Wild Adventure Chapter 11 Off to Mata Mata

2016-04-29 | puppy1952

13 March 2016

By 6:30 the Frend-Leighs and Grum-Peighs are packed up and ready to leave Rooiputs. Although it had stormed in the night it kindly let up for them to pack up without getting wet.

The Frend-Leighs left first as they wanted to get a good site at Mata Mata. Their large-lensed cameras were packed so they wouldn’t be stopping for anything but the most exciting sightings.

The Grum-Peighs were thus able to follow at a more leisurely pace. There was a lot of water lying around and they found bokkies drinking at the puddles. They took the dune road and found a total of 16 korhaans.

Then there was a lovely sighing Mom and Dad Jackal with their pup.

It was great to see giraffe on the Mata Mata road and there was plenty of game around.

“Why are there cars parked up ahead,” called Lady G-P. They looked into the bush but couldn’t see anything. The Lord G-P said – “Look – there in the tree – leopard!

Wow – what a great sighting. They were about to move on when suddenly he stood up on the branch.

I don’t think I like this spot anymore

Let me find a more comfortable perch

There’s a cosy hollow here – this is where I’m staying for the rest of the day

At 10:30 they arrived at Mata Mata and set up camp. The Frend-Leighs had found a lovely shady site.

At 4:30 the Grum-Peighs were ready for another drive but the Leighs decided not to go out. It was a long way to the waterholes but the drive was rewarding.

They enjoyed the little steenbok that were about and one chose to pose beautifully.

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The highlight of the afternoon was seeing a lanner at Dalkeith – he had caught a sparrow and was devouring it on the ground.

At 14^th waterhole they were delighted to find an African harrier-hawk.

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They found the leopard in the tree again but he had moved and was difficult to see. However, they managed to point him out to two other cars who were most grateful as they had not yet seen leopard.

In the evening the Earl found some good steaks at the new improved Mata Mata shop and that is what they had on the braai for supper.

Share Your World Week 17

2016-04-25 | puppy1952

Here is my contribution to Cees Share Your World questions this week.

When writing by hand do you prefer to use a pencil or pen?

Good question! I much prefer typing on a device than actually using pen and paper as I find writing a struggle. When personal computers became hit the world I immediately started using them for all my school work and was the first in my school to hand in computer generated mark schedules and attendance registers – it certainly eliminated the pain of re-doing them when I made frequent mistakes. But when I do have to write my first choice would be a pencil – so I can erase errors! Of course certain things have to be written in pen and then I use one with a fine nib.

What’s your choice: jigsaw, word, maze or numeric puzzles?

Oh word puzzles without doubt although I also enjoy Sudoku. And of course I do them in pencil with an eraser close at hand! I am useless and jigsaw but I have a daughter who loves them!

Do you prefer long hair or short hair for yourself?

I love long hair as tying it up in a ponytail or bun is really easy but it is doesn’t suit me, so I go to the opposite extreme and keep my hair pretty short.

List five of your favorite blogs.

This is difficult. I love reading blogs. I am going to name five in no particular order. Others I read are also very much enjoyed.

Crazy Train to Tinky Town A young woman’s writings about her experiences with parents, lovers, travel and people she meets. Truly delightful.

Just left awkward suddenly approaching old – A woman my age writing about the past and the present. We have such a similar take on life.

Shail’s Nest – Completely different – writing from India about many different topics including Indian culture and values, family, pets and we have a common interest in birds.

So here’s us A moving blog by a brave and wonderful mother. Her family includes biological and adopted children, special needs children and now cancer has struck one of her little ones. It’s an honest account of how she copes.

Something over Tea Delightfully written by a like-minded nature loving, tea-drinking South African.

Bonus question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?

Last week I wrote that I was looking forward to whatever surprises the following week had in store – and wow – what surprises there were. We’re making changes to our home and one of the things on the list was to get a fake cane suite for the lounge. After much researching on the internet we did a 24-hour round trip to Cape Town to visit the showrooms and Bingo we found just the thing for a fraction of what we thought we might have to pay!

So of course I am looking forward to its delivery and rearranging my living room. But I might have to wait more than a week for that.

