Day 334: Knysna, SA – 06/12/10

It’s overcast when we wake up which is a bit disappointing as we have decided to go to the cafe at The Heads, but given that the weather over the last few days has been cloudy at first then nice, we go anyway.  As we leave the house, the clouds break and we have blue sky by the time we arrive at the restaurant.

The wind is quite strong and waves break all across the sand bank at the entrance to the lagoon.  Getting a boat through today would be really unpleasant and maybe even dangerous and as I look at the waves I thank God we aren’t arriving today.

Photo:  Breaking waves at the entrance to the lagoon at Knysna

We order breakfast, which, when it arrives is absolutely delicious.  I have spicy mince on toast with a poached egg on top and bacon on the side – yummy.    Of course, the picture would have looked better if I had taken the photo before I had eaten half of it!

Photo:  A half devoured, very delicious breakfast

Photo:  The Beswicks and the Roses at breakfast

When we leave, the weather is warming up nicely and it promises to be a beautiful, if windy, day.

Photos:  Stuffed and happy

On the way back, we stop at the African Craft Market as Victoria wants to buy some presents, but she also buys herself an ostrich egg, which has been painted by bushmen and is very reminiscent of the Aboriginal painting we bought in Darwin, along with an ebony bracelet to sit it on.

As we walk around, we meet the self professed bush doctor, a very colourful local character who won’t take no for an answer, and is the first time I have come across the relentless hard sell that I hate.  However, he is so good at it that Victoria is dragged in by his talk and drags me in for support.  I don’t want another bloody wooden bowl, especially at the price he is talking about even if his are better than the one I have already bought.  He tells Terry, who is in the process of buying more wooden giraffes from him, to take our photo holding the bowls I am going to buy.  Oh, really?

Photo:  Victoria, the bush doctor, me and the bloody bowls!

I manage to get away without parting with any money – no mean feat I can tell you.

Mike drops me off in town to meet Ann and Terry then Terry goes back to the house to meet with one of the builders while Ann and I go food shopping.  Half way round the supermarket I get a call from Mike needing help with lifting the dingy out of the water but by the time Ann and I have walked there he and Victoria have managed to lift it out with the aid of a couple of other guys that had made the mistake of hanging around the marina.  We meet up with Terry in town to hand over the money for his new giraffes and he goes back to the market to get them.

By the early afternoon the sun is out in full and Ann, Victoria and I sunbathe for a little while.  Victoria’s pearly white skin burns a little (which is my fault apparently) but at least she is getting a little colour.

Victoria is still desperate to at least get her toes in the sea so Terry suggests a trip to Buffels Bay.  It is still really windy and the waves are fearsome but beautiful.  The beach, which is wide, long and sweeping, is almost completely empty.  Victoria goes in the sea and pronounces it freezing but has a gleeful look on her face even though she is soaked up to the knees.

Photos:  Victoria gets wet

Photo:  I search for shells but someone’s already nicked all the good ones

Photo:  Ann looks for the sea - “it’s behind you!”

Photo:  Mike guards some driftwood for Ann but will it be enough?

As we walk further along the beach, Victoria is delighted to find the remains of many dead jellyfish.  Ever since one stung her in the BVIs some years ago, she has hated them with a vengeance.  She announces that dead jellyfish are the best type.

Photo:  Me and big sis

Photo:  Mike and Victoria brave the wind and salt spray

Photo:  Mike, Ann, me and Victoria on breezy Buffels Bay

Photo:  A snuggle in the shelter of the driftwood

I love this beach, but it’s time to move on.  We drive further back to where the main resort is but the beach there is not as appealing to my mind – too many dogs and people with kites, so we drive back to Brenton-on-sea and stop at Crabs Creek for a drink.  It’s a lovely spot on the opposite side of the lagoon to where Ann and Terry live but inside there’s a distinct lack of atmosphere.  Ann, Terry and I sit outside for a while until the cold drives Ann and I back in leaving poor Terry all alone, but he’s hardy and sits and enjoys the view.

Photo:  View across the lagoon from Crabs Creek

Day 333: Knysna, SA – 05/12/10

Having had a lazy day yesterday, I am determined that we do something today, so burying Victoria in brochures, we leave her to make a decision.  Eventually one arrives – Monkeyland and then a visit to a big cat sanctuary at Tenkiwa.

There’s no need to hurry as both are relatively close to Knysna at Plettenburg and very close to each other.  We go to Monkeyland first.  This is a large area of natural forest, surrounded by a high fence.  The monkeys are left to roam around and form their own colonies just as they would in the wild.  As the next tour isn’t due to start for half an hour, we buy Magnum ice creams and sit down outside to eat them.  Mike puts them both on the table but before I manage to pick it up, an agile little squirrel monkey with a baby on her back jumps up on the table, swipes it and makes off with it.  Although one of the wardens attempts to get it, she’s up and tree and looking down at us, no doubt laughing at us.  I wouldn’t mind, but we had already been told of the dangers of putting anything down, but it was just so damn quick!  Mike buys me another one and this time it goes straight into my hand!

