15 September. Today ahs been one of the most amazing botanical days in my life! After leaving Karda campground, we head directly to Leuseur National Park. Arriving here, I quickly realise why David has been so insistent in including this place in the itinerary. This is a true heaven of botanical diversity. A series of flat-topped hills in a valley formed by hardened rock and filled with the sand of ancient shorelines, this relatively small place holds meter-by-meter more plant diversity than a tropical rainforest! The diversity of plants is such that 60% of the plant species found in Mount Leusueur (named by French explorers that noticed its flat top while sailing the nearby ocean) are not seen in Mount Michelle, a mere 1.5km away. What should be a couple hours of exploration, turns into a full day affair, as we cannot walk more than a few steps before discovering another bunch of amazing flowers that blows away even seasoned, local botanists. Among the many incredible species we find a few buzz-pollinated taxa. This is so exciting! Monocots and dicots y diverse plant families converge here in the typical Solanum buzz-pollinated morphology. I am certain that soon we will be finding a trove of buzz-pollinating bees. But the cool, windy weather has other plans for us. We search everywhere but, although we find hundred of honey bees feeding on the flowers of Eucalyptus and Banksia, we see not a single wild bee. We continue looking until the sun is about to set, and yet no wild bees at all.
–Do you have a plan B?, asks David.
I do not. I still have hope that when the weather turns (we have had a string of cool, overcast, or rainy days in what is supposed to be one of the sunniest places in the world, we should be able to find bees. Let’s see what tomorrow holds for the Buzz Bus.