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Afrikaanse Inligting
Highlands Mountains - 29 & 30 July 2000
Three atlassers joined me for atlassing in the Highlands Mountains east of Potgietersrus in the Northern Province. These mountains, midway between the Strydpoort Mountains to the east (extending from the escarpment at Wolkberg) and the Waterberg in the west, rise spectacularly up to an altitude of 2000 m, above the flat plains of the bushveld. The area is well known for Makapansgat, the cave that contains fossil evidence of human and homonid occupation for over a million years.
We atlassed in the Mogoto Dam Nature Reserve, a private reserve acting as a water catchment for Zebediela Estates Citrus Farm. The reserve rises from the bushveld at 1200 m, where Faurea saligna is common, to 2000 m, with montane grassland where Silver Sugarbush - Protea roupelliae roupelliae is the dominant tree species. The proteas really start to make their presence felt from 1600 m, above the dolomite in which Makapansgat has formed.
It is at 1700 m that I recorded a plot with - wait for it! – 4 protea species. For all the ignorant Western Cape atlassers, this is quite an achievement in the summer rainfall area, where most plots consist only of Common Sugarbush - Protea caffra caffra! But most interestingly, this plot contained Dwarf Grassland Sugarbush - Protea simplex, the tiny unbranched species that is restricted mainly to the Drakensberg escarpment in the "old Transvaal". At first I thought they must be small Dwarf Savannah Sugarbush - Protea welwitschii plants, but the hairless leaves and slender, unbranched, pink coloured stems of less than 5 mm in diameter set them apart. Apart from this surprise, the reserve was chock-a-block with Protea welwitschii, Protea caffra caffra, Pr roupelliae roupelliae and Faurea saligna. All four of these species occur up to the reserve's highest point at 2011 m, where stunted Podocarpus latifolius trees give a faint hint of Afromontane forest.
Finding Protea simplex in this locality has made me determined to see whether it occurs anywhere else along the Strydpoort Range between the Wolkberg and the Highlands Mountains. Thus, we will continue to atlas in the Strydpoort Mountains in the months ahead.
Reuben Heydenrych, Pretoria
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