We left Pearly Beach around mid-day on 12th February. It had been hard work packing all the gear in the truck, but finally with the two cats on board we were off!
We drove to Beaufort West via the very scenic R62. We encountered several thunderstorms & hard rain falling, making driving a lot less easier than normal. We arrived at our stop over for the night & very nice it was to. However, we had no time to explore the interesting gardens, as we were up early in the morning & away!
We drove through a very green Karoo landscape on the morning of 13th February along the scenic R12 road. By nine o'clock were arrived in Victoria West & were surrounded by 2005 or so Lesser Kestrels! One flock over gardens in the town held 1,050 birds & a quick stop revealed at least three Amur Falcons with them. We believe this is quite a rare species here but the light was terrible & my photographs were poor.
We arrived to a very hot Jakobsdaal just after noon. The reason we were here was to attend Karen & Christo's wedding. Karen is Delana's niece. I went for a look around the cemetery & was surprised to see how many Boer War graves & memorials there were. The death toll on both sides was in the hundreds. A European Marsh Warbler was giving its sub-song deep from a thicket, but eventually coming out to give good views but I didn't have my camera with me!
Eventually everyone arrived & the ceremony began. It was a lovely intimate ceremony in the garden. We all then enjoyed a very late night!
Up in the morning & driving north again. North of Bloomfontein we stopped at a roadside Padstal which was very nice. There were plenty of South African Cliff Swallows flying around. This is a species which I don't see very often & when I do I am usually driving so don't get good views. This is when we heard the good news that my friend Angie & husband Ryan had just had their first born. Everyone doing just fine!
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