What does my South Africa look like?

 
My South Africa smells of rain, of dust, of sea spray as the waves pound the powdery beaches. My South Africa smells like fear as the antelope runs for his life. My South Africa is bright blue skies, warm sunshine and spring rains turning everything green. My South Africa is open spaces, an epic wilderness; a leopard tortoise ambling alongside the road, a go-away bird chirping its distinctive chant in the trees.

Image from Wildlife Den

My South Africa is all these things and more, so much more.

Joy accompanied me that morning

A leaf fluttered in through the window this morning, as if supported by the rays of the sun, a bird settled on the fire escape, joy in the task of coffee, joy accompanied me as I walked. 

 ~ Anais Nin 

It was a beautiful but cold winter’s morning in my garden. The grass was white with frost and as I went outside to open the hen house and let the chickens out, the early morning sun on the leaves of my Acacia karroo tree caught my attention. Such a lovely contrast to Winter's cold! 

Camera: Canon EOS 550D 

Location : My garden, Tarlton, Gauteng, South Africa. 

::

The thorny side of life

When things are shaky and nothing is working, we might realize that we are on the verge of something. We might realize that this is a very vulnerable and tender place, and that tenderness can go either way. We can shut down and feel resentful or we can touch in on that throbbing quality.  

—Pema Chödrön 

We all have unpleasant things that happen to us. How do you handle this 'thorny' side of life? Do you look upon it as a curse you wish you had never experienced? Or do you think you could use these experiences to your benefit? 

When I saw this nest in one of my Acacia trees (Vachellia karoo), the thought came to mind that we could take a lesson from nature and use the 'thorns' to our advantage, like this Sparrow has done. She could have chosen any tree, but she has learnt that these thorns can provide safety for her family. By looking at the thorns in our lives as a lesson, learning from the experience so that we can handle a similar situation better, we can also have protection against the thorny side of life.

::

This is life...

As the year draws to an end and I stroll through my garden, it always amazes me the peace I find here. I'm grounded here, on my own tiny piece of African paradise...

The White Karees (rhus viminalis) and Black Karees (Rhus lancea) have now grown to about 15m, offering shade to the plants and home to all the lovely birds that have chosen this as their home. I feel honoured.

Every morning as I step outside to fill the bird feeders and give my special whistle, they sit watching me intently, hardly able to wait for me to finish. Then I spend a while sipping my coffee at the patio table watching as they flit from one table to the other, not being able to decide what to try first - the suet and fruit section or the mixed seeds. There's a lot of scrambling and busyness for a while, but it soon quietens down as they settle into the serious business of eating.

I finish my coffee with a sigh and head for my studio.

I just want to say thank you to all of you for stopping by, reading, commenting and sharing my experiences of the past year as I whirl through this journey called life. It means a lot to me.

May your new year also be filled with JOY, LOVE, SPARKLING LIGHT and INSPIRATION.

Camera : Kodak EasyShare C195. Flowers of the Acacia 'karroo' - Pic taken in my garden in Tarlton, Gauteng, South Africa.

My Acacia 'karroo'

My Acacia Karroo (Soetdoring - Vachellia karoo) after the Springs rains October 2009
- Camera : FujiFinepix 2800Zoom

My thorn trees (Acacia) are just coming into bloom and for those that suffer from hay-fever, this is really a bad time of the year, especially if we haven't had much rain. Spring started off very dry, and we have only had some decent rain late in November this year.

During Winter I'm able to prune the tree's low-hanging branches a bit and I just love keeping some of the branches with the HUGE thorns for display around the house - they become quite a conversation piece!

This is one of South Africa's most beautiful and useful trees. It is integrally part of our country's history having been used for everything from raft-making to sewing needles and fencing for the houses of the royal Zulu women. The thorns were even used by early naturalists to pin the insects they collected! It is very widespread throughout southern Africa and there are different forms in some places, which can be confusing. Acacia karroo may be found from the Western Cape through to Zambia and Angola. In tropical Africa it is replaced by Acacia seyal. The name Acacia is derived from Greek "akis" a point or barb. Karroo is one of the old spellings of karoo which cannot be corrected because of the laws governing botanical nomenclature (giving of names).

