Exploring Nature

The Garden Route evokes thoughts of many activities, but without a doubt walking and hiking are activities most commonly undertaken.The walks and hikes in the region are diverse and varied ranging from a quick 20 minute stroll on a boardwalk at the Garden of Eden to the epic 8 day, 108km Outeniqua Trail.

Yet within this menu of trails there are some that should not be missed. Without a doubt the most popular trail in the Garden Route is the combination of the Half Collared and the Giant Kingfisher trail with the choice of either a pontoon or stepping stone crossing of the Touw River to join the two trails.

Starting in the Ebb & Flow camp site of the Garden Route National Park just west of the dual bridge crossing the Touw River, you start off under the tree canopy before a short series of steps takes you over a rocky outcrop before descending to a gravel path following the winding course of the river.

This section offers some fine examples of closed canopy Afromontane forest as you meander through some towering Outeniqua Yellowwoods, Ironwood and Cape Chestnuts. But it is the birdsong and birds frantic activity that truly brings the trail to life.

Once you have crossed the river, either on the pont or further upstream on the stepping stones, there is a short section fringed by fern before you reach the boardwalk. From here it is 2.5km to a series of rock pools and cascades at the end of the trail. The boardwalk at times places you at canopy level providing a bird’s eye perspective of well, birds in the canopy and the towering trees that they forage in.

Trail Facts :

Difficulty : 3/10

Type : return by same route

Distance & Time : 7.8km, 2hours

Specials : giant yellowwoods, Narina Trogon, Knysna Turaco, bushbuck

Managing authority : SANParks

Entrance Fee : free with Wild Card or R18.00

For more energetic hikers, the challenging Craddock Peak Trail is exceptional. Starting at Witfontein Forest Station the trails sets out through some towering pine plantations before dropping down to a fern fringed river.

From there it is all uphill! Breaking out of some cleared pine plantations the paths traverses the fynbos shrouded slopes towards a rocky outcrop to the west before heading straight up to the Saddle. I maintain that the person who designed the trail knew nothing about switchbacks and contours, but rather saw a peak and took the shortest route to it. But then for these views you have to work a bit.

From the river there is only one other waterpoint, a small seep about 300m from the Saddle (1300m), but don’t rely on it after the drought. Once you have reached the saddle you have an option to head left to Craddock Peak (1579m) or right to the lower George Peak (1338m). If you plan to do both, opt to do Craddock first and return to do George Peak.

Standing on the saddle you can see the trail tracing a narrow, steep line through the fynbos as the slope curves to the left and round to the right to finish at the peak. The final challenge is an outcrop of rock which leads to the top, a section of level ground with a communication aerial and an equipment hut. Most important is to fill in your comments in the 'visitors' book. On a good day from here you can see Mosselbay, the Swartberg Pass and into the opening of Meiringspoort

Returning to the saddle is simple and if time permits, heading off to George Peak is a walk in the park by comparison. Starting the descent from the Saddle the most difficult part of this trail is still ahead of you on two counts. Firstly, having to leave the remote vastness of being on the mountain is done with reluctance. Secondly, the workout your quads will get going down the steep slope will make this outing memorable. Do not under estimate this slope - I have seen some serious gym bunnies crying only halfway down.

Facts :

Difficulty : 8/10

Type : return by same route

Distance & Time : 7.2km to Saddle, 1.9km Saddle to Craddock Peak, 1.0km Saddle to George Peak, 5-8 hours

Altitude gain : 1453m

Specials : Fynbos, views

Managing authority : Cape Nature

Entrance Fee : Free

Equipment : At least 3 liters water/person, always carry a thermal top and a waterproof shell.

For those wanting to experience some pristine forest trails, two stand out namely the Elephant walks at Diepvalle and the Woodcutters Trail at Millwood. Right now, due to the impact of drought of the past two years, the Woodcutter Trail has more lush forest.

The Woodcutter Trail offers two circular options, either a 3 or a 9km route. Starting at a Giant Outeniqua Yellowwood aged at 880 years old, the trail sets out westwards on a forestry road for a few hundred meters before turning right onto a forest track. There is a gradual descent to a streamlet with an incredible stand of tree ferns which tower above the short boardwalk traversing some potentially boggy area.

Once through the tree ferns, it is a gradual climb up through high closed canopy forest to the split of the 3km and 9km routes. Along this section there is plenty of evidence of Bushpig tusk scrapings on the tree trunks lining the trail, so look out for them. From the split, the 3km route turns right to complete a gentle contour path in a clockwise direction back to the big tree. What makes this path exciting is that we have picked up evidence of leopard along this section, both as scat and tree scratching's.

