Eleven members and a guest attended the Steenboksberg on Saturday 8 September 2018. The day was spent working on the western slope of the valley, about 500m up the valley from the shelter. Two areas were tackled: one on the lower slopes, the other higher up, just below the top rock band and north of the stream fed by the small waterfall.
In addition to the cliff above the waterfall, a large area was cleared mostly of sparse small hakea before we ran into a thick stand of mature trees along the next water course. Here we found the main highlights of the day, finding: (a) a stand of protea nana, or skaamroos, growing in a thicket of hakea and (b) some hakea in the same thicket clearly infected with the bio control, gummosis.
Half the party returned to the cars that evening. After a star-filled but chilly night, the remaining six of us put in three more useful hours on Sunday. Much more was done at the lower site up the valley. The slopes 500m south of the Dell path were cleared. So was much of a large stand of hakea on the lower slopes above the seep south of the shelter.
Despite a few wrinkles, such as a broken chainsaw, significant areas were cleared and, in golden weather, it was hard to leave on Sunday afternoon.
John Watermeyer