The sweet thorn makes a beautiful garden specimen. The bright yellow flowers look very striking against the dark green foliage. The rough, dark brown bark is also most attractive. The flowers are sweetly scented and are renowned for attracting insects which are essential to any bird garden. Birds also like to make nests in thorn trees as the thorns offer them some protection from predators. These thorns can grow up to 6" (15cm) long and if they are very thick, it's an indication of an abundance of water. Caterpillars of 10 species of butterflies are dependant on the tree for survival. These include, the club-tailed charaxes (Charaxes zoolina zoolina) and the topaz-spotted blue (Azanus jesous). In cold and dry areas like where I live, the tree is deciduous.

Regions where the Acacia Karroo can be found - I can be found approx. where the red dot is at the bottom of Southern Africa. (Click on pic to enlarge)

Vachellia karoo - Acacia 'karroo' flowers" Watercolour sketch - Maree©

Acacia karroo also known as the Sweet Thorn (Vachellia karoo), is a species of Acacia, and the tree is especially useful as forage and fodder for domestic and wild animals. Apparently, there is no risk of poisoning from it. Goats seem to like A. karoo better than cattle. The flowers appear in early summer in a mass of yellow pompons and make a very good source of forage for honey bees; honey from it has a pleasant taste.

An edible gum seeps from cracks in the tree's bark. The gum can be used to manufacture candy and it used to have economic importance as "Cape Gum". In dry areas, the tree's presence is a sign of water, both above and underground.

It is a tree of open woodland and wooded grassland. It grows to its greatest size when rainfall of 800-900mm is received but can grow and even thrive in very dry conditions such as the Karroo region of western South Africa. The requirement here is for deep soils that allow its roots to spread. Everywhere in its range, however, the tree is easily recognised by its distinctive long white paired thorns and coffee coloured bark, both of which are very attractive. In the tropics it shows little variation but at the southern end of its range it becomes more variable in appearance.

Common names in various languages include Karoo Thorn, Doringboom, Cape Gum, Cassie, Piquants Blancs, Cassie Piquants Blancs, Cockspur Thorn, Deo-Babool, Doorn Boom, Kaludai, Kikar, Mormati, Pahari Kikar, and Udai Vel

.

Thorn Trees of Africa

Thorn tree - watercolour on Ashrad 300gsm - 11" x 7.5" - Maree
Umbrella Thorn {Acacia tortilis}

There are few more striking symbols of Africa than a thorn tree - its gnarled branches, graceful form, jagged thorns and abundant blooms, in many ways reflecting the paradoxes of the continent.

This Umbrella Thorn (Acacia tortilis) stands in one corner of my garden and offers a safe haven for many birds who seek a safe place to nest.

Umbrella Thorn Acacia {Acacia tortilis}
The Umbrella Thorn Acacia grows in Africa. There are over 700 species of the Acacia in Africa. Umbrella Thorn Acacia is one of the most recognizable trees of the African savanna. It grows in sand dunes and rocky grounds of Africa's grasslands. Acacias grow in areas with annual rainfall as low as 4cm. This tree can survive in 50°C temperatures during the day, and freezing temperatures at nights. The savanna that the Acacias live in is hot and dry in the respective summer of the Southern Hemisphere although at night the temperature can go below -18°C. During the winter months the savanna gets a lot of rain. The Umbrella Thorn grows up to 20 meters high and has a spreading, flat-tapped crown that gives it its name.

The structure of umbrella thorn trees preserves soil moisture by having a high proportion above-ground woody mass and low amount of foliage and the utmost top tips are a favourite grazing spot for Giraffes.


(Info from Wikipedia)