I had the pleasure of spending a few days at a lodge in the Kouga mountains on the edge of Baviaanskloof between Christmas and New Year.
What a beautiful part of the world and province we live in.
This is an area you should visit at least once in your life.
Though this is a must-visit at this time of the year, to avoid the madness and overcrowding of our beaches and shopping malls, you must be warned that it can get extremely hot in those mountains during the summer.
Temperatures normally soar into the high 30s and early 40s, especially in the valleys with all the warm descending air.
The locals are rough and tough and are partially acclimatised to the weather, though they do take all the necessary precautions, such as wide brimmed hats and UV protective clothing, like the type fishermen wear.
Us older folks took strain and relaxed in the quaintest rock swimming pool for most of the day.
Even the factor 50 sunscreen did not do its job as well as it should have.
During this time, one of our party said it was so hot that the “sonbesies” (loosely translated as sun bugs) were singing their chorus.
This jolted my memories back to the days of my youth, when we enjoyed summer weekends at the Willows.
Those sounds echoed in the thick shrubbery all around the resort.
On return to the land of internet (no reception in those mountains), I made it my quest to find out more about these insects and their relationship to weather.
First, the sound of the insect that was referred to was not a single sun bug or beetle, but rather a cacophony of cicadas (species name) letting out their mating call.
They do this at the height of the summer more to attract females or sound an alarm of approaching danger than as a measure of temperature.
I suppose this is where the folk lore originated.
Considering they spend up to 17 years underground and have a short period to procreate, it is only natural that they need to make so much noise in a short period, to attract the female during the mating season, which is during summer, when it is the hottest.
The noise they make can at times exceeds 100 decibels, which is likened to the sound of a chainsaw, a jackhammer or even a plane taking off or landing.
The sound is also like traditional throat singing, like the HU band, who are Tibetan throat singers and are well worth giving a listen to on YouTube, if you are an old rocker.
Naturally, cicadas’ claim to fame is that they are the loudest insects in nature.
They are interesting creatures and there are more than 3,000 species, which fall into two categories, namely annual cicadas, which are spotted every year, and periodical cicadas, which spend most of their lives underground and emerge only once every decade or two.
Naturally their brood life cycles overlap, meaning that every summer some cicadas emerge.
On arrival back in Nelson Mandela Bay, we were welcomed by the sound of the cool summer breeze rustling through the trees.
Though not enough to cool us completely, it did offer some partial relief.
Now if we can only hear that crack of thunder bringing with it the much-needed relief of a highveld afternoon thunderstorm.
I know my prized petunias and water tanks badly need it.
Then at night, if it’s not the crickets which are disturbing the peace with their mating calls, it’s the frogs, which have been particularly noisy throughout the city this year.
My wife even found one in our kitchen a couple of weeks ago and had to shoo it out before our dogs got hold of it.
It cannot be because of the rain, as we have had a particularly dry December, with a mere 12mm measured, which makes it the driest December since 2015, when a mere 9mm of rain was measured.
This contributed to another below-average rainfall year, with only 580mm measured compared with the average of 635mm.
Incidentally, it is 16th time that the rainfall has been below norm since the turn of the century.
With the below-average rain in December and little rain forecast for the near future, I think all the rainwater harvesters are seriously contemplating acquiring additional storage for both the short and long term.
This week in history
1997 Unseasonal flooding recorded in the greater Nelson Mandela metro
Dam Levels
Down from 82.5% to 82.0%, with Impofu at 58.1%
Weather Safety Tips:
During a lightning storm, switch off and cease using all electrical appliances.
Also stay away from all plumbing such as taps. If your house is struck, this is the first path of the lightning.
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E-mail garthsampson59@gmail.com with feedback or requests
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