Only in South Africa

Not far from my parents in Umkomaas, there is a train station which has this sign erected on the platform. For years I have been meaning to take a photograph of it, so over Christmas I did just that......

Cape Town

Before I carry on, here's wishing you all the very best of 2010. I know 2009 was a good year for Ruth and I. Let's see if we can make 2010 even better. I was listening to the radio the other day and they were discussing intelligence and learning. The main jist of the discussion is that we as Human Beings have to keep throwing challenging situations at ourselves all the time. Put ourselves into different circumstances. Travel is one of the best ways to challenge yourself via different peoples, cultures, languages, food and climates. For me it is all about growth. If you don't learn, you don't grow. If you don't grow, you die....

So seeing as 2010 is here and you have always wanted to learn a new language, learn guitar, learn how to knit, bake, cook or whatever. Start it TODAY. Even if it is just a small start. Google the subject that you want to learn. Get enthusiastic about it. If you do what you have always done, you will get what you have always gotten. Do something different today. Just get out of your comfort zone and you will be amazed at what an incredible world we live in!

Right, I have had my new year rant. I feel better now.

My Nephew Stephen landed back in SA on the 26th December. He was heading down to George to meet up with my Niece Tanya, so on the 27th we all headed off merrily to O.R. Tambo International airport (formerly Jan Smuts International, formerly Johannesburg International). Ruth and I were catching a plane to Cape Town.

I won't go into the journey details as flying is a-boring....

We arrived in Cape Town and met friends of ours: Bill, Melinda, Carys (our God-Daughter), Jo and Wynand at the airport. One of reasons for heading to Cape Town was for Bill's 50th Birthday on the 29th December. He had been trying to plan it for the last 2 years so eventually, Cape Town it was....

We all jumped into our prospective hire-cars and headed off to Simonstown where Ruth, Jo, Wynand and myself were sharing accommodation on the hills of Simonstown overlooking Simonstown Harbour and False Bay.

I must say, I was very impressed with our rented holiday accommodation.

Perched high up on one of the hills facing north east, the views were spectacular. We could see the three frigates berthed at the naval base which purchased by the South African government. These frigates were part of the huge arms deal corruption scandal. Apparently these frigates have never left the naval base as they are too unseaworthy....On the 28th December Heath, another friends of ours from Oz arrived for two days. That night we had a party and braaivleis of note.
Boulders beach was only a stones throw away from where we were staying. This beach has been made famous beacause of the Penguins that live and breed there. We saw loads of Penguins and Porpoises as we were walking along the boardwalk which is perpendicular to the beach. There is a beach adjacent to Boulders Beach which is great for swimming, which Ruth and I did a few times whilst we were in Simonstown. On the 29th about 20 of us meandered our way to Simonstown Yacht Club where were spending Bill's 50th birthday with him. Bill is the one with the blonde wig on in one of the attached photos. My, what a wonderful birthday party it was too! Weather was awesome, the setting was fantasic. Food and drink were in abundance.....what a life.... Hope my 50th is well attended as well! To finish the lunch off, a few of us went for a sail around Simonstown Harbour in Bill's brother Andrew's 34ft yacht...Ruth and I also took a drive from Simonstown across Chapmans Peak and into Cape Town proper. This is a spectacular drive. Once again the weather was fantastic. There is a photo with Ruth looking out to Hout Bay.

On our way back from the Chapmans Peak drive, we stopped in at Kalk Bay for a quick cocktail at the Cape to Cuba restaurant. The last time we were there was in 2002. We took a quick walk around Kalk Bay and stopped at the fish sellers who get their catch from the fishermen who go out early every morning and come back mid-day. As we were walking along the warf, a huge head popped out of the water! Lordy, I got a fright. It was a huge seal. A young lad started throwing fish heads and guts for the seals who Started jumping up onto the steps. I wonder what was going on in his head...probably "bloody Tourists"...

Before we knew it, New Years Eve approached. Ruth and I took the day in it's stride. Went for an early morning swim at Boulders Beach. Said good morning to the Penguins.... In the evening, we headed off to where Bill and Melinda were staying. Bill started off with a round of extra-strong G&T's...Lordy, nearly blew my head off.... I got a bit messy once Bill started pouring Margueritas.......a lot of them. We had a fun night of dancing and watching Zelda and Melinda 'Langarm' (traditional Afrikaans dancing, almost like a fast waltz). At the stroke of midnight, there was a fireworks display over Simonstown Harbour. Not quite Sydney Harbour standards but great nonetheless... At around 2am Ruth had decided that she had had enough so went home. Lordy, I drank so much that I crashed out at Bill and Melinda's at around 3am.

