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Heather's Corner

Have you ever wondered what happens in the Protea Atlas Office or who even works there...?

There are three of us, Tony Rebelo - Scientific Officer, Nicholas Cole - Project Co-ordinator and myself, Heather Webber - Admin. assistant.

We have several volunteer helpers who deserve a medal for their efficient and diligent time given free of charge to the project.

Monday is our busy day, the office is a real buzz. Apart from the excited Atlassers - who bring in their exciting finds from the weekend which need to be identified, we have four extra, wonderful people in the office. Chris van Vuuren and Peter Ross do a sterling job at checking all the map co-ordinates. Ruth Smart and Lyn McCallum work closely with Tony updating the filing, data checking and, among other things, Worldmap and the slide library. This is an endless task - it is for this reason that we keep making pleas for more helpers.

The rest of the week should reach normality, which seems impossible when Tony is around. But David Louw assists us on Thursdays and brings some relief with his map work: he also keeps the maps correctly filed, which is a mammoth task with so many users.

If you ever have some free time or need something to do come and join us, there is plenty of tea/coffee and lots of chirp. We need the support!

Did you get my electronic voice message again. We really have been busy and please bear in mind that I work mornings only.....no excuses!

Elsa Schaffer invited us to visit her Protea Farm nestled in the Constantia Valley opposite the Alphen Hotel. What a wonderful display she has. With her helper, Patrick, she distributes Proteas to florists and agents, locally as well as overseas. So for the bride to be who wants a bouquet of "Blushing Brides", Elsa has them all, specialising in Silver Trees. I admire her dedication and expertise in this neat little business she runs so proficiently. Thank you Elsa for a most enjoyable morning.

We were invited to visit Beaverlac, situated on the Dasklip Pass near Porterville, an area which took on a new meaning for me. Malcolm Griffin owns this immense piece of land, which includes part of the Olifantsrivier mountains and Koue Bokkeveld. We used our 4X4 vehicle to gain full benefit from atlassing the prolific Proteas. The walks and mountain climbing were relatively easy. The weekend was too short and we unfortunately ran out of time to enjoy the full extent of the magnificent setting and explore the caves with bushman paintings. Camping facilities and a farm house with approx. 24 bunk beds are available. For bookings and/or further information please phone: 02623-2945. We thank Malcolm Griffin for the accommodation and hospitality, the project certainly gained species in that area which had not been atlassed before and verified species that were mis-identified.

Our final trip - Tony, Nicholas, Lyn McCallum, Christine Hunt and myself were off to the Anysberg Nature Reserve. The reason was to train the veldwagters to atlas our proteas and fill in the SRS.

On driving through Du Toit’s kloof we encountered the most spectacular view of the serene, peaceful mountains covered with an abundance of Pr nitida, Ld salignum and Pr repens, and a very tiresome stream trickling along the roadside.

As we continued onto the Klein Karoo plains, we were surrounded by the rolling hills that swell into the sandstone peaks of the Witteberg range, winding along our route towards Anysberg Nature Reserve - an expansive area of over 34 015 ha.

We were met by an enthusiastic bunch of nature conservationists, headed by Allan Martin, and our well-known David Osborne from Towerkop Nature Reserve. Allan has been in charge of the reserve since its inception. After being split into groups we started exploring and atlassing the mountainsides. The majority of us were happy to return at a reasonable time, but TONY.... (got to camp at 10.00 pm. All I’ll say is that I’m pleased he did not led the team up Mt Everest).

Thanks to Allan and his staff, we were able to enjoy an outride on horseback. This offered a new dimension to protea atlassing and with Duikers being extremely inquisitive and not at all perturbed by our presence. The people of Anysberg and neighbouring reserves i.e. Towerkop, Swartberg and Gamka reserve were hospitable, friendly and enthusiastic to learn and please. Our accommodation was extremely clean, comfortable and hot water was provided by a donkie - a fire heated geyser! So a relaxing hot bath - cast iron, Victorian style no less - was most appreciated. I say no more about the long drop... Nicholas has informed me that there is a book I have to read, titled "How to sh** in the bush" (author unknown at this stage but I promise to fill you in on more details once read) For the new campers and city slickers like myself perhaps we can pick up some tips.

The same drive on our return just three days later from Anysberg was completely different. The rain was pouring down and Du Toit's kloof was again a sight to see. This peaceful mountain was now transformed into an angry and wild one. The spectacular sight was seeing the many waterfalls beginning their decent only to be swept up by the wind. Thanks to Nicholas’s safe driving we returned home safe and sound.

Thank you to all at Anysberg - we truly enjoyed the experience and your strong desire to improve your knowledge of the proteas and fynbos. We will be returning to Anysberg in December to award the winning team and person who has collected the most data - so good luck to you all!

It is on this note that I say we have been busy. With the winter months upon us, we have no plans to be out of the office - so please feel free to contact us with any queries, information or a chat about what is happening around YOU. We are always able to suggest where you should go for a weekend away or where we desperately need more data, so please feel welcome to give us a call.

Enjoy the school holidays and try to introduce your children and grandchildren to the importance of our environment and to at least ONE of our proteas in this magnificent floral kingdom.

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