I’m off to Guatemala and Redhill, Cape Town

 Africa, Cape Town, South Africa, Travel  2 Responses »
May 152013
 

I’m off to Guatemala

I decided it’s time to expand my supply of photographs beyond Bermuda and Southern Africa. So, on Saturday I’m heading down to Guatemala for a week. I’m hoping to visit El Mirador. It’s a Mayan city still overgrown by jungle. You can trek there, which takes two days both ways. I don’t have time for that but have discovered it’s possible to get a helicopter in, overnight in a hammock and then take a helicopter back out. I’ve found a website that offers this service, but haven’t managed to get in touch with them. So, I’m turning up with nothing booked and hoping I can sort one when I arrive. If not, there’s another site called Tikal I can visit. There’s actually hotels right next to the temples there, so that won’t be a bad alternative, just not as adventurous.

For the second half of the trip I’ll be visiting Guatemala’s former capital, Antigua. It’s an old Spanish colonial city nestled amongst three volcanoes. My plan is to climb one of them, the easiest one.

I don’t think I’ll be able to get a load of photos done to upload prior to leaving so this will likely be my last post until I get back on May 26th. Then, I should have lots of photos and stories for you.

Today’s Photo: Redhill, Cape Town

On my last trip to Capetown I was lucky enough to stay with my travel buddy’s family. They have a cleaner, Grace, come in once a week and always drive her back home. She lives in this small township called Redhill. It’s in a strikingly beautiful location with vineyards in the valley below. It makes for a startling contrast.

the shacks of Red Hill township, Cape Town, with mountains and water in the background

Witwatersands Beach, South Africa

 Africa, Cape Town, South Africa, Travel  1 Response »
Apr 162013
 

This is a beautiful spot to walk the dogs as the sun drops low, before a pint round the pub. It was a great way to spend an evening. It took me a while to catch the waves breaking just where I wanted them.

Witwatersands beach cape town south africa with boulders in the water and mountains in the background.

Penguins at Boulders Beach, South Africa

 Africa, Animals, Cape Town, South Africa, Travel  2 Responses »
Mar 102013
 

I could spend days on end watching the penguins waddle about at Boulders Bay. These two had left the masses on the beach for a higher local atop the boulders. The one on the right seemed to be battling with a bit of an itch.

Two Penguins on top of boulders in front of clear blue sky at Boulders Bay, South Africa

Nordhoek Rush, Capetown, South Africa

 Africa, Cape Town, South Africa, Travel  5 Responses »
Mar 062013
 

My Capetown host said hello today, so I’ve been inspired to post one of the photos I took while staying there. This is a small rocky area at one end of the expansive, beautiful Nordhoek beach. I wanted to capture the power of the water around here so as the sun dropped down I let my shutter speeds slow down to show off the churning movement of the water as it bursts onto the rocky shoreline.

I didn’t actually think it’d rush up as far as it did. Suddenly my feet discovered just how cold the water is this far South of the equator.

I’ve got a few photos lined up and quite possibly a bit of time to breathe so am going to try to get back into posting a photo a day. Comments on photos and requests for places you know I’ve been definitely help motivate me!

I’ve got a week in Cuba on the brain at the moment. I’ll be trying to go late March/early April. If you’d like to join me, feel free to let me know!! :-)

Whitewater rushes around a boulder on the rocky area of Nordhoek Beach, Cape Town, South Africa

Remains of a Proposal on Windhoek Beach

 Africa, Cape Town, South Africa, Travel  1 Response »
Feb 052013
 

I climbed on top of a rock to try to get away from the freezing cold water snapping at my heals as the sun set on Windhoek beach. When I turned around I spotted the remnant of this marriage proposal in the sand. Hopefully the wedding will last longer than this message did!

Be cool if one day they stumble upon this photo.

A marriage proposal scraped into the sand on Windhoek beach in Capetown is washed away by the waves as the tide comes in.

Back from Africa and Two Love Bird Penguins

 Africa, Animals, Cape Town, South Africa, Travel  1 Response »
Jan 112013
 

I’m back from a great journey through South Africa, Zambia, Botswana and Namibia. I know I’m loads of pictures behind, but I’m going to make up for it, as soon as I’m over this jet-lag. For today, here’s a photo of a penguin couple at Boulder’s Bay, near Simonstown, South Africa.

Two African Penguins or Jackass penguins and their shadows on a sandy beach at Boulder's Bay, South Africa.

“Model Shoot” on Nordhoek, Cape Town

 Africa, Cape Town, South Africa, Travel  2 Responses »
Jan 082013
 

I’m writing this a couple of days before you’ll see it while sat at my friend’s aunt’s house in Cape Town. I’ve had a great time here but tomorrow we are moving on to Livingstone, Zambia. I’ll be traveling with my friend and her cousin.

Yesterday, while taking photos on Nordhoek beach I wondered if they may be getting bored with me wandering about very slowly with a backpack and tripod. Then I looked over and saw this. I think it’s safe to say they’ll do a good job of entertaining themselves the whole trip.

Shortly after I took this photo I heard a shriek of “let’s take pictures of our shadows!”, which was pretty impressive, as the wind was blowing at about 40 knots towards them…

The plan is to spend a few days in Livingstone, then bus our way through Windhoek… though we realy have no idea how we’re going to go about doing that. Hopefully by the time this photo posts itself we’ll have a better idea!

Two women taking photos in front of the setting sun on Nordhoek beach, Cape Town, South africa

Witwatersands Beach, Scarborough, South Africa

 Africa, Cape Town, South Africa, Travel  3 Responses »
Jan 072013
 

Here’s the first of my photos from my most recent trip to Cape Town. This is on a beautiful, rugged beach in Scarborough. There were a lot of kids playing and swimming here. After dipping my toe in I decided it was far too cold for my liking!

A view of Witwatersounds beach in Scarborough in South Africa with rocks in the foreground and mountains and blue sky in the background

Boulders Bay Front Property

 Africa, Cape Town, South Africa, Travel  2 Responses »
Jul 122012
 

Three out of five of our group, dissatisfied with seeing penguins hanging about in bushes, paid the cover charge to actually go down onto Boulders Bay in search of penguins on the rocks. That, at least in our minds, was where penguins should be. As soon as we came through the gate we spied a penguin lounging in the middle of a small path forking off the main one. We walked down for a closer look, the penguin didn’t seem at all bothered by our presence. We thought this penguin may be a sign of more at the end of the path. It wasn’t. There were no penguins at the end of the path, but there was this incredible view.

If you want to see more of Boulders Bay and the penguins we did find, click on this image to go through to my South Africa gallery.

Different size of boulders piled up on beach at waterside in Boulder Bay, Simons Town, South Africa.

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