Total Loskop

Loskopdam is a truly splendid place which encouraged me to walk every day and swim every afternoon.  It takes an hour to walk around the perimeter of the camp but there are other options, all of which offer spectacular views.  The dam wall was completed in 1939 and raised during the 80's and supplies water to farms all along the valley to Groblersdal and on to Marble Hall.

A large canal runs for over 60 kms feeding numerous reservoirs on farms along the way.  The range of produce is prodigious (sorry) and includes citrus, maize, table grapes, potatoes, cabbage, butternut and tobacco among others.

Most farms employ these massive centre-pivot irrigation systems which must cost a fortune but are obviously worth it.  Always assumed that they moved continuously but that's not the case, they remain stationary for a fixed period then roll forward for about one revolution of the outermost wheel.  As all the wheels will travel a different distance depending on how far they are from the pivot, I'm guessing there must be a computer involved somewhere.

The resulting crops are impressive, over a course of a week I passed a farm where they were harvesting potatoes which were loaded onto a constant stream of trucks. At around 20 tons a pop thems plenty taters.

I discovered the Guinea fowl trail quite by accident and this lead up one of the surrounding hills to a large communications tower and on a higher hill beyond the fence line sits Arend's Rus.

No idea who owns it but it appeared deserted so is probably a weekend hideaway which must have the most wondrous view.

In the camp a bougainvillea was in full, shocking pink bloom.  A benign alien that doesn't seed so I'll allow it!

This is better, a local asparagus fern in not quite as colourful or in your face...........

...........or how about a Tapinanthus, a parasite that features green-headed, matchstick flowers that eventually open to attract the sunbirds.

Mentioned being impressed with Middelburg just up the road so went to spend a weekend to try and find storage for the Beast and have a snoop. The first thing that hits you is how clean the place is, the second how pretty the suburbs are with any number of old houses that have been beautifully restored.

I stayed just outside the town at a place called Pienaarsdam which boasted a lion sanctuary.  Sorry but I don't see a hectare of electric fenced grassland as a "sanctuary" but they did have a magnificent white male.

On the other side of the dam is the Loskop Nature Reserve and while strolling around out of the car I happened to glance back down the road and just saw a flash of a pachyderms bottom as it disappeared into the woodland.  Later evidence of recently used middens pointed to rhino which was rather surprising and it was confirmed a couple of days later by Koos, a fisherman friend who saw two from his boat.

At one listening stop while atlassing I heard a weird growly sound that turned out to be a juvenile golden-tailed woodpecker pestering his old man (above) for food.  One road leads to the top of what appears to be the highest hill in the reserve, providing splendid views to the dam in the distance.

Have never heard a satisfactory explanation for this behaviour but when coqui francolins get to a piece of open ground, in this case the road, they go into stealth mode, flattening their bodies and creeping forward at a snails' pace.  I would have thought that they were making themselves more vulnerable than just galloping across or better yet flying.

Down at the waters' edge came a cross this pair of whiskered terns in their rather natty breeding plumage.

I'd never been to Marakele National Park as as it was fairly close I made a booking at Griffon's Rest a private camp on the border of the reserve.  Access is via Bekker's Pass, some 16 km of the most appalling road imaginable.  Three-quarters of an hour later I arrived at the gate and dialed the number given.  No signal so ended up back down the pass to the main gate where I took this looking back to the Waterberg. Griffon's Rest is below the cliff on the extreme right and as you can see, the lower sections of the reserve were bone dry.

Finally managed to get hold of Alois who met me at the gate after my third go at the pass - poor bakkie. That's the cliff which is host to the largest Cape vulture colony in RSA...........

.......and this was my abode for three nights, wonder why it's called Fig Cottage?

Had to do the pass again in the morning but when I arrived at the gate at around half six I was informed that it only opened at seven.  Bother said I and went for a walk.

As mentioned the lower reaches were not only dry but had been ravaged by a fairly recent fire, so though I was informed that it contained the big five, I certainly didn't see them but there were other distractions. Some time in the past someone said "I want to put a tower up there," the highest point of the Waterberg, "so build me a road."

