After 5 weeks we have left Blue Hill Escape and had to say bye to all the wonderful people (and animals) we have left behind there. We have had some incredible and unforgettable experiences, and owe so much to Alan, Anja, their family, and the other guests for their incredible hospitality and company.
Take care all of you, and all the best for the future! We will keep in touch and will look forward to hearing more about the Rockjumpers!
On Sunday 22nd March we decided it was time to climb Blue Hill itself. I was feeling a bit under the weather (ironic) we eventually left at around 10am. With Ruby’s recent injury we knew we needed to climb slowly and take our time, and that we may not reach the top at all.
It was hot, and it was a long walk. Not too steep but a long steady climb up to the summit. And finally, after three and a half hours, we reached the top!
Notice there were a few clouds forming at this point…
We started walking back down almost immediately (~2pm), keen to make sure we got back before dark. After an hour we were around half way down, and some serious clouds were forming, and a distant rumble of thunder prompted me to get a quick picture because it was amazing how quickly it had changed from hot and sunny, to cloudy and stormy.
We dropped from the top of the main ridge in case the storm blew our way, we knew that it was wise to keep low in case of lightning. We carried on, reaching the bottom of the slope, and all that really stood between us and our cottage was a small valley and then a long flat pateau. But then things took a nasty twist.
A sharp bolt of lightning way to our north seemed to emerge from a cloud that was still forming as is struck. And within seconds another bolt hit much closer to our west. The second bolt was far too close for comfort, and we knew we needed to get lower so we made a run for the nearby little valley, dropping our bags and electrical equipment along the way because they could attract a lightning strike.
We sat in the valley and waited as the storm grew and hovered over our heads. There wasn’t enough wind to blow it over so we laid in the valley listening to bolts strike to our north, west and east in quick succession, some of which were so frighteningly close that we could hear the crackling of the electricity. I will tell you now that I was pretty terrified at this point. Storms over here do not mess about. The rain had also started hammering down, the first rainfall inn the area since November! Great for the plants, terrible for us.
The rain had now soaked us and we were starting to shiver so we needed to start moving because the storm wasn’t going anywhere. But we couldn’t take the path home as we would have been the tallest things on the plateau, making us a possible target for a lightening bolt. So after half an hour we decided to crawl through the valley downstream, abandoning our bags. I was 85% sure it would lead round to the South Road which had high cliffs either side so that we could safely walk back. And there was literally no other option.
After crawling through all kinds of messy rocks and prickly bushes we found ourselves at a part of the stream which was already flowing really heavily from the rainfall so we couldn’t cross it. We had to stick to our side of the slope and climb round the rocks, which were now really quite slippy. We steadily made our way over a small hill, keeping as low as we could and found a way down to the stream, and a way to cross onto the South Road.
We staggered home, drenched, muddy and a bit shaken up. Ruby is also covered in cuts and bruises on her legs from the crawling. We had a warm meal and burnt wood in the log burner all evening to warm up. It had been scary but it felt good knowing we had found our own way out of such a sticky situation with limited options.
The following morning I returned to find our bags drenched through but in tact. We laid all of our things out in the sun to dry and luckily, there was very little damage done. Even our cameras worked again after some time to dry!
We learnt a lot of lessons from the harsh change in weather that day. Most importantly, always be prepared for the worst, no matter how unlikely it seems. Take care everyone! x
I’ve got a lot to catch up on as we’ve been busy and travelling so I’ll keep it as short as possible. Here’s what we’ve been up to –
Catching Scorpions
We found a tiny scorpion in our sink one morning and it turns out it was pretty venomous (the scorpion guide gave it a 7/10 venom rating). We caught it in a glass and gave it to Chutney as a treat.
Spotting Rockjumpers
We’ve spent a lot of time chasing these elusive characters.
Can you spot the Rockjumper?
Crafts
I made an axe! It couldn’t chop anything and it soon fell apart.
