We spent most of our morning at the Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden, roundly considered one of the seven best gardens in the world. We certainly see why it would rank so highly and would love to share more pictures of this beautiful place when we are back home after the holidays.
We’ve spent the whole day exploring Cape Town’s scenic attractions – from Chapman’s Peak Drive to a seal tour out of Hout Bay, to a picnic in Tokai and a ride up-and-down Cape Point with the Flying Dutchman funicular (and many points in between). Lots to tell you about when we’re back home!
We’ve arrived in Cape Town where we’ll be visiting the Table Mountain National Park and surrounds for the next couple of days. Here just a quick look at two of the city’s most iconic landmarks; Table Mountain and Robben Island. and one less well known, the memorial to Cecil John Rhodes.
There’s more to see here in the West Coast National Park than you can point a lens at!
Just some of the beautiful sights to behold here in the West Coast National Park.
Today, apart from exploring inside the West Coast National Park, we also ventured beyond its borders to some of the other attractions in the vicinity, such as the rugged and rustic Tietiesbaai and the fascinating West Coast Fossil Park.
We’ve arrived safely at the West Coast National Park, where our accommodation, the Van Breda Cottage – one of the outbuildings at the Geelbek Manor, dates back to the 1800’s!
Today we were awed by the power of several thunderstorms following each other over the plains and hills of the normally arid Great Karoo, as well as by the flash floods and rainbows that followed in their wake.
Day one of our December holidays and we spent quite a few hours walking the grounds of the National Women’s Memorial and War Museum of the Boer Republics in Bloemfontein, South Africa’s judicial capital, reminding ourselves of the horrors of the worst armed conflict ever fought in this beautiful country and the many thousands of lives so needlessly lost and wasted between October 1899 and May 1902.
The Yellow Weaver, or Eastern Golden Weaver, is a very social bird closely associated with reedbeds lining coastal rivers, lakes, dams and other permanent waterbodies, venturing into the surrounding savanna to search for the seeds, insects and nectar on which it feeds. Fully grown they weigh approximately 31g and measure 15cm in length.
Yellow Weavers breed colonially during spring and summer and will often occur alongside other weaver species. The males are polygamous, weaving several circular grass nests, often directly over the water, and trying to impress as many females as possible. The female is solely responsible for incubating the clutch of 2-4 eggs and caring for the chicks, which leave the nest at about 3 weeks old.
In South Africa the Yellow Weaver is confined to the coastal plain along the Indian Ocean coastline from the Eastern Cape to far northern Kwazulu-Natal. Beyond our borders their distribution extends as far as central Kenya. According to the IUCN the Yellow Weaver is of least concern.
DeWetsWild 