Tag Archives: photography

A Gecko Getaway – Ebb and Flow, Wilderness – Day 3

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The day started a little later for me this morning and I only emerged from my Gecko just before 08h00. It was slightly cooler weather and it looked like it might rain. Once again we were all left to spend the day as we chose. John popped by to say that he and Jane would be going into town and then to do some bird trails. I asked him to please fetch me after the shopping and take me with him which he kindly agreed to.

While sitting enjoying the ambiance of our campsite and waiting to bird with John and Jane, I spotted a flash of red wings and leaped for my camera and then ran to the tree where I was sure the bird had landed. This roused the curiosity of the others in our laager and I excitedly pointed out the beautiful green bird. There were in fact three of them and everybody managed to see them.

One gave up his game of hide and seek and posed for his portrait
Kyk daar! Is hy nie mooi nie!
I really don’t know what the fuss is about!

While all this fuss was going on Jane rang to tell me to come to their site but I didn’t hear my phone so she came to fetch me – Thanks Jane – I should have been ready and waiting!

We did three different trails one of which was the Galinule Hide near the Fairy Knowe Hotel. You need to get a key to the hide from the hotel and then do a walk to the hide. It was very quiet and we did not see many birds. The most interesting flying creatures we saw were in fact human beings paragliding over the beautiful holiday homes of The Wilderness.

We then did a kingfisher trail along a boardwalk and only saw a few birds at a distance. Near where John parked the car, however, we saw double-collared sunbirds. (I will post a complete list of birds seen in my final blog tomorrow.) 

A very distant photograph of a Hartlaub’s gull – We also saw kelp gulls and cororants
Southern Double-Collared Sunbird

The last place we stopped was also part of the Garden Route National Park and is next to the Island Holiday Resort. This proved to be a very rewarding spot. The most prominent birds were the red-knobbed coots – hundreds of them. We also saw a malachite kingfisher but my photo is so blurred it is not fit for publication. 

Lots of red-knobbed coots
Reed Cormorant drying his wings
With wings folded and now looking for evidence of fish beneath the surface
A Little Grebe just up from a dive
Cattle Egrets – the one on the right is a juvenile
A Purple Swamphen – a little too far away for a good photograph
A White-throated Swallow taking a break from constantly flying about.
A feral domestic goose! He was hanging with the Egyptian Geese hoping to be adopted, I think.

After enjoying a great day at the Wilderness and surrounds most of us went off for dinner at a few of the local restaurants, all of which offer great food at reasonable prices. We opted for The Girls on the Square and were not disappointed. Earl had Mediterranean Calamari and Alec, Cathy and I settled for Caeser Salad served with a really stunning dressing. Cath and Alec shared a Melba Pudding and Earl and I shared a Creme Brule. We were not disappointed.

Entrance to The Girls
I thought the salt and pepper with their mussel shell spoons were rather cute
And the sculptures of The Three Little Pigs, AKA Warthogs were just too adorable

When we got back to camp we joined the ‘after party’ of people returned from the restaurants or beginning their own braai. The fun does not stop when you’re camping with fellow Gecko Okes!

An informal gathering at Johan’s Gecko

Dankie vir ‘n lekker day, almal. Ons sien uit na meer pret môre

A Gecko Getaway – Ebb and Flow, Wilderness

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Thanks to Colin’s wonderful initiative and organisation we are once again having a Gecko Caravan gathering in the Western Cape. This time the venue is in the beautiful Garden Route National Park – Wilderness Section.  Twenty-two Geckos will be invading Ebb and Flow Rest Camp for four nights. Some of us, however, have chosen to come for a little longer. 

For those who are reading my blog for the first time or have come across it by accident let me explain about Gecko. A small family business in Haenetzburg, Limpopo has been building Gecko Off-Road Caravans for some years now. Each caravan is numbered in the order in which it came off the production line. So in our case, we are Gecko 81 having been the 81st Gecko built.  Most Gecko owners belong to a WhatsApp group where ideas and experiences are exchanged. Because we are all proud Gecko owners we get excited when we meet a fellow owner and all over the country Gecko rallies are sometimes arranged. This will be the third one that we have attended and because it is being held in a summer month on the very popular garden route it is being very well attended with some folk coming from other provinces to join us.

Together with Cath and Alec, owners of Gecko 109, we decided to come a day early. We then contacted new Gecko Owners who recently bought number 12, and also live in Struisbaai, to join us. At the last minute they agreed and we set off together this morning at quarter to eight. BUT – disaster struck and just outside Struisbaai, Chris and Rita lost a wheel from their caravan! We were just about to pull off to wait for them when we noticed them not following when a car flashed lights at us and pulled over. We stopped behind her and she informed us of the disaster. Chris had been unable to ring us as Vodocom was down. But then it came back into function and we rang to see if we should turn back. Chris said that help was on the way and we should just go ahead. Thanks to Agri Bredasdorp they were able to get the problem solved at the roadside. We had just set up at Ebb and Flow when they arrived with no damage done to their caravan.

Ons is so bly dat julle veilig deurgekom het, Chris en Rita. Dit gaan ‘n baie lekker paar dae wees!

The weather today was overcast but very warm and there was no wind. Our three caravans are parked together under large shady trees. There are about eight of us already set up and ready to greet the rest of our fellow Gecko friends tomorrow.

Click on the first photo to enlarge and then use arrows to go to the next slide.

All set up
Hennie and Francis
First Braai
Albebert and Shirley
Suzette
Bushbuck making themselves at home

Ons kan nie wag om julle almal te sien nie! Ry veilig!

Just Jot It January and Stream of Consciousness 13 January 2024

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Today Stream of Consciousness Saturday is combined with Just Jot It January and the prompt is Close-up or Close Up.

I enjoy taking photographs but I am really of the aim and shoot variety. Reasonable memory shots are usually the result of my efforts and I have an archive full of photographs from many years of recording just about anything since digital photography became a thing.

I received my first digital camera on my fiftieth birthday – twenty-one years ago. I guess it’s time my photography skills came of age! That little camera had a three times optical zoom and cost R7 000 if I remember correctly. At the time I owned a video camera which was my pride and joy but it was not digital. My camera did not have a video function so I still had to use both of them. 

My next digital camera came a few years later and I paid R 6 000 for a 12x optical zoom camera – Wow – was I thrilled with that. I could not believe that a camera so superior to my previous one cost R1000 less. And it had a video function so the video camera went into a junk cupboard and stayed there for many years before giving it away for nothing! 

But now to the point of the prompt – close-up. Well with my new digital camera, I discovered that close-ups were quite easy and great fun too. As technology improved I moved along with it by purchasing the newest in digital zoom cameras until at last I got one with a 65x optical zoom. My brand of choice was and still is Canon, and their PowerShot range is superb.  Each time I bought a new camera the price was less than the time before until the latest one.  Cameras now cost twice as much as what I paid before the one I have now – a Canon PowerShot SX70HS. I have to take great care of this one because it will cost too much to replace. My previous cameras have all been given to members of my family who coveted them!

Camera technology today is amazing. Who would have imagined twenty years ago that a phone would double as a camera? In fact, the cell phone is even more than that, and what a difference that has made to modern life!

Let me now close up this post with a few favourite close-up photographs. The Earl is in fact the best close-up photographer so I have also chosen from his folder too. He uses a Panasonic Lumex 60X with 60x optical zoom.

Giraffeclose-up by The Earl
Lion close-up by The Earl
Zebra close-up by me.