18 August, 2009

Argumentative Little Cuss!




Pintailed whydah
We have a little bird, 12 cm plus 22 cm tail! When he is not sitting in the karee surveying his territory for Other Birds, he is dive-bombing every bird in sight. First he clears the beach, where Jurg spreads the leftover bird seed. He has a harem, two wives so far, who enjoy dining in solitaryx2 splendour in a restaurant cleared of the rabble for their benefit.

14 August, 2009

Where the Proteas live



Today we went up the Piekenierskloof Pass. To Citrusdal. Then up through the mountains on the far side of the Elephant, to see how much snow there is. This part of our world is called the Koue Bokkeveld (where the weather man used to say – bring in your angora goats, there will be frost tonight!) Circle around through Ceres, where the orchards for fruit and juice, are just coming into a haze of flower.

13 August, 2009

Bees and proteas


Today we drove up the Dasklip pass.



We passed some bee-hives, mounted on poles, to protect them from badgers. They seek out the bee larvae as a protein source. Wild-life friendly consumers like us, can then buy honey labelled badger friendly!

02 August, 2009

Where the Disas live



We have just been to Hampton Court, where we too saw a spectacular display of Disas in colours ranging through red, pink and yellow, and all the subtle nuances in between. But I think of Maya Angelou’s book, I know why the caged bird sings.

Photographs and Copyright

Photographs are from Diana Studer or Jurg Studer.
My Canon PowerShot A490

If I use your images or information, it will be clearly acknowledged with either a link to the website, or details of the book. If you use my images or words, I expect you to acknowledge them in turn.


Midnight in Darkest Africa

Midnight in Darkest Africa
For real time, click on the map.