Woke up on New Years Day at around 11:30am feeling like a bear with a sore head. Ruth was up and dancing and rearing to go for our New Years Day hike up to the very top of Table Mountain!
At around 12:30, we drove to Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens, one of South Africa's premier botanical gardens, situated at the backend of Table Mountain. The day was grey and the Mountain was covered in heavy cloud. I still felt a bit rough, but seeing as I am a 'Livens', I couldn't let a mountain whip me!

We headed towards Skeleton Gorge, a rough climb on the best of days, but with a hangover.....Yoh! After the first 20 minutes the sweat was already pouring off of me. Ruth as per usual, was steadfast and sure with her climbing. Seeing as the cloud was the low, the condensation was high, which made the rocks as slippery as hell. An hour later, we emerged on top of "Tafelberg" or Table Mountain for the English readers. The mist was thick and the wind was howling, so we didn't hang around too long before descending down another route called Nursery Ravine. Table Mountain can be treacherous when it is misty. Many have been wandering lost for days in the mist. Very dangerous.
Going down was just as bad as going up. By the time we got back to Kirstenbosch, our legs were like jelly. Hangover was gone though.

We raced back to Simonstown to shower and get changed as we had a dinner arrangement with one of my old school buddies who had recently moved back to Cape Town.

On the afternoon of the 2nd January, we flew back to Johannesburg after an absolutely fantastic stay in Cape Town. I was really missing work and couldn't wait to get back to it on the 4th.........NOT!

Christmas 2009

My oh my, I can hardly believe it has been nearly two months since our last posting on this blog..

On the 23rd December, Ruth and I left home at 4:30am to start our drive down to Umkomaas (Place of the Whale) which is about 50km south of Durban on the east coast of South Africa. My parents have retired down there and have been there since 1993.

South African roads over the December holidays are a nightmare as hundreds of thousands of holiday makers head off from up-country to holiday next to the sea. Incidentally this Christmas holiday death rate from motor vehicle accidents was just over 1000 souls. That was for December alone!
We stopped a few times on the way down to swap drivers. Fortunately, seeing as we left home on the 23rd, so we did not experience too much traffic. After 6 1/2 hours drive, we arrived in Umkomaas. We had rented a self-catering cottage in a small guest lodge for 3 nights, seeing as we were leaving back for Johannesburg early on Boxing Day. We went straight to my Parents home to say hello. The weather was really humid and hot and we were both pouring with sweat before long, seeing as Johannesburg has very little humidity. After the visit, Ruth and I headed of to the supermarket to purchase some Christmas fare, which included a turkey. Lordy, can't remember the last time I have had turkey for Christmas, let alone sitting around the dining room table with my parents eating the said fowl!

Christmas day arrived and Ruth and I sprang out of bed in search of the elusive bag from Santa, but alas it remained elusive! Ruth did however present me with a book on African travel and a small backpack....In return, once I had the said gifts in my possession, I gave Ruth a very interesting book on facts of South Africa. Aaaah, the joys of extravagant and lavish gift giving.

We got dressed and headed for the beach which was about 1km walk down a steep hill. After walking along the beach for a while I decided to take a swim and seeing as I didn't have my swimmers on I thought I would do it in my birthday suit! Lordy, the water was being in a bathtub it was so warm........
We headed back to the guest lodge to grab a small breakfast before heading off to my parents place for Christmas lunch.

After arriving 30 minutes late and meeting the wrath of my Dad, we settled around the dining room table for a sumptuous feast of prawn cocktails ala Ruth hastily followed by turkey with all the trimmings ala Alan. Dinner was delicious, but man oh man, why do we always eat so much?

Ruth and I went for a walk down to the beach to try and help digest dinner. Weather the last few days has been a bit grey and wet. Apparently it has been like that for nearly 2 months. I suppose it is better than the UK where it is like that most of the time...

We had to leave early on Boxing Day to try and miss the traffic, so we left the guest lodge at 6:00am sharp. The drive back to Jozi Town was pretty uneventful, but at least there was hardly any traffic going our way. Traditionally, a lot of people leave Jo'Burg on Boxing Day to start their holidays on the coast, so we saw a lot of traffic going in the opposite direction.

Schoemanshof on the Vaal......

