Sunday 6 May 2012

Walk in nature

This morning we met my friends Alison and Linda at the Walter Sisulu Botanical Gardens for a gentle walk followed by breakfast.  The gardens are a beautiful and safe place to walk and enjoy nature.

 
On the website it says ... "This Botanical Garden was founded in 1982, but has been a popular venue for outings since the 1800's. The Garden has been voted the best picnic spot in Gauteng for 5 years in a row.
The natural vegetation of the area is known as the 'Rocky Highveld Grassland' and consists of a mosaic of grassland and savanna, with dense bush in kloofs and along streams. The variety of habitats accommodates over 600 naturally occurring plant species.
A breeding pair of majestic Verreaux's Eagles nest on the cliffs alongside the waterfall. The Garden is home to an abundance of wildlife with over 220 birds species recorded on site. There are also a number of reptiles and small mammals, including small antelope and jackals, which occur naturally in the Nature Reserve."

Until this morning the only sight we have had of the eagles has been from the camera they have trained on the next and once when we walked up the waterfall path and saw them in the nest.  This morning we were treated to both of them flying above the waterfall being pestered by two crows.  The one crow kept flying right up to the one eagle and pecking it on it's wing ~ What a magnificent sight that was!!!  I managed to get a photo with my little camera of both the eagles and one of the crows.
We walked a different route today as the bridge over the river that we normally cross has collapsed and it is being repaired ~ The gardens are made up of different walks ... some sections are natural with dirt paths and others are paved with manicured lawns and more formal flower beds.

Richard gave us a lesson on the Sun Dial ... at one stage he was on his hands and knees reading the information on this little plaque, below on the right,  which explains how much time you need to add or subtract at different times in the year ... it is amazing that the time on the sundial with the 6 minutes added on was exactly the same as the time on our watches ... I should have taken a photo of the time on my cell phone but unfortunately only thought about it later. 



We walked through this gorgeous 'passage' and I managed to capture this bee as it was busy collecting pollen on this pretty little flower.
This river is fed by the waterfall and I took this photo when we crossed over the bridge ... on this side it is a calm and serene looking stream ~ when you step to the other side of the bridge the water runs off a ledge and it has the sounds and sight of a mini waterfall crashing down onto rocks.
 "The star of the show" at the Botanical Gardens, obviously apart from the eagles, is the waterfall ... it is amazing how strongly it is running although we have not had any huge rainfall lately.
 A long arm shot of the four of us courtesy of my hunny!
 
 These two trees are aptly named ...
We had a lovely relaxed breakfast at Eagles Faire after our walk.  Now I am off to work on some scrapbooking stuff for our June weekend at the dam.  Hope you have all had a good day where your spirits have been renewed in some way. 

5 comments:

  1. Oooohhh!!! My favorite post of yours!

    As you know, I love botanical gardens and flowers, so I'm thrilled you went to one. Your photo of the bee is amazing. Great shot.

    And sundials have always intrigued me. Cool story.

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    1. Hey Ally, We love the botanical gardens and it is a yearly tradition that we go there on 1 January and as many times during the year as we can. The bee really co-operated well with me ... I got a couple of shots of him.

      The sundial is really gorgeous.

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  2. Wow, Lynn, looks like you had fun at the Botanical Gardens. There I was, at home, sick with bronchitis and feeling sorry for myself, and yet, it was such a lovely day outside. Lots of information supplied, nice reading

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    1. Hey Patricia, Sorry you weren't well. The weather sure was gorgeous and what a way to spend a Sunday morning. Hope you're feeling much better!

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  3. HAppy mothers day!!!!
    I love you and thank you for always being so special!!
    You are the best God mother ever

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