Flint Hills & Forgotten Towns

This entry begins and ends with towns that were not forgotten, Eldorado, Cottonwood Falls, and Strong City, although all of them probably have their glory days behind them. The towns in between, Teterville, Matfield Green, and Bazaar, struggling, ghost, or – in the case of Teterville – no longer even qualifying as ghost town. Most of these photos were from a rainy day trip. If it wasn’t for that I would have wanted to linger more. Especially for a closer look at those majestic range-roaming mustangs, the wild horses of these Flint Hills.

ELDORADO

El Dorado, Kansas (sometimes spelled Eldorado, one word. Usually by locals), named after that ancient ill-starred quest for gold. They searched for gold, but settled for oil. Settled in large numbers. When oil was first discovered northwest of town at the Stapleton#1 oil well on October 6, 1915 many more settlers flowed in from the east, in only three years more than tripling the town’s population to around 1000. By this time the Eldorado area had become the largest oil producer in the country. Yielding, according to Wikipedia “29-36 million barrels a day, equating to 64% of Kansas output and up to 9% of the national output.“

Through the mid–century oil output was still respectable but in the seventy years since production gradually waned, going from almost two million barrels in 1966, from 939 wells to below 300,000 last year (2023) from 515 wells. The decline in oil production and the earlier decline in cattle droving are the main reasons for the shrinking or disappearance of towns in this area. Like mushrooms after a good rain they sprang up and, like mushrooms in the dry spell, they faded away.

Detailed information on yearly production of the El Dorado oil fields can be found here:
https://chasm.kgs.ku.edu/ords/oil.ogf4.IDProdQuery?FieldNumber=1000146901

TETERVILLE

This monument is all that is left standing of the erstwhile oil town of Teeterville. And this is not even the original monument. The original, set up by **James Teter** (1849-1929) himself, was taken away and repurposed for other sites. This current monument seen here was set up in 1954.

This town came into existence in 1859 but really grew when oil was discovered around 1920. There were several houses here, two churches (Baptist and Methodist), several mills, a school, blacksmiths, general stores, and, in 1927, even a post office that stayed in business until 1962.

**Above** and **Below**: A fitting scene for the cowboy song “*Bury me not on the Lone Prairie*“. Well, I don’t know if any person was actually *buried* here. Maybe we could say a whole *town* was buried here. Or that it was snatched away as if a very thorough tornado made away with almost all remembrances of it.

These views are, respectively, to the east and south – as seen from the houses that used to be here. Seen from the air in Google Earth you can still see, mixed in with the loops of off-road vehicles, the faint straight lines of the town that was.

WILD HORSES

I was surprised with how many they were. And also that they did not seem particularly wild. They came readily to the fence line as we drove past, as if they were curious. In fact Steve Vestring, a local rancher, said, “We’ve had mustangs here for almost 10 years. After you’ve had them awhile, they gentle down. They’ll come up to us just out of curiosity.” More on this account can be found here:
https://www.travelks.com/kansas-magazine/articles/post/the-wild-mustangs-of-the-flint-hills/

It may also be that they are hoping for handouts to supplement their usual diet of bluestem, buffalo grass, and other grasses. Most of these horses came originally from the BLM lands further west like Nevada and Wyoming.

**The Nature Conservancy** tries to balance environmental requirements with the realities of the human environment.

MATFIELD GREEN & BAZAAR

A view looking north, up **Highway 177**. If it wasn’t raining so hard I would have left the car for a closer shot. But I think you can read it once you select the picture.

Going north on 177. The next four pictures may be out of order, making it hard for me to know which are **Matfield Green** and which are **Bazaar**. Let’s just label the next four photos: *Dilapidated grand homes that have seen better days.*

**Above** and **Below**: The *schoolhouse* and *cemetery* of **Bazaar**. They were side-by-side. Author **William Least Heat Moon**‘s *PrairyErth* has quite a bit of insight on this slice of Kansas. He recounts the reminiscences of **Blanche Schwilling**, the last postmaster – right up until the government, in his words,

“*closed down the p.o., took away the stamps, canceled the zip code, and said by its action that Bazaar was no longer a town*” !

And many of the no-longer-townfolk agreed, seeing that the school (**above**) no longer operated. Yet Blanche refused to let the town die. She used the Methodist church building as her rallying point, ringing the bell, seeing to it that sermons were still given and, if a circuit preacher was not available – as was often the case – she offered her devotions.

COTTONWOOD FALLS

**Above** and **Below**: The **Chase County Courthouse**, built in 1873, although not the first in the state – that honor goes to the Ness City courthouse – it is Kansas’ oldest courthouse that is *still operating*. In a state with several striking courthouses I would say that this is the most impressive one I’ve seen. The red mansard roof and the large dormer windows almost makes this seem a European chateau or baron’s residence. My impressions, at least. This courthouse was a significant upgrade from the original one, built in 1859, which was a log building.

**Two views, west and east, of the Cottonwood River.** **Zebulon Pike** traversed this river (though maybe not this exact site) on his way westward.

STRONG CITY

“Originally known as Cottonwood Station, in 1881 it was renamed Strong City after William Barstow Strong, then vice-president and general manager, and later president of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway.” – Wikipedia
In case you were wondering, yes, Barstow, California (formerly Fishpond, California) was also named after him. An improvement, don’t you think?

**Above**: A neat attraction at the **Strong City Kaboose Park** is this train car. **Below**: You can even walk inside and examine the stove and sit down on the dusty padded seats.

The railroad killed the cattle trails. And the trucking business later took a big bite out of the railroad business.

A little west of Strong City and running down from the north is Fox Creek. There is a well-known hiking area that meanders at times along this creek. Some of the terrain, once overgrown with brush and cottonwoods, is now private property, but a good part of it is in a nature preserve. Another area that, if I am ever up here again, deserves a good long nature hike.

