I was one of the few people in Ithaca who was not at the national bird dork conference this week, so I had lots of time for hikes, creek sitting, small animal tracking, photographing tomatoes as if they were newborn humans, pig roasts, pond swims, rainy farmer's market treats, yoga downtown, and salamander crossing guard walks. Before I got married and lived with my husband, and had a job rather than being a grad student, I was better about spending time outside on hikes and meanders, but then this person came along who I enjoy being with and I forget to do the other stuff. It was a week full of the other stuff and just in the nick of time to really savor the last bits of summer. #soakitup

Cape Town and the Karoo Scrub

Upon our arrival to the craziness of city life in Cape Town, we had wifi at our amazing hotel, so....no writing for a bit. We stayed close to the Kristenbosch Botanical Gardens and spent quite a bit of time there birding and plant watching and hiking. 

We accomplished most things on our to do list. 

4/16/16
Journal: 
Driving east and a little north of Cape Town to bird the dry hot thorny bush scrub. Nothing says honeymoon like all of those things put together! We had a bit of a rough time navigating the traffic of CT this morning, but once we emerged on the other side, there were mountains, mist, and after a long tunnel through a mountain, we were shot out on the other much drier side. Wine country...and Karoo scrub country. 
​An aside: 
Last night we at burgers, drank Guinness and appetizered on chicken livers! Yum.

We spent some lovely time exploring the Vrolijkheid Nature Reserve. The little towns nearby were great too, but of course, I didn't get photos. The scene really reminded me of the Australian outback. If you want to see some photos of the towns in the area, check this out!

That is me pointing at my husband on hour 6 of our day in 95F heat remembering the promise that we would, in fact, make it to the wineries before sundown. 

And....we were off! 

We made it to the only one that was still open, Mont Rochelle, but one was plenty! We did not see Richard Branson though. 

The botanical garden and...a hotel robe!!!

Husband looking lovingly at a protea of some sort. 

My love for this guy and rusks runs deep!

Best breakfast ever. Lumberjack appetite! 

Dress code, you say? I say, dazzle/distract them with power-clashing! 

4/14/16

We left Kruger and slept at Old Joe's Kaia under a circus tent mosquito net on a giant bed with organic cotton sheets and a hurricane shower. We arrived late because after a day of checking out the Blyde River Canyon area at God's Window and Bourke's Potholes, we booked it up to Mount Sheba preserve to catch a very quick look at a Gurney's Sugarbird. You see, Sugarbirds are relatives of the Australian honeyeaters we both studied for our PhDs. Then, we went back down through Pilgrim's Rest to Graskop for dinner at Canimambo which served tasty dishes from Mozambique.

We slept delightfully well at Old Joe's and awoke at our usual 5am time and wondered around the amazing grounds. That place was a real gem with tons of trails and gardens and a lovely pool. We had signed up for the vegan breakfast and it was a true slow food experience. It was the best vegan meal I've ever experienced...even if it did make us panic a bit about making it to Joburg to catch our flight. 

Cape Town bound! 

Kruger National Park, Lower Sabi and Skukuza

4/10/16 Lower Sabie journal ramblings 

7pmish chillin at the #50s plaza with a braii fueled by ironwood after another spectacular day burned into our eyes. Holy shit, we covered so much ground today (140ks @50 by law), but it took us from 8am until 6pm. We went from our gloriuos perch atop the Olifants River cliffs through some really hot and dry country. We saw lots of mopani shrubland, viewed a pond with a a dead tree containing two different species of weaver nests, White-winged terns, a group of hippos, elephants drinking water, Egyptian geese, Vervet monkeys, Black-winged stilts, Dabchicks (Little grebes), and the whole shebang. Overwhelming. 

Between the turnoff Lower Sabie and Lower Sabie, we checked out two overlooks. We looked down on cacti-esque trees down onto really sparsely vegetated red and rocky soil. 