Another surprise was a spur-of-the-moment trip to Warmwaterberg for two nights – and one of the highlights was an excellent ‘Boerekos’ meal at the restaurant – Lamb Pie for Hubby and Bobotie for me. Because we said, “Hold the rice and potatoes,” they gave us extra vegetables – gem squash filled with peas, cauliflower and broccoli with cheese sauce and sweet pumpkin – all delicious!

Wild Adventure Chapter 7 The Earl Helps a Distressed Car at a Lion Sighting

2016-04-25 | puppy1952

9 MARCH

The day started with a lanner. This is a common bird in the KTP and the Grum-Peighs often see them chasing and catching doves. But this one decided to show off to them on the road. He was eating insects or getting minerals from the gravel or whatever attracts all the creatures of the park to this habit. Anyway he posed beautifully.

After enjoying the lanner they pushed on to Kij Kij and found a beautiful male lion drinking at the waterhole. They then followed him as he walked off toward the Nossob road. Several cars were parked facing the waterhole and he flopped down in their shadows. Eventually they decided that enough was enough and set off in search of other game

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A kori bustard entertained them by showing them how to take a dust bath.

When there is little game to be seen the G-Ps keep a sharp eye out for birds. Even the little familiar chat is good to see.

At Melkvlei waterhole there were lots of gemsbok.

On their return they found the male lion sleeping in the shade of a tree. Lady G-P aimed her camera but suddenly the car started moving forward. “Hey – I’m trying to get a shot,”she complained.

“But this guy in front is calling me to chat to him,” replied the Earl.

He pulled up next to the hired four by four. “I’m so sorry,”said a British voice “But I stopped here to see this lion and now my car is dead!” There were two men and two women in the vehicle and they all looked terrified.

“Don’t worry,” said Lady G-P, “My husband will fix it.” She has great confidence in her her husband’s MacGyver type skills.

The Earl turned the car around with a view to jump starting his dead car. “Just keep an eye on Leo.”said His Lordship as he climbed up and opened a rooftop box to retrieve his tools. “He’s sitting up!” yelled Lady Peigh. But her hero was not fazed. He took out all the tools he needed and passed them to her.

“He’s standing up now!” Lady Peigh was getting nervous. Leo sniffed the air and decided the smell of his Lordship was not to his liking and dropped down again and went back to sleep!

Leo licked his lips as he contemplated an earl for dinner

Nope – not worth the effort – think I’ll have another nap instead

The Earl decided that caution was the better part of valour and quickly hitched the tow rope to the distressed vehicle and towed him to a safer spot. The car did not start while being towed but when they stopped the Earl found that it was a loose connection and fixed it pronto.

The First Earl of Struisbaai using his MacGyver skills

The British tourist were most grateful. They had no tools in the hired vehicle and were quite unprepared for any mishap. Lady G-P would never travel without her personal handyman.

They went back to look at the lion and wait for the Frend-Leighs and then took a slow drive home finding a pale chanting goshawk and a few ground squirrels on the way.

Isn’t he beautiful

On guard and ready to warn his friends of pending danger

Wild Adventure Chapter 6 Lions at Kij Kij

2016-04-24 | puppy1952

8 March

The advantage of staying in a bush camp on the Botswana side of the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park is that there are fewer people in camp and one really gets to commune with nature – it’s living on the edge as there is always a chance that a wild creature could wander past your caravan or tent. This is what the Frend-Leighs and Grum-Peighs love about Camp Rooiputs Number 2. It is also closer to the water holes so you get to them before the crowds from Twee Rivieren arrive. But Rooiputs has the added advantage of being close enough to Twee Rivieren so that when you need to replenish your stocks it’s a quick trip there and back. On this particular morning the friends decide to check out the Kij Kij Waterhole nice and early and then take the long dune road that connects to another road that takes you to TR. The plan is then to leave the park and shop at the Kgalagadi Lodge shop – and have breakfast at their restaurant. There is nothing as good as mixing a bit of rustic living with luxury now and then!

And they are well rewarded when they get to Kij Kij and find some frolicking lions.

Good Morning Kgalagadi

This is fun!

Come on let’s play!

Time to go!

The Dune Road is very long and bendy and can be boring but today a honey badger rushed over the road in front of them and they saw 19 Northern Black Korhaan

The best of the bunch

On the return journey the Grum-Peighs stop for every bird. Ho-Hum!