The result is this......  Single lane tar that in places is so tight you'd never get past another vehicle and in others has such precipitous drops to the side you end up scraping your wing mirror trying to keep away from them.  Interesting to say the least, didn't meet anyone on the way up but coming down provided a few laughs.

Interestingly the only place that had any sort of grass was a valley through which the road passed on the way up but it was also devoid of animals.

The view from the top was sublime, stretching all the way to Thabazimbi 30 km distant.

Although the area had been burnt there were not many flowers in bloom other than these little Felicias.

Descending once more into the lush valley at last came across some animals..............

...............a pair of reed buck and later a few wildebeest.

Though there was plenty of evidence of elephant and some old rhino middens I suspect that they had cleared off to some other part of the reserve where more food was available.

Heading back to the cottage I had the pleasure of another drive up Bekker's Pass and the following day just chilled in the camp.

Sitting with a sun-downer I just happened to look up as something dropped from under the eaves and assumed it was a bird, but as nothing else happened I strolled over and found this little beaut.  A brown house snake busy consuming dinner - a large gecko.  It really is quite astounding to watch them ease their whole body around things much larger in diameter than themselves.  There was so much stretching going on that it appeared to be a powder blue house snake.

All done and as I didn't want the staff jumping up and down on it I gently persuaded it to take cover under some rocks to digest.

I met Koos when he noticed I was having a problem with my nose wheel, half of which had dropped out on a very bumpy road on the way to the resort.  He helped me unhitch and as he was going into Boksburg the following day offered to get a replacement, which he very kindly did.  I suggested dinner by way of a thank you and as I wasn't a fisherman he suggested a trip around the dam.  Really appreciated seeing everything from a different perspective.

On the way to Groblersdal I noticed something on another hill, this time below the dam wall.  Zooming in with the telephoto revealed..........

.............another rich mans' residence which must also have a view to die for.

Meet Bob, who apart from the colour is every bit as ugly as his namesake.  He's a blue-headed agama that lives in a large acacia above my van, descending now and then to wander around and do a lot of bobbing, presumably to lure the ladies.

One morning sat on the stoep doing a crossword I hear a call that's totally unfamiliar.  Wandering out I look towards the noise and "It's a f.....g Blackcap," says I and dive for bins and camera as I've never seen one in the flesh - feather? No luck, bird's ducked with only the briefest of views so I play the call which confirms the ID but doesn't bring the sod back.  Enough for another lifer this year though and in case you've never met one, compliments of the internet here you go.

Had to take the bakkie in for a service in Middelburg and my service advisor, a delightful Afrikaans lady went by the name of Krappie Ferrari, and I didn't dare to ask.  I know krap is scratch and apparently krappie is a fiddler though whether con-artist or musician is not clear.

Sublime spot but when the storms come in, take cover.  The wind howls down the valley and as I'd twice lost my awning I bought what's called a storm strap.  Riiiight.  My second last night I was hanging onto the strap and trying to keep my feet on the ground when the rain started and was coming in sideways.  Drenched in no time, then the wind whips off my glasses and I stood on them.  I gave up took the thing down and didn't bother with it again.  

Down from the mountains

Volunteered to ring bark some wattles while at Zvakanaka and while doing so came across what I first thought was a flower.  Closer inspection revealed a new leaf of a forest grape Rhoisissus tomentosa.

Heard that a good place to find blue-spotted dove was the botanical garden in Thoyando so went for a womble.  It may have once been a botanical garden but is now mostly infested with aleins, one bright spot was a pair of pink-throated twin-spots feeding on a patch of lawn - no doves though.

En-route to Thoyando I passed a turn off for Lake Fundudzi which apart from being the only fresh-water lake in RSA is considered sacred by the Venda.  Went to have a look and noticed patches of red on a recently burnt area which turned out to be the original Barberton daises Gerbera barbertonia.  Not quite as big as the ones in flower shop but brilliantly coloured.

As per normal you very soon run out of signposts and at one point I passed a sign pointing back the way I'd just come but eventually found a lookout point by pure luck.  Couldn't find a way down so had to make do with a hazy view of it in the distance.

