Good day – rain had stopped overnight and I was up by 6am ready to drive around the local area looking for Kniphofia with John Burrows, the manager of Buffelskloof Nature Reserve.
Bad day – Wallet was missing, spent next hour looking everywhere in my cottage and luggage to no avail. To my relief, it was found on the patio having fallen out when I had been chatting the previous night.
Kniphofia galpinii
Good day – first Kniphofia stop yielded K. galpinii, a short species very similar to K. triangularis but with shorter stiffer leaves.
Bad day – started to rain and wind picked up, which along with the dull weather made photography very difficult.
Good day – Found four more species: K. multiflora (below left), K. fluviatilis, K. rigidifolia (below right) and K. triangularis subsp. obtusiloba
Bad day – none of the four were flowering, we were too early for K. multiflora (buds were on the way) and too late for the other three.
Kniphofia multiflora in bud and K. rigidifolia among rocks at Vloren Valei
Good day – electricity came back to Buffelskloof, including internet access.
Bad day – my afternoon plan to look for more K. triangularis, hopefully in flower, was scuppered by my car refusing to start due to the immobilizer.
Good day – despite my worst fears, the car hire company were able to get the car started again over the phone. I needed to press the clutch down while turning the key – the fact that I have been driving the car for a week now without thinking about doing this baffles me.
Good day – John took me down to a viewpoint over Buffelskloof, an amazing gorge with sheer cliffs, splendid waterfalls and lush forest. Just a shame I do not have more time to explore it
Buffelskloof Nature Reserve from viewpoint
Agapanthus inapertus
Plant of the day – Agapanthus inapertus, this is in my view the most beautiful of the Agapanthus species with dark blue flowers and narrow pendent tubular flowers.
Watsonia wilmsii with pollinator
Pollinator of the day – Here is one of those amazing flies with the long proboscis using it for its proper purpose rather than trying to put it into my leg.