Taking walks
There is plenty of room to explore at Blue Hill, and lots of beautiful scenery.
Camera traps were on many gates around the reserve and used motion sensors to catch photos of wildlife passing by. We saw some amazing pictures on the camera traps whilst we were there, including a leopard, honey badger, caracal, baboons and bushpigs.
Watching animals
There are loads of animals hanging around posing for photos.
Searching for Leopards
One day we took a walk down the east road and heard a rather strange sound from the bushes very close to us. We later found several big cat footprints on the road and we almost definitely maybe might have heard a potential leopard. I’m positive that it’s a possibility.
Visiting an ostrich farm
One day Anja brought home an ostrich egg to for lunch (delicious) and I think it inspired a day out the next day to the ostrich farm in Oudtshoorn. We got to see big ostriches, hold baby ostriches and feed ostriches whilst they gave us a shoulder massage.
Chopping Wood
Chop chop. It was incredibly fun.
Stargazing
I have already mentioned the night sky a couple of times because it is incredible how much is visible here where there is virtually no light pollution. My camera was useless in such dark conditions but Krista took some great photos one night which show just how much we could see.
Over the last couple of weeks I’ve become fascinated by how incredible the world is in areas where human impact is kept to a bare minimum, as this is the closest I have ever been to an environment which can truly be described as “wild”. The natural formation of the landscape, the climate, and the ways in which different species find ways to survive in it are mesmerising.
The Blue Hill nature reserve and what I’ve seen of the neighbouring area of the Baviaanskloof nature reserve are protected to preserve the natural fynbos environment, with the only trace of human intrusion being a couple of 4×4 tracks and some old farm boundary fences cutting through the hills and valleys. The area belongs to the wildlife that inhabits it, and it’s amazing to see the wide array of plants and animals which have evolved to survive in these conditions, even now when there has been no rainfall since November.
The lack of nearby towns or cities also means there is virtually no light pollution. On Monday night the sky was particularly clear, with no moon to wash out the stars with it’s glare. The result was incredible. We saw the kind of scene which I’d only ever seen before in pictures. Thousands of stars, a few planets, the milky way, the large magellanic cloud and shooting stars which were all incredibly bright. It was breathtaking to be able to see so much with the naked eye, and kind of difficult to comprehend the scale of what is out there. And it did make me wonder why I don’t stare up at the stars more often.
A Meerkat’s Wild Nature
This week I discovered that even partially domesticated meerkats retain their wild instincts. Meerkats are very social animals which live in colonies, and our resident meerkat Chutney loves our company. However, their colonies also have a structure of authority and this means Chutney is keen to try and assert dominance over new guests. Sure enough, this week Chutney decided to test his standing in our colony by sinking his teeth into my hand in an an attempted show of dominance. We had been warned this may happen and it’s important to respond in a way that he will understand, with a sharp smack on the head to show him who’s boss! He quickly learned his lesson and even though he will still show me his teeth playfully, he won’t bite me even if I put my hand between his teeth.
Ringing
Yesterday (Wednesday 11th March) Me, Ruby and Sarephina were offered the chance to take Alan’s ringing equipment down to the stream by the house and try to catch some birds, an offer we gladly accepted. We caught 15 birds through the morning and Ruby did a great job of leading the session practically on her own, doing all the ringing and taking all of the measurements. My favourite was definitely the kingfisher!
Celebrations
Yesterday also happened to be Alan’s birthday (Happy Birthday!) and there was a large group of us here to celebrate it. In the afternoon we all sat out in the sun and had a braai, kicked off with the genius stick-bread (wrapping bread dough around a stick and cooking it over the coals), before the main course of a gigantic pile of meat, and finished off with some delicious sweet lemon birthday cake.
It was great to relax and spend some time with the family and the other guests who all have some great stories to tell of their own travels. It has been a pleasure to spend the last few weeks with them and the hospitality they have shown us has been amazing, we will definitely be sad to leave in a couple of weeks.
