Valley of Desolation

by Mike Rossi
 
The road to Graaf-Reinet through Lootsberg Pass is mountainous – Koppies fall away being replaced by large hills with little Kops. The fynbos glitters in the early morning dew. Duikers sat ever watchful under Kuni bushes — and Candelabra trees littered the mountainsides like sentinels — beware of the milk from this tree spilling onto your skin, as it will burn and blister, leaving you looking like a sufferer of third degree burns.
 
Ten kilometres from Graaf-Reinet a fog descended, surreptitiously catching me unawares. Thick and rolling, it poured down. The glutinous darkness came from all sides. I had to slow down to a few kilometres an hour. As I drove through the thick walls of grey, I was plunged into sadness — no photographs for me to take. I felt the penetrating chill of the mountains on either side of me.
 
As I entered the Camdeboo National Park, which surrounds Graaf-Reinet the fog opened up enough for the sun to breathe in. Warm sunbeams filtered through – silvery slithers crossed my path. I felt some hope. There were two locations I wanted to photograph. Spandaukop and the Valley of Desolation, but from where?
 
Having made several attempts to capture both these beautiful landscapes, I realised that the only place was from the escarpment that overlooked the ‘Valley of Desolation’ in which Spandaukop also lies.
 
This ancient fossil-rich land is full of surprises. It has the largest variety of succulents found anywhere on earth — over 9000 species of plants are found in the great Karoo – three times more than the British Isles. Once dinosaurs roamed, like Sauropodomorpha, a long-necked herbivore the largest animals to have walked the earth.
 
High above the town of Graaf-Reinet, the Valley of Desolation, stands like a Black Eagle, with its wings spread. In front of me, dolerite pinnacles stood like grey helmeted soldiers waiting for the order to stand at ease. I watched and waited on the edge of this escarpment, a meter from a sheer drop of several hundred meters that fell into blackened gloom. A reef of nimbus clouds churned across the skies and a mantle of light had slid between nimbus, sprinkling light onto the helmeted soldiers.
 
Part of the "Shadows Over Stones" Photographic Art Collection. Available as “Custom Finish & Bespoke” Fine Art and Photo Prints, framed or unframed. Photography created as beautiful pieces of Wall Art for you to invest and enjoy, from OPENPHOTO-STUDIO.