Earth-Touch Expeditions

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Off to the smallest of the world’s 6 floral kingdoms - 03:27 am

24 Apr 2009

In a week’s time I’ll be joining Paul Myburgh at the tip of Africa to explore one of the world’s biodiversity hotspots. It covers an area of about 80 000km² and packs in around 9000 plant species - 69% which are found nowhere else on earth! That’s pretty much on a par with the biodiversity of the Amazon rainforest. Fynbos here we come! Apart from the extreme beauty of the Western Cape mountain ranges, the fynbos vegetation is remarkable in it’s variability and it’s fantastically interesting. At this time of year there aren’t all that many species in flower - but, there will be plenty to look at and explore despite this.

People who live here are pretty used to raging fires. The Mediterranean climate means hot dry summers and the fynbos has evolved to use fire as a means of reproduction. It burns and it burns hot! This season has been reported as the worst fire season for a decade with more than 90 000ha reduced to charcoal.
You’d think this is the end - but it’s essential for fynbos to survive. Many protea species will only release their seeds when in a fire. Certainly the parent plant is killed, but the smoke triggers germination in the freshly released seeds. What can make a difference is just how often a particular area burns and this is one of the things we’re going to investigate. If anyone has any photos that they’d like to share of the recent fires on Devil’s Peak above Cape Town or the massive Paarl fires which I hear are still smouldering, please do send them in.

The mountains are surrounded by a large human population which is growing all the time. Most of this mountain vegetation is protected under the management of Table Mountain National Park.

Before I join Paul, he’ll be in the drier inland area of the Karoo National Park. The difference should be extreme. The vegetation - while still diverse is much sparser. This picture taken near Prince Alfred on the edge of the Swartberg shows a fairly typical landscape - wide open spaces with shrubby vegetation and big mountains on the horizon.

The frequent circles you can see all over the landscape are actually termite colonies. Their influence changes the nutrient regime around the colonies and these circles or ‘heuweltjies’ are the result. It’s an interesting relationship. Termites seem to have a massive influence in every landscape.

It should be a fantastic trip of extremes - from the succulent dominated karoo landscape to the fire-driven fynbos covering the slopes of those unbelievable mountains which bake in the summer heat and collect snow in the depths of winter.
(Want to know more about the fynbos biodiversity hotspot? Click here)