I am sure it was a bit different 150 years ago, considering the following account. In the 1870’s, Zilphia, a single woman was living alone in a small cabin here near well-wooded Fox Creek when she was startled by a scratching outside her door. Timidly creeping over and peeping out, she saw the well-known – and wanted! – warrior, White Eyes. He asked to borrow a knife and she, afraid to say ‘No’, gave him the biggest knife she had. He noticed it was dull, but took it anyway. Weeks later, she again hears a noise by the door, a loud thump. There slumped against the door and, as Moon related in his book, “there lay a freshly killed deer, and thrust in it was her sharpened butcher knife.“

CATTLE TRAILS & RUSTING RAILS

The **Chisholm Trail** (highlighted in blue) and other feeder trails. The Chisholm Trail started in **Red River Station**, now a ghost town, a few miles into Texas and originally ran all the way up to **Abilene, Kansas**, the cattle being transported eastward by rail. The trail for a long time was a lucrative venture, cattle prices at this northern end tripled over those in Texas. Demand in the east was high and the railroads reaching westward helped the transaction.

But all good things come to an end. The cattle trails were eventually made a thing of the past by two events, both were metal. The first was the earlier-mentioned railroads. As the lines continued being built west and southward the distance required for the drives necessarily lessened. Each new south-reaching rail line progressively shortened the cattle trails. The northern terminus of the Chisholm Trail went from **Abilene** to **Bazaar** (causing a temporary boom in economy) to **Newton, Kansas**, and then all the way down to **Wichita**.

The other thing was the impactive invention in 1874 by **Joseph Glidden** (1813–1906) of **barbed wire**, twined and twisted spiked wires that protected land owners’ increasingly large property from being trammeled by livestock and drovers coming up from Texas. In twenty year’s time they put an end to the open range era. These two events, both of them metal strands, put an end to the cattle drives and, with that, shortened the “cowboy” years of TV westerns to only about twenty–five years.

And then the railroads themselves lost their preeminence, as the trucking industry proved a more economical means of transport.

The towns here are small in size now, but rich in history.

Three Weeks in Kansas and my Hometown -Wichita

I suppose it is a trite saying that home is where you hang your hat. Well, I guess that is true of Wichita, Kansas. It feels pretty much like my hometown having, come to think of it, lived here at least part of all (nearly) seven decades of my life. I have family and friends here. It is pretty laid-back. And I like the nature here.

*Speaking of which*: My two favorite places to get my “*Wildeinsamkeit*” are, **left**, *Sedgwick County Park* on the city’s west side and, **right**, *Chisholm Creek Park* on the north side. Most of my Wichita nature photos here are from those two places. Well, except for one of the Canada Geese on a lawn. Those feathered beasts are *everywhere*. Watch where you step!

By the way, the usual German word is “Waldeinsamkeit” (“forest solitude“), but no place in this area qualifies as forest, so I settled on the “wild” part.

A Walk in the Park

**Left**: This **Dwarf Russian Almond**, *Prunus tenella*, is not native to America but is often planted as a winter-hardy ornamental. **Center**: **Chisholm Creek Park** has good signage as well as plenty of places to sit and wait for the wildlife to come to you. Or, as my wife and sister did, you can just go out on the wooden bridge and feed the ducks, turtles, and opportunistic carp. **Right**: **Smooth Sumac**, *Rhus glabra*, not looking very vibrant in this cold season, makes a delicious lemonade-drink. This is one of the three “*lemonade sumacs*” that occur in the Wichita area. Unfortunately, this was the wrong time of the year or I would have been tempted to snap off one of those heads. For those who do try this it is important to first strain the fruits through a cheese cloth (or a tee shirt that you don’t particularly care for!)

**Red-tailed Hawk**, *Buteo jamaicensis*. By far the most common raptor in the area. It is often unfairly saddled with the name “*chicken hawk*” though that name fits better (though only slightly) with the **Cooper’s Hawk**. I am quite happy with this photo. You can select it for a better view.

**Top Left**: **American Robin**, *Turdus migratorius*. This photo was taken in my brother’s backyard on the very day my new camera came. I was itching to try out the settings and the bird obliged to have his portrait taken. **Top Right**: **Red-bellied Woodpecker**, *Melanerpes carolinus*. I think a better name would have been “**Red-capped Woodpecker**” since the red on the belly is faint and not often visible. **Bottom Left**: **Northern Cardinal**, *Cardinalis cardinalis*. **Bottom Right**: **Dark-eyed Junco**, *Junco hyemalis*, also known as the **Snowbird**. It might seem silly or pretentious to add all of those scientific names with these very familiar birds but they are not familiar to everyone. I have readers of this blog from around the world, one who asked me to always give the Latin names as well.

The **Pond Slider**, *Trachemys scripta*, native to America and Mexico is, believe it or not, a troublesome invader in other parts of the world. They out-compete many native species wherever they spread, in most cases having been released as pets. They sometimes eat bird eggs and (according to one source) even hatchlings. I have seen them often in parks in Europe, Northeast China and Southeast Asia.

“What are *you* looking at?” **Canada Goose**, *Branta canadensis*. These last two birds are the most commonly reported birds of Sedgwick County, Kansas, largely a reflection of how common they are throughout the city of Wichita. Lawns, driveways, parking lots – not just parks and rivers – are all fair game for these birds.

These geese are feeding on **Henbit,** *Lamium amplexicaule*, a plant that covered many lawns the weeks we were here. The owners may not like it but I thought the combination of purple and the bright yellow of dandelions was more impressive than boring grass. The plant has many uses, culinary and medicinal.

When the dogs aren’t chasing those squirrels they are getting rambunctious with each other.

Riding Around Town

**Left**: Steel statue of the bison that are no longer around these parts. I must say that the art pieces around town are a lot more interesting and varied than they were back in the 60’s. All I remember is that ghastly *Tripodal* parked like a crouching alien ready to spring onto the Century 2 building. **Right**: *Exploration Place.*

This beauty gem of a house is on the corner of *Martinson* and *West 2nd Street North*. The older sections of Wichita still have houses that retain the old style of architecture, but none as striking as this one.

‘**Left**: Downtown and the *Arkansas River* (Here pronounced “Arkansas”) **Center**: *Sedgwick County Historic Courthouse* **Right**: Looking north on Main Street. The old building on the right of the street is the *Wichita Sedgwick County Historical Museum* built 1890. It used to be the courthouse. I had to pay a fine here back in 1972 of 5 dollars for jaywalking.

Detail of the stately *Kresge Building* on *Douglas Avenue*.

Also on Douglas Avenue, across from the Kresge Building, is this building that used to be a bank. Not sure what it is now. As the brown sign indicates, this was part of the *Chisholm Trail*. Cattle were driven through here northern Texas all the way up to *Abilene, Kansas*. More on that later.

Next: Eldorado and wild horses of the Flint Hills!

