Weekend Outings – Kanyemba 2023

In preparation for the forthcoming Kanyemba trip, Tony Alegria was asked to show the party some of the trees they were likely to see in the Zambezi valley. Many of these trees are to be seen in the National Botanical Garden.

NATIONAL BOTANICAL GARDEN OUTING 28^TH  OCTOBER 2023

By Tony Alegria, Mary Lovemore, Karl van Laeren, John Lawrence, Frances Morris, Peter Morris, and Ian Riddell with many thanks for photos extracted from the Zimbabwe Flora website (https://www.zimbabweflora.co.zw/)

I was asked to show members trees that the group going on the weekend tree outing to Kanyemba were likely to see. I was sent a list of possibilities and added a few of my own and plotted a route within the National Botanical Gardens.
I haven’t seen some of the trees on the list and the Brachystegia manga which was supposed to be in the gardens turned out to be an Afzelia quanzensis according to Chris Chipano!

Unfortunately:

the Acacia eriocarpa only had very young leaves so no prickles on the rachis but the stipules were obvious;
the Pteleopsis myrtifolia only had young leaves but it did have fruit from last year so there was no problem with that identification but we couldn’t find the Pteleopsis anisoptera nearby as none of the other trees had any fruit – just very young leaves;
the Pterocarpus lucens had no leaves or fruit at all; however there were some old pods under the tree;
the Commiphora ugogensis also had no leaves or fruit but was recognizable by its distinctive bark.

Tony

It was just like the days of yesteryear.  On many occasions in the past, prior to venturing into new territory members of the Tree Society would gather at the National Botanic Garden to get a foretaste of which trees might be seen.

Members who were due to travel to Kanyemba gathered at the Botanic Gardens together with Tony,  who had identified some of the trees and shrubs likely to be seen on the upcoming journey to Kanyemba and surrounds.

It promises to be an exciting adventure. The recent rain should have encouraged trees to flush or flower (or to be threatening either),  The venue is new to many of the group and it will be hot!!!

Mary

Standing under the massive Balanites maughamii in the Botanical Gardens, admiring the “ink blot” footprint of the trunk, the “Y” thorns and then observing the fallen fruit sparked a discussion down memory lane. The use of the fruit’s flammable oil properties by Kim Damstra for his Halloween dinners then led to a discussion about decorating the Halloween table with Strophanthus kombe flowers and serving Triplochiton zambesiacus leaves as the wrapping for Dolmades for entrees. All three were recorded on our subsequent excursion to Kanyemba. Thank you Tony, for leading such a useful orientation walk for the “Kanyemba Crew”.

Frances

Tony did a great job of finding a number of the target species that we hope to see on the Kanyemba trip. It was great to meet Xylia torreana, the leaf with one pair of pinnae, flower like an Albizia and pods like a Baikiaea.

I was pleased to see Brachystegia allenii which grows on the escarpment, with its soft, yellow young  leaflets twisted relative to the plane at right angles to the main axis.This will help to distinguish B. allenii from B. manga which we hope to see in the lowland miombo. I enjoyed becoming re-acquainted with Schinziophyton rautanenii which we saw at Mafungabusi earlier this year. Next to the Schinziophyton  was  a Baphia massaiensis, with exquisite, sweet-scented flowers.

Peter

As in any botanical walk this proved no exception included forays into trees that were eye catching but never a possible encounter in the MZV!    All extra bonuses – a typical distraction on all our walks.  The flowering of many Kanyemba trees added an extra layer of excitement to the walk.

Our planned trip will also include deviations to examine 200 million year old petrified conifers, archaeology in the form of salt mining and Zimbabwe style ruins, zoology , herpetology and some ornithological specials.

Karl

And finally

I do not usually attend the Botanic Gardens walks as I am not a “tree twitcher”, but Tony had offered to take us to view trees that we might see at Kanyemba, so I joined about 15 others to get my eye in. Sadly it was too early in the season for some of the species, as they only sported bare branches or unrecognisable leaf buds, but the two Balanites species that we are likely to encounter were in full leaf and easy to identify. Both have bifoliolate leaves, which is an unusual feature in trees, and both have stout, green spines, single in B. aegyptiaca and Y-tipped in B. maughamii. The other species that caught my eye was Baphia massaiensis, which sported the most beautiful white and pink petalled flowers; I hope we see some on our visit.

John

We were preparing  as the rugby players were preparing to meet the unknown and
“proper prior preparation prevents poor performance”
was clearly a mutual objective.  Tony Alegria put on one of the best tree walks I have ever done in the botanical gardens.

Karl

THURSDAY 2^ND NOVEMBER TO MONDAY 6^TH NOVEMBER 2023:- KANYEMBA

A SUMMARY by Linda Hyde with photos from William Clarke and Zia Thomas

Day 1

After weeks and months of planning, first by Frances Morris and then by the drivers of the 5 vehicles due to transport the 21 members of the Tree Society plus 2 guides to this remote part of Zimbabwe, we were due to depart.  Allowing time to collect passengers, for botanical stops, visits to points of interest, and the actual vehicles we all ventured forth from Harare via Mvurwi and Guruve, then down the Zambezi escarpment to the Mahuwe business centre and the last fuel.

From there we went to Mushumbi Pools and across the Manyame River to the Angwa river bridge.  Then we followed, with varied levels of success, the sketch maps prepared by Frances leading to our destination, Masau Camp. The total distance from Harare 355 km but in general travel was not accomplished quickly and it was after lunch, tea or nearly suppertime when we arrived at the camp.

Our longest stop was seven kilometres due north of the road bridge across the Angwa River.  This was a botanical stop, but it took us back millennia, as we saw the fossil ferns embedded in the sedimentary peat of the Upper Karoo age in the rocky bed of the Manyima River—my thanks to Zia Thomas for this picture.

