I love trees and have several books to help identify them. My hubby and I often try to guess which tree we are looking at and then its great to confirm it by means of a label. Labels also help raise interest in trees as many of the special ones are labelled. Trees can be very confusing for beginners and a walk round a camp with labelled trees is very helpful. I have found the Sappi tree books easy to use as they help one to learn a few trees to look out for to start with, then progress to more varied and difficult examples.
I absolutely agree that trees can be greatly mystifying and wonderfully challenging and that labels create an interest as well as offer some help for beginners... however these labels should be limited to camps and picnic spots ONLY.
In my opinion, the moment one enters the "wilderness", all forms of human intervention need to be limited (granted there are roads, waterholes, telephone poles, road signage and such).
As I sit under a large and most magnificent Jackalberry Tree looking for a verreaux's eagle owl or perhaps dreaming of discovering a leopard in its branches I DO NOT want to be disturbed by a sign saying Diospyros mespiliformis.
The road between Crocodile Bridge, Lower Sabie and Skukuza used to be one of my absolute favourites as I have on many occasions seen the big five as well as wild dog and cheetah. This road has also offered other interesting sightings like Narina Trogon, African Finfoot, Painted Snipe, Martial Eagle, Verreaux's Eagle Owl and some smaller mammals like Bushbuck and Duiker... I NOW AVOID IT!
Jan 16 - Jan 19 (Biyamiti), Jan 20 - Jan 23 (Talamati), Jan 24 - Jan 27 (Tamboti).
I find it very interesting to walk around in a camp or in the garden of the nursery at Skukuza and look at the trees. It is then that I really appreciate the name tags on the trees. I don't want to walk around with a field guide and then stand there trying to identify the tree.
The problem is that there are so few trees with tags on. This looks like a nice project for the HR?
Last edited by Madalla on Wed Jun 15, 2016 3:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.
No thought can live in your mind rent free. Prov 4:23
there is so many beautiful tree specimens at the Skukuza nursery, its one of my favourite areas to drink a tea and coffee. I am sure the Lowveld Region of the HR's have considered to increase the amount of tags on some of the magnificent trees of the nursery.
There are folk from the Highveld Region of the SANParks Honorary Rangers who do a lot of tree-tagging in various camps, so it is already an on-going project. Thanks Willie and Alice!
Smiling is contagious. Start an epidemic today!
Have you read the entrance permit? Do you KNOW the Conditions of Entry?
