Hello everyone, we were without internet connection at our last stop so I will be doing two postings, this one from October 31st and November 1st and then the one that will be above this which is November 2nd in and around Sandton and a tour of the Soweto.

The first image is of Guinea Fowl, they can be found running all over the game reserve, they make a very interesting noise as they run away from you and are constantly on the move.

The next five images are of Rhino’s we encountered on our last game drive before leaving Kapama, the baby Rihino was very curious.

These Impala were in a hurry to get across the road, they are beautiful to watch jumping.

You don’t often pass other Rovers when out on the game drive, Kapama is very good on keeping track of were the other Rangers are located to keep the Rovers in your area to a minimum and not to disturb the wildlife you are observing.

As we continued on with the morning drive, we came across a recent kill, which meant the Lions were not to far away.  As it turned out on this trek it was two female lion’s they are actually sisters and they were resting after a good feed on this wilda beast.

The next four images are of two very full sisters, resting and slowly pacing after an early morning kill and feed.  We left the lodge at 5:30 a.m. this morning to capture the early morning activity.

Just as we were returning to the lodge we came across another herd of Zebra and in the middle of the herd was this mother and her baby.  It was a great site to see and capture.

At the end of our final drive, the Hubble’s as our Range Noelle called us because of our long telephoto lenses.  Here you see Frank, Sidney, Erika, Robert, Danny, James, Marcy, Nanciellen, and our Tracker Alfred and our Ranger Noelle.  We were out on a total of six game drives over the three days, which amounted to about twenty-three and a half hours of exploring the game reserve.  Thanks to Noelle, Alfred, Haley, Hendrik and their two trackers for making it a memorable and great photographic experience.

 Not to far from Kapama we encounter some venders at the side of the road, so when we stopped to take photos they also posed for us.

We even got to experience a speeding ticket write up on our way to Hannah Game Lodge.

This photo was taken overlooking the Rondavels, it was quite cloudy, but still beautiful.

This colourful little guy was sunning himself on a rock and Dick found this interesting beetle.

Bill and Danny take a shot over the mountain side, these interesting statues were being sold at by street vendors in the parking lot.

Our next stop was Bourke’s Luck Pot Holes, these formations were formed in the soft bedrock by the water that flows over the waterfalls.  The original owners of this land the Bourkes found gold in the bottom of the pot holes.

Sean shot these pics at the Rondavels and at Bourke’s Luck Pot Holes, as you can see our photographers covered the region pretty good.

We stopped in Pilgrim’s rest for lunch and after our meal the kitchen staff came out and sang for us, a few of our group Nancy and Bill got up and danced with them.

These little guys did a dance for you, and made interesting noises by stomping their rubber boots, a few Rand and they let us take their photos.

When we reached Hannah Game Lodge our luggage was carried to our little huts, some of the staff carried them on their heads.  Each one of the huts you see in the photo had two rooms, this was a very scenic spot.  This game lodge is set in the rolling hills.

We did an evening game drive and an early morning game drive through the beautiful country side.  It was another great experience.

Sunset was spectacular and the next morning Prathiba want to get into the Halloween spirit did her best cheetah impression.  This Yellow weaver was just outside the room window making a nest.

Both this Jackaranda Tree  and this church made for great photos as we stopped for fuel in Lyndenburge on our way to Sandton yesterday.

I will now keep sorting our the images from our day in Sandton and post them later today.  Enjoy the photos, as we are all enjoying our South Africa experience.

Just got my first look at theblog. Looks like another amazing adventure. I wish I could have been with you! I just returned last night from a long journey. Will post soon.

I want to see more S.A. pics!!

-Dave

Looks like everyone had a great time. Really enjoyable following the blog from day to day and getting a glimpse of what you were experiencing.

As with every trip the end seems to come too soon. Hope you all have a safe trip home and look forward to viewing more images when you get back.

Now off to pack on my own trip to photograph the California coastline on Wed. Hopefully we won't experience the NWA gate shuffle!!

Bob 

It's been great traveling along with all of you. Safe journey home.

~patti

Well as promised here is today’s updates.  We are now in Sandton which is on the out skirts of Johannesburg and are spending our last day and a half touring this region.  We toured the Soweto today which was an experience that none of us will forget.  The images have a great impact and show you the contrast in this country.

