BONTEBOK NATIONAL PARK

 On our way back home from Cape Town (where we were lucky enough to be present when the Boks won the Rugby 7s) we made a quick stop over at Bontebok National Park.  What a gem.  Beautiful fynbos, well signposted walks (well, until you get down to the river which flooded last year and you have to make a few educated guesses!) and spotlessly clean chalets.  We need to come back when the aloes are in full flower.  

Bontebok and young

Angulate Tortoise

The aptly named "Aloe Hill" hike

Some of the debris from the flooding which obviously knocked over the directional sign!

The views over the river were beautiful and by the time the signs had disappeared we could see the camp so could at least head in the right direction.

Need to spend more time in this picturesque, peaceful park next time.

KGALAGADI OCTOBER 2022

 We just cannot stay away.  

Another birthday trip for me!  October really is the best time to go in my opinion.  The end of a long dry season so the watering holes are very popular.  Just take your coffee and your camera in the early morning and sit and wait. Something will happen.

There had been a few widespread fires just before we travelled, so a lot of game had moved over to the Botswana side of the park (apparently) and our sightings were scarcer than usual, and you have to work very hard and drive for long hours, but something special always crops up.

Our first camp was Kieliekrankie, and we immediately met another guest who had been in the park for 21 days and had seen very little.  Not to be deterred we unpacked the car and settled down on our deck overlooking the watering hole with our chilled wine, and waited.

As the day got a little cooler we were rewarded with a few sightings at the water.  A secretary bird, later a jackal, and even a leopard as it was getting dark, unfortunately too dark to get a decent photo.  

Took the dune road across to Melkvlei - always a little quiet on these roads and the wind had come up during the night which tends to make the animals retreat further into the bush.  The jackals will always be around though for the small prey like whistling rats and striped mice.  Plenty of  birds of prey on these roads too for the same reasons.

Lots of ostriches on this trip, and many, many youngsters.   One pair had 16 chicks to look after!

We almost drove past a Cape Fox den at the side of the road.  We thought one of the adults was very fidgety, then realised she was being plagued by ants.  Her partner went over the road and started digging - perhaps for a new den site!

Saw plenty of Black Shouldered Kites and the Red Billed Queleas provided entertainment while we were having coffee at 13th waterhole.  It's amazing to watch them zooming in and out en masse, taking it in turns to drink at the same time confusing the predators (in this instance crows which were in abundance this trip, often killing a bird and not even eating it).

Black Shouldered Kite

Red Billed Queleas

A single Red Billed Quelea

 

One of the best days of this trip was the day we didn't go driving at all!  We were at Urikaruus, it was excrutiatingly hot, and we decided to have a day of rest as it was also my birthday.  Late afternoon we broke out the sparkling wine

Jacques, the camp manager came to tell us there was a Cape Fox Den very close to the camp and the female would probably bring her pups out when it got cooler.   After another hour or so he called us to come quickly.  We spent at least half an hour watching the three pups playing with Mom and she seemed very relaxed, even though she kept watch all the time for any danger.

We left our braai tongs at Urikaruus, but between Jacques and Willem the camp managers they got them to us at Nossob before we left.  We were very grateful.

At Nossob you can purchase data and as long as you stand very near to the shop you can get a signal.  I went to check my birthday messages and got so engrossed that by the time I looked up everything had closed and the shop and petrol station lights had all been switched off.  Walked very gingerly back to our chalet - it was pitch black.   Thank goodness for cellphone torch but it doesn't throw the light far enough!

Saw plenty of game around Nossob.  Lovely bateleur and juvenile at Cubitjie Quap

Lappet Faced Vulture and White Backed Vulture facing off while the Secretary Bird looks on.

At Polentswa we noticed the Wildebeest getting a little restless, then realised there was a huge male lion walking amongst them.  For now he was only interested in the watering hole.  But they kept a close eye on him the whole time.  Turns out all he really wanted was a drink although it took him some time to find the water in all the mud!

Some good lion sightings, even though we went back up to Kwang twice to try and find them.  If you work hard in the Kglagadi you will eventually be rewarded:

Stop anywhere for coffee and a snack, you will always have an attentive audience!  This time Sociable Weavers at Lijersdraai.  Love this spot as it is so remote we are usually the only ones there!

Went down to Marie se Gat from Nossob twice, bouncing around on a very corrugated road (yes we did deflate our tyres) as we had heard there was a leopard around there.  Our patience paid off after sitting waiting for over an hour she came down towards the water.  Unfortunately she didn't stay long as there were a couple of other cars pulling in by this point and she got a bit nervous.  Beautiful to see though.

