Friday 25 October 2013

S: 3pm in the afternoon and as I am dictating this to Lesley, it is still raining!!

We decided to do a 5km walk to see some Bushman paintings on the farm. We only found out later, when we were on the trail, that it was 5kms there and 5kms back.

When we started out, it was not raining, then a couple of kilometers in, it started to drizzle so we debated whether to continue or go back to base camp. Lesley decided to carry on so we persevered......

About 3kms in, it started raining harder. Fortunately we were at an open-sided farm shed where we took cover. When the rain let up, we carried on, finding out that it was further than we were told.

Eventually we reached the mountains with the Bushman paintings on the rocks. (L: The pictures are of a type of buck, or cow with long curly horns. Also a man chasing an animal. Really nice to see even though there has been some damage done by thoughtless people).

After taking some photos and a bite of left over corn bread, we started the long slog back. Lesley was taking strain after recovering from a foot injury and not realising this was such a hike....Being obstinate about stopping. (L: It is tenacious, Steve :-)) She even refused a lift back from the farmer.

It was still drizzling on and off. We eventually got back to the camp site when the rain really started in earnest with thunder and lightning, seems we got back just in time, and it hasn't stopped. (L: We were pretty wet by all accounts so I had a nice warm shower and changed into dry clothes. Steve made us some nice warm tea and snacks.)

We are supposed to be going over the mountain tomorrow on the 4x4 track to Kareedouw, but with this rain I don't know if it is going to be possible. I mean it is bucketing down now. Fortunately we have a sheltered meeting area with a built in braai where we are holed up catching up with our admin. We will have to chat to the farmer and see what he advises for the trail. It is only a grade 2 trail which means it is a rough farm road, but we will see.

S: We have now moved our whole camp site to the sheltered meeting area, which is so much warmer and dry-ish.

The rain let up a bit around 5pm and we are hoping for clearer skies tomorrow as we sit around the braai hoping the baboons we saw earlier will not come down off the hill and make a nuisance of themselves.

Thursday 24 Oct 2013

S: The Windy City lived up to its name last night, with the tent flapping, we couldn't sleep. It had been such lovely weather up to then. We packed up in the morning and headed for Baviaanskloof.

It was a nice drive through the hills and farmlands. We stopped off at Hankey and went up to the viewpoint which just happens to be the site where Sarah Bartman's remains are buried. (You can look on the internet for the story of Sarah, a whose remains were recently returned to South African from the UK and laid to rest near her old home.)

There is also a huge, old fashioned sundial which is a little behind on showing the time, but fun to see.

We drove to the Baviaans Nature Reserve gate where we paid our R40 to enter the park. Very shortly after entering we started climbing the first pass. It is single lane and quite bumpy so it is very slow going. Even though it is not necessary, I engaged 4-wheel drive as it just helps with traction and the engine braking works better on the the downhills, saving the brakes.

L: The scenery is amazing and very tranquil to drive through with the shouts of baboons and shrill calls of the many varieties of birds in the area.

S: At the top of the next pass there is a parking area and an out-house where we stopped to have a look. There is a track leading down the mountain and unless you know about it, you wouldn't know that a little way down there are the remains of the old cable car system to a mountain on the other side. It was erected in the early 60's by farmers in the area who wanted to save on the long drive around when transporting goods and live-stock. Can you imagine animals having a ride across the huge chasm!

We continued through more ups and downs of the valleys and mountains. In the valleys we negotiated many water-crossings. There were lots of kudu, ewes and young rams, running across the road. There were also duikers. We eventually stopped at one of the river crossings so that Lesley could “cool her heels” in the refreshing river water.

After what seemed like ages (L: It was!!), we reached the exit gate and 10 kms down the road, we turned off to Doringkloof Bush Camp were we decided to spend a couple of nights.

L: We were very impressed as it is simple, but beautiful with a dried up old dam (with a teeny bit of water) and lots of lovely grassy plains. The camp has individual bathroom and toilet buildings and the amenities are great with hot showers. The good news is that to camp, is only R80 per person per night with a further R120 charged to do one of the 4 x 4 route – which we will do on our way out.

Of course, I am enjoying the bird life......

We decided to have a change from braai-ing so cooked some spaghetti bolognaise and made a lovely home-made potjie bread from sweetcorn, onions and flour. It was a real treat and something we will do next year on our long trip as we will not always be able to find staples in Africa.

