Showing posts with label nyala. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nyala. Show all posts

Thursday, November 28, 2019

Part 2 of our trip to South Africa

Maximum temperature in the Charente today 13C, minimum 9C.  25 mm of rain measured this morning.  27km/h South-westerly winds with gusts up to 57 km/h!! Very breezy! 

We arrived at Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape in the late afternoon of Monday 14 November after a 2-hour flight. The winds were so strong that the pilot battled to get the plane down, but the landing itself was smooth! We were met by Christelle and Patrick, who drove us home to their place in Kenton, which took about 1 1/2 hours. They had gone to a lot of trouble to make us so welcome and the rondavel with en suite was fabulous!

 On arrival, Nigel was feeling unwell and sadly spent the next two days in bed with bad flu-like symptoms. 

Nevertheless, I was up and about and spent some time with Christelle's family who were there for a couple of days from Zimbabwe.  We took a trip down to the beach and borrowing a pair of rock sandals, I joined them on a walk before the tide came in.  The tide almost beat us to it, and one corner was a little too deep for me and Christelle's nephew gallantly gave me a piggyback around the corner to the rocks on the other side!!  I wish I could show you the video, but with our slow WiFi, it is impossible to load it, so here are a couple of stills taken from it!!!!

It was deeper than this in places...

Rounding the corner...

and Christelle helping me back on to terra firma.   I was very grateful for the lift though we all had a laugh.

Beautiful beach.

This is called Carriage Rock.

The following day the family all left and C and P took me out for a drive to see some of the nearby places.  They are so lucky; close to them is San Estate, and although privately owned and one can only drive around the edge, we saw plenty of wildlife.

Impala (Aepyceros melampus).

Zebra (there several species and sub species (Equus quagga) being the most common and Hartebeest, (Alcelaphus buselaphus) on the right.

Zebra.

Nyala males, (Tragelaphus angasii)...

Nyala youngster...

As above.

South African giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis). The giraffe is the tallest land animal in the world. Males can reach a height of 5 m, and females 4.5 m.


See also my Bird blog I have many photos of birds and I will put most of them on this blog.

Friday, June 9, 2017

09/06/2017 Despite what the temperatures say, it was cloudy and dismal here today so I have been sorting South African photos again.

Maximum temperature 25C, minimum 14C. 11 kmh NW wind 14 kmh gusts.  9mm rain measured. Lots of thunder and lightning.
Magnificent views in Kwa-Zulu-Natal.

Nyala Male. (Tragelaphus angasii)

Nyala female.

Beetle - Tenebrionidae family

Trumpeter Hornbill (Bycanistes bucinator)

Great White Pelicans - (Pelecanus onocrotalus).  White storks (Ciconia ciconia) and others in the background.

Impala (Aepyceros melampuswith a Redbilled Oxpecker (Buphagus erythrorhynchus) on its back.

White-backed Vulture (Gyps africanus)

Wildebeeste (Connochaetes) on the run.

Yellow-throated longclaw (Macronyx croceus)

Burchell's coucal (Centropus burchellii),

Lanner falcon (Falco biarmicus)

Secretary bird (Sagittarius serpentarius)

Wednesday, March 8, 2017

08/03/2017 A snowdrop in the garden and more holiday photos all taken in KwaZulu-Natal..

Maximum temperature 15C, minimum 6C.  34km/h SW wind. 12 mm of rain measured this morning.
Snowdrops are in the garden.

Dragonfly; I think it is a Banded Groundling (Brachythemis leucosticta)

Not often you see these road signs other than Africa!

European Bee-eater, (Merops apiaster)

Nyala female, (Tragelaphus angasii)

Trumpeter hornbill, (Bycanistes bucinator)

Pelicans (Pelecanus) and in the background what I believe to be  Yellowbilled storks and an egret.

More pelicans with a Marabou stork (Leptoptilos crumeniferin the background

Flooded bridges in Natal.

Tuesday, January 17, 2017

17/01/2017 Busy around the house so just a few photos from the inside today. Historic!

Maximum temperature 5C, minimum -3C. 59km/h NE wind. Dry but heavy frost.
A blanket I crocheted over 40 years ago!

A painting of a Nyala that I painted for my Dad, also many years ago.

A painting that I did of myself at least 50 years ago !

Morris Minor cigarette cards.

The least historic - a visit to the Oktoberfest in Germany in 1998.