Well, the time came for Ruth and I to have another weekend away. this time we decided to head off to a place called Parys which is about 128km sout west of Johannesburg. we left Joburg about 11:30am and jumped on the N1 South heading towards Bloemfontein. Not long out of Joburg, we encountered a huge Highveld thunderstorm which was quite spectacular as we had huge lightening and thunder. Shortly after the Grasmere toll plaza we entred the eye of the storm and it was eerily dark and with big rain and noise.After about 35 mins, we drove past Vanderbijlpark, which is where I grew up, was schooled and studied 3 years at the Vaal Triangle Technikon. We turned left onto the R59 and headed for Parys (Paris on the Vaal). The Vaal River is one of South Africas largest rivers that acts as a natural border betweeen Gauteng and the Free State.

We stopped in Parys for some lunch at a great place called Hoi Polloi. We left Parys at around 3pm and headed for Schoemanshof, which is a farm where we were going to stay for the weekend. We ended up doing a bit of a detour as we followed the signs to Schoemansdrift from the tar road and ended up on aoubt 30km's of dirt road. Mini Coopers are not designed to be driven on dirt roads, but hey this one handled it quite well. I am sure it put some of those 4X4 to shame that have never even seen a dirt road!

We arrived at Schoemanshof at about 4pm. There was nobody in sight, so we headed off to our cottage and promptyly unpacked all our stuff. Man, this place was wonderful. The cottage we rented was about 50m from the Vaal River and was set in a wonderful position surrounded with Acacia trees.

That evening we went for a short walk and then lit the fire for our "Braai"...
Seeing as we went to bed early on Saturday night, we woke up early and went for an early morning walk along the banks of the river. There was a great variety of birds in this area, so I could brush up on my South African bird recognition.
We didn't do too much on Sunday apart from walking and reading. There are about 3 other places to rent on the farm. Our place was small with a double bed, kitchen and ensuite. The other places accommodate up to 8 people, so it would be a great place to come away with friends and family.

We had another Braai that night and went to bed early again. Seeing as it was Sunday night, all the other guests staying at the other places had left. Also, the owners had gone away for the weekend. We had the owners dogs sleeping outside the cottage and at 1:30am they started barking. Ruth woke up with a start and said "There is somebody outside...", this made me a bit nervous seeing as we were the only ones around. I had thoughts of a recent book we had both read by J.M Coetzee, called "Disgrace". The book is set in South Africa and something bad happens to the owners on a their farm. Anyway, all was well as it turned out that the dogs were barking at some Jackals howling in the hills......

New Arrivals......

A few weeks back Ruth and I noticed a couple of pigeons frequenting our flowerbox on our balcony. We started to notice bits of grass and leaves appearing in what looked like to be a nest. Maybe we should have nipped it in the bud there and then, but we thought....Naaaaaaaa.

About a week after that, Ruth was rolling up the lounge blinds when 'lo and behold she spied two wee eggs........ Around 21 days later, out popped these two wee tender morsels...... Here, they are about a week old.

About 2 weeks old....

Here they are at about 4 weeks old. Man, you should hear them scream when Mum & Dad come home with the food! It is quite interesting to watch them being fed. The parents regurgitate the food right into the little buggers.. Yum...
Soon they will be leaving the nest.

Hennops Hiking Trail

Fortunately, both Ruth and I love hiking or 'Tramping' as the Kiwis say. It is awesome to have a partner you can share your loves with to say the least. Ruth and I have been on many a hiking trail in quite a few countries now. Last Sunday, we drove 45mins North of Johannesburg to the Hennops River. This isn't too far from the Magaliesberg Mountains, west of Pretoria or Tshwane as it is now known.I found this hiking trail on the internet. It is a private trail that cost R45 per person per day. Kruger Park was R35 per person per day! Anyway, there are some great 'Braai' (BBQ) facilities next to the river so would make an awesome place to go for a hike and a Braai.......



The hike was 11km and for the sick, lame and lazy, there is a 6.5km hike.... And yes, we do have a car, but hiking is better....

As you can see by the photos, most of the grass has been burnt off. We have had around 3 rainfalls in nearly 4 months. The Highveld is known for its long dry winters. The big rains will only come at around October. This is when the Highveld really comes to life. Mind you the sap is rising in the trees and plants as we speak....... The bud are already coming out.

At the end of the trail, you have to cross the Hennops river to get back to the carpark. There is a weird cable-car contraption you have to sit in and pull yourself across..... As you can see by the above photo, I wasn't scared....

But Ruth was a bit 'Edgy'.....

Kruger National Park.....

Early to bed, early to rise as the saying goes. Ruth and I were up at 5:30am and headed off to the Kruger Park at 6am. I haven't been back to the Park in over 20 years now and was really looking forward to this trip. The Kruger Park has been on the top of my list of things to do whilst over in South Africa.







