News24.com

News24.com interviewed me recently and put together a slideshow with some of my images from the trip, check it out at: http://www.24.com/news/2008/soundslides/flowers_west_coast/index.html

Media

The Weekend Argus will be doing a follow up story on my walk, so check it out this weekend.
The website News24 will also be doing something like a slideshow on the walk, I will post more details about this when I know.

Thank Yous

There were many people that helped me in many ways to make this trip possible, I truly appreciate the help from everyone. I hope I have remembered everyone, but i'm sure there are many others who need thanks...

Jaapie
Sue Kramer
Guenn Nicolson
Hugh Clarke
Jenny and Joe Brink
Danna Wilson
Marc Nicolson
Bryan Nicolson
Sue and Al
Ishmail Ibrahim
Rupert Koopman
Stef Roup
John Manning
Eugene Moll
Timm Hofmann
Tielman Haumann
Dave Gwynn-Evans
National Roads Agency
Botanical Society
CASABIO
Plant Conservation Unit
Cristys Sports

Trip Statistics

For those who like solid facts, here they are:

Days walking: 24
Days of rest: 5
Hours walking: 152.4
Hours resting: 27.7
Average distance per day: 28.45km
Average walking speed: 4.3542 km/h
Overall average speed (includung rest stops): 3.617 km/h
Fastest in a day: ave 5.1 km/h
Furthest in a day: 40.2 km
Total distance: 690.1 km

Other things were recorded daily

Animals seen: baboon, wild cat, dog, snake, tortoise, mouse, skink, lizzard, bat-eared fox, meerkat, mole, mongoose, many birds, hare and many insects

Objects of interest: syringe, diaper, horse shoe, gloves, CD, wool, metal ruler, pile of broken Richleau bottles, stapler, babies sandle, a underpant, casette, Namibain government issue condoms, car bonnet, a panty, egg, much clothing and a boat.

Home at Last

Well, I made it home!


24 days of walking, around 700kms, many smelly socks and one small blister!


Die Burger came to do an interview with me on my last moring, and there is an article in the paper today. Check out http://www.dieburger.com/Stories/News/18.0.850813590.aspx

Last Day

I was joined for the day by my Dad and Danna. They both did really well and we walked nearly 30kms!! So I have only got 24kms left to go. I'll be home tomorrow. Its a weird thought. The end always felt so far away, but here it is.
Die Burger sent out a photographer to today to takes some pics of me walking, so i think there will something in the paper tomorrow.
I will continue to make posts on the blog while I go through my photos and data so check out the blog in the next few days.

Citrusdal and The Baths

Hi its Stef again…
We were unable to update the blog this weekend as we were staying at the Baths, which are situated in a valley on the side of the Pikeneerskloof Pass, which is beautiful, but does not get reception. It was a great weekend there, even though our camping table was nicked. Soaking in the hot pool while the biggest storm in the last seven years was brewing, quite something to behold! It was great to spend time with Sue and Al, and to be treated to dinners, breakfast, and a night indoors and they are great to be around and very entertaining.
Greg was pretty excited to camp on Saturday night while the storm hit- me on the other hand had to talk myself out of being scared- while lying in a tent that’s being pelted with rain and next to a raging stream, yes a raging stream. It was easy to get carried away (not literally, although it crossed my mind…) I realized I was talking myself into being scared). Thankfully there was just heavy rain (and our tents are waterproof, yay!) and lots of snow on the surrounding mountains!
Greg, Al and Sue managed to cover good ground on Saturday. Sunday Greg took off, as the weather was pretty rough and he was feeling quite tired after 6 days walking, so we spent the day relaxing in the pool and taking it easy. Monday back on the road accompanied by sue and al for the morning.
Today we have moved on to Malmesbury. Thought that Mooreesburg was going to be our next stop, but their campsite is closed till October.
Its quite something to be driving so close to Cape Town, and realizing that today Greg will have less than 100kms left and that it’ll be over on Friday! While I am really happy to be so close to home I am also sad that this amazing experience is coming to an end. It has been fantastic to see the Western part of our country, to know that I can camp for weeks on end, and survive winds and rain. And most importantly to have helped Greg with his journey!
Greg managed to walk just over 40km yesterday!
Tonight we are joined by Brian (Greg’s dad) and Dannali, for our second last night and will be walking with Greg tomorrow.