DAY 2

It was all into vehicles with a packed lunch for a trip back the way we came to see what we could find in the dry riverine forest.  My memories of this are Mark Hyde being asked to get out and quickly see what “that plant is”.  He was soon followed by 1 more person, then one more then …. Then Cathy Sharp finds a fungus.  The hunters look bewildered as there is soon 1 person up a tree, and another group 50 m away with Meg Coates Palgrave at the side of the cars being consulted as to the identity of a tricky specimen while Mark has wandered off in the opposite direction.

In the evening we were all exhausted but after a feast organised by Frances Morris (who handled all our catering), we gathered for part 1 of Bill Clarke’s 2-part quiz.

DAY 3

Saw the whole party ensconced in 2 pontoons and 2 light speed boats heading upriver past the Red Cliffs to Mupata Gorge. A leisurely morning for most of us as this proved to be an armchair excursion with botany from the boats.  At a beach favoured in the past by David and Annemare de-Burgh Thomas we beached the boats and in no particular order tucked into the picnic lunch provided as well as adventuring on various minor botanical excursions into the surrounding bush.

The trip home, drifting on the current, was accompanied by worries about the amount of fuel left in the boats for manoeuvring but we all made it safely back.  The evening braai was undertaken by the staff and when we were replete we settled back for part 2 of Bill’s quiz.

DAY 4

The keen botanists were not satisfied with the armchair botany of the day before or for the stop/start nature of driving to places so the group decided to split for the day’s activities.  One party headed back upstream to explore the Red Cliffs seen from the boats the day before while another party decided on a walking tour of the bush around the camp.  A further group was left behind to enjoy the luxury of the camp.

Having met up for lunch a further split was agreed with one party heading for Kanyemba on the boats and a second driving inland to the salt pans while the rest dozed fitfully.

The evening saw us all on the pontoons heading out onto the river for final sundowners followed by dinner (which was not all the leftovers) and a fascinating and scholarly talk by John Lawrence on the inception and incidence of the disease Rinderpest and its effects on the social environments of Zimbabwe.

DAY 5

An early start home took us all via the most amazing outcrop of Amorphophallus sp. over corrugations or through the sand and depending on the party via the historic site of Mutota’s sacred baobab and nearby ruins in the Zimbabwe tradition.

TREE LIFE

KANYEMBA SPECIAL

EDITOR’S COMMENTS

This issue of Tree Life includes a special edition showcasing the many contributions received by members about the Kanyemba trip.  I wrote a summary on the expedition from a non-botanical point of view for Tree Life number 520.  Below is the outline of the scheduled days’ activities followed by member contributions.

DAY 1: Travel to Kanyemba and Masau Lodge;
DAY 2: A day driving into the dry forest of the valley;
DAY 3: A trip upriver to Mupata Gorge.
DAY 4: A further river trip to the Red Cliffs past the day before on the way to Mupata Gorge;
DAY 5; Return travel to Harare.

PARTICIPANTS:

Anne Butler, Cathy Sharp, Di Drummond, Fiona Lawrance, Frances Morris, Ian Riddell, Jan van Bel, Jenny MacKay, John Lawrence, Karl van Laeren, Linda Hyde, Lorraine Gifford, Mark Hyde, Meg Coates Palgrave, Mundoga Kambazvi, Peter Morris, Rob Jarvis, Ryan Truscott, Sheila Jarvis, Sikhumbudzo (Nyathi) Mulunjana, Vic Gifford, William Clarke, Zia Thomas.

Our thanks to Ian, Nyathi and Mundoga who accompanied us as licensed hunters.

DAY 1: TRAVEL TO KANYEMBA AND MASAU LODGE

TRAVEL WITH ‘BLONDIE’: BY ZIA THOMAS

During winter this year I was in Cape Town, the weather was miserable, and I was tired of walking in the rain and wind and I just wanted to go home.  Then I read the Tree Society was visiting Kanyemba in the Middle Zambezi in November.  Heat at last, Yay!

According to my Dad, I’d last been to Kanyemba with him and my brothers 57 years ago! I knew I wanted to be on that trip! Fortunately, there was space for me, and I was on my way.

Excited was an understatement!

Vic, Lorraine and Jan travelled with me in ‘Blondie’, my trusty adventure Buddy since 1994. She’s a big girl with flowers in her hair and she’s always available to head out for some fun! I’d heard repeatedly over the years that the road to Kanyemba was awful but knowing my Blondie I was not worried, she’s a big strong girl just like me and can handle almost anything!

We arranged to travel in convoy with Frances, Peter and Cathy whom we met at Mazowe Dam.  By 7.15 the others had arrived and after a quick look at the dam, which was pretty full and looking lovely, we left around 7.30 and drove towards Mvurwi.

An hour or so later on with fairly ok roads, we stopped in Guruve. Some needed to fill up with fuel and for those of us who needed a loo stop the available facility was clean and actually had water!

Back on the road, we came across Karl on the side of the road looking at the “Highest Baobab in Zimbabwe.”   This impressive tree had a beehive nestled halfway up in a protected overhang near the fork. The locals had hammered wooden pegs into the bough halfway up to fashion a ladder for easier access to the delicious honey up there. Soon after admiring the beehive, Rob Jarvis and Bill Clarke caught up with us and our group was complete.

It wasn’t long and Rob zoomed off again in front of us in true Mountain Club Style!

Within 15km of leaving the Baobab, the altitude changed pretty drastically! What a fun and such a pretty winding road we found ourselves on with sharp bends and curves. And the views went on forever over the Zambezi Valley.

It is so stunning and as the scenery and warmth permeated my entire being, I began to relax and actually feel like I was on holiday!

A word that I was not at all familiar with but that was bandied about a LOT was ‘botanise’! Now I get it, after all I am a member of the Tree Society! Looking at and collecting bits of trees and other plants ~ then talking about, deciphering, distinguishing, and recording what we’ve seen, when, where etc. Then Cathy climbed onto the back of her truck and hauled out ‘the press’ and the meaning of ‘botanise’ was now complete!

Our first use of this word began when we made an impromptu stop on the steep escarpment road at a lay-by. We stopped to admire a Brachystegia allenii. This name and this tree was the first ever to reach my conscious awareness! It has lovely mid-green leaves that overlap and look a bit like a Venetian Blind. For someone who is totally green behind the ears and barely knows the difference between a Msasa and a Mnondo, this description made perfect sense and I hope I never forget it!

Thereafter, we dropped down, down, down into the Zambezi Valley, and fortunately for us the weather was overcast and it was very pleasantly cool but not too cool, even in the Valley.

The last possible stop for fuel was at Mahuwi, a dusty little village where, soon after leaving the business area, the tar ended.  I thought the road, which continued to Mushumbi Pools, wasn’t too bad. After we crossed the Manyame River we headed west for a bit and then north. Within 20 km of Mushumbi Pools, we came to the National Monuments beacon heralding a Petrified Forest. I had read an article that claimed this forest is older than history itself. Apparently, these trees were coniferous, the climate being temperate back then ~ approximately 100 – 200 million years ago. How life changes.

At this stage of our journey, the road surface changed and became a little less comfortable. I knew we had 3 more rivers to cross to get to the Zambezi and was still looking forward to the drive. The Dande, Kadzi and Angwa rivers all drain from the escarpment and still lay ahead…

As we progressed, the road became way more corrugated and the whoop-de-do’s were epic! We stopped on the Angwa Bridge and admired the soft sandstone below with potholes the lovely whirl in the side being created by a stone being whizzed around as water rushed downstream during the rainy season. We heard an Eastern Nicator but never got sight of it. What we did see were Carmine and white-fronted Bee-eaters. Such beauty and melodic resonance emanate from these tiny creatures. I think birds are so lucky, they get to fly, their plumage is often beautiful and they can sing such sweetness bringing joy to the hearts of anyone who will stop to absorb all that they are!

After a little while, we stopped again at the Kadzi River. Here we climbed down, under the bridge and walked about a hundred metres along the dry sand riverbed to check out the ancient Peat Pit which is no longer a pit! Today, it is about a metre and a half above the riverbed.

The Peat Pit is clearly visible from a short distance with its layers of inky blackness and feathery edges. Taking a small piece, the layers of biomass were compressed together and had the feel of a Rizla (fine cigarette paper) and looked like very thin charcoal-coloured crepe paper. We could even distinguish ancient leaves within the layers. So awesome to think these layers had been compressed so many millions of years before and also a clear illustration of how coal has been made.

Along the way, we were halted by a band of 4 Southern Hornbills sauntering along the road. They were not at all concerned about us until we started up our engines, then they waddled off, surprisingly quickly into the bush at the side of the road.  A little later on we came across another 4 of these endangered species. As soon as they heard and saw us, they actually took off quickly and flew off into the bush. They are surprisingly graceful in flight and a sight to behold as they lift their glossy black, heavy bodies up into the air!

From here, it took us another 2.5 hours to reach our destination. By that time we had been travelling for 10 hours instead of the expected 7 hours! I was tired and extremely grateful to finally reach the end of that grizzly, bone-jarring, teeth-rattling road!

A SLOW WAY DOWN: BY KARL VAN LAEREN

On the right-hand side of the road, about 1.3 km after the grid gate between Mvurwi and Guruve and after the store appropriately named Grid Store, stands a large baobab tree on a rocky base.  This is at an altitude of 1353m. and it was fitting that I should stop and visit this tree as the first botanical obligation especially as it was to turn out that Chief Mutota’s Baobab on the valley floor was going to be my last point of call before leaving the Middle Zambezi Valley (MZV) via the Alpha trail to Centenary.   This tree is to be respected and appreciated as our sacred rite of passage for us all that needed prior appeasement to grant us a successful adventure.  And how generous the rewards were going to be!

The next botanical milestone for me at least is the large Ficus bussei on the left road verge in Guruve opposite the fuel station.  This is another valley floor species that probably made its way here as a chance happening of the trade and travel route to the valley floor.

The Zambezi escarpment road meanders down to the Mahuwe fly gate which is still being managed by the Tsetse department.     Both Ximenia species were in fruit, the smaller and more common and supposedly more sour fruit is that of X. americana species with smooth blue green leaves.  Nobody should be allowed to pass their first tree in fruit without being given a ripe fruit to suck on!   Like the baboons before me had been demonstrating one should spit out the skin.  Rarely, one may find a moderately sweet Ximenia fruit which was my experience till eating the second fruit from the same tree!    I believe that the oil extracted from the inner kernel has anti-aging properties but the outer sour fruit can age one in seconds so an effective antidote has merit indeed!

An especially exciting find was a few Adenia karibaensis (Cat o’nine tails, what a nice name as it reminds me too of cats!).  One plant displayed both its striped fruit and bunches of flowers.  As a vet, my mind always links the diagnostic pair of swollen glands at the base of the petiole and its palmate leaf to resemble a neat symmetrical pair of small cat testis!

Brachystegia allenii has to be a tree that gets everyone excited.  It is an indicator that we are leaving the highveld into a rich new and exciting area.  Its blue-green leaves set obliquely to the rachis and without a petiole is an easy giveaway.   I enjoyed Coates Palgrave’s description of the leaf as “making them look as if they are louvred” to differentiate from B. manga which we may have encountered on our last day.

Another easy specimen to visit is on the circle in the parking lot at Marongora booking office.  Seeing Bindura bamboo, Oxytenanthera abyssinica, reminded me that I was indeed in the  Mavuradonha escarpment and of my very first botany excursion even in this country to try and find the Buchwa endemic bamboo, Oreobambos buchwaldii, which was feared to have become extinct due to the mining activities   We failed to find any but I think subsequently it has been found there.

Olax obtusifolia or large-fruited Olax grew in the stormwater drain as did a Stereospermum kunthianum.  Some of you may remember the fine pink jacaranda specimen that grew in the last lay-by on the way down the escarpment before turning off to Mana Pools.    Our Hunter-Guide, Nyathi indicated that this tree was a favourite browse tree for eland.  In Kanyemba I was to encounter its more widespread cousin Olax dissitiflora or small fruited Olax.  Both have deep green leathery leaves folded inwards along the midrib. Fruit turning ripe was already in evidence.  The light grey smooth bark covered what appeared to be very hard and dense wood and resembled Boscia albitrunca bark.

Pouzolzia mixta also grew on the roadside and again Nyathi enlightened me about his childhood memories related to this species.  By pounding the roots, a thick slimy soapy goo could be made that made for a good kids’ slide if applied to a smooth surface.  Nothing like getting personal stories from folk who used these trees firsthand.

Other finds were Terminalia stenostachya, Albizia versicolor, Ficus sycomorus, Bridelia cathartica.  Purplewood, Dalbergia nitidula, with its characteristic galls was something Nyathi pointed out to me as a common finding on these trees.  Enclosed is a picture of both the young and the mature galls.

We were to see Dalbergia martinii a few days later which, with its wrap-around branchlets, was on the rocky hillside leading up to Matombo Camp overlooking the quite unique Mwanzamtanda floodplains.

The seven-hour journey to our destination took a marvellous 12 hours due to botanical detours and self-imposed natural history/ archaeological “roadblocks”.  At my age, I may never get to see this area again so it is better not to rush through it too hastily as one would be the poorer for it.

DAY 2: A DAY DRIVING INTO THE DRY FOREST OF THE VALLEY

A PERFECT DAY FOR BOTANISING: BY JAN VAN BEL

The 2nd day, our first morning waking up a few meters from the fast-flowing Zambezi river, was a cloudy day, exactly as the weather report had predicted. We had agreed at supper last night to take our time to commence this promising day. No rush to get everything done and seen before the midday heat and plenty of time to get rid of the last rattles of yesterday’s bumpy road. Cleansed by the smooth confident majestic river that pervades us, we regained our equilibrium and started becoming part of this perfect harmony of water, plants, trees, birds and animals.

By 8.00h the whole troupe was divided over 5 cars and on the road we went. The first plant name I recorded today as special was a Crinum, an amaryllis relative. There was enough hesitation as to naming the species, that I leave this to the specialists.

The next stop, just a few minutes later was probably initiated by Cathy with her incredibly sharp eyes for flowers, and who sees fungi and mushrooms where we only see tree bark.   The dark-burgundy colour of the flower, not really contrasting with the surroundings, has been named as an Amorphophallus abyssinicus subsp. unyikae. Cathy was very excited about this find as it is a plant that only flowers every few years. Everyone left the car to have a closer look at this interesting flower.

It is from the same family as the much bigger Amorphophallus titanum, the corpse flower which is endemic to Sumatra. This plant attracts thousands of visitors at botanic gardens around the world when it is in flower (every 7 to 10 years),  When in flower those botanical gardens are often open till late in the evening and on holidays.  It is supposed to attract thousands of insects with its smell; however, our find didn’t have much of a scent.

The Dry Forest was next on the map. It is a deciduous forest with high trees and understory thickets. This location was not exactly a place you would expect a botanical troupe to be attracted by and do what they usually do.  Here and there some small leaves were developing. Other trees had some dry fruits or pods still hanging. Even the dry leaves under the tree could sometimes give a clue or create more uncertainty.

The following is not a full record, but I recorded:
Monodora junodii, green-apple, easily identified by our guide Nyathi;
Pterocarpus lucens, small-leaved bloodwood, with a recognisable flaking bark;
Boscia mossambicensis, broad-leaved Boscia, distinguishable by its smooth leaves, while the B. angustifolia species has narrower leaves.

While we were trying to identify those silhouettes of trees, Cathy was busy discovering mushrooms. A big toadstool, she named Ganoderma, a pore fungus. Next was a Hexagonia, honeycomb fungus. It is a much smaller fungus and looking at its underside, you could mistakenly think it is a honeycomb.

One of the trees we had been looking out for, indigenous to this place was Xylia torreana, hairy Xylia, with its single pair of large composite leaflets, a bit unusual for a tree. Also Combretum kirkii, the large-fruited climbing combretum, a woody liana with knobbles along the stem. Alchornea laxiflora, lowveld bead-string, was a new name for me. It’s more like a shrub and has large leaves. It is another 3-veined leaf tree and easily identifiable by its two hair-like stipellae at the base of the leaf. Citropsis daweana, wild citrus, with compound leaves, winged rachis and armed with straight spines.

Our hunter-guide Nyathi then invited us to visit the last hunter camp that is still operational in this area after 5 others were closed for the season. As we were still hoping to see the Brachystegia manga, the blue-leaved Brachystegia.  Nyathi knew of a tree that could possibly be the one we were so eagerly looking for.  No conclusive identification could be done with the knowledge that hybrids in this genus exist and the close similarity with B. allenii and B. utilis.  The camp had several planted trees, not indigenous to this area. We saw a mopane tree with a big epiphyte. A  shrub with jasmine-like flowers was named Holarrhena pubescens, jasmine tree. Boscia albitrunca, shepherd’s tree, a small tree with stout white bark. Combretum species collinum, mossambicense and elaeagnoides were recorded several times. Mark must have recorded many more trees while I was just wondering what all these dry sticks would turn into.

On the way back to the lodge, we stopped the car in the middle of the road when two ground hornbills were gracefully walking away in front of us.  A little further on we saw their nest high up in a big tree.

It had been a perfect day for botanising in an almost leafless forest. A cool breeze and the sun remained behind the clouds for the whole day. Frances and Peter had organised and planned it perfectly. They must have communicated with the weather gods.

We were back at our lodgings in time to have a rest or a dip in the plunge pool. By evening Mark and Meg were already organising and identifying their tree samples. Everyone had a good meal, not forgetting the delicious dessert. After that, we were divided into 4 groups for a fun quiz, set up by Bill. After a hundred questions, the quiz was interrupted for a break and to plan the next day. Slowly people started strolling to their beds while others still in need of socialising were enjoying the bar.

BOTANISING AWAY FROM THE RIVER JOHN LAWRENCE

Most of the party set off after breakfast for a morning of botanising from cars away from the river. It turned out to be a much longer day than expected.

Our first stop was on the flats near the villages to admire a small colony of Amorphophallus, a most unusual member of the Arum family with a single dark purple flower.  We drove on to the “dry forest”, most aptly named as at first sight it consisted of nothing but a tangle of dry branches and trunks, but very exciting for the botanists. A few shrubs had leaves, and with the help of binoculars, it was possible to study leaves and even flowers on the crowns of large trees.

For the non-specialist, the most interesting finds were some fungi that Cathy was able to explain to us. A bracket fungus on a bare trunk had a fascinating honeycomb structure on its under surface, while feather-like white patterns on a wad of dry leaves proved to be the mycelia of developing spores.

After a few more stops we arrived at a hunting camp for refreshment and a rest from driving. Half the party opted for a return to base for lunch, but the diehards continued into miombo woodland in search of Brachystegia allenii and B. manga, species that only occur in the extreme north-east of Zimbabwe. We managed to find B. allenii, with its “venetian blind” leaflets, though it took some athleticism to collect good specimens, but B. manga eluded us.

Eventually, we gave up and set off back to base by a side road through riverine-type woodland that necessitated many stops to examine unusual species, some of which defied identification. At one point our driver asked what the odds were that we wouldn’t stop again. I said, “not good”, and indeed we stopped after another 200 metres! However, we didn’t begrudge the botanists, as it was a wonderful opportunity for them to see new species in their natural habitat. We eventually reached the lodge at 1730, far too late for lunch but in time for a very welcome cup of tea.

MORE PHOTOS: ROB JARVIS

EDITOR’S NOTE: Schinziophyton rautanenii: The mongongo, manketti or nongongo tree is valued for its seeds, fruits and timber.  The fruit pulp is eaten raw or cooked and has a flavour similar to plums.

DAY 3: A TRIP UPRIVER TO MUPATA GORGE

ADVENTURES ON THE RIVER:

TEXT AND PHOTOS BY IAN RIDDELL

The woodwind section started far too early with Mr & Mrs Pel’s hooting off stage.  Then the main orchestra wound up with Rhapsody on a dawn chorus, and a splendid performance it was with Mr Collared Palm-thrush leading in the deep rosaceous glow in the east, bleeding it out to a bright yellow and a quiet finale.  Being far too modest, our conductor and virtuoso left the stage with a bow to only the early birds!

Then it was coffee and breakfast time and gradually our “clowder” assembled for a quick repast before being herded aboard the boats by 7 a.m. and off we headed, bound for the Mupata Gorge.  Our craft got a bit stuck on a sandbar and then we had to spend a short time dealing with Parks officials as the other boats dwindled into the blue.

NOTE: clowder: a collective term for a group of cats

Gradually we made our way upstream, noting Euphorbia cooperi and Garcinia livingstonei on the hillsides and many splendid Large-leaved Rock figs Ficus abutilifolia corseting and flowing down the cliffs.  Interesting that this abundant fig isn’t shown in Coates Palgrave as occurring in this part of the valley!

About 24 km upriver we beached by an impressive, splendid Acacia, Acacia robusta subsp. clavigera, with a fine Sausage Tree Kigelia africana just behind it, and got to botanising.

Here we found Crocodile-bark ebony, Diospyros quiloensis; Spiny jackal-berry Diospyros senensis; Purple cluster-pear Cleistochlamys kirkii;  Purple hook-berry Artabotrys brachypetalus with some fruit; Y-thorned Torchwood Balanites maughamii; Combretum obovatum flowering and fruiting; Wing Pod Xeroderris stuhlmannii and a few others.

A Flannel Weed Sida cordifolia was flowering by the river side but we were stumped by a pinnate-leaved tree up the hillside.

Our clowder became a “declutter” as some of our cats splintered upstream with an armed escort despatched on their heels lest they meet some unexpected wildlife with big feet or sharp teeth.  Above them on the ridge was a clustering of unidentified euphorbias.  One of the trees they rested under looked like an African ebony Diospyros mespiliformis, a fairly common tree in the gorge.  As we packed up the boats our wanders were prompted to return and we headed back downstream.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Three or more cats are a clowder but there are other names used for a group of cats, such as a clutter, a glaring, or a pounce, hence a declutter.

I stopped our boat at a rugged and incised spur that was most intriguing and different to the other mountainsides.  The river-polished boulders were steep and slippery as we gingerly edged in for a tenuous mooring, supervised by an interested crocodile who wouldn’t have said no to a “man overboard!”.

Trees and vegetation commingled along the spines of the ridges bisecting the spur looked like a giant had cleaved into vertebrae with a great axe.

Down at our level unidentified aloes and grasses thrust their roots into every crack that gathered soil, proving that “life finds a way”.  Long vertical indentations in the rock looked like it had been moulded with great pipes or poles pressed halfway into its surface, a most intriguing geology.

In flatter spots with more soil were many unidentified and mostly leafless trees but we didn’t have the time to collect samples and navigating the treacherous cliff was another matter, as my bloody shin affirmed.  I looked down to see if the croc was hanging around, awaiting a slip-up (or slip-off!).

We continued to flatter terrain just downstream of the Tunsa river mouth, where we moored under the shade of overhanging trees for our picnic lunch; a Yellow-billed Kite perched in the boughs of a rain tree above us, eagerly awaiting any scraps.

Some of the group had headed inland whilst I was photographing a White Water-pistol Ottelia muricata.

Later, as we left the spot, a clump of Amazon Frogbit, Limnobium laevigatum, was caught up at the back of the boat.  This native of Central and South America, classified by the California Department of Food and Agriculture as a Noxious Weed, was new to Zimbabwe in 2005 when found at Lake Chivero and has spread to Bulawayo, Kariba and the lower Zambezi Valley (See the Flora of Zimbabwe site).

I found it covering most of Skull Pan at Mana Pools National Park in 2018 and I also saw it at Chirundu in 2022.  Since clumps were merrily bobbing their way down the river as we returned to the Lodge, it has undoubtedly colonised Cabora Bassa and must eventually get past the dam wall and onward to the sea.

Our boat conked out a few kilometres from our destination and we drifted down on some hippos while waiting for the others to appear and rescue us, ending our trip in quiet indulgence at the end of a tow rope.

DAY 4: A FURTHER RIVER TRIP TO THE RED CLIFFS

EDITOR’S NOTE: AMENDED PLANS

Some of the party were keen to spend more time around the Lodge while some were still keen to go upriver.  Others were simply exhausted and keen to have a lazy day.  Further ideas were to visit Kanyemba itself as well as the salt pans between the Lodge and Kanyemba and to finish the day with sundowners before packing to go home.  Here are the individual notes:

THE RED CLIFFS: BY ROB JARVIS

I had hoped to climb to the top of the Red Cliffs, just upstream from our Lodge at Masau on the Zambezi. But when travelling past by boat it was clear that landing at the base of the cliffs was very difficult and a way to the top even more problematic.  When on a fishing trip about a decade ago I was intrigued by the apparent man-sized, bonsai-like forms of various trees clinging to the cliff.  Clearly visible were grey baobabs, white and pink-barked Sterculias, green-stemmed Commiphora, some lianas, like Fockea and many others, especially Ficus species.  There is no doubt that I shall have to go back to Kanyemba and walk up the ridges behind the cliff and see if the botanical life can be accessed more easily from there.

Whilst on that particular fishing trip I collected a very duck-like piece of driftwood on one of the sandbanks where we chanced our luck for tigerfish.  We still have the natural sculpture, still very duck-like and not damaged in any way after being exposed to Harare’s elements every year since 2012.  Hard wood indeed.

EXPLORING AROUND THE CAMP: MARK HYDE

A small group of three, Cathy, Ian (with a weapon) and I decided to explore the alluvial riverine forest in and adjacent to the Lodges.

The riverine area had a flora broadly similar to Mana Pools, with enormous Faidherbia albida, Philenoptera violacea and Kigelia africana. Also Combretum microphyllum which must look spectacular when in flower.  Cathy pointed out the more unusual var. sieberiana of Acacia sieberiana.  This has more yellow bark than the more normal var. woodii we generally see around Harare. To complete the similarity with Mana, there were also some pools with an interesting fringe of aquatic plants.

This generally shady, lush and often muddy environment was totally different to our earlier explorations and naturally had a very dissimilar flora.

In general the riverine was in good condition with few exotic species, although we did see a bit of Lantana and Tithonia rotundifolia (Mexican marigold) but around the lodges there was a greater influence of man in either accidentally or deliberately introducing species. Of which more later.

Much of the interest here lies in the herbaceous flora which is somewhat out of the Tree Society’s area, but a complete list will be available. An attractive, yellow-flowered delicate climbing Cucurbitaceae close to the Lodges turned out to be Momordica charantia. Ian Riddell found and identified a small highly sticky purple herb called Brillantaisia pubescens which was new to me.

Of interest was a shrubby Pavetta with very immature leaves which turned out to be Pavetta cataractarum, the Zambezi bride’s-bush, A somewhat unusual shrub in white flower was Premna senensis, the Large-leaved skunk-bush. The leaves smell unpleasant when crushed, hence the reference to a skunk.

Frequently seen were the spiny scrambling stems of Maclura africana, the African osage-orange. Two species of Jasmine came up for discussion amongst the group. The first was a white-flowered Jasminum climbing amongst shrubs near the camp. This species had 3-foliolate leaves and black berries and was J. fluminense, which from the Latin means ‘of rivers’, an excellent name well describing its habitat. A second species of shrubby Jasminum seen in the dry woodland sometimes in spectacular massed flowering was J. stenolobum, which has simple leaves and larger flowers.

Also much-debated was a scrambling semi-woody shrub with purplish flowers; this turned out to be Pluchea dioscoridis as was suggested at the time.

As I mentioned before, around the lodges you also have the influence of man. Indeed the name Masau refers to the thickets of Ziziphus mauritiana which appear to have become well naturalised and self-perpetuating in the area.

A number of indigenous trees had been planted, namely Cordyla africana, Oncoba spinosa, Khaya anthotheca; all good Zambezi trees although we did not see them ourselves in that area. Also planted were some fine young specimens of Syzygium cumini, the Jambolan, these cultivated perhaps for their fruit.

THE KAUROKO SALT PAN: INTRODUCTION

Adapted from the Herald September 14 2019, by Linda Hyde

“The Kauroko salt scoop lies at the confluence of the Mwanzamutanda and the Zambezi rivers.  Here, a vast swath of lush-green grass not found anywhere else in Zimbabwe spreads far and wide, squashed on three ends by the two rivers and a mountain.

The elderly women of the area traditionally prepare salt from lush green grass straws.  The process is complex and remains a highly-guarded secret of the Doma and Chikunda elders which has not been commercialised.  It is said that the women cut the grass, stash it in new clay pots, mix with special fine soil and boil it until it dries into a mothball of salt in the shape of the pot. The pot is broken to extract the remaining ball of salt.

In historical times, the hordes of Portuguese traders, the Chikunda and Lozvi tribes traded in this salt, believed to have medicinal properties and to be of superior quality to that from the ocean.”

THE KAUROKO SALT PAN: BY MARK HYDE

This lies only about 2 km to the SE of the lodges and we set off in our vehicles, but covering this short distance turned out to be more difficult than expected with a detour taking us through some very thorny areas causing the drivers to worry about their tyres. However, we all got there safely.

The salt pan consists of a very extensive patch of dense dark green stems of a sedge, as yet unidentified. There was little botanical diversity, perhaps because of the hostile salty environment, the only other species seen were some stems of Typha capensis in the wetter central parts.

We also explored the surrounding woodland and came across a few new species, Albizia anthelmintica, Elaeodendron schlechterianum and Commiphora mossambicensis.

DOWN RIVER TO KANYEMBA:

Unfortunately, I was not on the ball to get an article on this expedition and did not myself participate.  I understand from the excitement that prevailed that it was highly successful and enjoyed by those who went.  The rest of us awaited their return on tenterhooks hoping that we would beat the sun for our last sundowners together (we did)..

SUNDOWNERS: FROM BILL CLARKE

The party continues but the serious botanists cannot be deterred from changing papers!

DAY 5: RETURN TRAVEL TO HARARE

MATOTA’S SHRINE: BY ROB JARVIS

On the way back, my car with Sheila, Ryan Truscott and JohnLawrence as passengers and Zia’s with Vic and Lorraine, took the option to visit Matota’s shrine, where the hollow baobab was still very evident and all the indigenous trees still there, around and about.  Grand specimens in every way and still protected by a battered national Museums and Monuments sign and, we were told, by the local people who revere the site and use it still for rain-making purposes.

The ruin appears to be a single circle, not very big and built on flat ground using the flat schist-like rocks to be found in the nearby escarpment.  There was certainly nowhere for either Matota’s people nor his descendants to hide from a determined enemy as the National Monuments would have us believe.  Matota himself apparently came to live at this place because he loved salt and he could get plenty from local salt pans, rather than burning goat dung, which was the preferred option around Zimbabwe Ruins.

FIFTY YEARS FROM ANGWA TO KANYEMBA: BY ROB JARVIS

Way back in 1974, I found myself at the Angwa Bridge, on the way up to Kanyemba in the far north of Zimbabwe.  In those days there was a road and not much else.  I was doing national service, with the Police and every couple of weeks we would be sent in a Land rover, two people to maintain law and order on the Zambezi Valley Floor.  Our jurisdiction stretched from the fly gate at Mahuwe, at the base of the escarpment, to a small river about 10 kilometres beyond the Angwa Bridge.   I remember the road beyond Sipolilo, now Guruve, as being very winding, and extremely well-treed as the top of the escarpment approached.

Down on the Valley floor cotton had not yet taken hold in the Zambezi Valley, that came post-independence in 1980.  Tsetse fly ruled, there were few cattle and almost no cultivated land beyond a few plots along the rivers.  Common practice in those days was for the locals to start planting in the rich annual alluvium washed down the Angwa in particular.

Once its waters receded, they would plant some maize beans and pumpkins in the thick red-brown mud left on the sand banks.  Officialdom frowned upon such practices.  Cultivation within 50 metres of a river is illegal in this country and remains so to this day.  Luckily the reach of officialdom didn’t quite extend to the Valley floor in those days and events would overtake all other considerations as the war heated up.  So the locals continued with their farming, quickly planting in February and reaping crops grown on residual moisture secured in the drying river bed.

In those days I wasn’t particularly interested in the trees, but I remember the road wending its way through magnificent miombo woodlands at the top of the escarpment and transitioning into vast forests, largely of cathedral mopane, interspersed with mixed dryland woodlands and as we found out on the Tree Society trip in early November this year that there were even patches of the typical tree spectrum found in the west of the country on the deep Kalahari sandveld.

Some fifteen years ago or so some bright spark in the political sphere decided that what the Angwa/Kanyemba district needed most of all was a huge irrigation scheme to grow cotton, wheat and other crops.  Without thinking it through, some 2,500 hectares of land were clear-felled and cultivated, plans drawn up to extract water from the Zambezi and the project was all set to go.  Luckily, International agreements on water usage precluded the arbitrary extraction of water from an international river, like the Zambezi unless all parties concurred, riparian and downstream.  Agreement was never going to happen.

So now, on our trip, we witnessed the regrowth, shrubby, scrubby over thousands of hectares.  It would make a great project for a budding botanist to do transects across the cleared areas and compare the species to be found with those in existing dryland woodlands still left intact.  From what we could see, Mother Nature was winning the battle, cleared lands are now a mix of woody plants, grasses and herbaceous ones.

One further aside, a couple of years after I was stationed at Angwa Bridge in 1974/75 I returned in about 1977 for a six week call-up.  We were deployed on the road down from Karoi on the edge of the Chewore wildlife area.  The Valley floor in those days was literally crawling with rhino and we had hardly walked 100 metres when we stumbled across three black rhino slumbering in the scrub.  That first night we slept on a small ridge and a cantankerous rhino entered our camp and had us all firmly treed in no time.  All except one person, who shinned up the nearest tree, right to the very top.  We called to each other to make sure all were safe and the reassuring sounds of others about 3 to 4 metres up substantial trees.  His plaintive response came from below us and looking down we saw him hanging from a willowy sapling, upside down and barely a metre off the ground!  The tree, which we never identified was a very poor choice.

The next night, it was in September and the days were bright and clear and we were camped next to a small streambed, very dry and innocent-looking.  In the morning, after an uneventful night, we suddenly heard a loud crashing and thundering and the very ground was shaking under our feet.  The donga was about fifty metres wide and ten deep and it filled immediately with brown frothy water, tumbling trees, driftwood and even boulders!  There had been a cloudburst up above the escarpment and right over the source of our little river.  Not a cloud in the sky where we were.

EDITOR’S NOTE: My apologies to Rob Jarvis who provided me with a fascinating contribution covering aspects of the whole trip plus some additional reminiscences. I have used the sections from this under the various days to which they principally relate and now present the rest of his fascinating insight into the area.

A FINAL WORD FROM MEG COATES PALGRAVE

I really enjoyed the chance to be part of this expedition with the intense interest in botany and the stimulating people to talk to.

EDITOR’S COMMENTS

If you have managed to read through this edition of Tree Life you will know what fun we had, what a fantastic learning experience this was and you don’t have to be a tree fundi to be part of the next long outing.  We look forward to more such trips in 2024.

POINTS OF INTEREST FROM THE VISIT TO KANYEMBA:

by Mark Hyde

Introduction

Details of the events and people who made the Kanyemba trip so special have already been written up in Tree Lifes 520 and 521, together with details of the habitats visited and the plant species seen.

This article contains a discussion of any botanical aspects which in my view were particularly noteworthy.

General comments

The Kanyemba area and the lodge where we stayed was a completely new area to me, having never been to Guruve or anywhere on the road north of that before. The area is difficult to access and at a very low latitude, c. 330 m, by Zimbabwe standards.  As with the Gokwe trip in April a collection of plant specimens was made, and these were identified as far as possible by Meg and me at the National Herbarium. Ian Riddell posted images on iNaturalist and these provided further identifications.

A spreadsheet of all the records made is available and will be circulated to all those who attended.

Crinum subcernuum – new to Zimbabwe

Perhaps the most interesting find was the species of Crinum in damp ground by the road leading to the Lodge. The flowers had gone over slightly and all the petals which were white with a red central vein were reflexed. Photographs were uploaded to iNaturalist [1] by Ian Riddell and these were identified by Robert Archer. It appears this is the first record for Zimbabwe.  The species has been recorded before from the lower stretches of the Zambezi River in Mozambique so it is quite plausible that the species might just creep into Zimbabwe in this low-latitude northeastern corner.

As a general principle, searching for new species in any specific area is probably best carried out on the edges, especially a rather remote area such as Kanyemba.  As we drove closer to the Lodge though the dry miombo woodland areas south of the Zambezi, three species of plant immediately caught our eye.

Brackenridgea arenaria – Sand Brackenridgea

We saw plenty of this small dainty ochna-like shrub with its white or pink flowers. It belongs to the same family as Ochna but its generic position seems to fluctuate between Ochna and Brackenridgea; currently Kew’s Plants of the World Online puts it in Brackenridgea. It mainly occurs in northern and western parts of Zimbabwe including areas of Kalahari sand and I had never seen this very attractive species before.

However, in the National Herbarium there is a specimen of it from Mount Pleasant in Harare, collected by FC Greatrex in 1945. This shows that sometimes there is no need to travel to find new plants; you just need to look more carefully in your local area. Mind you, I have never seen it in or near Harare either.

This example is similar to the Polygala kalaxariensis which we saw in the Mafungautsi Forest near Gokwe which was completely new to me, but which also has been reported from Harare.

Incidentally, the generic name Brackenridgea commemorates William Dunlop Brackenridge, 1810-1893, Scottish-born American horticulturist.

Xylotheca tettensis var. macrophylla – Northern African dog-rose

The large white flowers of this shrub were very noticeable and were seen frequently. This is a rare sight in Zimbabwe; the variety is much more common across the border in Mozambique and just creeps into Zimbabwe in the extreme NE and SE. The fruits split into 5 widely spread lobes.

This is a very attractive shrub and might even have horticultural potential; indeed a related species X. kraussiana is cultivated in South Africa.

Jasminum stenolobum

This species is not particularly a rarity, but we saw it several times as a low-growing shrub in the woodland understorey where it was covered in large white flowers making quite a show. The flowers are somewhat unusual in possessing a large number (9-13) of lobes; typically most dicotyledonous flowers have 4-5 lobes or petals. Unfortunately the only time I tried to photograph it, all the flowers were closed, so the image is taken from the Flora of Zimbabwe website. Jasminum stenolobum has simple leaves; in the riverine vegetation by the Lodge there was Jasminum fluminense, (River jasmine) which has compound leaves with 3 leaflets and rather smaller less spectacular white flowers.

Brachystegia manga

The work done by Cathy Sharp and Meg on this genus has shown that it is not at all an easy genus taxonomically especially when one goes out of one’s comfort zone. However, Meg and I are certain that despite every effort, no specimens of Brachystegia manga were seen on the trip. A specimen collected by Karl as a possibility was, in our opinion, B. allenii, the Escarpment brachystegia which we saw quite frequently.

 Limnobium laevigatum – the Amazon Frogbit

Although already reported on by Ian Riddell [2], this was a very interesting discovery. The plants were both floating in the Zambezi as well as in thick concentrations in the riverine pools near the Lodge. This is a significant extension of the range eastwards along the Zambezi and although there are as yet no records from Mozambique, surely some plants will have floated down the river into that country.  This is a rapidly spreading invasive species, native to South America.

Pinnate-leaved trees

At the riverside boat stop on 4 November on the slope above the Acacia robusta subsp. clavigera, there were three species of tree legume with 1-pinnate leaves. One was clearly Xeroderris stuhlmannii but there was much debate about the other two at the time. Specimens were taken into the National Herbarium and Meg and I attempted to identify them – sadly, no firm conclusions were reached. We thought that despite the differences, the two trees were of the same species, but the group of potential species involved have quite variable characters. In the end the best match was Philenoptera bussei, but this is not absolutely certain.

Other species of interest

The roadside colony of flowers of Amorphophallus attracted a lot of interest. Meg and I identified this as Amorphophallus abyssinicus subsp. unyikae, but these species are not easy and A. mossambicensis is very similar. Unfortunately, there are no specimens of the latter for comparison in the National Herbarium.

Unidentified species

One or two plants remain unidentified at this stage, for example the unusual sedge which dominated the salt pan.  Hopefully, names will be obtained for these in due course.

 Finally, I would like to add a personal thank you to Frances Morris for organising the trip and to all the attendees, who made it such a very interesting and stimulating occasion.

 References

[1] Crinum subcernuum on iNaturalist, https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/190382975.

[2] Limnobium laevigatum. Adventures on the river. Ian Riddell. Tree Life: 521: 10.