Nature, Nature, Nature -- Part 1

After wine country, we headed east driving through rolling plains of farmland. When we finally joined the coastline, we could see the azure waters of the Indian ocean off to our right. The road climbed and fell on long, sloping hills, occasionally passing through patches of thick, towering old-growth forest.

We made good time on the first day, running from wine country to the coastline at Knysna (pronounced “Nīz-nə” in IPA or “Nighs-neh”). The road were straight and fast, a two-lane highway with humongous shoulders. At first, I was unnerved to see cars driving 60mph on the shoulder while a faster car overtook them on the road at 80 or 90mph. Quickly, however, I realized that the shoulder was just used as an extra lane. Sometimes, a car would overtake into oncoming traffic; the driver simply expected that the oncoming traffic would shift to the shoulder. Fortunately, they always did!

Knysna was nothing special, but the next day we hiked and drove in a beautiful, old-growth forest for an hour or two, climbing to the top of a small peak for an excellent view of the countryside. Then we continued along the coastline, eventually coming to a brother and sister pair of nature parks, called Monkeyland and World of Birds. Monkeyland was as terrible as the name suggests. It charged a huge (for Africa) entrance fee for a 45-minute walk with an unenthusiastic tour guide. The monkeys themselves were cool, but the place seemed a little seedy and they didn’t take very good care of their animals. The guide told us, for example, that one species of monkey introduced to the park a few years ago had been slain in great numbers by the other monkeys. The few remaining ones were now caged. I would think that, if they had a decent zoologist on staff, they could have avoided a monkey massacre.


The bird sanctuary was surprisingly wonderful after Monkeyland. Here, enormous metal poles had been erected so that the nets enclosing the sanctuary rose above the top of the forest canopy. Wooden bridges at different levels in the canopy criss-crossed the sanctuary, giving an Indiana Jones feel to the place. Hundreds of different of birds roamed inside. Even though I don’t like birds much, I was fascinated and snapped away with my camera, wishing that had a big telephoto lens.

Eventually we found a small, open-air restaurant which overlooked a pond full of ducks and flamingos. Fresh from our trip in wine country, we both ordered glasses of wine and a snack, and sat down for a break. Immediately, several opportunistic birds befriended us in the hopes of getting a morsel of our scones. Their talons were sharp, and they were particularly interested in anything shiny, like my eyeglasses. Before going into the park, Lynn had to remove her earrings because the birds had been known to rip them out. The little green guy who was most aggressive decided he really wanted a taste of our wine. Stupidly, I let him try, and moments later the glass shattered and fragments flew everywhere.