Lamberts Bay

The B & B let me use their Internet but I haven't been able to add pictures, so will when I can. Heading for Lambert's Bay but not sure we will get there, judging by the past few days.

This was quite a long drive but the scenery was great. We went over Sir Lowry's Pass which gave tremendous views back over Cape Town. The reason we went here was to see the Cape Gannet Colony on Bird Island and to see if we sould see Heaviside's dolphins. The colony was honestly one of the smelliest places I have ever been and the noise!!! Incredible views of the gannets just beginning their courtship displays. Also some comorants which were staking claim to their des res for the summer.

We also managed to see the dolphins but they were a bit distant and we were told that you really need to go out on a boat trip.

De Hoop

Today we headed for De Hoop and yet again got distracted by the many birds along the way, plus some Springbok, Mongeese and Steinbok. It is an amazing area of dunes and standbos - local plants that live in these strange conditions.

We stopped off at a sewage works and found Yellow-billed duck, Water thicknee and 3-banded plover amongst others. We saw a Black Harrier with it's kill a few inches from the road and very reluctant to move. Lots of larks and pipits, including Agulhas Long-billed lark, Thick-billed lark Long-billed pipit. De Hoop was a brilliant site for Southern Right Whales just beyond the first waves. Wattled starling and Southern boubou with Red-winged starlings and Cape bulbuls hopping round our feet. Headed back towards Cape Town and found a nice B & B in Caledon, who have kindly let me use their internet.

Swellendam

Spent most of the day driving towards Swellendam. We had planned to get to De Hoop Nature Reserve but the 2 hour drive took us nearly all day!! We took a gravel road towards De Hoop but came to a swollen river with no way across. They have a chain pontoon but it had finished for the day. So we had to drive back and found a really great B & B in Swellendam. The birds in the area were just mind-blowing. We saw lots of Blue cranes and 2 Secretary Birds plus Martial Eagles, Jackel Buzzard and Karoo and Stanley bustard amongst 90+ species

                                                                Black-headed Heron

                                                                       Blue Crane

Penguins and Kirstenbosch

We headed for Kirstenbosch today, via the penguins at Boulders Beach.

The gardens are just amazing. We planned to stay for a couple of hours but ended being there most of the day. The combination of flowers, birds and good weather was just magic. We had sunbirds and cape sugarbirds down to inches, some of them zipped by so close you had to step back.

We tried to get back to Simonstown via Chapmans Drive, a really scenic drive down the coast but found it closed for the day, due to a landslide so we had to retrace our steps to Kommetjie but it was getting late so we will have to return.

     

Cape town at last!

Finally arrived in cape town - it seemed a very long way. We went via Dubai, but didn't really have time to shop!!

Cape town is grey and showery, but the forecast looks promising. First birds were house crow and house sparrow. We did have laughing dove in Dubai.

Hope to manage to add to this if I can find a Wifi hotspot.

Travelling with me.

I have set up this blog so that I can share my travels with anyone who is interested.
My first trip is to Cape Town, South Africa. I am going with friends and we will concentrate on the birds, flowers and cetaceans. I am really looking forward to visiting a completely new country with a mind blowing number of new species of bird to try and identify. Hopefully some of you will add some comments as I go. (I hope that I will be able to get internet access at certain points.)