Sabie Post Office

My late wife saw a reference to them on a TV programme in 1990 and we saw them for ourselves during a trip later that year. As far as I can ascertain, The Ceramic Studio where the tiles were created, was at the Cullinan Refractories at Olifantsfontein where my Mother used to work occassionally while on vacation. Her maiden name was Pope-Ellis and she was born on 30th May 1894 at Hilton Road in Natal, as it was called in those days. She died at Umzumbe, South Coast, Natal on 26th March 1973.

Tile Details

Ceramic Tile Signature

I know that she trained at the Berlin Acadamy of Fine Arts and The Slade in London during the 1920′s and worked mainly in Capetown executing various public works for the General Post Office and other bodies. The lifesize Storks on the Maternity Section at Groote-Schuur Hospital in Capetown were created by her at that time and they are still there and much admired by all who enter that well known section of the Hospital.

Ceramic Studio Tile

She was a prominent member of The New Group of South African artists, and her participation in that movement is referred to in the book by Esme Berman,”Art and Artists in South Africa”. Her exhibitions of water colour paintings and sculptures executed in stone and bronze were always a sellout. I now have only a few of her works in my possession to pass on to my heirs.

Ceramic Studio

One of her notable creations called “The Spirit of Africa” was purchased by the then Governor-General of South Africa, Lord Clarendon who presented the work to South Africa House in London where as far as I am aware it still stands to this day.

More Ceramic Studio

Mum and Dad married in 1932 after which her output decreased, especially after purchasing a farm in the Natal Midlands in about 1940. They retired to the Natal Coast in 1969, my Father passing away in 1972 shortly before my Mother in 1973.

That is really about all I know about Mom’s art works which were a major part of my early life in Capetown where I used to spend time in her studio which was on the Foreshore. I used to play around with the clay etc, whenever I was allowed, which was almost daily !

Ian Fincken

We can host you on a group tour of Art Galleries, Forges, Private Art Studios and other exciting Art Spots in the Escarpment, Lowveld and Bushveld regions. Call our Dream Merchants on
013 764 1177

Email us at johnt@tripsza.com

Lilium Formosanum

Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin…
And yet, I say unto you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these
Matthew 6 vs 28-29

White lilies begin to bloom around Sabie during the spring and summer months each year. These are Lilium Formosanum. They look wonderful – they smell wonderful too!

Urban legend has it that a lady buried on the Long Tom pass about 25 to 30 years ago had expressed a wish, that when she died, lilies should be planted around her grave. Her family, chose to plant the beautiful white Chinese lily, Lilium Formosanum.

Lilium Formosanum

From late August through early October, this lily bears eight or more 10-inch-long, deliciously scented, pristine-white trumpets (sometimes blushed pink both on the inside and the outside) upon each stem. After the flowers fade, the stalks turn upward, opening elegantly as the seeds ripen and the pods dry to form a weather-resistant candelabra to adorn the winter garden or to use in dried arrangements.

Native to Taiwan, Formosa lilies grow easily from seed sown in early spring, often blooming that same year. Self-seeds freely.

Lilium Formosanum

This Chinese plant found a very compatible home in the soil and climate of the escarpment. It flourished. Naturally, as nature encourages, it propagated itself. The seeds of the Formosa lily being papery and light are easily blown along by wind, or the `whoosh’ of passing timber trucks that carry the seeds along the roads around and off the Long Tom Pass. Each year the beautiful flowers can be seen further and further away from the pass, and small clusters can even be found as far afield as Hoedspruit and towards Tzaneen.

Lilium Formosanum

The good news is that being Non-indigenous these flowers can be enjoyed quite legally in our homes, so there’s no need to hide the fact that you’re picking them! This lily thrives in sun or shade, in the ground or in pots. They work and play well with others, including tropical and woodland plants, suiting most garden situations.

Wild flower expert Jo Onderstall has been watching the spread of these lilies over the past years and says that although they are classed as a weed, they appear to be totally benign, having no adverse affect on the surrounding environment. Should this situation change , then steps would need to be taken to eradicate them, but this does not seem to be likely in the foreseeable future, which is great news !

