two centimeters long.

Sun through the leaves

Every now and then I point my camera up into the air and capture something like this

Vergelegen tree

This black and white is of one of the historic Campher Trees at Vergelegen in Somerset West

Reaching for the sun

There are a number of exotic trees in Settlers Park in Port Elizabeth that has been ring barked so that they can die and probably be cut down at a later stage.  On a walk through the park I thought this makes for a nice picture with the tree's branches (arms?) reaching towards the sky and in particular the sun.

Fly on a pod

There isn't much of a story to this other than: "Once there was a fly who touched down for a rest on a Schotia Tree pod..." The choice was either swatting or photographing.  Guess which one I chose.  I couldn't get any closer though.  He wouldn't let me.

Daleen Matthee Memorial

One of my favorite writers is the late Daleen Matthee and it is because of the 4 books she has based in the Knysna forest that I have such a fascinating interest in the forests of the Southern Cape.  All four of these books (Circles in the Forest, Fiela's Child, The Mulberry Forest and Dream Forest) takes place in the late 19th and early 20th century in and around the Knysna forest and have the old woodcutters as the central characters. 

After her death in 2005 a memorial was put up at Krisjan-se-Nek in the forest.  It was one of her favorite spots and she often went there for inspiration while writing her books.  On our visit to the memorial Chaos Boy spotted the fact that she died on the same day that Drama Princess were born.  Perhaps part of her creative spirit even found Drama Princess that day. Who knows... 

The memorial stands next to a 800 year old Outeniqua Yellowwood Tree which is now referred to as the Daleen Matthee Big Tree while the hiking trail starting at Krisjan-se-Nek has been renamed Circles in the Forest Trail after her best known book.

Pine plantation

Up to about 100 to 150 years ago the indigenous forests along the Southern Cape stretched all along the area known as the Garden Route.  When the authorities of the time realised that due to extensive logging the forests wouldn't last forever, it was decided to replace some of the decimated areas with mostly pine, but also blue gum, plantations and to cut back on the wood cutting operations in the forest itself.  Today forestry and logging are still one of the biggest industries in the Southern Cape with the plantations producing the wood and the indigenous forest being protected.  On a recent trip to the Tsitsikamma I stayed at Tsitsikamma Lodge and had the opportunity to walk through a pine plantation on one of their short trails.

The Big Tree

The magnificent indigenous forests along the Garden Route once stretched all the way from Humansdorp to Mossel Bay, but extensive logging operations in the 1800's and early 1900's meant that huge tracts of it have disappeared.  Today the remains of the forest are all protected areas, most of them falling within the management areas of the Garden Route National Park.  The biggest sections of the forest can be found in the Tsitsikamma and Knysna areas where the public can access parts of it through hiking trails and the odd forest road.

One of the most popular stops along the Garden Route where visitors can get into the forest is at The Big Tree in the Tsitsikamma.  A boarded trail takes one about 500 meters into the forest.  The shaded walk is comfortable and easy and all along the way information boards point out interesting trees and ferns.

The walk ends in a clearing before you approach the majestic Big Tree.  The Big Tree is a 800 year old Outeniqua Yellowwood (South Africa's national tree), which means that it was 300 years old already when Portuguese explorer Bartholomeu Dias came along our coastline in 1488.  Trees like this one was widely targeted when the woodcutters were working in the forests a century or so ago, which means that there aren't that many of them around anymore and of those only a few are accessable like this one.

With Drama Princess standing at its base looking up one only realises how big the tree really is.  It's 36,6 meters tall with a trunk length 18 meters and trunk circumference of 9 meters.  This means that it will take 7 or 8 adults holding hands to reach around the girth.  So next time you venture down the Garden Route again, look out for the Big Tree turnoff close to the Storms River Bridge.

Dias Museum Complex

The first European to set foot in what in now South Africa was Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Dias.  He inadvertently rounded the Cape in a storm and the first went ashore in present day Mossel Bay in 1488.  Due to this Mossel Bay has a close association with Dias and this is where visitors will find the Diaz Museum Complex.  The complex is made up of different components, one of them a statue of Dias himself looking out to sea.

One of the best known attractions in Mossel Bay also makes part of the Dias Museum Complex and this is the Post Office Tree.  In 1500 on a return voyage from the East, Pedro de Ataide left an important letter in a boot hanging from a tree, probably the old Milkwood Tree on the site.  The letter was found in 1501 by another ship heading to India  and so the first "post office" in South Africa started.  Sailors usually heading East started leaving letters to loved ones in the tree for ships going home to take along. 

Walking from the tree down towards the sea the fresh water fountain Aguanda de Sao Bras (Watering Point of St Blaze) can be seen.  The fountain was first documented in 1512 and was where the ships took on fresh water.  It is said that the fountain has never been dry and still runs today.  These days fresh water doesn't get sourced there anymore, but I did notice that the pond is now home to a couple of ducks.

The biggest attraction at the complex is the life sized replica of Dias' caravel.  The replica was built and sailed from Portugal to Mossel Bay in 1988 to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the arrival of Dias.  Visitors to the museum can actually get onto the boat to have a closer look.  The building it is housed in was originally built in 1901 as a grain mill and was also later used as a saw mill. 

Other than the replica of Dias' boat, the museum also houses a very good collection of paintings, artifacts and information about early explorers.  The one room contains a exhibit with life sized figures representing the Portuguese and indigenous Khoisan people meeting and interacting on the beach.  This was quite a hit with the kids as it included the sounds of the Khoisan people's bells and music along with the trumpets of the Portuguese.

Ice Cream Bush

I love my Ice Cream Bush at home with its leaves in various shades of pink, cream and green.  The botanical name of the Ice Cream Bush is Breynia disticha 'Roseo-picta' and its also known as the Snow Bush.  The bush is evergreen or should I say everpink/geen.  According to my research they are native to the Pacific Islands, like lots of water and usually grow up to three feet tall although my one stands as high as the roof.

Tree Bark

I'm always looking for something to photograph and while camping I noticed the difference in the bark on trees all within ten meters from our tent.  This immediately offered the opportunity for a Random... theme posts.  Random tree bark, not to be mistaken by a dog's bark.

Palm tree silhouette

I was waiting for a meeting the other day and sat playing around a bit with my camera.  The sun was behind the palm tree outside the venue and the palm leaves with the weaver nests hanging on them was very nicely silhouetted. *click*

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Bonsai drops

Bonsai Show

A couple of weekends ago the Eastern Cape Bonsai Society (EPBS) had their annual Bonsai Show at the Walmer Town Hall in Port Elizabeth.  The EPBS was founded in 1969 and is having their 41st Anniversary this year.  For a couple of years now I have been threatening to get myself a bonsai tree and take it up as a hobby.  This year I will do it.  I have a small Spekboom tree in a pot and have decided to move it into a proper bonsai pot and start training it.  Here follows a couple of the pictures I took at the show.

 

Bonsai on display at the Eastern Province Bonsai Society's annual Bonsai Show

I love that some people create a scene around their tree and doesn't just have a tree in a pot.

My favorite bonsai are those that grow over a rock.  It takes a lot of time and effort to get it to this point, but its well worth it in the end.

 Another one of my favorites. Bonsai Hibiscus in bloom.
 

The view through a bonsai forest

Reflection in a fishpond

Reflection in a fishpond

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