Day 3 - Calvinia to Augravie Falls
0745 was the time breakfast was ready and the group gathered in the small square in front of our rooms a few minutes prior. Breakfast was in the same restaurant/heritage site as last night's supper. Once again it was buffet style with an assortment to choose from. The poached eggs looked inviting but the green broth they were floating in left me with a big question, the answer to which I would not get until after I had consumed one. The green broth was a spinach and feta cheese concoction that was actually quite tasty, appearance notwithstanding.
0745 was the time breakfast was ready and the group gathered in the small square in front of our rooms a few minutes prior. Breakfast was in the same restaurant/heritage site as last night's supper. Once again it was buffet style with an assortment to choose from. The poached eggs looked inviting but the green broth they were floating in left me with a big question, the answer to which I would not get until after I had consumed one. The green broth was a spinach and feta cheese concoction that was actually quite tasty, appearance notwithstanding.
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| Mmmmm, good! It looks different, but these poached eggs in a Spinach and goat cheese broth were quite good! |
Following breakfast we quickly loaded the bus and were soon on the road following a short talk by our guide Misheck.
On this day, Bob and I declined to rotate and change seats, feeling this would provide an opportunity to interact with some different people during the course of the day.
More flat plains greeted us with many different sized rock hills interspersed throughout. We made an early morning photo stop to view the Quiver Tree as well as some large nests with multiple birds called "Social Weavers". The Quiver Tree was so named because the bushmen would take a piece of it (hollow inside), take the bark off and use it to store their arrows.
Quiver Tree
Social Weavers
These social nests can house up to 150 pairs of birds
It was shortly after 12 noon when we pulled into a small town at a place called Vegelegen Guest House. We had a wonderful lunch there. Interesting prices though as Tim's ham and cheese cost 2.90 whereas my ham and cheese AND tomato was cheaper at 2.80!
Following lunch we got into our rooms, unpacked and than we took off for Augribie Falls, which was about a 20 minute drive.
The Augravies Falls.... The Orange River plummets 56 m into the gorge below to create the 6th largest waterfall in the world. Indigenous locals call these majestic falls Aukoerebis - "place of great noise". White settlers later derived the names Augrabies The gorge at Augrabies is 240 m deep and 18 km long.
The Falls were nice but not spectacular as I am somewhat spoiled from living in Canada
While looking around we also saw quite a few small 6 inch long lizards or geckos. The females were a grey colour whilst the males were covered in brilliant multi-coloured scales.
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| Augravies Falls |
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| Tim and Mike at Augravies Falls |
What was interesting was the marmot like creatures all over the place again, similar to Table Mtn. They are called "Draxx".
While looking around we also saw quite a few small 6 inch long lizards or geckos. The females were a grey colour whilst the males were covered in brilliant multi-coloured scales.
While roaming around the Augrabies Falls, 4 of our group also came across a couple of baboons. These I did not see but am hopeful to see and photograph some during this trip.
Supper back at our lodging was quite long in being prepared but was most definitely worthy of the wait. I elected to have "Springbok Capaccio" (antelope) for an appetizer followed by Ostrich (200 g) as the entree. Terry and Sue were 2 of my dinner companions from Australia who have eaten lots of Ostrich recommended I have it either rare or medium but not well done as the meat would be quite tough. Apparently Ostrich is very high in protein with little fat or cholesterol as that is all put into the egg the meal was superb and extraordinarily tasty. Neither meat was gamey and the ostrich tasted a bit like a fine cut of beef if I had to compare it to something familiar.
Supper back at our lodging was quite long in being prepared but was most definitely worthy of the wait. I elected to have "Springbok Capaccio" (antelope) for an appetizer followed by Ostrich (200 g) as the entree. Terry and Sue were 2 of my dinner companions from Australia who have eaten lots of Ostrich recommended I have it either rare or medium but not well done as the meat would be quite tough. Apparently Ostrich is very high in protein with little fat or cholesterol as that is all put into the egg the meal was superb and extraordinarily tasty. Neither meat was gamey and the ostrich tasted a bit like a fine cut of beef if I had to compare it to something familiar.
Following supper everyone retired as tomorrow also promised to be an early start with a lot of activity for tomorrow we were to "officially" leave S. Africa at a border crossing when we entered the transfrontier Kgalahardi desert park.
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