Dominican Detour

On our way northward from Colombia we decided to spend twelve days in the Dominican Republic.

Once again, since we are in a hotel with wobbly wifi, this will be a short post with a few photos and comments. We are enjoying our stay here and it seemed a shame not to write something. And to share a few phone photos even though my main camera died on me back in Santa Rosa de Osos, Colombia. (I hope to get a new camera in a week or so).

The following photos are from the three main places we stayed at or visited: Santo Domingo (photos need uploading), Juan Dolio, and San Pedro.

SANTO DOMINGO

I’m assuming its election season coming up.

Part of the south facing fortifications of the city has been joined to the Malecon (Riverside Promenade) which makes for a pleasant breezy morning walk. Tranquil, too, if you can ignore the loud, busy traffic on Avenida George Washington. For this photo I shot an angle where you don’t see the mostly plastic litter washed up on the lower rocks, nor the man down there doing … something.

Santo Domingo, like several Latin countries, has its obligatory obelisk. This one is prettier than most, painted on all sides with national motifs and persons.

Sixteenth-century Fortaleza Ozama fronting Calle de las Damas protected the river entrance to the city.

Part of the fort-complex. It is just south of the Powder House but I could not find out what its purpose was. Maybe these were stables?

The next three images are of the **Parque Independecia** (What Mexico tends to call a “plaza” the Dominican Republic and Colombia refer to it as “parque”). This crosswalk was really difficult. Busy traffic and, unlike some countries, the city folk here were not particularly courteous. But on one occasion a policeman was there.

Important persons of the city and country. More interesting, to me at least, were the helpful placards ringing the the whole park – there most have been dozens of them – with maps, diagrams and short vignettes of the country’s history. Very informative. I should have taken more photos but my stomach was growling.

San Lazaro (St. Lazarus of the Bible). He is the most venerated saint among Roman Catholics in Cuba. Interesting, though incongruous, items all crammed together.

Chinatown, not as large as some Chinatowns (like San Francisco or Bangkok) but – within its limits, basically two blocks – very Chinese. Having spent five years in northeast China most Chinatowns have failed to satisfy my craving for true Dongbei (Northeast) China food.

Market adjacent and running into Chinatown. Cabbage-pecking Chickens, chives, carambola (star fruit), limes, breadfruit, and who knows what else.

SAN DOLIO

This town had a definitely more relaxing vibe than boisterous Boca Chico. Vibe. Now there is an overused word. My wife and I tend to do an end-run around vibe-y areas. This is where we stayed.

Lots of places to explore up and down the coast from our guesthouse, as you can see by the photo above and following.

**Ruddy Turnstone**. This probably the best of my poor to middling phone photos of wildlife.

**EDIT:** I was frustrated by no longer having my telephoto camera, a **Canon PowerShot SX70 HS**. I liked my old camera so much I finally, here in Kansas, bought the very same model again!

Waiting for the bus to San Pedro. We passed on those two wheel taxis.

SAN PEDRO DE MACORIS

A tight squeeze for the twenty minute ride to San Pedro.

The market in San Pedro spills over onto adjacent streets.

Colombian Beauties: Brilliant Birds and Other Animals

We have been here in Colombia for almost a month, slowly wending our way from Bogota northeastward with a general goal of maybe flying out from Cartegena, Bucaramanga, or whatever seems feasible. It has been an enjoyable trip. Especially after leaving Bogota, events there in the news made us a bit leery of lingering.

After That we made our way to Tunja, Duitama, San Gil, Barichara – Thank you kind lady sitting next to me on the plane coming down for telling me about this gem of a town! – and now we are in Giron, also a colonial white-walled town similar to Barichara, but somewhat grittier.

I have been so occupied with exploring these towns – and also my other writing projects – that I neglected this blog. Since I have so many good nature photos accumulated that seems like a way to remedy my publishing hiatus here. Below are some of the Colombian beauties we saw, mostly birds:

**Left**: **Carib Grackle**, *Quiscalus lugubris*, Bogota. He sings better than his Mexican cousins. **Center**: **Glossy Flowerpiercer**, *Diglossa lafresnayii*, caught in the act of piercing a flower! La Zarza, near trinidad. **Right**: **Central American Agouti**, *Dasyprocta punctata*. San Gil.

The Rock Dove, *Columba livia*. Pigeons, especially when the light favors them as here, can be quite striking. Barichara.

**Left**: This **Colombian Chachalaca**, *Ortalis columbiana*, was the first bird I saw as we arrived in San Gil. Raucous birds, especially when they get together, but always fun to watch. **Center**: Immature **Yellow-headed Caracara**, *Milvago chimachima*. San Gil. **Right**: **Pale-breasted Thrush**, *Turdus leucomelas*. San Gil.

These next twelve photos are all from **Barichara, Colombia**, a mountain town just a half an hour’s bus ride from San Gil. Close by, but quite different. Peaceful, touristy yet not overwhelmingly so. We spent about ten days here. And each day there was a different part of town and countryside to explore.

The names of these motmots are in a constant state of flux, it seems. As of this week, at least, this is the **Whooping Motmot**, *Momotus subrufescens*. Beautiful birds, whatever the name.

**Left: Tropical Mockingbird**, *Mimus gilvus*. **Center: Blue-and-white Swallow**s, *Notiochelidon cyanoleuca*, make themselves at home under the eaves of the colonial houses. **Right: Bar-crested Antshrike**, *Thamnophilus multistriatus*.

**Left**: **Roadside Hawk**, *Rupornis magnirostris*. . I have never seen so many of these hawks in one place as I have here in Barichara, especially along the cliffside that marks the north edge of town. **Right: Black-faced Grassquit**, *Melanospiza bicolor*

**Scrub Tanager**, *Stilpnia vitriolina*. This striking gem of a tanager was a frequent visitor to the courtyard garden of our guesthouse, allowing me to get a decent photo from our window.

Some familiar friends from further north, Mexico and the Southwest states of the US, respectively. **Left: Chestnut-capped Warbler**, *Basileuterus delattrii*. **Right: Vermilion Flycatcher**, *Pyrocephalus obscurus*

**Venezuelan Troupial**, *Icterus icterus*. They look a bit like Orioles of the Baltimore persuasion, but they are not nearly as “well-behaved” as their northern cousins. They don’t build their own nest, but take over other nests, abandoned or occupied. If the nests are occupied they push out or – in some cases – eat the eggs and nestlings and then settle in to their new home!