Update

Lakker nalia

Conophytum

friends along the way

Crab Spider awaiting victim

Iris family

It was cold on our last morning in Vanrhynsdorp. The car windscreen was covered in a layer of ice!! The area around Vanrhynsdorp is know as the Knersvlakte. It is characterized by quartz patches covered with dwarf plants, especially succulents. It an amazing world of miniature. Every step requires a stop to examine whats underfoot. Conophytums, Lithops and Argyroderma (babies bums) are all around. Moving towards Clanwilliam the vegetation gets higher and fynbos elements such as Restios and Proteas begin to appear. The area is full of annuals at the moment and buzzing with pollinators. Many bulbs are also flowering in this area especially Iris, Hyacinth and Orchid families.
I have walked 30kms everyday this week and have arrived at Clanwilliam.
It is great to get into the rhythm of walking far. Although today my knee began to hurt again a bit. Thankfully we managed to get the last available campsite at the Citrusdal warm baths for the weekend. So that should be great for my knee!! We will be moving on there tomorrow and will be joined for the weekend by Sue and Al. I’m looking forward to some company on the road.
I have enjoyed being alone on the walk so far but I seem to get songs stuck on repeat in my head for entire days. Toni Braxton – unbreak my heart, it was not fun that day!

Celebrations

Today Greg passed the half way mark and is going strong!
And tomorrow is his birthday!

Vanrhynsdorp

This weekend we took off and spent it in Nieuwoudtville with some friends. It was great to get out a bit and do some exploring and plant viewing. The Muncipal Caravan Park has a great variety of beautiful flowers too.

At the Nieuwoudtville Botanical gardens, we spotted the Rooikatstert Flower.

We are now staying in Vanrhynsdorp. We spent last night at the Caravan Park and this morning through Alida Van Rensberg at Radio Namaqualand, we have been put up for free at “Talk of the Town” B&B. Which is a very sweet purple B&B, Tea Garden and Gift shop. The owner Jannie is an ex-interior designer and the space has been done in a mix of old world, country style with a twist. The exterior is painted lavender and has Afrikaans quotes and sayings written on the walls such as: “Party mense kla dat rose dorings het- Ek is dankbaar dat dorings Rose het.”

Tomorrow afternoon Greg will be interviewed on Radio Namaqualand, so if you’re in Namaqualand, tune in.

new pics

whats new

Hi it’s Steffany here, I’m doing some updating today:
At Cosy Mountain Farm I was trying to spot the Bat Earred Foxes (endangered) that live on the edge of the ploughed land and the mountain, but instead got to see a Riverine Rabbit, also endangered. I had used them as inspiration for a range of jewellery for the design indaba. And had so far only seen pictures and a startled looking taxidermied specimen at the natural history museum, so I felt very fortunate to have seen one up close and by chance!
After leaving Kamieskroon we moved on to the Garies Muncipal Caravan and Camping Ground. Had an enjoyable 3 nights there, even though on the first night there was a squirmish between the caretaker and a local dronkie who thought he could make a quick buck selling wood to the campers (us). But, none the less, it was enjoyable. Also had the company of very many giant caterpillars in the Acacia tree’s providing shade over our campsite and along with the caterpillars came their droppings-very many of them, luckily they’re hard pellets that look like they have been squeezed out of a cake decorating tube.
Thursday and we have moved on to Bitterfontein, and are staying at a really sweet B&B owned by Maretha Cotzee called Blommetjie, in an old cob built cottage that she inherited from her father, but was built by her great grandfather. Its what I was expecting more of the West coast to be like, simple, charming and rustic.
Greg has had good few days of walking and has managed to cover close on 30km the last 2 days. His knee is in recovery, due to the fact that he is taking good care of it: stretching, icing/heating and massage. Which I think is part of what this adventure is about: learning how to work with your body, mind and environment.
Greg has just told me that he has covered over 300 km! Just under half way!
Tomorrow, Greg will be doing a shorter days walk and then we head to Nieuwoudtville, for Greg’s pre-birthday weekend off. Where, we will be joined by some friends from Cape Town, for some much needed social interaction.

