After heading out of Lesotho we started to make our way along the Garden Route towards Cape Town. The South African scenery is amazing; it has everything from grasslands to rugged mountains to beautiful long beaches; it's a pity we flew through it. We could have done with spending so much more time there. Our first stop was Addo Elephant NP where we were staying for a night. There was a bit of grumbling from the group about going to this particular park. We'd been through Hwange and Chobe NP, both of which are famed for their elephant populations and the new guys to the group had seen heaps of elephants but no cats. Hilary, who's doing a bit of travel by herself, was armed with the Lonely Planet and was naming other parks nearby where we could have gone instead but the itinerary was set and Addo had been booked by the UK so there was no getting out of it.
Addo was a nice surprise. The South African parks are very well organised. The facilities are all very modern and tidy, the campsites, allocated, are separated by hedges to give you some privacy and all are equipped with a braai (bbq to the rest of us!). We set up camp, grabbed some lunch and headed out in Claudia for our first game drive. Although I do like game drives in landrovers, Claudia wasn't too bad, with only seven of us, there were heaps of spare windows so we could duck from side to side to take photos. The NP office has a sighting board which shows where animals such as lions have been seen so it was in that direction we headed first, however, the sightings were in the morning and by the time we got there, they were long gone. Rather predictably, we did see heaps of elephants. One interesting fact about Southern African national parks - did you know that oranges are banned in a lot of parks? Apparently they used truck loads of oranges to feed elephants during the droughts in the 70's and ever since, elephants, who have a great sense of smell will attempt to get them out of your cars etc. True. After our game drive, we headed back to camp for the evening and another early night. The following morning it was back up and out for the next game drive. Mark and Mat swapped around with Mat driving and Mark doing the spotting, it was nice to see Mark getting excited about something that wasn't a girl for a change! We headed around the park and we lucky to come across a big male lion crossing the road. Unfortunately, the down side of Claudia on safari is that she's very loud so we were too scared to go any closer in case we'd scare him off so we hung back a bit and he very quickly disappeared behind a small hill. We followed the road round a bit further and came across two lionesses and their three cubs. The group was in the scrub over one side of the road and slowly, one by one they came out; first the lionesses followed by the cubs. I have to admit we did get a wee bit excited, they were heading for the road and on the other side were zebras. We were hoping for a kill. All we got was a slow saunter. Oh well, at least it kept Cath and Graham happy, it was the first lions they'd seen in the wild. After driving around for a while and not seeing much else, we headed back to camp for breakfast, to pack up and head off towards Tsitsikamma.
Tsitsikamma is a mountainous national park which borders the rugged, windswept coast. Once again, all the campsites are well maintained and the place was very popular with campers. Firstly, we headed into the activity centre at Storms River so we could book any activities we wanted to do for the following day. I'd had my eye on a canopy tour in the forest and headed over with Hilary to book. After a bit of faffing around, Hilary decided to have a look at what else was on offer so I booked for myself. Twenty minutes later it was all change, both Hilary and Mark had booked so they changed my time for an hour later, no skin off my nose, it just meant more of a sleep in. After booking activities and topping up the alcohol supplies we headed for the campsite to get set up. Once again it was an allocated campsite so we pulled in, got the truck into a decent position and all piled out. You would have thought the locals had never seen a truck before; mouths were gaping, eyes were staring. We attracted much attention as we all got out our tents and set up. The camp site had a laundry so most of us decided to get some washing done. We sorted out piles and headed over to the machines only to find that they only took R$5 coins and there was nowhere to get change. Heidi and Mat and Cath and Graham managed to scrape together some change but everyone else lucked out. We did a bit of a search around looking for ‘volunteer rangers' to change some money for us and even walked round the cove to the shop but nope, no coins. Needless to say, I was a little annoyed. Heidi decided to head up to the park office at the top of the hill, I didn't feel inclined to join her so I decided I'd get the change back in the village the next day.