It also looks as though the Cape Rockjumper research is starting to produce some interesting results! Hopefully we’ll see a little more on that in the next couple of weeks 🙂
Wednesday 4th March
Today I stayed in the office whilst Ruby, Krista and Alan went out and tracked rockjumpers. In the afternoon, Anja told me that the baboons were near the cottage so I went to have a look for them. As soon as I stepped out of the office they barked an alarm and started to run away, so I followed.
I followed their tracked across the field outside our cottage to the small valley that runs by with a stream. And sure enough, on the hill on the other side of the valley the baboons started to appear along the top ridge, silhouetted against the sky. It was fascinating to watch them and I got to see several baboons on lookout duty, some preening each other, and even some young ones playing.
Whilst down by the valley I also saw a large bone, thought to be part of the remains of a kudu who died there last year. I also took a picture of a lovely green patch by the stream which I thought to be deserted, only to find out later that there was a Grysbok stood there watching me the whole time. I was pretty gutted because it would have been a great sighting, but being colour blind meant I didn’t see him at all and walked away not knowing he was there…
Monday 2nd March
Up until this day it had been relatively clear skies every day so far at Blue Hill, but the fog really rolled in this morning. It made the equipment wet and made it almost impossible to spot birds for a while. It was ridiculously cold as well. Then it cleared in about 5 minutes, leaving clear skies and the sun bearing down on us.
Krista also took a bit of a tumble down some large boulders but came away with just a few scrapes and bruises. She was lucky! And I managed to spot the rockjumpers!
After returning from Port Elizabeth I had a couple of days out in the field following rockjumpers whilst Ruby stayed back at the house to allow her achilles to recover. Getting out to our observation sites is no easy task, the furthest of which is a 45 minute brisk walk through a valley and up some steep hills, constantly climbing over loose rocks which often slip away under your feet and leave you sat on your backside.
On Saturday I went out to Saimic with Alan and Krista and saw more lizards, a couple of birds of prey and even a Sangi (a little elephant shrew). It was a really cold morning but as soon as the sun came out it was blisteringly hot. I didn’t have much luck finding the rockjumpers but Alan and Krista did a great job of keeping track of them.
Sunday 1 March 2015
On Sunday we had our first completely full day off to do what we wanted. We had fresh eggs from the resident chickens for breakfast, then we did some bird watching out the windows and got some snaps of birds getting breakfast in the bushes around the cottage.
I picked a book off the shelf in the cottage called “Frontier Flames” by F.C. Metrowich. It was about the conflicts between European colonies and African communities in the 18th century. It also mentioned some early attempts to enforce a system of apartheid along the frontier between them. I didn’t get too far through the book though, because we decided it was time explore.
We took a walk along the 4×4 track beside the cottage into the nature reserve. We didn’t go too far but it was a gorgeous morning and we saw some new parts of the reserve just around the corner from where we’re staying.
In the afternoon we checked emails, football scores and played with chutney before heading back to relax and do some more reading whilst it rained.
It was lovely to have such a relaxed day to unwind and try to let it settle in just where we are. Even though it has been great fun being busy and out on the reserve most of the time it hasn’t quite sunk in that we are on the other side of the world from home yet. But we are having an amazing time in an amazing place. And we’ll be coming back with some incredible stories and experiences.
Hope you’re all well back home, take care 🙂 x
Monday 23 February 2015
On Monday we packed our bags and took a road trip with Alan and Krista to Port Elizabeth on the south coast of South Africa. The views all along the journey were fantastic as we travelled east through the Langkloof valley. We stopped along Route 62 at a place called “The Sweaty Dutchman” to try their pancakes. Filled with curried chicken breast and bacon, with a side of small potato wedges and sweet chilli sauce, and a sweet apple sauce to top it off. Amazing.
