The thin white line on the map above shows which routes we took.
Welcome to this first page of photos from our trip to South Africa!
The thin white line on the map above shows which routes we took.
Please note that all of the photos on these pages have been reduced—by 50% or more—simply to speed up the downloading process on your computer. Most (or all) of these thumbnails probably are too small to make for satisfying viewing, however larger versions of them all are online here, too. Each of these photos acts as a hyperlink—just click on any, and you'll be taken to the bigger shot.
Also note that some words (or place names) mentioned on these pages are hyperlinks to related sites we've found interesting and/or useful—maybe you will, too!
After flying into Johannesburg and spending a few days in Pretoria, the Museum of Natural History (a/k/a Transvaal Museum) being a highlight, we headed south in our little rental car, towards Cape Town.
That took a few days, but our first really natural experience was a good one: Karoo National Park.
Karoo is a fair distance north-east of Cape Town, just outside the town of Beaufort West (which is not on the map above, either, but roughly just under the R or I where it says "South Africa"), and of course a world away from the chaos of the big cities and towns.
Karoo is the word for "arid plateau that occupies a large proportion of the South African interior." (South Africa: The Rough Guide.)
This is where we saw our first wild antelope, and also these big thorny bushes. The acacia thorns can get quite large, too, as you'll see below (with Karen's hand there in the photo for scale). They look nasty, but the animals love them and they're a great source of water. Giraffes, especially, just wrap their tongues around the thorns and start chewing!
And here's where we spent a few relaxing hours while at Karoo, enjoying the scenery and serenity of this pond, the reflection of the hill—and also watching a Red-knobbed Coot hard at work building a nest by slowly dragging reeds across the water.
The remaining photos on this first page are from in and around Cape Town...
The eastern shore, just below Table Mountain:
When in Cape Town, going up the tram to the top of Table Mountain is something of a must. And, well, we have to say it's definitely worth doing something touristy like that—the views from up there are really spectacular.
And, lastly, certainly a highlight of our short stay in the Cape Town area: penguins! In nearby Simon's Town (essentially a small suburb down on the eastern side of the Cape), scores and scores of these cute little guys can be seen, up close and personal, as they come home in the afternoon after a hard day of fishing out on the water. Here's a mom and chick, who were not all that interested in us humans—they had more important things to think about!
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Special thanks go out to our friends and neighbors, Hanne and Jens Eriksen, who kindly scanned our slide photos of the penguins.
To continue looking at photos from South Africa, simply click on the right arrow. The left arrow will take you back to the Marc and Karen on Safari index page.
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