We finished the day by going to Mayo tonight for our farewell dinner and it was a great South African experience.

This is one of the first stops we made in Soweto, there are three and a half million people that live in this region.  

This enterprising young man told us we could take his photo for a few Rand, the second image is Marcy, Bill and Tom in the background walking around Soweto.

These are the stacks from an electrical plant in Soweto that is now shut down.  If you look closely you can see the bungie jumping rigging between the painted stacks.

Brenda speaks with our Soweto guide Abbey, while visiting the old power plant.

As we were touring Soweto we came across this preschool and our guide for the day Abbey asked if we could come in and take a few images.  We were pleased they let us, the children were pleased too, and sang for us before we left. You can also see how much the children caught our eye too.

As we carried on deeper into the Soweto we came across metal shacks which are now being replaced with what they call Mandella houses.  The second image is Mandella houses, families are put on a list and as their name comes up these houses are made available to them.

Here are a few more of the metal shacks, notice in the one image the pay phones, there are stations set up like this through out the region.

This little guy posed for Sidney Siu as we walked through the market, thanks for the use of the image.

Here are four more of Sidney’s images, including a shot of yours truly doing a little shopping.  

This is the house of Nelson and Winnie Mandella.  In February of this year the house opened as a museum.

The 2010 World Cup will be held in South Africa and this is a new stadium being built on the out skirts of the Soweto

We stopped for lunch in a Soweto eatery called Wandies, guests are encouraged to leave their mark.  This Rob I would have had to used a ladder.

We had a farewell dinner tonight at a place called Mayo, it was a great experience including a young lady came around the table and washed your hands and as she did she sang to you.  Then there was entertainment and face painting and oh yea some great food.

Then we had some fun.

Well everyone has returned to the hotel after a fun night, and will be starting to pack for our return trip home.  Tomorrow morning we will be doing a trip to a town about forty minutes from here called Petoria and is know for its beautiful flowering trees.

When we return to the hotel we will have about six hours free time before we leave for the airport.  Our flight leaves at 12:45 a.m. as we start our twenty three hour journey home.  We all hope you have enjoyed following our adventure here in South Africa.

Absolutely spectacular......You must be having the thrill of your life there, everyone! Keep the beautiful photographs coming. Interesting about the zebras. The strips sure all look the same to me. Mags :)

Wowee!!  Can imagine the number of cards being filled up!!  Suppose you're keeping a rough tally of the numbers of pictures taken each day

Oh those poor computers when you all return home... maybe even storage space may be at a premium - time to buy a new computer if any of you have any funds left after this trip.... heh heh heh....

Great shots!  Quite different from the animals we saw at the Toronto Zoo.  Amazing with the elephants getting that close to you - sure nothing can compare to that, just majestic animals.  Definitely don't think walking down a road at night alone would be recommended with those lions around....

Well guess enough said.  Continue to have a safe trip all with the remaining days left.  Sure go by all too fast eh!!  Take care and happy shooting!!

 Ross

After another early morning wake up, we headed out for our early morning game drive.  It was a little cooler here and a slight drizzle of rain, so the animals were a little less active and more difficult to spot.

The first series of images today was actually shot last night.  This is one of the female lioness that we tracked last night looking for wart-hogs.  In the shots below you can see her digging in a giant termite hill and trying to scare out the wart-hog who lives there.

In this shot you see her going deeper into the mound.

On our first drive this morning, Noelle our ranger took us to a herd of Zebra, they are fun to watch and no one Zebra has the same strips.  We also learned today that when a baby is born, the mother takes it away from the herd for some time so the young will recognize her stripes.

Here’s another shot of three Zebra grazing, they actually came quite close to our Rover.

They have beautiful heads that are fun to photograph.

Why did the Zebra cross the road ... don’t know but the answer is pretty Black and White.

At morning break one of the other Rangers with more of our group, joined us in an area close to where we tracking a Male Lion.  In this shot we see Jim, the back of Tom and Hendrik their Ranger.

Here Sidney is signaling for more shots of the lion, our Ranger Noelle is in the foreground.

Danny, Frank, Marcy, Alfred one of the trackers and Joke (yes not yoke) are seen in the photo.

A sleepy hippo.

Another shot of a Green Back Heron.

