Kirstenbosch

Once a week during summer (Swedish winter) Kirstenbosch hosts an open air concert. Kirstenbosch itself is one of South Africa’s biggest botanical gardens.
The concert we went to, with popular South African vocalist Arno Carstens, was completely sold out. Thousands and thousands of people were enjoying the sun on the huge lawns of the gardens.
http://www.nbi.ac.za/frames/kirstfram.htm

Where are the dolphins?

All tourist literature is filled with descriptions of the ocean waves being filled with happy dolphins jumping around in plain sight. Despite this we haven’t seen a single dolphin so far! Wild seals, yes, but no dolphins. :-(

Gentle Giants

It took us a few weeks, but finally we managed to go on a safari. Just North-East of Port Elizabeth is the elephant sanctuary Addo National Park, home not only some 400 elephants, but also warthogs, hyenas, lions, ostriches, different types of antelope and, notably, the rare dung beetle*. Upon entering the area by car, a huge Cape Cobra crossed the road!

The area is open to explore by car, which was better than expected. We did get a couple of extraordinary sightings of elephant herds. The feeling of sitting still and quiet with the window rolled down just 10 meter from a giant wild elephant cannot be described in words.
http://www.addoelephantpark.com/




* - The dung beetle is a beautiful insect that forms dung into tennis ball sized ball that it rather clumsily rolls back to its nest. Its relative, the scarab, was a holy animal in ancient Egypt.
For all you dung beetle lovers: http://www.insecta-inspecta.com/beetles/scarab/

Cool Architecture in Cape Town

Monkey Business

Yes, we paid a visit to our furry relatives. To make it easier for us, they were all gathered in a fenced sanctuary called “Monkeyland”. It was a thrilling experience to walk among lots and lots of different monkeys and apes (science lesson 1: monkeys are the guys with tails, apes don’t have tails). A quick reflection is that this establishment is very un-American in the sense that we didn’t have to sign anything to move around with the half-wild creatures. “Two rules: don’t stand beneath a monkey in a tree (because you will ‘get blessed’) and move confidently and slowly.” Fortunately we didn’t get attacked or robbed by the simians, but rather had a wonderful time in the confinement.

It turned out that the fence around Monkeyland was not only about keeping the 13 species of monkeys and apes in, but also to keep the wild and particularly nasty baboons out. We have had many encounters with baboons on our trip. Baboons seem to be nasty, silly and intelligent creatures that are not shy to mate by the roadside, beg or rob tourists for food or even to hijack cars in their search for a snack. Keep doors and windows closed! Fortunately enough, David’s quick reaction saved a couple of juvenile baboons from a certain death the other day when they forgot to first look to the right and then to the left (yes, it’s left side traffic down here).

Note: Don't miss the adorable baby monkey on the picture of the feeding family!