Hi All, Another year has begun and Daphne and I have been at the Cavern for the last few weeks during which time we went to Johannesburg to purchase goods for the pre-schools, visited the schools to deliver porridge and school supplies, sorted jumble and held two jumble sales. Please read on to see what
40 days – 40 walks – 4 Education – An Intro… Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world ~ Nelson Mandela This past week I celebrated my 40th birthday. This is an enormous milestone and time for a midlife crisis perhaps? There are several things that I hold
Yet another new, and fairly unlikely bird has turned up at the Cavern. The Terrestrial Bulbul is confined to damp evergreen forests, being common at the coast, but increasingly rare inland. Only once or twice has it ever been seen in Berg forests. It is difficult to see anyway, being plain dull brown except for
News Update – October 2013 Hi All, Daphne and I have just spent three weeks at the Cavern, primarily to spend time visiting the twelve crèche/pre-schools that form the Khanyisela Project. Our objective was to assess each school’s progress and their needs. On the most part we are very pleased with the progress and now
The weather was about as bad as it could get without closing the show down altogether. Fierce hot winds all Saturday, freezing cold and heavy cloud on Sunday. But the birds always do something. It’s Spring, as the weather suggested, and the tropical migrants have arrived. Not full voice yet, but the Red-chested and Black
New birds turn up at the Cavern all the time. Often they are uncommon species that we have not noticed before, but occasionally something very out of its normal haunts arrives. Imagine our amazement when perched on a chimney on the hotel roof was a Red-billed Oxpecker. Just to make sure it was noticed it
Since a fresh leopard kill was found in the Cavern grounds a couple of years ago trip cameras have been set up at strategic spots. The idea is to found out more about “our” leopard. But an unexpected bonus is that all sorts of other nocturnal animals have been photographed too. The most recent has
GRADE: D TIME: 4 hours. DISTANCE: 8 km. TERRAIN: Undulating path with moderate slopes and gradients. The descent to the Silent Woman is steep but not difficult. Follow the path from behind Room 203 (at the diesel pump) and bear left. Go up three metres and into the Fern Forest. Follow this path through the
The May birding weekend produced 77 birds. Not bad considering that all the summer migrants have departed. Glorious weather helped, but the main attraction at this time of year is the burst of aloe flowers. All the specialised nectar feeders in the area spent all day buzzing among the flowers, chasing each other around, and
It’s aloe time again at the Cavern, what a wonderful time to be here. The garden is alive with the fiery orange spires, and the sunbirds and their ilk cannot resist. Gurney’s Sugarbird is a special visitor; there are only two sugarbirds in the whole world and we have them both in South Africa. Gurney’s
