Pieter Van Wyk
Tuesday, April 15, 2025 – 7:00 pm Pacific Time (California)

Members and visitors can attend in person in San Francisco,
or register or join the meeting in progress on Zoom.

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Program Description

Pieter’s talk will focus on these topics relating to the Richtersveld in the northwest
corner of South Africa: the oldest mountain desert on earth, with the richest succulent
flora diversity.

• The drivers of diversity
• Special adaptations of the plants that live there
• The primitive meets the most evolved in one place
• Novelties, and a bit about his discoveries and work

About our Speaker

Pieter was born and raised in the Richtersveld. His journey in conservation started at the age
of 6 when his grandmother and a friend spoke about a jackal and said “the only good jackal is
a dead jackal.” At 11 he fell in love with science and started studying the region’s ecology in
depth. At 14 he began on a thorough survey of the flora of the Richtersveld and adjacent
regions. He was taught about medicinal, edible and poisonous plants by his mother, his
grandmother, and elderly Nama people – one of the traditional tribes in the area since time
immemorial.

In 2013 he joined South African National Parks and began work in the Ai/Ais Richtersveld
Transfrontier Park (spanning the border between South Africa and Namibia). With no
available housing, he started out working out of a tent, and it was during this tent stay that the
idea of a Richtersveld Desert Botanical Garden was born. . In 2023 he was chosen as one of
the Future For Nature award winners, in recognition of his dedication to conserving the
plants of the Richtersveld and the Gariep area. On August 20, 2024 a major milestone was
reached when the Richtersveld Desert Botanical Garden was officially opened.

To learn more about his work, check his profile on the Future For Nature web site, or check out The Plant Shephard, a video about his work.

Show & tell table: Crassula on the succulent side, and Mexican miniature cacti on the cactus side, Cucurbitacea pachyforms, plus anything else that’s looking good or in flower.

Featured grower: TBD.

Snack table:, There will be a shared spread, but we suggest bringing something every couple of months if you partake regularly. As a thought, we are often short on drinks. 

Meeting Agenda

7:00 Mingling and announcements
7:30 Formal presentation starts promptly with Society business
7:35 Show and Tell Table
7:50 Leg stretch
7:55 Featured presentation

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Watch Online

On Zoom: Register or join the meeting in progress.

We will attempt to simulcast on our YouTube channel.

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