This fellow sang such a nice, fluty song. But the blue robber-type mask gives him kind of a lean and hungry look!

**Left: Yellow-olive Flatbill**, *Tolmomyias sulphurescens*. **Right: Spectacled Parrotlet**, *Forpus conspicillatus*. These little parrots, once they light into the trees are very hard to pick out from the leaves around them. The second morning that I saw these birds they were working over the *Müllerian* *bodies* (“Gummi Fruit”) of a Cecropia Tree.

All the photos below are from Giron, a town just a few kilometers outside of Bucaramanga.

**Left: Straight-Billed Woodcreepers**, **Dendroplex picus**, are pretty common on the far bank of the stream. **Right: Green Iguana**, Iguana iguana. And these are especially common on the near side of the stream, along the aptly-named *Parque las Iguanas*. It is “*las* Iguanas” because they are fed here with fruits and vegetables from the nearby market. I noticed that they left the carrots untouched.

**Left**: One of the most unusual bird calls among the wrens is that of the **Bicolored Wren**, *Campylorhynchus griseus*. **Center**: The **Spectacled Parrotlet**, *Forpus conspicillatus*, like the other parrotlet above, is hard to see – even with the male’s pronounced eye-ring and wing margins. **Right**: **Red-Tailed Squirrel**, *Sciurus granatensis*. I would just call it Red Squirrel, but that name was already taken by a North American squirrel.

Two feisty and very successful competitors are these two colorful birds. **Left**: The **Blue-Gray Tanager**, *Thraupis episcopus*, is especially aggressive. **Right**: I have not seen the **Saffron Finch**, *Sicalis flaveola*, actually chase away other birds like the Tanager has. They are probably just successful because of environmental degradation. But both of these are very photogenic, don’t you think?

**Southern Lapwing**, *Vanellus chilensi*.

**Red-crowned Woodpecker**, *Melanerpes rubricapillus*. One of those birds that is usually first heard, then seen.

I hope to write more next time about the towns that we have visited this last month, especially Barichara and Tunja. Hopefully in a few weeks. Or maybe I will finish my set on Africa and start writing about our Malaysia adventures.

Knysna, South Africa

The first syllable is pronounced “nice”. And it is. We enjoyed our short stay in this seaside town just a short bus ride away from George. This is the main street through town.

Two views of **Knysnakerk** on **Voortrekker Street**: From the east and from the west.

Older jacaranda and palm tree shaded neighborhoods of the town slope gently down to the wide Knysna River as it empties into the Indian Ocean.

**Top left**: Riverfront green spaces are home to lots of waterbirds and other wildlife. Bottom left: The road leading into the island of Thesen Harbour Town. Markers are adorned with the Knysna Seahorses found locally. Right: Information on the boat-building for which the island was known.

The Knysna River empties out past **The Heads**.

**Next three photos** are of the walkways that follow along the Knysna River. Or maybe I should call it an estuary. It widens out quite a ways. A very pleasant place to walk or cycle. We saw lots of herons, egrets, stilts, and gulls, as well as a few oystercatchers, kingfishers, and other birds.

A member of the **Marsh Crab** family, *Parasesarma catenatum*.

**Cattle Egret**, *Bubulcus ibis*, and (inset) **Pied Kingfisher**, *Ceryle rudis*.

Three photos show the importance of aquatic life along the river harbor area.

**African Sacred Ibis**, *Threskiornis aethiopicus,* slumming it in a dumpster behind a grocery store. These birds, long famous in Egyptian and Middle Eastern lore, were unknown further south. But modern agricultural practices and unsanitary environmental practices such as seen here provided newfound attractions for these birds. The Sacred Ibises were first seen in South Africa in the 1970’s and they are quite common now. Unlike the smaller **Hadadas Ibises** they are generally quiet.

Signs in Afrikaans and English. This town did not feel particularly unsafe. but then again, we didn’t go out at night.

**Keedol’s Inn and Backpackers** is where we stayed. Best value in Knysna! The owners were helpful and friendly. We enjoyed our stay here and would come back again.

And just outside of the inn were these two birds! **Spotted Thick-Knee**, *Burhinus capensis*. I almost didn’t see them at first; they were so camouflaged and still. They must have felt at home here because we saw them outside the place two or three times. I always like seeing these staring solitary birds. Actually, usually they were in twosomes.

Some of the green spaces around the harbor might have some interesting surprises. This wooded area just east of the town and close to the harbor, seems to have been visited by at least one **leopard**, judging by the scat that was reported here in July of 2021.

Also nearby the area of the last photo are these perpetually nervous and talkative birds. Helmeted Guineafowl, *Numida meleagris*. I first saw these plump beauties in Del Rio, Texas when four or five of them, I’m assuming escapees, barged on to our property, rummaging under the pecan trees in our yard. I never thought I would be able one day to see them in the wild.

Other interesting birds found in these same woods: **Top**: The always photogenic **Speckled Pigeon**, *Columba guinea*. **Left: Black-bellied Starling**, *Notopholia corusca*. **Right: Piping Cisticola**, *Cisticola fulvicapilla.*

Another star attraction for this town is the **Pledge Nature Reserve**, conveniently within the town limits. Most of the park is well-wooded with signed paths and posts making it hard to get lost. Toward the northern end of the park (shown here) the habitat becomes more arid. The view here is southward, looking back over the town and harbor valley, the Indian Ocean in the distance.

**Above** and **Below**: The Reserve is where we saw the **Southern Vervet Monkey**, *Chlorocebus pygerythrus ssp. pygerythru*. Unlike the macaques these monkeys were rather shy.

A few of the birds seen at the **Pledge Reserve**: **Left: Black-headed Oriole**, *Oriolus larvatus*. Thjis golden songster is often heard before it is seen. It is interesting to me that certain families of birds, like orioles, have similar “*accents*” (for want of a better word). Throughout the world I have noticed that orioles often sound a certain recognizable way, thrushes, another, and so on. **Center: Karoo Prinia**, *Prinia maculosa*. **Right**: The **Fiscal Flycatcher**, *Melaenornis silen*s, could easily be mistaken for a shrike but for his more slender build and less pronounced hook on his beak.

