Walter Sisulu Botanical Gardens

Enjoyed hiking along the ridge that runs parallel to Hendrik Potgieter Drive in the Roodepoort area with the Tuesday group. Years ago when driving to Magaliesburg to collect Laura and Michael from school I would often look up at the ridge, never realizing that it was part of the Botanical Gardens and the home of a breeding pair of Black Eagles.

Entrance is free for pensioners on Tuesdays!

We hiked up to the top which probably took 45 minutes and then walked along the Roodekrans ridge in a northerly direction as far as the beacon.
The views eastwards back over the Krugersdorp highway, the extensive new housing developments and casino contrasted amazingly with the quartzite and protea bushes along the path.






We saw the adult pair of Black Eagles circling ahead - another "tick".
Their nest is close to the Witpoortjie Falls which are at the source of the Crocodile River. We walked back along the ridge and descended to view the nest. A photographer had just captured some photos of the single juvenile eagle on the nest with a huge camera set up on a tripod. The eagles are a well known attraction.












The descent alongside the waterfall was easy as steps have been built and there's a handrail. Stunning views of the waterfall from the bottom.




A lady working on a research project was recording every movement of the eagles and had a scope trained on the nest. We looked through but couldn't see the young eagle as it was lying below the level of the nest.

The more traditional garden area between the falls and the main gate is very natural with many indigenous plants.









And amazing memorial benches carved from trees.




Definitely worth a visit!
More info:
http://www.sa-venues.com/attractionsga/walter-sisulu-botanical-garden.htm

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Location:Krugersdorp

More Mabula

Peter left this morning for work after a long weekend at Mabula. The day started off windy and unfortunately it did not change, so Edward and George went up to the games area and played pool and George won 2 games out of 3 despite being handicapped as his pool cue was sabotaged mysteriously. Then Janice appeared out of nowhere and beat George and Edward beat her as Janice sunk the white with the black.

We had a later game drive today at 4. We saw a warthog chasing a jackal and then 3 rhino. The drive was cut short by half an hour. George drove there and Edward drove back.

Mabula moments

Early yesterday morning we spotted eight elephants walking in our view at the back of the house they were walking towards the dam and they soon disappeared into the trees.



Janice afterwards was taken in a small plane around the area and George could see the plane flying over - they were trying to spot the elephants from the air.







Edward after the game drive picked up a weaver nest on the side of the road. He thought it was empty ... but then Edward edward stuck his hand in it expecting to pull out an egg after he felt something but he pulled out a rotting weaver which fortunatley didn't smell as it had been sun baked to a crisp in the nest which had most probabley been there for quite a while . Edwards comment was its tasted like chicken so he most probabley licked it before handing it over to the hornbills to be eaten.

We found ourselves overwhemed by many warthogs visiting our house. There were about 12 of them and a large one with sharp tusks was towards the younger ones.

Later on in the day Edward was strolling round with his shoes on and he decided to step on a acacia thorn which pierced through his shoe into his foot. George stayed on the computer whilst the others went out for a walk however they did not see anything but George in his great wisdom knew a giraffe would walk by but the others wouldn't listen to him.

My favourite place

So here we are at Mabula. Must be our 22nd year here and we all still love to come. A Family Holiday.
We stopped off at Zebula yesterday because we left home early and couldn't check in here till 15h00. It's only a few minutes away. Took Ed & George to see our house at Zebula and temporarily used the fridge and freezer. Both youngsters have their provisional licences so Ed (who has had 5 lessons) drove us along the sand roads from the house to Python Dam for a spot of, you guessed correctly, fishing.









They didn't catch anything but we passed a couple of hours and George had his first stab at driving - which went excellently.

Received a great email from Jen whilst relaxing.

Ed then drove us again up past our blue gum picnic area - we saw Zebra, Wildebeest , Hartebeest and Gemsbok.



I took over on the busy dirt road to the main lodge and we arrived just in time to see Mike and Conrad chipping to the 18th hole.
We checked out the caged tigers, snakes, crocs, caracals and mongoose and found that the wonderful bird aviary had been totally emptied and the birds all sold. Don't know why.

