i think the simpsons speak for themselves.
And fall blossoms at the Kirstenbosch
Some of our friends in Portland gave us the names of some friends in Knysna who we met up with. The girl's name is Bethany and she is American. She married a South African, Andrew. They are great people and are in the process of trying to move to the US, possibly Portland, so we may be seeing them again in the future. Anyways, they were incredible hosts to us in Knysna. They put us up in a place that Andrew's parents own outside of Knysna called Noetzie. It's a conservation area and they have a place right on a lagoon that opens into the ocean. It's awesome there with lots of monkeys that you have to be careful so they don't get into the house. We canoed up the river which was amazing. They have a bird there called the Knysna Loerie which is green with wings that are bright red, but only underneath so you can only see the color when they fly and it is really impressive. We saw a bunch around the lagoon. We also canoed out to the beach where there are a bunch of old castles. You can kind of see them in the picture. Then we spent the next day hiking with Bethany in the Knysna Forest where there are apparently around 10 or so elephants, but they are very rarely spotted. Even though I felt confident we would be the lucky ones, we were not. We also went to a really great farmers market there that is run by a Texan of all people. And we had the best cheesecake maybe ever. My new goal in life is to figure out the recipe. The other picture is of a blooming aloe plant. Kind of crazy.
We went for a canopy tour in the Tsitsikamma forest which is a beautiful forest on the southern coast of the country. They call the area the garden route because it is so green relative to the rest of the country, but they are in the middle of a huge drought...like 10 years, with no signs of any changes. Thanks, climate change. Anyways, its no Oregon forest. But still pretty. This was the most organized anything we have dealt with in this country and they move a lot of people through this canopy tour. It's a bit more touristy than we wanted because you see lots of other people, but it was fun nonetheless. We were in a group with this couple in the picture and they were hilarious. The tour is a very ecofriendly way to see the forest because you don't walk through it, you just slide on cables. They are able to mount the cables without harming the trees at all--no screws or bolts. They use pressure to hold the cables on. You can see the pictures of the cables wrapped around the tree. They also have someone frequently check the root system of the trees to make sure they aren't being harmed.
We stopped for a couple of days in Addo. We drove through it the first evening and then took a horseback ride through it the second morning. We got to see a lot of animals, but mostly different kind of antelope. In these pictures you can see some zebras, a tortoise, a warthog, an elephant that is very far away, and a female kudu. The male kudu had spiral horns that were really cool. In fact, we camped outside of the park and when we were driving in the morning there was a huge male kudu that was running right in front of us on the rode. It was amazing. As I am thinking this animal is so beautiful, Matt says "I'd sure like to have his skin." Sick. He's been tying a lot of flies lately and apparently the hair from a kudu would make great flies.
