I was super excited by the decision because it meant we could tick off one more thing on my "what I want to do in SA" list. I wanted to go on a canopy tour. Apparently this form of 'eco-tourism' was developed in Costa Rica, but it has been an easy adaptation to the forests of South Africa and I was stoked to head up into the trees. After the requisite safety talk, my explanation of my phobia to our guide, getting fitted with gear (including a lovely hairnet), a quick trip in the back of a bakkie, we were on our way...
I have to admit, I was a bit nervous on the first zipline, but the kid who went first made it look pretty easy. I quite enjoyed myself after that. My photos are generally of Ellie as she was in line just after me, so lots of Ellie photos.
The footbridge reminded me of the bridge that I would have put between my two tree houses had I grown up somewhere that had trees that you could put tree houses in and had my dad built me a tree house (all he ever did was let us believe that the shed that he was building was going to be a playhouse. It was not, it was a shed).
More photos of Ellie. We were having fun. You can see a beautiful waterfall behind her...
That, down there, is where that waterfall stopped falling.
I quite enjoyed some of the flora around. I avoided the fauna. And luckily even when our assistant guide saw one of my enemy species, she took into account my previous explanation and didn't tell me until we were back at the office. 
This is the kid who was first in our group. I was playing with my camera setting. I enjoy the fish-eye function.
We had a good adventure. Definitely fun.
Afternoon adventure - hiking in Monk's Cowl park. Ellie is learning how to do jump photos.
It seemed to be threatening to rain all afternoon, but it turned out to be fine and provided some very beautiful moments. These are my favourite trees here. It is called the mountain cabbage tree. I like it in spite of its name.
Oh, our hike we went on was to a falls. They were amazing and beautiful and spectacular and no photo does them justice. I forget their name. 
Finally, as we were leaving the park, the 'real' mountains decided to reveal themselves. We had dinner at a lovely spot just down the road from the Drakensberg Boys Choir. Unfortunately they only have concerts on Wednesdays. and it was Saturday. But the meal was good. I decided on the chicken skewer. It was the strangest thing I have seen. It came out hanging from a contraption, instead of being laid across the plate, it was hanging. Whatever, it was yummy. 
Day two in the bergs took us to Giant's Castle. Ellie had wanted to see the rock paintings here because apparently they are quite impressive. It was raining. This bird didn't seem to mind. I minded.
But once you were under the shelter of the over-hang, where the paintings were, it was quite a nice day (minus the mosquitoes). 
The paintings were impressive and I learned a lot more. Apparently they date back between 200 and 3000 years (ah carbon dating). Often there will be layers of them as the San people believed that if you drew over another painting, you took the 'good-vibes' of the previous painting with you on the hunt.
It ended up being a decently nice day as we walked back to the carpark and headed home. Another successful weekend in the bergs. Oh, I love the mountains, I love the rolling hills...
Oh yeah, we almost hit a jackal on the drive home, but we didn't. But it was a jackal, first one I've seen. Until next time!
I have to admit, I was a bit nervous on the first zipline, but the kid who went first made it look pretty easy. I quite enjoyed myself after that. My photos are generally of Ellie as she was in line just after me, so lots of Ellie photos.
The footbridge reminded me of the bridge that I would have put between my two tree houses had I grown up somewhere that had trees that you could put tree houses in and had my dad built me a tree house (all he ever did was let us believe that the shed that he was building was going to be a playhouse. It was not, it was a shed).
More photos of Ellie. We were having fun. You can see a beautiful waterfall behind her...
That, down there, is where that waterfall stopped falling.
I quite enjoyed some of the flora around. I avoided the fauna. And luckily even when our assistant guide saw one of my enemy species, she took into account my previous explanation and didn't tell me until we were back at the office. 
This is the kid who was first in our group. I was playing with my camera setting. I enjoy the fish-eye function.
We had a good adventure. Definitely fun.
Afternoon adventure - hiking in Monk's Cowl park. Ellie is learning how to do jump photos.
It seemed to be threatening to rain all afternoon, but it turned out to be fine and provided some very beautiful moments. These are my favourite trees here. It is called the mountain cabbage tree. I like it in spite of its name.
Oh, our hike we went on was to a falls. They were amazing and beautiful and spectacular and no photo does them justice. I forget their name. Finally, as we were leaving the park, the 'real' mountains decided to reveal themselves. We had dinner at a lovely spot just down the road from the Drakensberg Boys Choir. Unfortunately they only have concerts on Wednesdays. and it was Saturday. But the meal was good. I decided on the chicken skewer. It was the strangest thing I have seen. It came out hanging from a contraption, instead of being laid across the plate, it was hanging. Whatever, it was yummy. Day two in the bergs took us to Giant's Castle. Ellie had wanted to see the rock paintings here because apparently they are quite impressive. It was raining. This bird didn't seem to mind. I minded.
But once you were under the shelter of the over-hang, where the paintings were, it was quite a nice day (minus the mosquitoes). The paintings were impressive and I learned a lot more. Apparently they date back between 200 and 3000 years (ah carbon dating). Often there will be layers of them as the San people believed that if you drew over another painting, you took the 'good-vibes' of the previous painting with you on the hunt.
It ended up being a decently nice day as we walked back to the carpark and headed home. Another successful weekend in the bergs. Oh, I love the mountains, I love the rolling hills...
Oh yeah, we almost hit a jackal on the drive home, but we didn't. But it was a jackal, first one I've seen. Until next time!
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