Drove to Mabula and checked in but still too early to get the key so walked in search of the klipspringer and dassies and had some more Kodak moments. Having trouble uploading photos again although the signal here is better than at home.

Love the moment in the drive from the main Mabula hotel to Modjadji camp when you come over the top of the hill and see the plain and distant hills ahead. That's when I arrive at my favorite place.

Mike arrived soon afterwards, then Peter straight from work and finally Laura and Mark. Didn't see Ed and George again - they had their shirts off and were boisterously running around, checking out the game and scrambling around the bush.


Sat around a roaring campfire in the bouma after supper and were visited by bush pigs.






All was well with the world!

This morning Graham and Myriam drove over from Zebula and Myriam joined us for a game drive. Almost immediately we came across a Secretary Bird strutting across the plain.








We were lucky to see all of the elephants in an open area on their way to Charles Glass Dam. They were clustered together and one of the larger ones had it's trunk on a smaller elephant.


Good viewing, followed by sightings of red crested korhaan, hippos out of the water,


3 rhino and a group of male buffalo.


Peter and I are now chilling at the house whilst everyone has gone up to the pool area. George and Edward have taken the tennis racquets - I think they're trying to get some practice in before Mike and I challenge them.

Lucky Lions

Thursday's plan was to drive home via the Kruger and get back before 18h00 when Peter would be due home from work.

We packed the car once again and headed the 500 metres to the Kruger Gate. By now we had the routine down to pat - fill in the form with the gate guard (count the number of passenges and check whether or not they are foreigners (do they pay more?), open the boot for a search (weapons, alcohol, animals??) and take the form into the office and pay the daily fee. This time I opened the boot and of course it was full of all our luggage. There on top for all to see was our innocent looking cooler box. Yes of course I would open I said, glibly knowing that none of the 3 of us were drinkers. Completely forgot about the box of wine which was lying in there!!!! This was immediately confiscated and banished to the bin. Moral of the story - if you want to take alcohol into the park these days put it in the back of the car. We went in 3 times and they never searched inside the car.

The plan was to take the road along the Sabie River towards the Phabeni Gate, drive down to Pretorius Kop and then take Voortrekker road to Malelane and hit the N4 for the 4 hour trip home. Where had all the animals gone? We saw very little  - one rhino, one giraffe in the first hour. We took a detour around the koppie and the boys saw cats twice but I missed them and they didn't get a good enough look to be sure of what they were. Oh and one Gabar Goshawk.

Decided to have a toasted sandwich at Preorius Kop and whilst eating heard a parrot calling from the coral tree alongside. It was a Brown Headed Parrot and was pulling each scarlet petal off the tree, eating the nectar at the end of the petal and then dropping it to the ground. What vandalism! It was soon joined by 3 others and later I saw that it was a new tick in my book. Catching Peter!

When we arrived at the start of Voortekker road it appeared to be closed - this was the only reasonable route to Malelane in the time available. There were yellow barriers across two thirds of the road but no notice to say what was going on. I tried phoning the Parks Board to find out what was going on - none of the officials had warned us of any closure. Anyway the signal was poor, the call cut off and we decided to carry on down the road and see if it was really closed or if the barriers were just protecting a bad patch of surface.

We had driven for ten minutes when we came upon some surface reconstruction and realised that we would have to turn back. A minute later Ed said "Lions" and there at the side of the road that we had just driven down a couple of minutes earlier were 2 male lions. We had them all to ourselves - one was lying alongside the car at the edge of the road and the other was about 5 paces away and was a bit more lively sitiing, turning, yawning. Good Kodak moments and not another tourist in sight!!!!

We eventually tore ourselves away. Decision time - take the long route to Malelane or cut the Kruger visit short by going out of the Numbi Gate and then take the scenic route home via Sabie and Long Tom Pass. We decided on the latter and drove out through Hazyview and on the back roads all the way to Witbank where we joined the highway and arrived home just before 18h00.

