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My South Africa Adventure; From Cape Town via Garden Route to Zululand
Topic Started: Nov 9 2016, 01:36 PM (5,049 Views)
Jony
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Hi everyone!

As already announced, I will show some of my pictures of my time in South Africa here. My plan is to present them in an order, that means this series of pcitures will be like a travel diary. I'm really motivated to show my pictures because it's a way to write down and remember my great time in South Africa.

So, lean back and enjoy, the photo series starts soon!

For now, I will leave you with some previews:

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Bye for now and see you soon!
Edited by Jony, Nov 9 2016, 01:37 PM.
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Imperator Furiosa
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Chaos Theory

These are some amazing pictures! It must have been incredible to see those animals in the wild!
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Dylan
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So cool. You are very lucky to see so many animals
Edited by Dylan, Nov 9 2016, 03:10 PM.
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Goldblum
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Congrats dude! Those are some AWESOME pictures!
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TheToastinator
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A piece of toast and a terminator.

I really like the pictures! :) Can't wait to see more.
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Posted Image Guat
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As others have said before me, there are very gorgeous pictures. You're lucky to be there and see all of that wildlife.

BTW which part of South Africa were you in?
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Jony
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Thank you for the comments, guys! :)

@Humuhumu: It seems that you haven't read the subtitle of this topic :P So, I was in the Western Cape Province in Cape Town and Garden Route first and then in KwaZulu-Natal ;)




Today our journey through this fascinating country starts. Are you ready? :D

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Part 1: Cape Town and sourroundings


Day 1: Victoria & Alfred Waterfront and Two Oceans Aquarium

My journey began in Cape Town, often titeled as the most beautiful city in the world.
After someone of my guesthouse had picked me up at the airport, I enjoyed the beuatiful view from my room. You can see the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront and the Cape Town Stadium, which was constructed for the Soccer World Cup 2010.

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Although I was really tired becuase of the long flight, I didn't want to waste one day, so I walked down to the V&A WAterfront to visit the Two Oceans Aquarium.

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After coming across some African dancers :D,
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nice statues
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and the harbour,
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I reached the Aquarium, which was opened in 1995 and particulary keeps fish, invertebrates and some birds and reptiles of the South Afrcian coasts and rivers. But some animals from other areas of the world can also be seen. I may write a more detailed trip report later, but for now I just want to share a few pics.
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Behind this entrance hall,
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the first inhabitants like this mudskipper can be seen.
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Others are stonefish,
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jellyfish
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and honeycamb morays.
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I liked the fact that the Two Oceans Aquarium alsdo shows some creepy invertebrates and uncommon fish.
For instance, this polychaeta, a genus of worms, is very creepy isn't it?
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The Feather-duster Anemones aren't really common either.
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A bit scary are sixgill hagfish, aren't they? These relatives of the European lamprey feed on dead animals, so they are the scavengers of the sea.
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The bets tank in the aquarium is the I&J Ocean Exhibit, which is home to animals of the open ocean. At the moment, it's the biggest tank of the Two Oceans Aquarium because the big shark tank is unter renovation and will reopen next spring.
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The most interesting animals in this tank are two green sea turtles.
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The Two Oceans Aquarium is more or less a very good institution with great education and a good quality of animal holding, but there's one exception: the penguin enclosures. African penguins (together with a single African black oystercatcher) and Nothern rockhopper penguins live in too small exhibits, which are only indoors. The penguins are part of the SAPPI River Ecosystem hall, where a typical South African river from the stream to the river mouth is shown. That's a fantastic concept but it would be better without the penguins in my opinion.
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At least no otters live here, just a sceleton of Cape clawless otter.
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That's all of this small aquarium. I really enjoyed tzhe visit because it has a clear concept and a lot of good and very good exhibits, except the penguin areas. All in all, I highly recoemmend a vsisit in the Two Oceans Aquarium.

After leaving the aquarium, I explored the Waterfront a bit more and came across this Grey-headed Gull (Chroicocephalus cirrocephalus), a very common bird in Cape Town. This seagull is my first wild animal species that I have seen in South Africa. c:
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Finally, a few more pics of the Waterfront.
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That's all for today. See you all tomorrow when we ill explore more parts of the city and its surroundings. Ina ddition, you will see the wild mammal species that I have seen. So, stay tuned!
Edited by Jony, Nov 11 2016, 01:55 PM.
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Hugo7
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/!\ Auto-changing avatar.

