He arrived in Cape Town on 30 December 1883 after being urged to do so by a schoolfriend who had already settled there. During his first year there he worked as a pharmacist for the firm of Wentzel and Schleswig. He was enthralled by Cape Town and Table Mountain and started immediately on a plant collection, soon going further afield to places like Klein Winterhoek, Du Toitskloof, Bainskloof and Sneeukop. During this time he started his own business in Cape Town. Acting as a locum in Kimberley, he made collecting trips from 1885-1886 to the surrounding areas such as Kuruman in the Northern Cape and to South West Africa where he visited Aus, Lüderitz Bay, Walvis Bay, Usakos, Ubib, Karibib, Otjimbingwe and Okahandja. Many of his specimens were written up under "Plantae Marlothiana" by Engler and others in Berlin.