Greyton,
South Africa
Friday, August 8, 2008
Nature's Valley certainly good for wildlife. There were lepoards and caracal in the area. We saw deer and lots of birds. The guest house cat had a bit of fur missing and her owner worried she may be scrapping with some of these animals but was clearly a survivor. Todays mission was to find the rare and endemic Knysna Lourie. This pigeon sized bird had a purple body, green head with red eye and white eye stripe green crest and red wings. I thought I may be able to identify this. Locals gave us some sites, which although nice forest walks didn't produce a Lourie. One our way back to Tony and Janets stopped in at Wilderness Nature Reserve and found the Louries in a tree at the reception. This was a nice area and it would have been worth renting a canoe for the day to explore tke lakes and waterways but no running out of time as it was a 400 km drive back to Greyton. Pat expressed no disappointment at this.
Arrive Greyton just befor dark, a first for us arriving anywhere in the light. Went out with Janet and Tony for dinner in a local hotel. Just us there again. Had table next to a log fire and a nice evening. Stayed up late chatting and watching the olympic opening ceremony.
