June 20th - 24th, 2016 Middle Days in Rocklands

After our rainy rest day we headed to the 8 Day Rain area which is typically the first to dry out after a rain to climb with Jan (the South African Ocun importer) and his son Jeremy who is 7 and got along well with Dylan. After warming up a bit we headed to the Beckoning boulder and did the steeper problems with the ones on the right being quite soft (Linda climbed the 7b+ in a couple of tries which is a couple of grades harder than she has ever climbed). After that we headed to To Siemay which is a very pretty looking 6c+ that a couple from Denver (Craig and Natalie were looking at getting on) and everyone proceeded to take turns with most of us climbing it at some point, here Linda puts in an attempt .....

Finally to round out the day the 7 of us headed down to the Vanity boulder to climb the classic 7a+ Vanity, topping out (photo by Craig Faulhaber).....

It was crazy as by the time we left there were about 20 people at this single boulder, but we still managed to climb many of the problems including this fun arete .....

The next day Jan and Jeremy headed back to Cape Town and we climbed with Craig and Natalie again, this time at the Sassies, home of the highball and roof climbs. We all played on the 7a Maties, here Linda works through the roof (photo by Craig or Natalie).....

and some of us climbed on the 7b+ Un Petite Hueco dans Rocklands, here I'm topping out (photo by Craig Faulhaber) .....

After that we moved over to the highball, 7a+ Springbok which we all climbed on using the alternate static beta as opposed to the jump move,  here is Craig .....

After I climbed the 7b+ arete of Olifantshuis (photo by Craig Faulhaber).....

During the day Dylan did a nice little boulder problem (photo by Craig Faulhaber and featuring his foot)..... 

and tried to help out with carrying the crash pads between problems .....

After a rest day we headed up to the Roadcrew area and after a fairly disappointing time there, a few of the “classics” were not so classic and some other climbers were kind enough to throw one of our pads in a mud puddle so that they could stand and lay on it to take photos of each other, we headed across to the Cedar Spine Gully. Once in the gully we found the awe inspiring highball Cedar Spine, but being alone there were not enough pads or spotters (falling with only Linda below is not real appealing) to attempt it. I headed of in search of the Last Days boulder and fell victim to the guide book. The book is not particularly detailed an I ended up in a completely different area before reorienting and finding the correct rock. On the way over to it I climbed the pretty slab of Playing in the Fields of the Lord .....

Once there we did several little problems, here is Linda on an arete .....

We hiked out to a beautiful sunset, viewed through thatch grass (yes, a real thing for making thatched roofs) .....

The next day we climbed at some of the same areas as on our first day as well as a couple of the nearby areas as well. We largely climbed by ourselves and as such don’t have any photos but still had a productive day. Highlights were the 7b+ roof of Born into Struggle and the 6c jump line of Sex Etiquette.

A few random shots, typical South African brands .....

and breakfast of champions .....

June 17th - 19th, 2016 - First Days in Rocklands and Rest Day

Our first day in Rocklands we had our friend Greg for a guide. He took us out to the Plateau Areas in the morning and to Fields of Joy in the afternoon. We started the morning at the aptly named Warmup Boulder which has several nice easier problems to get used to the stone and the blood flowing, which after 8 days of sitting in cars and on airplanes was a good idea. Here Linda climbs the 5c, Ice, Ice Baby .....

Linda also attempted the classic 6b+, Girl on our Mind but without success as the headwall finish was giving her trouble and she kept starting from the beginning without figuring out how to climb the end. I managed to climb the 7b, Poison Dwarf on my first try, not a bad start to the trip. We then headed to the far side of the Plateau Area to look at the 7b Minki which is quite an interesting roof problem where your feet are doing much of the work to keep you on. There was a whole group there working the problem so I sat back and watched all the different ways they were working through the roof. When I got on for a burn I chose the method used by the 5’ 2” girl which worked perfectly for me since it involved tying myself into an upside down pretzel and I pulled through again on my first try. As we wrapped up the morning we hiked out past Girl on our Mind and we stopped so Linda could pull off the send. Here she is pulling through the headwall that had shut her down all morning in the full sun .....

In the afternoon, between staining my back pulling Dylan up a rock step in the approach trail and Linda slipping on a rock and landing on her chin (she had a habit of landing on her face when she falls) I managed to climb the 7a+, Dirty Lies and the 7b, Maniac, both on my second try. We then proceeded to hobble our way down to the car.

