Struisbaai and Arniston – Birding with friends

2015-10-03 | puppy1952

We are having a very special weekend with friends from Cape Town. Tommy and Earl have been fishing friends since the 1990s and we have shared some great times together. What a pleasure to meet his new partner, Megan, for only the second time and so great to see how happy they are together. It’s never too late to find love and happiness.

Tommy and Megan arrived late Friday afternoon armed with supplies and insisting that they were going to provide supper! Megan immediately made herself at home in my inadequate kitchen and whipped up a delicious sweet potato and vegetable roast, salad and baked apples for dessert. The apples were cored and drizzled with honey and cinnamon and stuffed with slices of Bar One. The guys made a fire and Earl braaied the meat to perfection.

Megan at work on the Baked Apples

The men relaxing

The Braai Masters

After a delicious meal we chatted till late and then decided that bed would be good as the guys wanted to fish the next day.

I woke to the sound of voices in the lounge and went to investigate. Everyone was sitting in pyjamas. “What happened to the fishing?” I asked – Too windy came the reply. What? It looked like a perfect day to me but the signs of inclement weather, they assured me, were there.

So after an “Early” breakfast we set of on a birding excursion. A few weeks ago Tommy and Megan had done a birding day with some local farmers and they chalked up a list of 60 species. “We need to beat that by at least one,” Tommy insisted.

So starting with a few species in our garden we set off, girls at the back and boys in front. But why we did this I do not know because whenever we stopped Tommy hopped out to give his girlfriend a kiss! I offered to swap places but he declined.

The birding was fast and fun. We ticked off specie after specie and enjoyed every one we spotted. We put out positive vibes into the ether and saw almost everything on our wishlist. Earl was determined to find a kingfisher and as we were chatting about the malachite, pied and giant which were possibles, Tommy reminisced about the first time he’d seen a giant and Megan said she’d never seen one. Seconds later what should we see but a beautiful Giant Kingfisher. It flew and we thought we’d missed the photo but Tommy found him and with a bit of maneuvering of the car I managed to get a decent shot.

Giant Kingfisher – Lifer for Megan

Our destination was Arniston and we birded happily all the way until we decided to get a move so as not to miss the low tide, the cave being a must see.

Here are some of the birds we saw.

Our National Bird

Blue Crane on nest

Two Ibis species – Sacred and Glossy

A third Ibis species – Spoonbill

Avocet upon her nest

Stilts

Grey Heron with coot in background

Spur-winged geese

Yellow-billed kite

Cape Longclaw

Jackal Buzzard

Finally we arrived at Arniston and headed straight to the cave. It’s a slippery walk over the rocks but not at all arduous if the tide is low. We had to be a tad careful as we were doing it on the incoming tide.

The route to the cave

Inside looking out to sea

Tommy

Megan

Both of them

It’s dark inside so photgraphy is difficult

Exiting via the tunnel

That was fun

We had to take this pic of the lovers at a heart shaped rock formation

Then we went to the harbour to see what had been caught – nothing worth buying I’m afraid but it was an interesting visit.

Fishermen

After this little visit we went to have a drink at the hotel

The traditional fishing village is also worth a visit.

We birded some more on our return trip and chalked up 72 species in all. How proud we were of this! Back in Struisbaai we went to the fish shop to buy fish much to my disgust as I never eat bought fish – I will settle for nothing less than fresh caught by my husband. But Tommy insisted as he loves Earl’s “Gebakte Vis”

Well it turned out to be not so bad and we had a wonderful meal of beer battered fried red fish and vegetables followed by fruit and ice cream.

Tomorrow – we might just go fishing!

Retiring Adventurously – Heritage Weekend – Struisbaai and Breede River

2015-09-28 | puppy1952

Weekends and Long weekends mean nothing to one when one’s retired as every day is a holiday. It’s only when somebody rings to say they want to come to stay that one realises that something special is happening.

