African Flower Chain: Link 15

 For our last night in the Eastern Cape we headed to the Mountain Zebra National Park just outside of Cradock. We were not disappointed. Lots of Mountain Zebra, Wildebeest, Hartebeest and other antelope.  The promised Black Rhinos and Cheetahs were not to be seen though.

We passed the Gariep Dam and entered into the Free State near the small town of Bethulie. 

The most action we saw there were these goats crossing the road...

From Bethulie to Bloemfontein we saw mostly farmland.

The only thing that changed was the colour of the soil.

In Bloem we stayed over with friends. We had a great time catching up and the children were happy to have some friends for a change.  It seems like parents can get a bit boring after a while...

My Bloem flower is on a lamp post in the garden of the Oliewenhuis Art Museum.

African Flower Chain: Link 14

After 10 days on the Cape coast it was time to turn inland again.  We could have stayed on the Garden Route (one of our favourite places in the whole world) for a long time, but there were more places to see...

We drove through Knysna (no stopping, unfortunately) and then headed for the mountains. The plan was for us to pass over the Prince Alfred's Pass, but we had to divert as the steep, narrow, gravel road was not suitable for our vehicle. Bummer.  

In stead we passed through a valley of incredible scenery, hugging the Keurbooms River, which made up for the lack of mountain...

Now we were in the Karoo.  Another of our favourite places.  We stayed over at Elandsheuwel, a guest farm belonging to Chris and Alicia van Schalkwyk. I 'met' Alicia a while ago when she sent me an email enquiring about the Namaqua 301. She found my blog post about it and we started an email friendship, chatting about hiking, life, children and all things we women talk about. But we've never set eyes on each other.  So we decided to stay over at their place and get acquainted. We had a great time and we left as friends.  Thank you Chris and Alicia.   

Our next stop was Jansenville, a small town in the Eastern Cape Karoo and the heartland of Angora (mohair) farming.  We stopped at a quaint coffee shop where I met Tannie Louise.  Her garden is decorated with enamel coffee pots, mugs, kettles and... chickens!  We were chatting in the kitchen while we waited for the kettle to boil, and she told me about her late husband and their life together.

                                                    

She reminded me of my mother.

I planted a flower in her coffee pot garden. 

 If you ever pass through Jansenville, please stop and smell the coffee.

Flower Feedback: L'Aghulas 2

Isn't this cool?  

(apologies to those who don't understand Afrikaans, but this will not be translated...)

Thank you, Graham van Heerden.

Saterdagmiddag wandeling saam met vriende

Stormsee, stormwind, skuim, skade

Die dag tevore

Maar dis verby, en die lenteblommetjies kruip uit

Die monument wink

Jare laas - seker 10 - hier gewees

Sterk simboliek. Skeiding. Atlanties.Indies. Links. Regs.

Bankie

Sit

Dink

Blommetjie

Rommel?

Blommetjie

Lappie

Briefie

Boodskap

Foto

Mail.

Flower Feedback: Mossel Bay

I received a very friendly email from Katryn.  She wrote a beautiful message telling me about the history of Mossel Bay.  How wonderful is that?

Found this "planted" at The Point in Mossel Bay.... Kon nie 'n foto neem waar ek ook in die foto is nie, want ek was alleen, Toe fotografeer ek maar die blom en kaartjie om vir jou te stuur...

 

We live in Danabaai, Mossel Bay. The picturesque village of Danabaai is one of the most beautiful and safest residential

Areas of the Western Cape and is situated close to Mossel Bay.

 

Our Town, Mossel Bay, is blessed with a mild climate all-year round; ideal tourist destination during the green season as well, not only in Summer. Mossel Bay is a popular holiday town and is surrounded by a sunbathed peninsula and the Indian Ocean. Mossel Bay is the historical capital of the Garden Route.

Mossel Bay is a quaint coastal town with lovely beaches, best surf sport and most mouth-watering seafood. It also has historical architecture, several museums and an old working Harbour. 

 

Mossel Bay is the first place at which Bartolomeus Dias landed after rounding the Cape in 1488. One of the port's historic attractions is the famous "Post Office Tree", so called because in 1500 a sailor left a message in a navigator's boot in a milkwood tree. Today you can still post a letter at this spot. The Bartolomeus Dias Museum Complex consists of historic buildings with exhibits of shells, local and maritime history, dominated by an impressive life-size replica of Bartolomeus Dias caravel. From this Point there are spectacular views of waves crashing against the rocky shoreline and you can see dolphins. Mossel Bay is the best place for whale watching during August and November.