The 9km route continues up the slope from the split, reaches a level section and turns left, passing through a short still section of forest which can be uncanningly quiet. It then starts descending down the spine of a ridge to run parallel to a river, Forest Creek, offering two wonderful swimming opportunities.

Crossing the river, the trail starts climbing on a contour path and reaches a 'T' Junction and continues to the left till reaching a forestry road. Turn left at the road. And this is where the fun begins - this is where the elephant/s visit and is you are observant you should see a number of droppings for the next 2km on the way back to the trailhead.

Facts:

Difficulty : 3km - 3/10, 9km - 5/10

Type : 3km clockwise circular, 9km counter clockwise circular

Distance & Time : 3km - 1hr, 9km - 2.5 to 3hours

Specials : giant yellowwoods, Narina Trogon, Knysna Turaco, bushbuck, bushpig markings, leopard markings, elephant dung

Managing authority : SANParks

Entrance Fee : free with Wild Card or R18.00

For diversity the Goukamma Loop can't be beaten. A 16km trail starting at Lake Pleasant the path starts at the lake entrance to the Goukamma Reserve and follows the lake path through an ancient Milkwood forest.

From the shoreline there is a steep climb to the highest point of 120m to a plateau of fynbos. Most spectacular re the Brunsvigia sp in March and April. The trail then continues through coastal thicket, coastal forest and dune fynbos as it meanders over four dunes, each time offering magnificent vistas as it crests each dune before reaching the shore at Oysterbeds. There is a shortcut that brings you 1.5km west of Oysterbeds if needed.

On the beach there is a 6km walk westwards towards Sedgefield to Platbank along some of the most spectacular and secluded beaches in South Africa. The beach is punctuated with outcrops fossil sand dune, one of which contains fossil footprints of two types of animals.

At Platbank the trail leaves the beach and follows the road to the start point passing vast stands of Buchu and Sand Olives.

Difficulty : 7/10

Type : Circular

Distance & Time : 16km, 5hours

Specials : giant Milkwoods, Orange breasted Sunbird, bushbuck

Managing authority : Cape Nature

Entrance Fee : free with Wild Card or R18.00

Equipment : There is no surface water so carry 3l/person, sunhat, sunscreen, snacks.

Preparation : Check the tide tables before starting.

For the hiker that wants a short overnight outing there are a few options, but my favorite is either doing the Robberg Sealion Loop in the Robberg Nature Reserve (Cape Nature) and staying in the hut at the Tombola or choosing a stage of the Outeniqua Trail (SANParks) and staying in the overnight huts is a must. For those hikers that prefer their creature comforts Garden Route Trail offers a 3 and 5 day slackpacker coastal trail from Wilderness to Brenton on Sea.

It is recorded that Amazonian Indians have the capability to distinguish between 64 shades of green, a necessary ability when the ambient tone of their environment is made up by this colour. By comparison, the average westerner can distinguish a mere 16 shades of green.

Living in this gem of the Garden Route we have the luxury of no less than 139 indigenous species of trees gracing our forests and coastal vegetation. This is a staggering 130 more trees that there are in the entire country of Canada, a country that can boast a mere 9 species of trees, three of which are deciduous while the rest are conifers.

But why this disparity in the number of trees between a region and a country? The basic answer is : Disease and it’s dispersal across the range of latitudes. In the artic and temperate climates in higher latitudes, the severe cold of winter provides a sanitizing action which kills off terminal pathogens on an annual cycle during the harsh freezing conditions. Without pathogen populations building up, a species of tree can grow in dense populations that are free of the threat of an epidemic destroying them.

By contrast, in the sub tropics and the tropics, pathogens are able to survive winter and build up to epidemic proportions. In the event that trees where to grow in dense stands of mono specific populations, a diseased tree could infect the entire population, killing off a large section of the forest. The average spacing for a healthy population of a species of trees is approximately 500m between individuals. This means that for two mature trees of the same species to be separated by this distance, there is plenty of space between them for other tree species, all with the same spatial requirements. Spaced at 5m between mature trees of different species, this would calculate to a potential of 100 species of trees to maintain a healthy forest. With this requirement of speciation, the fun begins. Each species now has to compete for resources, water and sunlight, and space, yet all the time not expanding beyond the sanitary boundary of 500m. Within this context, the variation of life stories erupts.

