Road trip

I have been on the go now for a while, just arrived back for 48 hours…leaving tomorrow again. I am taking my boy on a Karoo trip to farms and wildlife rich open regions. Here are some things we have seen..

The Valley of desolation is awesome and standing on a rock for the second photo made my knees buckle a little.

In the same region we (Boeta and Me) saw wildlife like kudu, standing at the perfect angle with the sun rising behind him.

We saw many other animals and birds and I captured what I could. A favorite was the korhaan walking as they do (low) when they sense danger.

This is open semi-desert country, beautiful to my heart and eye.

We drove to another region about 200 km from this and found more grass-like Savannah.

Just a small sample of what I took. Later.

 

Last day

Next morning was the last morning on the farm in the Karoo. We started the morning s we do nearly every morning, with hour of book reading.

This is an important hour of bonding between mom and Boeta, while daddy get ready for the day ahead with Boeta. On this day we were on holiday, so daddy got ready for one last walk on his own, while Boeta got ready for the day with mom. The road to our next destination was waiting. But we had some time to walk around one last time.

I saw a pair of Pied Barbets having a disagreement. Sorry about the second shot, but message is clear to see.

My first stop was to see if I could capture the Rock Hyrax in the Agave plants. Many of the old farm have these near especially old houses, but I have never seen Rock Hyrax living in them and using it as obvious protection.

They were warming up in the early morning sun, so I got a few nice shots. As I passed them walking into the fields, they disappeared to the lower levels and protection. I heard a crow on the morning breeze and looked in the direction of the calls. It was slowly gliding along the road, probably looking for possible easy food from a car strike during the night.

The sounds of the sheep grew louder as I walked into the field. My senses were alive and I was determined to enjoy every sound, smell, sight as the crispness of the morning tingled on my face.

 More later…

 

Being stopped by grassy irritations…

Continuing our walk, we walked along one of the farm roads until we saw a gate that led us into the fields.

Boeta was reacting as we hoped and he really enjoyed the open karoo. The first thing we noticed was the flowering Aloe ferox.

Then we got a glimpse of 2 “Steenbok” antelope charging away from us as we got to the crest of a hill. They are not very big and pretty nimble.

We looked around and saw a Euphorbia specie with its fingers, some called these medusanoids.

We were now working in the open fields and Boeta got his first lesson. Some “Piercing Grass, Stickgrass, Three-Awned Grass, Buffalo Grass”, whatever you want to call it, started to collect on his sweatpants and in very sensitive area and it started to prick him. He stopped dead in his tracks.

It was pretty obvious what was going on and I could not help giggling. Luckily mom was close and came to the rescue of the confused toddler. She started removing the grass that got stuck like burdock.

He patiently waited for her to remove the causes of his discomfort, which seems to have been a great collection as mom took a while, and I started to look for other subjects to photograph.

Nope still busy….

Okay then, time to head back in any case, so I walked past them and took a shot back to the farmhouse from the top of the hill behind them.

Boeta eventually got freedom of movement back and was off again. As we walked back to the road we saw a dassie (Rock Hyrax) and I got a quick photo before it was gone.

Boeta also realized we were on our way back and he already remembered what was waiting for him there. He started picking up speed as we got near to the farmyard again.

When he saw the sheep, he was off and running with mom in hot pursuit. It was so much fun to witness his immediate and obvious love for the environment he found himself in. How do you know your kid is enjoying himself?? Tell him it is time to go home for dinner and a bath…He did not know it, but more fun was around the corner and the sheep would be there, the next day.

We walked past a flowering Ruschia species, a succulent plant (low bush) with small purple flowers.

First walk in the Karoo Heartland

Once we got offloaded and Boeta had his nap (Mom and Dad too), we decided toward late afternoon to take a walk on the farm. This was our reason for coming to this area, open spaces to let the little man run and explore. Sure enough, little man was off.

We decided to walk past the farmhouse and up the hill to get a nice view of the surrounds. As we got closer, someone came past with an old tractor to the great amusement of Boeta.

Some Kniphofia and other flowering plants in the farmyard.

As we walked through the farm gate, we took to the hill, following the road. Boeta was in another world, a new wonderful world with lots of…..rocks!!

C’mon then, you two oldies….we need to get there, today! The view from the top of the little hill, guess it would qualify as open spaces!

We walked on and mom gave the little man a loving touch asking him if he liked this new holiday spot and if he was enjoying himself.

Daddy decided, enough with the walking on the farm road, let’s go off-road and really have fun. Mom was slightly apprehensive, but we took to the fields in any case.

Some lovely and interesting plants to be found. Nothing growing specifically high.

Every now and Boeta would lose his footing a little with his new 3rd outing boots, which ended up to be the most valuable addition to his wardrobe and he did not want to wear anything else and it saved on a few possible issues with thorns and prickly stuff you find from time to time.

For daddy, it was the most anticipated week of the holiday. He wanted to spend time with his son and mom in the Karoo, as he was lucky enough to do for most of his childhood to late teens. This shot is sure one of the most special ones of that walk…..”pride“…..

It was getting late and we had to turn back and go light the barbecue for dinner. Everything basically worked with gas and candles. Magical. No other sounds of people, but us and the man (and his family) for miles around.

Boeta now took the lead as we walked back home with a proud mom and dad walking behind him, watching him just being a kid. BLISS!