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Addo Elephant Park South Africa
Showing posts with label Africa. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Africa. Show all posts
Monday, December 13, 2010
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Perfect Climate in South Africa for the Wine Industry
In South Africa, viticulture originated and still mainly takes place at a latitude of 27°-34° south in an area with a Mediterranean climate. The Western Cape is cooler than its position might suggest, with conditions that are ideal for growing a wide range of noble wine cultivars. The traditional winegrowing areas along the coastal zone are seldom more than 50 km from the ocean and experience beneficial coastal conditions, especially cool sea breezes. The temperate climate features warm summers and cool winters with frost rarely a problem.
Rain falls mainly between May and August, and diminishes in a northerly and northeasterly direction, in the latter case caused by the prominent mountain ranges which follow the coastline, making irrigation essential in these areas. Temperature is probably one of the most important factors affecting the grapevine as it has an effect on almost every aspect of its functioning. Temperatures follow an inverse pattern to rainfall, increasing in a northerly direction and with distance from the sea.
The impressive Cape mountain ranges form a dramatic backdrop to one of the most beautiful wine-producing areas of the world. The vineyards lie on the valley sides and mountain foothills, benefiting from the many different mesoclimates offered by the mountainous terrain and diverse terroirs. There's constant interaction between the rugged peaks and multi-directional valley slopes, and the proximity of two mighty oceans - in particular the Atlantic, chilled by the icy Benguela current which flows northwards up the west coast of Africa from Antarctica - moderates the summer warmth. Cooling moisture-laden breezes blow in from the sea during the afternoon, and seasonal fog is prevalent. Adequate sunshine plays an important role too.
Macro-, Meso- and Microclimates
Climate is described in viticulture on three levels, namely macroclimate, mesoclimate and microclimate. Macroclimate is the climate of a region. Mesoclimate differs from the macroclimate of the region due to differences in altitude, slope inclination, aspect or distance from large bodies of water; this term usually describes the climate of a particular vineyard. Microclimate is the climate immediately within and surrounding a plant canopy and can differ within a few centimetres and seconds.
The Cape Doctor
This legendary - and sometimes ferocious - southeasterly wind blows across the southwestern Cape during the spring and summer months. Living up to its name, it inhibits the development of disease in the vineyards. The southeaster has a moderating influence on temperature, lowering it by several degrees. It occasionally brings rain to the most southern vineyards in the coastal zone and more seldom carries moisture to the vineyards beyond the first range of mountains.
The effects of sea breezes
The ARC Infruitec-Nietvoorbij automatic weather station network has been installed in the Cape for a number of years, allowing for climatic investigation with the priority being viticultural terroir identification. In the Western Cape there is a significant contrast between the cool ocean and the warm inland temperatures as shown on the NOAA Satellites and Information image below. This results in a fequent occurrence of the sea breeze, especially during the maturation period in February (Bonnardot, 1997; 2000) when land temperatures are high (mean February temperature is 22°C at Cape Town International airport compared to 23°C past the first mountain range) and the ocean remains cool due to the cold Benguela current (below 15°C in some places).
Article Source
See here for information regarding Cape Town Wine Tours
Rain falls mainly between May and August, and diminishes in a northerly and northeasterly direction, in the latter case caused by the prominent mountain ranges which follow the coastline, making irrigation essential in these areas. Temperature is probably one of the most important factors affecting the grapevine as it has an effect on almost every aspect of its functioning. Temperatures follow an inverse pattern to rainfall, increasing in a northerly direction and with distance from the sea.
The impressive Cape mountain ranges form a dramatic backdrop to one of the most beautiful wine-producing areas of the world. The vineyards lie on the valley sides and mountain foothills, benefiting from the many different mesoclimates offered by the mountainous terrain and diverse terroirs. There's constant interaction between the rugged peaks and multi-directional valley slopes, and the proximity of two mighty oceans - in particular the Atlantic, chilled by the icy Benguela current which flows northwards up the west coast of Africa from Antarctica - moderates the summer warmth. Cooling moisture-laden breezes blow in from the sea during the afternoon, and seasonal fog is prevalent. Adequate sunshine plays an important role too.
Macro-, Meso- and Microclimates
Climate is described in viticulture on three levels, namely macroclimate, mesoclimate and microclimate. Macroclimate is the climate of a region. Mesoclimate differs from the macroclimate of the region due to differences in altitude, slope inclination, aspect or distance from large bodies of water; this term usually describes the climate of a particular vineyard. Microclimate is the climate immediately within and surrounding a plant canopy and can differ within a few centimetres and seconds.
