Kariega Album

A few weeks ago, we had a business meeting at Kariega game park. The meeting was very productive, but we we also found some time for a game drive and a river cruise. Click on the image or here to see the pictures. The first page or so are mainly people pictures. On the next few pages you find some great pictures of the wildlife we saw.

Its been raining for the past 2 days. It was hot and very humid all weekend, we spent a lot of time in the pool. Then the rain came.

Officialy, we got 63mm (about 2.5 inches) of rain in the past 24 hours. Its not clear if that includes the heavy downpoor today. This is about the same as the average rainfall here in the entire month of December.

I found a strange wet place in the bedroom. No sign of where water came in, no window was near, no ceiling leak, no wall leak. Shelves above are dry. But one shelf got wet, and there is a bit of water standing below.

I went out to look for where it could have come from. There is some leakage in the covered area outside the guest flat. Nothing major. Then I walked towards the pool.

The pool is overflowing. A good wind puts a small amount of the water onto the deck. We had LOTS of rain! But behold, here on the steps going up to the guest flat, is a crab.

Crab

I went and got the camera. The landlord had said they found a crab once. Coming back, I found a 2nd crab, a bit smaller, but further up the walk! I can’t imagine WHERE they think they are going, or why. We are about 45 meters (yards) above sea level. The beach is about 1 mile away (1.5 kilometers). The estuary is much closer, but just as far down. I know nothing of crab behavior, but this strikes me as weird.

The ‘house tour’ project is coming along. Should be ready within a week!

Crab

We were told there were monkeys about. We had grown skeptical, yet more sources agreed. Then finally this day I happened to glance across the valley and see one on someone’s roof.

As we watched, more appeared in the tree adjacent to the roof, and they came out to gather there. The weather has been quite wet for a couple days, with heavy mist and drizzle. I figure the monkeys wanted to dry out while the rain had stopped.

Monkey on the house

This shot shows the house. A man is reading a paper and either unaware or unconcerned.

Monkeys on the house

A pretty sunrise this morning.

For reasons unknown, I decided to do a Thanksgiving dinner this year. I haven’t bothered with it for a number of years, largely because I can’t get some of what are, for me, essential items (especially winter squash). But there are some squash common here, although not my favorite. So we had a lovely meal which I served on the patio.

Thanksgiving

Seriously, the ‘season’ of the year is confusing. Christmas decorations look blizzards in hot weather! They are, except for religious ones, symbols of winter solstice. But its coming on summer here! It is amusing that the old pagan seasonal observations, adapted to Christianity, fail so miserably south of the equator.

There are geckos out at night. These are nearly the color of the house, and we wonder if they might change colors. They come out as dusk starts and we see them mostly on the house. I’d like to get better photos! It requires both of us as a flashlight must be aimed before the camera will focus. Exactly which sort of gecko this is, I can’t say. They are identified mainly by their toes, and the geckos won’t let me play with their feet!

The place is crawling with the little lizards called skinks. There are a number of species with different markings and colors. But this little fellow I spotted crawling on the wall of the patio. I was amazed by his size, and actually got him to walk onto my hand. I got Johan busy with the camera while I kept control of the skink.

So here I was, minding my business, unpacking and picking up. I picked up some packing paper that was on the floor and then I made the “monkey noise”! What I took for a huge spider went crawling across the floor from where I’d disturbed his rest.

Closer inspection revealed this guy was scarier than your average spider. Hindsight and rational thought show that his behavior was anything but aggressive. He ran to the wall, stuck his face against it, and pretended he wasn’t there.

This wasn’t good enough for me. I don’t like spiders, and ever since I found a black widow on my sofa, in California, I am even more cautious. I decided to catch this one and hold him pending identification.

I had this broken antenna handy to herd him. But when threatened, this guy reared up on his long legs and displayed his claws! Positively nightmarish! But I did get him into a box, and took good photos in the process.

Johan found someone at work who could identify the beast by name (Thanks Jo!). Turned out its a “whip scorpion”. Quite harmless (barring a bit of pinching). Not really a spider, not really a scorpion. Some sources claim its rare, Britannica says its commonly found in homes. He eats things like crickets. We turned him loose out beyond the back wall, where there is a brick pile he should enjoy hiding within.

You can read more about this beast here:

http://search.centralpets.com/pages/critterpages/insects/other_insects/BUG4334.shtml

I love weather. I love to watch it change. I am fascinated by forecasting it, watching storms. In some ways I enjoy most any sort of weather, so long as it doesn’t get monotonous. I’ve had some fun watching weather here, although the situation is such that I miss most of half the sky.

On this day I was teased by a fog bank. It came in as you see and then sat there. I wanted it to roll up my little valley but it just stopped. I’ve seen it do this a few times now. Only once has the fog come up this valley, and that was in the night.

In other excitement, Johan discovered a big toad hiding (poorly) in the guest court. This guy is about the size of my not inconsiderable fist. When he got bored with posing he took a leap! It was funny since this made Johan make the “monkey noise” (he shrieked).