New Rock Kestrel Trail

ROCK KESTREL TRAIL

Well folks, I have finally finished cutting the Rock kestrel hiking trail and it is quite challenging but boasts spectacular views of our beautiful piece of heaven. The trail itself is just 200m short of 10 kilometers and traverses from a new parking spot about half way up South Valley to a new parking spot just after the first corner on the access road to Rod's Rest (Unit 7), close to K9. The trail allows Finsbury members and visitors to explore some high altitude grasslands without a guide and without the chance of getting lost.

I have designed the trail along existing game paths so as to reduce the impact on the environment and have only cut virgin paths to join these animal paths together. I have also not removed the grass tufts from the path surface to combat erosion, although small mitre drains will be added to the steeper slopes.

The first leg of the trail is quite tough as you gain 350 odd meters of altitude within the first 2,5 kilometers of the trail. This section provides beautiful views of Olinia Gorge, a gorge hidden from the roads. The gorge is named after the Mountain Hard-Pear tree, Olinia emarginata, which dominates here and has been particularly notable this season as they have flowered more copiously than usual (see previous blog) - spectacular! Once the gorge is crested, your altitude will be the highest on the trail at around 2080 meters above sea level as you traverse the base of Mount Anderson. After just over 4 kms, the trail reaches River Lily Crossing, a perennial mountain stream that flows from Mount Anderson's artesian aquifer into Solitude Valley past Unit 5.

This small portion of the trail cuts through Emoyeni property so the path has not been cut here but, because it is a natural drinking place for animals, the path is well defined and cannot be lost. Another kilometer or so sees the trail pass by Chironia Spring arising from Mount Prospect's artesian aquifer. The spring is marked, in summer, by the presence of beautiful Chironia purpurascens flowers. This stream also flows into Solitude valley. Keep an eye out for ROCK KESTRELS during the trail between these two water points as I have seen a pair almost every time I have been there - giving rise to the trail's name. There are many rocky areas around the Chironia Spring and I have also regularly seen a family of three Klipspringers in the area.

The next few kilometers takes one through the vast, high altitude grasslands at the base of Mount Prospect where, one morning, I saw a breeding herd of more than 50 Eland! The trail then descends into the Kliprots Valley along a series of old mining paths.

To do the trail as mentioned above, one would need to get a lift to the parking at the start because the trail is not circular. The red track on the above picture map is the trail done in a circular route from the Central area, north up along the Kliprots, down the little path that runs from Unit 1 to South Valley, and then along South valley to the trail's starting point, then the trail and onto Central area again. This route was just short of 16kms, a really beautiful 16 kilometers! The trail, of course, can be traversed in any direction but starting from the South Valley side will keep the morning sun in your favour.

Finally, the trail meets up with Emoyeni's two-track close to River Lily Crossing. This is the two-track used by Emoyeni management and traverses the entire property all the way to the Hops Hollow Brewery on the Long Tom Pass. All of it traversable by mountain bike. Please remember, though, that permission is required from Emoyeni management to use these two-tracks.

The Kestrel Trail has already been completed by Roger Nicholson, from Kliprots Creek, on a mountain bike! So if you think you can... 

 

A great festive season!

A GREAT FESTIVE SEASON

Well, December has come and gone and it was jolly. We had a great crowd here and the weather played along too. Below is a little gallery of some of the stuff I encountered during the time:

James Mackenzie from Pebble Creek wearing a necklace of living snake. The snake is a Skaapsteker and it is at it's maximum size. This particular individual relaxed completely around James and even accepted a meal from him!

John and Jessie Green from Jackpot Cottage slaving away below Mount Prospect. Jessie had to work off seventy odd community service hours so I got her busy raking our new hiking path and destroying small Pine trees on some of the slopes. The hiking path is 10km long and runs from K9 up to the base of Mount Prospect and on to the base of Mount Anderson before dropping down into South Valley.

William Lotter sighted a small female leopard around K14. After alerting me to the sighting, I rushed out and managed to get her between K15 and K16. She is rather small but I did notice that she had milk so she must be a first time mother.

This is the rather complex egg sack of a Praying Mantid. Glands within the female mantid's body secrete a fluid that foams and hardens when in contact with the air. While hardening, the foamy fluid is shaped by the two cerci on the tip of her abdomen into around sixty separate compartments into which she lays one egg per compartment. Each compartment has a tube reaching to the outside with a one way valve on the end to stop anything entering the tube. After about a month after the eggs are laid, a baby mantid, tightly enclosed in a narrow membrane, wriggles itself up the tube and out the valve where it stops half way and begins pumping blood into its head which makes it expand and split the membrane so that the new baby can emerge and face the world. The "balloon" around the egg compartments protect the eggs from the elements and shock.

A Common fly rests upon a Bellflower from the Wahlenbergia genus.

The beautiful Mountain Hard-pear, Olinia emarginata. These trees have provided us with a spectacular display of their flowers this year! The smaller individual on the left is in full bloom while the larger, central one is still getting there.

The Dainty Sugar Bush, Protea parvula. This small protea's flowers creep along the ground in short grass, high altitude areas. Unlike other Proteas which have extra thick, corky bark to protect them from the regular fires in the grasslands, this little Protea has adopted another method, it has become a suffrutex, which is an "underground tree" with only leaves exposed to fires...

A Robber Fly from the family Asilidae. The common name is rather derogatory because it implies that the insect is a thief. Nothing can be further from the truth because this dipteran is in fact a voracious predator. On a hot day when I am being harassed by flies, I always smile when I hear the unique, powerful buzz of a Robber Fly as it enters the scene and perches nearby. Once it has locked onto it's victim, it will take off and catch the fly in mid air, usually right in front of my face! It will then land again and suck the juices from the fly so that one can actually see the fly's body crumple as it empties!

A first for me at Finsbury is a Sac Spider from the Clubionidae family. This is the spider that is responsible for the most spider bites that are referred to doctors! They are night time hunters and roam around in search of prey. If they are on your body while you are sleeping and you just move, they will bite! The puncture marks are wide apart (around 5 mm) which makes them easily identifiable. Necrosis soon sets in and the wound becomes large and painful and will get worse if not treated. There have been no human fatalities recorded from this species though.

I had Fraser Moore from Rock Solid helping me clear rocks out of the way so that I could cut the new hiking path. This moving of rocks exposed a lot of interesting goodies. One of them was this rare sighting of a Uroplectes olivaceus with a bunch of babies on her back. The image was difficult to acquire because of her nervousness and the fact that she is only 25mm long which makes the babies very, very small.

On one rather cold day I drove by a burrow on the edge of the Loop road. Being cold, the Warthogs decided to remain in their burrow for the day and when I drove past, the sound of the vehicle was too unnerving for the mother Warthog and she darted out and away after throwing large chunks of mud at me. I had enough time to get my phone ready for when the little ones followed...