Our darling daughter, Laurie, sometimes known as Lolz, came to spend the Heritage Weekend with us here in Struisbaai. “But Mom, You need to meet my friend Cara’s parent – they’ll be at Breede River – would’t you l like to spend Saturday there and spend the night?

Well, why not? We haven’t got anything better to do and we’ve heard a lot about Cara’s parents over the years and the girls have often said, “you guys have so much in common – you really need to meet.” When one’s kids are little, you meet the parents of their friends but when they grow up, you tend not to. So we agreed that this would be a good idea.

Lolz arrived at 7:14 pm on Wednesday evening and we went to Pelican Harbour Cafe for dinner. Not the best supper we’ve ever had there but still a pleasant evening. Earl’s ribs were okay but our grilled calamari was a bit fishy in taste and we left half of it.

Daddy and Daughter

Enjoying the old photographs of Struisbaai

It looked good and usually it is!

The next day Lolz had to do some work – she’d taken Friday off so needed to do work to make up for it.

We did some garden work and found this tiny tortoise the size of a small urchin shell and smaller than the leaf it was next to.

Lolz needed to get some air after working hard most of the day and so we went for a walk on our beautiful beach.

The harbour

Lolz

View from the boardwalk

On Friday she needed to work some more and I did quite a bit of ‘hooking’. She saw my crochet work and ordered a set of placemats!

We decided to make Banting pizzas for supper! The local fish shop stocks Banting products and we bought psyllium husks from them. I prepared the cauliflower mash and Lolz mixed this with the psyllium husks to make the pizza bases. We baked them in the convection oven and then added the toppings. I had no faith that this would work but to be honest the pizzas were divine – even better than normal pizza – But if you decide to do it, don’t expect it to be anything like normal pizza. The base is nothing like a normal pizza base. I never liked Pizza bases – I always felt sick after eating Pizza as much as I like eating them at the time. But the cauliflower/psyllium husk base was just delicious and no after effects! We put our favourite topping on top – cheese, feta, olives, creamed spinach, olives and avo after.

A canary loving our garden

Lolz making Pizza

Me eating Banting Pizza

On Saturday we were packed with towels and bedding and ready to leave by 9:00 am. We stopped to pick up a dozen pre-ordered croissants from O K Grocer and then shopped in Bredasdorp for our braai.

Our first stop was at my sister at Riverine, Breede River. Her son, Robert was there with his wife Katja and baby Matthew. There is another little great nephew on the way!

Matty waiting for Granny’s scones

Tucking into scones

The croissants weren’t bad either

But Matty prefers his Grandma’s scones

Mom, I need a jammer lappie!

Boy having fun

Robs still love his mommy

Lolz, Tana, Earl

Brian, Robs

After a couple of lovely hours catching up with family we made our way to Lemoentuin to meet Laurie’s friends. L Cara and Laurie have been friends since they spent a year working in London. The girls have always wanted their parents to meet and this weekend it finally happened. What a stunning time we had! In spite of it being a cold and wet weekend we had the most amazing time. As the girls predicted we immediately clicked with Doug and Bridget as we have so much in common.

We had an early braai so that we could go to The Boathouse Pub to watch the Rugby.

The gang - Earl, Doug, Lolz, Justin and Cara

The gang – Earl, Doug, Lolz, Sean and Cara

Watching the Boks beat Somoa – Cara, Heather, Earl, Sean

The Boathouse, Breede River

I’m not really big on watching sport but it is after all The World Cup – so I got quite excited to see the Boks doing so well. Last week we ate Sushi – with disastrous results – On this day we had a traditional braai with boerewors and obviously this bode well and we crushed the Samoans! Go Bokke!

After the match we took Doug and Bridget home, enjoyed a cup of coffee and chat and then retired to bed.

Next morning the kids cooked breakfast on the skottel and we finally made our way back to Struisbaai. The dirt roads were muddy and slippery but luckily we can go anywhere in a Land Rover. But oh wow just look at the designer mud!

