Old haunts

I got talking to someone through an internet site and I asked her to meet me at Mkuzi where we spent a couple of nights.  As she is taking an understandably cautious approach regarding our future, I'll say no more.  Sundowners at the lookout tower did provide a rather special spectacle though.

We shared our tented camp with a pair of Bearded scrub-robins who entertained morning and evening with their delightful lullabies.

As a member of Kloof Conservancy, Pete volunteers to marshall on the annual 3 Falls Run and he asked if I would take his place which was not onerous and merely involved a little flag waving.  Just over 300 runners signed up for this unique brand of torture which involves plunging into the depths of Krantzkloof Gorge and back out again at least 3 times over 18 km.  Total loonies but well done to former neighbour Dave Mercer who placed in the top 10.

My first assignment was near the start which allowed me to nip down to the shops to get a newspaper for the second position close to where the van is parked.  The sun was on it's way up as I drove back.

Did a quick trip up to Jo'berg to meet the lady again and decided to return via Oliviershoek Pass which I had been told was now fully upgraded.  Sterfontein Dam was it's usual cerulean blue and the mountains in the background snowclad from a recent cold snap.

From the top of the pass one looks down onto the dam which feeds the Drakensberg Pumped Storage Scheme that I brought students to see for many years as it is a very impressive engineering feat.  Essentially the flow of the Tugela River has been reversed through a series of dams, barrages and canals to get water to the base of the escarpment.  In a massive cavern deep underground is a set of generators which can be reversed to become pumps.  During off peak periods water is pumped into a small coffer above Sterkfontein and any overflow ends up in the Wilge River and thence on to the Vaal Dam to supply Gauteng.  At peak hours the flow is reversed  and electricity generated - which effectively makes the system a giant battery.

After a week or so it was off to Whiteriver where the robins were of the White-browed variety and the songs even sweeter and even though there were four of them in the garden regularly they seemed to have a total aversion to the camera.

With Kruger on 35 km away a couple of visits were deemed necessary and on the first of these we found this young kudu with the remains of a snare around her neck and leg which we immediately reported.

Though things were generally quiet and wintery, the second visit turned up this little stunner, a Lizard Buzzard.

Finally back in Forest View spring has definitely sprung with a superb little posy adorning a large Wild pomegranate Burchellia bubbalina......................

...............a Bush cherry Maerua caffra simply covered in buds and flowers............

................a Forest bell bush Makaya bella with perfectly painted purple emphasis lines.....

.............a Broad-leafed coral tree Erythrina latissima showing scarlet knickers................

..........and lastly a Bottle-brush aloe Aloe rupestris living up to it's name.  All of which I had to look up as I'd forgotten the names of everything - old timer's disease I'm afraid.

That malady also brought a gentle rebuke from Richard Boon about what I'd identified as Dalbergia in the last blog, which is actually a Forest Lemon-rope Salacia gerrardii, my excuse being that I've never met one before and the name will probably be lost to me by tomorrow...............