 

The St. Blaize Lighthouse has been a beacon for navigators since 1864 and is one of two manned lighthouses on the South African coast today. Mossel Bay's excellent climate, wind protected, safe beaches and good surfing conditions make it a very popular holiday resort.

Thank you Katryn!

 

African Flower Chain: Link 13

We had a fantastic weekend in the Mossel Bay area.  We spent two days with some of our "Dubai Family". Then we spent one day with some blood family and had a quick visit with two more sets of friends and family.  We felt very blessed to be with loved ones in such a beautiful place.

Again the Southern Wright Whales were keeping us entertained...

With the bay on one side and the mountains on the other, the view never gets boring.

The Mossel Bay Flower is at The Point, near the play area below the light house. 

Have you seen it?

Flower Feedback: L'Agulhas

The first feedback from the L'Agulhas flower comes from Lucas.  Thank you, Lucas!

Hi My Name is Lukas and I'm from Austria. 

We drove to the southernmost Tip of Africa after a 3day Trip to Cape Town.

Now we Flew back to Austria but it was wonderful in SA.

Flower Feedback: Cape Point 2

My apologies for falling behind on the flower chain!  The only drawback of our trip so far is that we are not always connected to the internet.  So while the flower chain is continuing, I don't always have the opportunity to blog.

I have received another email from my flower at Cape Point...

Hi there,

I'm Marije Westerveld. I'm 38 years old, living in Enschede, The Netherlands, working as a teacher at primary school.

I spotted your flower on the 21st of August at Cape Point.

Me and my family (husband, son and daughter) visited my brother in law and his family who live in Hout Bay, next to Capetown.

We went to South Africa for 12 beautiful days. We love this country!

I was glad to see your beautiful flower and wish you all the best!

Thank you Marije! 

African Flower Chain: Link 12

In the mouth of the Great Brak River is a small island with a few holiday homes on.  It is linked to the mainland with a narrow bridge.  My husband's family own one of the houses on the island and we have many fond memories of holidays on the Island.

I could not pass through this area without leaving a flower on the bridge...

African Flower Chain: Link 11

From L'Agulhas we headed to the De Hoop Nature Reserve.  I know it gets really boring to say it was another gorgeous place, but it really was.  

Wonderful Fynbos fields and the most amazing unspoiled coastline.  We saw quite a lot of whales from the shore. No flower there though...

I saved that for the pont at Malgas.  It is the only working hand operate pontoon ferry in South Africa. The children thought this was really cool!

We headed inland to the Klein Karoo and spent the night on a farm in the Matjiesvlei area between Ladismith and Calitzdorp.  The farm lies in a valley in the foothills of the Swartberg not far away from the Gamkaskloof.

Can you see the little white house on the photo above? That's where we stayed...

From there we planned to cross over the Swartberg Pass towards Prins Albert but the pass was closed as a result of the snowfall.

  Instead we visited the Cango Caves, passed through Oudshoorn and crossed the Montagu Pass towards George.

We are back on the coast and spending the weekend with friends and family in the Mosselbay area.

Creatures big and small

One of the highlights of our trip is spotting all kinds of wild (and not so) wild life on the side of the road.  We passed through a few Nature Reserves and lots of farmland.  Everywhere teemed with life.  Obviously I couldn't photograph everything, but here are some those I managed to catch on film.

Eland in De Hoop Nature Reserve

Blesbok in the De Hoop Nature Reserve

We saw lots of Southern Right Whales all along the coast.  This time of year they come close to the coast to either mate or calf and the waters teem of them.  It is really difficult to photograph them as you never know where or when they are going to show themselves.

Cape Vulture on a power line pole next to the road.  There was two of them and they were keeping a close eye on the newborn lambs in the fields...

Sheep with lots of new (very vulnerable) lambs

A chameleon on the fence

An owl! In broad daylight.

We also saw lots of baboons, monkeys, mongoose, ground squirrels, foxes and a wide variety of birds.

We are still enjoying every minute of our road trip.  It is such a blessing to see all these beautiful things.