Up the Touw River there are three sections along the Giant Kingfisher Trail where Yellowwoods, both the Outeniqua and the Real Yellowwoods, grow in lines, a memory of an ancient past event. The youngest line is between 40 and 65years old, one that I would love to witness in about 500 years time when they are in their prime. Yet it was not till the autumn of 2009 that I figured out what had caused the trees to grow in a line, the precision of which hinted at either primate or human intervention.

But it was simpler – this was the high water mark of various past floods that deposited seeds in a line to germinate, a natural memorial of a series of floods spanning more than 300 years.

Indeed, it is on the oldest of these tree lines that another story unfolds. Entwined around members of the oldest line, which I estimate to be between 270 and 310 years old, are a number of figs which will in the future strangle and kill the Yellowwoods. Penetrating the Podocarpus armoury of auto peeling bark to dispel all epiphytes that could introduce a pathogen, five or more trees have been invaded by one of the most intriguing stories in the floral kingdom, namely one of the strangling figs.

Fig trees have about 1600 species distributed around the world, each of them requiring a specific wasp to fertilize their flowers. The specific female wasp will enter the fig to lay eggs and while she does so, she carries pollen amongst flowers in the fig and pollinates them. When she exits the fig and enters a second fig, again she pollinates the flowers inside while she is laying eggs. But it does not stop there. If the wasps lay too many eggs, the wasp population increases and the larva destroy the figs and reduce the number of seeds available for dispersal. This is where the tree steps in – as the population of wasps increases, it raises the temperature of the fruit by up to 6º C. Inside the fig is an endemic population of intestinal nematodes, host specific for the wasp larva. As the fig temperature increases, the nematode population increases and destroys the wasp population. This results in reducing the number of fruit destroyed and subsequently increasing the amount of seed available for dispersal. But, the tree can’t survive without the wasps to pollinate the fruit, so as the wasp population declines, the tree lowers the fruit temperature and reduces the nematode population. Again the wasp population increases.

The final step for the tree is to disperse it’s seeds. Here the tree employs birds and bats. While we easily see birds, it is infact the bats that are the primary seed dispersal agents of figs. Bats, unlike most birds that feed from fig trees, pick the fruit and fly to a safe location to eat. To ensure that their seed is carried off, the tree produces the first crop of fruit that is 30% larger than the rest, thereby enticing the bats to pick their fruit and carry it away to a new location.

For these and other examples of the diversity in our forests visit www.gardenroutetrail.co.za for information on our selection of guided walks.

With frustration I announced “ I have forgotten my binoculars so we are guaranteed of seeing a Narina Trogon” to the my guests as we set out along the Giant Kingfisher Trail. In the short distance from beaching the canoes to the board walk we had spent about half an hour discussing the anaploidic nature of the plant kingdom. I was relating why this genetic trait allowed Real Yellowwoods to have such diverse leaf size when a low pitch bird call penetrated my attention. I had only heard it once, and unlike anything in any of the bird recordings on my PDA, it had stuck in my memory. It was a juvenile Narina Trogon calling it’s parents.

Glancing up in mid sentence, right above us was not one, but two red breasts of the glowing in the canopy. Jill was ecstatic, her twenty year quest to see a Narina Trogon was accomplished. But that was not all. As if quantity was a way to make up for the double decade of not seeing these magnificent birds, a third one flew in to join the first two. Spellbound, we watched the three Trogon’s for the next 25 minutes. From their behaviour they were obviously parents with a juvenile, very much still dependent on them for food.

Tranquilly scanning the canopy, one of the adults would dart out and snatch an insect from the air or off a leaf, closely followed by the juvenile frantically calling, again in the low tone, till it was fed. On a schedule, every attempt to get the group to move one was useless and it was with mixed feeling that we finally watched the three trogon’s fly deeper into the canopy and out of view.

While we have all bemoaned the current drought situation, I have also learnt a lot about the forest at the same time. Watching the feeding of the Trogon’s was interesting and in the future I will know where to look and better what to look for to find them more easily. For now that I have a ‘search image’ in my mind they will be easier to recognise. The concept of search image is not unique to birders, it is also a trait found inn the feeding habits of reptiles, spiders and birds themselves.

A bird party comprising up to 12 bird species moving through a canopy is a perfect example of collective feeding. The combined activity and vocalisation of the birds is a disturbance to insects resting and feeding in a tree. As the insects are disturbed the birds dart out and catch them, a perfect example of collective feeding. But if you observe more carefully, it becomes apparent that each species of bird is retaining it’s normal feeding pattern. The Yellow Throated Woodland Warbler still ducks under the leaves to grab it’s prey. The African Dusky Flycatcher still hawks it’s prey in the open. The Green Woodhoepoe still digs it’s prey from under the bark. And so on for each species of bird.

