Everlasting beauty in Dwejra Bay

Everlasting beauty in Dwejra Bay

Dwejra Bay on the island of Gozo in the Central Mediterranean.  A bay born out of the ancient collapse of a sea cave whose roof disappeared beneath the waves and whose sides survive as cliffs and the solitary Fungus Rock guarding the entrance.

A place of solitude and beauty where the land and the sea combine to form the perfect scene.  Sheer tough coralline limestone cliffs on one side, softer, golden globigerina limestone gently sloping to the water on the other.  Sedimentary rock made of the compressed, fossilised remains of billions of marine creatures which drifted to the bottom of the sea in an age of higher sea levels.  Until the waters receded and the new rock rose and became dry land.  Only to start gradually eroding back into the sea through the action of wind and water.

Dwejra survives as one of the least disturbed areas in the densely populated Maltese Islands.  A protected area, it is considered to be a natural heritage site of international scientific importance owing to its unique geology and botany.  It also hosts a number of rare, endemic plant species, foremost amongst which, the Maltese everlasting, examples of which are visible in the foreground of the picture.

An endemic plant is one which grows in a single place or area only.  Some endemics are common while others are very rare.  The Maltese everlasting – Helichrysum melitense – pertains to this latter category.  It is so rare that it is only to be found on the western cliffs of Gozo and nowhere else in the world.  Formerly present around the Zurrieq coast on mainland Malta it is now thought to be extinct there, surviving only on the Gozo cliffs and the tiny Fungus Rock Nature Reserve at the mouth of Dwejra Bay.

In line with its specificity to Gozo, its Maltese name is sempreviva ta’ Ghawdex and it was only described by botanists for the first time in 1980.  It is recognised as one of the rarest Maltese endemic plant species giving it a very special status.  The plant grows in shrubs which range in height between 20 and 60 centimetres.  Its leaves are covered in white hairs to protect the plant from sea spray and help it retain moisture in the arid Maltese summer.  Between April and June it produces a profusion of beautiful yellow flowers.

So I trust that you will excuse the pun in the title of today’s post, for not only is the beauty of the image and the location everlasting in its value but it is made even more special by the presence of the everlasting plant.  I have to confess that I am always humbled when in the presence of rare and endangered species, in awe at the opportunity of witnessing the last remaining specimens of what might have once been a thriving species.  Add a magically beautiful location such as Gozo’s Dwejra Bay and the picture is complete.

When words are unnecessary……….

The breathtaking view at Ras il-Wardija, Gozo………further comments are considered superfluous.

The Great Wall of Malta

The Great Wall of Malta

The Chinese have their Great Wall, the French their Maginot Line and the British their Hadrian’s Wall.  Here in Malta we have plenty of walls and battlements ranging from Bronze Age ramparts to medieval defensive lines and from eighteenth century fortifications to pillboxes dating from the second world war.  However, we also have a little known wall, built by the British, which literally spans the entire island at its widest expanse literally subdividing Malta into two parts.

This major British fortification in Malta is known as the Victoria Lines and spans a 12 km stretch between Madliena/Bahar ic-Caghaq to the East and Kuncizzjoni/Fomm ir-Rih to the West. This fortified system consists of four forts, a number of gun batteries and an unbroken infantry line which connects them together to form a continuous defence which stretches from east coast to west coast and effectively cuts Malta into a northern and a southern half.

When the British arrived in Malta in 1800 their major task was to afford as much protection as was possible to the Grand Harbour area, particularly in view of the great technological advances made by artillery which could launch shells from a far greater distance than was the norm when the Knights built the complex fortifications around Valletta and the Three Cities.

Their major preoccupation was with the exposed sandy beaches in the north of Malta which were then seen as a strategic nuisance rather than the tourism and leisure asset they are today. Their fear was that an enemy landing in the undefended north of Malta could establish an artillery line which could inflict major damage on the harbour installations.

After considering many options they finally decided to capitalise on a natural fault line which neatly cuts Malta into two parts at the place of its maximum width and to construct a fortified line thereby protecting the populated south from the undeveloped and exposed north. We still travel up and down this fault via various major roads in Malta such as the Bahar ic-Caghaq Coast Road between Splash and Fun and White Rocks, it-Telgha ta’ Alla w Ommu in Naxxar and Targa Gap Road outside Mosta among others.