This little guy is called a Water Monitor.

Here’s a shot of a Waterbuck, as you will see in the next image, our Ranger said they were one of the first on the Ark and sat down on the toilet seat before the paint was dry.

In this image you see the white ring around his hind quarter.

These two Giraffe were feeding on some trees close by the road.

It is very interesting to look at their tongue, it is extremely long and a blueish to black in colour, which protects it from the sun.

This is a leopard backed tortoise.

Here’s our group photographing the tortoise, with all our long lenses our Ranger Noelle, called us her Hubbles. 

On our second game drive this afternoon, we picked up on tracking the male lion and after some patients and good tracking by our Ranger, here he is.  His roar could be felt deep in your stomach ... all hands and feet inside the vehicle please!!!

Big Yawn ... sharp teeth.

A watering hole in Kapama.

This is a Black-backed Jackal, nice shot Sean.

Three giraffe’s feeding by the road, another shot by Sean.

Sean shot these Rhino’s feeding in the open field, our group spent quite some take tracking them down tonight too.

This baby elephant getting a drink from the reservoir, the elephants spend a fair amount of their day eating.  Sean and his group took this image during the evening drive.

This beautiful bird was shot by Sean tonight, sorry at time of posting I do not have a confirmation on what type of bird he is.

Well this Black-backed Jackal is reflecting exactly how I feel.  It’s almost Midnight here and we’ve been up since 5:00 a.m. this morning as the morning game drive started at 5:30 a.m. and we are starting at the same time tomorrow.

Tomorrow morning is our last safari here at Kapama and when we get back tomorrow, we have about an hour to pack-up, check out as we head for Blyde River Canyon for another day of photography and then on to Hannah Game Lodge, for an evening Safari and overnight stay.  That’s it for this evening from Kapama in South Africa.

 Looks like you guys continue to have an amazing experience. I'm amazed at how close the elephants get to the vehicles. The brown patches on the elephant is that there naturally for that particular type of elephant. Don't ever remember seeing such colorations on any zoo elephant that I have seen. Look forward to seeing more. Sean should consider taking his flash off camera or were those just the headlights in that lion's eyes. Likely don't have alot of time to consider those things as I suspect things happen pretty quickly.

Bob 

We started this morning with a 5:00 a.m. wake-up call then at 5:30 a.m. coffee and tea and out to the awaiting rovers.  We had made arrangements prior to our arrival at Kopama to stay out longer so our morning game drive went from 6:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. and our group had a great adventure.

At that hour of the morning, many of the birds and animals are just waking up.

As we approached a watering hole this King Fisher was sitting on a branch eyeing up several tasty things in the water below.

Here’s a shot of a Green Back Heron, shot not to far from a watering hole.

Another shot of the King Fisher.

This is a Pygmy Fisher, our guide Noelle said it is a very rare finde.

A sequence shot of a male and female crossing the road with Ginnie Fowl in the background.

They say two heads are better than one!!

Morning coffee out on Safari.

Some beautiful reflections as these fellows take a drink.

Wart-hog

This is a rare treat to see one of these long necked guy taking a drink of water.

Lunch

An interesting and entertaining troupe of Baboons.

Race across the road and the wart hog is in the lead.

It hard to get up close to s creature this tall.

Another Warthog

Cape Buffalo

Our tracker Alfred and Kapama Game Ranger Noelle, they have both been fantastic in helping us find the game.

Here’s a shot of the male lion, that was taken this evening on the evening game drive.

Another great shot of the male lion, thanks Sean for the images.

Marg making her way to her Range Rover.

A Brown Spotted Eagle shot while taking off from their nest.

On tonights drive we spotted Elephant, there had to be 16 or 17 of them, you can see how close we are able to get to them, in relation to the Rovers.

The elephants take the small trees into their mouths and strip off the bark.

Nancy found herself a new man.  Way to go Nancy.

Well that wraps things up for another day in South Africa, as I sing off tonight there is a light rain and the locals are very happy as things have been pretty dry.  This will put a whole new look on things tomorrow as a little water makes things green up around here pretty quickly.  We will be staying here for another day and tomorrow morning we will be leaving at 5:30 a.m., I think the Rangers and Trackers are having as much fun as the photographers.  Best get off to bed as 5:00 a.m. comes early.