A lesser grey shrike

The ever-present tawny eagle

Southern Masked weaver and Lark-like Bunting

Male and female red-headed finch

Grey-backed sparrowlark

Male red-headed finch

Immature Pale Chanting Goshawk

Jackal

The highlight was seeing a cobra try to invade a sociable weaver nest.

In the evening the Frend-Leighs and Grum-Peighs had another delicious braai. There was no sign of stormy weather and the sunset was magnificent.

The Earl and The Friend bonding in front of the fire

Sunset

Camp Rooiputs Number 2 at night

Wild Adventure Chapter 4 Cheetahs and Lions

2016-04-23 | puppy1952

“It can’t be time to get up yet,” complained Lord Grum-Peigh “It’s still dark!”

“It will be light soon and we need to get out before the Twee Rivieren Mob arrive – come on get up – here’s your coffee.” Her Ladyship packed the picnic basket and filled the flask while her grumbly husband reluctantly readied himself for departure.

The sunrise was just a stunning as last night’s sunset and they were on the road atn6:30 am on the dot. The campers from the other five sites were rushing off too. The Frend-Leighs always keen to be first at the waterhole to ensure good photographs were up ahead. As the Grum-Peighs followed slowly behind a fellow camper passed and waved to them to stop. “Your left front tyre looks a little soft,” he said.

And so they had to turn around and return to camp to check it out. The Earl who fusses about the small stuff was remarkably calm about this major disaster. He set straight to work. Getting the tyre off proved no easy task. The thingy that is used to loosen the bolts was faulty but the Earl made a plan and within 45 minutes the job was done.

Now when one travels in the extreme conditions of the Kgalagadi one would be foolish not to have a working spare so the Grum-Peighs decided to abandon their original plans and make their way to Twee Rivieren where there was a workshop to have the spare tyre repaired. And although it was a Sunday it was open.

After enjoying a cooked breakfast at the restaurant they took the long Mata Mata and Dune roads to get back to Rooiputs. “Hopefully we will see game on this route,” declare the Lord.

Lady Grum-Peigh had an acute attack of FOMO (fear of missing out). “I bet the Leighs have found yesterday’s lions on a kill and that the cheetahs are mating or giving birth or something equally exciting.”she whined.
“No way,”comforted the Earl “we’re going to see good stuff.”

And he was right. “Look what we have here,”he said excitedly.

Tawny Eagle

A little later they found a male lion right next to the road

Then a little far off under a shady tree lay a cheetah with its kill. It was not worth taking a photograph though.

The Grum-Peighs are more interested in the birdlife and tend to stop too long to observe the winged creatures that others choose to ignore.

One of their favourites is the Namaqua Dove

Of course they also saw all the regular chaps. Gemsbok (Oryx) are very common in the park.

Meanwhile the Leighs had been wandering what happened to their friends. Had they missed them at a sighting? Had they carried on to the planned breakfast stop? But no they couldn’t find them anywhere. “They’re either behind or in front of us,” said Mr Frend-Leigh – don’t worry we’ll catch up with each other eventually.”

So when they finally did see each other back at camp they were shocked to hear that there had been a mishap. “We would have come back to help!” they declared.

“Then you would also have missed the excitement,” said Lady G-P

“Ha – we only got sleeping cats – nothing too thrilling!”

The two men got to work fixing the faulty thingy while the girls caught up with washing and then they all had a nap before going out for the afternoon drive.

It was 5 o’clock and still hot and they hoped to get the sleeping lions waking up. There was a little action but they were still pretty sleepy.

Then a police car stopped next to the G-Ps “Good afternoon, sir. How are you this afternoon?”

Lady G-P thought they were going to ask for their permit and started reaching for it. But no – “Ma’m about 3km further on, you will find a cheetah. He is on his own and has been there since 1 pm this afternoon.”

“Thank you so much officer. We will check it out!”

Just before they reached the 3km mark, Lady Peigh yelled, “I see him.”

It was overcast and a storm was threatening so the light was dim and if she hadn’t been looking intently she would probably have missed him. Then suddenly he disappeared. “Has he gone over the ridge?”

“No – there he is!” said Lord Peigh. “He’s lying down – how well he camouflages!”

They stayed with him until a car approached and then pointed him out to the occupant. It took quite a while before he could find him.

Back at the lion sighting very little was happening. Mr Leigh pointed out a striped kingfisher in a tree opposite and then they decided to make their way back before it got too late.

