The view from God’s Window on the Panorama Route near Graskop in Mpumalanga is breathtakingly beautiful. You stand on the edge of the escarpment’s craggy cliffs which plunge hundreds of metres to another world below. At the base of the vertical rock faces, the vegetation is lush, with tall forest giants draped in lianas and green creepers defying gravity. Aloes cling tenaciously to the grey cliffs and the occasional bulb triumphantly offers its bright blooms to passing pollinators.
It’s a majestic scene, the kind that reminds you that being human and able to wonder at scenes like this is a privilege we are abundantly blessed with in South Africa. You forget about human greed and arrogance, which seeks to turn everything into a money-making enterprise, and feel humble as you gaze towards the hazy horizon in the far distance. As your spirit expands, you realise why this is such a popular destination and smile benignly at the Dutch, French and Hindi speaking tourists excitedly snapping their holiday photos around you.
And then the sadness hits you. The thick natural forest at the base of the cliffs does not stretch very far before its replaced by regimented rows of pine and bluegum plantations. Very little other vegetation survives in these monocultures which stretch across vast swathes of Mpumalanga, both on mountain slopes and the lowlands.
The timber companies are proud of the fact that Mpumalanga’s plantations supply about half of the country’s timber needs, from mine props and construction material to furniture, such as the four pine chairs I have around my dining room table. It’s a common boast that they have created one of the largest man-made “˜forests’ in the world.
But the difference between plantations and real forest – the natural indigenous kind that is home to a remarkable biodiversity of creatures and plants – is only too apparent when you visit the big waterfalls along the Panorama Route in the Graskop district, such as Lisbon and Berlin Falls, where surviving patches of forest can be seen. Even the areas where the natural grassland has been preserved, such as around Mac Mac Pools, become noteworthy, giving one an idea of how the landscape looked just 100 years ago.
Approaching the town of Graskop on the road from Sabie, it’s exciting to see the dramatic band of cliffs fringed with thick forest, which give way to grassland as the land rises to form the koppie that gives the town its name. The sad thing is that this sight wouldn’t be that remarkable if the eyes weren’t bored with the endless plantations stretching north, south, east and west, blocking dramatic views of valleys and escarpments.
I know we need timber and that it’s better to have plantations than to use up our already depleted indigenous trees, but are there no limits? What percentage of the land should we allow to be turned into plantations? How far up the mountains and into water courses should they be allowed? I’m sure there is legislation on this already, but it seems like too little too late. We have a kind of “˜green desert’ turning the rich biodiversity of Mpumalanga into boring monocultures.
This is what hit me between the eyes while staring out of God’s Window. I don’t want to be a part of turning this beautiful land into a monoculture, so no more new pine furniture for me, thanks. I already recycle the paper I use and try to print out fewer pages from my computer. It may not make much of a difference right now, but in the end, if more of us use less paper and buy fewer timber-based products, the demand decreases and less timber needs to be grown.
Now I’m going to be accused to being a tree-hugging greenie, but that’s fine by me. And if you visit me, you’ll find yourself sitting on a recycled, second-hand chair.
Fast facts
* The South African timber plantation industry plants 360 000 trees every working day – more than 90 million trees every year.
* Mpumalanga has approximately 0.6 million hectares of plantations – one of the largest areas in South Africa.
* Since irrigation is not used, rainfall needs to be higher than 750 mm a year to sustain commercial plantations.
* An average tree will consume about 25 litres of water a day.
* Pine trees are harvested when they are 25-30 years old, but younger trees are selectively thinned out for pulpwood. Eucalyptus trees are harvested at 7-10 years for pulp and mining timber, and at 12-30 years for furniture timber.
* Timber from thinnings is used for the manufacturing of pulp, boxes and crates. Logs from mature (20-30 year old) trees are used for building and construction timber. High quality logs are used for veneer and furniture. Paper is made from early thinnings, as well as the thinner sections and toppings from clear-fellings. These are taken to the pulp mill at Ngodwana for conversion to pulp and then to paper. Pulp from pine trees is generally processed into newsprint, or mixed with pulp from eucalyptus trees to produce high quality paper.
For more info, visit www.sabie.co.za.
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