In essence, each species is retaining the ‘search image’ of the prey it is familiar with and benefiting from the collective agitation of a variety of insect species using what is termed a ‘specific peck response’.

Nature being what it is, one can expect variation. At times when a species of prey increases in population size so that it becomes a prevailing target, birds will then switch over to a frequency dependent selection feeding strategy. By using this method of feeding, they will target the most obvious species of prey, such a s an explosion of grass hoppers or moths and only revert to the specific peck response when the numbers diminish. It is the variation in these feeding approaches which encourages colour variation on prey species. When a certain strip pattern in a dominant prey species reaches a majority in a population, the other colour variations are spared being preyed on till such time that the majority pattern is reduced, thereby transferring the birds search image to the most frequent pattern to start feeding on.

I am continually captivated by the diversity of our forests and how each and every species plays it’s role in the overall survival of the whole. So, next time you are out in nature, look for the patterns. Otherwise, come and join us on a guided walk on www.gardenroutetrail.co.za

'Here we have Haliotis midae' I announced as I held up a polished perlemoen shell. The group' faces went blank and Amanda burst out laughing. She had frequently been on at me that most of the time I spoke too academically, especially when there were lots of children in the group.

So the challenge was to loosen up on the terminology and improve on the story. Standing in front of a group of kids and their parents at the start of a busy season Moonlight Meander, a gull calling overhead gave me some inspiration. Finding Nimo: and so the Nimo school started, mostly packed with the challenge of keeping the information captivating and handling questions from 6 to 8 children simultaneously. The only measure of success are the repeated requests to guide families with children on other walks in the Garden Route.

It is simultaneously fun, stimulating and most definitely challenging. Children in nature are constantly querying everything that they see. They are uninhibited to touch something or pick it up to watch it's reaction. In short they are sponges for information irrespective of age.

I recall a group of teenagers on our 5 day coastal walk. Their attention seemed to be anywhere but on the trail. Everytime we stopped to discuss one of natures creations they seemed focused on texting on their mobiles or were plugged into their Ipods. Yet in the evenings when we reviewed the highlights of the day it always a pleasant surprise to have each of them be able to recall details of five organisms seen during the day.

In particular, on the last evening we were star gazing and discussing a summary of the stars when one girl cut in and gave a detailed discourse of the constellations. It was her hobby and we all learnt from her. And I learnt that teenagers can multi task very well.

Then there are the little geniuses : kids that study online, watch every National Geographic and Discovery Channel broadcast then read 3 chapters of an encyclopedia before doing their homework.

Tim was one such kid. Only 7 years old he was a bundle of endless energy running around picking up shells, feathers, drift wood and plough shells, always with the inevitable questions relating to each item. Wanting to test him I asked why Polar Bears do not eat penguins a question that provides some interesting natural insights with few correct answers from most people. Tim blinked, shook his head as if I was demented and immediately answered correctly 'because the bears live in the Arctic and penguins in the Antarctic'.

But it is the fun with kids in nature that is the most memorable. Recently walking the Woodcutters Trail with a family, the unimpeded excitement of exploring the forest made it come alive despite the impact of the drought. Bushpig droppings were picked up and crushed to determine age, spiders webs were poked for reaction, scrapings in the ground were kneeled around to workout which animal had made it and leaves collected to compare shapes.

Yet it was when we found a leopard scat and scratch marks on a tree that the kids went into orbit. The questions flew (Answers were not important or listened to) and every tree for the next kilometer was vigorously inspected for scratch marks. When a Knysna Turaco called they stopped and scanned the forest, willing a leopard to appear.

Finishing the walk, we did not see a leopard and the kids were not disappointed. In fact, in their minds they had seen a dozen leopards and forever would remember their walk in the forest. It must have made an impression because all 5 kids said it was the best thing they had done during their two week Christmas holiday.

So get you kids into nature and let them live. Let them learn. Let them explore. If you want more details of our guided nature outings for family and school outings visit www.gardenroutetrail.co.za

While many developers and entrepreneurs scheme on how to construct attractions for tourists to the Garden Route, most of them overlook the gifts of nature on our doorstep that we are presented with daily, indeed that we live amongst. Numerous travels on seven continents have exposed me to attractions that the true international traveller seeks, and it definitely is not the trappings of urbanization, but rather an opportunity to reconnect with nature.

A granite dome in California receives more annual tourists than a mall. Niagara Waterfalls has more visitors per year than the whole of South Africa has ever had, a whopping 12 million visitors. The small town of Jasper in the Canadian Rockies, the size of Sedgefield, accommodates 6 million guests seeking the beauty of glaciers, turquoise lakes and nature trails in six months. Very few can describe the mall and structures of the town but will entertain you with hundreds of images of the landscape.