Photo:  Another squirrel monkey watches for a chance to get my second ice cream

We are told that although there are lots of monkeys to see, there are three species of which there are only one at the park, and almost immediately we come across the first one, Atlas, a white handed gibbon.

Photos:  Atlas hogs the feeding table and ignores us completely

Just around the corner we find our next single example of another species, the spectacle monkey.  This little beauty is just too cute for words.  The white circles around its eyes make it look like it is wearing glasses, hence the name.

Photos:  The cutest ever – a spectacle monkey

However, the white gibbon approaches this little cutie and suddenly all cuteness is abandoned and the spectacle monkey shows the gibbon who’s in charge of the forest.  No fighting takes place but there’s a hell of a noise and a lot of chasing before he settles back down in a tree and continues to look cute once more.

We can hear the noise of the howler monkeys all around (they are the loudest land mammal to inhabit the earth and can be heard 6 kms away apparently), and the little squirrel monkeys keep us company almost all the way through the forest leaping and cavorting just yards away.  I keep my handbag firmly clamped under my arm just in case.

Photo:  A squirrel monkey looking for something to steal

Photo:  A capuchin monkey

Although the animals are left to forage for themselves, there are feeding tables everywhere covered in cut up pieces of fruit where they congregate, tortoises feeding on the pieces that find their way onto the floor.

Photo:  Vervet monkey showing what an alpha male he is by displaying his bright turquoise dangly bits

In addition to monkeys and apes, there are lots of lemurs.  The first ones we see are the ring tailed lemurs, and there are lots of them, proudly insisting on showing us their bottoms as they feed from the table.  Charming.

Photos:  Ring-tailed lemurs

Photo:  White ruffed lemur

Towards the end of our guided forest tour, we cross the longest (but definitely not the highest) suspension bridge in Africa – 120 metres of swaying footbridge, thankfully with net on either side so that you can’t fall over.

Photo:  Victoria on the suspension bridge

We pass a series of large cages which house some spider monkeys which are kept separate because they would breed with the resident squirrel monkeys thus making a sub species.  As responsible breeders, this is something which the park will not allow to happen.  Our guided forest walk lasts for an hour and is great fun.  We are just leaving the compound and are between the two gates when a warden points to the roof of a hut.  There, perched on the top, is the only black lemur, the third species of which they only have one.  How lucky are we, the only people to see him.

Photo:  Rare black lemur

We wander back to the car and take the five minute journey to Tenikwa for our big cat experience only to find that we have 20 minutes to wait until the next tour and therefore plenty of time to sit down and enjoy a huge piece of carrot cake.  Thankfully there are no monkeys around to steal it although if the Marabou storks, Marvin and Mary, could get over the fence, I’m sure they would have a go.  I have to say that these are some of the ugliest birds I have ever seen.  Judge for yourself!

Photos:  Mervin and Mary

After the cake we take a look at the meerkats.  Although they occasionally stand up on sentry duty, as they are in an enclosure with no natural predators, they mainly just flop around in the sun.

Photo:  Lazy meerkat

Photo:  Meerkat on sentry duty

Photo:  Two tortoises, Terry and Ann on a good night ie Ann is still awake!

Then we start the wild cat tour with Grace, our guide.  First stop is the enclosure with the African wild cats, a pretty tame start as the cats just look like large tabbies.  At first sight we are disappointed to see the animals in enclosures, no matter how big those enclosures actually are (and they are big) but thinking about it, it’s obvious they would have to be, and it’s not like a zoo.  We walk through the enclosure searching for the cats and find them like all cats on a sunny day, lazing around in the shade.

Our next stop is a leopard.  At first he’s not visible to me but Grace spots him immediately and we walk around the outside of the compound.  She warns everyone not to touch the fence, just inches away and it immediately becomes obvious why she says this.  As we are walking towards the leopard, he comes screaming towards the fence, straight at a young child (he obviously likes his dinner tender) who leaps back in horror.  So does everyone else.  This is a very wild animal and I am suddenly very thankful for the wire fence.

 Photos:  A leopard eyes up the small children for dinner

Then we are on to the cheetahs.  There are two in the next enclosure and they are absolutely beautiful.  

 

Photos:  The two cheetahs

Next are the caracals, very tame large wild cats, the size of stocky medium sized dogs with black, tufty, lynx-like ears but all the behaviour of normal cats, again, lying in the shade, rolling on their backs and waiting to be scratched.  One wanders off then as I follow to photograph him, he suddenly turns round on me, approaches and rubs himself against my legs.  How do they always know which person is allergic to cats?

Photos:  The caracals – I’m being stalked!

