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Published: June 17th 2017
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01 Dam
The Sasol Dam at the botanic gardens. Geo: -26.153, 27.8657
We have now been in South Africa for a few days. The weather has been gorgeous! I have enjoyed the consistent, warmth and can only imagine how much warmer it will be in summer. An observation that I have made is that they don't have daylight savings here, which seems strange to me that it is dark so early in the evening and it is summer.
Next to the estate there is the Walter Sisulu Botanical Gardens. Paul and I decided to spend some time there this afternoon. It was only a few minute drive to the gate. Being residents to the estate, we had our own key and did not have to pay an entrance fee, unlike other visitors have to.
Our first stop was at the hide. We stayed here for a while and observed the bird activity at the Sasol Dam. There were various varieties of weavers, cormorants, bright Red Bishops, Egyptian Geese and many weaver nests hanging from reeds over the water. This was a nice spot to sit and relax, next time I will have to bring a book with me. We stayed at the hide for about twenty minutes and then I got restless
02 Cormorant
A Cormorant enjoying the rain as it looks over the dam. and wanted to see more of the gardens.
We walked towards the waterfall. Along the way we passed many themed, detailed gardens. Then we came across some tortoises. This was very exciting, the main reason being that they couldn't move quickly from us and weren't shy around people! There are two types of tortoises in these gardens – the Leopard Tortoise and the Bell's Hinged Tortoise. The tortoises easily camouflaged among the rocks in the gardens. We stalked them for about ten minutes. In the end we saw about five different tortoises, varying in size.
One of the tortoises was keen to get away from us and began to walk over a large, prickly cactus. Paul picked it up, put it on the path and then we walked away from them. We were back on track to getting to the waterfall. Along the way we stopped to identify some birds. The path skirted the river and soon the waterfall was in full view. The Witpoortjie Falls were quite nice and looked like a great place to swim, except that swimming here is prohibited and the area is fenced off. On the side of the waterfall there is a huge bird's
03 Red
Standing out on the branch is a Red Bishop. nest that belongs to a pair of Black Eagles. They have been nesting here for a few years.
It was now time to start walking back to the car, although we had a key we have to leave the gardens the same time as other visitors. On the way back we saw a group of Helmeted Guinea Fowl pecking the ground as they walked along. There was also a Hadeda Ibis, Red-Chested Cuckoo and a Cape Weaver. We really enjoyed our short trip to the gardens and more than likely will be back here quite soon.
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