Cliffhangers
Master botanist, horticulturist and author Ernst van Jaarsveld loves the Baviaanskloof, especially the clever way in which plants have had to adapt to survive here.
Gert Smitskloof, Baviaanskloof
As an explorer and admirer of nature I’m privileged to be a regular visitor to the Baviaanskloof, one of my favourite places on earth.
The one outlook is as magnificent as the other here, yet at the same time it’s one of those destinations where you should never ever become blinded by the “bigger” picture. No, to experience the Baviaanskloof in all its glory you need to focus and zoom in on the finer detail.
The plant diversity is astounding, especially because seven of South Africa’s nine biomes – subtropical thicket, savanna and grassland on the foothills, fynbos on the mountainside, forest in the deep kloofs lined with cliffs, and Nama- and succulent Karoo in between – occur here. This diverse topography and geology, along with the climate and a historically dense population of herbivores, meant that plants had to adapt or die.
Unlike human beings, plants are at the mercy of the location where they germinated. It’s not as though they can run over to where there is shade or water, or use their fists to protect themselves. The bitter aloe (Aloe
ferox) uses its bitter sap (a chemical deterrent) or thorns (mechanical deterrents), while others like the partridge-breasted aloe (Gonialoe
variegata) rely on camouflage. The edible, nutritious jade plant (Crassula ovata) and spekboom (Portulacaria afra), on the other hand, are defenceless due to lack of thorns or toxicity. Their secret? They use grazing and trampling to propagate themselves and thus turn this “abuse” into something positive (passive resistance).
In my opinion, the best view of the Baviaanskloof is of its narrow kloofs and steep cliffs, especially those in Gert Smitskloof. Here you’ll find plants that only grow on the sheltered cliffs and have thus relaxed their defence mechanisms.
To survive in or on this “evolutionary cul-de-sac”, the vulnerable kransbeestong
(Gasteria rawlinsonii) and several other types of plants hold on ever more tightly; others hang or hide in cool, dark crevices. The cliffhanger’s shelter and protection is the rock without which it wouldn’t survive.
This is a place of staggering contrasts. Influences. Extremes. Adaptation. My kind of place. Where the cliffs hold echoes – and smarter plants.