Showing posts with label Cape rock thrush. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cape rock thrush. Show all posts

Friday, 30 December 2011

Valley of a thousand hills.

One of the places Jane and I visited while I was in Durban for Christmas, was the small village of Botha's Hill, overlooking the Valley of a thousand hills. The valley, and there are literally a thousand hills, starts just outside of Durban and stretches almost to Pietermaritzburg, about 80km to the west.


The reason we went there, was to have lunch at a restaurant that overlooked the valley. A real tourist place but the food was excellent. Not your average fast food joint.


Click on pictures to enlarge.




Khoi pond on the terrace bellow the restaurant. It seems there must be some kind of law that states that every place that caters to tourist must have a Khoi pond. Not that I mind, I can watch fish swimming around all day. Just wish I had one of my fly rods with me.




A general view across part of the valley. This area is traditional Zulu territory, and very rural right on the edge of a big city.


  
All the little villages in the area are built right on top of the hills, the sides are too steep.




A very hazy view of another part of the valley.




Tetatively identified as a Cape rock thrush. Maybe my sister Jo at memorablemeanders.blogspot.com could confirm this for me.




Just another tourist enjoying the view. Vervet monkeys have thrived in and around Durban and can be quite a nuisance, living happily among their human "cousins".