Following the flowers

Had an unexpected call from a lovely lady in the form of Wilma van der Walt who was in Cape Town and wanted do do some birding while her husband was in a conference.  I suggested West Coast NP as the Postburg section, which can only be visited during the flower season, had just opened.  Spent a most enjoyable morning pottering and picturing.  The smear of orange "paint" will in all likelyhood only increase with time until the whole valley is covered.

There are some really strange outcrops up at Uitkyk picnic site including this very large 'up yours' finger. Also a spectacular view over the bay towards Langebaan but shooting directly into a low sun didn't make for memorable pics.

Saw more animals in this section than in the whole of the rest of the park including these Bontebok which were really enjoying the flowers!

Just to add a dash of variety these vygies Lampranthus immelmaniae ( I believe) were opening up to display the most outrageous pink imaginable, which was positively luminescent in the sunlight.

Finally bid adieu to Leentjiesklip and mid-way to the next stop got a call to say that I'd left my tent poles in the toilet - aaaaah "oldtimers".  Kuifkopvisvangers, while sounding like a dose of head lice is actually the Afrikaans name for the Malachite Kingfisher and the kuif refers to the quiff it sports - think Elvis Presley. This is a resort on the banks of the Berg River about 5 kilometers from Velddrift and smack dab next to one of the only profitable railway lines in RSA.  Completed in 1976 it connects the iron ore mine at Sishen to a loading facility at Saldana, where ore is shipped mainly to China, who then make steel products which are cheaper than those manufactured locally.  The gee whiz bit is that the trains are a shade under 4 km long and capable of carrying a load of over 41 000 tons.  The format is two locos, 100 trucks, two locos, 100 trucks, one loco, 100 trucks and a final loco at the end - counting them made me dizzy.

This is where they end up in an automated unloading facility which is rather eerie to watch as the trucks are fed, two at a time, into one of two off-loaders and rotated without uncoupling them. The clattering that goes on when the train stretches as it starts moving is quite something.

Also in the vicinity is Arcellor-Mittal's struggling (i.e.battling cheaper Chinese imports) steel plant  and it was quite incongruous to see springbok casually grazing in a field of daisies with dirty great slag heaps as a backdrop.

Staying at Kuifkop allowed access to Kliphoek salt-works which was allegedly home to an over-wintering Red-necked Pratincole that three visits failed to turn up - though of course it has been seen since.  But the number and variety of other birds was some compensation.  See if you can guess what this is?

Rarely see flamingos swimming let alone doing 'duck dives'.  Doubt that elegant Stilts would deign to stoop to such behaviour.............

...........and two for the price of one a Grey Heron and companion.

Next stop was going to be Clanwilliam so I took a drive up there to check out the caravan park which was adequate but definitely "municipal".  Where the N7 goes over Pieniek Pass, just had to stop to take this, with canola fields turning large areas yellow.

A visit to a monster mall in Vredenburg of all places had me investigating the suburb built on a ridge above and I found a couple of pieces of land with the most amazing views and as a matter of interest took down the agent's number.  The day I met her was one of those crystal beauties and Table Mountain over 100 km away was clearly visible with Langebaan lagoon in the foreground.  Thought it was a good deal at R330 000 and may still invest, though doubt I could afford a house.

Had to go back to Langebaan to collect a battery for the computer and it had been snowing even harder. The Afrikaans name for these is reenblomme which is certainly apt as the more it rains the more they bloom.

Returning to Kuifkop I noticed something doing an aerial display while singing it's lungs out and when I stopped he very conveniently landed nearby.  A Capped Wheat-ear obviously thinking spring has sprung.

Though the park at Clanwilliam wasn't up to much the view certainly was.  What put a slight damper on was the 40 odd looney bass fishermen roaring around in over-powered boats.

This has got to be the most expensive and selfish hobby in the world.  If you haven't got at least 200 horses driving your special 'bass' boat and a large 4x4 to pull the rig, don't bother coming.  You're looking at around a million TO GO FISHING!  I also didn't see a single boat with more than one person aboard, they obviously take their competitions very seriously.  However only really massive fish were hurt during this competition, the rest were photographed and released - all that money to catch something you're not even going to EAT - the world is totally crazy.

A lighter moment was provided by this guy who didn't quite get it right on his first try at loading the boat on a trailer and obviously left it in reverse when he had to back the rig into deeper water to get it off again. Next thing the boat was puttering off into the middle of the dam with it's owner frantically wading after it.  I was keen to see if he could swim fast enough to catch it but he got lucky as the steering was slightly off centre and it curved gracefully back to shore.

Remember that ORANGE I spoke of , well this house in Clanwilliam had a garden full of it - it must be visible from space on a sunshiney day.

Behind the town loom the Cederburg Mountains and they're pretty impressive, with fantastical rock formations and some nifty balancing tricks.  Only found out about the more exotic ones after I left so will have to go back sometime.

