Kamieskroon, Springbok, Goegap, Messelklip (Northern Cape, South Africa)
(all images are clickable)
Springbok lies at of altitude 1000 m in a narrow valley between the high granite domes of the Small Copper Mountains. Earlier copper was mined in this area, but now mining activity has ended.
A first finding - flowered bush of Pelargonium praemorsum.
There were a lot of P. praemorsum in this place.
When we were leaving the "Copper Mountain” the sun has appeared, but the plants were still wet.
On the back way to Springbok we found several plants of Pelargonium crithmifolium, again Pelargonium dasyphyllum.
Our next visit was at Goegap Nature Reserve. The sun already was blazing, but the wind was strong and it was still cold.
At Goegap Nature Reserve we saw again a lot of flowered of P. praemorsum.
Have found several plants of P. dasyphyllum:
Some of another interesting plants from these places:
Monsonia spinosa:
This handsome animal quietly chewed the flowers, which we so admired. His name is Gemsbok.
Colony of Pelargonium incrassatum nearby Kamieskroon Hotel. We visited this place and were ecstatic on how this species grows in habitat - near be the road, in pure sand, among the rocks, sometimes just in crevices.
The next day we had to meet with our guide Lita Cole and go to Richtersveld to find Pelargonium species.
We were very pleased the morning to see the blue sky and a bright sunny day, the weather was very nice. The place where we went with Lita was Messelklippas, near from Kamieskroon.
A first pelargonium, growing almost next to the road which we were moved, was P. pulchellum.
We're going in the direction Messelklippass. Quite close to the road we have often met P. incrassatum.
The purpose of visiting these places was to find a rare Pelargonium sericifolium, an endemic species, only occurs in small colonies on Richtersveld.
Pelargonium. sericifolium is a beautiful little plant with intense pinkish-purple flowers of medium size (~ 25-28 mm). To become a bush with height of 25-30 cm, P. sericifolium needs about 40 years.
In the same place we found quite a large "tree” of Pelargonium crithmifolium.
Since both species grew closely, I’ve compared the sizes of their flowers. Flowers of P. sericifolium were larger.
Again a small bush of Pelargonium dasyphyllum:
The Farm Bethel gave us P. triste with flowers of unusual color. Earlier Lita has called this pelargonium P. obovatum, but later David Victor explained us that it's Pelargonium triste.
Other interesting plants on our road.
Colpias mollis:
Microcodon:
A very interesting meeting took place on Messelklip Road in the mountains, in almost uninhabited region. We’ve met a local man.
http://youtu.be/5vSrk4R2wpg
A talk was in Afrikaans. Our guides asked this local man about direction of the road. He is cowherd and was friendly and cheerful. In hands he hold a radio, from which the music was flowing.
I also must note that in these places there is no cellular communication.
On the back way to Cape Town, near Clanwilliam, Cameron's sharp eyes have noticed a big bush of P. scabrum on the roadside.
The end
