St Francis Bay to Swellendam in the Karoo, via Outshoorn,Western Cape, South Africa

20-21st April 2012

Cloudy weather on the coast made us decide to head up north to the Swarzberg mountains, which was a good idea.

In the Karoo plateau, vineyards are nearby too. 

The Karoo Cheetah breeding park, had plenty of youngsters for us to watch and play with.  So many are bread in captivity, they are exchanged with other centres world wide.  I was surprised to learn that 100,000 years ago, they nearly became extinct, and interbred so much that they all carry very similar genes now.  So we’re not the only reason for the extinction of wildlife!

I’m so glad these crocodiles are well fed!

The crocodiles are huge and fat!  Keeps them quiet whilst we stare in awe at these ancient reptiles!

A cloudy view of the Schwarzberg mountains as a back drop to the dry farmland where the ostriches are being bred.  Small birdlife was also prolific along this lane, I had a great time bird-spotting!

Mooiplaas Ostrich Farm and Lodge at Ousthoorn we stayed at,  up close and personal with the ostriches!  The Dutch Africaner lady breeds them mainly for their valuable skins, but exports a lot of the fillets too. 

They are so inquisitive, their eyes are larger than their brains!

Those feathers are just gorgeous though, what a pity they went out of fashion!

A pair of fly catchers singing their hearts out at sundown as I was walking past to go back to the lodge, what a pity I cannot put their song on here!

This whole area of South Africa was populated by Dutch Afrikaners, and the Lutheran church is very much in evidence in all of the small towns and villages.

Too early for Sunday lunch, maybe there all at the Church, opposite

Our first sight of solar panels on the shanty down dwellings near Ladysmith

Outstanding scenery as we drive through the gorge passes in the mountains, the folds in the rock very visible here

This could almot be somewhere in the Alps in Europe

This reminds of us of going through the Gorge de l’Ardeche in central France

Riding a bike to his village just outside Swellendam, green pastures galore here