Colourful Cape Town

I’m a week late for entering Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Vibrant Colours but that’s because we were lucky enough to have been able to take a much-needed week’s break in one of Africa’s (and perhaps the World’s?) most beautiful cities – Cape Town.

Unbelievably I forgot to take my camera – I was so annoyed with myself! So some of these pictures I took with my phone (I’ve still not mastered that skill) and the rest are from our trip to Cape Town in January.

We stayed in an apartment at Whale Watchers in Muizenberg where the views from our bedroom window were breathtaking.

Clouds rolling in to Muizenberg – across the bay from Simons Town and Cape Point

A clearer, warmer day

Oh to wake up to this scene every morning!

So bright and colourful and cheerful

Also seen in Muizenberg

I love all the small shops and alleyways in and around Kalk Bay.

Intriguing

Of course a visit to The Brass Bell in Kalk Bay is compulsory – the view, the ambience and the cocktails are superb.

Cocktails at Kalk Bay

Christmas in July

Local villagers thought Father Christmas had visited one Sunday evening in July when a thirty tonne rig carrying beer overturned on the Kazungula-Livingstone road.

The accident happened at around 10.00pm and within minutes the wreck was surrounded by ‘salvage experts’, all intent on making the most of this unexpected windfall. A handful of policemen arrived from town to guard the load but by midnight they were overwhelmed and a party was in full swing. So riot police were dispatched, tear gas was thrown and the revellers reluctantly weaved their way home.

In the mean time a wreck recovery company worked through the night, moving hundreds of crates of beer to the relative safety of their yard. This had to be done in stages and returning to the warehouse with the second load the driver was surprised to hear loud, joyful singing coming from inside the building. The security guard, whose job it had been to keep an eye on the beers, had taken it upon himself to do some quality control and he seemed oblivious when being reprimanded and relieved of his duties; he simply continued his song as he danced his way out of the yard, still clutching a half-finished sample.

By the next morning all that remained of the cargo was broken bottles strewn across the road, on the verge and in the bush. And a handful of stalwart party-goers who had somehow avoided the tear gas and the police.

This young girl somehow managed to avoid all the broken glass with those bare feet!

This guy had obviously been there all night. We saw him offering advice to the crane operator and when that was ignored he lurched onto the road, stopped a passing taxi and handed some bottles to the driver in exchange for cash.

Looks good enough to drink

Early Morning Elephants

Early this morning we had to drive into town to buy fuel for the wheat harvester. At eight o’clock it was already very hot (but not as hot as mid-day yesterday when we measured 48 degrees celsius in the vehicle!) and the heat haze shimmering on the tar looked like puddles of water. We are not expecting rain for at least another two months and it is going to get hotter and hotter every day until that rain arrives.

Smoke from bush fires hung thick in the air, reducing visibility to a few feet. Then we rounded a corner and became stuck in an unusual traffic jam.

Don’t even think of coming any closer!

Monday Afternoon Elephants

The late start of the bush fires this year has meant that food for the elephants and other wildlife in the Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park has lasted longer than normal. The fires started in earnest about two weeks ago, and because it is now so dry most of the grass and many trees have burnt. The sky is constantly hazy,  the smoke burns your eyes and throat and everywhere you look you can see plumes of smoke billowing above the horizon.

The elephants are hungry and on Monday night we had our first incursion of the season. Piet received the call at around 01.30 in the morning and was out until just after sunrise – luckily he and the guards managed to keep the elephants out of the wheat.

Late Monday afternoon we were driving through the park when we came across a herd of around 60 elephants eating in a small patch of bush that has escaped the fires; we think it was the same herd that came to try to sample our wheat that night.

Would you believe there’s an elephant standing right behind this bush? You can just make out its outline:

Masters of disguise

 

Appearing like a vision …

 

 

 

Not many green leaves on that tree

 

Delicately picking the juiciest leaves