Mossel Bay Point | Mostly Birding

With the new year barely out of the starting blocks, it’s once again time to select the photos which best represent our travels and nature experiences during 2021, plus a few others that appeal to me for various reasons. Despite the ongoing restrictions brought upon all of us by Covid 19, we still managed to travel fairly extensively, although it was limited to the borders of South Africa.

I’m hoping you will find some of my favourite images to your liking – if you do, please take a moment to mention them in the comments at the end of the post.

The Places

It was a revelation to look back over the year’s images and realise that, in fact, we did manage to travel to many places across South Africa. Our longest road trips were those between the two places we call home – Pretoria and Mossel Bay – and the pendulum seems to have swung in favour of the latter town, where we spent slightly more time than in Pretoria for the first time. My bird atlasing activities were somewhat handicapped this past year by other factors – nevertheless I did get out on atlasing trips on a fairly regular basis, mostly in the vicinity of one of the two home bases

Farmlands, Vleesbaai Area near Mossel Bay

**Hillside Farm Trompsburg, Free State – where we spent a night on the trip to Mossel Bay**

**One of the dams in The Glades Estate, (where our Pretoria home is)**

**View of Simon’s Town from Penguin Palace B&B**

**Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens in Cape Town – we never visit Cape Town without a visit to these superb gardens**

**Boulders beach, Simon’s Town, site of the famous African Penguin colony**

**Addo Elephant National Park, Eastern Cape**

**Mountain Zebra National Park, Eastern Cape**

**The view from Robinson Pass, between Mossel Bay and Oudtshoorn**

**Abbotsbury Guest Farm, near Graaff-Reinet, Eastern Cape**

**Abandoned cottage, Franschhoek, Western Cape**

**Canola fields, Near Wellington, Western Cape**

**Historic Kerkstraat in Tulbagh, Western Cape**

**Klein Welmoed Guest Farm, Stellenbosch, Western Cape**

**West Coast National Park (Postberg section)**

The Wildlife

2021 stands out for me as the year we did not visit Kruger National Park – I can’t remember when this last happened! Visits to a couple of the smaller Parks partially made up for this but I’m afraid my selection of wildlife photos is poor by comparison to previous years

**Cape Grey Mongoose *Herpestes pulverulentus* (Kaapse grysmuishond), Addo Elephant Park**

**Yellow Mongoose *Cynictis penicillata* (Rooimeerkat), Addo Elephant Park**

**Elephant at dusk, Addo Elephant Park**

“**Mother and child” Vervet Monkey *Chlorocebus pygerythrus* (Blouaap), Mountain Zebra NP**

The Reptiles

Reptiles are interesting creatures and I love it when the opportunity to photograph them at reasonably close quarters arises – here are a few examples – unfortunately I have not got around to positively identifying the first two yet

**Probable Plated Lizard of some kind, Gouritzmond Area**

**Probable Sand Lizard, Mountain Zebra NP**

**Puff adder *Bitis arietans* (Pofadder), Mountain Zebra NP**

The Other Stuff

And the rest – photos that don’t fall into a category but have a certain character that appeals to me

**Garden Acraea Butterfly, Kirstenbosch**

**Beach footprints, Nature’s Valley – where the birds go, I am bound to be not far behind**

**Doorknob selfie, Abbotsbury, Graaff-Reinet**

**Waiting our turn to get the vaccine, Mossel Bay**

Saartjie, our daughter’s Border Terrier, enjoying a mid-winter (gas) fire , Mossel Bay

**Dragon hooter (horn) on 1911 Lorraine-Dietrich Convertible, Franschhoek Motor Museum**

**Spring flowers, Cape Columbine Nature Reserve (Tietiesbaai)**

Have a wonderful 2022!

On one of our recent outings to The Point, just 10 minutes away from our Mossel Bay home, we spotted a rainbow forming over the sea in the distance.

I snapped a shot while driving (very slowly) and hastened to find a spot to capture the rainbow before it disappeared. It did not have the full bow of a ‘proper’ rainbow but formed an almost vertical column disappearing into the low clouds hanging over the sea – quite unusual.

Once satisfied with the images I noticed a number of surfers in the sea – not unusual as this is a favourite surf spot, but the light was so perfect for photography that I could not resist trying my hand at some “surf’s up” images.

Further on we found a parking spot to enjoy our tea and watch the passing birds – the Cape Cormorants are regulars at the Point and once again the light was still good enough to capture a couple in flight, on their way to their roost somewhere further up the coast.