Trail Log 1995-1997 - Lamar at Colorado State University

59
We were visited that evening by Burchert Roberts, Department of English at University of Zululand,
who had read some of my material. Friend of Ian Player. He describes himself as a "primitivist".
Interested in African literature.
July 25. Tuesday.
We left Wayne Elliot's to drive to St. Lucia for a flight over Richard's Bay, arranged by Ian Player.
Pilot is Ray Rothlissberger, with kwaZulu Dept. of Nature Conservation. The plane is owned by
kwaZulu Conservation Trust, and was donated by someone in California. Plane is really mostly
made of canvass. Took an impressive flight over the area, threatened to be mined for rutile by
Richards Bay Minerals.
We checked into a retreat motel, (Bomba Cabanna) with cooking facilities. A troop of monkeys in
the yard was quite playful.
Casuarina, a tree common near the shoreline around St. Lucia, evergreen woody, much-branched,
with whorled leaves connate forming a sheath about the twig, the leaf tips appearing as reduced
bracts. Has the general appearance of Equisetum-like jointed branches. Introduced from Australia.
Is this the tree that in Florida I recall being called Australian pine? Some interpret it as a primitive
dicot, but others think it is reduced from higher plants. Phylogenetic position seems to be poorly
understood (Lawrence, Taxonomy of Vascular Plants, pp. 442-443).
Afternoon:
We drove north to Cape Vidal, from about 3.00 p.m. to 7.00 p.m. There is a dense coastal forest
here. Red duiker, two crossing the road. Nyala jumped out in the road; we had to swerve not to
hit it. 15-20 impala. Reached Cape Vidal where there is access to the beach. There was a man
here cleaning a good sized barracuda that he had caught, and four or five dozen people fishing on
the beach with long poles. Somewhat windy, and beginning to get dark. Jane saw Indian Ocean
for the first time and got her feet in it; Johan swam.
Grey headed gull. Lots of them here.
Spotted eagle owl, presumably, seen in the dusk on return.
July 26. Wednesday.
Johan went out for a morning walk and had an encounter with a hippo coming down the path on
a shortcut he took.
We drove to Richard's Bay to catch a prop plane commuter down the coast to Durban. Then a jet
from Durban to Port Elizabeth, where we left Johan on the plane going on to Cape Town and
Stellenbosch.
We were met by Pat Irwin, whom we had previously met at the Environmental Education
conference in Durban.
We drove to Grahamstown, with a circuit via the small towns of Alexandria and Kenton-on-Sea, a
resort town.