The Leighs pointed out the Vereaux’s Eagle-Owl and that was the last sighting of their day.

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A Wild Adventure – Chapter 1 Off to the Kgalagadi

2016-04-21 | puppy1952

A wild adventure with Lord and Lady Grum-Peigh and Mr and Mrs Frend-Leigh is based on a true story. Names have been changed to poorly disguise the true identities of the guilty.

Chapter 1-

“When are the children coming to stay,” asked the First Earl of Struisbaai of his wife after a particularly busy few months of organising building plans and other business matters.

“In just over a fortnight,”said Lady Grum -Peigh.

“Well I feel like getting away somewhere,”said the Lord – “Try and book something.”

So she tried but nothing seemed to work out quite right. Addo was booked up and the only camping available at Kgalagadi was at Twee Rivieren. So she tentatively suggested – “We did have a loose arrangement to join the Frend-Leighs at Kgalagadi if we got the chance – If we leave straight away we could fit in 10 days or so and share their campsites. The only problem is we can’t contact them as there are no internet or cell coms where they are at present.”

“Good idea,” said The Lord ” If they can’t have us we’ll just spend a few days at Twee Rivieren then come home.” And two days later the caravan was packed and sorted for a long trip to the semi-desert. The first night was spent at Molopo Lodge and then the next day (3 March) they were able to enter the park by 8:00 am. They booked two nights at Twee Rivieren where they set up camp and then set off to find their friends.

Luckily Lady Grump-Leigh had their itinerary. They would be making their way from Mata Mata to Rooiputs that day. The latter is just 30 km from Twee Rivieren and so getting there would not take long. “I predict that they will be there around 11ish,” said her Ladyship who knew that Mr Frend-Leigh would make no unnecessary stops along the way. And sure enough they were just about to pin a note to a tree on their allotted campsite when along they came.

“We thought you wouldn’t come!” cried Mrs Frend-Leigh in surprise.

“Sorry we didn’t let you know but we decided at the last minute that we could fit and few days in! We’ll stay at Twee for two nights then come and join you here.”

Rooiputs is rustic, unfenced camp the Botswana side of the park and booking in had to take place at Twee Rivieren. Lady Grum-Peigh duly went to book in but the official on teh Botswana side said they would have to get Mrs Frend-Leigh to check them in personally so it was just as well that they’d booked two nights at Twee Rivieren.

The Grum-Peighs were delighted to be back in the wild and spent the rest of the day enjoying the park.

Wattled Starlings at Samevloeing

The beautiful Namaqua dove eyeing them from a thorny tree

It’s called the Green Kalahari for although there’s little rain when it comes the grass grows and the flowers bloom – Here is a Red Hartebeest enjoying the bounty

The Grum-Peighs were pleased to see large herds of healthy Springbok. Fodder for the lions! It was hot and they wisely found a shady spot to escape the burning sun

Why when there are plenty of waterholes do the creatures drink from puddles in the road? It must contains salts that they crave. Those white specks are butterflies!

The Grum-Peighs found them all over the park in huge numbers

So delicate and pretty

A southern black korhaan had a lot to say!

ADDO ELEPHANT PARK

2016-04-12 | puppy1952

Homestead B&B and Caravan Park is just a few minutes away from the Addo Elephant Park entrance gate. The site provides excellent shade and the ablutions and facilities are adequate and clean. We paid R200 per night. If you can’t get into the Addo Rest Camp this is an excellent alternative. They also have Bed and Breakfast facilities. I forgot to take photographs but rest assured it is great!
We set off for a game drive at about 3:30. What a great afternoon we had. The weather was stunning – clear skies and quite hot. It was great to see plenty of the game grazing on the hillsides and in the veld. There is no shortage of warthogs, red hartebeest, kudu and zebra. And it’s certainly the place to go if you want to see elephants.

The buffalo are fat and healthy and the favourite food of the lions

We found that most of the animals were in the South of the park and that the elephants had spread out and could be seen at most of the waterholes. In the heat of the day they were enjoying themselves in the red muddy holes along with their little friends the warthogs who seem so tiny when seen right next to these gentle giants.

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We left via the South Gate and then had a long drive back to camp but it was worth it. On the way we found a number of delightful birds.

