A trek to Riebeeck

Could not resist buying Big Red, a Honda NC750 that is a thing of beauty. 2014 with less than 8000 km on the clock, I stole it for 10k less than the asking price and haven't stopped smiling since.  Had to fit a winch to the bakkie so that I'm able to load and off-load, but we're now inseparable and headed to the Cape together.

Zipped up to Boksburg to see my sister and brother-in-law and road-worthied and registered Big Red in record time then headed back to Karridene.  Have always admired this massif near Harrismith which is one of the many that make the road through Van Reenan's Pass so attractive.

Happened to come across this very colourful new growth on a small dune myrtle Eugenia capensis which also features a novel leaf arrangement with three of them symmetrically arranged around the twig.

Spent many hours strolling along the endless beaches that stretch both ways from Karridene and one morning happened upon this little white-fronted plover, but only noticed the ghost crab when I downloaded the picture.

Have mentioned before how the numbers of African black oyster-catchers have recovered dramatically after beach driving was banned and here's further proof.  20 years ago it was a notable event to see a single bird, now groups of 10 or more are common.

Took a stroll through TC Robertson Reserve in Scottburgh and found a bunch of novices dancing in the sunshine, the name refers to their colouration which is similar to that apprentice nuns, though I thought they all wore black and white..

While there, noticed this weird structure in the river bed and closer inspection revealed the access road to a new housing complex - very swish.

Decided not to go through the former Transkei on the way to the Cape, so first stop on the circumnavigation of Lesotho was Bushwillow, about 15 km from Howick in the Karkloof area.  The first night was spent in splendid isolation but I was awakened by some furious tapping and fluttering noises emanating from the bakkie.  Mr southern boubou had decided he didn't much like the opposition and was doing his level best to see the fellow off.

The peace was shattered on Saturday when a large group of the younger generation pitched camp right next door with herds of kids in tow - really am quite allergic to them!  The sunrise the following morning was great and by the time I returned from a foray to Midmar Dam they had all disappeared.

Later that afternoon this gaudy fellow paid a brief visit, chatted awhile then flitted, fortunately not before I managed to snap a fair picture of a greater double-collared sunbird, which is only slightly greater than his very similar cousin the southern double-collared.......

......................and not long after that, the full moon hove into sight.

Made the mistake of taking a stroll up into the Karkloof and after a couple of kilometers of near vertical climb, still seemed nowhere near the top so gave up.  On the descent I came across a very exciting animal - a Natal purple-glossed snake. an absolute delight but very shy.  Every time I pulled her out to get a better pic she dived under the leaf litter again but was otherwise exceedingly polite. The long thin section of tail makes it a she.

Soon headed for the hills for an overnight stop at Hlalanathi, the stark contrast between winter grass and newly green acacia necessitated a brief stop near Estcourt.

As ever the Amphitheatre made a spectacular backdrop to what has to be one of the loveliest campsites.

A pair of familiar chats had a nest above the geyser and were busily feeding chicks.  As usual the highly descriptive Afrikaans name of spekvreter, refers to their liking for lard which the Trek-boers used to grease the wagon axles and these guys soon learned to peck off the excess.

Then it was on to Golden Gate which was a mistake.  The construction site at the top of the camp was excessively noisy so a planned two night stay was reduced to one. The massive sandstone cliffs above Glen Reenan camp were impressive though. 

Zastron was next as I've never been to the place before and the caravan park there had good reviews and on the way passed this koppie which is so typical of that part of the Freestate.

Dawn the next day was almost on a par with west coast sunsets with the view looking east from the campsite worth getting up for.............

..........while that to the west was almost as good.

The village itself is rather special and nowhere near as Afrikaans as I imagined. It was established by the brothers de Winnaar and the elder, Renier, lived to become a legendary raconteur. His most famous story involved an encounter with the Devil whom he persuaded that his pangeweer (a fearsome weapon that required huge doses of gunpowder) was a new-fangled pipe and innocently asked if he'd like a smoke. The Devil agreed and when his head parted company with his body it struck the nearby Aasvoelsberg and blew a hole clean through the rock.

The mountain's name derives from the vulture colony situated on the northern side and I'm pleased to report that there are still a number of majestic Cape vultures using the site.  Our vulture population is under threat from the muti traders, who have convinced people that the far seeing eyes of the birds will enable anyone who sleeps with a vulture head under his pillow, to predict the winning lottery numbers.

While viewing the colony I noticed something weird - a small herd of lechwe feeding on the lower slopes - the nearest naturally occurring population of this antelope is in the Okavango Delta.

The caravan park in Zastron is called Mountain View but as there is this in one direction and another directly behind plus the Maluti's of Lesotho in the distance it's not entirely clear which view is being referred to.

The grounds are home to a pair of bokmakeries whose wonderful voices are heard regularly and one of them was confiding enough to allow a rather special picture to be taken.  Note the enormous hook on the beak which is characteristic of all our shrikes.

Bought a bottle of "Obies" to fend off the cold and after a few, it took quite a while to figure out what exactly was amiss.  Perhaps it allows you to read the label while slugging from the bottle.

Noticed from the map the the road to Sterkstroom crossed the Orange River so took a ride and discovered a smaller version of both the river and the bridge where Aliwal North stands on the banks about 100 km further downstream.

Passed through Aliwal on the way to the coast, which brought back many childhood memories as my grandparents lived there for most of their considerable lives.  Not entirely sure but part of this building may have housed grandads' jewelry shop.

Was headed for an overnight stop at Valschfontein when I noticed this cloud.  "So what's it all about then?"

