Willem is a wildlife artist based in South Africa. He says "My aim is simply to express the beauty and wonder that is in Nature, and to heighten people's appreciation of plants, animals and the wilderness. Not everything I paint is African! Though I've never been there, I'm also fascinated by Asia and I've done paintings of Asian rhinos and birds as well. I may in future do some of European, Australian and American species too. I'm fascinated by wild things from all over the world! I mainly paint in watercolours. . . but actually many media including 'digital' paintings with the computer!"

On this trip, we were very fortunate to have a guide with us who was intimately acquainted with the forest and its birds. Paul had one of the best senses of hearing I've ever encountered! He would hear birds singing far away when I couldn't even hear anything, until we'd moved a great deal closer. He was on the spot with the ID's too. We were a bit unfortunate with the weather, it being very cloudy with poor visibility in the already dense and gloomy forest. Towards the end of the day it started to rain as well! But still, we noted many forest specials: Olive bush shrikes, Chorister Robin-chats, Brown Scrub-robins, Yellowstreaked Greenbuls, Sombre Greenbuls, Yellowthroated Woodland Warblers, Squaretailed Drongos, Narina Trogons, Knysna Turacos, Dusky Flycatchers, Cape Batises, and more. Most were only heard, but a few glimpsed. Paul helped out with a laser pointer, pointing to the exact tangle of leaves where the bird was busy … but even then many of us failed to see it well! The best views were at the lodge itself, where birds came to a feeder. There we saw Blue-billed Firefinches and a Southern Boubou.

I also quizzed Paul on the trees. He was a bit more shaky with those, but still could ID most I asked him about. The native forest includes some very tall species such as Outeniqua Yellowwoods and Stinkwoods. We passed one champion tree, a Forest Cabbage Tree, that was 35 m/115' tall with a trunk over 3m/10' in diameter! It is one of this country's 'champion trees' and estimated (according to the plaque) as about 2000 years old, though I'm not so sure of that! Other very noteworthy trees included Cape Chestnut, White Ironwood, Forest Iron Pear and Cape Plane. The latter is a tree with beautiful cool, smooth bark that looks like marble.

Another tree, the Forest Knobwood, has thick bosses, each tipped with a sharp thorn-like point, all over its trunk. Here you see it. This is one of the tallest species, reaching about 30 m/100'. It is a member of the Citrus family, and its leaves are food for swallowtail butterflies (the babies, not the adults).

Yet another kind of tree plentiful in the forest, is a strangling fig. I'm not sure which species this is, as there are more than one species of strangler and they're hard to identify. But you can tell that it's a strangler by its roots. These form a tangled, contorted mass. Strangler figs start life as a seed deposited by a fig-eating bird high up in the canopy of another tree. The sticky seed attaches to the bark, germinates and starts growing. Even as it sends up a frail shoot towards the light, it sends down a strong root to the ground. There's enough moisture and food for it to grow for a while, quite slowly until the root finally reaches the ground. Then suddenly the fig spurts into growth! Now it has nourishment from below and thanks to its high position its leaves are close enough to the sun, with much more light available than if it had been on the forest floor. It sends down more roots, these winding themselves around the trunk of its 'host' tree. Soon the strangling fig overwhelms the host! When the host finally dies, it decomposes inside the lattice of roots, giving the strangler fig even more nourishment. This helps these figs to become some of the tallest and most massive trees in the forest. Thankfully they give something back: their fruits are beloved and support a large variety of birds, monkeys and other wildlife, even pigs and antelopes that pick them up from the ground!

The trip to Kurisa Moya was short, but memorable. I hope y'all enjoy these photos!

Colours of Wildlife Archive

Willem

14.03.16 Front Page

Back Issue Page