End of School Holidays

2013-04-12 | puppy1952

For a teacher school holidays are a time to recharge batteries – or so that is what we are told. But actually when you are a wife, mother and involved grandmother it is a time to catch up with your other life! Like having your hair done, getting a manicure, servicing the car and catching up with friends and family. Did I do any of these things – I did catch up with two friends and I had the car valeted. Many hours were also spent preparing material for the new term but most importantly I also spent a fair amount of time getting my visitor’s Visa for England organised. This is not as simple as it sounds. There is a comprehensive application form to be filled in online, a fee to be paid and an appointment with the Visa4UK company to be made. Supporting documents have to accompany the application and getting them together is a mission. If you do not have hotel bookings you have to prove that the person you are staying with is a British citizen has a job and can support you. I am eternally grateful to my friend, Linda for supplying me with all the requirements within 24 hours of receiving my requesting email. Then 24 hours later after filling in the online application twice because I was thrown off right at the end of my first try and had to start all over again, I was able to pay the fee and make an appointment with said company. My appointment was on Friday at 1 p.m. the last day of the holidays so I did not have to take an afternoon off school to get it done! (They are in the city and close at 3 p.m.)

My darling husband took me in to the city for my appointment . The weather was gorgeous and we were early. While we were waiting for my appointment we had a cup of coffee and a croissant. “”Let’s go to Robertson for the weekend,”” he suggested. So we googled the number of our favourite cottage on a farm in Robertson and were in luck – they could accommodate us. So after my one hour appointment we raced home, packed and were on the road by 3:45.

Retreat Guest Cottage can be found on a peach, apricot, grape and citrus farm at the far end of a dirt road jutting off the Robertson-to-McGregor tar highway. It boasts two lovely bass fishing dams and we have been going there on and off for several years. The cottage is rustic but comfortable and we just love the peace and tranquility of the setting. The main reason for weekending here is for the fresh water fishing but also for the wonderful birdlife.

Not the Arniston Hotel – but quite comfortable thank you

Enough space to relas

Cosy Kitchen

Personal Chef and Caterer

View from stoep

View on other side of cottage toward the mountains

Rusty kept us company all weekend

Earl was fishing at before I opened my eyes

Rusty and I took a walk to find Earl – Rusty invited me in for a swim but I declined.

The birds were a bit nervous of the dog walking with me but some of them still obliged by posing for portraits.

Cape Turtle Dove catching the early rays of sun

Common Waxbill

Tree full of yellow canaries

Double Collared Sunbird in moult

Bokmakierie – taken a long way off

Grey-backed cisticola

Stonechat

Retreat Cottage Back

Front of Retreat Cottage

Succulent Garden next to the cottage

We took the scenic route home on Sunday afternoon and stopped to photograph one or two birds. We drove through the picturesque little town of McGregor which was rather sleepy on this lovely Autumn day.

Pale Chanting Goshawk – Common in this area

McGregor

Interesting shop fronts

So after a wet and stormy start we ended the holiday with a lovely sunny weekend and it was back to school on Monday!

Fortune and Misfortune – A Fortuner Adventure – Day 5

2012-07-14 | puppy1952

1 July 2012

Earl was still not feeling good this morning. He did not have a temperature but he complained that his body was aching. It sounded like a dose of influenza was on the way! I left him in bed while we got up and packed and in spite of his ails he insisted on driving.

We were enjoying the early morning drive, snug and warm in our vehicle, no cars in sight and just the odd springbok and gemsbok about, when just up ahead we saw a car stopped and wondered what he had seen. We soon found out. Right in front of him, on the road was a young male lion. Eyes forward we got our cameras ready. We were thrilled to be only one of two cars and did not have to fight for position. Suddenly someone in the car ahead gesticulated to us and we looked around to see a lioness in the distance. She was slowly making her way toward us and we didn’t know where to look – at the lioness or the lion who was really close. I insisted that we wait for the lioness to get closer. “She’s going to join her husband,” I said. And he did keep looking behind him to monitor her progress. Of course, I was right and eventually we were rewarded when she came up right next to the car.

Lioness

After snapping many photographs we slowly overtook the car in front of us and past the male so we could turn around to get more than his back view.

Looking for his wife

: Happy that she’s following her lord and master

It was a great start to our journey to Nossob!

Close by a jackal expressed what he thought about his king and queen

We don’t often see kudu in Kgalagadi so it was great to find these beautiful males at the waterhole.

Kudu

A passing tourist alerted us to cheetah around the corner. We took our time as we’d seen cheetah in this spot before and knew they would be far from the road and not in a hurry to move on.

On the way we spied these two perched high up and surveying the scene.

White-backed Vultures

We could not resist snapping this kestrel either

Rock Kestrel

And then as we rounded the corner we saw a few cars looking over the wide grassland and soon caught sight of cheetahs on the move.

Cheetahs

We wondered where they were headed

Just to a shady tree where they could sleep for the rest of the day!

We continued on our way, delighted to have had 2 cat sightings in one morning. There was not much excitement for the rest of the way but we did stop for birds and enjoyed seeing all the springbok, gemsbok, kori bustards – we counted 97 in one day – there must have been a Kori Bustard convention that nobody told us about. Usually it’s very exciting spotting one but we had become quite blasé about these magnificent birds.