Earl getting rid of the mud

Retiring in Struisbaai – Boks Vs Japs and “No, I don’t have empty nest syndrome”

2015-09-24 | puppy1952

Saturday 19 September 2015

Weekends in Struisbaai are just an extension of the week and sometimes I don’t even know what day it is. But I listen to the radio more than I ever did before and was alerted to the fact that there is a Rugby World Cup on the go and that the Bokke were playing Japan today. After our usual chores and faffing about we decided to go for a walk on the windy beach at about 3ish today. We spotted several fans dressed in green in preparation for the game later in the evening. Of course we planned to watch but the scenes on the beach got our attention first. We complain about the wind and weather but for some the conditions are perfect for their sport. It’s just an attitude of mind isn’t it.

It was a perfect day for windsurfing

Wow – what a jump

After our walk we decided to drive to a fish shop in Agulhas and get Sushi for supper – what were we thinking!

Earl, who won Springbok colours for Fishing in 1971 and 1972 didn’t even have a green tracksuit top or any other green garment having left them all in Cape Town so I made him wear the only green thing I could find in the house.

Earl settled in my pretty “Bok” scarf watching the game

Earl tucking into Japanes sushi on the night of the Big Game

Earl tucking into Japanese sushi on the night of the Big Game – no wonder we lost! We should have eaten Boerewors!

We were devastated to lose but hey – the Japs played brilliantly and I was secretly happy for the underdogs.

I woke up this morning at the disgracefully late hour of a quarter to eight. There was nothing urgent awaiting my attention and I felt deliciously guilty languishing a few minutes longer. Earl stirred and said, Why are you awake so early? How funny is that!

I got to thinking that I am living this decadent life and not doing anything worthy. What, I thought, should I do about this. I can’t go on just doing exactly as I please. I no longer have people relying on me. For most of my life I’ve been somebody’s daughter, sister, niece, mother, wife, teacher, friend. All these roles involved seeing to it that everybody’s needs were met. Those years of looking after the very young and the very old are now over. No aged relatives require my attention. No very small children need me to care for them. My own children are well over 30, the two older grandchildren are entering their final school years and the others live far away. Suddenly I don’t have any responsibilities! —— No – I don’t have empty nest syndrome. After all it is I who left the nest. And no – I don’t want to do anything worthy – I like this decadent lifestyle that I’m living. For the time being anyway!

After gym and a gloriously long shower, I opened the window to behold a beautiful sunny day. “Let’s go to the beach for brekkie”, I suggested to the lazy beloved. He readily agreed and soon we found ourselves at Pelican Harbour Cafe ordering bacon and eggs and coffee.

One can never get tired of this view

Our lovely waitress serving us excellent coffee

The Alfresco breakfast was great as food eaten outdoors always is.

After breakfast we went to the local school to buy tickets for their upcoming concert. It was break and the kids were in the playground. It’s a tiny independent school with classes from Nursery and Grade R to Grade 7. It is duel medium and as there are no more than 50 kids in the school they combine the grade so there are about five classes in all. The teachers were having tea and we tentatively knocked and asked if we could buy tickets. They were delighted and one of the staff took us to the small office to oblige our request. I asked if they had a volunteer programme and she immediately called the principal who said she’d love to take my details. I emphasised that I wouldn’t commit to anything regular but if they needed a relief teacher or somebody to help with reading I’d be happy to help. So much for dismissing my guilt about doing something worthy!

Retirement in Struisbaai – The Agricultural Show in Bredasdorp

2015-09-17 | puppy1952

Today I was up at 7:15 and did a session of gym. Earl thought the world has come to an end or something – and staggered through to the lounge where I have my gym set up – and said – What the heck are you doing at this unearthly hour?! (hahaha I used to get up at 5:30 when I was teaching!) I said – “Well you want to go to the Agricultural Show in Bredasdorp later on and I know you will be rushing me so I’m getting ready now! He thought I’d truly lost it. But I missed doing a session yesterday so thought I’d better get one in today.