The common but very pretty Cape Glossy Starling

Always friendly – the African Pipit

The red-faced mousebird seldom sits still long enough for a photoshoot so I was delighted to get a reasonable shot of him

And he obliged to pose with his cousin the speckled mousebird

The Southern Boubou tends to hide but he was quite conspicuous on this day

Not just a pretty face but pretty feathers too has the emerald-spotted wood-dove

A Bird of Prey that has me foxed

The evening was warm enough to sit outdoors without a jacket and we enjoyed a braai of ostrich steak and sausage.

We were up before six the next morning and in at the gate by 7. Unfortunately when you are a day visitor you may only enter at 7 so miss the early 6 o’clock opening to the game area.

It is definitely better to stay in the park as you can then easily go back to your camp for a break in the middle of a hot day. We took our breakfast break at Jack’s Picnic Site which is named after Jack the Black Rhino who was one of the first to be brought to Addo. He was kept in the enclosure which is now the picnic site. It has a security gate and well looked after, clean ablutions. The picnic areas are also secluded and shady.

Muesli and Yogurt followed by crackers and olive paste with a cup of coffee at Jack’s

Cape Robin-chat came to check us out but did not like our food.

The bokmakierie is a common resident in the park and showed himself to us quite a few times.

Such a pretty bird

Plenty of these guys in the park

And aren’t the zebra gorgeous

At lunch time we went to the Cattle Baron in the Rest Camp The food was good. I had a chicken salad with a generous amount of grilled chicken strips, greens, tomato and avo and Earl had seared chicken and Camembert with a salad which was delicious. Cost – Around R190 altogether including a glass of wine and 2 beers.

You may alight from your vehicle at certain viewpoints

But entirely at your own risk!

The warthogs are so amusing

A nice muddy bath will do the trick

And even the Dung Beetles are fascinating

Elephants love the glorious mud

The babies are adorable and so well cared for by the moms, aunts and sisters

Before lunch we came upon a traffic jam and were told that there was a lion under a tree – I managed to glimpse it but encouraged Earl to move on and come back later as all it was going to do was sleep for a few hours and it was not worth fighting for a good viewing spot.

When we returned at about 4ish we saw elephants at the nearby waterhole and quite a few cars were parked watching them. Suddenly Earl called – “There’s the lion,” and toward the elephants a lion stealthily crept.

Lions will not drink at the waterhole alongside ellies as they’re afraid of them – for good reason. She soon dropped down behind a bush and then we spotted two others. The elephants were well aware of them and some decided to leave but two remained for ages. One of the younger lions quickly came down and took a few sips and then ran off as fast as she could. We thought she might grab an unsuspecting warthog but he saw in in time and ran for his little life.

The warthog is unaware of the pending danger

But she justs wants a drink

She is the only one of the lions brave enough to sneak a sip or two while the giants ignore her.

Only when they leave do the others come down to drink

This one was the last to arrive from the opposite direction and she was wearing a collar

We left the park at about 5 and it was a short drive to camp. The evening was even hotter than the previous night so we once again sat outdoors in shorts and t-shirt. Quite a difference from our evenings at Warmwaterberg and Buffalo Bay!

We packed up to leave early this morning with the intention of a stop-over at George or Gouritz but we decided in the end to press on and arrived home at half past three. It was a good week away!

Struisbaai -Two Oceans Marlin Competition

2016-02-24 | puppy1952

When there is a fishing festival or event, our quiet little fishing town wakes up and shows its true colours. The Tenth Two Ocean’s Marlin Competition held here last week, ( I mentioned it briefly in a previous post) seemed doomed to failure as the weather provided only one good fishing day which was last Friday. The boats that got to the 45 mile bank were confronted with green and cold water but worked their way back to Halfway House where the water was better and managed to get a few big yellowtail and a Dorado.

Other boats fished outside of the 12 mile bank where they found shoals of small yellowfin tuna. No marlin were hooked but some were sighted.

It’s a marlin competition so no other species counts for the trophy. So when the weatherman predicted that Sunday’s conditions would be perfect, they decided to extend the competition by one day! And this is how the competition was saved with one boat catching and releasing a 90kg marlin, the only one caught, thus winning the competition!

Our harbour was graced with many beautiful boats and brought many locals and visitors down to have a look.

Some of the boats that graced our harbour

Gwaza is done for the day

I love the name of this boat!

And this one – translation – Hectic Leaks

@Work – Good name – Fun Boat

@Work’s towing vehicle – Just love it!