Our plan was to stop at a picnic site and Earl would cook breakfast but by the time we got there he was feeling dreadful so we settled for cereal and coffee.

Isn’t it amazing that you can be 1000 km from home in a reserve where you seldom see another soul on the road and then you can randomly turn up at a picnic site and you recognise the only other people there. Yes – we met Sean and Isobella, members of our bird club, who just happened to be on their way to Mata Mata where they were exiting to go to Namibia! What were the chances!

There was a lot of bird activity but this was the best photograph I managed. This little chap is a black chested prinia. He is in his non-breeding feathers hence no black chest!

Black-chested Prinia

We made Earl as comfortable as possible in the passenger seat and I drove the rest of the way to Nossob. He had the shivers and was not a happy man.

It was after 1:30 when we arrived. We needed to refuel for our trip to Gharagab the following day as there would be no place to do so between here and there. We had also been warned that Nossob was running low on diesel but there was no point on filling up at Mata Mata as we were close on full. It was a Sunday and the petrol pumps were closed till 2! Earl got into the queue while I went to check in. There was some delay at reception too as there was only one attendant who could deal with us and she was busy dealing with a gate and key crisis – not too sure of the details. I got chatting to young woman in the queue who was checking in to go to Gharagab. There were two vehicles and three people in her party and they’d driven all the way from Twee Rivieren and were heading straight for Gharagab 160km away on a 4×4 track. I wished her luck as I was sure they wouldn’t make it before dark! We would not dream of driving from Twee Rivieren to Gharagab without an overnight stop at Nossob. You never know how often you are going to stop for animals, whether you’ll get a puncture, how bad the roads might be etc. etc. But they were young, thought themselves invincible and didn’t have a care in the world. Do I miss those days? No, I don’t think so!

Luckily there was enough diesel, we stocked up on fire wood and mineral water – no drinking water at Gharagab and checked into our bungalows. Earl went straight to bed. Heather, Peter and I, after some lunch and unpacking walked to the hide which overlooks a waterhole.

Wildebeest taking a drink

There was quite a lot of bird activity and we watched a lanner trying to catch doves but he was not successful.

I managed to snap a pale chanting goshawk just as he took flight.

Earl remained in bed and Peter braaied our supper. We debated whether we should abandon the trip and try and get to Upington and a doctor. I had a well-stocked first aid kit with flu medication but no antibiotics. Earl’s fever was over 40 degrees C, which worried me. Once at Gharagab we would be settled for three nights – no driving around as the only road is the one-way, round trip on a 4X4 track between Nossob and the wilderness camp. Travelling to Twee Rivieren would take forever and then it would be another 250 km to Upington. I thought Earl would be more comfortable staying put and decided that he might as well be sick there as anywhere else. So the plan was for me to drive the 4×4 track and see how things went.

Fortune and Misfortune – A Fortuner Adventure – Day 4

2012-07-13 | puppy1952

30 June 2012

Earl did not have a good night and in this morning decided to stay in bed, rest and drink only water to try and cleanse his system and get rid of his aches and pains. This sounded like a good plan to me. I was convinced that the stress of buying a new car and getting organised for a trip away had taken its toll. “No problem,” I said. “We will bird in the camp and have a chill day.” “No – you must take Heather and Peter on a game drive.” “I’m not going to drive the new car.” “Of course you are. It’s an easy car to drive.”

Now I knew he had to be sick! He never lets me drive! I had tried to rouse Heather and Peter at 6 to tell them not to get up but there was no reply from their hut and we had not yet switched on our walkie talkies. At 7:30 I went over again and they had just arisen. Peter said he had set the alarm for 7:30 instead of 6:30. So it all worked out for the best. We decided to make a slow start to the day and ended up leaving after 10 o’clock for a game drive.

I went to the shop to get more mineral water and a pair of warm gloves and found this ground scraper thrush outside our bungalow.

Ground Scraper Thrush

We decided to go on a short drive and then return to bird around the rest camp. The birding was good. First up we took photos of sociable weavers outside their condominium. Imagine these tiny, community birds building these huge natural blocks of flats. No human can create anything near as good. These nests are cleverly built and their owners are careful to watch out for snakes who might try to enter then to steal their eggs or chicks. Sometimes they share their residence with pygmy falcons.

Scaly Feathered finch chatting beneath the Sociable Weavers Nests

It was good to find this pretty Capped Wheatear

Secretary Birds were seen frequently – and here is one with its crest up

Secretary Bird

A young pale chanting goshawk modelled nicely for us.

Juvenile Pale Chanting Goshawk

The great thing about Kgalagadi is seeing so many raptors. This tawny posed in good light.

Tawny Eagle

We saw lots of white-backed vultures but the other species were conspicuous by their absence.

White-backed Vulture

Dalkeith waterhole was once again productive and we enjoyed watching the birds flocking down to drink.

Red-headed Finch

On our drive we saw the usual gemsbok, wildebeest, springbok and jackal but the cats were elusive. We got back to camp at about 3. Earl had slept most of the day and had made himself a cup of soup. We had a rest and then went for a walk around the camp. There were lots of yellow mongoose and ground squirrels – the holes they make can be quite hazardous if you don’t look where you are going.

Yellow mongoose

Familiar Chat

Earl did not have a temperature but was really feeling ill. I cooked supper and gave him his in bed and hoped that the next day would see him feeling better. But this is where misfortune began.