Winter Landscape

At this time of the year, winter still has "a grip" on most parts of South Africa, which the German-speaking visitors I guided on a tour through our country for the last 2 weeks experienced in "full force". Although nature sometimes looks bleak, especially when fires appear to have had a devastating effect, the wild animals still find enough food to survive.


From Joburg and the highveld we travelled to the lowveld & toured along the Panorama Route - where the Blyde River Canyon was also "decked" in winter colours.


Once we reached the Kruger National Park, nature "revealed" that all was not bleak - along the river systems the colour green is eminent throughout the year. Although cold at night, the days are warm & similar to humans, these hippos enjoy basking in the sun.

From the Kruger Park we travelled via Swaziland to the Hluhluwe Game Reserve in KwaZulu-Natal & as expected, saw Nyala antelopes, which are similarly prominent in this part of the country as Impala antelopes are in KNP.

On reaching the Garden Route along the southern coast of our country, one can't help but admire the magnificent beach & rolling waves at Wilderness - especially during brilliantly sunny weather, as we were "blessed" to experience during most days on this tour.

Last stop = Cape Town & the Cape Peninsula - where at the Cape of Good Hope, the weather continued to be "brilliant" - even better than during some days in summer. We really were lucky not to experience the "full force" of the cold & wet weather often part of winter in this part of our country.


Although the Soccer World Cup in South Africa is by now "come & gone", reminders of it can still be found all over our country - like this "Welcoming Sign" in Graskop (Mpumalanga Province) . . . .









. . . . or this multitude of flags at the Waterfront in Knysna . . . .






. . . . or this extra-ordinarily large vuvuzela in Cape Town on the what I call "the road to nowhere" (= a part of a highway never completed).