Coming back down Pakhuis Pass I discovered another "snowfall".  Lots of citrus grown as well and trees were being stripped and shipped while I was there.

There's a botannical garden on Ramskop just above the campsite and on two previous visits the flowers were past their best but this time it was pretty much at it's peak.  Could go on at length about them but don't want to bore you.

The view looking back over the dam was pretty darn (dam would be tautological) special too, with the water a giant mirror.

30 km further up the road I discovered heaven in the form of Rondebosch Resort on the Bufelshoek Dam. Chalk and cheese, you have no idea.  Similar sort of view but that's where it ended.

A massive site with car port, undercover braai, kitchen, shower and toilet for R250 a night - unbelievable.
Undoubtedly the best I've been on and a very pleasnt young couple who run it.  Did see the maids baby-sitting their young daughter while they worked but assume they get extra for that - or is this still South Africa?

Langebaan gaan aan

There's a large patch of open ground on the ridge above Langebaan, which affords a good view of Schaapen Island, named for a couple of sheep left left for marooned sailors.

Often spent some of Sunday up there and on one occasion had a caller!  Bar-throated Apalis singing his heart out right next to the bakkie.

There's also an old quarry nearby and while atlassing there I came across a pair of Verreaux's (Black) Eagles which was most unexpected, though the quarry was home to an ample food supply in the form of dassies. While enjoying the eagles, movement caught my eye and enter stage right, a pretty pair of Bat-eared foxes. Have since seen at least eight others flattened on various roads, so not sure how long they'll be around - appears they haven't yet figured out how to use those ears to hear cars.

On the other side of the lagoon is Saldana and a massive military base surrounded by thousands of hectares of pristine veld which is a designated nature reserve and the public is welcome to make use of many kilometers of tracks for hiking or biking.  I did try to ride there but the wind was howling straight off the Antartic so I took a drive and passed North Head lighthouse which I see as a prick of light every evening from my campsite.

Found another fellow full of the joys of spring - in the middle of winter - a Cape Bunting.  Was once in the vulture hide at Giant's Castle and a lady in the party spotted one of these and said "it's got a head like a humbug, makes you want to suck it!"  Whatever floats your boat.

The flowers were just starting to show but were nothing compared to what it would look like a couple of weeks down the line.  Hope you like flowers because there's going to be a lot of them.  Start with some Arctotis .......

..........a few Dimorphotheca fruitcosa, which there will be a lot more of..........

.........and a close-up of Sunflax, wait for it - Heliophila  coronopifolia - sporting the most astounding blue petals.

There appearsto be a definite west coast style of home and thee are any number of housing estates built using a similar pattern but in varying shades of luxury, this being one in Jacobsbaai.

Flowers anyone?  The little white jobs are blessed with the delightful soubriquet Lazy Daisies, Faveolina tenella.  I had a father-in-law who referred to all daisies as civil servants - only open between 9 and 4.

There are some fairly large swathes of land that look as though they've been generously coated with butter.

There is a military base in Langebaan as well though not as big as Saldana, but there are a couple of aged vessels that take staff over to a third base situated of the peninusla opposite that forms the south head of the bay's mouth.  Took me back many years watching all the troopies doing the "hurry up and wait" routine.

I now know with absolute certainty that the world is doomed, it was conclusively proved by driving around the suburbs.  How is it possible that there exist a'holes that can take this ............

...........and turn it into this?  I have so far seen only about two gardens that have wild flowers in them, there is no hope.

I decided to revisit the flowers on the Saldana side but arrived in mist and they weren't out of bed yet, so wandered down to the harbour to watch other people work - very satisfying.  This little lighter had just arrived from the mussel beds and was unloading them into plastic crates which were then hauled off to a processing plant.  They are grown in pockets of plastic mesh that are hung from lines between bouys and in the nutrient rich waters of the lagoon are ready for market within 14 months.

Then discovered a massive breakwater extending over a kilometer into the bay and right at the end of it found the biggest group of Bank Cormorants I've ever seen.  They are not fairing as well as the Cape Cormorants and are few and far between these days.

There are large areas around both Saldana and Langebaan where you'd be forgiven for thinking it had snowed.

A return visit to North Head reserve had me trying to kickstart the grey matter when I saw this beauty fly up and land nearby.  My immediate thought of Steppe Buzzard had to be ditched as it's winter, followed closely by Booted Eagle as the tarsii are bare, which left Jackal Buzzard - tricky devils these juveniles.

The problem is you just can't stop taking pictures................

.............it's just mind-blowing..................

.........and the close-up.

I took a walk along my favourite ridge behind Langebaan and had to very deliberately switch off to the massed spectacle to look at some of the other marvels, such as this Blou Afrikaner Gladiolus carinatus, who's ever even heard of a blue glad?

Or how about the tiny bell-shaped Romulea hirsuta with flowers around 10 mm in diameter.

OK so it's difficult to ignore the spectacle, right at the top it's laid out in bands, white, yellow, orange and ORANGE.