Thanks to **iNaturalist** I was able to find this **Spotted Eagle-Owl,** *Bubo africanus*, two of them, as it turned out! The site showed the exact location of these birds down to two neighboring trees in a quiet commercial area of Thesen Island.

**Common Dwarf Gecko**, *Lygodactylus capensis*

A bumbling beauty, the **Giant Carpenter Bee**, *Xylocopa flavorufa*

Surprise, surprise (not)! The bus taking us back to George was three hours late. But we had already checked out of our guesthouse. So we had to kill time all packed up hanging around the downtown area. I took the opportunity to make a few candid photos. I guess Alexander Pope would have been pleased with me. He wrote:

“Know then thyself, presume not God to scan…
The proper **study** of **Mankind** is Man.
Placed on this isthmus of a middle state,
A Being darkly wise, and rudely great…” .

Having nothing else to do, that is what we did – people-watching.

The bus finally came and it was a short trip back to the bigger city of George. These four photos are of the stretch between the two places.

This pleasant equestrian scene is just a few miles south of George.

After a few days in George we flew up to Windhoek in Namibia and then traveled throughout that country as well as a good part of Botswana. You can select the tags or links for those reports somewhere in these pages.

My plan is to finish up the Africa reports with an article on **Pretoria** and **Johannesburg** – mostly the former.

A Pleasant Visit to George, South Africa

We had never heard of this city before coming to this country Now we will not forget it. We had a very pleasant stay here, as well as in nearby Knysna (pronounced “Nice Nuh”. You’re welcome!). There are plenty of birds and other animals as well as peaceful nature walks in these two towns. This article will be about the first town.

But first a few photos and comments about the town itself. The photos, as with all of my articles here, can be selected for a better view.

**Dutch Reformed Mother Church.** Some history for this church is in the next photo. (I like the dual-language signs. They help me to learn the other language.)

The always busy **Courtney Avenue** and the **Outeniqua Mountains**, named after the **Outeniqua Khoikhoi** people who no longer live there.

The **George Museum** has always been closed every time we walked by. The signs in this city are often trilingual: *Afrikaans*, *English*, and *Xhosa* (*isiXhosa*). By the way, Afrikaans, is somewhat related to Dutch. It was our passing familiarity with Dutch that helped me to read these writings. Maybe Afrikaans is as close to Dutch as Middle English is to Modern English.

Local school. Crime is a real concern in many parts of the city.

An unshod Afrikaner family at a store counter. I have seen this more than once in this city. And usually they are the Afrikaners who do this. Hardy soles indeed!

Some interesting signs that indicate local priorities and concerns. The mascot on the school poster is the local bird, the Knysna Touraco (see photo below).

I really like the bus system here. Very well-organized. The line “*Travelling by bus should be your last resort!*” is as ridiculous as it is unscientific.

A gated community with their own onsite stores and services. Good fences (and barbed wire and electronic gates!) make good neighbors.

The picturesque and problematic **George Bus Station**. The buses are often few and far between and often late as well. Speaking from experience. Also, in order to walk to this station one has to walk through unsafe streets. Just a block or two north of here we saw men literally coming out of a hole in the wall of a building. We had wanted to take a bus from here north to **Oudtshoorn** but it left this station at midnight or one in the morning. Waiting around for the bus in this place at that time? No way.

But George has a lot of good qualities as well. The nature in and around the town was excellent. We had gotten in the habit of going on early, early morning walks. You see a lot more that way. Also, it usually coincides with the two hour morning power outage (to be followed by the two hour afternoon power outage. Or four!). They refer to these outages – experienced throughout almost all of South Africa – with the slightly more euphemistic term “load shedding”. I wrote “almost all” because in Pretoria, near the capitol buildings, where we happened also to stay, there was no load shedding at all. Hmm.

The next nine photos are from a wide nature area starting in the northwest part of the city. The closest park, the oddly named Ground Zero Bike and Trail Park, already is rich in wildlife (photos below) and just a pleasant, peaceful environment. Not sure where “Ground Zero” comes in! Continuing north, brings you extensive woodlands that march right up the mountains. To the east of these woods are the Garden Route Botanical Gardens. Supposedly there was admission charged to this park but no one was there to collect. We noticed that everyone else just walked in.

**Above** and the two photos **Below**: Wooded area further north from the park. **The Camfersdrift River** (stream, I would call it) weaves in and out of the area.

The **Garden Route Botanical Gardens**, well worth a visit, has a variety of habitats.

A train skirts the Botanical garden and curves up the mountains quite a ways.

**Above** and **Below**: Another area that had nature (but not many clear trails) was near the central-west part of town where Plattner Boulevard crosses over the Camfersdrift River. Lots of housing subdivisions and a golf course with some more or less wild spaces here and there. It was in these spaces – and on a golf course, no less! – where we saw two of the antelope species of the area (photos below).

**Left**: **Southern Bushbuck**, *Tragelaphus sylvaticus*,
**Right**: These **Springboks**, *Antidorcas marsupialis*, were as numerous as they were tame.

Some interesting insects. **Top and Bottom Center**: are different stages of the same butterfly, the **Garden Acraea**, *Acraea horta*. **Left**: **Variegated Coffee Bug**, *Genus Antestiopsis*. These bugs here in Africa “*are pests of coffee plants, giving the coffee beans a distinctive ‘potato taste’, which is thought to be caused indirectly by bacteria entering through wounds created by the insects*“.- *Wiki*. **Right**: **Narrow-winged Damselfly**, *Family Coenagrionidae*

**Left**, **Right**: Two frogs flank the **Knysna Dwarf Chameleon**, *Bradypodion damaranum*, **Center**.

The path that extends northward form the Botanical Gardens soon becomes a smaller well-wooded path that follows along the Camfersdrift Stream.

The area in these parks has quite the variety of birdlife. **Top Left**: **Bar-throated Apalis**, *Apalis thoracica*. **Bottom Left**: **Swee Waxbill**, *Coccopygia melanotis*. **Right**: **Cape Bulbul**, *Pycnonotus capensis.* This last bird is found throughout the whole city.

**1: Brown-hooded Kingfisher**, *Halcyon albiventris* **2: Cape Weaver**, *Ploceus capensis* **3: Black Crake**, *Zapornia flavirostra* **4: Forest Canary**, *Crithagra scotops*. This last bird was seen in the Katrivier Local Authority Nature Reserve, another good nature area to the east of the city.