Black Pearl with crew on board

Le Boss coming back after a fun day at sea

And Marco Polo are the winners!

The seagulls certainly welcomed them as did our friendly stingrays who were only to happy to accept the scraps from fish cleaning that were thrown into the sea.

Waiting for a hand-out

Dozens of Cape Gulls – adults and juveniles

Fish guts are a great meal for a gull

This juvenile Kelp Gull nabs a sanck

Others want a bit too!

One of the stingrays

Suidpunt Deep Sea Angling Club were amazing hosts and each evening good food and company was provided.

A lovely braai being prepared

The amazing catering team

The prize-giving was a happy affair and there were some lovely prizes handed out.

A great new tackle box.

The winning team – Skipper – Rikus holding the trophy

Enjoying the prize-giving

Share your world Week 8 2016

2016-02-23 | puppy1952

Here are my answers to Cee’s Share Your World Week 8

What household chore do you absolutely hate doing?

Cleaning windows. I don’t mind any other household chores but somehow the cleaning of windows is too much for me – I just can’t get them clean. So I never clean them – instead I employ somebody else to do it. It’s well worth the money.

What was the last URL that you bookmarked?

It was about making a Banting Toasted sandwich – but I haven’t tried it yet! Low Carb toasted sandwich

Close your eyes. Listen to your body. What part of your body is seeking attention? What is it telling you?

My stomach is telling me that I am hungry. I’ve been busy doing household chores, made the salad and am now ready for some flash fried tuna. (Hubby is going to make it!)

Would you rather have a two-bedroom apartment in a big city of your choosing or a mansion in the country side in the state or country where you currently live?

I am happy with the house at the sea-side where I live. My caravan is also an attractive option. The mansion would require too much time doing household chores – imagine all those windows!

Bonus question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?

I am grateful for the stunning weather we’ve been having -lovely sunny days but not too hot and we’ve even had a shower or two of much needed rain. I’m making the most of the sunny days and usually have a morning and afternoon swim in the sea. Whatever the coming week has to offer I am sure I’m going to love it.

Share your World – Week 7

2016-02-18 | puppy1952

These are my answers to Cee’s Share Your World Questions

What are you a “natural” at doing?

This is a difficult one. There is nothing that I am really very good at. I throw myself into all sorts of things and enjoy them but I don’t ever reach very high levels. The one thing I do find is natural to me is relating to children.

I also find all things computer related easy to learn and I enjoy teaching others how to use their devices.

Would you prefer a one floor house or multiple levels?

When I was a child I always wanted to live in a double story house and my wish came true at age 13 and I loved the house on the mountainside that we lived in. It’s the only double story I’ve lived in and it had a view of the sea.

What was your favorite subject in school?

English and Typing. The most important and useful things I ever learnt at school was how to read and how to type. But I also enjoyed History and Accountancy.

Complete this sentence: If only the rain..

If only the rain would fall in the drought stricken areas of South Africa. It’s the worst drought we’ve had in 30 years. The crops are failing and the food prices are rising. People travelling to the worst affected areas are taking drinking water with them. Hopefully relief will come soon. In South Africa we don’t complain about rainy days – well hardly ever.

“What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?”

I am grateful for new friends made and old friends who remain good friends.

I am looking forward to whatever the new week brings – hopefully a drop in the galing south easterly wind so that the fishermen can go out and compete in the Marlin competition here in Struisbaai, Western Cape, South Africa

A Cape Bird Club Outing to False Bay Ecology Park

2016-02-10 | puppy1952

Although I arrange the outings programme for The Cape Bird Club, living in Struisbaai prevents me from attending most of them. Circumstances brought me to Cape Town for a few days which became extended for another week so I was delighted to be able to attend February’s weekday outing led by my friend, Heather.

How lovely that the sun was shining and the wind not blowing too strongly. We had a group of about 12 – four in each car.

A Perfect Day for Birding

False Bay Ecology Park consists of a number of ponds which boast a variety of birdlife and at this time of the year it is good for waders. These birds are difficult to identify specially when they’re far away and there is no telescope available. However, our leader was amazing and with lots of discussion with other good birders and referring to the field guide we managed to agree on what they were. We were delighted to find greenshank, curlew, ruff, little stint, three banded plover and Kitlitz plover. Here are two of them.

