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We drove north from Cape Town on Friday
morning and spent the day touring the countryside, stopping
for tortoises which are crossing the road at this time of
year to find mates. Very cute, but very dangerous for them
when we are traveling at 70 mph. Yvonne picked the little
guy in the picture up and moved him off of the road. People
that we spoke with later in the day, all had stories about
them.,
The harbor at Lambert's Bay (our overnight stopping point)
is very quaint and reminds me of the Oregon coast 50 years
ago. There is a colony of Gannets that breed on a little island
in the harbor and they are really beautiful. All kinds of
bad guys, seals, gulls, mongoose, rats and cats are after
the eggs. They maintain, with a little help from their human
friends.
The same harbor holds a small fleet of diamond mining boats
that actually vacuum the seabed and bring the sand and gravel
to the boat where it is sorted for diamonds. Very tough work
for the guy who guides the working end of the vacuum hose
on the sea floor.
Today was beautiful and interesting, but rained the whole
day. We drove through 4 completely different climatic regions,
where the flora changed with the region. Our room in Springbok
at the Mountain View Guest House is very nice.
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