Colours of Wildlife: An Outing to the Miombo Woodland in Venda
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An Outing to the Miombo Woodland in Venda
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Willem is a wildlife artist based in South Africa. He says "My aim is simply to express the beauty and wonder that is in Nature, and to heighten people's appreciation of plants, animals and the wilderness. Not everything I paint is African! Though I've never been there, I'm also fascinated by Asia and I've done paintings of Asian rhinos and birds as well. I may in future do some of European, Australian and American species too. I'm fascinated by wild things from all over the world! I mainly paint in watercolours. . . but actually many media including 'digital' paintings with the computer!"
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On Saturday, 16 March, Ruan Stander, Richter van Tonder, Jody de Bruyn and I visited a very special place in Venda - the only South African population of the Msasa Tree, Brachystegia spiciformis! Locally in Venda it is called Mutsiwa. These trees are abundant in the Miombo woodlands of Mozambique, Zimbabwe and countries further to the north. Long ago, they occurred in most of northern South Africa as well, but somehow, mainly as a result of the climate changes brought on by the Ice Ages, they retreated northward so now they are absent from South Africa - except for this one, single spot! And actually here they are not rare at all! The very first one we saw was so big, that actually I at first misidentified it as a Large-Leaved False Thorn, Albizia versicolor. But then we soon saw others up close, could get a good look at their leaves, bark and growth form, and when we returned to the tree, my friend Ruan said that it was actually a Msasa, and I took a good look at it, and agreed! It was pretty much at the limit size, 20 m or more in height, which means it grows quirw as well in South Africa as it does further to the north!
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The woodland in general consists of well-developed Msasa trees with an open understory, with lots of moss-covered rocks. The leaves of Msasa are distinctive, once-compound with large leaflets increasing in size towards the tip. Here's a shot of Ruan standing beside a large Msasa tree to show its size.
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Here's another cool plant we found, an orchid that was abundant on the msasa trees! In fact the very first tree of the species that we saw, was a giant orchid garden in and of itself! This orchid is Cyrtorchis praetermissa subsp. praetermissa. It has tough, leathery and rather thick leaves arranged opposite each other somewhat like a fan. They have tough roots that anchor them to the tree's bark and often droop down below the branches to collect as much rainwater as possible. The delicate flowers are white and are ranked opposite each other in an inflorescence that hangs down below the leaves. Sadly when we got there, the flowers had already fallen and the seed pods were developing. This species occurs widely in Africa south of Uganda in various kinds of forest. It is rather restricted in South Africa, occurring in forest and woodland along the escarpment in Mpumalanga, and in the Wolkberg and eastern Soutpansberg in Limpopo.
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The orange fruit you see here, is that of Vangueria (=Lagynias) dryadum, the Woodland Pendent-Medlar. These shrubs grew all over the place, and were fruiting abundantly! I picked and ate fruit all along the way. I ate a bit too much actually! They were not all entirely ripe and some were a bit acidic, which hurt my teeth in the end. But I have sensitive teeth, and I ate about 20 or 30 of them. This species is in the Rubiaceae, the Coffee Family, which in south Africa is one of the largest (in terms of members of species) family of trees and shrubs. It is in the same genus as the common wild medlar, Vangueria infausta. The ripe fruit turn reddish and finally brown, which is when they're best to eat. They have a distinctive medlar-y taste. In our region the species can be recognized by the tips of the flowers which remain at the end of the fruit until ripe. It occurs in warm woodland regions of Limpopo and also in Zimbabwe and other countries to the north.
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These strange succulent 'trees' are some of the rarer big Euphorbias in Limpopo, Euphorbia confinalis. This species is associated with the Lebombo Mountains from northern KwaZulu-Natal northwards, and in Limpopo also growing on the eastern parts of the Soutpansberg Mountains. Like all Euphorbias, this one has a sticky, white, toxic sap. It can reach 10m in height.
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In an open patch, I found a familiar species! This is the Wild Foxglove, Sesamum trilobum (old name Ceratotheca triloba). This is indeed a close relative of the Sesame Seed plants! These were quite tall, standing over 2m. There is a closely related species in Venda, the Rock Foxglove, Sesamum saxicola, which is much smaller and has deep pink flowers. I haven't seen them yet! But in the meantime, these were a pleasant find. This species is easy to cultivate in a garden but must be resown each year because they are annuals. The seeds can be easily gathered from the woody fruit capsules at the end of summer.
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Getting to animals now, found this wonderful critter on the road driving towards the woodland! Jody de Bruyn first thought it was a giant millipede (which we also get over there) but it turned out to be a Giant Legless Skink, Acontias plumbeus! Yes, it's a lizard, not a snake. The skink family is amazing for including everything from lizards with well-developed legs to ones with tiny legs with just one or two fingers or toes, to no legs at all. The genus Acontias is always legless, and this is by far the largest species. It grows to about 60 cm in length! You can see it is also quite thick, has functional eyes (some legless skink species are blind), and a prominent, beak-like 'shield' over its snout, to protect it while it burrows. This species occurs in warm regions in the Eastern Cape, Kwazulu-Natal, the lowveld of Limpopo and Mpumalanga, eastern Zimbabwe and Mozambique adjacent to the species' range in Zimbabwe and South Africa. This was a first for most of us!
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A final two shots: a dung beetle, doing valuable duty in this region with its many herds of cattle, and lastly a peaceful forest scene, so typical of the magic of Venda.
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