We jumped back in the 4×4 and got on the motorway. before long we were cruising past Jeffrey’s Bay, and soon we arrived at Port Elizabeth itself. It is a gorgeous city and when we arrived it was sparkling in the afternoon sun. We rode along the coastline until we found the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University. Once there, we met one of Krista’s supervisors, Ben, and attended his lecture on the drinking behaviours of birds in the Kalahari desert. It was interesting to learn how they studied which birds were drinking from an artificial water source by doping the water source with deuterium, and subsequently measuring the relative concentrations of normal and heavy water in the birds bloodstream.
Me, Ruby and Alan then headed just outside of Port Elizabeth to the Falcon Rock Trading Post camp site. It was very remote and situated at the bottom of a mountain, with signs such as “May Peace Prevail on Earth” dotted around. We were instantly greeted by the resident dogs who roamed the camp site freely and were always looking for a fuss and some food. It was a very welcoming place. We pitched up, started a fire, cooked some wors (sausages) and made hot dogs (I have since learned that in South Africa this is known as a “braai” rather than a barbecue). It soon became apparent that we were the only guests at the site that night, so we turned in and got an early night ready for the following morning…
Tuesday 24th February 2015
We got up early, and left the camp site at 5am to make our way to the nearby Van Staden’s nature reserve before sunrise to set up the bird ringing nets in the rain. We were met there by Ben, and two other students called Jerry and Nick. Ruby has done a lot of ringing back in England but I’ve never seen it before, and it’s pretty impressive. Huge nets which have bag-like compartments are set up along a pathway, and unsuspecting birds fly into them and get caught. The birds are then extracted from the nets (by someone who knows what they’re doing) and taken to the ringing station, where other people (who know what they’re doing) weigh and measure the birds in all kinds of ways, check for problems and then test a few behaviours, such as whether they’re keen to bite a nearby finger.
As someone who didn’t know how to handle the birds, I had a clipboard and jotted down all the information for each bird. Each bird then has a small metal ring attached to their leg which the unique number, so that the specific bird can be identified if it is ever caught again, and his developments can be studied. We also put colourful rings on male Cape Sugarbirds so that Jerry can identify individuals with a camera for his study on the species in the coming months.
We caught loads of other colourful species, such as various sunbirds, a canary, and an emerald spotted wood dove (which Alan got particularly excited about). I also had a quick go at holding a young Malachite Sunbird, but they’re so tiny and fragile that I was terrified of hurting it, so I soon gave it back to Ruby.
We grabbed some bunny chow (a hollowed out end of a loaf of bread filled with curry and potatoes) on the way back to Falcon Rock and setted down for a relaxed evening, ready to do it all again the next day.
Wednesday 25th February 2015
Up ridiculously early again, and we were greeted by a very large rain spider on our tent door. We were a bit wary of it because the thing was gigantic, but we were later assured they are completely harmless. Except that they could probably swallow you whole. I was glad to get away from that tent for a bit.
We arrived at Van Staden’s before sunrise again and nets were set up. We were met by the same gang as yesterday, along with Krista. We caught some more really cool birds, including some more canaries, a common fiscal shrike that was keen to tear peoples’ fingers off and a paradise flycatcher.
At lunchtime we went to pack up our tents, say goodbye to the rain spider and start the journey back to Blue Hill. We stopped at the Jeffrey’s Bay Mall, picked up some bits and pieces and tried some sushi. When we got back to Blue Hill we were greeted by a very excited Chutney and some baboon poo smeared on the wall outside our cottage. I’m not even sure how they managed it. It was pretty high up. Very impressive. But we were tired. And we soon crashed and got a good night’s sleep.
Please also take a look at Alan’s blog about our trip to Van Staden’s with more pics of us ringing 🙂 http://bluehillescape.blogspot.com/2015/02/van-stadens-revisited.html
"Don't think outside the box. Get rid of it."
Lambey in Africa 