Walk Report – 18 May ’19

Saturday 18 May 2019  Walk from Pringle Bay to Rooiels. A moderate to easy undulating route in front of the Two Sisters Peaks with great views of False Bay, young fynbos starting to mature and interesting birding – possibly the Cape Rock-jumper, Cape Rock-thrush and Ground Woodpecker, and certainly the Cape Sugarbird and maybe Orange Breasted Sunbird. Bring binoculars, good walking shoes or boots, refreshments and water, hat, sunblock and clothing for changeable weather. Meet at Harold Porter National Botanical Gardens at 09h00 to share transport to Pringle Bay. We will need to leave a…
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Future Walks

20 October 2018 Meet at HPNBG at 09h00 and we will walk from there. Enquiries: Tim Attwell, cell phone 082 343 2501  This one is an easy ramble with lots to see. We will explore ‘The Commonage’, the large public open space between Bass Lake (aka Malkopsvlei) and Waterfall Road in Betty’s Bay. Burnt three years ago, the area includes Cape Lowland Freshwater Wetland, Hangklip Sand Fynbos and Overberg Dune Strandveld. Let’s see how it has recovered. The paths are good and we can take our time. 
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Future Events

WALKS PLANNED FOR 2018: 15 SEPTEMBER 2018 09h00 Harold Porter National Botanical Gardens Join us for a combined botanical ramble in the Hangklip Nature Reserve, also known as the Brodie Link. Only it’s more than the Brodie Link – you’ll find out more when you come along. We’ll be combining with members of the Kirstenbosch Branch under the leadership of renowned citizen botanist Ivor Jardine to explore what spring has sprung forth in a rich area, parts of which were burnt early last year. Meet at the Harold Porter National Botanical Gardens at 09h00 on…
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Botsoc Kogelberg Next Walk

21st April 2018 It’s been nearly two years since we last visited Hanneshoek, the area above the Kleinmond Golf Course. This year Protea compacta, our own Bot River Protea, is on spectacular display in the area. This easy walk also boasts many other Protea species; P. repens, Suikerbossie (of course), P. neriifolia, P. Longifolia, P. lepidocarpodendron and more. We’ll make it easier too, starting the walk at the Kleinmond Golf Course (after travelling together from the Harold Porter National Botanical Gardens). And the path is relatively flat! Meet at Harold Porter National Botanical Gardens at…
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Walk Report – April 2018

Botsoc Kogelberg Walk Report - By Tim Attwell (17th March 2018) After a series of more challenging walks, the intention was to take this one easy with a botanical ramble in the Harold Porter National Botanical Gardens, go slow and easy up the Bobbejaanskop path and hopefully see the last of Nivenia stokoei near the top. There was also the possibility, lower down in more sandy areas, of coming across Nerine sarniensis and other Amaryllidaceae such as Haemanthus, Brunsvigia and Ammocharis, not an unreasonable expectation, it being the month of March, after all.   But ‘things…
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Walk Report – March 2018

Botsoc Kogelberg Walk Report - By Tim Attwell (17th February 2018) It seemed a good idea at the time. February serves up the best of summer in the Kogelberg; not much wind, little chance of rain and warm sunny days. The prospect of a swim in the Palmiet River was too good to resist. And so it proved. Except that the swimming spot we chose, the famous ‘Beach’ on the Palmiet River, deep in the Kogelberg Nature Reserve, was five kilometres from the parking spot and there was indeed little cooling breeze, negligible cloud cover and…
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WALK REPORT

Beach GeoHike with Dr John Rogers - Merrilee Berrisford Icy wind blew along Silversands Beach, chilling to the bone assorted naturalists, amateur geologists and just beach people following John the geologist. Anyone know how to recognise a yardang? It’s a coppice dune eroded (deflated in geology speak), and there they were! Barbara Jenman and I thought we’d never noticed them before. Were they the work of the storm? And a coppice dune is a small dune on its own, with grass growing on the top. Then there was the elaborate wind-etching on the side of…
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WALKS PLANNED FOR 2017

Saturday 22 April 2017: Hangklip Ecologial Corridor No, it’s not a mistake. Botsoc Kogelberg walks are usually on the third Saturday of each month, except that the third Saturday of April this year is on Easter Saturday, right in the middle of the Easter weekend. That’s why we’ll be walking the following Saturday, 22 April. Here’s what we’ll be doing and where we’ll be going: Looking for new life, monitoring the Hangklip Ecological Corridor In March we monitored the recovery of the Western Coastal Shale Band vegetation in the Kleinmond Mountain Nature Reserve. In April…
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WALK REPORT FOR JANUARY 2017

-Tim Attwell An easy walk, circumnavigating the Palmiet Estuary is one of our area’s most beautiful routes. With a brilliant blue sky overhead, eleven members and guests set off from Fairy Glen, dart across the R44 and duck under the forest canopy hiding the steps down to the popular picnic spot on the rocky riverside. The holiday crowd is already gathering, we say hello but don’t linger. The path along the east bank of the Palmiet River, in the direction of the river mouth, takes us through a tiny patch of Afrotemperate forest, an outlier…
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WALKS PLANNED FOR 2017

Botsoc Walk 18 February 2017 Finding Nivenia. Brilliant blue Nivenia stokoei is one of our local treasures and coming into bloom as we speak. Meanwhile, it’s that time of year when members of the Amaryllidaceae family (e.g. Haemanthus, Amaryllis, Nerine) start strutting their stuff. We go looking for them on Bobbejaanskop in the Harold Porter National Botanical Garden. We’ll take the high path, but not all the way up the zig-zags, to a spectacular view and return via Disa Kloof. Bring refreshments, a hat and a hiking stick. Meet at the Harold Porter National Botanical…
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