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.

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.

Cape Town, South Africa: A Place like no Other

About a month ago we left Mauritius for South Africa, spending about three weeks in Cape Town. I have always wanted to visit this country and it didn’t disappoint. Other than jagged overnight sleep in the airport we didn’t see much of Johannesburg. Just as well.

We arrived in Cape Town on a bright morning and, after buying bus cards and the necessary electric plug adapter – a strange-looking plug with three large thick cylindrical prongs – we took the bus to City Center.