Earl cooked brekkie and then we set off for The Agricultural Show and got there at about 10:30. I thought – this is going to be boring – but actually it was great! It wasn’t only tractors and farm tools. I loved the animals – cute miniature horses were the best and the most amazingly attractive goats! Don’t laugh!

An adorable miniature horse with an old granny going gaga over it

Isn’t the baby toooo adorable

Can’t remember what these are called but they’re so cute

Donkey and foal

This is where your milk comes from!

Fascinating Llamas – remind me of Dr Doolittle’s push-me-pull-yous

Couldn’t resist a piccie of the peacocks

We also went to the 4X4 and camping stalls and bought a gazebo type tent – almost a cross between a gazebo and tent.

We got a tent like this one

We also got some good ideas about be vegetable gardening in different types of containers. Stored those away for the future.

Good idea – veggies planted in drain pipes

Another good idea

We were amused at a convoy of old tractors passing by and compared them to the unbelievable modern farming equipment used today! WOW the new tractors and combine harvesters etc are HUGE.

Earl wanted to check out solar panels and that kind of thing and my bag got fuller and fuller of pamphlets and business cards.

Deep interest in the solar panels

There were also clothing and jewellery stalls which Earl tried to drag me past but he was sweet enough to buy me a very nice necklace

Some nice boots here

My sweet husband bought me this pretty necklace

We found ourselves in the shearing shed where they were talking about wool in Afrikaans and there was a woman spinning which fascinated me. She allowed me to take a photograph of her and then I went to browse the products while Earl watched a champion shearer shear a huge male sheep. I missed that (so no photos) because I got into conversation with the spinner who had the loveliest range of wool and cotton yarns – Nurturing Fibres

Turned out we actually know the spinners mom!

As you know I am now into knitting and crochet and there is limited variety of yarns here in Struisbaai! She gave me three free balls to try and asked me to persuade the Hekel tannie I take classes with to order from her. I bought another three balls of her organic cotton yarn and plan to make some place mats for the braai room table.

At lunch time we found a stall selling waterblommetjie bredie which I’ve never had but always wanted to try. Do you remember the TV show Nommer Asseblief? It was often mentioned in that show.

Earl looking horrified at the size of the portion

It was delicious! And if I can ever lay my hands on waterblommetjies I will make it myself!

The four hours we spent at the show flew by and we were well pleased with all we purchased – lemon infused olives, droerwors from the “hectic biltong” stall, a lovely necklace, my yarn and the tent.

Retiring in Struisbaai – Starting a Garden

2015-09-12 | puppy1952

Our Struisbaai house has always been one where we went for the odd weekend or school holiday. It holds many memories and has been through a number of changes but one thing that has never changed is the garden – or more accurately, the lack thereof. It is a secluded garden with a scruffy lawn and a the main feature a large, protected, milkwood tree which may not be removed or trimmed without the supervision of a conservation officer. Now while it was a holiday house, this did not matter as we were just grateful to have a garden with a braai area that was not visible to the passing parade. But now that we reside here permanently we feel that we should make an effort and get some sort of garden established.

The neighbours gum trees are overhanging the scruffy rockery which is full of dead leaves

I have this ‘big idea’ to start a vegetable garden. Now I know nothing about gardening. My garden in Cape Town is not exactly a show piece. It is tiny and just passes for neat with many bare patches that should have a few more plants than it currently boasts. I have a garden service in to do the lawn and edges and to sweep up the leaves. The pool is a chore that is left to my daughter and grandsons.

But now that I’m retired I have this urge to grow things, to make something of the expanse of nothing on my beach-side plot. So why not turn it into a self-sufficient sort of holding. Why not grow some vegetables? I suggest this to the man of the house. He looks somewhat horrified. What? Yes – why don’t we grow some veggies and maybe a few herbs and indigenous flowers? He looks at me as if I’ve taken leave of my senses. Retirement has driven me insane. Perhaps he should send me back to school. But instead he humours me and on a brief trip back to Cape Town drops in at Stodels in Kenilworth and purchases 6 containers suitable for growing vegetables in.

