Cameron & Rhoda McMaster's

Landscape, Habitat and Flora Galleries

Plants seen on a typical tour in January
Balloch, 13th January 2008.

Balloch (1)     Balloch (2)     Balloch (3)     Balloch (4)     Balloch (5)   

Balloch (6)     Balloch (7)     Balloch (8)     Kraai River bridge     Map

Balloch is a beautiful very isolated guest farm in a private valley in the southern Drakensberg. It offers self catering accommodation for up to 20 persons in three units. Spectaclar mountains tower around and crystal trout streams team with fish. The poem below describes the beauty and attraction of the place more adequately than any prose:

I'll hie me away to Balloch
That sweet and lovely glen -
Deep hidden in the mountains grand,
Far from the haunts of men.
There's healing there for wounded hearts,
A balm for every pain;
And if you've been to Balloch once,
You'll sure go back again.

Its lovely in the summer time
Beneath the sun's warm glow -
It has a happy "fireside climb"
When hills are white with snow.
For friendship true and real is there,
And love and peace do reign -
And those who've been to Balloch once,
Are welcome back again.

How silently the evening falls
And stars begin to peep;
The only sounds the river's song
And bleat the mountain sheep.
Such peace and rest the cities great,
You'll look for that in vain:
Then come with me to Balloch glen
Again and yet again.

The hills that compass it around
Raise rugged peaks on high,
And towering crags where eagles nest
Stand out against the sky;
And through the glen the mountain stream
Sings such a sweet refrain -
How could you come to Balloch once,
And not come back again.

Plants

Aspidoglossum sp. nova

Bartsia trixago

Chironia palustris

Disa porrecta     close-up

Erica algida

Erica woodii

Gladiolus oppositiflorus var. salmoneus

Kniphofia triangularis

Melasma scabrum     flower

Phygelius capensis

Selago flanaganii

Striga bilibiata

Xyris capensis

Zaluzianskya sp.

Also See:
Balloch - 24th November 2008

African Rock Art at Balloch - 24th November 2008

For further information about the tours we offer contact Cameron McMaster.