The Journey continues - Part 9
Driving through the little towns of Keimoes and Kakamas, we arrived in Augrabies. Until now we were quite lucky with paying South African Rates, but I made a mistake this time and Katja had to pay the International one - OUCH!
The chalets were not that full, neither was the camping site. We did find a laundry and did some washing - the clothes dried in no time in the 46 Degree heat. When we arrived we went to the view points, but unfortunately my camera's battery was empty, so most pictures are from Katja. The Oranje was very low and only one waterfall was visible. There are some incredible pictures of the floods from the early eighties, 2008 and 2010 or 2011 at reception, so my advice would be to go just around the rainy season, which is March.
We had quite a few of these guys haning around on the look-out points.
I really wanted to see a Fish Eagle up close, but they were far away and you could only hear the high notes of the call.
We had done our New Year Party shopping in Upington and had the most amazing braai that evening with sosaties and mielies - YUM
This time round we also had wine to welcome 2015, not a water bottle like last time :) Here I then hauled out the Solar Jar again and we had Sunlight at night. Yes, sunshine in a bottle (well, jar to be more precise)!
The next morning we walked the Dassie trail, but we started quite late. The trail itself is very well signposted, except for one that has been taken over by the reeds. The last bit also follows the dirt road a little, without shade and that was quite strenuous.
Otherwise it is very doable and you can even let your feet hang into the brook.
Here are the pictures we took along the way.
After that, we were pooped and took a nap. After a dip in the pool, we found a dassie sitting in a Eucalyptus tree munching some leaves - he almost looked like a Koala. We were so disappointed to not have had our cameras with us. In the afternoon we tried to get a better view of the waterfall (in a different light).
No rainbow, I'm afraid.
We could not resist the air-conditioned restaurant with this amazing ice cream / fruit salad :)
The next morning started with a search for the car key - about 20 minutes wasted, but I found it in a place that I had looked in 4 times before - go figure.
After handing in the keys to the chalet, we did a game drive, including the lower parts of the river, where the rocks and landscape do not disappoint.
And here for the ladscape....
And do you know this gargoyle??
Apart from giraffe, and zebra, some Klipspringer, a Kudu stuck in a bush (sorry no pictures possible) and some baboons we saw what I wanted to see for a long time, up close, right next to my car - a Kingfisher!
Here the pics:
In some of the pictures with the giraffes, you can see vinyards in the background - what a contrast!
Just look at this little guy!!
Augrabies for us was a little bit of a disappointment, but I if you catch it at the right time, you can see lots of rocks ;) , a flowing river and definitely some wildlife. After seeing nothing for a few kilometres, we turned back and left the park.
More to follow soon...
The chalets were not that full, neither was the camping site. We did find a laundry and did some washing - the clothes dried in no time in the 46 Degree heat. When we arrived we went to the view points, but unfortunately my camera's battery was empty, so most pictures are from Katja. The Oranje was very low and only one waterfall was visible. There are some incredible pictures of the floods from the early eighties, 2008 and 2010 or 2011 at reception, so my advice would be to go just around the rainy season, which is March.
We had quite a few of these guys haning around on the look-out points.
I really wanted to see a Fish Eagle up close, but they were far away and you could only hear the high notes of the call.
We had done our New Year Party shopping in Upington and had the most amazing braai that evening with sosaties and mielies - YUM
This time round we also had wine to welcome 2015, not a water bottle like last time :) Here I then hauled out the Solar Jar again and we had Sunlight at night. Yes, sunshine in a bottle (well, jar to be more precise)!
The next morning we walked the Dassie trail, but we started quite late. The trail itself is very well signposted, except for one that has been taken over by the reeds. The last bit also follows the dirt road a little, without shade and that was quite strenuous.
Otherwise it is very doable and you can even let your feet hang into the brook.
Here are the pictures we took along the way.
After that, we were pooped and took a nap. After a dip in the pool, we found a dassie sitting in a Eucalyptus tree munching some leaves - he almost looked like a Koala. We were so disappointed to not have had our cameras with us. In the afternoon we tried to get a better view of the waterfall (in a different light).
No rainbow, I'm afraid.
We could not resist the air-conditioned restaurant with this amazing ice cream / fruit salad :)
The next morning started with a search for the car key - about 20 minutes wasted, but I found it in a place that I had looked in 4 times before - go figure.
After handing in the keys to the chalet, we did a game drive, including the lower parts of the river, where the rocks and landscape do not disappoint.
And here for the ladscape....
And do you know this gargoyle??
Apart from giraffe, and zebra, some Klipspringer, a Kudu stuck in a bush (sorry no pictures possible) and some baboons we saw what I wanted to see for a long time, up close, right next to my car - a Kingfisher!
Here the pics:
In some of the pictures with the giraffes, you can see vinyards in the background - what a contrast!
Just look at this little guy!!
Augrabies for us was a little bit of a disappointment, but I if you catch it at the right time, you can see lots of rocks ;) , a flowing river and definitely some wildlife. After seeing nothing for a few kilometres, we turned back and left the park.
More to follow soon...
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