**Left**: **Karoo Prinia**, *Prinia maculosa* **Center**: **Pied Crow**, *Corvus albus* **Right**: **Rameron Pigeon**, *Columba arquatrix*

**Crowned Lapwing**, *Vanellus coronatus*. In the several towns and areas we have seen this handsome bird it has either been on well-mowed or burned-over fields.

Often hard to get good shots of Sunbirds. And this **Greater Double-collared Sunbird,** *Cinnyris afer*, was no exception.

Wherever you see Proteas flowers in South Africa you might encounter the **Cape Sugarbird**, *Promerops cafer.*

**African Dusky Flycatcher**, *Muscicapa adusta ssp. adusta*. Unlike sunbirds, flycatchers usual sit still for their portraits.

**Southern Boubou**, *Laniarius ferrugineus*. All three of the Boubou species I have seen in Southern Africa have been hard to photograph because they tend to skulk behind the foliage. I was lucky to get this shot here.

The **Speckled Mousebird**s, *Colius striatus*, usually seen in groups of three or more, slinking through the shrubby of flying around in a follow-the-leader flock.

The Spotted Thick-Knee, Burhinus capensis, is not so easily spotted Their camouflage and lack of movement usually make them hard to see. One time we did see the pair of them – they almost always seem to come in pairs – on the green lawn of a city park. A dog that *should* have been on a leash also saw the birds and dashed toward one of them but was scared away when the Thick-knee spread his wings out wide. The eggs, by the way, were not hidden at all. Just deposited in a shallow scrape in the park. I hope they hatched!

**Knysna Turaco**, *Tauraco corythaix*. Hard to find a more exotic bird than this bird. My wife and I were resting by a shady stream when this fellow wandered in, climbing down the tree to get a better look at us, I guess. When they fly they show a flash of red in their wings. An interesting fact from *Wikipedia* deserves mention:

“The *turaco’s red pigment (turacin) and green pigment (turacoverdin) both contain copper. In fact, if you stirred a glass of water with a red turaco feather, the water would turn pink!”*

Speaking of Knysna, the next article will be of nearby Knysna, South Africa.

By the way, when I first planned to write about this city I did not intend to dwell so much on negative aspects. But it is just as well that I did. I believe in a full picture of what we experienced in our two visits to this city (We stayed in six different locations!) Over all, in spite of the problems, I would not mind coming back to George, South Africa.

Escape from the Cape: Riversdale, South Africa

The best experience I had in Africa, I would say, is in South Africa – here in Riversdale. Also the worst experience – Rustenburg. (But I am not planning on writing about that town).

The title of this article is more for the sake of rhyme than reason. Our stay in Cape Town was pleasant enough. But after a while we were wondering what the rest of the country was like. We were looking for some places that were not as touristic and, hopefully, still affordable to visit. That last factor proved more difficult the more we researched. Hotels and guesthouses were rather pricey. Luckily we found a suitable and affordable one in Riversdale, Rusticana Guest House.

The town of **Riversdale** as seen from the **Aloeridge Local Nature Reserve** with the **Langeberg Mountain Range** in the background.

A few photos of the trip away from Cape town. **Top Left**: A view from Sir Lowry’s Pass, showing False bay and Cape Town in the hazy distance. **Bottom Left**: I forget where this is but this country is where I learned just what “*biltong*” was – dried and cured meat, often of game. Pretty tasty. **Right**: Downtown **Caledon**.

**Views of Riversdale**. This town reminds me somehow of **Blackwell, Oklahoma**, in the US, seemingly laid-back, pleasant to explore.

The sign says “Parking for customers only.”

More views of the town. **Left**: Butcher shop in the foreground. “Butchery”, actually, is their word for that type of store! **Center**: Railroad tracks point toward the distant Sleeping Beauty Mountain. **Right**: One of the main tourist attractions for this town, going by how often I see it on web pages, is this old jail.

The **Dutch Reformed Church** and **Jacaranda Trees**, Church Street.

Walking through downtown I noticed that the majority are black (75%), the whites being a distinct minority (15%), only slightly more numerous than the coloreds (12%). This information comes from their municipal site. Those “colored” (Afrikaans “*Kleurlinge*” or “*Bruinmense*“) are those of mixed races, between European, Asian, or African.

Hopefully someone here can answer my question. What sport is this? The people are throwing these rods sort of like in horseshoes. I tried the internet but can’t get any answers. Anyone?

It helps to know Afrikaans in this art of the country. In fact, many people who look like they would speak English don’t understand it at all. More than once I was only able to find what I wanted in the stores by my knowledge of German and passable Dutch – and even then it was sometimes difficult.

**Above**, **clockwise from upper left**: 1. **Farmers Market,** and other activities, held every Saturday on those dates at the town park. With “*Versnaperings*“! (Snacks) 2. “Russians”, as far as we could tell, were just hot dogs. Maybe thicker, like the German Bockwurst. “Hoender” = “Chicken”. “Koeksisters” are braided traditional pastries, fried dough glazed with honey. 3. “We thank God for a long life.” I would say so. Francois A.B. lived to be 101. 4. Our hotel, helpfully, had a dual-language New Testament with Psalms. Whenever I try to learn a new language I often read familiar books in the Bible in that language, being already familiar with the passages in English.

Two more examples of Afrikaans. **Left**: “*Keep our town clean*“. **Right**: A monument in the town park commemorating those who undertook the **Great Trek**. “*With thankful memory of all those who took part in the Great Trek of 150 years ago. Installed by the Riversdale Association*“.

Looking northward from the **Aloeridge Local Nature Reserve**. **Left**: A pretty weed that is actually invasive here, a Vervain. I think it is the **Purpletop Vervain,** *Verbena bonariensis*. Native to South America, it has now spread to major parts of six continents. I remember seeing them on the university campus where I taught in Northeast China. **Right**: **Springbok**, *Antidorcas marsupialis*. I’d like to pretend that this was shot in the wild but these antelopes were actually in a campground in town. They may still be wild. Later, in George we saw dozens of them mingling with golfers on a well-manicured course.

The **Bokmakierie**, *Telophorus zeylonus*, songs as beautifully as he looks. As *they* look, I should say I heard the male and female singing a striking duet.

Normally I wouldn’t post so many bird photos in any one article but Riversdale had a wonderful variety of interesting and beautiful species that I had to indulge myself here. And there are even more I could have added.