Tonight I will start with an update as we did not have much of an opportunity to post yesterday.  We are now in Kapama River Game Lodge and this evening just completed our first game drive, (10:30 p.m. here in South Africa at time of posting) and it was amazing.  There was 8 photographers to a rover, we started with afternoon tea then headed into the game park.  What an experience, for three and a half hours we tracked and photographed, many different types of animals.  

Tonights post will first be some shots from yesterday and then from the game drive today.

Here’s a shot of the group boarding our South African Airlines flight from Cape Town to Nelsprit Airport, and then about an hours drive to Hippo Hallow.

Sidney waving, Allan, Pratibha, Nanciellen, Marcy and Rob are also in the photo.

Window shot ...

The group waiting for the elephants to arrive by the river at Hippo Hallow Lodge.

Elephant feeding on some of the reeds down by the river.

Elephant at Hippo Hallow.

Brenda, Tom, Lois and Bill at dinner in Hippo Hallow.

Nanciellen, Marcy and Frank dinning at Hippo Hallow.

Dragon fly, this image was shot by Frank Wong.

Some more hippos on the river close by Hippo Hallow, by Frank Wong.

Giant Heron, shot by Frank Wong.

This crock was sunning himself out by the river, image by Frank Wong.

The colour of some of the birds are amazing, image by Frank Wong.

This hippo was grazing on the grass, right beside the patio we were having dinner.  This was about 10:00 p.m. -  image by Tom Hopkins.

This shot was taken this morning on our drive to Kapama river lodge, a small village and everyone waves as you pass.

Some of the local ladies carrying home their purchases.

These black rhinos were at a watering hole near the front entrance to Kapama lodge.

Here is the welcoming committee as we drove in the front gate.

A couple of babies, their mother was not to far away.

A shot of our group anxious to get out and shooting.

Zebra, there was about 9 or 10 of them they don’t move that

fast when grazing, but we got a few good shots.

Lion cub, it was amazing how close our guide Noel got us to these beautiful beasts.

The lions sleep during the day and hunt in the evening, when it is cooler.

Heres a shot of some of the other Rovers carrying some of our group.

As the sun is setting on a game drive you find a safe spot to stop and get out and have a sun downer.  We had quite the selection to choose from.

I will close off tonight wishing Lois Hill an Happy Birthday, the staff all came out sing to Lois, and all of a sudden they stopped ... we could not figure out at first what was wrong .. then we all realized Lois was up at the dessert part of the buffet.  

That wraps up tonights post, it is an early wake up call of 5:00 a.m. for our sun rise game drive.  I will be excited to post some of those images tomorrow.  Good night from Kapama River Game Lodge in South Africa.  P.S. please forgive a few blurry eyed typo's as most times it's very late Africa time when I get the daily images and text posted.

Today we left Cape Town and flew up to the north of South Africa to Hippo Hallow in Mpumalanga Province, we will spend the next few days exploring this region including safari time starting with Kapama Game lodge tomorrow.

After our arrival at Hippow Hallow, it was an afternoon of relaxing, but was not long before we found out that there were aprox. 24 hippos in a watering hole at a near by golf club.  Our driver agreeed to take anyone in the group over to do some shooting.  It turned out to be rewarding trip. 

Upon returning to Hippo Hallow, we had a chance to photograph a parade of elephants that were broung down from a near by reserve and with the reflections of the water of the near by Sabi river more images were captured.

We ment for dinner at 7:30 tonite and spent some time after dinner, photographing the hippos that appeared near the lodge and reviewing some of our shots in a lounge area we got permission to usethis evening.

Hippo Hallow does not have much when it comes to internet facilities so I won't be able to post images until we reach Kapama tomorrow.  In fact the internet computer I'm using to type this tonight is in an outdoor lounge area.

We are all excited, as tomorrow evening will be our first game drive and we will share those images and some from today.

Good night from the Kruger region of South Africa, as we turn it at midnight with a temperature close to 19 degrees and the amazing sounds of the river and all the night creatures speaking back and forth.

This morning we left for Boulders Beach to photograph the South African Penguins.   As we drove along the coast we were treated to some spectacular photos of the ocean, thanks to extremely high winds.  We stopped and took some images overlooking this small fishing village.

