Adventures of the Dread Pirate Emmeline May

Day 18, our first morning in Knysna, dawned bright and sunny with very little cloud, perfect for Monkey spotting and bird watching! Knysna is a beautful seaside town on the garden route, and I really liked it. I kept berating Mum and Dave for not moving here instead of Swellendam! I think it would be hard to make a go of a B&B here though, the tourist trade is a lot more established and there's a lot more competition. It's really pretty though, and I love anywhere by the sea, having spent my childhood in coastal towns before moving nearer london for secondary school. I think if I was to move to South Africa though, it would have be somewhere around here!

( Two Nights in Knysna Part 2 - Close encounters of a monkey kind, birds in endor, 101 things to do with a powerstation, I Don't Spy and I am the Dassie Whisperer )

See all the photos from the two nights in Knysna here and here!

( Day Fourteen - Lighthouses and shipwrecks at the bottom of Africa )

( Day Fifteen & Sixteen - Rugby, Pizza and Paradise Organic )

You can see all of the photos here

Tomorrow we're off to see birds, monkeys, caves and ostritch! I am excited! We've got an early start though as we plan to head off at 7am, so it's an early night for me.

When Mum and Dave moved here, one of the first things they did was to try and get all the beautiful birds to come and eat in their garden, rather than anyone else's. They've been experimenting over the years with different combinations of fruit, meat, bread and positions in the garden for a bird table. They seem to have found the ideal combination, as their garden is FULL of beautiful birds. I have seen Sunbirds, Weaver birds, a few Cape White Eyes, a Hoopoe, a Shrike, Doves and lots of cute little sparrows. I need to put batteries in my camera to get good photos as my phone camera doesn't do them justice at all.

The magic solution Mum has discovered is sugar water with red food colouring. They've also tried blue, yellow, green, vanilla flavoured - all sorts of things - but the birds won't touch the others. They just love the red water! They scold us when we're late putting it out, and surround me on the bushes when I am putting it out, just waiting for me to get to a safe distance (about 2 metres!) before they swoop in. Mum says if she goes out to feed them wearing red they don't even fly away. I am assuming there's some reason for this about the way birds see colours? They are also really picky; if you don't get the right amount of sugar in there they don't drink it, and seem to scold you as you walk in the garden!

I have no idea, but since I finally managed to get batteries for my camera I've been sat on the porch (or Stoep, as it's called here) sitting still as anything trying to get photos of some of the regulars here. I am quite pleased with the pictures!

( some of my fave pics. Picture heavy, but entirely safe for work, unless someone at your work is really offended by pictures of birds. )

the rest of the pics are over on my facebook

Day 2
( In which I lie around, do very little, read a book and get filmed eating dinner )

Day 3
( In which I see lots of bok, and drink lots of free wine )

Day 4
( In which see a mongoose, more bok, zebra and whales, and invent a CSI drinking game )

( The CSI Miami Drinking Game )

All of the photos from day 2, 3 and 4 are here.

Four years ago I visited shackers in her new home for the first time. She's now been out there for 6 years and I've finally just about got the money together to go see her again. EXCITE!

As before, I will be detailing my adventures here on LJ. Photos will be going on Facebook though, because it's way easier to upload photos there and LJ has a habit of losing photos. I plan to keep the photos public, so even if you're not a facebook friend you should be able to see them.

Mum has already made a few plans, they involve wine, birds, birthday parties and MONKEYS! Those of you familiar with my previous trip know that I was very disappointed to see hardly any monkeys and didn't get any good photos at all. So I am especially excited about the MONKEYS! I hope to take a trip back to the Fairy Sanctuary as well. In real life of course, rather than just in the dream plains. If you want me to bring you back a fairy, or something fairy related, speak now!

If you want a postcard, please comment here and send me your address! Emmelinemay[at]gmailDOTcom.

I fly out at 2pm from Gatwick, which is not an airport I am familiar with. I'm not even sure how to get there! I stop over in Dubai at midnight and fly out of Dubai at 4am, so I have 4 hours to kill in Dubai airport at ridiculous oclock, which will be fun. I may take a blanket in my carry on...

I get into Cape Town just before midday on the Saturday, so will have been travelling for nearly 24 hours and will probably not have slept and will be theremore most likely VERY grumpy when shackers and her housekeeper, Beauty, my sister from another mother, meet me at the airport.

Tips for surviving a long journey are most appreciated, and if anyone has any particular photo requests leave a comment. (Although for the record, shewho, I will probably struggle for a photo of a baby monkey on a pig going backwards.)

EXCITE!