13/09/2014
Yesterday, a small herd of springbok crossed the road in front of us, and then stopped briefly, probably to point fingers and laugh at us. Niel used the moment to give them a good talking to, in preparation for their big game against the All Blacks today.
We are taking the day off. Niel spent the morning at the main lodge watching the rugby, It would seem that his pep talk didn’t really work. But he did end up giving some advice to the owner of the lodge around his water problems. I used the time to catch up on things here. And take some photos of the local fauna and flora
A barking gecko (I think)
Hundreds of butterflies having fun in the sun
A Moringa or Phantom tree (Meelsak Boom)
An Oak-leafed corkwood tree (Eikeblaar Kanniedood)
More than 20 years ago, Moose MacGregor, a Scottish pastry chef, settled in the little town of Solitaire. He opened a bakery (of course) and very soon people would stop for no reason at all, other than wanting to taste Moose’s famous apple crumble. Who am I then, to not try this. So we headed off to Solitaire for an early afternoon snack. Normally, I’m not fond of apple crumble, but I would have to admit – people have a point here. Even though Moose sadly passed away earlier this year, his apple crumble lives on, and is really very good.
Seeing that it has been so very hot, and the aircon of the car cooled us down so splendidly, we decided to find the petrified dunes nearby. These are red sand dunes that are so old, that they have solidified to rock. We were not able to get close to them, but we did get a good view.
And just to end of a lazy day, we went on a sunset drive around our lodge’s farm. We managed to see more wildlife, and an exquisite sunset.
We’ve really managed to relax here. And to top it all, having dinner overlooking the Namib, watching an eagle owl playing around clumsily in the dark, truly does something for the soul.