Valschfontein resort is one of those delightful, out of the way and totally unexpected places situated on a farm between Jamestown and Queenstown, that boasts first class facilities. After a warm welcome, I managed to set up my dish and watch SA beat Japan, which made the sun-downer even more satisfying.

Lekker by die see - al weer!

When scouting for another site near Durban, I happened upon a very pleasant caravan park 5 km south of Kingsburgh called Karridene which I'd never even heard of before.  Situated in the grounds of the Protea Hotel it has 60 sites and very few visitors.  The old R102 on one side and the railway line on the other do somewhat mar the ambiance but it's bearable and the ablutions and security are top notch.  The beach is just a couple of hundred metres away and accessed via an elegant boardwalk.

Once there, many kilometers of beach stretch to the horizon and there are even "beach monitors" who make sure the patrons are undisturbed. One of them lurks near the estuary - you may be able to make out the little high-viz vest to the left of the water - and he is there to strongly advise people not to venture into the wilds beyond the river.

With school holidays looming I decided to check in for a month and figured that if things got too hectic I could escape to Boksburg and leave the van on site.  A species that you had to head up the north coast as far as Mtunzini to see when I first arrived in Durban in the late 80's, is now common all the way down to East London.  Meet the three stooges or woolly-necked storks who are often around scrounging from the happy campers.

Though not well endowed with trees a short avenue of coastal hairy guarri Euclea natalensis provided a singularly attractive haven for bees drawn by the blossoms which are not extravagant but release a sweet fragrance that fills the air.

Even though the camp grounds are manicured with a fervour that's almost manic and contain very little in the way of indigenous stuff, these brave and imaginatively named, "small red iris" Freesia laxa managed to bloom before the weed whacker got them. The laxa part refers to the use of their crushed bulbs as a cure for constipation.

Just up the road in Amanzimtoti is a bird park, which wasn't sporting much in the way of species when I visited but this little dusky flycatcher was particularly confiding.  There is a wonderful poem about cats which mentions that they "sit fat", a trait shared by these guys.

Went to re-visit a former haunt down the way in Pennington, a tiny little reserve that contains the only locally occurring specimens of the mammoth sea bean creeper Entada rheedii. The seed pods are up to 2 m long and contain smooth, shiny brown seeds that are flattish and reach 60 mm in diameter. The preferred habitat is coastal forest and estuary margins and the seeds are often bourne out to sea and found washed up on the beach, though I've never been fortunate enough to come across one.

From there ii's a short drive to Umdoni Forest and the sublime golf course with it's striking club house and while admiring the view something out at sea caught the attention of my companion.  Orca or killer whales were lifting their tails clear of the water then slapping them onto the surface, something I'd only ever seen on TV.  The pod cuts off a bait ball of sardines from the main school and the percussion of tails hitting the water close to the fish stuns them so they can be picked off at leisure - absolutely amazing.

A short way inland is Vernon Crookes Nature Reserve, still one of the best birding spots around though it was rather late in the day.  However a recent burn had allowed common gazanias G. krebsiana enough elbow room for a dazzling display.

While exploring Amanzimtoti, I found a road that teeters on the edge of a precipice that drops 30 m to the beach and provided a view of the docking platform used to unload crude oil from tankers directly into the monster Sapref refinery behind the dunes.

On my return to the camp I found this fellow doing his flasher routine - dirty old man! In some fish eating species it apparently aids digestion by warming the stomach but this guy just seems to be enjoying the sun.

A second visit to Umdoni to try for a picture of the brown scrub robins that are pretty abundant there was a failure, but I did manage to get a shot of another forest dweller, the exceptionally noisy square-tailed drongo. The only difference between them and their fork-tailed cousins being habitat and less of a notch in the tail.

Though it doesn't look like much, this tree is specially marked because it appears to be headed towards natural extinction.  The sandstone quince Dahlgrenodendron natalense is not only rare but has very low reproduction rate.

Back in the car park I almost stood on this feisty character, a land crab that was not overawed by my size and quite prepared to take me on.  It's a fresh water species that is often found some way from water but still needs to wet it's gills periodically to survive.

In the grounds of AE&CI's massive factory near Ubogintwini is Umbogavango Nature Reserve which serves as a water monitoring site and environmental education centre that soothes the corporate conscience.  Much in evidence were the blood or snake lilies Scadoxus puniceus showing off their scarlet pincushions.  The alternative name derives from the fact that the bulbs are poisonous.

This magnificent creature was having difficulties trying to perch on the top of a dead gum.......

....but the Owl House didn't appear to have any visitors..............

............and sadly the wetland area that used to be a magnet for at least 6 species of duck now only attracts........Hadedas, looking quite spiffy in breeding plumage though.

Dozens of yellow weavers were plundering palms for nest material and building furiously.

During an afternoon drive around Isipingo I came across a sight that brought back some unpleasant memories of a bakkie unintentionally parked in a toilet block.  It also drew a conceited smile of realization that I'm not the only idiot in the world.  A member of our illustrious police force was taking a quiet (and illegal) drive along the beach and didn't think to walk the river before tackling it.  Result - one brand new Hilux that will probably never recover from it's swim.

A stroll along the beach turned up what I initially wrote off as a blacksmith lapwing, but closer inspection proved to be a grey plover.  A migrant from the Arctic tundra this one was freshly arrived and still sporting some breeding plumage.  At a lecture on shore birds that I once attended, the speaker, the jocular Gordon Bennett said the easiest way to identify them in non-breeding plumage was to get them to fly, because like many Mediterranean women they have black armpits.

Returned from shopping and found these that two had invented a wonderful game.  One would lift the ground sheet and scamper around under it while the other tacked him from above.

Was sitting on the "stoep" having a sundowner when I noticed a smear of cloud on that huge orange ball, reminded me of Jupiter.