Whales and Baboons

Gotta keep this short again! Too much to do and see, too little time.

A baboon sitting on the rocks watching the hang gliders and tourists.

A perfect spot for hangliding, overlooking the wine area near Stellenbosch

The babboon sits and watches. They are frequently found at viewpoints and rest stops looking for a free meal. Considered by locals as pests due to the damage they cause to the vinyards, feeding them is frowned upon. Baboons are smart and have  learned to open car doors looking for snacks. They will steal your backpack from you and run away with it if you are not attentive.

On to Hermanus for some whale watching. The Southern Wright Whale comes here to give birth to their young. We saw dozens of moms and their calves enjoying the warm water.

... and the people enjoying watching them play about in the bay.



It's difficult to catch a breech with a camera, but when a whale does breech, the crowd erupts with a thunderous roar. I tried but just couldn't capture the full event. Here are a couple of shots of whales swimming around.

 

 

So Little Time

Our days are jam packed from the time we get up til we crash at the end of the day. I have about a half an hour to blog before we set off on a new advbenture. To that end, I will just add a few photos now and try to caption them later. Heck, that might eve be after we get home! :-)

Hi Everyone,

Sorry about the grammer but we are somewhat rushed with our postings.  Here it goes.

 

We were up at the crack of dawn 530 to see the sunrise from our hotel suite.  This settting I am only used to seeing in art work. Arniston is a picture perfect fisherman’s village with whitewashed thatched cottages and brilliantly painted boats on the shoreline. Our first classs hotel room had a  Large sliding glass door, facing the Indian ocean.  How spectacular!  Then off to the  Waenhuiskrans caves where our timing was imperative to the low tide.  Our breakfast was again first class, with a brightly lit dinning area surround by windows, over looking the ocean.  With soft jazz music playing in the background, we again ate and drank merrily.

We arrived at the Game reserve around 4 pm if I remember correctly, I road the dusty gravel roads today and did surprising well.  Along the way two bikes got flat tires but with the help of our support vehicle we only experience a total of 45 minutes of down time.  I was so excited this day to experience the safari.  I was in total awe upon arrival.  The facility was spectacular and once again we were treated like rock stars.  They would load and unload our luggage; we were greeted with some kind of wine or port upon arrivals. Soon after we settled in, off on the safari we went.  Check these photos out.

Rhino’s horns are sought after as poachers make a up to a million Rand which equals to approx. 100,00.00 Can. The poachers scope out the game reserves, make a plan then come back for the kill, or sometimes they use tranquilizers guns for they cannot be heard.  This technique gives them the time to use a chain saw to hack off the horn.  Many times the Rhinso are left there to die bleeding to death.  Just last night Sept 27^th, there were 3 rhinos killed at a game reserve? 

3 hours later, dinner time.  I must say all the food thus far is absolutely exquisite in taste... 

Destination Hanks place

 

Hanks Place, Stonehedge.  Hank is the support vehicle driver and owner of Overlander, a touring company that works in conjunction with Renedian tours.  All the bikes are his as well.  This day we had mostly gravel roads.  At one point I decide to take a rest and hopped into the truck with Hank.  It was a nice break to put my feet up, have a coffee, read the local paper and chit chat with our touring host.  Upon arrival a drink and a warm welcome from Hanks family and friends.  This night we slept in a tent with cot beds and outhouses with flush toilets!  What an interesting place, such character.  Our meal was home cooked by Hanks wife Maryke and her friends.  Puttu pap,  lamb spit roasted, chicken,  sweet potato in oophilo pasty, beet salad with lentils, wine (of course) homemade bread, dessert koeksister doe fried in olive oil then dumped in a sweet syrup.  What a phenomenal meal.  We were all just stuffed!  Ooops there’s more….Hanks special home made wine to boot.

Off to the campfire. Very comfortable and a surprisingly warm enclosure considering the strong winds that day. Time for a good nights sleep.

Us trying to keep up with photos and blogging.

 

 

Today we travelled on the longest road between 2 towns in South Africa, Ceres and Calvinia. 257 km stretch half of which was gravel.  I choose to be treated like a princess this day and travelled  by truck with Elaine and Hank.   These roads were very straight and boring so our goal was to just get there.  And there was nothing but a small town where we could freshen up, eat wonderful unique food once again and get a good nights sleep.  The weather was very strange for us as this area usually has 300 days without rain and only 100 mm of rain for an entire year.  For some reason unbeknownst to our guides, we recieved about 50 mm in the middle of the night that carried off and on up to the Namibia border.

 

At Constantia Vineyard, the gardens were incredible. A perfect Bird of Paradise flower.

A barrel or two of finished wine ready for bottling.

The vineyard manager explaining the different slope directions and elevation changes which affect the wine.

Donna testing the theory's :-)

A closeup of Devil's Peak, basically in downtown Cape Town.

Looking back towards Capetown from the coast road.

Some beautiful houses along the coast. Our friend Lucy (an ocean fanatic) would love to live here, I'm sure!



Although judging by the shape of the trees, I think the wind blows a lot along the coast.

Back in Capetown for dinner on the waterfront with our newfound biking friends. What a great start to a wonderful motorcycle adventure. Capetown and the African south west coast are as beautiful and amazing as everyone who has been here before me has suggested. I can't wait to continue on tommorrow.

On Saturday, Sept 21:

We started off with not too much sleep in anticipation of our first day with the group.

To begin, a bus tour around the city of Cape Town. 

Cape Town is famous for ship restoration.

Downtown Cape Town has some lovely buildings. 

Then to the Constantia vineyards, where Rene’s very close friend happens to be the manager for this enormous wine making company.  We had the privilege to get a tractor trailer ride by him through the vineyards to his favorite spot.  You see, the grapevine is laid facing 3 different directions, which is a prime location for growing the grapes. To top it all off he cracked open two of his favorite bottles of white wine upon arrival. Very nice!  From there into the plant for a tour and some wine tasting.  All this was one of Rene’s special surprises.

On the way up to the vineyards..Table Mountain.

We have arrived and the first thing we see is this sign.  Baboons are prevalent in Africa and wreak havoc on vineyards.  They also are known to steal people's bags in hopes to find food in it.

This was excellent.  Let me know where if you find it in Calgary!

On our way back to Cape Town, here we are driving on the coastline that I referred to from one of the arial photos. What you see here is Devil's Peak.

Luxury condos...

During our dinner at the Waterfront, this ship had just arrived and it just so happens to be the same ship from one of the arial shots below.

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Cape Town.More  pictures of the peninsula.

This is called, you guessed it "Long Beach"

Cape Town, South Africa.

We had an uneventful 23 hours flying to Cape Town, South Africa.

After a good nights sleep at the immaculate Breakwater Lodge, we hit the waterfront for some shopping and a helicopter ride to get a bird’s eye view of the two oceans, vineyards and Chapman’s Peak.I love helicopter rides.

I find these next 2 shots fascinating.  What a cool looking ship. My new Cannon PowerShot works well.

Here, we are flying above the peninsula

Further inland, areas can be densely populated.  In this shot near the middle, you could see a shanty town.  People there live in tiny shacks as that is all they can muster.  They use old highway billboard signs as a roof and some use car tires to keep the roof in place. The government has an initiative in helping the people find better homes but it is taking too long…

One of several roads we will explore.