Course 1 (12-days 3 credits) takes place in the Western and Eastern Cape Region. Starting in Cape Town (discover the flora of Table Mountain & then and ending in the Tsitsikamma National Forest. Course 2 (17-days 4 credits) also starts in Cape Town and includes the Tsitsikamma National Forest but ends in the Drakensberg Mountains region. Course 3 (20-days 4.5 credits) starts in Cape Town includes the Tsitsikamma National Forest and the Drakensberg Mountains region and ends in Swaziland. Site Description: Cape Town: Founded in 1913, Kirstenbosch grows only indigenous South African plants. The estate covers 528 hectares and supports a diverse fynbos flora and natural forest. The cultivated garden (36 hectares) displays collections of South African plants, particularly those from the winter rainfall region of the country. People used Kirstenbosch long before the arrival of the European settlers in the 17th Century. In 1660 a hedge of wild almond (Brabejum stellatifolium) and brambles was planted to form the boundary of the colony. Sections of this hedge, known as van Riebeeck’s hedge still exist in Kirstenbosch. Table Mountain offers breathtaking views over the city and its beaches (the panorama stretches from Table Bay to False Bay and around the mountain to the Hout Bay Valley and Kommetjie - On a clear day one has a magnificent view across the Cape Flats to the Hottentots Holland Mountains). The mountain is sculpted from sandstone and it rises 1086 metres above the bay. Its flat summit measures nearly 3km from end to end. The mountain is home to approximately 1470 species of plants. Many of these are endemic, i.e. appearing nowhere else on earth. Included is the rare Silver Tree and the wild orchid Disa Uniflora. Tsitsikamma National Park is situated at the heart of the picturesque region known as the Garden Route, found along the Indian Ocean Coastline of South Africa. Tsitsikamma is a Khoisan (the early inhabitants of the area) word meaning, “place of much water.” The Park incorporates 80 km of rocky coastline with spectacular sea and landscapes, a remote mountainous region with secluded valleys covered in mountain Fynbos (proteas and heath) and temperate high forests with deep river gorges leading down to the sea.
Africa. From almost the source of the Orange River (but truly at Cathedral Peak) to Thabana Ntleyana the highest point in Southern Africa (3482 meters) near Sani Pass (at the top of which is the small landlocked country of Lesotho) to the end at Sehlabathebe National Park. Our journey takes us to the central "Berg". A total of 2153 species of plants have been described in the area, including 1993 species of Angiosperms, 5 Gymnosperms, 70 Ferns and 85 Mosses. Among these, 109 are internationally threatened and 109 national threatened. A remarkable feature of the area is the large number of endemic species (394 species recorded for the Drakensberg Alpine Region).
arid savanna to wetlands. Knowledge of plant diversity in Swaziland is based on the collection of herbarium specimens in the country. This diversity is only known at the species, sub-species or variety level, with little or no information available on intraspecies diversity. The richness of Swaziland's flora is illustrated by the comparison of the flora currently recorded for Swaziland with that of the flora of Southern Africa, where, despite its small size, Swaziland contains almost 14 percent of the taxa recorded from the region. Work is currently being carried out on the updating of the Swaziland Flora Checklist, with a provisional total of 3400 species, 157 of these being naturalised exotics. This includes the first listing of bryophytes, which still require much collection (3-week to 3-month internships for graduate students can be arranged for the collection process). Conservation of plant diversity in Swaziland is primarily in the form of nature reserves, whose objectives are the conservation of the indigenous flora and fauna; and private reserves whose objectives usually do not specifically include the conservation of plant diversity but do provide some level of protection to the flora. There are also a number of private farms where a high diversity of flora is protected, although this protection is also based on the goodwill of the landowners. Our course takes us on a scavenger hunt to one of these private sanctuaries. |
 |
 |
 |
 |