Tours of two wineries.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A short drive took us to wine country. Our first stop was the L'Avenir Wine Estate. We learned about the process they use to make their wine. It is spring here so the vines are a luscious green. We were served a wonderful lunch along with the opportunity to taste several of their wines. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A King Proeas flower which is th e national flower of South Africa was on each table.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The second wine estate we visited was Muratie which was established in 1699.

 

Clouds obscured the view but Table Mountain was visible in the distance.

The wine was paired with chocolate that was supposed to enhance the flavor. 

The area is very scenic.

Walking Tour of Stellenbosch

The day started out with walking tour of the historic district of Stellenbosch. Our guide said that Stellenbosch is the most segregated city in South Africa. It was founded in 1679 by a Dutch man and became the center for Afrikaan settlers and the Afrikaans language is still spoken in the town. A seminary for the Dutch Reformed Church was established in 1859. 

This is the seminary building. There were beautiful Jacaranda trees and a large monkey puzzle tree in the courtyard.

The orginal  Dutch Reformed Church burned down and was then rebuilt. The thatch rof was being redone. It was interesting to see the workers securing the new thatch.

The inside of the church had beautiful stained glass windows and an impressive pulpit. 

City Hall has an unique sculpture in fron to it that reveals the face of Nelson Mandela.

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here are many historic buildings in Stellenbosch.

Today was a travel day.

We left the hotel b Kruger National Park this morning and flew from Kruger Mpumalanga International Airport to Capetown. One of the most interesting part of the day was visiting with my seatmate. She said she had not been to Cape own for 10 years but was going for business. I asked her how often she went to Kruger or other game parks and she said that she lives in a game park. She asked me if I had heard of Sir Richard Branson and I said of course. She proceeded to tell me that she and her husband are the managers of the Ulusaba Private Game Reserve that is adjacent to Kruger. She was going to Cape Town to meet with colleagues who manage Branson's private wine property that is near Stellenbosch.  The views from the airplane were good. Cape Town is surrounded by rugged peaks. 

Table mountain does have a flat top.

Our guide explained that Cape Town is a very racially divided city. There were shanty town slums for miles along the highway as we drove from the airport toward the wine country near Stellenbosch. 

 

 

 

 

 

We will stay in Stellenbosch for 3 nights at the Stellenbosch Hotel  My room is called a petite room and it is definitely close quarters. The bathroom is made for grade school size kids. 

Last day of game drives

Up at 4:30 am, game drive at 5 am, driving rain at 7:30 am made for an interesting start of the day.  We had a nice viewing of a group of lions. In the second picture you and see the backs of two young cubs. 

Because of the rains many of the animals were staying in close groups like the wildebeest and the impala.

 We also saw some hawks and other birds. 

We returned to our lodge for brunch, got warmed up, and I took a two hour nap. At 2:30 we went on my final game drive. We were close to two male lions and they crossed the road right in front of our land rover.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The vultures were on the hunt across the road from where the lions were seen.

Next we saw two cheetahs but they were at quite a distance. I am hoping that someone with a better camera shares pictures with me. If you squint you might see 2 cheetahs in this picture that I took.

Guinea fowl are seen in the middle of the roads. Our guide said that they feel safer in the road because it protects them from snakes.

We ended the day with a lecture about the issue of poaching rhino horns and the greatly reduced rhino population in Kruger Park. It seems to be an issue of corruption and cooperation with foreign governments that want to trade in rhino horns. Then a local song and dance troupe performed songs and dances from 3 different tribes in South Africa.

I ended a good day of game viewing but I kept my record intact and did not see a leopard in the wild. Even so it has been a wonderful privilege to go on games drives once again. 

Birds on the Game Drive

There are two birders in our group. So for those who like birds here a a few pictures from today. Birds are much harder to get in a photograph. These are the ones I took. I am hoping that the birders with their telescopic lenses with share some of their pictures with the group.

Game Drive Day

This morning I got up at 4:30 am and we left for our day long game drive at 5 am. We stopped for a picnic breakfast at 9:30 am and again for a quick lunch at a restaurant in the park. The rest of the day was riding in a large land rover and seeing and looking for animals in the park. We didn't return to our safari lodge until 5:30 pm. It was a very long day! Spoiler alert - no sighting of a leopard so my streak of seeing one in the wild continues. 

Sunrise and the welcome sign to Kruger National Park. I will post pictures of animals we saw. By far we saw the most elephants. Elephants with babies, old males, babies who were nursing, elephants in the road (they have the right of way!), in the river and in the bushes. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We saw many other animals. I hope you can identify them!