trees

All posts tagged trees

I Can See Clearly Now (Sort Of)

Posted by 2summers on December 4, 2011
Posted in: Johannesburg, Johannesburg Suburbs, South Africa. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , . 19 comments

As long as I’ve lived here, the view from the deck at the Lucky 5 Star has been a wall of green. It was one of my favorite things about the house — the back yard felt like a private jungle, filled with unruly indigenous plants and flowering creepers (the creepers are pretty, but invasive).

Yesterday, the creepers got the best of the yard’s largest indigenous plant — a twisty rock karee tree.

Here’s a shot taken from the deck, exactly a year ago during a summer rain storm. You can see a limb of the rock karee tree shooting off to the left.  The other limbs are obscured by creepers.

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Crack-a-DOOO!

Posted by 2summers on November 7, 2011
Posted in: South Africa, Western Cape. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , . 19 comments

Part 3 of a 3-part series about the Cederberg Heritage Route. Read Part 1 here and Part 2 here.

When I left off, my travel companions and I had spent a magical evening in the village of Hugel-Bugel (a.k.a. Heuningvlei). We awoke early the next morning for the final installment of our Cederberg adventure: a hike across Krakadouw Pass.

Our guide for the day was Abraham, an ageless, salt-of-the-earth kind of man. Abraham has lived in Heuningvlei all his life. He has worked tirelessly to encourage conservation and responsible tourism in the Cederberg.

Abraham.

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The Double Life of a Melville Cat

Posted by 2summers on September 22, 2011
Posted in: Johannesburg, South Africa, The Melville Cat. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , . 30 comments

This guest post was inspired by the Blog of Otis.

Hello, I’m Squeak. I also have another name, but I’m keeping it a secret for now.

This is me, Squeak. (Photo courtesy of Joe.)

Heather asked me to write a post for her blog so I can tell you about my extraordinary achievement. Every cat gets nine lives, but we’re supposed to live them one at a time, not concurrently. Only the most charming, intelligent cats are able to live two lives at once. I am one of those cats. Continue Reading

Hogsback Packing

Posted by 2summers on September 16, 2011
Posted in: Eastern Cape, South Africa. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , . 15 comments

I’m back in Joburg, recovering from jet lag.

Since I had to leave for the U.S. in such a rush last month, I didn’t get the chance to share all the stories from my road trip around South Africa. So even though it’s technically old news, I hope you’ll enjoy this post about my recent visit to the magical village of Hogsback.

A slightly edited version of the post appeared on TravelWrite.co.za – you’ll notice it has more of a travel-magazine-y feel than my other posts. Thanks to TravelWrite editor Caroline Hurry for coming up with this clever headline.

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It’s a chilly morning in Hogsback. Joe and I just finished a pre-breakfast hike to a majestic waterfall at the top of a mountain. We’re hungry. We are the only customers in the quirky Butterfly Bistro, sitting at a cozy table next to a clay fireplace. Continue Reading

Voortrekker: My New Favorite Afrikaans Word

Posted by 2summers on August 10, 2011
Posted in: Johannesburg Day Trips, Pretoria, South Africa. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . 118 comments

Joe and I woke up ridiculously early one Sunday morning. It was a beautiful day. Joe had an idea for an outing but wouldn’t tell me what it was. He ushered me into the car and we headed up the M1 toward Pretoria.

When I saw this granite monolith staring down at us, I realized Joe was taking me to the Voortrekker Monument.

Die Voortrekkermonument. (It’s all one word in Afrikaans.) Voortrekker, which means ‘pioneer’, is pronounced ‘FOUR-trecker’, with a rolled R that I can’t replicate.

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Saving Buildings and Lives in Hillbrow

Posted by 2summers on July 6, 2011
Posted in: Johannesburg, Johannesburg Downtown, Johannesburg Suburbs, South Africa. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . 13 comments

My fascination with Hillbrow — a former middle-class inner suburb that is now the toughest neighborhood in Joburg — began in February when I explored Hillbrow on a Joburg Photowalk. When I heard there would be another Hillbrow Photowalk this past weekend, exploring the grounds of the old Johannesburg General Hospital, I signed up, stat.

Saturday afternoon in Hillbrow.

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Kruger at Ground Level, Part 3: Mineral

Posted by 2summers on June 29, 2011
Posted in: Game Parks, South Africa. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . 11 comments

Welcome to the final blog post about my hike through the Kruger Park’s Pafuri Triangle: the mineral installment. Most of the facts in this post were gleaned from Brian, our Pafuri wilderness guide, and Wikipedia.

If you’ve read parts 1 and 2 of this series, you know that the Pafuri Triangle is chock-full of majestic African wildlife and awe-inspiring trees. But Pafuri also has rocks. And water. And an amazing geological and archaeological history. Geology and archaeology aren’t my specialties, but this post is an excuse to show you some of my favorite pics from the trip that don’t feature animals or plants.

Water is a mineral, right? Either way, I really like this picture.

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Kruger at Ground Level, Part 2: Vegetable

Posted by 2summers on June 26, 2011
Posted in: Game Parks, South Africa. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . 20 comments

Announcements:

1) A story about my Kruger trip has been published on travelgurus.co.za. Please check it out.

2) 2Summers turned one today! I wrote my first 2Summers post exactly a year ago, six weeks before moving to Jozi. If you want to know how it all started, click here.

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On to Part 2 of my hiking adventure in the Kruger Park: the vegetable installment.

I experienced some pretty incredible (and adrenaline-inducing) animal sightings on my four-day hike through the Pafuri Triangle (see Part 1). But as I sat on the flight home and thought about it, I decided my favorite sightings in Pafuri were plants, specifically trees. Continue Reading

Kruger at Ground Level, Part 1: Animal

Posted by 2summers on June 23, 2011
Posted in: Game Parks, South Africa. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . 32 comments

A big thank you to travelgurus.co.za and Wilderness Adventures for making this blog post possible.

Last weekend I visited Kruger National Park, the largest park in South Africa. This wasn’t just any old Kruger safari, either. I went to the remotest and most beautiful section of the park — the Pafuri Triangle.

A view of the Limpopo River, just before my plane landed at Pafuri Camp. The Pafuri Triangle is in the far northern corner of the Kruger Park, wedged between the Limpopo and Luvuvu Rivers and the borders of Zimbabwe and Mozambique.

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This Blog Will Be Temporarily Eclipsed

Posted by 2summers on June 15, 2011
Posted in: Johannesburg, Johannesburg Suburbs, South Africa. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , . 11 comments

There was a total lunar eclipse in the Southern Hemisphere tonight. Joe and I went to an eclipse-viewing party at a friend’s house. Here are some funky (i.e., blurry) photos of the evening.

Full moon above Joe’s friend Neville’s house. This is the perfect time of year to watch a lunar eclipse in Joburg because the sky is crystal clear nearly every night.

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