This Epiphytic Orchid was growing in our garden until we moved when it was returned to my father where he continues to look after it. It is now easily over 100 years old. It was originally brought home by my father in 1963 and has carried it around the country whenever he has relocated since then. Here is the story of its discovery and journey as written by him: –
Epiphytic Orchid – In bloom
I found the orchid in Zululand (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zulu_Kingdom) in 1963 when myself and Francois Heystek went to go diving in Sodwana Bay (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodwana_Bay) one long weekend. Francois was doing land measurements for the Department of Waterworks on the Makatini Plains (for irrigation purposes), before the Paul Sauer Dam (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Sauer_Dam) was built in the Pongola River.
The dam wall was already built and we always used to take a “short cut” down the length of the Pongola River to where the dam wall was built. From there we took the normal road from Jozini. Francois was part of a team of 25 who stayed in tents and caravans while doing the land surveyance and was probably the only one amongst them that did any snorkelling. Since it was relatively close to the sea (approx. 40 miles), he followed the track all the way to the sea and as such practically “discovered” Sodwana. He asked me to come along and therefore we were surely one of the first people to actually go diving in Sodwana Bay. These days Sodwana Bay is naturally one of the top ten diving spots in the world and the top spot in South Africa.
In anyway, on that specific trip, I was travelling alone (as usual) for the weekend to Zululand and by late evening took the turnoff, unknowing that that the road was already closed to traffic. The road got worse and worse as I travelled along the river and could see pools of water in the road where the river had recently surged its banks. I struggled on, but at about 1am finally got stuck in a mud pool. The mud was slippery and deep and I struggled on my own for quite some time. Coming up to 5am a passer-by helped me out and I was finally on my way again. My Volksie Beetle was the worse for wear, with the exhaust half ripped off, but it growled on. I finally arrived in Sodwana Bay at about 9am and spent the weekend diving and snorkelling the waters of Sodwana Bay with Francois and some of his mates.
It was on my way home along the same route after the weekend, that I sighted the orchid in the fork of a tree next to the river. I took it down and home with me and have had it and cared for it ever since. It is just as well, as the area where it was growing was part of the irrigation project and has been replaced by irrigation and sugar plantations. It would therefore not have survived.
The plant is estimated to be well over 100 years old by now. More info on epiphytic orchids can be found here – http://www.plantzafrica.com/frames/orchidfram.htm