The next morning we rose early and headed out again. This time we were looking for birds.

Now, birds are hard to photograph so I am not going to give you amazing photos to look at, but want to tell you the story of the day.

It was a TOUGH day physically!! At the end of the day, my phone gave me this update of my “health”…..

The key factors here are 11,776 steps and 43 flights of stairs climbed.

But this day wasn’t easy walking. It was walking thru scrub…..

…scrambling over rocks……

……crossing streams…..

…navigating small “forests”……

….and picking my way thru bog areas too!!

But it was worth it when a flock of Guinea Fowl would fly in front of us……

They were amazing birds and could run almost as fast as they could fly!! It was fun to watch them running along the ground and then finally taking flight…..much like an airliner would taxi before taking off!!

We had three dogs with us …..

…and it was fun to watch them throughout the day. From their ears blowing in the wind…..

….to their antics in the water….

This is Lilly, and she LOVED the water…..

The dogs were used to flush the birds out and it was fun to listen to the tracker, Vusi, talking to them. He would say “Steady Shinga…..slow…..slow”!!

As I said, it was a hard day physically, but SO very much fun and in SUCH an amazing area…..

On one of our moves, we passed this sweet church…..

….founded by one of Robbie’s relatives!!

I loved the stained glass window…..

It was simple but effective!!

I was also able to take a few foliage/flower photos while I was trying to keep up…..

I really like this one as it was a good example of how dry it was….

We spent the deepening light sitting on a pond and watching ducks come in…..

The prettiest ones were the Yellow-Billed Teal (not my photo)….

As the night lengthened we also saw Red Billed Teal, Ibises, and Coots!!

As the sun started to set…..

….I was FREEZING so we headed back to the house.

My thought was to quickly get into the shower and increase my core temperature, but we arrived to find that another group had moved into the house too. It was fun to find out that many of this group had attended Texas Tech University and one zealous alumni had brought a flag, so THIS happened……

GO RED RAIDERS!!!!

The next morning it was time to return to Johannesburg. There were a couple of fun things that I learned along the way…..

They have “speed calming” bumps instead of just “Speed bumps” and the “stoplights”……

….are called robots!!

We boarded our small plane…..

…pleased that another step of our trip was completed.

Michael and I love to travel and see new parts of the world and then I love to take those memories and turn them into quilts!!! I hope that you enjoy traveling along with us!!

Be sure to subscribe to the blog so you don’t miss a single trip!!

We were met at Kat River by David, our guide for the next stretch of our trip. We drove about 2 hours to the Stormberg area of the Eastern Cape……

This was a COMPLETELY different countryside…..

….with huge plains ridged by tall mesa-esque hills…..

Isn’t this view amazing…..

I love the lone tree!!

And as you get further onto the plain, the mountains in the background emerge…..

We arrived at our home for the next three days…..

It had a British Country feel to it and the rooms were amazing….

….with sweet common spaces for relaxing…..

Our first breakfast was wonderful, including toast….

(Don’t you love these toast stands!!!)

and Bramble/Raspberry jam….

Our hosts were Robbie and Angela Streeton. Robbie’s Great-Great-Great Grandfather purchased this property and used it as an inn for people traveling across the area. At one point, he kept oxen on the property and when travelers would arrive with tired oxen, he would trade them for ones that were fed and ready to go. Much like the pony express but not as fast!!

Much of our first day out was spent glassing for animals….

I asked our guide, David, to take pictures of me glassing, and all of a sudden my phone appeared in the binocular lens. This is the photo……

Is that a person or a character from Dr. Who?

We were looking for game animals and Stormberg did not disappoint!!

As we left the house, we saw this flock of Blue Cranes….

….and herds of Blesbok….

We saw several Ostriches and even found a nest of their unfertilized eggs…..

Through out the day we saw Black Wildebeest, Springbok, Ground Squirrels, Ducks, Bat-Eared Fox, Yellow Mongoose, Warthog and Egyptian Geese!! It was quite an assortment.

Even thought this area is gorgeous, it REALLY comes into it’s own at sunset…….

The sunsets got prettier…..

….and deeper……

….and more exciting as night approached…..

As we left, it was fun to see the silhouette of these antelope on the horizon….

Unfortunately it also got COLDER as the night fell…..

At this point I was wearing almost every piece of clothing that I brought!!!

When we arrived back at the house for dinner, they surprised me with a birthday cake (a day late but so VERY sweet)……

It was a great first day in Stormberg!!

Michael and I love to travel and see new parts of the world and then I love to take those memories and turn them into quilts!!! I hope that you enjoy traveling along with us!!

Be sure to subscribe to the blog so you don’t miss a single trip!!