Climbing Victoria Peak
At 1589m Victoria Peak is the highest summit in the Jonkershoek area. It is visible beyond the valley from Stellenbosch and is often - as it is today - covered in a white blanket of snow. The route as shown in this Google Earth track winds up the eastern edge of the...
Baboons matter
On the Cape Peninsula there are few people who are neutral towards the local Chacma baboons: you either love them or hate them. The remnant troops of the Table Mountain National Park which now protects a large portion of the peninsula, range from the southern table of...
Doring River rafting
The Doring drains the Tankwa Karoo through the Cederberg range into the Olifants River. It can only be rafted in the winter-rainfall months of July to September. Photos and a Google Earth file. The weather forecast for this weekend promised nothing good. Consecutive...
Rim of Africa Google Earth track
A Google Earth map of the Rim of Africa Conservation Mega Trail, Stage One, 120km from Pakhuis Pass in the northern Cederberg to the Koue Bokkeveld mountains follows: [HTML4] If the track doesn't appear in the window above download the Google Earth Rim of Africa file...
Rim of Africa photos
Here are the photos from the Rim of Africa Conservation Mega Trail. It was an epic. [HTML1] Go to my Rim of Africa photo album A Google Earth track of the trail, almost every step captured on a Garmin Foretrex 101, will follow shortly, along with a short account -...
A caracal in Stellenbosch
A few weeks ago, after the fires that charred the mountains in the Jonkershoek valley, I was cycling to work through the Jan Marais Nature Reserve which is located near the centre of town. As I rounded a corner I was stunned to see a beautiful big caracal standing in...
Hiking in Kogelberg
The Kogelberg Biosphere and Nature Reserve is my playground. When we're not kayaking here, we are hiking its many routes. Kogelberg is the jewel in the crown of the Cape's floral kingdom protected areas that make up the World Heritage Site. [HTML2] If the slideshow...
Jonkershoek hiking
Five k's from my home in Stellenbosch is the rugged Jonkershoek Nature Reserve. The area boasts the highest rainfall in the Western Cape, and two major rivers rise at the valley head: the Berg and the Eerste rivers. The Panorama route (or half of it) climbs the...
Kayaking on Lake Malawi at Mumbo Island
Mumbo Island is one of the great places in Africa. Imagine a tropical island surrounded by warm, clear water and freshwater, tropical fish. [HTML5] The island is but a jumble of granite crowned by dry woodland including baobabs, pod mahogany and rock figs, and barely...
Kruger Park and climate change
The IPCC's technical paper on Climate Change and Water (pdf), published in June, features some dire numbers for South Africa's premier national park, the Kruger National Park. Should the global mean temperature exceed 1990 levels by 2.5 to 3 oC, then 66% of its animal...
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