Flora & Other Ecological Features
      

The many different natural treasures to be found at Balloots Bay lure the nature lover to walk, to look, to stay. From the shore where sea and river meet, up therugged cliffsoroverthe mountain slopes, on the fields overlooking the coastline of the Southern Cape, this area provides an everchanging carpet, a landscape of infmite variety.

    

Starting at the shoreline itself, the beachcomber will find much to delight. Not only are there shells and pools, but at the river mouth one can see in abundance, one of Ballots Bays most unique features. Here symetrical stones are to be easily found. Shaped like eggs, or flattened ovals and discs, these stones seem almost to have been carved by an endlessley patient sculptor. Their shapes have in fact been formed by the rhythmic meeting of the river and the sea, tumbled by the tide over eons to reach this smooth perfection. Their colours too, especially when washed by the tide, form strange abstract patterns of great beauty.

Above and around this small garden of sandstone are the cliffs, hillsides, valley and plateau where the diversityoftypesofvegetation arejust asvaried and exciting.

    

There can surely be no other place on the Garden Route where, in the space of 50 hectares, one can experience so many different climatic zones each producing its own flora, and therefore of course supporting a myriad of different birds.

Ballots Bay is in the George Nature Reserve area This swatch of riverine forest also never feels the hunters and gatherers, and later the herders When the proposed little museum at Ballots Bay Is and eventually it is hoped, will be a focal point of environmental control over the whole 300 hectare& Neighbouring land, some at present under cultivation, will be purchased and the re-introduction of the natural vegetation encouraged. The preservation of this complex pattern of interlocking ecosystems will be ensured through the constant involvement and advice of experienced conservationists.

One of the most remarkable features of all this natural beauty is how easily accesible it is, the other than it is still totally unspoilt.

   

Any development of the area will be kept secondary to the natural beauty of the surroundings. Even the existing road is no longer a sharp scar on the hillside, for the adjacent trees and bushes have been allowed to grow up and soften its edges and provide shade.

There is plenty of scope for the researcher as no comprehensive check has been done of the flower - ing bulbs, succulents, ericas and everlastings to be found in the area, but such is diversity that the amateur too will find an endless source of delight walking through the changing landscapes.

It is a perfect spot for hiking, and trails already exist, including the stone road built in the last century by the indomitable Ds. Ballot, while others were quite possibly tracks first used by the Strandlopers.

The Valley is undoubtedly the showpiece of the reserve area with its multiplicity of bird and plant life. It is always sheltered from the North West and South East winds forming a haven for birds and also for plants.

   

strong rays of direct sunlight It provides a mantle of trees whose crowns form a light canopy beneath which orchids, mosses and ferns grow in the soft damp shade. Birds flit shyly through the branches of such well known forest giants as Assegai and Hard Pear.

On the most exposed surfaces, the vegetation gives way to Renosterveld. Here, on the northfacing slopes of the valley where the sun bakes down at 90 degrees, the vegetation is small and scrubby and the many branched bushes with their insignificant blooms and fine greyish leaves, provides the baked soil with some shade for colourful vygies and other succulents which can withstand the extreme temperatures. Small & scrubby, accept for free aloes, towering up to 3 metres & more above all of this, painting the hillside with red blotches of colour in August.

   

The Southern Coastal Renosterveld has in many places disappeared under the plough and here valueable work will be done by preserving this part of our typical Cape natural heritage.

Up on Zuurvlakte which is 120 metres above sea level, one can, in clearweather, see right to Buffalo Bay. There has been regular burning and some cultivation and the accompanying use of insecticides, by farmers but, given the chance, nature has an outstanding ability to reclaim her own. At a rapid rate, indigenous bushes and flowers are naturally re-introducing themselves thanks to all the birds and other pollinators which make their homes here.

Not many metres away, the harsh Renosterveld gives way to the wonderland of Fynbos. This typical Capevegetation isthe richest of the floral kingdoms and abounds with flowers, some striking, some dainty, all beautiful. Evergreen shrubs with drought resistent foliage such as the proteas, ericas and bulbous plants provide nectar filled flowers for sunbirds and sugarbirds who also use the fluff they tease out of the protea flowers to make their comfy nests.

   

On the hillside is a most interesting topical feature, known as The Amphitheatre. This is a large circular indentation, as if a giant scoop has been taken from the sugarbowl of the scenary. The virgin bush in this hollow has never been explored by modem man. As we hurtle towards the 21st century with fears of all the ill effects of overpopulation and technologi - cal dependance, some of us are begining to realise just how wonderful and precious our vegetation is. At a fewplaces like Ballots Bayit is still possible to enjoy the beauty of nature in all its wide variety. This microcosm of the different Southern Cape ecosystems is a place for the visitor to relax, a place where we can fulfil our responsibility towards our environment and ourtthitdrens dflldrenbykeeping it as unspoilt and simple as it is today.