S: The weather had been hot all day and we were sitting around the fire with only t-shirts and shorts on, but we saw the flashes of lightning behind the mountains indicating that the rain was on its way.

We had just climbed into the roof-top tent and it started raining again.....

Wednesday 23 October 2013

L: I woke up early (S: and went Tweeting}. I found lots of little birds in the early sunshine and a kingfisher too and well as a pair of donkeys getting very frisky in the spring morning.

It's the chore day so off to the laundry where we put our load on and went for a walk on the beach .

S: There were a few guys fishing and some chaps were collecting bait worm to sell to fishermen. They can make up to R300 in 3 hours so it is very lucrative for those without formal employment. It is very tough on the hands, they can't wear gloves as then they cannot feel the worms.

L: At lunchtime, we left to fetch Aunty May to take her to lunch and enjoyed a pizza/pasta meal.

We spent a few hours with her, catching up and filling her in on our family news and our plans for our long trip, driving from Cape Town to Cairo to London, leaving in April 2014. We showed her a few of our pics and popped in at her home before leaving her for our camp site and catching up with the blog. We were entertained by our resident yellow mongoose this morning and in the afternoon.

We enjoyed a drink and listening to the local musician in the camp lounge.

Off to bed now.........Baviaanskloof here we come.

Tuesday 22 October 2013

L: It was wet again this morning when I was woken up by the traffic in and out of the gate and off on game drives and a father with his little one on a push-bike at 6.30, no doubt so mom could sleep in.......pity about the rest of us. We also had quite a few trains go past during the night and early this morning. Busy place.

I went off to the bird hide and had the place to myself again. I found an adult red bishop and a sunbird and so many others making a lovely noise.

When I came back, Steve was up and sorting out the tent, to dry in the sun before packing and getting everything out for our breakfast.

S: We set off in anticipation of seeing elephants today.....

For the first hour it was the old faithfuls that we saw – red hartebees, warthogs and Burchell zebras and an ostrich or two. We were driving through a cutting and a kudu bull suddenly appeared on the embankment on Lesley's side of the car – startling her! (L: Now, bear in mind, you are in “elephant-finding” mode so your senses are heightened.....ha ha.)

S: We went up to Zuurbank lookout point which is the highest point in the park and on our way down the hill Lesley noticed a few cars parked on the bottom road and “rocks with eyes” which I tell her she sees when the shadows turn out to be – not elephants.....So, we decided to head that way which was a bit out of our way, but it was well worth it as we eventually saw freshly broken branches in the road and fresh droppings and came upon a herd of elephants!! At last. What a pleasure with a baby only hip-height. We even had one coming up behind us and strolling past the car......

We turned around and went to the safety of Jack's picnic spot for lunch and a toilet break. Just before we got there we saw another herd of elephants a few hundred metres off the road, also with 4 babies of various sizes.

We then headed for the Southern part of the park. It wasn't more than a few kilometers later that we saw another lone bull elephant at a water hole. We saw plenty of warthog, zebras etc and the terrain was very hilly and on the plain above there was plenty of zebra, hartebees, warthog and another lone bull elephant and lots of birds. We saw some more tortoises too.

L: We had only a few more kms to cover before the exit when we saw what we thought was the backside of another elephant going down an alleyway into the bush. As we drove past, a face appeared out of the thicket.......we could not believe that it was a buffalo of immense size. We discovered that one horn from the centre of the head round the curve to the tip can measure up to 100cms!! The largest recorded is 124cms. They stand 1,4m to the shoulder – Wow.

S: We had driven a little further down the road when we saw a woman with 2 children in the car. I stopped her and warned her of the buffalo in the road and just to be careful as they were the size of her little car. She looked really startled and debated whether she should turn round and run home. I said carry on and drive slowly past them as they are quite placid.

L: The previous evening we had heard this “twang” noise down at the water hole which I thought was a hyena biting the electric fence, but we discovered that it was a tiny little bird making that amazing racket. I need to find out which one it is and will consult the bird books. Ha ha.

S: Then it was on to the N2 to Port Elizabeth where we headed to Humewood and booked into the Pine Lodge campsite for 2 nights. (To visit Lesley's Aunty May).

We headed to the local Pick and Pay to stock up and on the way out bumped into Aunty May, small world.....

Had an early braai in the quiet campsite and enjoyed the mild evening. Their are no other people camping here so we each have an entire ablution block to ourselves.

