Mountains in the mist
After many idle promises we finally feature a contribution from a guest writer! Thanks to Rachel Aspden for the latest article. Last week we spent an afternoon walking in the Cape Point national park with Brooke from New York and Georg and Maribuy cialisa from Vienna. Winding along the False Bay side of the peninsula, the trail led us up high above the ocean and down steep rocky outcrops, from bright summer sunshine into fierce autumn winds. Flowers were easy to spot. The cliffsides were covered in bright yell0w-green sunshine cone...
Fire & Fynbos
I am so privileged to live in the most hiker-friendly city in the world. This is a photo I took recently while on a walk in the Table Mountain range. Within minutes of the city are literally hundreds of beautiful walking routes of any duration. If you look carefully you can see smoke rising from the Helderberg Mountain on the opposite side of the valley. This was the enormous fire that we experienced a few weeks ago. The fact is that our remarkable biodiverse fynbos is dependant on fire for regeneration....
Once was famous
Protea repens or as it is better known by its afrikaans name - Suikerbos, was once the national flower of South Africa. However something happened in 1976 and it was deposed by Protea cynaroides which is currently our national flower. I have no idea what heinous crime our Suikerbos committed and I certainly think that our current national flower is magnificent, but Protea repens certainly has enough features to warrant its prior status. The plant has a very wide geographical distribution through the Cape Floral Kingdom as well as being found in...
The Far Side of Cape Point Nature Reserve
When Susannah and Jo from Farside Africa in Edinburgh came to visit we decided to walk at the southern tip of the Table Mountain National Park - in the Cape Point Nature Reserve. Of cocanadian viagraurse we avoided the mainstream attractions and instead went to the Farside of the park, where we had a wonderful walk. We did not see a single person on our walk even though we were in one of the most popular National Parks in the country! We did however bump into a small herd of Bontebok...
Sex & Slaves in the City
Yes, I know that I have been somewhat tardy about uploading regular blogs. And I have been suitably chastised by several of our regular readers. The reason for my tardiness is that I have been distracted and consumed by the (re)launch of our phenomenal Sex & Slaves in the City "tour". I hesitate to use the word "tour", because Dean and Samantha have elevated this to the status of superb street theatre. They have taken a well researched narrative about the lives of slaves at the Cape and with humour, choreography and...
In the hills with the Hills
Recently I had the good fortune to guide Simon & Sarah up Table Mountain. Besides the fact that Simon had the coolest hat imaginable, they are a really fun couple. Sarah pretended to have an issue with exposed heights . . . We saw a few very special flowers, but the highlight for me was Nerine sarniensis, the Guernsey Lily. This exquisite flower is a bulb from the Amaryllis family. It is one of 25 species in this genus, which is endemic to South Africa. Interestingly this species has...
Table Mountain, National Flower, Provincial Flower, National Tree etc
This time of year is probably the least attractive in terms of flower diversity on Table Mountain. The reason is that it is the harshest time of year for plants. The Cape Doctor (southeaster) has been howling, the sun has been baking, temperatures hacialis buy onlineve soared and there has been no substantial rain for months. So most of the plants have been in survival mode, retaining water in whatever way they can and waiting for the weather to change. However I am always intrigued that it is precisely at this...
Old Friends, New Friends
Recently I took the Ivesons walking on Table Mountain. Walking is always a great way to make new friends. But by remarkable coincidence an old university friend and his wife had just arrived by sea and also walked up Table Mountain with us. I haven'tcheap viagra seen Marshal Klaus and Ellen for more years than I can remember. The genus Agapanthus must be one of the best known and most widely grown garden plants in the world. There are six known species and all of them are endemic to South Africa....
Finishing with the Finns
My friend Patrick Verbraecken recently contacted me to chastise me for not uploading posts! He is entirely justified. I was extremely busy and then had technical problems. So I apologise to all of our regular readers for the hiatus, but it has been vcialis buyery encouraging to receive e-mails and phone calls asking about our e-magazine. I must also apologise to the Finnish hikers who have been awaiting the last instalment documenting their walk. It was certainly a memorable walk and I was very pleased to have every one of the group...
Them Dam Dogs
I've been asked to feature Kili & Meru on today's blog - fortunately I have some lovely pictures of them to share. We started the day with a very relaxing stroll along the beach. After yesterday's epic ordeal and heat, the cool breeze was mostcheap cialis online welcome. However I suspect that Meru enjoyed the beach more than anyone else! As is to be expected in the Table Mountain National Park, the weather is totally unpredictable and by the time we had ascended into the hills a cold wind and mist was drifting...