Was at a car-wash in town that has an immense ficus in it's yard and while sitting it's shadow I noticed a pair of white-eyes flitting around it's base and emitting agitated calls.  Went to have a look and found this little idiot that had made it's maiden flight a little too early.  Put it up on a wall and it promptly flew down again so tried the tree and last saw it scampering up into the canopy.

Whilst on another mission to try and find a waterfall with singularly bad sign-posting came across this dam and decided to atlas the pentad that it was in.  While scanning for water birds I found a massive croc sunning itself on the far bank - not a good place to cool off then.

Returning from Mkuse I was asked if I could move to Sam's camp as one of their long time guests had booked the one I was on.  No quite as shady but still extremely well appointed.

Alistair and Gail very kindly offered to babysit the Beast while I zipped down to Cape Town to hook up with Sally who had come out for a wedding.  She met me at the airport, we collected a car and headed for Clanwilliam.  She had never been that far up the West Coast and there was an off-chance that there may be flowers about.  There weren't, so I suggest Stadsaal caves up in the Cederberg.  On our way there we came across this bunch which reminded me that my old friend Al had once asked a sheep farmer what they were doing.  "Thinking up new ways to die" was the curt answer.

Went past a massive field of these Bulbinella nutans as well so there were still a few flowers around.

Have posted pictures of Stadsaal (Town Hall) caves before, but the rock formations are so spectacular reckoned a second peek wouldn't come amiss.  The cave itself is under this lot.

Here's my darling Sally who inherited the title of prettiest girl in my world after her mother died.  She now owns a horse and spent a great deal of time enlightening me on the subject of warm-bloods et al, quite fascinating.

Where do you think the idea of gargoyles came from?

Another cave houses the marvelous Elephant paintings which are only as pristine as this as there is a huge grill protecting the site from graffiti idiots and compulsive name scrawlers.

On our return had to stop at Lot's Wife who has fortunately not had any more paint applied.

A little bouquet of Ruschia caroli of almost metallic pink.............

...........and a completely natural Stonehenge.

All too short and three nights later I was back in Boksburg for a couple of nights before heading for the hills again.  A notice came through on the rare bird alert site that a bar-tailed godwit was hanging around one of the pans in Benoni so went for a look as I've only ever seen it once.  Apologies for the picture but just look at that beak, if size really does matter..............

Yes I know but they really do put on an mesmerizing show, it's jacaranda time.

Finally left Zvanaka and headed for a place near Bela Bela (Warnbaths) and 160 kms later I remembered that I'd left caravan extension cable behind.  As I wasn't likely to find a replacement where I was headed I dumped the Beast in a One-stop and headed back.  That little excursion cost me four hours and as I wasn't likely to get to my destination before dark I headed for a place called Weesgerus near Modimolle.  Had looked at the camp before but decided I preferred the quieter Emerentia Geldenhuis down the road.  Ended up staying for a few nights but the place was so unashamedly Afrikaaans that when I filled in the forms I very nearly wrote Dawid.  As Nyslvlei was near I popped in one morning but it was very dry, still, managed to see an amazing pair of crimson boubous who were foraging near one of the hides.

Scattered liberally along the roadside and in full bloom were wild syringas Burkea africana........

...................and in the camp Cape planes Ochna arborea were either showing off their tightly clustered yellow blooms..............

.............or the even more splendid orange sepals that surround the fruit.

Best laid plans of mice and men!  I left Weesgerus and headed for my next stop near Bela Bela and on arrival found the gates firmly locked and a large sign that said "Closed until further notice".  Ooower fok as the Afrikaners would have it.  At a loss and thinking the only place that would have space on a Friday would be the massive Forever Warmbaths, I checked in for the weekend.  Baaaad mistake.  Seems everybody in Gauteng wanted to be there that weekend.  I left when the doof doof music started at 6.30 on Sunday morning and headed for Loskop.  The nicest thing about this type of life is that the view keeps changing and you would have a hard time faulting this one.  I booked in for a month.