Black Palm Valley

11/10/2025

The latest attempt to keep a regular presence on Black Palm valleyIt's been 12 years now. It is starting to become a small forest.The dawn chorus is amazing! Iguess we would quite like to make it an arboreteum where school studetns could come to learn about the trees..and the birds. The bush around us is in a time of upheaval a large access road goes through our place and nonto the 500 hectare plot next door where a housing subdivision is going to be built.We hape we can hang on to black Palm valley in the teeth of 'development'

28/01/2023

I like the Melektri. Huge long trunks with a few branches stuck on top! I am told that the tree's roots are as long underground as the tree's trunk is tall. There are plenty of old ones on Black
Palm Valley. I would love to know more about its history. Were they once a popular choice for loggers? How long ago? (.Logging tracks run through the area). Are these leftovers or were they just too small when the loggers came through? Or was their wood never of any value? This one, top half first photo, bottom the second one, towers over the verandah. I no longer panic as its trunk sways in the wind! Just after I took these photos a tiny swiftlet flew past it, made even more minute in comparison to the tree.

19/01/2023

We have not added any posts on here for 5 years. Bit like the diary I kept for the first couple of years; it sort of faded away! But we have had the lease for Black Palm valley for 9 years now. I was browsing through the pictures on this page and was amazed at how bare it looked! Five years on and much has changed. We switched completely from sandalwood to a range of other local trees; kohu, natapoa, waetwud, namamao, nangae, cowrie... to name but a few. We'd probably started this already looking at the pictures in 2018 but some of the trees have just shot up! A big thank you to Judy and her team at Forestry who have been very supportive and to Pierre and Mondo who do so much to help us up there.

07/11/2018

photos from Black Palm Valley

07/11/2018

We stumbled upon this huge nabanga last weekend in the forest on Black Palm Valley .It felt like being in an ancient cathedral but I couldnt get that sense with a camera.This is a glimpse from the outside; if you weren't a scaredy cat like me you could probably scramble up this outside buttress. ...but it is a long long way.One of the biggest I have ever seen.

02/10/2018

Hi,
It is a long time since we have posted on Black Palm Valley. Yes we have been busy in our weekly jobs at Wan Smolbag but related to BPV the saddest event was the death in May of our long time gardener and film crew member Simon Shem who died of a heart attack whilst working up on the land.

It was some time before Patrick and Pierre went to work up there again.They say on the first day back two green doves seemed to be flying as an es**rt as they arrived at the gate and followed them down to the bungalow.

So life goes on , the area is looking very beautiful and we like to think Simon's spirit and certainly the memory of all he did there hovers over the place. Many trees have been planted as we try to make it into a nature reserve of sorts. Right now it is full of raspberries and a wild tomatoes and from one small pumpkin patch planted years ago we seem to have pumpkins all over the places.
We, including Simon when was alive, also cleared a hectare or so of dense rope and have turned it into a small baby woodland with natapoa, namamao, whitewood mahogany nakavika, mango, nangai, melektri and avocado. I attach a small video of the hawks that also keep us company all the time up there.

25/04/2018

Thanks so much to everyone who's liked our page recently. More than 100 likes so far!

Black Palm Valley is located on 23 hectares of gorgeous forest and valley, making for the perfect peaceful get away. We welcome day visitors for lunch and a walk around the property, and and a two-bedroom eco-cabin can be hired for overnight stays.

28/03/2018

A wet weekend, but still there are butterflies and always work to be done!

19/03/2018

Was lovely having Alpha and family with us this weekend!

11/03/2018

Stunning day at Black Palm Haven today! We saw a kingfisher, a hawk and spent the day weeding the natapoa, namamao and mahogony and clearing after .

05/03/2018

05/03/2018