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.)binary commentThe always busy Courtney Avenue and the OuteniquaMountains, 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.
Ground Zero Bike and Trail ParkAbove 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.Pretty neat blind for watching birds.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 CoenagrionidaeLeft, 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 albiventris2: Cape Weaver, Ploceus capensis3: Black Crake, Zapornia flavirostra4: 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 albusRight: Rameron Pigeon, Columba arquatrixCrowned 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.Pin-tailed Whydah, Vidua macrouraSouthern 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.Cape Grassbird, Sphenoeacus aferThe Speckled Mousebirds, 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.
From NOwhere 2 nowHERE 