Wetlands recovering
Our Wetland area is showing signs of renewal. We have been having good rains in the past few weeks and our Flamingo Vlei is once again nearly full. No signs of the large stretches of sandbank where the water had receded and the vlei could be seen to shrink on a daily basis.
Our Pelican, Flamingo and large variety of duck and water bird colonies can now look forward to their new families in the Spring, knowing that there will be sufficient food for them to survive. We can look forward to keeping our little part of Paradise, and enjoying the wonder of seeing these magnificent birds, in our area.
We are hoping that our drought is now over and that we will have sufficient rain this winter to fill our dams.
Winter also sees time to plant all our spring bulbs, to enjoy the beautiful days (when it isn’t raining), to prune our roses, to plant vegetables, to feed the soil and wait for Spring. Winter is also the time that all our magnificent aloes are blooming, those glorious red and orange spikes, like huge, royal caldelabra reaching into the sky. What a spectacle! Local Quiver trees, Aloe Vera, Bitter Aloe, Veltheimia, a huge variety of Euphorbia, Vygies and our spectacular Impala Lily with long branches of red and white flowers. It was a local legend in Kwa Zulu Natal that the Aloes would only bloom when the Sardine run was about to occur. I can’t remember if this was true or not, but I can remember these amazing times, where we could wade waist high into the sea, and catch the sardine with whatever receptacle was on hand. Where the sea was black and boiling for as far as the eye could see. The seagulls and other birds diving continually into the midst of this mass and eventually, fully sated they would just sit on the water, so full that they couldn’t fly any more. It was possibly the only time that we would not have to worry about shark attacks as they were too busy feeding on the bigger game fish that were feeding off the sardine.
Winter also sees our Magnificent Table Mountain shrouded with mist and at times completely hidden with clouds. It is also the time where we have extreme weather, mountainous waves, high winds and more rain. Dangerous elements for the men and their ships out at sea. The Cape Coast possibly has more shipwrecks than any other place in the world, we are not called “The Cape of Storms” for nothing, however we are the most beautiful Cape in the world.
Never cut a tree down in the wintertime.
Never make a negative decision in the low time.
Never make your most important decisions
when you are in your worst moods.
Wait. Be patient. The storm will pass.
The spring will come.
Author Unknown