**Left**: One of the star attractions of the *Fynbos* hill overlooking the town was this **Sombre Greenbul**, *Andropadus importunus*. **Upper Right**: **Cape Sparrow**, *Passer melanurus*. **Lower Right**: **Cape White-Eye**, *Zosterops virens*.

**Left**: This **Red-knobbed Coot**, *Fulica cristata*, was in nearby *Riviersonderend*. **Center**: **Cape Robin-Chat,** *Cossypha caffra*. **Right**: The intrepid **Fork-tailed Drongo**, *Dicrurus adsimilis*, reminded me of the American Kingbirds as he took on a hawk two or three times his size.

It is always a challenge getting a well-focused capture of the **Greater Double-collared Sunbird**, *Cinnyris afer,* as it darts in and out of the leafy trees throughout town.

Two of the three dove species that are commonly seen here: **Left**: **Red-eyed Dove**, *Streptopelia semitorquata.* **Right**: **Laughing Dove**, *Streptopelia senegalensis*

**African Hoopoe**, *Upupa africana*. This fellow was busily poking in the ground for ants and termites. This species is darker than the more well-known Eurasian Hoopoe.

I would really like to return to Riversdale. The place and the people intrigue me. But I don’t think we will. It is rather expensive to fly to South Africa and, once you are there, bus travel (train being almost totally non-existent now) is very problematic. For instance, we wanted to go up from George to see Oudsshoorn, famous for the Ostrich farms and canyonlands, a few hours to the north. But the only bus available for us at that time left around midnight. And the bus station in George is in a very unsafe part of town. Added to this, the buses were often late.

Next: Speaking of George, that will be the next article.

Francistown & Gaborone, Botswana

Traveling on to Francistown was a tricky proposition since we did not have our own vehicle. First we had to walk down to the intersection that passes for downtown Nata. And then we had to find a van heading south, waiting for quite a while in the van until we have a full compliment of passengers, something we call “achieving valence”. This should make sense if you took chemistry in school. This time we had to wait quite a while for the final two or three “electrons”!

**Above** and **Below**: Views on the way south. On this stretch we saw no wildlife just cattle, farms, and the odd store or business here and there.

Francistown was a bit of a disappointment, for me at least. If I may borrow and misuse Gertrud Stein’s comment on Oakland, California, I felt “there is no there there“. I mean the town has some history but they have managed to effectively obliterate most of it, covering it with malls and shabby-looking supermarkets. The most interesting place was the open air market right up against the bus terminal.

We also had trouble at first finding a good hotel. With a map app in hand we walked to where I thought was an affordable place. I finally found the place, opened the gate and knocked on the door. I was told, “This is not a hotel anymore. And you better leave the yard because there is a dog here that bites.”

This was now the second hotel off my list, the first being way too expensive just by looking at it. I was down to my last choice, the historical Diggers Inn. It was over $40 a night. I was going to settle for that and move on the next night but, luckily, I noticed just then another hotel just a block away that that was less than half that, City Inn. This place was perfectly suitable. End of a long travel day.

**Left**: The next day we explored the town starting with a small city park nearby. There were some interesting cultural exhibits here. I took some pictures and, strangely enough, a guard came up and told me that it was not allowed. I was told I could use a cellphone but not a camera! What a strange rule. And mine was not a really fancy camera.

**Right**: Pretty close to the hotel, on the edge of town was a steep, paved path that went right up Nyangabwe Hill, where you can get a good view of the city. Before we went up this lady (pictured) spoke to me, “*Hey, English!*” she said, “*We want to take a picture.* ” We obliged. And then we took their picture too.

Birds seen on our trek up the hill: **Left: Cut-throat Finch**, *Amadina fasciata*. (Not your usual prosaic bird name, don’t you think?) **Center: Southern Red Bishop**, *Euplectes orix*. **Right: African Gray Hornbill**, *Lophoceros nasutus*.

Photos **above** and **beow**: After two days we were ready to head down Highway A1 to the capitol city, Gaborone. We stopped in a few places, giving me a chance to take a few photos through the grimy tinted windows.

Finally made it to Gaborone. Everything we needed to see – and most of what I *wanted* to see – was in semi-easy walking distance. Like in many African cities, crossing the street was a bit dicey.

After a long walk to downtown we saw a cool, shady plaza where we sat down and rested. But a guard told us we were not allowed to be in the plaza because of Covid! This was in full view of street sweepers enjoying their lunch break under the shade nearby.

We were fortunate to get the affordable Gaborone Hotel (Below) right next to transportation, a market, and two shopping centers (Above).

**Left**: Botswanan stamps, **Top Right: Karoo Thrush**, *Turdus smithi* ,and **Frangipani Tree**. **Bottom Right**: **Speckled Mousebird**, *Colius striatus*.

Truck loaded with hay (?) at the Botswana-South Africa border checkpoint. We had to get out of the bus and walk quite a distance to the other side. I, without thinking, had my camera strapped around my neck. Because of this I had to fill out another form declaring the value of the camera, where I had bought it, and other pointless details. I should have left it in my backpack!

Welcome to South Africa!

Well… it was not really the kind of welcome that we wanted. But that is another story.

Trip to Nata, Botswana

The first half, maybe, of our road down to Nata from Kasane still had plenty of wildlife. But later – and especially when we approached Nata – the land became more agricultural and less wild. *Elephants, lions, zebras, and ostriches* gave way to *cattle* and rows upon rows of crops.
**Top**: The **Kasane Forest Reserve** stayed with us quite a ways as we headed south. I saw elephants and a zebra but, this time, I was not fast enough to get a good shot of them. Lower Left: The sign next to the picnic table reads: *“Disclaimer. This is a wild life area. You are stopping here at your own risk.”* **Lower Right**: As the land opened up more it was easier to see the ostriches.

**Left**: **Pandamatenga** grain silos. The weathered billboards on one of them reads “Financing Farmers to nurture and feed the nation”. **Right**: Entering a new district means getting out of the van and walking through the checkpoint. It felt good to stretch the legs.

