Exploring Kirstenbosch Gardens and the new tree walk

Highlights of our morning in Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens included ...

• Getting to experience the Boomslang Tree Walk for the first time, high up in the canopy. It's been beautifully designed and made.
• Getting to photograph a lesser double collared sunbird.  So glad I lugged my 400 mm lens, it was perfect for the job.
• The extremely cute baby guineafowl.
• Drinking the water from the spring at Lady Anne Barnards Bath.  Thanks Chrisèl, I've never thought to do that before!  It tasted absolutely delicious!
• A delicious red cappuccino to finish off (a "cappuccino" made from rooibos tea.)

Lesser Double collared Sunbird - which I've wanted to photograph for ages!

The Boomslang Tree Walk.

Lady Anne Barnards Bath

A delicious red cappuccino to finish off.  Not complete without plenty of honey and cinnamon!

An amble in the Harold Porter Botanical Gardens

On our drive back from the garden route, Chrisèl and I stopped off at the Harold Porter Botanical Gardens.

This garden is full of happy memories for me. It is where I came after my Matric exam results came out and I wanted to reflect on where I was going in life (after a walk to the top of the beautiful Luiperd's Kloof.)  It's also where I came bird watching shortly after I took it up as a hobby (and was rewarded with sightings of ground woodpeckers which excited me greatly.) It's also where I spent time with Ally and friends on the Kleinmond Camping Weekend when we met for the first time.  

So it was lovely to revisit it again and admire many of the beautiful flowers in bloom.

The tea house.

Proteas is full bloom.

My favourite photo of the day.

After a relaxing amble in the gardens, we drove on to Gordon's Bay via the gorgeous coastal road.  Surely this must be one of the most scenic drives in the whole world.  Its views were sublime as always.  Of course, we stopped off to take lots of snaps. And to celebrate another leap.

Overnighting in Mossell Bay

On the way drive back to Cape Town from Addo Elephant Park, we overnighted in Mossel Bay.

 

Highlights included:

• Park House Lodge, the beautiful backpackers, where we stayed.   It is an old sandstone Georgian House, built in the 1850's, with high ceilings and two baths (much to Chrisèl's delight).
• A nice evening walk along the water's front, checking out all the restaurants.
• A huge braai (5 different types of meat!) at the hostel for only R90 and chatting to the very friendly host and two lovely German ladies who raved about the Jungle Monkey in Port St Johns, inspiring us decide to go there on our Baz trip.
• Drinking wine and sitting by the fire by candle light. Load shedding has its benefits!
• Meditating in the branches of a beautiful tree early in the morning in the Botanical Garden next to the hostel.

Park House Lodge, the old Georgian house where we stayed.

Eating our braai and drinking wine by candle light due to Load Shedding.

The tree that I climbed up into to do my morning meditation.

Exploring the Addo Elephant Park

Addo Elephant National Park is the second largest wildlife reserve in South Africa after The Kruger National Park and is home to over 600 elephants. Mum and Mike have been there several times and have raved about it, so it was exciting to get to visit it.  It certainly didn't disappoint.

Priceless moments

• Being inspired by lots of fascinating facts from Chrisèl who did a wildlife guiding course in The Eastern Cape just a few months before.
• A wonderful sighting of a herd of elephant arriving and frolicking in a water hole, including the cutest youngsters.
• An extremely close encounter with a female elephant and her calf as they ambled right past our car while parked at a dam.
• Getting extremely excited when Chrisèl suddenly said "Leopard ... !"  Then a second later, she broke the spell by saying  "... tortoise."  It wasn't a leopard at all.  Just a leopard tortoise!  I then discovered from Chrisèl that there is such a thing as the Little Five: the elephant shrew,  buffalo weaver, leopard tortoise, ant lion and rhino beetle. What a great concept. You don't just have to be excited about big animals.
• Watching two male tsessebes have a bit of a fight.
• Sighting of the endangered Addo flightless dung beetle along the road.
• Lots of sightings of Eland in large groups.  And cute warthogs eating on their knees.
• Discovering that the park shop sold granadilla lollies.  Ice-cream sticks don't come better!
• Staying at The Orange Elephant Backpackers and buying loads of fresh ingredients from a local shop and making an enormous salad to have with our babotie. 

Less happy moments

• Walking out barefoot onto the lawn at the backpackers at dusk to do my meditation, then discovering on the way back that is was land-mined with multiple thorns and getting stabbed in both feet several times.  So weird that it didn't get me once on my way onto the lawn!
• Discovering the local restaurant had Diemersfontein Chocolate Pinotage on its menu which we really wanted to try after hearing about it from Antony. Then being told they didn't stock it. Ah, the disappointment!! 
• A ravenous but very stealthy mosquito accosting us the one night.

Pale Chanting Goshawk

Weaver

Black-headed Heron

Fiscal Shrike

Egyptian Geese

Fighting Tsessebe

Elephants, the reason the park is most famous...

... with beautiful babies too.

I love the symmetry of this one ...

... and this one too.

Zebra, always so beautiful.

Mum's favourite, the warthog.  So ugly, they're beautiful.

We loved the way they went onto their knees like this.

Me with my own personal wildlife guide!