Apart from Sabie, the whole Escarpment, Lowveld and Bushveld regions offer so much in the way of a variety of beautiful  flowers. there are veld species, exotics, indigenous. or cultivated garden species. There is always  a flower in bloom, whatever the season.

A Snippet from the pen of Ginny Cormack.

Join us on a Flower Safari throughout the region, in groups of from 10 to 45 patrons for a flower feast. We can also faclitate Flower tours to Namaquland and the West coast.

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Call our Dream Merchants on
013 764 1177

Email us at johnt@tripsza.com

Baboon

Blue Duiker

Perceptions and so called facts about the alien forests around Sabie are not always correct, and can be somewhat misleading.

Apart from the gulleys, kloofs and vales that contain numbers of indigenous tree species, the remaining landscape originally consisted largely of grasslands.

Spotted Genet

African Wild Cat

According to one of the avid dedicated forester-birders of Sabie there was’nt much of anything left except grass by the time the gold miners began to destroy the landscape during the eighteen eighties and nineties with their picks and shovels. Wildlife had been hunted to near extinction by the middle part of the nineteenth century, for meat by biltong hunters and trophy hunters alike, apart from what the indigenous population trapped for their needs.

Red Duiker

Bush Baby

Apparently fires were the great destroyers of anything in their path, being driven by August winds at the beginning of spring. The indigenous forests in the gulleys and kloofs escaped these ravages, as fires could not be sustained in the kloofs without sufficient oxygen. Because of the fire hazard indigenous trees could not grow on the plains or mountain-sides. “Trek Boere” used to graze their sheep on these grass-plains during the winter months before the fires burnt off the rank excess growth of the previous summer.

Fires were started by lightning strikes during the early spring storms, or by farmers and indigenous people trying to stimulate fresh grazing. Indigenous people who smoked out bees while searching  for honey were also responsible.

Bos Vark/Bush Pig

Caracal

Gold miners who had been forced into deep level mining as the alluvial gold petered out, needed timber to support the addit rooves from collapsing. It was they who depleted the kloofs and gulleys of available indigenous timber. When this source eventually dried up, they started experimenting with alien hardwood species from Australia. Eventually various species of Eucalyptus Blue-Gum and Wattle grew prolifically with the high rainfall, and were found to be most suitable for “mine-props”, while Conifers from Mexico and other Central American sources were planted for other timber needs. It is said that about 60% of the grasslands and mountain-sides were planted to alien forests. Wetlands and river banks however have been largely cleared of alien species.

Pangolin

Serval

Adequate fire control measures were applied and the usual annual fire destruction was brought to a minimum through sustainable forestry practices. The indigenous tree species have since recovered substantially in the gulleys and kloofs.

There were a few bird species to speak of in the grasslands, but it was only after the alien forests were planted that wild life and many other forest bird species like Raptors, Nerina Trogon and Knysna Loerie, especially, started to proliferate. Today the wildlife around Sabie abounds in the forest areas, whereas birding has become a vital attraction with at least 270 species having been seen. It is speculated that there could be at least another 130 species to be found.

Leopard

Badger

One of the most exciting drives to take is a forest drive after dark. A surprising variety of game can be encountered on these drives from Caracal, Spotted Gennet, Serval, Blue and Red Duiker, Bush Pigs, Pangolin, Badger, Baboons, Vervet Monkeys, Bush-babies, to Bush Buck, and of course Leopard if one is fortunate enough. Only roads proclamated as Public Roads may be used.

These drives can be facilitated by our company TRIPS ZA. Email :  johnt@tripsza.com or call us at 013 764 1177 for a quotation.

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Call us for exciting History, Wildlife, Scenic, or General Interest tours in the Panorama, Kruger or regions beyond, call our Dream Merchants at TRIPS ZA on
013 764 1177

Email us at johnt@tripsza.com