BEFORE we leave Mkambati Nature Reserve let us explore it a little more fully, following in the footsteps of some very special people.
Let us walk through the forests and grassland and the deep river valleys with the botanists, plant collectors, conservationists and nature lovers, some of them professional scientists, others passionate amateurs, who have quietly contributed so much to the conservation of the botanical wonderland in which this reserve falls.
This wonderland goes by the name of the Pondoland Centre of Endemism, a magical region that KwaZulu-Natal conservationist Dr Keith Cooper has described as one of the most fascinating areas of botanical study in the world.
This he said in the guest editorial he wrote for a 2006 edition of PlantLife, a journal published by the KwaZulu-Natal Coastal Branch of the Botanical Society of South Africa.
I have a copy of this publication and it is very precious to me for the whole edition is devoted to ‘The Story of the Pondoland Centre’, written by a much-loved and much-awarded, world-renowned botanist from Port Edward, the late Tony Abbott.
Tony was mentored by another remarkable amateur botanist, the late Hugh Nicholson who actively pursued his interest almost right up to his death, in 1998, at the age of 92 years. In a sense, Hugh passed the baton on to Tony, a very worthy recipient who added considerably to what is known about the Pondoland Centre.
This floral region is often mentioned in articles about the proposed N2 Wild Coast tollroad as scientists fear the road will be constructed right through the heart of the centre. So what is all the fuss about it? Why has the road proposal caused such an outcry? What exactly is the Pondoland Centre of endemism?
In his guest editorial, Keith describes it as a small area of only 180 000ha in which an amazing 1 800 plant species have been identified. It extends from just north of Port St Johns to what is known as the Msikaba Formation sandstone gorges of Oribi Gorge. Mkambati Nature Reserves is one of three nature reserves, along with a few small forest reserves, that provide this unique collection of plants with legal protection, the other two reserves being Oribi Gorge and Umtamvuna.
Another renowned botanist and the editor of PlantLife, David Styles, also wrote an editorial as a forward to Tony’s Pondoland Centre story . He describes the centre as “without doubt one of the most beautiful and conservation significant parts of South Africa,” adding that both the flora and the spiritually uplifting surrounds are our heritage that needs to be preserved.
Tony’s article is underscored by the deep love he had for the Pondoland Centre and by his passionate belief that it needs to be protected and preserved. He writes about “wild places, precipitous ravines, hidden valleys, crystal streams with secluded waterfalls, towering cliffs, pounding seas and everywhere an amazing array of plants both rare and common”.
These ingredients, he says, are what makes the Pondoland Centre a region of “wonder, delight and excitement”.
Making the point that the birth of the once landlocked Pondoland centre, once part of the vast Gondwana continent, was a fiery, violent birth he says it is this turbulence that produced the melange of ingredients that have created the exciting suite of plants found there today. Many of the plants are found only in the Pondoland Centre while others have spread a little north. The Pondoland Centre is also part of what is known as the Maputaland-Pondoland-Albany Hotspot, one of only 34 recognised floral hotspots in the world.
Talking about some of the plants that, as conditions changed over the eons, have successfully found a small niche into which they could retreat, Tony tells the story, which made local headlines at the time, of a plant called Raspalia trigyna. Also known as the Pondoland ghostbush, botanists thought it had lost its struggle for existence until local botanist Simon Woodley found a small breeding colony just south of Mkambati Nature Reserve.
Much of Tony’s story of the Pondoland Centre is made up of personal memories of exploration and discovery of this floral wonderland, often in the company of dedicated naturalists whose love for the areas was as profound as his.
“Hugh Nicholson turned 80 in 1986. I arranged a gathering of friends as a surprise on our usual solitary Thursday walk. Instead he found friends and admirers from around the country. Braam van Wyk and I took champagne and my wife, Maggie, carried the birthday cake. We stopped at a delightful waterfall.”
Tony has much to say about all sorts of fascinating plants and about the ecotones in which they are found.There are appendices to his writing, one listing the rare, endemic or noteworthy plants of the Pondoland Centre, another listing the woody plants of the Mtamvuna Nature Reserve and the third listing the invader plants in the Mtamvuna Nature Reserve. What a labour of love, compiling those lists!
His lyrical style of writing makes his descriptions a joy to read:
“My favourite places are forest-hidden gorges with sequestered, secret streams bouncing down over sandstone ledges with pools for summer delight. Here we find many of the endemic woody plants like Syzygium pondoense (Pondo water-berry).”
“The reaches of forested slopes below the cliffs are sometimes dominated by giant Podocarpus falcatus (Outenique yellowwood). These venerable fellows tower over the surroundings forests.”
“Forest margins have their own special group of endemic woody plants”.
“Among the few fascinating endemic succulents, Crassula Streyi takes pride of place. This small sturdy plant grows on forest rock faces. It has dark green leaves with whitish spots, with beautiful deep maroon lower surfaces.”
“In the flush of spring the wonderful, sumptuous grasslands of the Pondoland centre have an astonishing wealth of species and colour.”
“An orchid that always delights is Herchelianthe baurii (blue bonnets), a small and delicate plant with flowers of light blue, each with a fringed lower petal.”
“A few times I have been lucky enough to see Scilla natalensis (large blue scilla) making sheets of colour on our wetlands.”
“Our rock gardens are special.”
“Waterfalls are special features of the sandstone streams. My favourite by far is the Lukabeni Falls.”
“There are several widespread plants that puzzle me with their rarity in the Pondoland Centre but I must stress that the puzzles stem from current knowledge. There is always another plant to two to be found.”
“The most famous of the confined endemics is the Jubaeopsis caffra (Pondo palm). This strange palm grows along the southern banks of two rivers –and two rivers only; its habitat is the steep rocky sides of the lower gorges just above the water and only along the estuarine portion. The two rivers are the Msikaba and the Mtentu.”
Sadly, Tony, died two years ago, at the age of 77, leaving the world poorer for his passing.
He was a world renowned botanist and a kind, modest, gentle person who loved to share knowledge. I count myself blessed to have known him.
I often heard him speak about the Pondoland Centre of Endemism and am grateful for the appreciation of its wonders he instilled in me and many other local `greenies’. He is no longer here to be an advocate for the protection of Pondoland’s floral wonderland but his words live on in his beautifully written ‘The Story of the Pondoland Centre’ and many other articulate writings.
Next time you visit Mkambati, Oribi Gorge or Umtamvuna Nature Reserve try and see these special places through Tony’s eyes, through the eyes of his fellow botanists or through the eyes of those who have now taken over from him the baton of love and exploration of this very special region.
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