Collecting in the Omaheke region

Almost the entire complement of WIND staff left for the Omaheke region in the east of Namibia in April 2001 to do work in undercollected areas. This was our first trip to the area and we found that we were slightly late. Like cowards, we tried to avoid digging our vehicles endlessly out of the omurambas, and so missed the peak flowering season. Two weeks earlier would have been ideal, but we filled 12 presses anyway and felt that it had been a worthwhile trip. Mind you, we all lost a few years of our lives and gained a few grey hairs.

We had been travelling in thick grass for a while. The genebank car was in front, followed by “Leaky Dick”, a pool vehicle whose name should say it all, and the SABONET chariot bringing up the rear (to make sure that Leaky Dick was OK). The SABONET vehicle came over a dune to see the occupants of Leaky Dick erupting from their vehicle in great excitement. Just as we were wondering what fabulous plant they had seen to cause such excitement, we noticed that the grass under and around the vehicle was on fire. We all leapt out, one grabbed the fire extinguisher and we raced over to kick sand and extinguish the flames under the car.

To our great relief, the fire went out, but as we turned with a sigh of relief to our own chariot, we saw that the grass under it was on fire too! It must have been ignited by Leaky Dick. Talk about years off your life. We rushed over and started the whole process again. We must have all been very good in a previous life, because we put out this fire too. Tedious hours of stopping every 30 minutes to clear grass from mysterious things like transmission whatsits ate into collecting time, but contributed hugely to our peace of mind.

We collected quite a few sterile apocynaceous species that we hope to flower in the nursery area. Another unusual find was a huge Albuca; it is about 2 m tall and might be a very large A. feckii or A. angolensis. What we found in abundance were parasitic scrophs—irresistibly photogenic, I must say. Another plus for this trip was that we all got to try a variety of veldkos, such as Diospyros lycioides and Salacia luebbertii.

We all enjoyed the fieldwork, despite the fact that I had to studiously ignore hints that it might not be absolutely necessary to rise at 05h30. In the evenings, the senior staff generously demonstrated the ability of OBS (Old Brown Sherry) to cheer the soul after a hard day of extinguishing fires and digging for specimens. This most essential bit of basic training had thus far been neglected and we feel that these youngsters are now better equipped to face the rigours of fieldwork. The fact that each and every senior staff member had taken it upon themselves to see that there was no shortage of OBS, meant that no effort was spared, and dedication was the name of the game.

Once again, we thank SABONET for the help and support that means so much to WIND, and also SANBI for their friendly assistance, whether with queries, library requests, and many other matters. The staff members are always ready to offer their advice and share their expertise. We believe that the backup of this organisation has played a major role in making SABONET such a success.

—by Coleen Mannheimer

SABONET News 6.2: 138

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