We headed east out of Johannesburg on the N12, which turns into the N4 just after Witbank. We went via Belfast and Dullstroom, both well know trout fishing areas where I had (mis)spent some of my youth as an avid fisherman.We drove past the majestic Drakensburg mountain range and past the Blyde River Canyon, through the J.G.Strydom tunnel and then to the Orpen Gate of the Kruger Park. Orpen is a sleepy little town in Mpumalanga where we stopped for a bite to eat. We entered the Park at just past 12:30pm. Impala were the first game sightings and I am sure everyone as soon as they enter the Park, see Impala and stop to admire them. After a while, you realise that there are thousands of them and herds are abundant all over the park.

20 minutes into the park, we turned onto a dirt road and headed north towards the Olifants Camp, a 102 km from Orpen Gate where we were to spend our first night. Didn't take us too long before we sighted our first Elephant herd. What magnificent creatures they are too! Not long after we came across a herd of Zebra. I don't think I have ever studied these creatures before. I suppose living in South Africa for 23 years kind of makes you a bit blasé about them, but this time around, I was really intrigued by them. I also suppose living in Australia on and off for 12 years where large wildlife are not so abundant has made me miss these African beasts....

Not too much further on the road was a majestic Giraffe. Boy, what weird animals when you really look and see them for what they really are! Ruth and were trying to come up with a collective noun for a herd of Giraffe and it was a 'Longneck' of Giraffe, after the Aussie name for a 750ml beer bottle! No explanation should have been necessary for our Aussie readers.

We arrived at Olifants Camp at around 15:30 feeling a bit tired from a full days drive. We promptly went down to the restaurant area where they have a fantastic viewing platform that overlooks the Olifants river.

That evening, we had a braai just outside out 'Rondavel' or thatched hut, overlooking the Olifants river and enjoyed a wine or two in the cool lowveld dusk. This is one of the things that makes the Kruger Park so attractive and that is the winding down after a long days driving, sitting and listening to the African evening.
The next day, we awoke just before 6am so we would see the sunrise. Seeing as our Rondavel and stoep faced east, we had a birdseye view of this spectacular sunrise.










We breakfasted at around 7am and hit the road for Satara Camp at around 8:30am. Breakfast was interesting as there were swarms of local birds vying for our food. They are cheeky little buggers and they will leave you hungry if you turn your back on your toast! Birds featured on all 4 days of our stay at the Park. I have always loved South African birds and have been surprising myself since we arrived in May in how many bird species I remembered. Some birds I haven't seen in 12 years or more. The Kruger Park has an abundance of birds or all varieties and colour. I think South Africa has over 900 species in all......

On the way to Satara, we came across herds of Wildebeest, Kudu and Zebra. To our surprise, we came across a bloat of Hippos, wallowing in a river. Ruth and I must have stopped there for around 30 minutes watching them. Yawning is a favourite activity of Hippos as you can see in one of the photos I have attached.

Yellow and Red-Billed Hornbills were abundant in this area of the park too.


Just before we arrived at Satara, we came upon a bull Elephant and a calf, very close to the road. Mum was standing nearby and let us know that she wasn't happy with us being too close to her baby!












We arrived at Satara just after lunch, so we unpacked our stuff at the Rondavel and went for a walk around the camp. We sat near the reception area for a while and listened to the birds as there were hundreds flying around and singing. Glossy Starlings were everywhere. These are glossy aquamarine coloured birds with deep yellow eyes. I remember first seeing these birds at the Park on our first visit in 1976.
That night, we had another braai and were visited by a spotted Genet, which is a wild cat silver in colour with black spots and a long tail. I was a bit naughty and threw a piece of 'boerewors' for him whilst I went to fetch my camera. Took some great photos of him though. Feeding animals in the Park is a problem. Especially with Hyenas on the edge of the camps, walking up and down, expecting visitors to throw them a bone or two.

Next day we headed off to our last camp, Lower Sabie. On the way there we saw Crocodiles, Warthogs, a beautiful Baobab tree and loads of Lilac Breasted Rollers a beautifully coloured bird.

Lower Sabie is a beautiful setting. When we arrive there, it must have been around 28c, which was hot for us seeing as we had left a very cold Johannesburg only 2 days before. This camp is right on the Sabie river and right opposite the camp on the far side of the river were a dozen Hippo lazing in the sun.
On the morning of our 4th day, we left Lower Sabie Camp and headed off back to Johannesburg via Crocodile Bridge Gate and onto the N4 via Komatiepoort. As we left the Lower Sabie Camp, we decided to cross a bridge about 1km from the camp to see if any animals were around. To our surprise, we found two Hippos battling it out in the river, barely 10meters from us. I took some stunning photos of the battle amidst the splashing and bellowing of the two protagonists.