This passage was clearly written prior to 2020; at a time before corona inspired lockdown measures had been implemented.

Today I had a brief sortie into the countryside for work purposes and jislaak! it was invigorating to get out into the wilderness again! Myself and a colleague (Abri de Buys) traveled to the Jonkershoek Valley just outside Stellenbosch for some field work. Jonkershoek is, of course, famous for being the site of one of the longest ecological experiments in the world:

In 1938 the South African government started a network of hydrological experiments at Jonkershoek for the purpose of researching the impacts of afforestation on water supplies. The experimental design was based on the classic paired-catchment principle…that the streamflow from two untreated catchments is compared, so as to establish their natural relationship. One is then planted with trees. The change in the relationship between the two catchments after afforestation could then be ascribed to the treatment or influences of afforestation.

SAEON is mandated with maintaining the micrometeorological stations at the various sites, and we were there mostly to do some calibrations and to switch out some equipment. But the site is also beautiful and I managed to snap some shots of the mountain flora and scenery. Take a look at these photos that I took on our day out to satiate (or frustrate?) your sense of wanderlust:

Abri informed me that this rain gauge located at 1200 m above sea level (below) holds the record for capturing the highest annual rainfall in South Africa. I forgot what the total was…something close to 2800 mm I think. If anyone knows better – or has a link to a site that records this – please let me know in the comments.