Underwater Love

Each year the Southern right whales come to Walker Bay to give birth and mate. To celebrate their arrival and the beginning of spring, Hermanus holds an annual Whale Festival in September. Because of the deep waters the whales come very close to the coast and so Hermanus prides itself to be the best land-based whale-watching spot in Africa.

Looking for the distinctive V-shaped fountain and the white marks on the head, you can see the gentle giants swaying in the waves. We spent hours sitting on the cliffs and watching the whales coming close to the surface, waving their flaps and jumping high out of the water.

Wouldn't it be great if we could actually see what's happening under water???

Market Day

We spent all morning at the thriving neighbourgoods market in Woodstock.

It was recently featured in my favorite magazine and so I was very keen to check it out. And I'm happy to report it was exactly what I expected: Busy scene, beautiful setting, delicious food and lots of creativity.

It's so good to be back in a real city for a while! Luckily, we have a full week to get our proper dose of the mother city :)

In Full Bloom

These days our garden is full of beautiful flowers! Some of them have been planted a while ago, some we put into the pots on the terrace.

I love the big red ones and the wonderful rose.

But the most spectacular is the blooming wall of our neighbour - the colors are just unbelievable and the smell is so good that I have to stop whenever I walk past it.

Dear spring (or is it summer already?), thanks for being such a colorful time of the year!

Weekend in the Bush

We spent the weekend at the lovely Molema bushcamp in the Tuli block and slept in a perfect little chalet overlooking the Limpopo River under huge trees.

In the afternoon, we went to a hide with a great view of the dam where we spend hours on the comfy chairs, taking naps and watching the game coming to the water.

There was no electricity and phone connection only if you climb the top of a hill but we had the camp almost to ourselves, strolled along the riverbanks, had a delicious braai on the open fire in the evening and breakfast on the deck watching the birds and squirrels around us.

It was a wonderful getaway and on the way out, we saw a herd of elephants having a pool party at a natural spring just near the road.

Have I mentioned that I love Africa? :)

today

- I enjoyed my last 'free' day before I start working again
- I went to the hairdresser first thing in the morning
- I still miss that dog (the owners are back and we brought him over on Sunday)

Dinner with Rhinos

Last night I went for dinner with some friends at the famous Mokolodi Restaurant.
It is a bit outside town at the edge of the Mokolodi Game Reserve, where you can see zebras, gnus, giraffes, and of course impalas.
The group of rhino in the reserve is very rare to see during the game drives - but they come for free with dinner at the restaurant!

I couldn't quite believe it when just after we finished our meal two rhinos came out of the bush to feed on the fresh hay laid out for them.

And it got even better when a 10-month old baby rhino came with his mother and started eating in front of us.

It was an amazing experience to see those ancient-looking wild animals so close.

Have you ever dined with rhinos? :)

Winning Zebras

The worldcup might be over but football is still part of the life here. And so we went to see Botswana's national football team winning against Togo in the qualification round for the Africa Cup of Nations.

The stadion was packed and fans were clearly very excited. They got even more excited when the Zebra's scored and there was a lot of singing and dancing on the ranks and on the field.

I loved the cheerful atmosphere and hope to see Botswana do well in the next rounds!