Namibian botanists visit Lubango, Angola

Several Namibian botanists recently visited Lubango in southern Angola to explore opportunities for collaboration with the Herbarium of Lubango and tertiary institutions, as part of the Bio-Bridge Initiative of the Convention on Biological Diversity. The co-ordinator of the project, Plant Conservation Unit PhD student Kirsti Nghidinwa, was part of the trip. Apart from institutional visits, the visitors welcomed the chance to botanise around Lubango. Despite the generally dry condition of the veld at that time of the year, Angola’s remarkable botanical diversity nevertheless had something in store for the southern neighbours, who filled up SD cards with photos of breath-taking scenery and plants. Below are some photographs from their visit.

At the Instituto Superior de Ciências da Educação de Huíla (ISCED) the delegates visited the Hebarium of Lubango, and had the opportunity to meet with the Director of the Institute. In this photo from left to right: Ms. Kirsti Nghidinwa; Prof. Fernanda Lages (Head of the Herbarium of Lubango); Ms. Frances Chase (Head of the National Herbarium, Namibia); Prof. Jose-Luis Alexandre (Director, ISCED); and Dr. Carlos Pinto (Academic Director, ISCED). Photo: L. Nanyeni. 

Leba Pass – a popular winding road leading from Moçâmedes (left) to Lubango (right) and transitioning geological, vegetation and political boundaries. Moçâmedes, a coastal town in the southwestern part of the country and seat of Namibe Province, was previously called Namibe and before that Moçâmedes. The Leba Mountains are part of the Great Escarpment of southern Africa. In this area they separate the dryer lowland in Namibe Province and the more mesic highland in the Huíla Province. The vegetation up on the plateau is characteristic of the Miombo, dominated by taxa such as Brachystegia. Below the pass some of the plants spotted are typical of arid southern Africa, such as the Mustard Bush Salvadora persica. Photo: L. Nanyeni. 

Popping out of the ground – seeds and flowers of Combretum platypetalum subsp. platypetalum, a suffrutex that colourfully dotted the ground at Tundavala, some 15 km northwest of Lubango. Suffrutex habit (perennial woody stem driven underground) is a characteristic of high-rainfall savannahs with frequent fires. Photo: L. Nanyeni.

It’s a Protea! In Tundavala. Photo: L. Nanyeni.