The beautiful Boschberg

Boschberg Mountain, Somerset East, KwaNojoli, Eastern Cape, South Africa

The town of KwaNojoli (previously known as Somerset East) sits at the foot of the Boschberg Mountain.

KwaNojoli (formerly Somerset East) is a small town in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is situated on the edge of the Great Karoo, a semi-arid geographical area that stretches over four provinces in the country.

The Boschberg mountain is hugely important in botanical circles, as it hosts vegetation units different to the rest of the Sneeuberg range. So, although they are geomorphologically part of the Sneeuberg, they are climatically and phytogeographically closer to the Great Winterberg-Amatolas. Wow, a mouthful! Basically what that means is that our plant life on the Boschberg is really special. We experience this every time we take a group on our forest walk. You see, or should that be notice, different plants every time.

In the late 1700's when the first government subsidised expeditions were sent out from the Cape, they did not realise what a gem they would find. It soon became apparent though, and well known researchers like Dr Anders Sparrman and William Burchell visited the area. They spent many months collecting, examining and sorting thousands of bulbs, plants and flowers. Burchell's notebooks and illustrated drawings are regarded as some of the most accurate documents of that time. That would be everything except for the belief that there were unicorns on the mountain! Believe it or not, large sums of money were offered as rewards for their capture, but they were never forthcoming.

When you have a walk in this beautiful forest though, you would be excused for believing that there really could have been, and maybe still are some unicorns hiding away.