Loaded the washing machine as we needed to pack for Mabula and then went out for pizza with Peter.

Kruger park

We spent another day in the Kruger. We managed to see leopard, lion, buffalo, elephant and many other animals and and birds.

Firstly we drove though the park arriving at Silolweni dam where we spotted some lions which hurried to move on as many cars collected at the side of the road to see them . Then we drove down a dirt road where we came to a white landrover discovery pratrolling the road so we curiously ;) asked them what they were doing. It turned out they had spotted a leopard and two of its cubs but they ran away because their car scared them. Eventually after many minutes scanning the trees driving up and down the road Edward apparently saw a leopard cub running however, George and Janice have their doubts to whether he really did ;).

We were carried on down a tarmac road where a small blue hatch back sped past us whcih we bumped into later with their warning lights on and they had spotted a leopard laying on a rock which then moved when another person started shouting at it from another car.

Later on in the day we were leaving towards the kruger park gate and a pack of small lions came out on the bush and started running with the car and the car infront. We were promptly joined by the other people who were rushing to get out of the park by closing time and we were over run by other tourists us being the only car with no annoying tourists in!

Monkey Business

I will leave it to the boys to describe the monkey business a bit later - they're trying to get the braai going.

We spent the day in the Kruger Park - I think we travelled 130 kms and it took us 11 hours!

Would like to upload the photos and yes we have a signal. Only problem is the camera batteries are all busy recharging! Sorry Barrie and Sue - please be patient for the distant photo of the Lesser Jacana. It was a much smaller bird with distinctive head markings. See what you think once the photo has been uploaded.

We were also lucky to see 3 Ground Hornbill, including one juvenile.




We didn't see any cats today but did see spotted hyaena, lots of elephant, buffalo and a couple of white rhino, giraffe, zebra and steenbok. Plenty of impala of course, several kudu, a common duiker and a klipspringer.

Oh and monkeys.....




Edward was viewing a crocodile out the opposite side of the car to his window
and a monkey sneakily crept into the car and edward felt it climb over his shoulder, meanwhile George was taking a picture of a crocodile and was oblivious to what had happened then turned round and jumped as he got a shock that there was a monkey sat next to him rummaging through the food that had been packed for the day ! Edward was disappointed as George and Janice decided that it was his packet of Cheddars and apple that the monkey had stolen - which was a fair judgement as edward let it come in !


Edward was also struggling to start the braai so he came to ask George for help however even though George is always the best person for the job he couldn't get it going either so now we have resorted to using the grill to cook the ribs . Yum :)

Location:Kruger Park

The Best Laid Plans...

I had secretly hoped for some snow on the mountains surrounding Sterkfontein Dam - the next leg of our holiday. When Monday morning arrived we were busy loading the car and checking the news to find that copious snow had fallen and closed many of the roads around Harrismith.
I called Qwantani timeshare which is 5 kms down a track to be told that snow was falling and settling and that I should call again later to see if access was possible.

We thought we would have an adventure and packed a spade, sleeping bags, mats, emergency rations etc. Etc. And set off via the petrol station. Whilst there we overheard a news snippet saying that there was deep drifting around Heilbron. We looked on the map and saw that the road ran parallel to where we wanted to go so went back home to check the traffic news updates on the Internet and TV. Then we saw that the Olivershoek Pass was closed as well as Van Reenens. Sense prevailed, the resort said the snow was deep so we decided to abort the trip.

I called my guide at RCI and she offered us some alternative short notice accommodation at the Protea Hotel, Kruger Gate of the Kruger Park. By now it was almost noon, but never mind. We jettisoned the spade etc. And set off for Hazyview 5 hours away.

So here we are, planning a day in the Kruger Park tomorrow. In Ed's book this almost rates on a par with Bass Fishing.

We passed through sleet around Belfast on the N4, then some thunder and lightning. We arrived at 5pm - the chalet is quite old but the hotel itself consists of wooden buildings linked by walkways, an outdoor Bouma for eating supper and viewing platforms along the banks of the Sabie River. Not too shabby!

