South Africa

WOW !!!

Have a great time Ian,

Look forward to seeing your pictures.

Hi-

some great birding as well in SA   -  plenty of whales offshore and a wealth of pelagic spp as well

S

Have a great trip Ian. Just make sure the large predatory critters don't catch up with you.

I'm more concerned about my 'capable hands' bit. Plus the kids gotta go some to match my Blue whale :)

It is if its based on size and weight :)

Unknown said:

Blimey first MrsT in Canada and now Ian in South Africa whatever happened to Blackpool lol.

I think the RSPB must be paying them too much!   LOL.

Blimey Ian. Lucky lad. Have a fantastic time, and yes please, lots of piccies.

I've been saving up a very long time for my holiday Linda. Am sure Ian will have loads of fab photos to upload!

Hello all, i'm back in the UK now, thank you for all of your comments, I'll have to consider Blackpool next time! 

...pretty tough challenge to top a blue whale but I did track down some marvellous beasts! Still wading through pictures but will post some when i've got them sorted. If you are curious about what I spotted or if you are planning on visiting South Africa then the below info might be of interest.

Hermanus is tops for spotting southern right whales from the shore, they have their own whale crier, some good boat operators as well if you have the sea legs for it, it can get rough! No blue whales in the area unfortunately and it was a bit late for the humpbacks but still great to see the southern right whales in good numbers. They have faired well since hunting was banned unlike their Northern counterparts. The coastal vegetation, fynbos, around the town was good for a few sunbirds and bulbuls and offshore were cape gannets and subantartic skuas. Gansbaai is white shark central, with a number of cage diving operators working out of this town, I had a very close encounter with these awesome predators, a life-long ambition fulfilled and it didn't disappoint, I would recommend it to anyone.

Cape town, the Kirstenbosch gardens are amazing, so many things to look at with winter turning to spring, the collection of blooms attracts in loads of birds too, including more sunbirds! Cape point is a stunning place landscape wise but also for wildlife with ostrich, chacma baboon and tortoises roaming the land and more Southen Right and Bryde's whales offshore, plus the African penguin colony at Simons town is spectacular.

As for safari, you can tackle Kruger in a number of ways including self drives or private lodges, from what we experienced both ways offer pros and cons - whichever way you do it the area is first class for wildlife and August is a great time to go as the vegetation is sparse making viewing easier than during their summer. However the bird list is at it's longest during their summer (our winter), and the snakes are more active so it depends on what you want to, or don't want to see! We were lucky enough to track down the 'Magnificent 7' plus some weird and wonderful creatures of the night like honey badgers and bush babies.

It was a lot to cram in to 2 weeks and I was operating on a very tight budget, but it was well worth it!

Ooh it sounds wonderful Ian! Welcome back! Can't wait for the piccies! A close great white encounter! WOW!

It sounds fantastic but I must confess I wouldn't have gone in the water with the sharks, cage or no cage!!  I'm delighted you had such a wonderful experience.