This defensive system was built and developed over a 29-year period between 1870 and 1899 and was originally called the North West Front. It was eventually re-christened the Victoria Lines in 1897 to commemorate Queen Victoria’s diamond jubilee. The Victoria Lines consist of four forts (Pembroke, Madliena, Mosta and Bingemma) together with an unbroken low-walled infantry line linking Forts Madliena, Mosta and Bingemma along the course of the fault. The wall is a relatively unimpressive two-metre high affair in most places, but its main objective was to enable defending soldiers to fire down on the enemy below from their protected vantage point in the ridge around 150 metres above.

To the military history aficionado, the Victoria Lines provide yet another dimension to Malta’s millennial history as a strategically located island. They are a logical extension of the defensive works developed by the Knights and shows the extent of what lengths those who valued Malta’s location were ready to go to, to defend it from falling into enemy hands. It is a major, military architecture undertaking built before the advent of heavy machinery and still stands relatively unscathed today, more than one hundred years after it was completed.

For those who are less interested in military matters, the Victoria Lines sit atop some of Malta’s highest ground, some 200 metres above sea level, and a walk along them affords excellent views of the entire northern half of the island together with Gozo and Comino. Even distant Sicily is clearly visible on crisp winter days. Another bonus associated with a walk along the Lines is that they are set along some beautiful countryside which is generally free from excessive development. Beautiful walks are possible near Gharghur, on the Dwejra Lines overlooking Mosta and Mgarr and between Bingemma and Fomm ir-Rih.

Like a lot of our ancestors’ major efforts aimed at protecting Malta from invasion, the Victoria Lines were never tested in war. They however remain as a legacy to times gone by when conflict around our shores was a daily reality and when war, or the prospect of war, brought economic prosperity while peace brought depression and hunger.

I also value the Victoria Lines because they have probably, unwittingly, constrained development in Malta to the southern half whilst ensuring that the northern half remained relatively emptier. Having been built to resist invasion from the north to the south, their major achievement has been to suppress development from breaching their unbroken line and invading the north! For this we should be grateful as it has ensured that in spite of living on one of the most densely-populated territories on the planet we still have a beautiful, open countryside which is there for all to enjoy.

The mushroomless Fungus Rock of Gozo

The mushroomless Fungus Rock of Gozo

Just off the sheer cliffs of Western Gozo lies a rock, some 60 metres high.  It guards a small deep lagoon and is obviously the remnant of what was once a sea cave whose roof collapsed, isolating it forever from the mainland.

This rock is Fungus Rock and you may wonder about its association with mushrooms given its bleak topography and very sparse garigue habitat which one hardly associates with the damp and humidity necessary for mushrooms to thrive.

Indeed there are no mushrooms on Fungus Rock.  In fact there ain’t much of anything although from the micro-perspective this small rock not only teems with life but harbours one of the rarest plants in the region: a small parasitic tuber which ekes its miserable existence by sucking nutrients from the other plants in its vicinity. A plant which owing to its bulbous shape was formerly confused with a fungus, giving its small island home a name which survives to this day.

For until a few decades ago, it was universally assumed that the “Malta Fungus”, as the plant was called, only grew on this tiny rock.  It has subsequently been discovered in a host of other places all the way from the Canary Islands to Afghanistan and is today known by the less romantic name of Cynomorium coccineum.  So consider it all: a rare plant, phallic in shape and blood red in colour.  Add a good dose of imagination and it becomes a cure for all sorts of erectile dysfunctions and blood-related diseases including internal hemorrhages, anemia and dysentery amongst others.

Enter the Knights of Malta, those most enterprising of branding experts who discovered the intrinsic value of this rare plant and conjured the esoteric name Fungus melitensis.  The Knights attached a lot of importance to this highly-prized and rare plant and used to harvest the small quantities which grew on the tiny islet to send as gifts to European royalty.  The plant was so precious in fact, that the Knights actually took the trouble to level off the sides of the islet to make climbing from sea level to the top impossible, and until the nineteenth century the only access was through a rickety cable-car arrangement from the high cliffs on the mainland.  Access was guarded and poachers faced stiff punishment if caught.

Today the islet rests in peace and quiet, and still bears the name of its most famous product.   A nature reserve of scientific importance to which access is severely restricted.  Seen by tens of thousands of tourists visiting the nearby Inland Sea and Azure Window on Gozo and lying there in the majestic glory of the deep blue sea with the impressive cliffs as a backdrop.

And proud of the fact that irrespective of size, even a tiny fragment of rock has a historical claim to fame from a time when its humble produce was the gift of kings.