As we drove along the cost the wind continued to provide some great scenery.

To celebrate visiting the penguins on Boulders Beach Erika and Brenda came dressed for the occasion.  It was a great surprise and they were happy to fill in for the penguins.

Down on Boulders Beach there was this giant piece of granite rock and this flock of Comrance gather to keep out of the high winds.

Boulders Beach is home to the South African Penguin also know as the Jack-Ass Penguin.  It was interesting to watch and photograph them in the high winds and rougher sea.

On the beach we had a chance to walk around and very easily photograph the penguins.  The did not pay to much attention to us.

Another curious little guy.

This one was busy gathering twigs for it’s nest.

Bill getting up-close to this penguin by the boardwalk.

This group was just out for a walk.

Here’s a sight you would not see in Antarctica, this penguin had moved up the hill out of the high winds and found a spot within the flowers.

Notice the pink area above their eyes, this is a bladder where extra blood pumps through to help cool the penguins in the South African heat.

The winds were so high today the birds were all moving in slow motion.

A Hyrex watching from above.

Erika shows the group she can easily imitate the penguins.  The penguin in the background might think different.

Even the gulls thought she was a penguin.

The high winds also made for some interesting photos along the sea shore.

After lunch we headed back to Cape Town for a visit to the Castle of Good Hope, the interesting architecture and colour made for some great images.

Nanciellen, Lois and Brenda checking out the castle, Bill can also be seen in the background.

Tom, Bill, Bob and Brenda with the castle walls in the background.

We had some free time this afternoon, and some of headed down to the harbour district to look around at the interesting market.  The evening light made for some interesting colours. Thanks to Sidney Siu for this image.

Here is another interesting shot by Sidney.

Marcy and I posed for Sydney as he tried to put us in perspective with the statues behind us.  This monument is to celebrate some great South Africans that have been awarded the Nobel Peace Price.  Two of the statures are Desmond Tutu and Nelson Mandela.

Well that’s it for todays post, it time to get things packed up, as we head out for the airport at 7:45 a.m. to head up to the Mpumalanga Province to start our game drive portion of the tour.  It’s about a two and a half hour plane ride.  Our first night we will stay at Hippo Hollow and then move onto Kapama Game lodge which is located near Kruger National Park.  Hello to Ryan and Adam, I hope you liked the images of the Penguins.

Today was another beautiful day in the Cape Town region, we departed at 9:00 a.m. this morning for Cape Point and Cape of Good Hope.  The combination of blue sky and fluffy clouds made for another great day of photography.  Later in the afternoon the winds picked and at the point proved to be a challenge for photos as we walked out to the souther most tip of South Africa. This male ostrich was feeding near the entrance to Cape Point National Park.

This is Cape Point and todays adventure took us right out to the point.  The wind picked up as we made our way closer to the light house.

Female ostrich checking out the brush area.

This is a Right Back Whale, and he was swimming along the point.  We saw seven whales in total along the coast today.

Marg and Bill at the Cape of Good Hope

The group at the Cape of Good Hope, this part of South Africa is very lush and full of colour.

Everybody had their own way of sticking their foot into the ocean, this is where the Atlantic and Indian Ocean meet.

Cape Point is full of Baboons and we were treated to a pretty good show by a few of the residences today.

This little guy was keeping a close eye on the group and his buddies.

All the Baboons stayed pretty close together, and there are number groups within the national reserve, and they all have their own territories.

This is a different group that we encountered at the side of the road as we left the park, notice the baby does not go to far away from the adults.

They are always very curious.

Mother and her babies.

The alpha male keeping a close watch of us and his family.

Another shot.

The whole family.

Grooming time.

Well that’s it for todays post, we are off to Boulders Beach tomorrow to photograph the penguins for a good portion of the day, then we will be visiting the Castle of Good Hope.

Thanks Bob, once the cheetahs have been imprinted on humans they would die if they went back into the wild, so they become ambassadors round the wold to promote the fact that cheetahs are on the endangered species list.

Glad you are enjoying the blog, I have some more pics you will enjoy today.  And I will see about an audio track.

Hope you are feeling better soon, we miss you and Gail travelling with us this time round.

