Proteas

Ok, I have to say something about proteas which I saw in the wild for the first time during my trip to Nature's Valley.
Note that this is not meant to be a throughout representation of proteas, these are just the one I saw and decided to photograph during my short trip to Nature's Valley.

First of all I have to say that what is called "proteas" now is a much larger group that what it used to be.
As it turns out the International Protea Association (whomever they might be with their seriously disappointing website) has ruled that the term does not only apply to members of the Protea genus but to any members of the Proteaceae Family. This is a very large family of 73 genera of which one is Protea.
The members of the genus Protea are now often referred to as "sugarbush proteas" to differentiate them from the rest.
Weirdly enough under this new all-encompassing rule bottle-brushes, banksias and macadamias are also proteas. Weird!

Anyway, let's use the new convention and talk about the Family, and not the genus.
The Proteaceae Family has 42 genera and 800+ species in Australia; 14 genera and 300+ species in Africa, 330 of those species are in the Southwestern Cape of South Africa. Other genera are present in South America, Eastern Asia, Malaysia, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Polynesia and Malagasy.
The genus Protea itself has 130 species of which about 100 occur in South Africa.

So first of all the sugarbush proteas, the "original" proteas:

Then, in no particular order, the Leucospermum genus, also known as "pincushions". These smell nice, very sweet. None of the other proteas I have photographed were scented, or at least I couldn't smell anything :

Then the last genus of proteas I saw; the Leucodendrons:

At the risk of getting REALLY boring I want to add something about taxonomy.
The Proteaceae Family is broken into 2 subfamilies:
-The Proteideae which occurs mainly in Southern Africa but also in Australia and New Zealand
-The Grevilleoideae which is present in Australia, South America and Southwestern Pacific Islands and has one single specie (cannot find which) in Africa.
Thinking: plate tectonic, splitting of continents, relative timing etc I cannot help but find this very interesting.

South African Airways shocking new luggage policy

Passing the time looking around the internet I stumbled upon South African Airways new baggage policy. It covers weight, which is normal enough, number of pieces of luggage and more shocking it includes size restriction. It goes as follow:

This is copied from their website.
"Excess baggage, ie. additional items, or where the baggage exceeds the weight and or size allowance, will be charged at a flat rate per piece of luggage. This is a change from the current policy where excess baggage is charged per kilogram

Under the piece concept, excess baggage charges will apply for:

• Each piece of baggage over and above the passenger’s baggage allowance
• Each piece of overweight baggage
• Each piece of oversize baggage

The excess baggage will be charged at a flat rate per rule broken, per piece. This means that if a piece of baggage is both overweight and oversize, two excess baggage charges will apply. Weight/size restrictions apply to all baggage pieces, including additional pieces over and above the baggage allowance.

 

Excess baggage rule – weight

An excess baggage charge will apply for each Economy Class bag weighing over 23 kg, but less than 32 kg. The one exception is for travel to/from South America, where an Economy Class passenger is permitted to take two pieces of baggage that each weigh no more than 32 kg.

SAA cannot check in any bag weighing more than 32 kg, for both Economy and Business Class passengers. This is due to baggage handling restrictions at airports, and as such is beyond our control. Any piece of baggage weighing more than 32 kg will either have to be repacked (in order to weigh 32 kg or less) or will have to be taken to the SAA Cargo counter and checked in as cargo. Cargo rates will apply.

Excess baggage rule – size

An excess baggage charge will apply for each piece of baggage that exceeds the maximum dimensions as stipulated in SAA’s baggage policy. The maximum dimensions are 80 cm x 60 cm x 18 cm = 158 cm (62 inches).

Excess baggage rule – number of pieces

An excess baggage charge will apply for each piece of baggage over and above a passenger’s baggage allowance. These additional pieces must still adhere to SAA’s weight and size restrictions. An additional excess baggage charge will apply for any additional piece of baggage that does not comply with these restrictions."

 

SAA’s new baggage policy

	Business Class	Economy Class
Domestic (Within South Africa)	1piece at a maximum of 32 kg (70 lb)	1 piece at a maximum of 23 kg (50 lb)
Worldwide – USA / Canada	2 pieces at a maximum of 32 kg (70 lb) each	2 pieces at a maximum of 23 kg (50 lb) each
Between Africa and South America	2 pieces at a maximum of 32 kg (70 lb) each	2 pieces at a maximum of 32 kg (70 lb) each
Between Africa and Europe / UK	2 pieces at a maximum of 32 kg (70 lb) each	1 piece at a maximum of 23 kg (50 lb)
From Blantyre / Lilongwe to London	2 pieces at a maximum of 32 kg (70 lb) each	2 pieces at a maximum of 23 kg (50 lb) each
Between Africa and Asia / Japan	2 pieces at a maximum of 32 kg (70 lb) each	2 pieces at a maximum of 23 kg (50 lb) each
Between Africa and Australia / New Zealand	2 pieces at a maximum of 32 kg (70 lb) each	1 piece at a maximum of 23 kg (50 lb)
Between Africa and Africa: except Libreville / Douala and Lagos	2 pieces at a maximum of 32kg (70lb) each	2 pieces at a maximum of 23kg (50lb) each
Between Africa and Libreville / Douala	1 piece at a maximum of 32kg (70lb)	1 piece at a maximum of 23kg (50lb)
Between Africa and Lagos	3 pieces at a maximum of 32 kg (70 lb) each	3 pieces at a maximum of 23 kg (50lb) each
Between South America and Australia/ NZ	2 pieces at a maximum of 32 kg (70 lb) each	2 pieces at a maximum of 23 kg (50 lb) each
Between South America and Asia / Africa	2 pieces at a maximum of 32 kg (70 lb) each	2 pieces at a maximum of 32 kg (70 lb) each

Interestingly (also from their website):
"The excess baggage will be charged at a flat rate per rule broken, per piece. This means that if a piece of baggage is both overweight and oversize, two excess baggage charges will apply. Weight/size restrictions apply to all baggage pieces, including additional pieces over and above the baggage allowance."  nomention of amounts concerned though.

I actually think that my good old duffle bag, with which I have been traveling for over 8 years will be too long! I honestly think that it is just a money grabbing move.
I wonder what they will do with all the wooden giraffes you usually see on the flights out of South Africa.

Snow in Johannesburg

Now that is not something you see very often but it snowed in Johannesburg yesterday.
In my neighborhood there is a large school and they let the children out to play in the snow. You could hear the kids play from far they were so exited.
I had an appointment at somebody's office and when the snow started everybody stopped work and went outside to take photos on their cell phones and generally stand out in the snow and experience it. Some people from other parts of Africa who were there too had never seen snow before.
Everybody came back in saying how pretty it was. As a Canadian I was totally underwhelmed by the few flakes and less than an inch of snow on the ground at the end but it was great to see how exited people got.

To put things into perspective, according to South African Weather Service records, it has only snowed in Johannesburg on 22 other days in the last 103 years and newspapers report that: " Snow is a rare occurrence in Gauteng (the tiny province of seven thousand square miles, which consists of Johannesburg, Pretoria and their "suburbs"), with snowfall having been experienced in May 1956, August 1962, June 1964, September 1981 and on June 27 2007. September 1981 has the greatest snowfall on record, with statistics showing snowfall accumulating up to 10 centimetres across the province."

As it happens the morning of June 27th I was landing in Johannesburg and a driver from work was meant to pick me up to take me to the office to work right away and he was very very late because he wasn't sure what to use to shovel the full one centimeter of snow in his driveway. As a Canadian I couldn't help but feel totally unsympathetic about it...not that I said anything at the time.