In the morning on our second day we said good by to Greg after spending our time in Kruger and Cape Town with him and his family it was sad to see the last of the Crum’s go. We then headed up the pass to go to the Roadside Area, which is a bit of a misnomer as the approach is 35 minutes long. While it is alongside a road, the road is closed to vehicular traffic. Once we got to the area I took some shots of a few guys trying the 7a, Sunset Traverse .....

which I climbed shortly after. The day ended early when Dylan was sharing snacks with another little boy at the boulders and had some chocolate with a cashew coating, leading to a rushed hike out and quick drive back to the guest house to get Benadryl into him. Other than a pissed off stomach and hives all over he got through fine.

On our 3rd day we took the day off of climbing to let tired muscles and thin skin recover. We chose to check out the Sevilla Rock Art Trail just down the road at Travelers Rest. Here are Dylan and I at the entry area .....

and a few examples of the rock art to be found along the trail, Zebra ..... 

Dylan checking out a well covered panel ..... 

Several different characters with a particularly detailed archer .....

June 12th - 15th, 2016 - Cape Town, South Africa

We flew Mango from Johannesburg to Cape Town on the 12th and headed to our hotel, The Spier which is a whole lot more than a hotel. The Spier has a farm, winery, eagle sanctuary (for rescues), conference center, multiple restaurants, etc. really plush by our standards and quite reasonable at the current exchange rate of 15R to 1$. Anyway, we settled into our room and got dinner with Greg, Magdel and the kids. The next morning Dylan was really excited about, we headed out to Boulders Beach, part of the Table Mountain National Park, and where the african penguins are. Here are Dylan and Linda at one of the overlooks .....

 and a “What you lookin’ at” close up ..... 

We also drove the Chapman Peak Drive which is crazy narrow and drops off almost vertically to the sea. Being a cyclist I would love to ride the road, being a driver I was appalled that there was two way traffic, much less several cyclists on the road. After lunch we headed to a beach to just hang out. Dylan was very interested in hunting for shells ....

There was a park at the beach with a seesaw that Dylan, Amalie and Julien wanted to play on, being an odd number Linda helped Dylan out to balance Greg and Magdel’s kids .....

The next morning we checked out the Eagle Encounter at Spier which was really cool. We started with the feeding show where several different birds and owls were brought out (a few of the birds landed on audience hands or heads as directed by the trainer) finishing with a Cape Vulture .....

Later we walked around and looked at all the birds. We finished out at the owls, where there were several you could pet (former pets) as well as  an enclosure that you could go into with several owls ..... 

They also had a children’s playground where there were pigs and an Emu that seemed pretty skeptical of Dylan ..... 

In the afternoon we headed to the Cheetah Outreach Center where they educate local farmers about better ways to protect their livestock from cheetahs and house several different cats. We had the opportunity to see them feed several of the animals including Jackals and the Cerivets ..... 

After looking at the different animals we got to have a Cheetah encounter (they are supper soft and have an interesting purr), heres hoping it was also fed earlier .....

On our final day in Cape Town we headed to the Two Oceans Aquarium in the water front area of town. The hope was to see the shark exhibit which had white sharks among others. As you notice I said “had” because that exhibit closed a month before and the replacement, without sharks, was not to open until the day after we were there. Dylan still got a kick out of the penguin exhibit where in addition to the African Penguins they also had Rockhoppers and he got to watch a feeding. After the Aquarium we walked through the shops and had an early dinner at the Den Anker restaurant where the kids occupied themselves they way kids do these days ..... 

There were several different sculptures in the waterfront area including this one that Dylan had to get his photo with while holding one of his own .....

and while the weather did not allow up to hike or take the tram to the top of the landmark Table Mountain here is a shot from waterfront looking up at it .....

The next morning it was off to Rocklands for two weeks of climbing ...

June 11th & 12th, 2016 - Last Days in Kruger NP

For our last full day we left a little later after not having much success with the early morning game drives and had high hopes for a route that would take us by several watering holes and out to a dam. Things started out well enough spotting several Hippos in a pool and one that was out at the salad bar, the first we’d seen out of the water .....

We then saw the Blue Wildebeest for the first time, though got a much better view of one the next day as we drove out of the park .....

At one of the watering holes we came upon a group of Impala and a pair of Waterbucks that were nuzzling .....