**Top Left**: The common area of Eselbe Camp. We enjoyed staying here. We had a very affordable private room. Staying at this place was an unforgettable experience. **Right**: Germans friends we met at Eselbe Camp Backpackers, where we saw the Bush Babies. They were on the way up to Kasane. The very road we just came down in the van two days before. **Lower Left**: The stars of Eselbe Camp, **Bush Babies** (AKA **Southern Lesser** **Galago**, *Galago moholi*) performing nightly. They hide in the hollow beams of the common area you see in the first picture. When it gets dark they venture out tentatively from their hole – first looking around and staring at you for a few minutes . And then they spring into action. Spring is the word. It was incredible to see how quickly and high they were able to jump, like little furry grasshoppers. But very accurate in their leaps. We saw them jump five to ten feet from the platform on to the top of barbed wires, every time landing right *between* the points. *Amazing*.

**Left: Red-billed Firefinch**, *Lagonosticta senegala*. **Top Right**: **Meves’s Starling**, Lamprotornis mevesii. **Lower Right**: **Black-backed Puffback**, *Dryoscopus cubla*.

Canoeing is available at the camp. The **Nata River** is right behind the camp grounds.

A pleasant enough view but, truth be known, we already missed Kasane with all the Warthogs, elephants, hippos, and the rest. The bird life, too, was much more varied than here owing. Cattle have pretty much taken over the whole natural region around Nata, other wildlife being rather rare. There is a sizeable salt pan a few miles south of town. Being a protected area there would be good wildlife there, but it required private vehicle to get there. Or a willingness to walk further than we intended.

We spent two days in Nata and then walked the mile or so to the junction that pretends to be downtown Nata in order to get a van to take us to Francistown.

Nata has an importance way beyond its actual size. Although it is the 49th largest town in Botswana it is one that many travelers come to because it is on an important junction. For us, the main draw was seeing those Bush babies.

Next: Francistown (soon)

Index of the ten articles of our two trips through Nicaragua

When I first started to write of our experiences in Nicaragua I did not think it would require ten articles, but that is what happened. They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Hmm, according to my Flickr site I have 2,296 pictures of Nicaragua, so I guess it could have run to a lot more then ten articles!

Here are the article links and a short excerpt from each of them:

Nicaraguan Adventures
“When I first planned to write about our trips to Nicaragua I thought I would just make it a one-off. But the more I looked at the many photos I had to choose from – and the more those photos brought back memories almost forgotten – I realized that this will be another multi-parter, just like my Ukraine articles. Oh well, too many photos and too many memories is a good problem to have.”

Nicaraguan Adventures 2: Ometepe Island
“Volcan Concepcion dominates the left half of the photo. This was taken as our ferry approached Moyogalpa, also visible on the left. On the far right distance is Volcan Madera, the other volcano that makes up this dumbbell-shaped island. Most nature enthusiasts try to make it to this more remote volcano because the wilderness is better protected there. But, at least when we were there, the roads were worse and the hotels more expensive.”

Nicaraguan Adventures 3: Granada
“What a contrast this Granada was with the one we had seen in Spain, the city this one was named after by Francisco Hernandez de Cordoba in 1524, after having, along with Ponce de Leon and Hernan Cortes, conquered the country! Things did not go so well for him in later years when his patriotism lost its luster in the eyes of the new king. He was beheaded. But – on the positive side – his head was immortalized on the new national currency named after him – the cordoba!”

Nicaraguan Adventures 4: Diria and Masaya
“This town, founded 1523, is famous for medicine and magic, curanderos and shamans. On the festival of San Pedro the excited locals “accompany” the saint as he inspects the village, dancing (the townfolk, not Saint Peter) and, in the case of two or three men I saw in a video, waving around machetes like batons. I guess people come here from far and wide to see this, but my wife and I have seen such goings-on before.”

Nicaraguan Adventures 5: Jinotepe and Leon
“These two towns have at least one thing in common although they are not real near each other: They both had no decent hotel available for us. Consequently we spent only one night in each town. So there will be less commentary and more pictures for this segment.”

Nicaraguan Adventures 6: Jinotega, Selva Negra, and Matagalpa
“This is the scene my wife and I, sitting down after a hike up the mountain, were enjoying when the masked young man came out of the bushes. “I want that phone”, he said, holding up his machete. My wife threw down some money, but he didn’t want that.

“Give me the phone or I’ll kill you.“

“Kill me then“, I said, standing up. At the same time my wife stood up and yelled, “Ladron!” (“Thief”). At this point he lost his nerve, running back into the bushes. I threw a rock at him but don’t think I hit him. We were a bit shaken after this and reported the incident to the police. They faulted us for not going up the mountain with a police escort! I doubt if they even filed a report.”

Nicaraguan Adventures 7: Sebaco, Boaco, and Juigalpa
“The high point of the town of Juigalpa – literally – is the Mirador Loma de Tamames also called the Mirador Sandino boasts a
two dimensional representation – also literally -of their heroic General Sandino. A pleasant enough setting to enjoy the view and relax on benches decorated with paintings of cattle and birds that are now rarely seen near the town.”

Nicaraguan Adventures 8: Somoto & Chinandega
“We stayed at the aptly-named Hotel Panamericano, two blocks off of the international highway of the same name. Of course, “highway” may be misleading. This is just a main two-lane road cluttered with slow-moving traffic, pedestrians, and donkeys. In fact, Somoto is also called “el Pueblo de los Burros” – “Town of the Donkeys”.”

Nicaraguan Adventures 9: Esteli
“In many ways Esteli is quite the contrast to Chinandega (see previous article). The city , 3rd or 7th largest in the country, depending on which website you believe, it manages a laid-back atmosphere without the sketchiness of the previous town.”

“Many of the murals had revolutionary themes. Not surprisingly seeing that this city suffered immensely during the revolution in the 1980’s. The Nicaraguan populace finally won freedom over the Somoza dictatorship but not before serious bombardments from the latter. Esteli, especially, suffered major damage.”

Nicaraguan Adventures 10: Ocotal & Mozonte
“American history that did not make it into most American history books, certainly not the ones I taught with: Uncle Sam turning Nicaragua into its own bloody stomping ground. I have taught high school and junior high history for several years and never came across the embarrassing information I learned from my visit of the local history museum here in Ocotal. I knew the general strokes, the “who” and “where“, but never really processed the underlying “why” of it all. From the 1930’s to the Iran-Contra Scandal of the 1980’s our country’s actions were quite at odds with the democratic platitudes we preached. We were not on the side of the angels on this one.”

From NOwhere 2 nowHERE

Circling the Drain from China to Spain!