An Amanzimtoti artist has shared her love of the Western Cape’s fynbos in a beautifully illustrated book.
Gill van Wyk, a member of Amanzimtoti Conservancy, has poured five years of blood, sweat and tears into her book ‘Life on a Limestone Hill’, an in-depth look into the eco-system of the limestone fynbos in the Kleinhagelkraal Mountains.
All the text was written by Gill and it is accompanied by her 148 different illustrations of the animals, birds, snakes, spiders, insects and plants that grow in limestone potholes in this particular biomeme.
“Some species of fynbos can only be found in an eighth of a square metre in the Western Cape – nowhere else in the world,” said Gill. “It is unique.”
I want to engage people with the value of the fynbos. It is truly unique and a wonderful place to go.”
Gill is self-publishing ‘Life on a Limestone Hill’ and hopes the 160 to 180-page book will be available from mid-year. “You could describe the book as an artist’s journey into the fynbos. There is a famous saying ‘I knew a man who was so poor, he only had money’ – I’m trying to tell people the world is full of riches, you don’t have to spend a fortune to enjoy this.”
The Western Cape’s fynbos stretches from north of Clanwilliam, along the coast to past Port Elizabeth and Gill urges the public to go see it. Her brother’s farm has since been turned into a nature reserve to protect the plans and halt any development, which is not open to the public, but there are plenty of public spaces that do tours of the fynbos such as De Hoop Nature Reserve, Grootbos Private Nature Reserve and Fernkloof Nature Reserve.
Details of her book launch will be published in the SUN.
READ MORE ABOUT GILL’S PATH INTO SELF-PUBLISHING IN NEXT WEEK’S SOUTH COAST SUN