African buffalo (Syncerus caffer) and my fearless driver. Apparently that huge bone shield on their heads is called a "boss." It is sort of like chest hair emerging from a field shirt. Also, I think they look a lot like Arthur's friend Francine, but apparently she is an orangutan. Who knew. At any rate, her hairdo is very boss-like. 

White rhino 

Lion pride traffic jam and Broville units = science 

Blue wildabeests, Nothing-to-see-here giraffe and an Egret-topped rhino nap

Fever trees (Vachellia xanthophloea) have greenish bark and are one of the few species where photosynthesis takes place in the bark. 

Greater kudu (Tragelaphus strepsiceros) 

Red-billed hornbill 

And another Lilac-breasted roller 

4/11/16 Skukuza
I'm not getting enough writing time in. We arrived at Skukuza at 1:55pm today after a bumpy backroad meander from Lower Sabie. We saw Temminck's coursers whose very red heads matched the soil. It was hot! We ate tuna salad while watching White-fronted bee eaters fish in the water, Hamerkops take naps, Vervet monkeys groom, Pied kingfishers pounce on the water, and an amazing, but nameless (to me) tree gave us shade. 

5pm The golden sun just faded on the railroad bridge that I can see from our bungalow #84 with "no view." At least 12 hours of birding today. We went to whatever fancy pants steakhouse exists here for some delightfully cheap drinks and sunset. What a beautiful, but crazy scene. It was super ooey gooey great (that might be my champagne talking). And wifi. Blow your mind. Wifi. Crazy. Then, we went to the shop to get some kudu and wildebeest, and cooked some pasta, I showed Eliot how to use a old school (born before 1982) can opener, and we had a lovely meal. 

prime real estate 

ceaseless presence 

When they both finally arose from their bath, the had a butt war of epic proportions attempting to nudge each other out of the clay soak. 

Pin-tailed wydah 

Slightly warm 

4/12/16
Day 2 at Skukuza, last night in Kruger
Hot. Overwhelmed by animals and rapid-fire range shifts. Birding all day every day. Today we saw some kind of mongoose, five rhinos all of which we think were White rhinos. 
I have a lot to say about how nice it was to have no working phone, but I also went through hashtag withdrawal, so here are a few:
#beatingthebushesforbirds
#birdtrolling
#nobirdleftunseen
#tickinghoneymoon
#birdtillyoureyesbleed
#honeybirding
#pishingeverybush
#birdtillyourbrainmelts
#nowearentlookingatlions

Questions that we would google if we could: 
Why do some of the giraffes look like they have warts?
What's a group of giraffes called?
Are males darker? Just coincidence?
Do males and females hang out together?
​

 Kruger National Park, Olifants vicinity

From my journal:
The braided river below is spectacular! Hippos, lines of elephants drinking and river-crossing, giraffes, and  huge flocks of birds. We tried for a while today to find a Red-crested korhaan. It sounded like someone tapping a pick axe on a rock, but then there was a song. We finally put two and two together and figured it out with some research. Luckily, we bumped into the sound a little later in the day and were able to watch them, which is my favorite way to commit a sound to an animal in my memory. We did a short loop near camp and came back early to drink beer and eat nachos at the overlook restaurant (honeymoon....remember???), then headed back out on a road that winded along the river where we managed to find many impala, waterbucks, hippos, Fish eagles, Egyptian geese galore, and a double rainbow. Yep, a double rainbow. A good sign. Superb day! 

Eliot nearly convinced me of a rare sighting of a Pel's fishing owl, but after many hours and then an entire night of being perched on the same Boulder (capitalized in my journal because it was once my place name home, so I'll leave it), we realized it was an elusive Pel's fishing owl rock. Trickster. 

I think my our sheets are made from old woven barbie doll hair and combined with Lariam are giving me very bad dreams. 

Rondoval living 

Olifants curtains for our view of the Olifants River

Marabou stork soaring and a Helmeted guinea fowl foraging 

Waterbuck mimics dead tree shape

Camp Olifants and tire repair

Marabou stork 

Giant Kingfisher 

Cape glossy starling