We also saw an eagle of some sort (probably a Martial Eagle) chowing some carrion in a tree. This was probably about where the dam was, but with no water in it we did not notice it and kept driving. By the time we realized we had missed the dam turning back would have lead to a really long out and back drive through terrain that we already knew had no water so we continued on to make a large loop, in hind site this was probably a mistake because of what we would find out happened just outside our guest house later. We did however get to see some interesting things. Zebra for just the second time, they are flighty creatures and difficult to shoot as they run from the slightest sound. We also saw  Lilac Breasted Roller which is a beautiful little bird .....

and a horn that had been lost by an Impala probably ..... 

Once we were off the dirt we stopped to get a bite at snack stop and shortly after came across a pair of Warthogs making sure the grass on the roads shoulders was kept nice and short .....

On the drive back to Skukuza we passed through another herd of Buffalo including this pair with the one ominously licking his lips at the sight of our Rav4 .....

We then had to pass through the same point where we’d seen the Hippos in the morning, they were still there, but so was this Kudu, right off the road (I probably could have touched him with my hand still on the car if I’d opened the door and cared to get out, big no, no) .....

On our way into Skukuza we also saw these Marabou Storks up in a tree, goofy looking birds and not what you’d expect to see in the tree tops ..... 

Greg and Magdel had taken the kids out for an early drive along the Sabie River then returned to the guest house about 1-2pm to find a herd of buffalo right outside the fence that were then chased off by a herd of elephants. That evening another group of buffalo rolled up to spend the night not 10 meters from our yard fence, cool.

The next morning, after the buffalo had left in the early hours we took the requisite groups shoot of the two families ..... 

On the drive out of the park we finally made our way to Transport (a watering hole that I’d wanted to get to since the first day after hearing about a lion kill in the open there). On the drive in, off the main paved road we saw the above Blue Wildebeest as well as Giraffe and Impala. Once at the watering hole we finally got an opportunity to see Zebra standing still drinking alongside a Rhino and a lone Impala .....

We also got to finally see, after watching them hunt but not being able to see the water, an African Fish Eagle make a catch ..... 

There was certainly something else in the area based on the behavior of the animals, the Zebra kept a couple of lookouts and there were a pair of Impala that approached to within 10 meters of the water and spent about 10 minutes fidgeting and eventually left without taking a drink. However, with our flight that afternoon and a 4+ hour drive to Johannesburg to get there we had to leave without finding out what was making the prey so nervous. So we leave Kruger NP having seen 4 of the big 5 (Rhino, Elephant, Buffalo, Leopard) and an ear (of a Lion) flipping as it slept behind a low bush.

June 10th, 2016 Full Day of Game Drives

We headed out in the morning to an early drive at 6am, when the rest camp gates first open with high hopes of finishing out the Big 5 sightings (Elephant, Rhino, Buffalo that we’d seen and Leopard and Lion that we’d not). We sadly came up empty during the day on the big ones, however we did see a handful of different things that were quite cool to see/watch. The sunrise was quite nice this is becoming a theme .....

Early in the morning we saw a Impala carcass hanging from a tree that an eagle or falcon was going to works on, which means a Leopard had been in the area .....

Later we saw a Crocodile, much closer than we had before .....

As well as several interesting birds such as this little guy that shows, in Africa everyone is a hunter .....

 a very pretty Kingfisher (though these guys are pretty small even though the name makes them sound big) ..... 

We stopped as a snack shop by the Sabie River to grab a bite and let the kids stretch their legs, naturally they seemed most interested in what Dylan was drawing in his journal .....

After our stop, we followed the Sabie River back to our rest camp and got to catch a pair of African Fish Eagles hunting, one came up with a fish while the other was unsuccessful while we were there, the one on the stump has a fish under foot while the other is still on the hunt over the river .....

Naturally we also saw several of what is now becoming “normal” animals such as Impala, Kudu, Giraffe, Baboons, etc. As well as is young pair of male Impala play fighting .....

After our morning drive we got lunch at the camp restaurant where I tried the Springbok shank which was quite tasty and the size of a turkey leg. In the evening we went out again on a sunset drive meaning that we did not need to be back in the gate by 5:30pm and instead stayed out to look for game at night and by spotlight. Of course the sunset was quite spectacular (as I said, becoming a theme) .....

And we were lucky enough to see a Leopard on the hunt, chasing a bush hare, though it was too dark to get a photo. We also saw a herd of Rhino (about 12-15) at a watering hole. When we got back it was Braai time, while the ladies sat and drank wine, Greg was the cook as usual while I took photos of them .....

the stars and the moon set over Skakuza rest camp .....