James 

Continued great images. James, I have a question about the Cheetah reserve. I see that you are able to go in and pet the baby Cheetahs. Are these animals re-introduced into the wild or do they stay in the confines of the reserve? If they are introduced back into the wild how do they get around the human imprinting problems? Anyway just a question that came to mind.

Really enjoying the blog and the daily image submissions. It is different being on this side of the blog. However the images do give us over here a sense of some of what you are experiencing there. One suggestion would be to include a few audio segments with James puns which will really give us the feeling of being right there.

Anyway I hope you continue to have a great time and look forward to seeing more.

Now to get back to my chicken soup since I contracted the H1N1 flu bug on the weekend!! 

Bob 

Another beautiful day here in the Cape Town region, the group departed this morning at 9:00 a.m. and headed out along the coast to Hout Bay.  Prior to reaching the bay we stopped along the way to take some coast line photographs.

We then carried on to Hout Bay boarded our boat and headed out to Duiker Island to photograph the Cape Fur Seals.

A shot overlooking a resort area just outside of Cape Town, if you look in the bottom left corner you can see them setting up to do a movie shoot.  It turns out that due to the reasonable cost of labour etc in this region, studios are filming more and more movies in South Africa.

While at this overlook we got everyone together for a group photo.  

The weather was beautiful to go onto the ocean today, and Brenda is taking up position at the bow of the boat ... or is she auditioning for Titanic 2?

Lois scanning the waters for seals.

Marcy on getting ready for the shots of the seals.

Cape Fur Seals, the small island out in the bay was covered with them, and the water full of curious heads, fins and tails.  It was a spectacular sight.

The morning light was perfect for catching the colour of the seals.

As you can see from this shot land and sea was a hive of activity.

This little guy was following our boat, they were all very playful.

Don’t forget to look up when you are on the ocean.

Syncro flipper swimming.

Dolphins at the mouth of the bay.

Danny, Jim and Marcy put the cameras down to watch the dolphins.

If you paid this man a few Rand, he would put a fish in his mouth and lean over the dock to feed a seal that had swam into the harbour.  Quite a few of the locals earn money by buskering around the dock.  There are many market stalls and open air fish markets.

This gentleman was part of a four man group singing and dancing in the area our boat docked.  The were very entertaining.

Nanciellen showing some of the local women that clean fish on the wharf, their images.

After a great lunch at the Fisherman’s Wharf we headed to Speir to the Cheetah reserve, they took four photographers at a time into the area with the cheetahs and we all had a chance to photograph them and even pat them.  Marg poses for a shot with one of the baby cheetahs that have recently been born at the reserve.

James with another one of the three baby cheetahs, you could only approach them when laying down. The group rotated between two separate areas, and after visiting the babies we were able to go into the next section with a young adult cheetah.  This was an amazing chance to photograph him running and exploring, all a few fee away from you.  There were two of the park personal in with us at all times, and they are very cautious of everything going on around them.  All hats, backpacks and other items that might attract the cheetahs had to be removed.  

Cheetahs are the fastest land animals, 0 to 50 km in less than three seconds.  They are now on the endangered list and places like the cheetah reserve are working hard to preserve these beautiful creatures.

Here is a shot as the young male ran past me, when he was about to turn around near a small pond, Sidney was there kneeling down taking photos and the cheetahs tail hit is long tele-photo lens leaving a few mud prints.  But a great experience, never to be forgotten.

Proud of his territory, this male is checking out his surrounding, and one would almost guess he was posing for the camera.

Here is a great close up shot by Sean, while his group was in with the babies one of them put his two paws onto Nancy Maki’s back, as she was bent over taking a shot of one of the other babies.

It was such a great opportunity to spend time with these giant cats.

Well it is almost 2:00 am and we have a 9:00 a.m. start tomorrow as we head to the Cape of Good Hope and the Cape National Park.  Many more opportunities for the group including the ever interesting baboons.  More images and stories tomorrow.  Good night from Cape Town.

Must be filling those cards up fast and tired as you must be at the end of the day downloading those pictures onto another storage medium.  Great stuff by the looks of the pictures posted so far.

Give my regards to all, especially to the members and our esteemed president of the LCC that are touring with you.  May you continue to have good weather and enjoy the many sights  to come.

