Kirstenbosch Gardens and Simon's Town - 22nd January 2022

 We managed to park in a shaded area of the Car Park and paid the Internation fee for entry. We stopped for a drink before carrying on into the gardens. It was extremely hot and ennervating so we walked slowly along the paths to a shady area with a bridge over a small stream. An Egyptian Goose flew in and stood on the bridge for a while.

We spent most of the afternoon in the gardens slowly making our way up towards the Protea garden. As I sat in the shade a couple of english birders came down the path saying that there was a fruiting fig tree just up from the bridge that had a variety of birds coming and going, including Cape White-eyes, Forest Canary, Bully Canary, Cape Batis etc. There were also two Hadeda picking up fallen fruit and completely oblivious to our presence. 

Carrying on up we had good views of Dusky Flycatcher, Alpine and Black Swift, Black Sawwing and the usual collection of Speckled Mousebird, Red-wing Starling, Olive Thrush, Fiscal Shrike, Cape Turtle Dove, and Kelp and Hartlaub's Gull.

There were also some fast flying butterflies that proved almost impossible to photograph, including a very showy Swallowtail and a couple of lizards basking in the sun.

Among the flowering Proteas we managed to see a Cape Sugarbird and on the way out there were a group of Guineau Fowl with a single Cale Spurfowl. 

Returning to the car we made our way to Simon's Town, having to turn on the phone to navigate our way. A slight overshoot and then we turned up the road to Froggy on the Pond, where our host was waiting for us, telling us to go further up and turn round before parking on the side of the road and unloading our luggage. The driveway was very steep and then two sets of steps had to be negotiated before we reached our accommodation. The view was great and the rooms very comfortable. We settled in and then drove back to Simionstown for some food. We parked in the square, with an accompanying 'guard' and went to look for soemwhere to eat. Most of the places were closed by now but we found Bertha's Bar down by the harbour which served a lovely steak and chips with a nice cold coca cola. 

when it came time to leave, the outer door had been locked so someone had to come and let us out. We gave our 'guard' the price of the cap park and returned to Froggy on the Pond to crash out, after what seemed like a very long day.