20 December 2020 (cont.)
Even though we arrived at the Ebb-and-Flow Rest Camp in the Wilderness section of the Garden Route National Park under heavy skies, there was no reason to be gloomy. There’s no doubt that the Garden Route is one of the most beautiful parts of South Africa, no matter the weather.
There’s no containing our enthusiasm for exploring a destination once we’ve arrived and not even the threat of a downpour was going to keep us indoors while the expansive Ebb-and-Flow Rest Camp beckoned outside our log cabin, however comfortable it may be.
By now you probably know that we have a propensity to extend our explorations into the hours of darkness. Most of the camps in our national parks are safe to do just that and if you apply some common sense rules like walking with closed shoes you’re likely to be handsomely rewarded with some unusual encounters, like these we had on our first night at Ebb-and-Flow.
If you’d like to read more about the Wilderness section of the Garden Route National Park, please have a look at this special feature about it that we published a while ago.
DeWetsWild 
Thanks for the introduction to this section of the park. I enjoyed the diverse photos. I am wondering if the orchid might be Eulophia speciosa?
Thanks so much for clearing up the orchid-mystery for us, Carol!
🙂
What’s with the night explorations? A friend of mine just yesterday mentioned that he’s been hiking at night. He doesn’t even have a photography angle to explore with his night hikes. >grin<
A whole new world opens up after dark, and it’s fascinating (and rather dangerous in the really wild places!)
I don’t think my friend has any wild animals to worry about in the wilds of the upper midwestern United States. 🙂
No bears or wolves there?
To be truthful, I didn’t ask specifically where he is hiking, but if he is where he works, there are few human predators on the prairie.
I see, thanks John. Then we can rest assured about your friends safety on his nocturnal walkabouts. 🙂
Looks like a good outing, the garden route is an incredible area.
Pity so much of it has been lost to “development” but grateful for places like the Garden Route National Park that provides a glimpse into how it used to be.
Love that eagle owl picture!
Thanks, Siobhan. We’re always thrilled to find owls on our travels.
Perhaps the owl was hungry for that olive snake? Could the yellow flower be some kind of orchid, Dries?
Luckily for the snake the owl was quite a distance further along the road, else he may well have been owl-spaghetti!
I also thought the yellow bloom looks very “orchidy” and hope I get to a book shop or library as soon as it is safe to try and determine which kind exactly. Thanks, Tracy!
Good luck with that, Dries.
I’m going to need it, thanks Tracy.
Weereens pragtig! Die uil is my gunsteling!
Baie dankie, Aletta. Om uile te sien maak ons ook altyd opgewonde.
It is a delightful place to visit. I am impressed that you saw the snake and the owl ‘after hours’ as it were. As for that cocktail ant nest – wow!
Sightings like those are exactly the reasin why I miss out on so much sleep when we’re away from home – I’m too scare I miss something! 🙂
Nighttime sightings like these are what causes my insomnia when we’re in the bush, Anne. What if I miss something!?
Very interesting to see animals different to what we currently see here. Thank you, D. 🙂
Glad you enjoyed this first glimpse into the fauna and flora of the Garden Route, H.J!
All these and a Joubert sighting as well. I enjoyed that almost as much as the owl. 🙂
janet
As he’s getting older Joubert’s getting much less inclined to appear in photos, so the shots of him are getting ever more “candid”… 😀
Some beautiful flowers and interesting ( and new to me) animals and birds.
Thank you, Anne! The forests and wetlands of the Garden Route harbour a unique combination of fauna and flora.