The purpose of the Mid-Symposium Tour is to allow participants to wind-down, socialize, and, last but not least, to experience South African nature in the right place - in the field. The excursion will take place on Wednesday and its cost for the active participants is partly subsidized by the conference fee. A top-up payment of R300.- is required (through the Registration) to cover the full cost. The choice of the tour option should be made also through the online Registration.
All tours will depart at 8:00 (meeting at 7:30) in the morning from the entrance to the Music Conservatorium (the symposium venue) and would return back to the same spot between 17:00 and 19:00. Lunch package will be provided; they are included in the cost of the tour.
Participants have a free evening after return to Stellenbosch and must make their own dinner arrangements. There are many restaurants within a ten minute walk of the Music Conservatorium. Details on their location will follow later.
There will be several tour options, each limited to a fixed number of participants, hence a “first-come-first-serve-basis” applies (the IAVS membership status not apply here).
Ex 1: Cape Point (Valdon & Marianna)
Travel: Stellenbosch – Simonstown - Cape Point (long stop) – Chapman’s Peak – Hout Bay – Kirstenbosch (very short stop in botanical bookshop only) – Stellenbosch
Activities: drive along beautiful coast of False Bay and through magnificent fynbos of the southernmost Cape Peninsula (Table Mountain National Park); visit to Cape Point (tourist attraction with short walk up to the lighthouse); longer (2 km) walk around the coast from Cape Point to the famous Cape of Good Hope; travel trough most picturesque marine drive of Chapman’s Peak to Kirstenbosch with short stop in the garden (tourist centre with botanical bookshop). Please note that there will not be time to visit the garden on this excursion; if that is your wish choose Ex 2.
Ex 2: Kirstenbosch Botanic Gardens & Victoria Waterfront (Ted & Dagmar)
Travel: Stellenbosch – Kirstenbosch (long stop) – Victoria Waterfront – Stellenbosch
Activities: visit to one of the most beautiful botanical gardens in the world (visitors center, bookshop and curio shop, succulent house, extensive garden, access to natural vegetation on the slopes of Table Mountain, restaurant); lunch package will be provided and participants can have a picnic (weather permitting) in the garden. Early afternoon: travel to Victoria Waterfront (old picturesque Cape Town, shopping mall, restaurants).
Ex 3: Harold Porter Botanic Garden & Hermanus (Eugene)
Travel: Stellenbosch – Gordon’s Bay – Betty’s Bay – Kleinmond – Houwhoek – Sir Lowry’s Pass – Stellenbosch
Activities: Betty’s Bay: coastal vegetation and penguin colony; visit to Harold Porter Botanical Garden, including nice riparian forests, waterfalls, fynbos on the premises of the garden; visit to Fernkloof N.R.: walk through excellent fynbos; coastal town of Hermanus: the capital of “whale-watching industry”, touristic place to relax, have a drink etc.
Ex 4: West Coast National Park (Roy Lubke & Deon Marais)
Travel: Stellenbosch – Darling (Tienie Versveld Flower Reserve) – West Coast National Park (Geelbek & Postberg) – Langebaan - Stellenbosch
Activities: Tienie Versveld Flower Reserve (bulb-rich renosterveld on granite), estuary of the Langebaan Lagoon with bird hide at Geelbeck (picnic at the park headquarters), visit to Postberg (granite koppies, spectacular views, limestone coastal strandveld vegetation); visit to Langebaan: spectacular Miocene fossil excavations.
Ex 5: De Hoop Nature Reserve (Frans)
Travel: Stellenbosch – Sir Lowry’s Pass – Caledon – De Hoop Nature Reserve (Vlei, Koppie Aleen, whales) – Bredasdorp – Stellenbosch
Activities: long (2.5+ hours drive) from Stellenbosch to De Hoop Nature Reserve (to the east of Stellenbosch); visit to experimental grazing exclosures in the Potberg section of the reserve (discussion of science in the field!); short visit to the vlei (RAMSAR site) and Koppie Aleen on the coast (a pristine stretch of the coast with the possibility of whale watching – guaranteed!!); the reserve is the best example of fynbos on limestone.
Ex 6: Vogelgat Nature Reserve (Laco)
Travel: Stellenbosch – Sir Lowry’s Pass – Vogelgat (private nature reserve) – Hermanus – Stellenbosch
Activities: This is a not very strenuous hike trip for limited number of participants (up to 15). Hiking from the Base Camp of the private nature reserve through the richest temperate flora of the world (fynbos, wetlands, deep gorge with relict afrotemperate forests) – crash-course in Cape flora and evolution of Capensis; coastal town of Hermanus: the capital of “whale-watching industry”, tourist place to relax, have a drink etc.