Still raining so no photos - maybe tomorrow we'll have some super wildlife pics to post!!

Fishing at Oppiekoppie Bass Farm

BIL had bought a BassAfrica magazine when the family were here 2 years ago and Edward had brought it back here on holiday. He found a bass farm in it, in the North West province less than 30 km away from Magalies Park, so we phoned and made a plan to go on Thursday. (Needless to say the magazine is well worn and well travelled by now).

As instructed we took the road through Brits and turned left after the railway line onto a tar road which had seen better days - we dodged all the potholes and found Oppiekoppiebassfarm quite easily. It's a working farm and stone quarry and also produces wooden goods. It has at least 5 dams that can be fished on a catch and release basis. Also a multitude of free roaming rabbits, geese and sheep.

George and Edward were soon fishing (they're eating their supper and comparing sizes as I write).

The farm is very tidy with a chalet for overnight guests, a lapa and plenty of braais - some of them quite ingenious home made affairs.

I'm handing over to the boys to tell you all about the fishing. Suffice it to say that my big moment of the day was watching a purple heron competing with them.

......
This is Edward speaking, George is better at fishing he has caught the first fish every time because he is the best ! He hasn't failed to catch the biggest fish each time he has been fishing with me this holiday! I am lucky to have such a knowledgeable fisherman with me today ! I caught ten little fishies and George caught a humongous bass and trout and three other little fishies !

George's Trout

This is George speaking, Edward is far superior. He caught ten bass one of which weighed a hefty 1 pound 12 ounces and there were two or three more that weighed about a pound. I caught out of blind luck a two pound bass on one of Edwards worms which he very kindly lent me. Edward told me what to do and it really paid off! Thank you Edward!

Ed specialised in Bass!

This photo was taken especially for Dad? (Ed did not reveal why)

Hiking at Van Galen's Cheese Farm

Peter had left for work (shame) and I had to rouse the boys for our 8h00 departure to join the Johannesburg Hiking Club Wednesday hike which was due to start from the local cheese farm. I didn't realize it would only take 5 minutes to drive there from Magalies Park! They could have slept a bit longer.

33 hikers pitched up and we split into slow, medium and fast groups. Why do youngsters always want to go FAST?!!!

We drove our cars to another part of the farm up a track next to a Predators Park. Disgusted to see there were wild dogs and hyena in small cages alongside the track.

Thought the hike was going to be fairly flat for a change as the Magaliesburg were away to the north and south. Should have known better! Our leader, Mike, said it was a bit boring and that the view from the top was magnificent. George was first to the top and waiting for the rest of the group to catch up. I needed to stop frequently to admire the view.

Looking south

And North...

 In hiking terms this is a euphemism for catching ones breath! Once we reached the top we came across a British fort from the Boer war.

The "Fast Group"

At one stage the route took us into a ditch which was obviously man made and in places more than 5 feet deep. I suppose it was like the pictures of the trenches from World War 1.

Anyway we finished around 12h30 and met back at the cheese farm for "light refreshments". No I took my aunty driving duties very seriously and only had a coke.

We're back at the chalet now at Magalies Park but where is George? Seemingly he's gone for a lie down - these youngsters can't keep up with aunty. Don't know if he'll get any sleep because somebody has a chain saw operating next to the chalet!

Ed is trying to catch a tan  - yes Jen he has taken his shirt off because he says you keep pestering him about a tan .

At dusk George and I were walking across the golf course when he spotted something jumping from the ground up into a tree. It was a bushbaby - we watched it move from tree to tree and called Edward to come over and see it.

Spot the eyes - all the better to see you with.

Magalies Park

Yesterday was a public holiday in South Africa - Womens Day. Quite a crowd came out to the resort and the road past our chalet was continuously busy.

