Finns in the mist
The weather today was not as fine as yesterday, but forunately it was not as hot as I have experienced it here before. We were very fortunate to still have most of the magnificent views of this walk because the mist lifted when we approached Hout Bay. Kili loved the walk but was misbehaved and so he & I had an argument. As usual I set-up a safety rope at the ladder and everyone used it and appreciated having it there. Toward the end of the walk the mist settled-in...
Over the Krakadouw Pass
We departed from Heuningvlei passing beautiful sculptured rocks en route to the Krakadouw Pass. You may recall a previous post ("Once was famous" - May 2nd 2011) in which I spoke about the tremendous variety of colour forms seen in Protea repens flowers. On this walk we saw a colour variety that I have never seen before. The bracts are white but the stamens & anthers are red. The contrast is extremely beautiful. While descending the western side of the pass we saw this beautiful Lachenalia. The genus Lachenalia...
Heuningvlei revisited
I've been extremely fortunate to have had an adventurous few months, traveling to special places. As you noticed in my previous blog, I was recently fortunate enough to be guiding in the Okavango Delta (my favourite place in the world). Next purchase viagra online ukweek I'll be in The Greater Kruger National Park and along the way I have been in The Cederberg, Francistown and The Succulent Karoo as well as up and down Table Mountain a few times. As the author of this blogspot I...
Table Mountain Ice
The Laveroni clan has toured with me before in Cape Town. Last time they were here, the weather prevented them from going to Robben Island and from ascending Table Mountain. This time the weather was PERFECT - one of those incomparable Cape Town winter champagne days! So while Jerry & Ty went to Robben Island I took Sherry, Shelly, Maddie & Gracie for a walk on the mountain. Here we all are at Maclear's Beacon. It was a magnificent day and although the temperature was ideal, we could see from the...
Mountains in the mist
After many idle promises we finally feature a contribution from a guest writer! Thanks to Rachel Aspden for the latest article. Last week we spent an afternoon walking in the Cape Point national park with Brooke from New York and Georg and Maribuy cialisa from Vienna. Winding along the False Bay side of the peninsula, the trail led us up high above the ocean and down steep rocky outcrops, from bright summer sunshine into fierce autumn winds. Flowers were easy to spot. The cliffsides were covered in bright yell0w-green sunshine cone...
Everlastings
In fynbos the daisy family is well represented. And within this family are several species which have dry flowers - even when they are fresh. These are commonly known as the everlastings or sometimes as paper-flowers. My favourite are Phaenocomabuy cialis prolifera (the Cape Strawflower), which are a vivid pink in colour when they first open and then gradually fading to white. Their flowering season lasts through the heat of summer and presumably the dry papery flowers minimise water loss. The genus name "Phaenocoma" is derived from the Greek...
Sureal at the Sea Shore
The last day of the Whale Trail involves a very short walk, but what it lacks in distance it certainly compensates-for in aesthetics. It is photographic wonderland. The sandstone rocks along the sea have been eroded into wonderful shapes. Long shelves of rock project far out to sea creating bizarre meeting places of calm and rough I enjoy this photograph. On forst impression it appears to be a meteorological photograph of our planet, taken from outer space and showing developing weather patterns. But in fact it is a picture of an Oystercatcher! At...
Of lizards and birds
On the 2nd day of the Whale Trail we met this magnificent rock agama and he illustrated the concept of selective conspicuosness. His brightest colours are below his neck. So he positions himself on a high rock and bobs his head. In this way the lizards get an excellent view of his brilliantly coloured neck, but the birds of prey above do not! Pretty smart. Later we saw a male Cape Sugarbird who deals with a similar challenge differently. He is drably coloured but has a long streaming tail. When he...
Err . . . did I say “perfection”
Is it possible for something to more perfect than perfect? Today's walk was just that. It started-off OK: It was still pretty good when we stopped for a snack but then it just got crazy beautiful to the point where we were laughing with disbelief and joy ...
Over the Hill
Actually the title of this article does not refer to me - nor to Kili (and obviously not to Meru). It refers to the route that we walked today. We started on the beach and walked to the wreck of the Kakapo, which went down (actually 'up' in this case) in 1900. Captain Nicholayson miscalculated his position under conditions of poor visibility and instead of rounding The Cape of Good Hope, he parked his ship on Noordhoek Beach! A little later we found an enormous log which was part of a ships...