Update

After 6 days of walking my body told me to take a rest, the physio told me to take 2 days of rest to let my knee recover. It was difficult to take 2 days off when I just wanted to be on the road walking, but in terms of the walk as a whole, it was important. It rained on and off so I didn’t feel to bad about being at camp, and it was Stef’s birthday on the 14th so it was good to relax . We also took a day drive to the Namaqua National Park which was good to see.
Back to walking for the last 2 days and my knee is feeling good. Its great to be walking again and I have seen some beautiful plants. There are so many things in flower, with insects and other animals also in abundance.
I found a lucky horseshoe.
We spent to last 4 nights in Kamieskroon at a great campsite called Cosy Mountain. Unfortunately our last night there was ruined by some very strong winds which cased our tents to collapse!! Tonight we are staying indoors at the Succulent Karoo Research Centre before moving on to Garies in the morning.

Stef and bakkie on the Knersvlakte

Daisies on the Knersvlakte

Truck and flowers near the border

Who knows???

The 'ferrari' plant!

We drove up on Thursday, the whole of the N7 is looking very beautiful. Full of colourful flowers everywhere. We camped for the first 3 nights on the Orange river at an empty and stunning campsite owned by a friend, Jaapie.
So far I have walked 5 days, doing over 25kms per day. It is tough going in the sun and wind. I feel exhausted at the end of the day, and my knees hurt.
Today I passed Springbok and popped in at the local physio to check out my knee problem. It seems to be inflammation from overuse, hopefully it will improve soon.
The flowers are great and there is lots to see, I have seen some beautiful sights already.
Stef, my assistant, is keeping me well fed and organizing our campsite very well.
We are now camping at the Springbok caravan park and tomorrow we will head on to Kamieskroon…
Here are some pictures so far…

Weekend Argus and other news

I was interviewed by the Weekend Argus today, so check it out on Saturday!!
Otherwise things are going well, have been shopping and stocked up with all essentials. We are still planning to leave early on Thursday morning, and start walking on Friday.
Reports are that the flowers are already in full bloom, so it sounds like good timing!!
Will try to update the blog as often aspossible while in the field....

Itinerary

Here is a very rough itinerary for the walk, working on approximately 20kms per day.

Aug 8th – Aug 13th: Orange River to Springbok

Aug 14th – Aug 17th: Springbok to Kamieskroon

Aug 18th – Aug 20th: Kamieskroon to Garies

Aug 21st – Aug 22nd: Garies Northern Cape /Western Cape Border

Aug 23rd – Aug 24th: Not Walking

Aug 25th – 29th: Border to Vanrhynsdorp

Aug 30th – Sept 2nd: Vanrhynsdorp to Clanwilliam

Sept 3rd – Sept 5th: Clanwilliam to Citrusdal

Sept 6th – 8th: Citrusdal to Piketburg

Sept 9th – 14th: Piketburg to Cape Town

GREAT SUCCESS

Thanks to everone who came to he exhibition on Friday and Saturday. It was a great success. The feedback was great, more people came than I could have hoped for, and people bought prints. It was a bit of a rush to get everything up on time, and to be honest a few people arrived while the labels were still going up!! But it would have been much worse if I did not have the amazing help of Marc, Danna and Julia. A HUGE thanks to them all!! Thanks again to Rhiannon for organising the venue. It was a great space for an exhibition. Thanks to Cas and Spies for the loan of the spots as well! The wine was kindly sponsored by Bruce Jack from Flagstone, Thank you!!

I'm sure the money raised will be enough to see us throught the trip, even if it costs R700 to fill up a bakkie these days.

So now its just doing the final preparations for the walk and the data collection.