The Cape Doctor
This legendary - and sometimes ferocious - southeasterly wind blows across the southwestern Cape during the spring and summer months. Living up to its name, it inhibits the development of disease in the vineyards. The southeaster has a moderating influence on temperature, lowering it by several degrees. It occasionally brings rain to the most southern vineyards in the coastal zone and more seldom carries moisture to the vineyards beyond the first range of mountains.
The effects of sea breezes
The ARC Infruitec-Nietvoorbij automatic weather station network has been installed in the Cape for a number of years, allowing for climatic investigation with the priority being viticultural terroir identification. In the Western Cape there is a significant contrast between the cool ocean and the warm inland temperatures as shown on the NOAA Satellites and Information image below. This results in a fequent occurrence of the sea breeze, especially during the maturation period in February (Bonnardot, 1997; 2000) when land temperatures are high (mean February temperature is 22°C at Cape Town International airport compared to 23°C past the first mountain range) and the ocean remains cool due to the cold Benguela current (below 15°C in some places).
Article Source
See here for information regarding Cape Town Wine Tours
South African Plants - Poverty Of Plant Life - Fynbos, Forest, Karoo, Grassland, And Savannah
South Africa's large areas of semi-desert scrub and grassland might suggest a certain poverty of plant life. Aside from the fact that a tract of pristine grassland can hold up to 60 grass species, nothing could be further from the truth.
There are five major habitat types in South Africa: fynbos, forest, Karoo, grassland, and savannah. The country can also be divided into seven biomes, or ecological life zones, with distinct environmental conditions and related sets of plant and animal life: Nama Karoo, succulent Karoo, fynbos, forest, thicket, savanna, and grassland.
Whichever classification is used, some 10% of the world's flowering species are found in South Africa, the only country in the world with an entire plant kingdom inside its borders: the Cape Floristic Kingdom, which contains 8 600 species, 68% of them endemic. The Cape Peninsula alone boasts more plant species than the whole of Great Britain.
Fynbos:
This southwestern area of South Africa is the home of the fynbos, which is composed of ericas (heathers), proteas and the grass-like restios. Most spectacular in flower are the proteas, which include the king protea - the national flower - and others of broadly similar shape, the pincushion leucospermum types and spiky leucadendrons. The colour range is vast.
The ericas, the largest genus of flowering plants in South Africa, are more delicate, repaying close examination of their almost infinite variety of colour and form. One or other of these species will be found in bloom at almost any time of the year.
These share their Cape home with such beauties as the red disa orchid, one of South Africa's 550 wild orchids, which grows in the mountains, as well as numerous irises, pelargoniums and many more.
South Africa's pelargoniums, in particular, have contributed greatly to gardens all over the world, as have the arum lilies - the classic white species is from this area, the yellow and pink from elsewhere in the country.
The world's gardens also have South Africa to thank for the agapanthus, gladiolus, Barberton daisy and Gardenia thunbergia, to name a few.
Carpet of flowers:
The Cape in the spring is a breathtaking sight, but even more astonishing is Namaqualand. Dry, rocky and desert-like for the rest of the year, it yields its floral wealth for a short few weeks in the spring in dazzling sheets of colour.
The golden yellow and orange Namaqualand daisies are predominant, but in between them are a wide variety of flowers, including the iridescent succulent mesembryanthemums. Colours here are particularly intense, although there is also much fascination in less colourful species such as the quiver tree (the San, or Bushmen, used to make quivers from its fibrous stem) and the bizarre-looking tall succulent known as the halfmens (half human).
And anyone interested in plants' abilitiesto adapt to harsh circumstances in a myriad different ways (not all are succulents) need not wait for spring to visit the area.
Forests:
Although South Africa has more than a thousand indigenous trees, large species are relatively scarce in many parts of the country.
But they are very much at home in some areas, such as the Knysna-Tsitsikamma forest with its tall stinkwoods, black ironwoods and yellowwoods, and the northeastern region in Mpumalanga and Limpopo, home to the ancient cycads and Lowveld species such as the fever tree - so called because of its association with malaria areas.
