Show & Tell: Cool and Refreshing

Friday and Show & Tell time! This week's theme is svalka, which is Swedish for "coolness" or "refreshing" and refers to a thing or an act that is cooling or refreshing, such as a chilled drink, a nice breece, a swim in the ocean or an icecream. You will agree that it has been while since I showed some South Africa pictures so I will let them illustrate this week's Show & Tell.

This was our semi outdoor shower at the game lodge in South Africa. Had we had better weather it would have been a very nice place to cool off (although it was pretty cool in the other sense of the word too!).

I didn't try this spirit but it looks like it can be quite refreshing. I like litchi fruit as well.

It's a bit tricky for the giraffe when he needs to drink.

This was in the bar at the Backpacker place we stayed at in Johannesburg - but none of us felt like trying it. A cold beer did the trick instead (plus I think that the tub was probably heated).

The Loch Ness is probably missing the cool water back in Scotland...

To be stuck in traffic in hot weather with this view can be quite challenging.

This is a really good place to go to cool off.

Peter braved the very cold water in Cape Town - it was about 6'C!

This sufficed for me.

Show & Tell: Spring Flowers

This week's Show & Tell is spring flowers. Spring has arrived in Stockholm but I forgot to bring my camera on today's nice walk in the sunshine so I thought I use the opportunity (yet again) to show some photos from our holiday in South Africa. We were there in December which is early summer rather than spring but it will have to do! There were so many nice flowers and other plants that I want to share with you!

1. A really cool bush at the Balule Game Reserve near Kruger National Park - You don't want to touch those spikes!

2. A beautiful yellow flower in Balule

3. Som kind of cotton-looking plant in Robberg, a nature park in Plettenberg Bay along the Garden Route

4. One of many pretty flowers that grow in mountain areas

5. On the deck outside our room at Bay Walk B&B in Knysna

6. On Table Mountain in Cape Town

7. Also on Table Mountain

8. Stellenbosch in the wine districts north of Cape Town

9. Also Stellenbosch

10. Lavender - one of my favourite - in Franschhoek (also in the wine districts)

11. Rose buds in Franschhoek

12. Also something that comes with spring/summer - new babies!

13. Beautiful tree at Boschendaal vineyard

Show & Tell: Big and Small

I seem to be making a habit of using the Show & Tell theme on Fridays (Saturday for me this time) to show my South Africa pictures, but I'm sure nobody will complain!

My favourite of all the animals we saw on safari (or game drives, as they say in South Africa) is the elephant. Such a magnifient creature. You can't probably tell from these pictures but they were as big as the jeep we travelled in. In the last picture the elephant got really close to the car, maybe 7 metres away, before it "obeyed" our guide's warning shouts and moved away (while we were sitting quiet without moving, a bit scared and very excited at the same time).

In the first two photos I hope you can spot the little newborn elephant to the right in the picture. It's the tiny one that's crossing the railtracks with his mum and other family members. That one was around 3 hours old according to our guide. They can walk already at that "age", albeit a bit wobbly. When it stopped right on the tracks all the other elephants stopped too and didn't move again until they had got the little one to move forwards again. When elephants have newborns they are really protective (you would be too if you had carried it in your womb for 22 months) and would rather risk being hit by a train than leaving the baby behind. Since they - the females that is, the male are the ones we encountered solo in the bush - are so protective, we did not want to get any closer at the railtracks.

You have probably spotted another baby at the front of the the herd - that one was a couple of weeks or months old, can't remember exactly. But still a baby.

The newborn is to the far right surrounded by his or her family.

Taken after they managed the get the little one moving again. Before they even started crossing the railroad they listened and felt the tracks - they are clever animals with a very good memory so they know that it is dangerous.

As long as we sit still and stay in the jeep, he thinks that we are just another animal, though a big one of course. This guy only has one tusk and doesn't want to pick a fight with an enemy that is as big as himself unless he has a good reason. So after a while he moved away from the road and let us pass.

Show & Tell: With or Without

I thought long and hard about this week's theme and planned for a while to write about etiquette, focussing on the pros and cons of such rules, when they are useful and when you can live without them. But then I started thinking about my recent trip to South Africa and the haves and have-nots in that country. Here are a few pictures that illustrate the poverty that still exists in South Africa.

Townships in Cape Town

Also Cape Town

A woman with her child in Cape Town - the girl was so cute!

It may not look like it but they did have electricity.

Trying the local brew in Cape Town.

Kiptown in Johannesburg - 60% of the population here have HIV/Aids.

It doesn't matter how poor you are, you can always play football and dream about becoming a pro.

We thought they were drinking milk but sadly we learned later that beer comes in cartons.

This is funny and tragic at the same time.

Water is a scarcity but smiles plentiful.

It's A Small World

When we were in South Africa in December we met a very nice Swedish middle-aged couple on the tour to Robben Island (Mandela's infamous prison island) and Cape Town townships. The following day we ran into them again on Table Mountain. Once back home in Sweden Peter ran into the wife in Stockholm. Then, last week, when I was flying to London I ended up in the same row of seats as the husband! What's the chance of that?!! Made me think of that ride at Disney World in Florida, "It's A Small World", and now that song is stuck in my head as well :)

Show & Tell: Three White Things

Since I have been a total failure when it comes to posting photos from our trip to South Africa in December (to my defence I have posted a couple of hundred of them on Facebook) I thought I'd use my first go at Show & Tell (initiated by Norrskensbuddha) to give you a taste of South Africa. The instructions said "things" but I'm going to widen it a bit to fit my purposes.


White theme 1: Zebras - Just one example of all the cool animals we saw





White theme 2: Black and white - Our visit to Kliptown in Soweto, Johannesburg, symbolises the years of Apartheid in South Africa and the segregation that still exists



White theme 3: Seagull - Represents the beautiful and amazing nature and scenery we experienced in South Africa

Back in Sweden & A New Year

We're back after a fantastic holiday (our luggage decided to stay a bit longer though...)! Will blog about soon - just need to go through a thousand photos first...

Happy new year to all my readers!

South Africa Here I Come!

We're off for a two-week holiday in South Africa - will be back here with lots to tell and photos to post in the new year!