South Africa

Now that I am semi-recovered from the travel I am able to post some of the pictures from my time in South Africa.  First of all, most of us in the U.S. know very little about Africa and many have expected that in my journey to the farmland south of Johannesburg that I might see wildlife and that the terrain might be similar to what we have come to know through movies.  Well, the South Africans laugh at our misconceptions ... as you can see the scenery is very much as you might see in California...

On the left is a beautiful bay on the east coast just south of Durban on our road trip to Kokstad. 

The trip showed quite a range of beautiful countryside and farmland as shown on the right.

And as you can see here on the left some mountains and gorgeous views.













There are even a fair number of forests that are harvested for paper.  We passed mills and log camps along the way.  We could have been in Oregon!

Here is a common homestead that make up the "villages" although they vary considerably from very well built tile roofs and stucco to thatch roofs and mud walls.

Here is Willowdale Lodge, the bed and breakfast where we stayed - a 140 year old ranch house.

OK ... so there were some interesting creatures such as this Orb spider.  They were all over the grounds of the lodge.

Here is an image so that you get a feeling for the size of this little wildlife specimen ...

Some of the most compelling scenes occurred in the morning from the front of the Lodge ...

It was a beautiful place and a very enlightening experience.