Now I’ve mentioned the milkwood tree. It’s huge and dominates our front garden. But the birds love it and we love birds. My darling husband also brings home a glazed, cement birdbath. Yay – this will attract the feathered friends. We place the bath beside the braai which is in front of the tree and also put a feeder with a perching rock on the shelf next to the braai. We can put seed on this for the birds. These features already improve the look of the garden.

Glazed cement bird bath

On Friday we get stuck into starting the garden. I decide to start small. We employ a labourer to help with the heavy lifting, chopping and cutting. A visit to Tolbos Nursery ends with the acquisition of flowers for the nursery and the hardware shops provides the garden tools, compost and fertiliser.

An afternoon of toiling and tilling results in aching backs, a cut on Earl’s hand where the saw fell when he released it from its place in the garage and a slightly neater looking plot! We’ve plant a rockery and one of the containers is sporting some butter lettuce.

Sawing the branches was quite a chore

Looking neater

The rockery

The birds are already excited. The rockery’s hollows hold fresh water and they seem to appreciate this greatly. I counted four robins – one a juvenile – several wagtails, some grey-headed sparrows, one yellow bishop and lots and lots of white-eyes and doves.

Robin loves the rockery

Grey-headed sparrow perching on a the stone in the bird feeder

Sunbirds visit our garden too but this one was very funny. She thought she’d found a friend and had a jolly good chat to her.

A Visit to The Breede River

2015-09-07 | puppy1952

Spring really smiled brightly and presented us with a glorious day on Saturday. After breakfast we bade farewell to Barbara and Andrew and packed an overnight bag and made our way to Riverine on the Breede River to visit my sister and brother-in-law who were spending the weekend at their holiday house there.

We arrived at lunchtime and after taking sitting on the jetty and taking in the amazing view of the river we sat on the patio and enjoyed Tana’s delicious chicken salad.

The Breede River

The house

Sisters

After lunch we took a drive to Cape Infanta.

Relaxing together

Brian and Tana

Me, Brian, Tana

The Southern Right Whale blowing a V shape

His fin

More of him

Perfect day for fishing

Lovely place to walk along the sand

Little Egret in the shallows

Earl found this rock kestrel

We passed a farm that had emus!

And a rhebok

A Denham’s Bustard was a highlight

So after this lovely day we returned and Tana cooked us a delicious lamb curry and after chatting we went to bed after 10. We had a late lie in on Sunday before enjoying Brian’s breakfast and then took a long walk around Riverine. Then it was back to Struisbaai!

Thanks Tana and Brian for a stunning weekend.

Kokstad visits Struisbaai

2015-09-07 | puppy1952

I have often blogged about our Kokstad Clan as we frequently venture to KZN to visit them and to indulge in some of our favourite activities. There are one or two good game parks there, the fly fishing is excellent and there is some wonderful birdlife – not to mention the very warm and friendly people to whom we are related!

Barbara and Andrew have been part of my life ever since I met Earl when they gathered me into the bosom of the family without hesitation. There are many happy memories of holidays spent on their farm Brooklyn where they still live. Their first three children fitted in with the ages of our first two and their younger two with our youngest and all eight got on very well together.

Their visits to Cape Town are rare so when they announced they were coming down to visit Barbara’s brother and do the Flowers, we were thrilled. They spent a few days with us here in Struisbaai and we had a wonderful time.

It was a lovely day on Thursday so after an “Earlie” breakfast we took a drive to Brandvlei. The birding en route was productive and we marvelled at all the water that was lying around after the recent rains.

Three banded plover

There were hundreds of spur-wing geese

Flying over the temporary water

My favourite photogenic duck – Yellow-billed duck

Black-winged stilt looking his best

Such long legs

Red-billed teal joined in the fun

Red-knobbed coots

We liked this picturesque cottage

With farm geese in front

Barbara’s more into flowers than birds

The wind was quite chilly at Brandvlei but we took a walk down the beautiful beach

White-fronted flowers were racing up and down the shoreline

White-fronted plovers were racing up and down the shoreline

The gulls always pose beautifully

Barbara and Andrew

Something on the rocks got Earl’s attention

It was good to let the wind blow through our hair

We then made our way back the same way before heading to Arniston.

