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Sacred Forests

Giant fig trees in mist on a forest track in the sacred forest of Venda

The last indigenous forests of Southern Africa

Koos van der Lende

As you enter this area, it is just dead, dead quiet.

— Koos van der Lende, the sacred forest of Venda

Most of South Africa's old forest is gone, logged for timber and pine. What is left survives in small, protected pockets: a sacred forest kept by the Venda people, the deep Outeniqua forest of the Southern Cape, the fig and fever tree marshes of Ndumo, and the riverine forest along the Olifants and the Limpopo.

Koos van der Lende went back to these places over many years, waiting for rain, low cloud and mist, the only light in which a forest gives itself up. Each one is a single panorama on slide film, and each holds the same thing: a total quietness, and the isolation of a world that has not been touched.

Between the works are his field notes, what he has learnt about season, light and contrast in forest country, for anyone who wants to see these places the way he does.

The Works

  1. Giant fig trees in mist on a forest track in the sacred forest of VendaSacred ForestVenda, South Africa
  2. Lichen covered trunks rising from ferns deep in the Outeniqua indigenous forestIndigenous ForestOuteniqua, Southern Cape
  3. Tree ferns and lichen coloured trunks in the heart of the Outeniqua forestFern ForestOuteniqua, Southern Cape
  4. A wild fig tree standing in the still, flooded marsh of Ndumo Game ReserveFig Tree in the MarshNdumo, KwaZulu-Natal
  5. Pale fever trees standing in floodwater under a dark sky after a storm in NdumoFever Trees after the StormNdumo, KwaZulu-Natal
  6. Backlit riverine trees in early light along the Olifants River near the Kruger ParkRiverine ForestOlifants River, Mpumalanga
  7. Dead trees in silhouette against morning mist over a flooded plain near the Kruger ParkMorning MistNear the Kruger Park
  8. Late golden sun breaking through riverine forest on the Limpopo River in BotswanaRiverine ForestLimpopo River, Botswana
Giant fig trees in mist on a forest track in the sacred forest of Venda
No. 34

Sacred Forest

Venda, South Africa

High in the Soutpansberg, in the far northeast of South Africa, the Venda people have kept one small stand of original forest while the mountains around it were logged for pine. In the rainy season the clouds hang low, the giant fig trees rise out of the mist, and once a python crossed the path while he worked.

The silence is broken only by an indigenous bird or the call of a monkey.— Koos van der Lende
Sizes and prices
Limited edition of 25, signed and numbered, from $980
Lichen covered trunks rising from ferns deep in the Outeniqua indigenous forest
No. 306

Indigenous Forest

Outeniqua, Southern Cape

Deep in the protected Outeniqua forest, a quiet stand of trees rises out of the ferns, their bark grown over with lichen. The early morning and the lush growth all around soften every sound.

A total stillness in the forest, every sound softened by the early morning.— Koos van der Lende
Sizes and prices
Limited edition of 25, signed and numbered, from $980
Tree ferns and lichen coloured trunks in the heart of the Outeniqua forest
No. 380

Fern Forest

Outeniqua, Southern Cape

The heart of the Outeniqua forest, home of the elephants that almost nobody has seen. Ferns fill the foreground, lichen colours the trunks, and the dark greens at the back give way to lighter greens and yellows in front.

The legendary Outeniqua elephant, which hardly anyone has ever seen.— Koos van der Lende
Sizes and prices
Limited edition of 25, signed and numbered, from $980
A wild fig tree standing in the still, flooded marsh of Ndumo Game Reserve
No. 209

Fig Tree in the Marsh

Ndumo, KwaZulu-Natal

On the border with Mozambique, Ndumo was once the eastern edge of the land, with only sand running on to the Indian Ocean. After the rains the marshes fill, the fig and fever trees stand in still water, and on a quiet, overcast day the whole reserve is held in its reflection.

This was the eastern edge of Africa.— Koos van der Lende
Sizes and prices
Limited edition of 25, signed and numbered, from $980
Pale fever trees standing in floodwater under a dark sky after a storm in Ndumo
No. 219

Fever Trees after the Storm

Ndumo, KwaZulu-Natal

A summer storm broke over dry, quiet veld, and within the hour the water had rushed in. The pale fever trees glow against the dark sky the storm left behind, trees the early pioneers once blamed for the fever that mosquitoes carried.

Within an hour, where it had been dry, the trees were standing in water.— Koos van der Lende
Sizes and prices
Limited edition of 25, signed and numbered, from $980
Backlit riverine trees in early light along the Olifants River near the Kruger Park
No. 803

Riverine Forest

Olifants River, Mpumalanga

Early morning on the Olifants River, close to the Kruger Park. The light comes from behind, off the water, so the old trees stand almost in silhouette while a soft glow filters through the forest around them.

The trees in the foreground are almost a silhouette, with a little soft light coming through from behind.— Koos van der Lende
Sizes and prices
Limited edition of 25, signed and numbered, from $980
Dead trees in silhouette against morning mist over a flooded plain near the Kruger Park
No. 793

Morning Mist

Near the Kruger Park

On a private reserve near the Kruger Park, mist hangs over the water of a flooded plain, and the trees the water drowned stand almost in silhouette against a soft yellow light. Minutes later the sun burns the mist away and the scene is gone.

You have to act very quickly, because as the sun rises higher it burns off the water and the mist.— Koos van der Lende
Sizes and prices
Limited edition of 25, signed and numbered, from $980
Late golden sun breaking through riverine forest on the Limpopo River in Botswana
No. 748

Riverine Forest

Limpopo River, Botswana

Wild country in Botswana's Tuli Block, full of elephant, lion and buffalo, with harsh mopane veld and baobabs all around. Yet by the Limpopo the low sun breaks golden through the trees, the river glints at the back, and the forest falls quiet.

A very quiet, peaceful late afternoon.— Koos van der Lende
Sizes and prices
Limited edition of 25, signed and numbered, from $980

Koos van der Lende

For close to two decades Koos van der Lende has travelled Southern Africa with a panoramic film camera, planning each picture days ahead, where the sun will fall, at what time, at what angle. He still works on traditional slide film, which is processed and scanned to make prints of rare quality.

His archive runs from the Namib to the Indian Ocean. Sacred Forests is drawn from it for this site, alongside the Classic Collection, Evidence of Mankind, the Water Pear Tree Collection, the Baobab Collection, Solitary Survivor and the Latest Release.

Moments of Grace, the linen covered panoramic book by Koos van der Lende
The book

Moments of Grace, eighteen years of his panoramas from Angola to the Seychelles, a linen cloth covered, hand assembled book in a handmade leather pouch, opening to a full metre wide.

See the book
See all of Koos's prints