The Wild I See

Every September the West Coast explodes into the most amazing colours. Knowing this, Jem and I decided to take a day trip up to Posberg Flower Reserve (West Coast National Park) to soak it all in. I get the same stoked feeling every time I see the flowers and always end up in such awe that a phenomenon like this isn't staged by some supernatural force. Fields and fields of flowers unfurled to the sun, flaunting their saturated petals at buzzers-by. Monkey beetles, flies, wasps, bees and countless other critters whizzing from inflorescence to inflorescence spreading pollen throughout these floral metropolises. The insects are followed by the birds... and so many of them! This truly is a time for the birds and the bees; pollination at its best.

It's always great to take the time to step back from it all and think about the place you call home. Here's a short film  Lauren de Vos  and I made about the beautiful and diverse place that we call home.

It was Friday the 24th of May and the fog on the Atlantic seaboard was heavy. Steve predicted it would roll into the city and into Camp's Bay, so we headed up the mountain to search for a fresh perspective of our beautiful city. True enough, as the sun set and the land cooled, the fog rolled in boisterously under the full moon and the city disappeared. Cape Town - I love this city from Otto Whitehead on Vimeo .

Once upon a time there was a pair of rock kestrels that bred at Dias Beach in the reserve. That time is now and this season they laid four eggs (Anthony Van Zyl; pers. comm.). Last week I was lucky enough to glimpse one of the youngsters (photo below) all grown up and munching on a black girdled lizard (which are often seen sunbathing on the rocks). Note: adults have grey head feathers whereas this is absent in the juveniles.

My Thursdays don't usually involve ravines, but I'm so glad this one did. Bain's Kloof is a beaut, with a delicious stretch of rapids, waterfalls and natural pools, it's a biophilic's haven for adventure. When hopping from rock to rock the pools appear as pale cups of rooibos inviting one in for a sip, and as you venture below bearing a mask and snorkel, an emerald green universe beams hello. Little redfins swim about with curiousity, 'What's this strange creature doing in our pool?'. I was really impressed with the health of this stretch of the Witte River and the communities it supports. Submerged pebbles and boulders were teeming with sensitive invertebrates, such as stonefly larvae and leptophlebids. We watched with fascination as stoneflies rested momentarily on the water's surface, only to be gobbled up by the alert redfins below. Frogs croaked upstream whilst those nearer to us splashed into the water to hide away. Dragonflies whizz...

Rachel Carson once wrote, Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts. There is symbolic as well as actual beauty in the migration of the birds, the ebb and flow of the tides, the folded bud ready for spring. Bontebok at Olifantbos. I have always been drawn to wild places and its creatures, to regularly rediscover those eternal reserves of strength that feed my life inspiration, and thus I am extremely grateful to live in a place where on any given day I can easily find sand between my toes or immerse myself in the sweet honey smell of fynbos. Cape Town is one of few cities with such incredible wilderness areas right on its doorstep. An unknown spider munches away at a snail. Fish Hoek. My good friend Lauren De Vos and I recently embarked on an adventure to capture the beauty of False Bay in the hope that it will remind others just how lucky we are to live here. Together with underwater visual...

Oddly enough, this story starts with goose barnacles. What might those be you might ask? These are goose barnacles. In July 2009 fate made sure I was walking along a beautiful beach in Goukamma Nature Reserve near Buffelsbaai. I was looking for goose barnacles that had washed ashore as part of my honours thesis. You see there are several different species of goose barnacle and I wanted to find out if different species preferred different objects. I had already noticed that all species had a strong affinity for plastic, and so every piece of plastic I came across received a good looking at. Then came the surprise, an old sun bleached Bonaqua litchi bottle. It didn't have any goose barnacles but it did have a letter. 'A message in a bottle!' I shouted out, the excitement taking over. I looked around and saw Aiden a bit further down the beach. I ran over to him and showed him the lucky find. 'No waaaaaays bruuu!'. Back at the backpackers...