Earl was intrigued to see a pond boiling with carp – where had they come from?

Some locals took the opportunity to catch them with their hands!

Nice one!

Bokmakierie captured our attention

This heron probably got lucky

Special to see white-faced ducks

Fishermen in the rough sea at Arniston

Beautiful beach – but tide too high to explore the cave

We had lunch at the hotel and then made our way home.

This Denham’s bustard was one of the highlights

On Friday I showed Barbara our village and all it’s special little shops. We were having a really good time but the men missed us and at lunch time rang for us to return. We then took a drive to Agulhas and had coffee and cheesecake at Potpourri!

It was delicious

It was a short but very pleasant trip and we will be seeing them again in the Christmas holidays! That would make it the third time this year!

Struisbaai – finally settling into our retirement home

2015-09-06 | puppy1952

We were supposed to move semi-permanently to Struisbaai in March this year but Life happened and we found ourselves on several adventures before we could take the first step.

So this is a catch up of what has been happening since we returned from our Namibian Trip.

On 25 July we came up for our first stint to Struisbaai, dropped in at Toyota Bredasdorp where we traded in my beloved Volkswagen Caravelle and took ownership of a brand new Toyota Avanza.

I shall miss my bus which has transported family and friends, school-kids and grandkids on many amazing trips in the utmost comfort. But after 10 years and a Land Rover to take her place we decided to get a smaller run around for Struisbaai and surrounds and leave the Landy for towing boat and caravan.

We’ve learned to cook for two, to not worry about what the rest of the family were doing and to simply enjoy each other’s company. Because we both had kids when we met we’ve never lived alone together and we have not had the luxury of empty nest syndrome either! It has been blissfully peaceful.

So what do we do all day? Well – the house needs maintenance and Earl is busy with that. He is also drawing plans for our extension and once the building begins he will be busy supervising that.

For years I have been up before 6 every morning and thought I would never get out of the habit but now we sleep in until 8 most days and what luxury that is!

My day begins with a 45 minute workout – I have a mini gym in the lounge – amazing what you can do in a small space. Earl has set up my TRX I have kettle bells, a skipping rope and a pilates ball and I use the passage for shuttles. Then after my shower we have a leisurely breakfast. There is of course the housework, laundry and shopping to do and we can take as long as we like over that.

Many years ago I used to knit, sew and crochet and do crafty things and I am slowly taking it up again. So I listen to the radio of podcasts and knit! It doesn’t make for interesting blogging but it’s what I do for many hours!

Struisbaai is a lovely little place and there is the beach and lovely birding drives and walks too too. We are not bored.

The harbour

A gull on the beach

A dog made friends with Earl

The Pelican Harbour Cafe serves a good breakfast and sitting outside in the winter sun is sooo pleasant

Earl chatting to a local fisherman

We have been back to Cape Town a couple of times for a funeral and business appointments but we are now here till November.

Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park – Saffies and Aussies on Safari – Day 23 and 24

2015-07-15 | puppy1952

24 June 2015 Bitterpan

We hear lions this morning but none appear at the waterhole. We cook breakfast, chat to our neighbours and exchange details then leave for Twee Rivieren.
It is another roller coaster ride over the dunes and the scenery is great. We then take the dune road toward the Nossob – Twee Rivieren road but we have only a few sightings.

Affectionate jackals

A secretary bird

Big herds of Springbok

Ostriches descending rapidly from the ridge of a dune

Gemsbok at a waterhole

It is our grandson, Jay’s eighteenth birthday today. We have had no internet or cell phone coms so are delighted to be able to ring him when we get to Twee Rivieren – the only camp where such luxuries are available.

