Boksburg has it's attractions but they soon wear thin so I arranged a trip to Durban and spent time with old and some not so old friends. First up, Rose and Al in Pietermaritzburg - Al and I go back around forty years and I was at their wedding, lovely to see you guys. Next were John and Marion who have a magnificent flat up on Umhlanga ridge in a retirement village called Twilanga. It has one of those views you never get tired of, thanks for your generous hospitality you two.
Onwards to my gorgeous cousin Sue and her phone loving husband Giles, who I met up with in Mokala Game Reserve last October. Their grand old place perched above the Umgeni River and overlooking the great white elephant, Moses Mabida Stadium, has been somewhat spoiled by an overly rich idiot next door who has created his own version of Bosnia in his back yard and built a garage for 15 cars - that's fifteen - in the front.
Thence to Kloof and the equally fortunate Smarts who have to put up with this view of the Molweni arm of Kloof Gorge.
Christine led me down an extremely precipitous garden path and into one of the few bits of the Gorge I'd never been to before, and what a joy to see raptors again. Wahlberg's, Crowned and Fish Eagle, Lanner Falcon, Yellow-billed Kite and Steppe Buzzard in the space of two hours - amazing. Of course the problem with going down................ I felt in need of a double-bypass and lung transplant by the time I made it back to the veranda. Soon forgotten when Chis - yes it's Christopher and Christine get over it - produced his world famous chicken potjie. Another old friend that I hadn't see in at least a year popped in and shattered ear-drums with a magnanimous bray or three. Trumpeter Hornbill - very apt.
Finally to Justine and Richard which was a bit like coming home as they have the table that I made for our veranda and this lamp which had been with me for over 40 years. I drove out to the Matopas Hills outside my home town of Bulawayo and had to stand on the car roof to cut this growth out of an old acacia. After stripping the bark, making the base it created something fairly unique. All these couples had dogs - anyone ever noticed that dog owners use "No!" ten times more frequently than anyone else - worse than kids.
Being a bird-nut himself necessitated Richard and I getting to the Sappi Stanger hide where all manner of delights were allegedly present - until we got there. However I did manage to get a shot of a wader that is not seen that often in these parts any longer, a Marsh Sandpiper. What a lovely delicate creature it is with the needle-like bill and legs to die for - well actually feet but lets not quibble.
And the famous pelican whose beak can hold more than his belly can - in this case of the Great White persuasion. Something I've never noticed before is the porthole in the pouch which I assume allows water to drain but can find no mention of it in the literature. An astounding fact that I did unearth is the wingspan of an adult male is 3.6 meters, that's nearly 12 feet. It's only exceeded by some of the great albatrosses.
A little dump called Mbazwana near Sordwana Bay was host to at least three Sooty Falcons and as I missed the one in Plettenberg last year I determined to make a detour on the way back to the Big Smoke. I stayed in a house in Sordwana village which sported a deck with a view of dense coastal forest towards the bay which is surrounded by some of the highest vegetated dunes in the world - hence no sea view.
Having been told that the birds roosted in eucalypts next to the second roundabout before Mbazwana I duly stopped and scanned every tree in sight, much to the amusement of the locals - not a sausage. I returned later, overshot the second roundabout and on the way to the third to turn round glimpsed a falcon-like shape in a massive eucalypt. Grabbed bins and bingo there it was, the little beauty, having seen my fill I reached for the camera............which was still on the deck back at the house. The time it would have taken to get there and back would leave me without light but that didn't stop me celebrating. While sitting on the deck contemplating my good fortune up pops the full moon and a line from the Highwayman that my mother was fond of quoting came to mind: "The moon was a ghostly galleon, tossed upon cloudy sea".
Early next morning back I went but there was no adult in sight on the lazy teenager who hadn't yet arisen and with the light all wrong this was the best I could do - look close enough you'll see the tear streaks.........
The return trip involved getting through Jozini, a ridiculously sited town that clings to a narrow ridge above the massive dam. Not sure if they were introduced or not but this is the only place in RSA where you can catch tiger fish - if you so desire. As far as I aware it has only ever spilled once but even at 50% it still covers an impressive area.
The last blog contained this picture............
...............and I couldn't remember the name of the bush. Someone else had the same problem and posted it on the bird-net and wouldn't you know it's a ............wait for it...........a White Berry Bush. Fluggea virosa if you insist which by tomorrow I'll have forgotten again, interestingly though it's a member of the Euphorbia family a huge genus that includes things that look like cacti and a lot have toxic sap, a little odd then that this one is edible and apparently tasty.
I blame it on the fact that I've actually been working lately putting down tiles on the floor of the cottage kitchen and bathroom, but a major league senior moment occurred recently when I found myself carefully pouring muesli into my glass of juice. Ho hum.
The Beast had an appointment with the doctors at Campworld as various things needed attention. One of the things was the jockey wheel which was getting old and tired - I know the feeling. So they fitted this......
...........that's what I call an effing JOCKEY. The thing they couldn't do was repair my movers and the only guy locally was in Villiers about 100 k's away. Got it down there and spent a couple of hours pottering with Pete - my brother-in-law. Once that was sorted I moved back in and headed for Smuts House in Irene. My second day there required air-con for the afternoon zizz but I was awoken by the sound of dripping water - condensate pouring out where it shouldn't. As the air-con was one of the things they had worked on, this required another visit to Campworld where they very obligingly traced the fault and I was off again. Of course no sooner was that done than one of the movers refused to back off, which will necessitate another trip to Villiers. Hence my current location in Malonjeni near Heidelburg. Next to the road on the way here is this superb mansion, very reminiscent of the ostrich palaces in Oudtshoorn.
So here we sit in splendid isolation in a monstrous camp with only three other vans, listening to the soughing of the wind in the Poplars which is a very particular noise. As kids we stayed in the Ivy Cottage behind my grandparents' house in Aliwal North and the street was lined with huge poplars, which were the bane of grandmothers' life, as they not only shed leaves but the seeds are balls that drop fluffy wind-bourne seeds by the gazillion. After numerous failed attempts to persuade the local council to remove at least the one right outside her house, she eventually took and ax to it herself. The fact that it landed in the road caused some consternation and threats of prosecution were made but fortunately never carried out.
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