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Unfortunately – and unsurprisingly – my words were prescient: it has indeed become an “interesting” summer in the Boland mountains. Since December Volunteer Wildfire Services Jonkershoek (VWS-JNK) has been called out at least 6 times to fires in the local mountains (”local” is a relative concept – in our case it means 290 000 ha of mountain wilderness). The latest callouts were to Assegaaiboschkloof near Franschhoek last Saturday and last night. The fires are still raging as I write this, covering the Boland in a blanket of ash. Photos and a Google Earth track of Saturday’s firefighting effort follow… Continue reading VWS Jonkershoek firefighters in the Franschhoek mountains

The Cape-based members of the Patagonia group are training for the trek through the Andes by taking regular walks in the Cape Peninsula’s Table Mountain National Park. Here are some photos from those walks along with some older ones…

The press release announcing the 25th edition of the Downwind Dash from Langebaan to Saldanha, scheduled for 23-24 January, hails it as “the world’s biggest kitesurfing and windsurfing race”. The organisers are expecting 400 entrants! It may even be the world’s longest-running windsurfing race too. How did it start? Continue reading Downwind Dash is the biggest?

I’m looking forward to my first foray to South America, a series of treks in Patagonia across the Andes from Argentina to Chile and back, over 21 days in March. My good old pal, Peter, has taken some trouble to research and document the trip on his site, so I suggest that you go there to read what it is about.

The seed was planted last April on the Rim of Africa when Kelson, the Brazilian half of the Treksa team who has arranged the trip, and I were unsuccessfully sheltering from the rain under an oak in the Elandskloof, drinking hot chocolate. “You must come and hike in Patagonia”, he insisted, black eyes sparkling. At the time it sounded like a fine idea. As the departure date gets closer the idea becomes ever better.

I’ve long heard of it and I’ve always wanted to go there. Much of the area is owned by the UCT Mountain and Ski Club and the Mountain Club (MCSA) is able to obtain permits. I went with the Stellenbosch section of the MCSA. But be warned: be fit or be young…

Continue reading Witels

As I was contemplating a short post about the Volunteer Wildfire Services (VWS), and specifically its rookie branch in the Jonkershoek valley, we were called out to mop up a plantation fire above Rozendal yesterday at around 6 pm. It was our first op since 27 Jonkershoek volunteers qualified in November – so there was a fair degree of excitement and nervousness. But it went well and when we were withdrawn at midnight the fire was well under control despite the south-easterly gale screaming down the valley. The training is paying off and the growing camaraderie is palpable. Everybody is there because he/she wants to be there. Continue reading Volunteer Wildfire Services Jonkershoek

The Klein River and Vlei near Hermanus can apparently claim that:

1. at 80 km in length, the Klein River is the river with the shortest distance between its origin and its mouth in the world – 5 km as the crow flies (according to the Stanford Tourism Bureau)
2. the bird sanctuary, that is located where the river enters the vlei, harbours more species of birds than any other place in the southern region of South Africa (according to the SA Venues website).

Continue reading Klein River by kayak

Photos of the Watsonias in Jonkershoek after the big summer fire and the winter rains. Deon and I took a cycle up the valley to capture them before the summer winds take their toll.

Continue reading Jonkershoek colour explosion

Here’s a worthy project – the MAPA Project. It intends mapping more than a thousand of Africa’s protected areas on Google Earth in the interests of biodiversity conservation. The first Google Earth layer has just appeared and can be downloaded from the Google Earth Outreach Showcase. MAPA is driven by March Turnbull, an environmental journalist, and Stellenbosch-based company, Tracks4Africa. Continue reading Mapping Africa’s parks

At 1589m Victoria Peak is the highest summit in the Jonkershoek area. It is visible beyond the valley from Stellenbosch and is  often – as it is today – covered in a white blanket of snow. The route as shown in this Google Earth track winds up the eastern edge of the Jonkershoek valley to Bergriviersnek (Berg River Saddle) and then continues easily up to the Dwarsberg plateau before one has to tackle the final 300 or so metres to the summit. From there the 360 degree panorama is simply stunning – see the photos below.