Happy Birthday, my boy – What’s that you say – You’ve been selected for Western Province Fishing?

Doesn’t Earlybird look cute with my pink iphone on his ear? The exciting news of Jay being selected for Western Province delights him. Watch out Shelly Beach – Here comes Jay!

We spend the afternoon relaxing and have a braai for dinner.

25 June 2015 Twee Rivieren

We set off early and are the first car in the queue. I tell Earlybird he is making a mistake choosing the Mata Mata road as it was very quiet in March and we had had all our good sightings on the Nossob road.

“The fact that we saw nothing yesterday,” I said, “is because it was the wrong time of day.”
I don’t like travelling at 40 km/hr. It is too fast in a game reserve. As we whiz by I see something right on the side of the road and yell, “Stop – lion!”

Earlybird sees it at the same time a skids to a halt. We’ve almost passed a pride of 8. The two males are proudly watching their cubs while the moms cross over to the other side of the road.

We are the only car for half an hour – nobody else comes while we’re there. We move on and alert several others as we pass them. It’s fun to see their bored expressions change when they realise that good a sighting is coming up soon!
Lions are not the only exciting things to see in a game reserve. We are very excited at our next observation.

There was a whole family of these cute little meerkats

There was a whole family of meerkats – on the wrong side of the road for good light – and this chap was taking his guard duty very seriously

Gemsbok having a confrontation

Erich’s favourite surveying the world from the top of a dune

Male and female yellow canaries singing sweetly

Marico Flycatcher looking dapper

It was interesting to see this little steenbok digging for roots with its front hooves

I have to take back my words about this being the wrong road to take today – because in addition to our lions and other creatures we have three cheetah sightings

After we have breakfast at Kamqua picnic site we drive on a bit further toward Mata Mata and find some cars parked. They tell us we’ve missed three cheetahs trying to get lunch. Then we see them!

We follow them as they make their way through the bush.

We think they may try to hunt again but instead they lie down under a tree and so we leave them in peace.

Soon after this we spot another cheetah, on her own, sitting up on the ridge. She then walks along the ridge and disappears down the other side.

As we travel on Earlybird stops and says – Look at that gemsbok – We look and see his is standing stock still and staring up onto the dune ridge. We scan with our binoculars and after a few minutes I spot her.

She starts to move towards the springbok and gemsbok. They all move away and the springbok cross to the other side of the road.

We drive up the hill toward Killie Krankie to get a better view. She is patient and does not move for ages.

Eventually we leave as all the animals are aware of her and she won’t hunt today.

As we travel back to TR cars stop us to say they have seen the lions but when we get back to the spot they are no longer there. What a fabulous last day we have had.

Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park – Saffies and Aussies on Safari – Day 22

2015-07-14 | puppy1952

23 June 2015

I am late for school – again. I rush into the building and race toward where I think my classroom is but I can’t seem to find it. I panic – the girls will be fretting, wondering where I am. They won’t know what to do. Some will be crying – I dash across courtyard after courtyard searching for a familiar room but mine does not appear and there’s a lion roaring really close by. He’s getting closer – I must find my classroom!

A distant voice yells, “Lion! Lion! Get up there’s a lion outside.”

I wake up – it is just the same recurring dream – I am at Gharagab and finally a lion has come calling.

It is 5:15 and it is Earl who alerts me to the lion’s roar. We listen but it does not come again. We check the water hole – no sign of them. Earl gets dressed and sits at the glass door, while I snuggle under the blankets a little longer. When it’s light I get up too. The Schoffls have heard them too and Erich says he heard the first roars far off at 3 earlier this morning. While Earlybird is packing Dawid comes to show him the spoor of two lions going past our cabin – so they were here!

At 7:30 on the dot Earlybird has us in the car and off in search of the cats. We find spoor on the road and just near Dankbaar water hole, Eagle-eye Wendy calls, “what’s that?” and there in the grass sit two beautiful young black-maned lions.

We are delighted that the lions are still in the area and that we found them!

