Our roving reporter is on the case again, sending more shots from his latest visit to the the west coast of South Africa.
They went walkabout into the wild and wide open spaces…
Around and about the area where Geoffrey currently lives and works.
They went up in the hills…
And above the Rooibos tea fields…
They walked and climbed in the sweltering heat, which he said reached a staggering 47 degrees C on occasions, swimming in reservoirs to cool off.
John said he thought it was a bit hot!
They kept an eye open for caves, knowing the signs and getting a feel for finding them…
Large…
A bushman’s cave.
And small…
Complete with bones, this one. Click to enlarge and have a poke around.
They had a sleepover in one of them…
Cosy.
A room with a view…
Especially on a misty morning…
Wow.
But sadly no paintings to be found.
Been said John’s a bit of a caveman. Like father like son, I’d say.
Geoffrey douses the fire…
Where they cooked up sausages and drank beer. No stomach churning bush tucker trials here, though it’s hardly glamping.
There’s lots of these…
And these…
Not sure what either are called but some are found only in this area.
And here’s the space turtle…
Or, if your imagination is a little jaded, rocks that have eroded into weird and interesting shapes.
I don’t expect there’s too many of these about. What do you see?
Speaking of rocks…
A rare collection of treasures…
I imagine the bulk of these were collected by the boys but if I know John, he will have had a hand in a few of them.
He loves all that archaeological stuff. Hand axes, digging stones and so on. John just has a knack of stumbling on these relics and cannot go anywhere without bringing back nature’s souvenirs.
He will spend hours perusing these in museums. We have some fun days out.
We have some back at the bus too – spoils from previous years – obviously irresistible to the John.
Even back in the UK, we’ll go for a walk and he’ll end up with a pocketful of bits and bobs. Sometimes he even picks up washers, nuts, bolts, rubber bands or other such useful items, which he hands to me like presents to be cherished. And I do, of course.
Maybe it’s a condition with a name – like Tourette’s. But quieter.
Bless.
Unlike me, John is very much a morning person and captured this…
Klipspringer – a small African antelope – at dawn.
Some of the panoramas are 2/3/5 or more pics that I’ve stitched together. That really is such clever software.
Now John knows I can do this, he is taking snaps with stitching in mind and I look forward to the next batch.
This one has to be my current favourite…
Stunning.
Don’t forget, you can click on any of these images to bring up to full size. A further click will enlarge that particular area of the photo, should you wish to see even more detail.
Boatbird
Boatbird 