Creatures of Africa

Friday 8 February 2013 

There was an enormous spider in the kitchen today – not quite tarantula level but really, really big.   Marjorie and I didn’t fancy it much so Tanya dealt with it.  Tanya worked on the environmental impact of various civil engineering projects some years ago and I am very happy for this to qualify her to deal with any huge spiders or anything else of a large non-human nature.  She dealt with the spider by catching it in an empty ice cream carton and releasing it into the wild, or at least into the garden.  

Hadeda

Recently released into the wild locally, but not by Tanya, were leopards.    They have been tracked since release and Marjorie says that various blips have been picked up near the house.  This makes me a bit nervous about going walking and also about going to the loo in the night.  My room isn’t directly connected to the rest of the house.  I have to come outside and walk along the terrace to get to the other part.    But Marjorie and Tanya both say there's not much chance that leopards would be hanging around.  I did look for eyes gleaming in the dark, though, when I did the 5 o’clock wander.  I’d love to see them, I just don’t want them to see me. For the meantime, the only really odd creatures in the garden are the hadedas which are prehistoric looking birds with long curving beaks and tremendous cries and calls.

Buffels Bay

I had lunch at Buffalo (or Buffels) Bay overlooking the sea.  The view is absolutely beautiful but  it was very windy so I stayed inside then spent the afternoon on an almost deserted beach at the Goukamma Nature Reserve.   There were a couple of guys surfing and another one wind surfing but I was the only one sitting on the beach reading.   

Goukamma Nature Reserve

I went into Knysna to shop.  It's really changed since I was last here 8 years ago.  What used to be a small town with pretty shops and cafes now has large malls and supermarkets.  I  bought a book about the Garden Route which says that the Knysna Forests are still home to the Knysna elephants.  In the unlikely event that  we run into one of those, Tanya will have to deal with it.