Eagle Eye Wendy spots something again. “Are those ant hills or animals?” she says.

We scan with our binos and at first see nothing then they materialize – 7 very cute suricate a but quite a distance away. How did she spot them!

We are delighted with this lovely sighting and continue to enjoy the steenbok that appear quite often, red hartebeest in playful mood and gemsbok getting their morning exercise by racing across the veld.

It’s a long trip over the desert dunes and much like a rollers coaster ride. We are delighted by the Disco 4’s performance.

We stop at all the waterholes but apart from some bird activity there is little to see.

At Nossob we have brunch at the picnic site.

Upon arrival at Bitterpan we see another CA Land Rover. Another couple arrive just after us – Dave and Jeanette from Hogsback. The land rover owner introduces himself as Lee and we chat for a whole. Later his wife Shannon joins us. The six of us braai together but Dave and Jeanette decide to do their own.

We have a delightful evening.

Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park – Saffies and Aussies on Safari – Days 19,20,21

2015-07-13 | puppy1952

20 June 2015 to 22 June 2015

We spend the next three days at an unfenced wilderness camp – Gharagab. The last time we were there Earlybird was sick and confined to bed for the duration of our visit. On that occasion we had a variety of buck, lions, brown hyena and jackals visit daily. So I am looking forward to a similar experience this time. That is the mistake one makes in the bush – it is never the same from one visit to the next and this visit will prove.

Gharagab is a 160 km drive from Nossob, the last stretch being a 4×4 track so the trip takes several hours.

The track to Gharagab

Here are some pictures of what we see on the way.

Kori Bustard

Fawn-coloured Lark

Burchell’s Sandgrouse

We arrive have Cabin 3 and 4. Both have lovely views of the waterhole.

We also have some close neighbours

Our home for three nights

Red-headed finches are regular visitors

The sunsets are stunning.

And the braai master produced magnificent meals

The sociable weavers are not garden birds so the fact that they have become so tame is intriguing. I have never seen them as confiding as they are here at. Clearly they have worked out that titbits are easy to come by.

We have many feathered visitors

Yellow Canary

Glossy Starlings

Black-chested prinia

Erich enjoying the view

Earl on the deck

A jackal right near our deck

One of Earl’s best moon shots

Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park – Saffies and Aussies on Safari – Day 18

2015-07-12 | puppy1952

Friday 19 June Cheetah Day

I wake at quarter to six and get up at quarter past – it is freezing! I wrap myself in a rug and go to the loo. My ablutions are quick and I get dressed under the blankets! Today I don a pair of thermal tights under my jeans. I can’t feel the ends of my fingers even though I wrap them in a warm pair of gloves. Packing up is painful and takes twice as long as with warm hands!

The temperature registers at -2 in the car and goes down to -3. Thank Goodness for an effective air-con in the car as soon we warm up.

There are a few exciting spots the first being two African Wild Cats darting across the veld. Unfortunately the light is wrong and they are too quick for a photograph. But still it is a great sighting.

At 13^th water hole we meet a couple we’d met the day before – George and Venetia. They say they’ve seen the cubs but they have now gone over the ridge – clearly following their mothers who must be ahead of them. We chat for a while then both cars move on. We find them stopped up ahead of us and as we draw nearer see what they have seen – three cheetahs moving swiftly through the bush high up on the ridge.

One of the cheetahs moving stealthily through the bush

We guess they are on their way to Urikaruus water hole so hurry along to wait for them. After 20 minutes, Earlybird says – they’re not coming let’s go but then a land rover ahead of us turns around. His mate has gone up to the viewpoint and has radioed him that the cheetahs are coming. So we turn around too and – there they are – coming right for us!

He is centimeters from my eyeballs

And touches the car as he passes by my door

He makes his way across the road passing right next to the passenger side of the car

We’ve been looking at a steenbok at the waterhole while we are waiting and the cheetahs spot her too. The one gives chase and she scoots off into the trees – we think the cheetah will return with breakfast for the others but she comes back empty handed.