On to Kalahari Tented Camp, first stopping at Mata Mata to get petrol, water and wood for the braai.  When we were unpacking we realised we had paid for the wood but forgot to pick it up on the way out of the shop.  Explained our predicament to the camp manager and within 40 minutes our wood arrived with someone who happened to be driving past.  I think we are getting old!!  We tried to have a nap (my notes say it was murderously hot!!).  It was tough in the tents with no fans or aircons.  Had a brainwave and got the ice bricks from the freezer and we slept on those!  Helped a lot.

Some more shots from this trip.  We always think we haven't seen much but then we look at the photos and realise again what a very special place the Kgalagadi is.  The bush is not all about the big five.

Wildebeest

Springbok

Kori Bustard

Steenbok

Red Hartebeest

Gemsbok

Cape Cobra dashing across the road!

Just as we were remarking that we had seen no suricates this time, we found a family foraging under the shade of a tree as we were driving out of the park.  Clearly the sand in the shade was cooler! 

In the weeks before we travelled there had been a lot of fires in the park and we could see the evidence everywhere, which could also account for the sparseness of game.  We had arranged to stay at Kalahari Trails which is about 50kms from the park, and is where you can wake early in the morning and go to watch the meerkats waking up and going about their day.  Unfortunately some new fires had broken out and the wind had picked up and once the fire got within two kms of the cottage we were in, we decided not to stay but to get as far away as possible and drive to Upington.  At 10pm that road is DARK, but thank goodness dead straight for the most part with very bright cats eyes without which we would not have known where we were.  Quite a scary experience actually.  Apparently the camp was fine and by midnight the fires were out, but I was afraid of being hemmed in with only one way out!  And no way would we have been able to sleep.  Next time perhaps... 

This was the colour of the sky behind our cottage.  The fires were getting close!

Of course then the light for photos in the sunset was fantastic!!!

A QUICK TRIP TO THE STARS

 The Jimny needed another adventure, and this particular trip was planned as I had recently heard about the Seweweekspoort Pass through the Swartberg Mountains and was keen to see it.  Then I thought, well while we have gone that far why not go to Sutherland to see SALT (South African Large Telescope) and the planning began.

We left Wilderness on a clear-blue-sky if not rather chilly first day of Spring and headed to the Outeniqua Pass which no matter how many times we drive over, we are still amazed at how spectacularly scenic it is.  I had bookmarked the Kruisaar farm stall to stop for coffee (there are quite a few farm stalls along the stretch between George and Oudtshoorn),

 but it was still quite early so we just mooched around the shop which is packed with locally made goods, slippers, teddy bears, clothes, and of course preserves and baked goods.  Bought some local honey (we always check where it is sourced from) and pressed on towards Oudtshoorn.  We also bought some chocolate covered honeycomb and scoffed it as soon as we got in the car, so I guess that was breakfast.  Made us feel a bit queezy to be honest but was deeply delicious as it stuck to our teeth!   

Just as you enter the town of Oudtshoorn, there is a delightful establishment called Smitswinkel, a pub/restaurant/shop/museum/aviary all rolled into one.  Had some breakfast here with some half decent coffee.  Lots of interesting artefacts to browse.

  

We had wanted to visit the museum in Calitzdorp, but being Sunday of course it was closed!  Having stayed in Calitzdorp previously we didn't stick around and drove on towards Ladismith.  The R62 takes you through the Huisrivier Pass

At the old mission station which is now the village of Zoar is the entrance to the Seweweekspoort pass (our main objective) but our stop for the night, Oaksrest Vineyard, is a little further on the other side of Ladismith, chosen because of my "off the beaten track" mentality, and we were not disappointed.  Delightful fully equipped cottage (Crimson Cottage) on the side of a hill overlooking the farm and the valley.  Very private, and as the weather had warmed up considerably since the previous weekend (it was minus 11 deg C in Sutherland last week when we were supposed to do this trip but had to postpone), we sat outside on the stoep and had a refreshing beer.  

Crimson Cottage, Oaksrest Vineyard

There are three cottages of various sizes, plus a campsite in between a lake and the vines, all overlooking the valley.  We took a walk up to the lake, together with the farms two dogs who seem to have the perfect life. 

After a simple bowl of soup and some wine, I enjoyed looking at the stars which were very bright. No moon and a clear sky made for perfect conditions.

