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Bird Images from my Archive
Tag: Western Cape
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Storm
This is an old post. My 15 minutes of fame as promised by Andy Warhol. This happened in 2008. I went out with three cameras, took about 80 photographs, went home, edited them and published the webpage at 3 pm on the Sunday afternoon. I also sent out an abbreviated email at the same time. By Monday morning a colleague phoned me and said he had an email from New Zealand about a storm in Cape Town and he wanted to know if that was really me in the picture. All in the all the website hit just over a 1 GB of traffic in a hectic 36 hour period. 18 Months later, I met someone in McGregor who recognised my email address from that day. I even had the credit for my photos stolen by someone. Fame indeed. So buckle up and join me on a trip to Camps Bay and Sea Point to see an ancient storm.
Camps Bay Beach
Sunday and the newspapers (that tells you how old this post is!) were telling of a huge storm and I headed to Camps Bay.
Waves are difficult to shoot so that they look impressive. You need a body, preferably not drowning or in trouble. Or a yacht, equally not in trouble. I did try to give an impression of the size of the waves but it was difficult! Trust me though, they were huge! The first one shows the foam that eventually was the main star of the show. It looks boring and kinda quiescent here, but just wait.
Keeping lenses clean was a mission. Throughout this series of pictures you are gonna see spots and blotches. Take that it as a sign that there has been no post processing and that I was there on the spot.
Sea Point
And then I decamped to Sea Point and things changed dramatically!
For one thing you could see the storm still hammering in.
This was the car park at the end of the promenade and foam is starting to make its mark.
These young boys just loved the foam!
No real water here, just foam.
This wave is a long way out and huge. No bodies make it impossible to tell what you are seeing.
A trig beacon provides a bit of a reference.
This picture was an accident. The rain was pouring down. Nope wait the rain was coming in at about 10 degrees to the horisontal and the lens got wet, at least the filter did and this very painterly picture was taken.
Rainstorm!
The cars got covered in foam.
Walking in the wind was difficult. A lot of the time I walked backwards into the wind, protecting the cameras from the rain and foam.
This picture was almost my undoing. I wanted at bit of the sea wall so I climbed down to get it. While I was down there a deceptive “little” wave of foam roared up the slope and nearly covered me completely.
Nice storm front and the sea as a foreground.
More foam racing in to try to catch me.
Art Picture moment here. But seriously, look at the palm fronds, the wind was ripping and tearing at them.
The approach of the foam is stealthy. You think you have a little bit of foam.
And then there is that “Oh, NOOOO” moment.
In my case “Oh SHHHHHH!” I ducked and hid the camera.
Cars cannot dodge so easily.
This wall of foam was nearly a metre high.
Alien art picture.
A safer sea wall – at least I thought it was.
And then it snuck up behind me.
Dedication.
That foam wave closer in is actually racing outwards!
Check the size of this one. It did get me!
And them! What a gallant man. He was covered in foam!
Care for a seat by the sea?
There were people taking pictures all over the place. This woman chose a safe place to do her composing. Sensible.
And here is Sea Point pool. No sun bathers here either.
And here I am, covered in foam and completely happy with my Sunday’s photography. Thanx to a young lady who took this picture for me.
High up above McGregor in the Breede River Winelands is a dark sky site par excellence – Whipstop Farm. The skies are dark and the horizons are low enough not to become intrusive.
The only down side of the site is the light pollution from Worcester but it is far enough away to be minimally intrusive. The rest of the horizons are pretty much clear of light pollution. Even Cape Town doesn’t really feature.
The light in the trees is from a nearby chalet. There are areas away from the chalets, but the management were happy to kill the lights for me.
I liked the effect of the lights on the trees so I left the lights of my chalet on for effect.
I was fortunate enough to be there during the great alignment with Jupiter and Venus almost touching. Such a beautiful sight.
Separated by a long telephoto lens accompanied by much swearing. The two planets were incredibly bright in the morning sky.
If you fancy some good dark skies, this is the place Whipstock Farm
The west coast of South Africa is a dry semi-desert region with an average rainfall of 280 mm (12″). For most of the years the vegetation is low scrub and thorn bushes with patches of dry dusty ground. In August after the winter rains things change dramatically. The flower come out in raging colours. This display lasts three months and by the end of October the flowers are gone and the dry dusty veld is left.
We drove up to Langebaan in mid August after good winter rains and enjoyed the glory of the flowers
The flowers spread across all the open ground and wild profusion. If you drive through quickly you only see the carpet of flowers. If however you stop and look, there is a wealth of beautiful flowers hidden within the showy flash of white, yellow and orange.
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Flowers
This post will be updated regularly with pictures of flowers from the Fynbos biome in the Western Cape, South Africa. The flowers were photographed all over the place and I will not be giving localities because some are so old that I cannot remember where I took the pictures.
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Clouds over Lions Head
Video of clouds around Lions Head
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Sir Lowry’s Pass
This pass crosses the Hottentot Holland Mountains. It separates Cape Town from the Boland.
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Houwhoek Pass
The Houwhoek Pass is a small, fairly insignificant pass just outside Cape Town. In the following video we are approaching from Bot River and heading toward Cape Town
Living in Gardens Cape Town is a privilege. The views are extraordinary. Here are some night time photos. Venus and the moon in close conjunction.
Some 30 km outside of Calitzdorp in the Western Cape is the Gammkaberg Nature Reserve, run by Cape Nature. There are a number of trails in the park, the longest (two days) is the Tierkloof Trail that runs up the Tierkloof canyon stops at Oudkraal, an over night camp and then returns to the base camp the next day. Both days distance is about 14 km. The scenery is magnificent and the going moderately hard. The first day ends with a climb of about 450 m over 3 km. The second day is easier with a sharp down hill and then fairly flat all the way home. I recently hiked this trail and it is, as claimed one of the more beautiful hikes in the Western Cape.
The base camp.
Setting out
The trail is built on and around the river that carved the klook (canyon). The river does not run often so this is not a problem. It could get tense though….
Elements of the Cape Fold Mountains can be seen.
Thorn trees growing in the riverbed.
Trail markings are very good, this is an informal one that took my fancy
At Overhang, about halfway there and back. 
Overnight camp – Oudkraal.
Sunset is a special time
And the stars are spectacular
Down again.
And relax
Enjoy the sunset
Before the long road home
More pictures here: