NOTES FROM AN AFRICAN GARDEN
Saturday, 12 February 2011
WEDDINGS, ROUNDABOUTS & THE GARDEN CITY
Sunday, 30 January 2011
PASSION FOR ORCHIDS
Sadly, orchids are under threat in Malawi - deforestation is destroying the natural habitat of these beautiful plants. By collecting orchids and talking about them, Dermot hopes that more people would become aware of the need to protect them and that orchids would survive another hundred years in this country.
The roots complement the main flowers.
PS. The best book I have read about orchids is Orchid Fever by Eric Hansen (published in 2000 by Methuen Publishing Ltd.) Well worth getting a copy - reads like a mystery novel!
Sunday, 12 December 2010
WHERE LEOPARDS MOVE IN THE NIGHT
It is possible to fly up to Nyika, but I am glad I didn't: to see how dramatically the scenery changed from bush to forest and the -finally - to see the huge open valley from the road, was well worth the effort.
Nyika has a huge variety of plants and trees. January-February is said to be the best time for orchid spotting.
On arrival to Chelinda, we passed a pine tree forest. Very tall trees, 20 metres long at least, and pinecones everywhere. The temperature was several degrees cooler than Lilongwe, a welcome relief from the constanst dry season heat of +35 Celcius every day in the capital. Up in Nyika, the air also felt thinner - after all, Nyika Plateau is 2500 m above the sea level. At first I could not walk even a short distance without being short of breath, but this passed quite quickly.
On an evening game drive with Malawian guides Sam and Mike, we drove at a leisurely pace, stopping here and there - saw large herds of roan and eland antelopes and zebras before it was time for the sundowners. No elephants this time. However, there was something we all wanted to see, if possible: a leopard. Sam mentioned that he had seen one leopard with cubs near the airstrip. After sunset, we headed to that direction. We were quite close to the airstrip when we saw it - a beautiful leopard, totally relaxed (yawning actually!), hugging a tree stump. We watched it several minutes and it could not have cared less if we were there or not. We drove a bit further and another nocturnal animal was spotted trying to hide in the grass - a cerval cat.
Back to Chelinda Lodge. I woke up around 4 am. The fire had gone out of the fireplace, it was dark, very quiet and - frankly - a bit spooky. I had a look out of the window of my room to the khonde and there was a very big owl sitting comfortably on the rail. It was too dark to see which owl it was, but I have never seen one so close.
It is difficult to explain, why Nyika should not be just another memory of yet another interesting place to visit in Malawi. But it is unique and different. So unlike any other place I have visited here. It is calling me to come back...
Saturday, 20 March 2010
THE GINGER SHOW
I was casually walking past the herb section of the garden, near the kitchen, when something stopped me and I had to take a closer look. The ornamental ginger had produced a beautiful, showy, pink flower, white in the middle. Underneath the main pink, were tiny yellow flowers. It's still going strong after several weeks. Interestingly, there is only one big flower hiding in the middle of big leaves. It is growing next to the edible ginger and a rosemary bush. I don't think that the ornamental ginger has flowered before, so this was a real serendipity.
Monday, 8 March 2010
WHAT'S THAT NOISE?
One day I heard a sudden BANG! on the glass window of the main door and went out to investigate what might have caused such a noise. To my utter amazement, a beautiful woodland kingfisher had flown into the glass, getting quite a knock on the head. It was standing only half a meter from me, stunned, unable to fly away. This was the perfect opportunity to observe its red and black bill, turquoise-black wings and white underbelly. I was too concerned to leave the bird unobserved, since our cats would have easily had it for a tasty afternoon snack, so I could not reach for the camera (that was a real shame!). It took at least 10 minutes before the bird recovered and flew away. Since then at least one woodland kingfisher has become a frequent visitor in our the garden - quite recently it was competing for insects with a Hamercop: both birds were targeting the same insects in the pool, just after it had rained heavily.
Walking around the garden with binoculars is one of the most relaxing things to do. I am not very knowledgeable about birds, but would love to know more. The best time to look out for birds is very early in the morning, around sunrise, and late in the afternoon, just before sunset. The other good time is after a heavy rain or even during the rain (if it is just a light shower).
This year I have seen 2 Meyer's parrots - new to our garden. Other usual visitors include Heuglin's robins, glossy starlings, hoopoes, drongos, red bishops, blackeyed bulbuls, sunbirds and mousebirds. There are also a number of different types of owls in the area. Once I saw one sitting on top of the flagpole, looking down very majestically. In Malawi owls are not universally loved, they are thought to bring bad luck to the occupants of the house.
There are many more bird species in the garden than mentioned above and it is somewhat frustrating trying to find out what they are - but I am making progress. The birdbook and binoculars are now always close by: I am living in hope that one day I will be able to name them all...
Tuesday, 2 March 2010
RAIN, RAIN AND MORE RAIN, PLEASE!
Roses love the rainy season, this was taken in April 2009.
Sunday, 28 February 2010
IN THE BEGINNING
The turning point came, when we moved into our own house. Suddenly, this was a different matter altogether, since the garden had to be created from scratch. Luckily, a friend, who is a seasoned gardener herself, agreed to design one for us. The plot was basically a mudfield and I had difficulties in trying to imagine, what it will look like with various trees and flowers. My friend, who came to discuss the plans, might as well have spoken a foreign language I did not understand - I was just happy that she had a vision. For example, there is no such thing as creating the grass simply by rolling a ready made pieces of grass on the ground, bought from the nearest garden centre. No way. In Malawi, grass is planted with runners - each and every runner has to be planted separately. This is - of course - a very time consuming and labour intensive process. In our case it took at least a month, if not longer, to have the grass planted.
Two rainy seasons late - and voila! Here was the garden.
Then one day I was walking in the garden and it actually started bothering me that I knew nothing about the flowers and trees growing there. I started to consult gardening books and websites, I talked to friends and visited the garden centre nearby to learn more.
And then it happened: I got the bug.
Since that day, a new totally new world has opened up for me. A curiously secret world, where I meet a different tribe: people, who are passionate about gardening, both expats and Malawians.
I feel that there is a story to be told - after all, gardening in Africa is very different compared to Europe or America. Also, beautiful and enjoyable things are meant to be shared - so, let the adventure begin!