Chalet 53, Magalies Park

We are only 45 minutes from home so Peter was able to join us after work on Monday and commute back early this morning. Mike was supposed to join us for a round of golf yesterday but the pro shop had no record of our booking. It turned out that they had a golf day organized at our time (10h00), what a mess. They were fully booked all day and could only offer us a late afternoon time behind the golf day field - this meant that we would probably not finish in daylight. We threw a wobbly and they relented and gave us the first time of the day at 6h40 just as it gets light. However it meant that Mike wouldn't be able to get here on time. In compensation they offered us a free game and cart for later in the week but with Peter leaving and no space for the clubs in my boot we wouldn't be able to make use of it.

Peter and I played golf - a few years ago it was my favorite course - a good variety of holes and scenic with the Magaliesburg mountains all. around. They've made a few changes and added quite a bit of water now. I think it was the course on which I first went around and managed to complete every hole without a blackout (4 or more over par). Anyway we both played pretty badly but I managed to beat Peter - or perhaps he let me because it was Women's Day.

George and Edward chilling

Mum, we told you it was a waste of time to iron before packing!

Back at the chalet we watched all the afternoon golfers struggle to get over the small pond at the 12th hole. Later Ed and George scored more than 75 golf balls from the water and became very muddy in the process.

As it became cooler we went in search of possible bass fishing spots and found a quiet place close to the dam. Alas no bass but Peter and I added another lifer - Great Crested Grebe. And then just to go one better Peter added the African Olive Pigeon which is the new name for Rameron Pigeon.Unfortunately I already had it in my list.

Hartebeesport Dam - Ed & George each lost a lure and neither caught a fish!

An email arrived from Barrie & Sue inviting us to a "300 birds" party - date to be supplied by us - an excuse to visit Uvongo which we still hope to do this year.

Peter cooked us magic tasting ribs for supper and we resumed our Black Maria cards game which George won once more by going back to zero points on the penultimate hand. How does he do it???

To be continued.... Must get ready for our hike as we have to meet at the cheese farm before 8h30....

Gone Fishing!

Edward had googled "bass fishing in Gauteng" before he left England and found Ithumela - a private smallholding about 20 kms north of Pretoria.

We set off early on Sunday morning and arrived before 7h30. It felt as if we were in somebody's back garden as we had to drive past the house (including a large cage of Vervet monkeys??) and park more or less on a lawn. There were 4 or 5 small dams and a walk down the track brought us to a stretch of river that was hardly flowing.

George caught the first bass ......

and not to be outdone, Edward followed soon afterwards.

Both bass were caught before 9h30 and after that ............Only a crab........

It was cloudy and chilly so Peter and I sat in the car and updated our bird checklists. I had some new lifers to add from last week's trip. We counted up and much to my dismay I found that I had 303 birds which was 3 short of Peter's total. Barrie what have you done?? 

Peter the Bird Watcher

So, Peter is promoted from apprentice 

and

where was our promised "300" party?

The sun appeared and Peter and I left the fishermen and walked down to the river. Within 5 minutes Peter spotted an unusual bird that looked like a goose but had a bright orange beak. It was skulking along the opposite bank, and disappearing behind the reeds. Luckily we had taken "Sasol Birds" along and found that it was an African Finfoot. This was a new "lifer" for both of us and Peter recalled that Barrie and Sue had once spent 8 hours waiting to see one at some dam or other. Next time take Peter the birder along!!!!!!

Maximum zoom but still far away - the African Finfoot

Several hours went by and still no more fish were caught, after 14h00 the sun made a permanent appearance and brought out a few more birds. A black shouldered kite was hunting and a pair of African Fish Eagles were displaying and calling from a distant tree ( no it was not a ring tone!). We were lucky to see a Giant Kingfisher close by and a few arrowmarked babblers were chattering noisily.

Several more hours went by and still no more fish - by now I had finished 3 of the Black Belt Sudoku puzzles in the book that Mike had given me for Christmas.

I decided to take a photo of our car - just to prove to Barrie and Sue that despite travelling several kms on dirt road to reach the fishing spot - we still had our front number plate.