Common Greenshank behind, Ruff in front.

These little stints were taken by me on another occasion

Swallows are often found near water, as are brown throated martins. We found Barn Swallows and Martins but the white-throated and striped swallows were conspicuous by their absence.

Barn Swallows

Every pond was great to see and we spent three happy hours exploring and admiring the birdlife. We got a list of 57 species and hereunder are photos of just a few.

Moorhen

Black-winged Stilt

The African Jacana shouldn’t be here but he hasn’t read the field guide.

Shelducks are infrequent visitors to FBEP – Heather’s way of remembering which one is the female? The female wears white face powder.

The graceful pelican

A zitting cisticola

FBEP is famous for its greater flamingos (in front) so but today some Lesser Flamingos (behind) joined them

Lesser flamingos have maroon bills with a black tip – juveniles have a dark bill with black tip

A flamboyance of Lesser Flamingos

Spur-winged Geese

Black-shouldered Kite

This Kittlitz Plover tried to attract us away from its chick.

The chick sat dead still and was beautifully camouflaged – we had a peep then left them in peace.

One can also find bokkies in the park – this is a grysbok

It was great meeting new people and catching up with members I know. We all had a jolly good time.

Our leader on the left

Banting’s Little Secret

2016-02-05 | puppy1952

Diet is a four-letter word and quite frankly the topic is quite tedious. However, in the recent past so many people have brought up the subject with me with the words – You’re looking so well/how do you maintain your shape/what do you eat/ etc. etc So I thought I’d write a bit about it again.

I am certainly no expert and I can’t even explain the science behind Banting (Low Carb High Fat Diet) I’m just not clever enough to remember all that I’ve read about it. All I can say is that it works for me. It is controversial and I don’t pretend to know all the pros of cons of low fat vs high fat and Low Carb vs High carb. But those who know me well, know that I have had a lifelong battle keeping my weight to within normal limits and it’s always been on the higher side of normal! I have tried every single diet known to man and all of them have worked. BUT none of them have kept my weight stable. The reason for this is because they only work while you’re on them. The minute you try to eat normally the weight comes back and you have to start from square one. Eating out and socialising is problematic unless you have an iron-strong willpower. The thing is I love socialising and eating is part of socialising. I do have willpower but I have a good appetite too. I exercise a lot and I get hungry! I don’t believe in depriving myself of the odd treat either. All my life I have had a deep affection for chocolate and use it like a drug to cheer myself up when I’m having a bad day, get frustrated or feel depressed. And believe me when you’re a teacher, chocolate on the food pyramid has an essential group all of its own.

Before reading The Real Meal Revolution I used to tell everybody that the best way to lose weight and keep it off was to eat FAT FREE. For years that was what I tried to stick to. It was relatively easy and it worked but still my weight fluctuated because I cheated too much. When I was in a good routine and ate 5 meals a day it worked. When I was stressed and rushed and not eating breakfast before school, it was not so great – I tried but I was always hungry because I had no time to eat properly!

THEN – I started to notice people who were Banting were doing really well. My daughter and son-in-law lost their (hardly noticeable) podge. Their friend invited us to dinner and told me that everything we had was Banting – I couldn’t believe it. She’d lost lots of weight too. She lent me the book and I read it with great interest.

I was chomping morning rusk, reading the book when I had an AHA moment. Just one sentence – If you don’t have any fat in your diet you will die. If you don’t have any sugar/carbs in your diet – you won’t die. All the scientific facts were read and understood but this sentence convinced me. I would try it! I threw away the rusk and started right then and there in a mountain cottage next to beautiful lake in KZN.

That was nine months ago. I have dropped 5kg and there has been no fluctuation in my weight. But that is not the important part – what’s actually kept me on it for so long is the fact that I am no longer hungry. I eat 2 meals a day and I don’t crave snacks – at all!

That’s because eating proper food satisfies you. It is the empty calorie carbohydrates that make you hungry and cause you to crave more. And Banting Food is delicious.

Tim Noakes says – it’s not for everyone. I believe if you’ve never had a problem with your health and weight, carry on doing what you’re doing. BUT if you’ve struggled, if you’re pre-diabetic, if you have ANY health issues and if you’re always hungry why not go and see your doctor and ask about the possibility of going changing to Banting. Read the book and become informed and then give it a try! It’s the best thing I ever did.