Just a note that we had a wonderful holiday in South Africa, we got back on Sunday. I have only just begun the long job of sorting photos, so will probably be back with questions. It was entirely different this time, in September 2006 there were flowers everywhere. This time it was more like a treasure hunt, the nice plants were there, but you had to look for them. We started at the Harald Porter garden outside Cape Town, where we struggled up the Leopards kloof to see Disa uniflora at the waterfall, we finally found a couple in flower, despite being told at the reception that they were finished. Then we found ourselves locked out on returning and had to climb the barbed wire equipped gate! Next stop was Napier on the Overberg where we saw the Blue Disa, Cape Agapanthus and Haemanthus sanguineus (April fool) . Please excuse spelling and name mistakes, I'm just writing from the top of my head and we haven't been able to check id:s yet. In Barrydale we went on a hike with Hildegard Clous to see Disa Cardinalis, and found it by a little stream, that was a stunning place. Next was Oudtshoorn with mostly succulents, then Wilderness where we found Scadoxis in the forests, also nice Streptocarpus growing wild. Tsitsikamma provided more Agapanthus (praecox?) and Tulbaghia ( violacea?), we will have to check that. Oyster bay was a nice place, but I'm afraid I can't even remember everything we saw there. Next was Glenavon near Somerset East, where we got into the summer rainfall flora, and rain it did! We had a very wet trip up to the waineek flower reserve with Fiona Brown, but well worth it, there were two types of Dierama (Harebell) up there, we haven't been able to id them for certain yet, various bulbines and even a magnificent Encephalartos (cycad) , on the way down we found a lovely Haemanthus (carneus we thought,perhaps). We were luckier with the weather in Hogsback, which is way up in the Amathole mountains and a lovely place, we met up with some local botanists and had a great day in the grassveld on the mountains. Highlights from there were Harveya speciosa, more Dieramas, a Nerine sp. and a beautiful Gladiolus Ecklonii, oh and lots of red hot pokers. We flew home from Port Elizabeth, but we had time to go out on the last morning with Paul Martin who does Eco-tours, mostly birding, but he knew his plants and was able to show us Strelitzia juncea and many other plants of the Eastern thicket vegetation. Best regards Neil