09 May 2004 Trip to South Africa
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09 May 2004 Trip to South Africa
This day started with a wonderful early morning drive south to the Indian Ocean to the isolated hamlet of Vleesbaai. Here, we found a bit of fog as the morning was just at its start. After talking to a nearby farmer we walked to a rocky outcrop on his farm and found Haworthia magnifica var. acuminata and some other interesting plants.
We then drove to the farm adjacent to the type locality of Haworthia magnifica var. acuminata on the Gouritz River. We could see the type locality from here, or I should say we could see where it once was, as the type locality has been destroyed by a quarrying operation. Accompanied by the landowner, we saw more Haemanthus sanguineus, lots of Haworthia magnifica var. acuminata, Gasteria carinata and were treated to beautiful views of the Gouritz River.
The next stop was Humor Farm. We talked to the farmer and went to a little unplowed hill in the middle of a plowed field. After a bit of a search we found Haworthia pygmaea var argenteo-maculosa.
On down the road a bit we stopped at Cooper Siding. Here we were accompanied by the farmer’s two boys as we looked at more Haworthia pygmaea var argenteo-maculosa in the rocks and a tiny and very hard to find version of Haworthia floribunda.
pygmaea
a-m
floribunda
Adromischus
Next stop was East of Albertinia where we visited the type locality of the Eastern Haworthia magnifica var. splendens. The landowner was very kind and showed us where to stay away from his Ostriches. We parked along a road and Gerhard found Haworthia minima there in most unlikely spot. Then across the road, across the field and up the hill, and after much looking found three of the little Eastern Albertinia Haworthia magnifica v splendens hiding in cracks and crevices of the rocks.
We then drove to West of Albertinia to the type locality of H. magnifica var splendens. Here we found about 20 plants here in a very tiny area, no bigger than my kitchen!.
As the day came to a close, drove to another nearby area to look at a second population of Haworthia magnifica var. splendens. As we often did, Gerhard explained to the local farmer in Africaans that we were a couple of Americans who had come to South Africa to photograph some of the small plants on his farm. We reassured him that he had no interest in collecting or disturbing anything at all, we were there for photos only. The farmer wished us well and we drove into the farm and parked. We then walked quite a distance across a very sandy field until we reached a rocky area where we found the Haworthia magnifica var. splendens. This was a large healthy population of very beautiful plants, a real South African national treasure. Many Haworthias from this local were among over 500 Haworthias found in the hotel room of Masahiko Hayashi, a prominent Japanese Haworthia dealer was caught stealing Haworthias from the Western Cape Province in the fall of 2003. We left this lovely spot, drove back to Riversdale where we spent the night at the Riversdale Chalets.