Woke up to the sound of the birds and set off for the pass which was a good 30 kms away.  This pass is very much like Meiringspoort, which is the pass between De Rust and Klaarstroom on the Eastern side of the Swartberg mountains, but with a gravel/dirt road as opposed to tar, so no trucks and we saw only one other car during the whole 18 kms, which is arguably the most beautiful 18kms in the whole country.   

Aloes growing along the pass.

Spectacular rock formations

Even after you have driven through the pass, the dirt road continues past typical karoo farms with dams full of water after the recent good rains.

This road takes you all the way through to Laingsburg which is on the N1 (the floods here happened in 1981, which is hard to believe!  I remember it well even though it happened just before I arrived in SA - terribly tragic).  Lots of roadworks on this section of the N1 at the moment all the way to and past Matjiesfontein.  Here we pulled in for coffee at The Coffee House and had cappuccinos (of course) and breakfast wraps in a lovely garden setting.  I love this little town, literally one short street, with a railway station (the luxurious Blue Train stops here), museum, lovely old hotel, and the coffee shop.  Pretty much it.  We were joined by some friends who were keen to share our breakfast, and were actually pretty rude about it!

The road to Sutherland from here is not so exciting, lots of very narrow bends, much evidence of rock falls (!) and some potholes.  Sutherland is just what you would expect of a Karoo town, one wide street, Cape Dutch buildings, and a couple of restaurants/pubs.  We stayed at Kambro Kind which was ok.  Dumped our belongings and headed off to SALT (South African Large Telescope) which is about 20 minutes out of town, to tour the facility and see the telescope up close.  At 11m in diameter, it is very impressive - there is an exact replica in Texas - so at the moment SALT is the largest telescope in the Southern Hemisphere.  Currently there is an even bigger one being built in Chile which will have a diameter of more than 25 metres!  There are some smaller scopes around the facility each in its own building, owned and operated remotely from several different countries.  

After dinner at the Blue Moon (surprisingly busy for a Monday night in a small town) and some deeply delicious lamb chops we set off once again to do our stargazing at the SALT facility.  Unfortunately, for obvious reasons, you don't get to look through the big telescope but you do see a mind blowing amount of stars through their large Meade scopes.  My best experience of the whole day was seeing Saturn with its rings as sharp as a pin.  Very humbling to think we are so tiny and insignificant.  Our guide Patrick made our brains explode with all the facts and figures about light years and size of planets.  It is hard to comprehend (for me anyway).  

Just before we left home I had seen a you tube video about Merweville, and decided it might be nice to go that way home, rather than just going back the way we came.  Google maps reckon you can do 80kmph average and it will take about 1h40 to do the 104 kms, so we didn't bother to set off too early in the morning.  Do not believe a word of it. The "road" is sometimes nothing more than a rocky path with farm gates that have to be opened and closed.  Actually was quite fun.

The Merweville NG Kerk

Mountain Reedbuck roaming freely on the pass to Merweville

A step back in time in Merweville!

Merweville is a typical small Karoo town, spotlessly clean and quaint, and host to very few visitors judging by the puzzled glances we got from the locals!  It does boast one of the most attractive NG Kerk churches in the country, and the village was originally formed as a Parish to serve the spiritual needs of the local farmers, so the church has pride of place on the side of a koppie.   We were unable to go inside the church unfortunately but it is quite imposing from the outside.  The only coffee shop was closed so we did not stick around for too long.  The other side of Merweville the road is mercifully tarred and we were able to make faster progress towards Prince Albert.  

We were admiring the myriad wild flowers along the roadside on the approach to the town, but these were soon overtaken and eventually replaced by litter, such a shame.  The centre of the Prince Albert is lovely, lots of art galleries, artisanal shops, coffee shops and the beautiful Swartberg Hotel taking centre stage.  We finally had our coffee!!!!  And very nice it was too!

We entered the jawdroppingly steep and winding Swartberg Pass at around 1pm.  The pass is 24kms long and has to be taken slowly to avoid slipping over the edge - no guard rails here (Africa ain't for sissies!).  They say you can drive it in an hour but there are so many viewsites to stop and admire the geology that you do not want to be in a hurry.  

And so back home over the Outeniqua Pass again towards George.  Practically fell into bed absolutely exhausted but thrilled to have finally done this road trip, and more than pleased with our decision to move to the beautiful Cape!

#swartbergpass

#sutherland

#stargazing

#SALT

#seweweekspoortpass