It is also in the north that one finds the famous thick-stemmed baobab, which according to African myth was accidentally planted upside down, accounting for the odd shape of its branches.
Then there are the forests of KwaZulu-Natal, where the beautiful shade-loving orange Clivia miniata, a now much cultivated member of the amaryllis family, is found.
Another popular orange (and purple) garden flower, now the emblem of the US city of Los Angeles, originates in the Eastern Cape: the strelitzia. In much the same colour range, South Africa's winters are marked by the flowering of some of the country's 140 species of aloes.
The Eastern Cape's Greater Addo National Park, which stretches 200 kilometres from the coast to the Karoo, includes samples of six of the seven South African biomes mentioned above, lacking only the succulent Karoo.
Article source
See here for information regarding Garden Route tours
There are five major habitat types in South Africa: fynbos, forest, Karoo, grassland, and savannah. The country can also be divided into seven biomes, or ecological life zones, with distinct environmental conditions and related sets of plant and animal life: Nama Karoo, succulent Karoo, fynbos, forest, thicket, savanna, and grassland.
Whichever classification is used, some 10% of the world's flowering species are found in South Africa, the only country in the world with an entire plant kingdom inside its borders: the Cape Floristic Kingdom, which contains 8 600 species, 68% of them endemic. The Cape Peninsula alone boasts more plant species than the whole of Great Britain.
Fynbos:
This southwestern area of South Africa is the home of the fynbos, which is composed of ericas (heathers), proteas and the grass-like restios. Most spectacular in flower are the proteas, which include the king protea - the national flower - and others of broadly similar shape, the pincushion leucospermum types and spiky leucadendrons. The colour range is vast.
The ericas, the largest genus of flowering plants in South Africa, are more delicate, repaying close examination of their almost infinite variety of colour and form. One or other of these species will be found in bloom at almost any time of the year.
These share their Cape home with such beauties as the red disa orchid, one of South Africa's 550 wild orchids, which grows in the mountains, as well as numerous irises, pelargoniums and many more.
South Africa's pelargoniums, in particular, have contributed greatly to gardens all over the world, as have the arum lilies - the classic white species is from this area, the yellow and pink from elsewhere in the country.
The world's gardens also have South Africa to thank for the agapanthus, gladiolus, Barberton daisy and Gardenia thunbergia, to name a few.
Carpet of flowers:
The Cape in the spring is a breathtaking sight, but even more astonishing is Namaqualand. Dry, rocky and desert-like for the rest of the year, it yields its floral wealth for a short few weeks in the spring in dazzling sheets of colour.
The golden yellow and orange Namaqualand daisies are predominant, but in between them are a wide variety of flowers, including the iridescent succulent mesembryanthemums. Colours here are particularly intense, although there is also much fascination in less colourful species such as the quiver tree (the San, or Bushmen, used to make quivers from its fibrous stem) and the bizarre-looking tall succulent known as the halfmens (half human).
And anyone interested in plants' abilitiesto adapt to harsh circumstances in a myriad different ways (not all are succulents) need not wait for spring to visit the area.
Forests:
Although South Africa has more than a thousand indigenous trees, large species are relatively scarce in many parts of the country.
But they are very much at home in some areas, such as the Knysna-Tsitsikamma forest with its tall stinkwoods, black ironwoods and yellowwoods, and the northeastern region in Mpumalanga and Limpopo, home to the ancient cycads and Lowveld species such as the fever tree - so called because of its association with malaria areas.
It is also in the north that one finds the famous thick-stemmed baobab, which according to African myth was accidentally planted upside down, accounting for the odd shape of its branches.
Then there are the forests of KwaZulu-Natal, where the beautiful shade-loving orange Clivia miniata, a now much cultivated member of the amaryllis family, is found.
Another popular orange (and purple) garden flower, now the emblem of the US city of Los Angeles, originates in the Eastern Cape: the strelitzia. In much the same colour range, South Africa's winters are marked by the flowering of some of the country's 140 species of aloes.
The Eastern Cape's Greater Addo National Park, which stretches 200 kilometres from the coast to the Karoo, includes samples of six of the seven South African biomes mentioned above, lacking only the succulent Karoo.
Article source
See here for information regarding Garden Route tours
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