In the lead up to Christmas I have reflected on some of the attributes of the Garden Route and the many of the Gifts I have received from Nature in the past 15 years of living here.

In 2000 I was inspired to find evidence of the Matriarch of the Knysna Forest. Armed with a sense of adventure, a GPS and lunch pack I would set off on the various trails in the forest. The first few outings were fruitless, but in that time the essence of the forest captivated me. The shades of green, the abundance of growth, the tingle of life inspired me to return. It was a chance sighting of a dung heap that was my first evidence that there was indeed an elephant in the forest, but the size of the dung had me speculating to the size and age of the animal. Over the next 3 years I managed to record a number of sightings, but never had the privilege to see any. But from these simple outings I built up a pattern of sightings, of possible trails and some information of their (for I firmly believed that there was more than one elephant in the forest) habits and interactions. So it was a huge relief when Gareth Paterson recently published his studies of the past nine years indicating that there are definitely five elephants, possibly more.  His understanding of the forest elephants has enriched my experiences.

Living in the Garden Route corralled by the Indian Ocean and the Outeniqua Mountains, a passion for the sea and it’s magic has to develop. We are fortunate to host annual visitors to our shores, namely the whales, a sighting of which stills the mind of even the most consumed businessman. A special sighting I recall took place at Gericke's Point.

There is a pair of resident Humpbacked Dolphins, which if you remain still and scan the bay carefully, you will see most days. On this day, a Southern Right Whale had come in close to the edge of the rock shelf, maybe for shelter from the choppy sea. And that is when the incredible happened. The two dolphins approached the whale to within a few meters of the whales head, as if in conversation. After few moments, the whale submerged, rotated 90 degrees to face the opposite direction and surfaced again. The dolphins, like two excited puppies, swam around to the front of the whales again, all three suspended in conference for a minute before the whale submerged and rotated again, the dolphins returning boisterously to the front of the whale. This continued for over 45 minutes before I had to depart, the crisp sparkling droplets on the whales back and the deep sound of it’s exhalation etched in my memory.

 Another marine experience was truly a gift. Surf skiing at Buffalo Bay a school of dolphins relaxed uncharacteristically in the bay. Dramatically two dolphins erupted from below on either side of my surf ski and proceeded to guide me parallel to the beach towards Brenton on Sea. After a few minutes they dived, disappearing from view and remained submerged for about two minutes. Suddenly the surface boiled up with a pall of blood. Knowing the folklore about Great Whites in the bay, my immediate thoughts were that one of the dolphins had been attacked and that it would be prudent of me to move off.

A split second later three adult dolphin fins and one baby dolphin fin broke the surface and started swimming off. I had just been present at a dolphin birth. Why I had been lead to the birth I don’t know, but from the two initial dolphins it was now clear that I was no longer going to be tolerated as they blocked my way from following the mother and her new born. Once the baby got the hang of swimming the whole school of dolphins gathered together and set off into the blue yonder.

Back on the land, there are a few special requests when taking guests out, especially from birders. Flufftail, Narina Trogon, Knysna Woodpecker and the Holy Grail, a Knysna Warbler. All of these are not easy to find, but the last one takes plenty patience, lots of networking and a bolt of luck from above. On Monday I received a call from Liezl : she wanted to go birding and on top of her list was a Flufftail. Needless to say in the howling wind on Tuesday morning the prospects of calling up a Flufftail were thwarted. Later, up at Woodville Big Tree, things were not going so well. Most of the birds were high in the canopy and difficult to spot despite the continuous singing. Starting to head back to the car we were halted as a loud and piercing call of a Knysna Warbler started up. This had to be the moment, but as we approached the spot that we thought the call came from silence descended on us. As compensation I led Liezl to a Chorister Robin’s nest hoping the chicks had not departed yet. They had, but an Olive Woodpecker arrived and saved the moment. And then the bolt of luck struck – the warbler started calling a few meters away, high in the canopy. You could feel the aura of anticipation as we scanned the forest for a tell tale movement. A quick flutter of feathers and right in front of us, not one, but a pair of Knysna Warblers. For me a three year quest had been achieved, for Liezl a brag moment to her dad when she returned home. Over the ensuing 5 minutes I learnt something that my PDA version of Robert’s did not tell me – the male and female have two different songs.

I look forward to the next twelve days of Christmas. Carpe de natura and have a wonderful Christmas in nature.

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