Very nice pictures !
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Uolym
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I am very glad you are back! Amazing pictures, thanks for sharing your experience with us!
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Dylan
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Very nice aquarium. I agree about hagfish
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Jony
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Thanks guys :)

Day 2: City sightseeing, Table Mountain and Hout Bay

On the next day I decided to do a city sightseeing tour and to visit the Table Mountain.
On the way up tio the mountain we came across very modern parts of Cape Town and also areas with classical houses in colonial style.
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Then the Table Mountain became visible! And I was lucky, the top of the moiuntain wasn't covered by clouds this day as it would be normally.
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Around the Table Mountain you can find the typical Fynbos vegetation, which is endemic to this area.
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But you can also find small forests of Monterey pines. Theese trees were introduced from California and are considered to be invasive. That's why they try to exterminate this tree from the area.
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Once you reached the cable car station of the table mountain, you can enjoy this fantastic view on the city.
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Unfortunately, it was too full and I didn't have the time to wait in line there, so I decided not to drive to the top of the mountain, but to drive back to the city and take another bus to visit Hout Bay where I wanted to do a boat trip to one of the several fur seal islands.
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On the way to Hout Bay, you come across the Botanical Garden Kirstenbosch and two small zoological gardens (World of Birds and Monkey Jungle). But due to time problems I didn't visit these institutions.
At least I could see some strelitzia, which is the national flower of South Africa, in front of the entrance of the botanical garden.
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Close to Hout Bay is situated one of the several townships which show that South Africa still has a lot of problems. It also shows that the Apartheid still exists in some way, since these villages are only home to the poor, black community. I think, it will take a lot more time until theses things change.
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Finally, I reached Hout Bay, known as the fur seal town. :D Unfortunately I was a bit too late, so there wasn't any boat anymore driving to the seal islands. I still wasn't lucky this day...
But then I found some South African Fur Seals (Arctocephalus pusillus) lurking around the harbour. :)
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In the harbour area you can find some people of the local community who attract fur seals with fish. Then tourists can take some pictures together with a wild fur seal. I also took one as you see below :D
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But not only fur seals live here, I could also spot some Speckled Pigeons (Columba guinea) and Kelp Gulls (Larus dominicanus).
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That's all for today and from Cape Town and surroundings. The next day I had to wake up early to go on a guided 6 days Garden Route tour. So, in the next update we will do the first parts of the Garden Route and will explore a big cave. So, stay tuned and see you next time!
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Fireplume
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Snok Snok Snerson

Honestly the city looks like everything I imagined about it, cannot wait to visit myself!

It's honestly funny to see Monterey Pines as an invasive species when they're nearly a treasure here in California hahaha
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Dylan
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Looks like a great experience. Speckled Pigeons look stunning.
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EsserWarrior
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EsserWarrior

Looks like fun dude! I hope your having an awesome time!
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Jony
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Thank you for your encouraging comments! ;)


Part 2: Garden Route

Day 3: Oudtshoorn and Cango Caves

Our first stop on the Garden Route was Oudtshoorn, the ostrich capital due to the many ostrich farms in the area. There we did a professional wine testing :P and tried some ostrich meat.
On the way to Oudtshoorn, you can understand why the Garden Route is called Garden Route: a lot of wild flowers are blossoming in the area! Mountains are also characteristic for the Garden Route. It's a beautiful landscape, isn't it? :)
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After some time, the landscape is getting drier. We are know in the Little Karoo, a semi-desert.
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After our tasty meal we drove to the Cango Caves, one of the most beautiful and biggest caves in the world.
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WE decided to do an adventure tour which was a little bit longer than the normal tour.
Just next to the entrance to the cave we spotted these little guys:
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Cape Hyrax (Procavia capensis capensis)! Those are not the best pictures, but I promise that you'll see more an better pictures of this species. ;)

Some pictures of inside the caves.
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The next picture perfectly describes why this tour was called adventure tour. :P We had to climb up this ladder, climb into a small gangway and then climb down again on the other side...
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Finally, we went back to Oudtshoorn to our overnight accomodation, while we came across some ostrich farms.
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That's all for today. I'm sorry that there aren't much wild animals yet but be patient, they will come. ;)
Stay tuned and see you next time!
Edited by Jony, Nov 14 2016, 08:45 AM.
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