Ross

Today was a busy day in and around Cape Town, after a 6:30 a.m. wake up call and breakfast, we sailed over to Robben Island, which was well know for the penal colony and holding political prisoners, and one such prisoner was Nelson Mandela.  The Island is now a museum of the prison and a nature reserve.  It has served as many things over the past century, including military base, mental hospital and leper colony.

Tom and Brenda arriving on the dock on Robben Island.

Patty and Erika exploring the island.

Dick and Janice thought I was to short for our photographers to see me, so they offered up their umbrella.

This is an image from the grave yard on the island where people with leprosy are buried.

Another image from the graveyard.

Robben Island is also a nature reserve, and many different species of wildlife live on the island.  This image is of a Sacred Ibis.

Here’s another image of the Sacred Ibis, this bird is from Egypt.

A view of one of the buildings in the prison.

Our guide is pointing out the cell window, where Nelson Mandela was held.

Children playing outside the one room school house, there are 102 people that still live on the island.  They work on restoring the island, maintenance, and other projects.

Theses interesting birds were down near the beach, they are called Clam Crushers.

This is the garden where Nelson Mandela buried the manuscript for his book, that he worked on during his time at Robin Isand.

Our guide Norza was actually a political prisoner on the island, it fact quite a few ex-prisoners are now guides, sharing their stories of the past.

Sidney playing prisoner.

These young dancers were in the square as we headed to the Fisherman’s Quay for lunch.

Everyone gathering for lunch, you had a choice of mussels, salads, and a local catch or BBQ Chicken and desert.  If was great to sit and talk about the mornings adventure.

After lunch we visited the Malay Quarter of Cape Town, all the building are painted an interesting colour.

Another angle.

The streets are amazing to walk, very hilly and something interesting at each corner to photograph.

Jim Nagy against one of the buildings.

Burst of Sun.

A shot of some of photographers and something that has caught their attention.

Some of the local children, they were thrilled when Brenda gave them some Canadian Flag Pins.

The boys got in on the act too.

There is colour everywhere.

This is a Hyrax, and he was wondering around on the rock ledge this evening at Table Mountain.  We took the cable car to the top, about a three hour hike by foot, to enjoy the view over the bay.  By the way, the Hyrax is a distant relative to the Elephant, really!!  look it up.

Here is a shot from the cable car.

The clouds moved in, blanketing the Cape Town and the bay with fog, it was beautiful to watch from above.

As the sun started to set, it was spectacular.

Rob Paterson, taking a shot ... not to close now Rob.

Once the sun had set, we took the bus and went across to Signal Hill, and did some night photography.  The fog had cleared and it was a warm beautiful evening in Cape Town.

Well that’s it for this evening, we have another early morning start as we head to Hout Bay and take about out to photograph the Cape Fur Seals and then later in the day we will be visiting a Cheetah reserve.  Our photographers will be taken into the secured areas four at a time and be able to photograph the Cheetahs up close.  Have a good night and more images from South Africa tomorrow evening.

Our flight touched down in Cape Town South Africa at 9:55 P.M. this evening.  After a seven hour flight from Toronto to Amsterdam, then a three hour lay over and an eleven and a half hour flight from Amsterdam to Cape Town.  The group was treated to a nice reception at the hotel with drinks and a selection of h'orderves.  We all were not long heading to our rooms to catch up on our sleep.

We meet at 9:15 tomorrow morning to head to the docks and take a boat over to Robben Island, and begin our first morning of photography.  

Good night from South Africa, and we will post images from Robben Island, the Bo-Kaap district and sunset from table mountain.  The above image is an areal shot of table mountain, table bay and Cape Town.  South Africa is six hours ahead of home.

Say hi to Schiphol for me. Have a fab time everyone, especially Lois!!!

Patti

Well it is 4:41 p.m. we are at the airport in Toronto, checked in and waiting for the flight to board.  We thought it would be fun to post some images that we shot so far.  Next stop Amsterdam 7.5 hours from now.

Checking in at the shop prior to departure. 

Marcy, Lois and Janice waiting to board the bus. 

Erika and Robert on the bus. 

Almost to Toronto, Frank, Jim and Brenda 

Jim and the rest of the gang now waiting to board our flight to Amsterdam. 

Bill enjoying his last cup of Tim Hortons for the next 14 day.

Well they are starting to call the boarding for the flight, we will try to post from Amsterdam.