Finally as the sun was starting to set we managed to "lure" (no pun intended) our intrepid fishermen back to the car for the trip home to Centurion.

Off to Magalies Park tomorrow - and more fishing!

Back Home - a brief stay before we're off again

Our last day in St Lucia was very relaxing. Barrie and Sue went on a final search for the Sooty Tern down on the beach. The sighting could still not be confirmed and they left to go back to their home in Uvongo.

Edward, George and I played some table tennis and then decided to go and relax at the tea garden at the crocodile farm. Basil had suggested a bird watching trip to the sewage works but Ed wasn't feeling too good so we gave it a miss.

It was very windy again and we found a sunny, sheltered spot overlooking an area which housed 1 male crocodile and 7 females. No comment! Various birds were coming and going and we spotted a hammerkop and crowned hornbills. The chocolate muffins were delicious and George and I enjoyed them with a couple of coffee and chocolate milkshakes whilst Ed had to be satisified with a flat coke!

We left this morning just before 8h00 and arrived home just over 7 hours later. There are still several one way stretches on the road between Pongola and Ermelo. At one we must have waited 20 minutes for the oncoming traffic to come through. There were a lot of coal trucks on the road and we saw another long coal train which we measured at over 1.3 kms.

The temperature varied between 17 and 23 degrees centigrade on the drive back. Now we are in Centurion its sunny outdoors but pretty cold in the house. The washing machine is working overtime in preparation for our next trip which starts on Monday when we leave for Magalies Park - less than an hours drive away.

Cape Vidal

Up early on a sunny but windy day to take a leisurely drive through the Isimangaliso wetland park to Cape Vidal. Odette had said Cape Vidal was not to be missed.

Stopping to view the plentiful game and unusual birds (the lesser black winged plover was a good sighting), and taking all the optional loop roads we reached the long stretch of quiet beach at Cape Vidal in the late morning. The tide was out and the reef exposed  - we had taken the snorkel but it was far too windy to venture near the reef. I still have memories of being bashed against the jagged ancient coral on our Mozambique Beach Hike back in 2008.

The view from the top of the ancient sand dunes at Mission Rocks was stunning. Looking east was the turquoise of the Indian Ocean and we could see many whales blowing. Looking west across the area known as the Eastern Shores to Lake St Lucia we could see black rhino, buffalo, zebra and wildebeest. A large flock of Spoonbills flew over and settled on the shores of the lake.

What a View!

Maybe this one is better?

We could see an eagle hunting below us and hear the cries of the fish eagle. On the drive we had seen many busbuck, red duiker, reedbuck, waterbuck, a long crested eagle and an Afican Harrier Hawk. On the drive back past Banghazi Bush Camp we saw a couple of black rhino.

Black Rhino

Whale Watching, Fishing and Chilling

Monday - the first day of August. Our Bird Watching friends, Barrie & Sue, arrived from Uvongo and we immediately went in search of the Sooty Tern - a "lifer" for all of us. It had been listed on the rarity web site last week as being spotted in a group of other terns at the mouth of the St Lucia estuary. This actually meant stopping off for a pint at the St Lucia ski boat club and asking the locals if they'd seen a tern that didn't look like any of the other terns!

The Ski Boat Club

View from the ski boat club

We didn't find the Sooty Tern on Monday - on Tuesday Edward, George and Janice were up early to go Whale Watching...

George & Janice ready to go Whale Watching

The "double storey" whale watching boat

Power!

The tractor pushes the boat out using a steel bar

 The tractor pushed the boat into the surf, the two 300 horsepower engines revved and we surged forward jumping the breakers. One wave hit us and drenched the boat and the girls started screaming. The water quickly drained out, we were through the breakers and heading out for the open sea and hopefully some whales.

 

There were several Humpback Whales but we didn't get extremely close

Back on Dry Land.....
 

Barrie & Sue - "On the Boardwalk"

 You have been warned!

They were not kidding!

And if the crocs don't get you.....

George fishing in the estuary - watch your toes!

Mens' Business

Supper at last - Bream

Small but tasty!