Pretty birdie

Meet the Vulturine Guineafowl, the largest (and almost certainly prettiest) member of the guineafowl family. This one lives with a friend or two at Monkey Town in Somerset West. As Paul mentioned in a previous post, we were the ones inside the cage, not the animals.

Dunes at West Beach

We visited a friend for a braai (a.k.a. barbecue) last night. A little while before sunset I dashed out of his West Beach house and up a sand dune to take this photo. The clouds in the background are covering Table Mountain, although you'll see Signal Hill faintly through the cloud to the right.

Please indulge me if this photo looks a little too processed for your taste - it's my first attempt at HDR imaging, thanks to a couple of posts by Gaëlle at Grenoble Daily Photo.

Thumbs-up graffiti

Koeberg Road leads from the N1 national highway in the Table View direction, passing by the Caltex oil refinery, a dismal awful-smelling area. One of the few rays of sunshine while passing the billowing, smoking refinery is this few hundred meter stretch of wall that's been painted with a message. I couldn't find any details about who painted it or what it's about, but with words like "freedom", "virtue", "love", "caring", "joy", "happiness", etc. painted, I figured that the message was positive - perhaps with the intention of fostering goodwill and love.

Speak to me

Around 70% of South Africans carry cellular phones these days, but we still have a fair number of these bright green public telephones in malls and on street corners. I can't recall when last I used a public phone...

Visiting family

Yes, I know that the likeness is uncanny - so Kerry-Anne keeps telling me. As part of the MINI toy run (mentioned in a previous post), we visited my supposed family at Monkey Town in Somerset West.

Monkey Town, a monkey sanctuary, was started in December 2000 by owner Roseline Grobler, when she saved an abused Capuchin. Not enjoying the luxury of government grants, Monkey Town looks after more than 270 monkeys by means of funding derived from entrance fees and donations from businesses and the public.

When you're in the area, do stop over at Monkey Town - it really was a treat!

From the lines on the photo you may be fooled into thinking that this monkey was in a cage. It was in fact us visitors who were in a cage-like tunnel. The monkeys are out in the open, surrounded by a tall fence with low-powered electrical fencing - mainly to keep the little children away from the cute monkeys. ;)

Cloudy moon

Kerry-Anne's dad called earlier this evening to tell us about the unusual cloud formation in the sky. The clouds were moving pretty quickly and about 5 minutes after I was finished taking photos they were gone.

One thing that I noticed while taking this photo was the large number of aeroplanes crossing our skies at night. Several passed in front of the moon as I was taking photos, but it sure is a trick trying to take a photo of them in flight backed by such a bright moon.

Horsing around

That sure does look like some mighty tasty grass - if you're a horse that is. I've tasted grass and, well, I guess that it's a lot like whiskey, an acquired taste.

The photo was taken somewhere out the back of Durbanville, about 30 minutes' drive from Cape Town. Isn't it an absolutely beautiful view that these animals have to look out on each day? The mountains, the fields, the flowers... I wonder if they get tired of the view... do you think horses can get tired of a view?

The colour of spring

These purple flowers cover the fields and verges in and around Cape Town in springtime. We're not too sure what they actually are (anyone care to shed some light on this?), although they're generally regarded as weeds when they appear in the garden. They certainly look beautiful when they grow in big clumps like this, though.

A bird in distress

This picture finds three strangers working together to remove a tightly wound piece of fishing line from a Egyptian Goose's leg. The bird, clearly in pain, initially put up a fight - trying desperately to escape our hands. After several minutes the gentleman to the left managed to unwind the last strand of nylon.

Birds along our coast sometimes get caught up in fishing line. I wish that all fishermen would be caring and careful enough to properly dispose of discarded fishing line. Sometimes it's impossible to retrieve lost line, but often people just seem lazy and leave fishing line tangled in rocks or reeds.

Once released the limping bird headed for the water and was last seen swimming towards its friends, seemingly happier.

Slimy friends visit our garden

Go to the Snail thou Sluggard
by Gus Ferguson

The snail, most people think a pest,
It spins no web nor weaves a nest.
Its morals make the prudes uptight:
Low, languid lust! Hermaphrodite!
It bares no fang nor tooth nor tusk,
Lacks backbone! Cowardly mollusc!

And yet, I rather love the snail:
Who thrush and humans seldom fail
To crush to eat or disembowel
With vicious beak or garden trowel.

It totes around with stoic grace
A sylvan, spiral, carapace.
With leaden ballast, sailing slow,
Go carefully my escargot.

There's no need for gym in Clifton

Those of you who've visited Clifton's part of the coastline will know that it's located along the slopes of Table Mountain. These steep slopes and the allure of the white beaches offer beach-goers an excellent opportunity to work off unwanted weight.

These steps are the lazy man's descent to Clifton's beaches. The other paths down are much longer and steeper than this one. I'm (I mean, we're) always out of breath after climbing back to the road above.

Cold 'n rainy

I spent part of the morning scouting the area for a few photographs. Today has been on the cool side with patches of rain catching me mid-photo every now and again. Looking carefully, you'll spot at least three raindrops waving at you from the front of my lens.

Kerry-Anne mentioned Kenilworth Racecourse in yesterday's post, so I thought I might as well stick with the theme. This road leads to Durbanville Racecourse, which is about 40 minutes from Kenilworth. Whenever I drive this route I imagine that this is how the English countryside must look, all green with beautiful trees - and today, grey skies with rain ;).

Climbing to the clouds

It was a glorious day today, so we decided to head off to the Cape Outdoor Adventure Expo for the afternoon. We saw all kinds of things, from luxury tents and quad-bikes to paintball guns and climbing walls; we tasted delicious wines and liqueurs (and bought a bottle to bring home, of course); and allowed ourselves to be persuaded that we need a holiday - to Mossel Bay, the Wild Coast, Namaqualand, Mozambique AND the Seychelles, if all those exhibitors are to be believed...