Continue reading Climbing Victoria Peak

On the Cape Peninsula there are few people who are neutral towards the local Chacma baboons: you either love them or hate them. The remnant troops of the Table Mountain National Park which now protects a large portion of the peninsula, range from the southern table of Table Mountain down to Cape Point. They form an isolated population surrounded by an urban conurbation in the north-east and the ocean elsewhere. Experts estimate that the 250 or so remaining animals face extinction within 10 years as their habitat shrinks, their gene pool becomes less viable and they suffer persecution from the human inhabitants of the peninsula. Continue reading Baboons matter

The Doring drains the Tankwa Karoo through the Cederberg range into the Olifants River. It can only be rafted in the winter-rainfall months of July to September. Photos and a Google Earth file. Continue reading Doring River rafting

A Google Earth map of the Rim of Africa Conservation Mega Trail, Stage One, 120km from Pakhuis Pass in the northern Cederberg to the Koue Bokkeveld mountains follows:

Continue reading Rim of Africa Google Earth track

Here are the photos from the Rim of Africa Conservation Mega Trail. It was an epic.

Continue reading Rim of Africa photos

Tomorrow I leave on what I expect will be one great adventure – the Rim of Africa Conservation Mega Trail. This will be Stage 1 from the Northern Cederberg to the mountains somewhere around Ceres – 11 days of wilderness walking. As the blurb says – “a walk of no ordinary proportion”.

The vision of the Rim of Africa is to create a mega-distance trail on a par with the best the world has to offer. Mega-distance trails in Europe and the USA play an important role in giving access to time in wilderness while stimulating a walking culture.

The Rim of Africa stretches from the greater Cederberg wilderness area on the Cape’s West Coast to the Outeniqua Mountains in the Garden Route, traversing more than 650km of mountain paths. The route takes in the Cederberg, Skurweberg, Hexrivier, Keeromberg, Langeberg and the Outeniqua representing a flagship hiking product of international significance, attracting hikers from around the world. There is potential to link the Rim of Africa to the Outeniqua Trail and on to the Eden to Addo Hike for Biodiversity creating an extended trail of 1200km ending at Addo Elephant National Park in the Eastern Cape.

I’m looking forward to getting “lost” in the wilderness, communing with Nature.

A few weeks ago, after the fires that charred the mountains in the Jonkershoek valley,

Caracal. Source: Wikipedia

I was cycling to work through the Jan Marais Nature Reserve which is located near the centre of town. As I rounded a corner I was stunned to see a beautiful big caracal standing in the path. He calmly trotted around a bend, watched me for a moment, and then disappeared into the fynbos.

Obviously, there was a lack of prey in the mountains and the resourceful cat had quietly slunk through the urban area to feed on the guinea fowl, squirrels, hares and buck that live in the reserve.

Now, I have been on a lot of wildlife safaris, but I have never seen a caracal in the wild. And here I see one in my backyard, in town… Nearly fell off my bike.

I have kept the sighting quiet because I know how people can react. Caracals have been terribly persecuted by farmers over the centuries. I did, however, notify Cape Nature, the local nature conservation agency. I haven’t seen it since, but I am happy to know that it is somewhere out there.

The Kogelberg Biosphere and Nature Reserve is my playground. When we’re not kayaking here, we are hiking its many routes. Kogelberg is the jewel in the crown of the Cape’s floral kingdom protected areas that make up the World Heritage Site.

Continue reading Hiking in Kogelberg

Five k’s from my home in Stellenbosch is the rugged Jonkershoek Nature Reserve. The area boasts the highest rainfall in the Western Cape, and two major rivers rise at the valley head: the Berg and the Eerste rivers. Continue reading Jonkershoek hiking

Mumbo Island is one of the great places in Africa. Imagine a tropical island surrounded by warm, clear water and freshwater, tropical fish. Continue reading Kayaking on Lake Malawi at Mumbo Island

The IPCC’s technical paper on Climate Change and Water (pdf), published in June, features some dire numbers for South Africa’s premier national park, the Kruger National Park. Should the global mean temperature exceed 1990 levels by 2.5 to 3 ^oC, then 66% of its animal species may be lost. Similary, the Cape’s fynbos biome, a biodiversity hotspot, large tracts of which were recently declared a World Heritage Site, is projected to shrink by up to 61%. It is almost beyond my ability to imagine destruction of biodiversity on such a scale in places that I know well and are part of who I am.

Continue reading Kruger Park and climate change