Learning the ABCs : Angolan Botanical Collecting - part 2 : bush pilots and old volcanoes

Once we had recovered from our visit to Mt. Tchivira (see Veld & Flora, June 2015), we set about making plans for the next foray. We identified a remote series of peaks to the north-west of Lubango as being important. This range is called Serra da Neve - the 'snow mountains' - although we doubt whether any snow has ever fallen there. Our interest was piqued by their high peaks, some of which are above 2,500 m, as well as some snippets of information from Brian Huntley, the first CEO of SANBI who is now actively working in Angola. Brian described it as one of the few places where patches of intact forest might persist - a possibility supported by close scrutiny of Google Earth images. What was also apparent from Google Earth, and our limited maps, was that the road trip to the base of these mountains would not be trivial. The route would follow narrow dirt tracks and include big river crossings with no bridges. In short, the stuff of real adventure!