Recording all the trees in Mozambique
We get the stories behind a new book on the woody flora of Mozambique
What would you do to follow your passion? It took the four authors of this hefty 1216-page book 12 years to complete their research, undertaking 22 expeditions while on leave from their day jobs (a farmer, reserve manager, horticulturist and botanist), entirely at their own expense, to document all the trees and shrubs of Mozambique.
Imagine it: a large country (almost 800 000square-kilometres, with a 2 900-kilometre coastline), which has remained relatively botanically unexplored. In most of the country there are no visitor facilities, roads are bad and breakdown services non-existent. Add to this the still-real threat of land mines, as well as malaria and a mostly hot, humid and rainy climate, and the enormity of the task becomes clear.
The last book about Mozambique’s trees was published in 1966, and listed 229 species. There are more than 1 800 species to find, collect, photograph, sketch, press and dry (many of these specimens went to herbariums in Mozambique, SA and Kew Gardens in the UK). In the process, the authors found 75 new plant records for the country and more than 20 new species.
‘Under just one massive Newtonia paucijuga tree in the far north-east, there was a small thicket that contained several very unusual trees, one of them being a new species of Uvaria,’ says Mervyn Lötter. ‘Plus we found new records in Mozambique for three others – all under one tree I pray never gets cut down!’
There was a certain urgency to this project – the country is losing its forests and woodlands at an alarming rate due to rapid population growth, logging and mining. Many plants will disappear before they’ve even been discovered and documented; this book may be the only proof in future of what was once out there.
In general, the authors avoided using local guides and handlers. ‘We knew what we were looking for, they didn’t,’ says Ernst Schmidt, who was once offered a platoon of soldiers to accompany him in his exploration of the Rovuma River on the Tanzania border. John Burrows adds: ‘Most of the time we posed as tourists rather than explaining to villagers that we’re writing a book on trees!’
‘There were no facilities in most of the areas we were in, which meant we’d select a suitable spot out of sight in the bush at nightfall and just camp there,’ says Ernst. Sometimes they’d wake up to find they were not, in fact, out in the wilderness but on the edge of a village. As Mervyn observed: ‘You’re never truly alone in Africa.’
In Gorongosa, they had to make camp halfway up a mountain. It was miserably rainy and they battled to start a fire. Ernst had a bottle of whisky; the only mix they could find was condensed milk. Thanks to a drink they now call the ‘Gorongosa Groveller’, they soon warmed up on the inside and had a very cheerful evening.
It wasn’t all rough and tough: John and his wife Sandra once found a camping spot where they could have a bath in a jacuzzi-like rock pool in a strong-flowing stream of cold milky water. ‘A full moon rose through the trees, bathing everything in soft light.’
They took all their food supplies with them, although if they passed a reasonablelooking eatery they’d stop for a meal – ‘invariably chicken and chips (fish and chips on the coast) and always with chilli,’ says John. In Beira, Sandra attempted to order a vegetarian pizza and ended up with a large pizza base with a tin of baked beans on top! Mervyn recalls arriving at the Zambezi River mouth, where ‘we were only too happy to swap boots and a knife with a local fisherman in return for a wonderfully big fish. But it wasn’t fit for human consumption! It stuck to the palate like peanut butter, with a gut-wrenching, rotten taste.’
The main aim of that 100-kilometre Zambezi River journey, retracing the footsteps of John Kirk (a botanist who travelled with Livingstone), was to find a scarce screw pine, Pandanus livingstonianus. ‘We went down on three boats. We found the palm,’ says Ernst. ‘On our way back we stayed in Bilene, and discovered that the whole area was covered by our “scarce” pine!’
They had their share of car troubles, too, mostly to do with radiators – Mervyn destroyed his in a deep river crossing in the Chimanimanis; when Ernst blew his, he had to be towed 800 kilometres to Beira – and on another occasion got a stick through his radiator (fixed with pliers and nail varnish).
Over the years, they were chased by elephants, inadvertently walked into herds of sable antelope and were visited in camp at night by lions and leopards. In the Maputo Special Reserve a massive gaboon viper crossed the road in front of them. ‘Most wildlife ends up in the pot,’ says John, ‘so it was a treat to see a wild animal outside the few well-protected national parks.’
WIN We have a copy of Trees & Shrubs Mozambique (published by Print Matters) worth R1 299 to give away. Enter online at getaway.co.za/competitions. UNFORGETTABLE PLACES
• Chimanimani Mountains (Zim border): quartzite geology gives rise to spectacular landscapes, like the Western Cape’s mountains but with subtropical plants.
• Gorongosa National Park (central Moz): sheer diversity – grassland, forest, floodplains teeming with big game, majestic limestone gorges and caves.
• Moribane Forest Reserve (on EN216 north of Dombé): it gets more than one metre of rainfall a year, with many unique and peculiar plants.
• Maputo Special Reserve (south): views of the ocean with ellies next to it.
• Tsetserra (northwestern tablelands in Chimanimani National Reserve): incredible plant diversity and the ruins of the grand colonial Carvalho mansion.
• Reserva da Crusse (between Matibane and Nacala, Nampula Province): a fascinating, tall sand forest, with a new genus of tree.
• Niassa Game Reserve (on Tanzania border): has majestic inselbergs.
• Far north-east corner (Cabo Delgado Province): very special, a patchwork of forest, dry coastal thicket, woodland, grasslands and dambos (pan wetlands). The place to see 30-metre-high Newtonia paucijuga trees along the Pundanhar–Nangade road.
• Far north-west corner (against Lake Malawi): one of the last wildernesses, largely untouched by man.
• Catapu Forest Reserve (in Sofala Province, near Caia along the EN1): very popular with birders but has phenomenal tree diversity.
• Licuati Forest Reserve (south, between Porto Henrique and Bela Vista): very unusual and dense sand forest on ancient dunes.
* Mervyn created a great story map of memorable campsites. Email him on mervyn.lotter@gmail.com and he’ll send you the link.