Platbos: Africa’s Southernmost Forest
Platbos is a mystery forest. Growing upon an ancient sand dune with neither a river nor spring to sustain it, the forest survives the hot, dry summer months by drawing moisture from the morning mists that bathe its thirsty canopy. On a still day, the distant roar of the ocean can be heard as it echoes off the sand dunes of Walker Bay and resounds down the Baviaanspoort Hill to Platbos. This coastline evoked the desert wastes of the Sahara in the minds of the early explorers. For botanists, the presence of Platbos Forest in this landscape, where only the drought-resistant and fire-tolerant fynbos of the Cape Floral Kingdom flourishes, remains unfathomable.
To enter the forest is to enter a world of enchantment. Draped in wispy oldman’s beard, the wizened and baobab-like trees of Platbos grow in a most unusual way: here the divergent trees grow together, not apart. Harmoniously sharing the same space, the trees of the forest intertwine and embrace each other.
Platbos holds within its age-old roots a sacred truth whose time has come: we, children of the Earth, are of one family – each of us a golden thread and together we weave an exquisite tapestry that is the Golden Whole.
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