Arrived home yseterday afternoon after an absence on eight days, the dogs were ecstatic and went mad with joy. Poor Cat the cat had a rough time of it and hadn't been home since last Wednesday according to Maria my housekeeper. Late last night Cat came home and sat on my feet untill I went to bed.
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N3 highway looking south, straight as a ruler all the way to the horizon. Enlarge the photo to realy get the impact of space.
This part of the highway goes through the plains of the Free State Province of South Africa. Big sky country with wide vistas. The Free State is prime farming country, maize, wheat, sunflowers, sheep, and beef and dairy cattle.
This is my first post using my new laptop, I will be doing some more posts about the birds and animals at Sondela game reserve.
My brother in law, Wim, and I took a late afternoon drive to look for game.
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Gnu, or Wildebeest, lying in the sun chewing cud.
The rest of the heard.
Young Kudu bull.
Ground hornbil.
Old Kudu bull with magnificent horns. This old bull was just skin and bones, obviously on his last legs.
Bless buck ram standing proud.
Impala ram.
Black backed jackal slinking through the undergrowth. Jackals are natures true survivors in spite of centuries of persecution by man the still survive and thrive in Africa.
Went for an early morning (sunrise) walk this morning and managed to take photos of Zebra, an Nyala bull and a Warthog.
Left Pretoria at 13:10 this afternoon on the N1 highway heading north, arrived at Sondela game reserve at 14:20 a distance of 100 km.
This is where I'm staying now, this part of the house faces north, on the left the main bedroom, in the middle the lounge, dining area and kitchen, all open plan. The room I'm using is just of the picture on the right. This whole side of the house is glass. This house was also designed and built by my brother in law.
The last rays of the sun catching the eaves of the roof.
Two visitors, an Nyala ewe and her lamb. These two were no more than five meters from me.
In spite of being quite tame, still alert. Baby stays very close to Mum.
Mother and daughter.
Yesterday I took a trip on the high speed Gau train, from Hatfield in Pretoria to Rosebank in Johannesburg.
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Train arriving in Hatfield station. There are "drivers" on the trains, but the whole system is fully automated so they are there just for psychological effect. Top speed of the train is 160km an hour, (99mph).
Interior of the train, security guards constantly patrol up and down the train, mainly to prevent littering.
Train on the opposite platform and more security guards looking tough.
The Voortrekker Monument on Monument hill just outside of Pretoria, built between 1938 and 1947, to commemorate the Great Trek 1836 - 1838. Voorterekkers were the Afrikaans pioneers who left the Cape Colony to escape what they considered British oppression.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Trek
Rosebank station our destination, this station is underground. For about 30km the line runs underground as it was cheaper to tunnel than to expropriate property to build the line above ground.
One of the things that struck me was the almost clinical cleanliness of the trains and the stations. In Africa dirt is the norm and public places like railway stations are always full of litter and worse.
One of the stations along the way. Since 2010 the system has carried 5,8 million passengers.
Below is a link that gives a detailed description and history of the building of the line.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gautrain
Here are some interior shots of the house, Joyful wanted to see more.
The guest house lounge, dinning room and kitchen. Just to the right of the door leading out is another guest room with it's own bathroom and toilet. These facilities are often used by visiting missionaries from all over Africa. Not strange to arrive here to find Mozambuiqan's, Chanaian's and others staying over. My sister in law was involved with YWAM for many years while my brother in law is involved with a men's ministry called Living Word. Christian hospitality and service is their normal way of living.
View towards the guest bedroom, bathroom and toilet on the right.
Looking from the kitchen towards the dining area and outside entertainment area.
The main lounge, the cover over the couch is to protect it from the sun.
Looking towards the kitchen. You can see how the early morning sun just streams in through these north facing windows.
The entertainment area.
The front door from the inside. This home is filled with warmth, love and peace.
PS. Excuse any spelling mistakes, my spell check is not working and I'm dislexic, so for the life of me there are words I just can spell. Even spelt dislexic wrong.
Took some more photos of the house I'm staying in, I've stayed here more time than I can count and every time I'm impressed with the design and the "liveability" of the house. Below is the enclosed court yard that divides the north and south wings of the house. This court yard allows the south wing to also have north facing windows to catch the winter sun.
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The front door with two multi coloured leaf bougainvillea's growing over it. The door on the right is the entrance to the south wing.
Close up of the multi coloured bougainvillea leaves and flowers.
View of the court yard from the south wing door.
Sat on the veranda looking out at the bird feeder here where I'm staying in Pretoria.
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Weaver bird at the feeder made of bamboo. Right behind the feeder, (about 3 meters), is a grove of bamboo. Every two years or so it has to be cut down or else it blocks the winter sun. This feeder was made from a piece of this bamboo. Much nicer than the plastic ones on sale at various garden stores.
A sparrow waiting for a turn at the feeder. I just love the bold markings on this birds back.
Weaver bird and sparrow having breakfast together.
Walked around to the back of the house to photograph this bougainvillea growing over the garden wall. Further up the driveway there are bougainvillea's with different colours but they were not flowering as well as this one.