Monday 21 Oct 2013

S: Amazing. I am sitting this evening at our camp table surrounded by about twenty birds fighting over the pieces of bread I am throwing them. What a racket. There are Cape Robin Chats and Southern Masked Weavers, male and female. We later had Dark-capped Bulbuls, a (transitional) Red Bishop, Pied Starlings, to mention a few. But I digress. Let me start at the beginning of the day.


It rained all night. It was still raining this morning when we got up. Lesley was up first, off to the bird hide. I went and had a shower, lovely and hot this time, before finding the camp kitchen to fill our Thermos with boiling water. I was not going to stand over the gas stove in the rain. Then, like a good husband, I went to find my wife - bearing coffee and rusks.


When I managed to drag “Tweety” away from the bird hide we set off through the Addo ____ Park. The reason for the _____ is that we are sure that there are no elephants in the park. We drove around for about seven hours and did not see one. That is not to say we did not have an enjoyable day. There was so much else to discover and Tweety had a fun day photographing all the birds.


Aside from the rhino, buffalo and hyena we saw last night, there were zebra, red hartebees, ostrich, black-backed jackal, warthog, kudu bull and ewes, eland and a myriad of bird life which I am sure Lesley will fill you in on.


We stopped for lunch at a place called Jack's Picnic Place which is the only other place in the north of the park that has ablutions. The place is protected by a game fence and electric gate so is quite safe. There are apparently some lion in the park as well and it was comforting to know that the place was relatively safe. But cats climb things don't they …........


L: Yes Steve, I did have an amazing day, thank you. We saw several birds and also a few birds of prey, even one with a catch!! We also saw a Black-backed Heron and a Blue Crane.


We were treated to a spectacular display by 2 zebra, chasing each other around and making as if they were going to bite the other. Not sure if it was a mating dance or a game as they stopped after a while and grazed peacefully together.


We also saw a male and female Red Hartebees with their two young offspring.


S: There are so many warthog in the park and some have whiskers which makes them look ridiculous!


And......we are still looking for the elephants........


We hope to see a few on the way out tomorrow. (The bush is so dense that we are very fortunate to have spotted so much game).


L: The sun is setting and we are enjoying a braai and the many birds, in the hide and around our campsite. Cheers!!


L: I was in bed already when I heard Steve coming down the path from the bathroom and that unmistakeable sound of his shoes braking hard!! Then he dropped his keys so I knew he had got a big fright........It took him a few minutes before he called out to me to come and look. It was a huge porcupine shuffling up the hill. I had a good laugh at his expense!!!

Sunday 20 Oct 2013

L: Well it was great to sleep in the roof-top tent for the first time in over six months, I had missed it!! But, golly, I must say, it was chilly. We are now using a blow-up mattress on top of the rather thin roof-top tent mattress, but I always find that they are cold due to the air underneath you getting colder at night.

I was up early and went to explore and find all the birds, I had a great time and even found some baby birds being fed by the parent birds. Always such a pleasure to watch. When I got back to camp Steve had made coffee, so it was coffee and a couple rusks as we decided to head into Oudtshoorn later and have breakfast. Some of the campers were having a morning church service so we had the background worship songs, in Afrikaans, to pack by.


We found the Wimpy for a quick breakfast and filled up and headed out at 10-ish.


S: We left towards Willowmore and found a huge tortoise along the road and then another 3 dotted along the road. Obviously a load of ostriches of all ages as you travel past all the farms. We then started encountering warthogs and stopped in Steytlerville for a brief time to see the sights and travelled over the old bridge. There is a display of painted old farming implements which was interesting as well as the local families family crests and names in the main street.


From Steytlerville we turned off onto a single lane concrete road which went on for over 40kms. It is the longest concrete road that I have ever travelled, there is another one, which is the old road between Oudtshoorn and Calitzdorp, but that is a two-lane road.


Half way along the concrete road, we pulled off to make lunch which was tea and Provita and tuna. Lo and behold, we found some vervet monkeys in the trees and continued to see them with their babies all the way along the road on the way to Kirkwood.


We arrived at Addo Elephant Park where we had booked for a couple of nights as everyone said that it fills up quickly. We set up camp, put up the ground tent, as we were staying for longer than one night. After a braai for supper we walked up to the viewing point over the water-hole where we stayed for a few hours. We were fortunate enough to see 2 hyena, a buffalo and a rhino. There was also a very brave, or dumb, Egyptian goose, dodging the hyenas.



It had drizzled a bit, off and on, and rained a spot or two during the evening. We got into bed and exactly 3 minutes later, it started to rain and poured throughout the night,