Lucky to have had such good rain this winter, it promises to be a great flower season.

I am planning to leave Cape Town on the 7th of August and start walking on the 8th.

I will update the blog with progress as often as I can, so keep checking....

Track and Field Party and Matjies Warm-up

Just to let you know about the Matjies “Show ’n’ tell”

“Show ’n’ tell” is a platform for your creative explorations. The aim is for everyone to contribute in the old fashioned way: perform, play and present in Matjiesfontein The next "Show 'n Tell" will be 19 &20 Sep 2008.

The Matjiesfontein organising committee will be down at the Kimberley Hotel on Friday at the Track and Field Party. Come for a drink in the downstairs bar beforehand (9pm onwards) as this will be the perfect opportunity to discuss contributions and have any questions regarding accommodation answered.

A big thanks to Julia from the organising committee for helping to get wine for the fundraising exhibition. Yes, there will be wine!!

Fundraising Exhibition

In order to raise more funds for the trip, there will a photography exhibition of some of my work.

The BHC School of Design at The Old Biscuit Mill in Woodstock has kindly offered their space as a venue. There will be a variety of prints on display, some mounted and some not, some for sale and others not. But lots of beautiful pictures for good prices.

Venue:

BHC School of Design, Unit 207, 1st Floor,

The Old Biscuit Mill, 375 Albert Rd, Woodstock

Date & Time:

Friday 18th July 18h30
Saturday 19th July 11am - 3pm

Thanks to Rhiannon Ried for organising the venue

Geotagging Photos

In order to map the localities of the rare and endangered plants along the route I will be using "Geosetter". Geosetter is a free software package links photos to their lat/lon co-ordinates. To do this you need a GPS that can track your route and a camera. The GPS (I have a Garmin GPSMap 60CSx) and the camera (Canon 400D) have their clocks set to exactly the same time. After downlaoding the photos and the GPS track Geosetter links each photo to its appropriate co-ords using the time to match them up. I have been looking into such technology for a while and Geosetter seems to be the easiest free way to achieve successful 'geotagging'.

The image shows the easy to use interface. On the left are the photos (you can navigate through your folders to find the pics you want), after selecting the photos you link them with the GPS file and like magic the google map shows up on the right to show you where you were.

This image is from a walk in the Cape Point Nature Reserve.

Spotted in the N7 Road Reserve

On a recent trip trip to Garies, I saw these beauties in the road reserve. The Amarylid Hessea stellatus and the succulent Conophytum subvenustratum.

Funding from THE PLANT CONSERVATION UNIT

After getting in touch with Timm Hoffman from the Botany department at UCT to discuss the possibility of making the N7 Road Reserve walk into a formal study, his organisation (The Plant Conservation Unit - PCU) offered to financially suport the walk. They have pledged R10 000 towards the project which is very generous and ensures that it will happen. Through discussions with Timm I have also decided to register at UCT with the PCU to make the project into a Masters Thesis in Botany. This is also very exciting and adds a new dimension and structure to the project.

Sponsorship from CASABIO

CASABIO is an NGO dedicated to the conservation of the earth's species. The concept is simple: you take photos of organisms you see and using easy and efficient software, give them a locality. The result: a collaborative database of species and their localities which can be used for conservation, education and research. CASABIO is run by David Gwynne-Evans who has kindly donated some funds to the N7 Road Reserve Walk!

About the Project

The N7 National Route is the primary road access to flower viewing destinations in Namaqualand and the West Coast. The road reserve along much of the route still supports patches of relatively undisturbed vegetation and during the spring months parts of it provide fine displays of wildflowers that no longer survive beyond the fence line in cultivated land.

In order to raise awareness about this important biodiversity corridor I will be walking from the Namibian border to Cape Town in the N7 road reserve. The aim is to map the rare and endangered plants found in the reserve and assess the condition of the vegetation at regular intervals on the entire route. This data will inform future management of the road reserve and through media attention will raise public awareness about the floral assets found in the road reserve. The walk is planned for August/September 2008.