When spring arrives in the Western Cape

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okie
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When spring arrives in the Western Cape

Post by okie »

Looking around the forum , I hardly see any threads about this , South Africa's southern-most province , and therefore which , to me is rather surprising . For those of you who do not know , the Western Cape has quite a few National parks , plus also quite a number of Nature reserves run and managed by Cape Nature - which is a Department of the Western Cape Government . In fact , in all , I think we have more National Parks and Nature Reserves than any of the other provinces , maybe more in number , than all the other provinces put together .
The Cape Floral Kingdom ( exclusively situated within the Western Cape ) , is the smallest in size of all the Floral Kingdoms globally . For instances , the rest of Africa falls within the Ethiopian Floral Kingdom , and as such absolutely and totally dwarfing the tiny area covered by the Cape FK .
Yet , the CFK has a larger diversity of plants , than any of the other much bigger sized Floral Kingdoms .

The subject here is mainly about that time of year which we all know as " SPRING " , which , officially , in the southern hemisphere , is supposed to start on 1 st September every year , and specifically spring here in the Western Cape - and maybe even more specific , around my own immediate area ( Worcester , Robertson , Montagu - Barrydale - therefore parts of the Overberg and Klein Karoo ) .
Now , we know that climates and seasons do not just suddenly change from one day to the next ( although it can sometimes happen that you THINK that you may have experienced all four seasons in one day -- but that is another subject .
But , we humans , maybe RP and HE excepted , like to put everything in little boxes , whereas some of us just want to do their own thing .

I grew up on a smallholding , in a little village north of Johannesburg , called Rivonia , which became famous for where the Late Pres Mandela was arrested way back before you-know-what .
In any event , my father , used to go to bed before the chickens , and next morning he used to wake up the family rooster , so that he in turn could then clap his wings , stretch uout , and let out very early morning blood-curdling Cock-a-doodle-doo , that would wake up all the neighbouring roosters in the village , and so on , waking up all the neighbours ( they were probably all grumbling too ) , as well as us children too 0' - I had to milk the cows 0*\ ) .
In any event , being an early riser , he used to become quite impatient with the fact that spring is only supposed to start on 1st September , and until then , nothing is going to grow 0*\ .
Look , on the Highveld ( there north of JHB ) , winter only really arrives about July , and August is when you get black frost . And nothing grows - its all dead , dormant , kaput -- waiting for a bit of welcoming warmth from the sun , and where-ever , and for the frozen hard permafrost-like , red soil to thaw out 0= . And its only then , in the normal , good order of things , that spring happens :O^
But , no , as far as he was concerned , spring had stayed long enough 0- , and it was time for everything to wake up and face the new season - and this usually happened around 1st or 2nd of August .
No matter that the strong August winds had not yet had their weeklong blows - these as I recall , used to start around 3rd week or 4th week into August ( about six weeks after winter solstice - the longest night ) .
So , my father , being an impatient early rising man , even still in mid-winter for us - ( but spring for him 0*\ ) , used to get out of bed around 4 o'clock in the morning ( still pitch dark remember ) , wake up the poor family-rooster ( who prayed for Christmas , so that he could have his head chopped off and he could then rather become the family Christmas dinner instead -- poor bugger - what did he know O/ ) , and then into the garden , turn on the water , and just let it run . Flood the soil , let it run all day , even if it freezes as it comes out of the tape -- because the more water , the better the plants will grow . He soaked the kikuju lawn , even the patches of soil that had been laid bare by harvesting termites :O^ .
He tried to force a reluctant nature along into spring/summer O:V

And this while we , the rest of the family , tried to pull the blankets up around our ears , trying to get in another hour or two sleep , before he realises that the family rooster had not yet made a noise , and as such , the whole darn village is also still asleep O-/ .

But , what does all this have to do with the season of spring in the Western Cape . Well , nothing really , but I just thought that it would be nice to relate this , as a sort of preface to this thread .

Over the next few weeks or so , in order to keep me a little more busy using up time before our next KNP visit in October , I want to show you some pics of the Western Cape , especially around my area - in " My Kontrei " , as we say in Afrikaans . With my camera I will travel around a little in the immediate vicinity , neighbouring towns , such as Robertson , Montagu , and others , it all depends how my time works out etc etc .

And I hope that you will come with me to enjoy .

Just as a foretaste , if you think that there are only spring flowers in Namaqualand ( which is in Northern Cape province in any event ) , well , think again .

Have alook at this , and what we already have right here in Worcester - a bare 100 kilometres outside Cape Town - and you do not have to travel the 500 km up to Namaqualand for sights such as these ;-)

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Toko
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Re: When spring arrives in the Western Cape

Post by Toko »

Bright orange daisies O/\ O/\ O/\


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Flutterby
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Re: When spring arrives in the Western Cape

Post by Flutterby »

Great storytelling okie!! \O We live in the suburb right next door to Rivonia, and the Brat went to Rivonia Primary School...you probably wouldn't recognise the area now! ;-) BTW, the August winds started yesterday! :-0


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Re: When spring arrives in the Western Cape

Post by okie »

Flutterby ,

yeahhh , Rivonia has indeed changed . We moved from there in 1979 . Sold my house there in 1988 .
I started school there in 1950 , and it had 48 children , in three classrooms ( I think those original buildings are still there ? ) , three teachers - One for grade 1 and 2 , one for st 1,2 and 3 , and one ( senior who doubled as principal ) for st 4 and 5 . Prior to that , it taught up to st 6 but in about 1948 was " down-graded " , to normal primary school .
I can tell life-time of stories about Rivonia , and its people - we were a small community , but very much like one big family , everyone knowing every one else , English , Afrikaans , Germans , Portuguese , different religions/churches - the nuns in the carmelite convent ---...........

Yeahhh , those were the days sadly forgotten , fondly remembered :-)


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Re: When spring arrives in the Western Cape

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\O


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Re: When spring arrives in the Western Cape

Post by nan »

wow :-0
magnificent O/\ ^Q^


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Re: When spring arrives in the Western Cape

Post by Richprins »

Very well-written, okie! X#X

Had a good giggle at your trials growing up in Rivonia! \O


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Re: When spring arrives in the Western Cape

Post by General Gump »

\O good reading so far \O


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Re: When spring arrives in the Western Cape

Post by Lisbeth »

I love the western and southern Cape O/\ O/\ I would love to come back next year O:V


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Re: When spring arrives in the Western Cape

Post by Bushcraft »

Great stuff ^Q^ ^Q^ ^Q^

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