The very pretty servils are next.  Grace tells us that one of them is well behaved and one of them is naughty and therefore we should concentrate on the well behaved one.  Easier said than done when they are both hiding in the long grass ready to leap out and attack – possibly!  In the event, neither of them is interested in attacking although Grace cajoles the good one to play tag with a stick.

Photos:  The pretty servils

Then we get a real treat.  We are led to another cheetah enclosure and presume that we will just be looking through the fence again.  But no.  In we go.  These two, a brother and sister, are relatively tame but still wild.  One wanders off uninterested for a few minutes, while the other one watches us in a disinterested manner from her perch on top of a hut.

Photos:  Up close and personal with the cheetahs

Suddenly, something attracts the female’s attention and she gets up, growling slightly as she stares, then starts down the slope to where we are standing.  We have been told to huddle together so that we form one big mass, but guess who’s on the end?  She slinks past Mike and Victoria, missing them by inches but then rubs past me (probably smelling the bloody caracal on me!) before walking on by.  It’s then that I realise that I’m holding my breath.  She then spots a truck driving past on the other side of the fence and hedge and bounds after it just like a dog while we all sidle out sighing with relief that she is more interested in that than us!

These few minutes with the cheetahs are the highlight of the day, and worth the entrance fee by itself.  We find out afterwards that you can go for a walk with the cheetahs down to their watering hold for a few Rand more – I wish we had known and done this.

Walking back at the end of the tour, we go past the birds, including the most amazing blue herons who actually look like statues.

Photos:  Beautiful blue herons

We walk back past the still lazy meerkats and the tortoises who are now enjoying a post-coital cigarette and nap.

On the way back to Knysna, we stop to admire the view at Plettenberg Bay with its magnificent wide sweeping beach.

Photos:  Plettenberg Bay

Victoria is desperate to at least get her feet wet in the Indian Ocean but the tide seems to be rushing in pretty quickly so she settles for sitting on the rocks and watching the sea, surfers and fishermen nearby.  We go back to the car, having paid the ‘car watchers’ the usual fee, which seems to be whatever you give them – strange arrangement.

Back in Knysna, Ann serves up mousakka for dinner which she bought from the Farmers’ market in Sedgefield yesterday.  I wait for Mike’s reaction – he always professes to hate Greek food – but none comes and he eats it all, along with the stuffed vine leaf.  What a good boy!

Day 332: Knysna, SA - 04/12/10

Having got up early yesterday, when Ann and Terry go off to the farmers’ market at Sedgefield. just along the coast, we don’t go with them.

Just as they get back we are leaving, Mike to go and sort the dinghy out and me to go to the manufacturing jewellers here in Knysna.  I had discussed having the three pearls that I bought in Tahiti set here but the quote came in very high.  I am sure we are talking at cross purposes and need to talk to them again face to face.

We start off at the yacht services place.  Of course, dinghy repairs are done by them but not at the place we go to so Mike talks to them on the phone and arranges for them to look at the dinghy on Monday.  He then goes off to do other boat bits while I go to the jewellers.  I am right to visit in person.  Although I had sent a picture of the setting I wanted and the sizes of the pearls, they had got the proportions wrong and were quoting for something much bigger than I want so they will send me another quote.

I’m much too early for Mike so I wander around town looking for a driftwood Christmas tree but don’t find one.  On my way round, I go into lots of clothes shops but they are really weird.  On the outside, quite a lot of them look really good but inside, they turn into old lady shops with lots of polyester and nasty designs.  I have a quick look and escape quickly.  Apart from the jewellery, Mike could be saving some money here!

We go back to Ann’s for lunch then Terry goes to the driving range, Ann dozes on the settee, Victoria plays with her new iPad and Mike watches golf on the TV.  I can’t remember what I do so it’s obviously something equally scintillating.

Late in the afternoon we go to the African craft market but it’s so late that it’s closing.  Having made the effort to get out we decide to go out to Brenton on Sea to have a look around and maybe collect some driftwood from the beach to make Ann a Christmas tree with.  On the way we pass pine and fir forests – if she gets really desperate she can always come out here and chop one down!

We park at the top of the cliffs overlooking the long, sweeping, deserted beach on one side and some magnificent rocks on the other.

Photos:  High on the cliffs at Brenton on Sea

Ann and I manage to find some driftwood sticks, which we shove into the boot of the car as a start for her Christmas tree, then we go back home to where Terry has been busy planting a nice jasmine climber and transporting the dug up earth on his boots all over the deck.  Ann immediately sees an opportunity to get our her broom, tutting to herself all the way round, only posing under duress for a photo when every speck has been removed.

Photo:  Mrs Mopp on top of the world

Dinner is the steak that we should have had yesterday, and it is delicious.  The knife just slides through it.  I didn’t know that South Africa was known for its beef but every bit we’ve had so far has been really good.  If we could just get our freezer working again I’d really stock up.