Tag: groot constantia

Another Vineyard Visit

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When we went wandering through the vineyards last weekend, I remarked – more than once – that I wished that I had my long lens with me. Not because the Nifty Fifty isn’t fun: it’s a lot of fun. More that there were a million canaries, sunbirds, frogs and even some baboons that I would have loved to have ‘togged.

The Father’s Day weather was great this morning, so we went back, and I took that long lens.
Jokingly, I suggested that because I had brought it along, we wouldn’t see anything worth shooting. Lol.

And then we saw nothing worth shooting.

And I was reduced to grabbing a shot of the set up for a Heineken activation thing on the lawns.

It seemed that they were going to have a lot more fun than we were.

Until…
Suddenly…

Baboons. Loads of them. Like, 30-odd. Scattered across the Shiraz vines on the side of the hill.

Starting a way away from us, then then actually walking so close that the 50mm would actually have been a far better option.

And, juniors at play, as well.

We watched them for almost an hour before they headed off further down the hill, and we headed off for a coffee, and then home for a bit – ok, a LOT – of photo editing.

It was a really nice family morning out.

And for us, too.

Wednesday ephemera

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Several bits of small stuff to share, so here it all is.
Knock yourselves out*.

Things are going all right

After yesterday’s post, this:

That’s quite a movement, ironically suddenly making illegal “small boat” immigration across the English Channel a whole lot harder.

Home Affairs is a mixed bag

Two tweets, just a few pixels apart on my laptop screen:

and:

And yes, I’ve experienced both ends of this spectrum.
Delightfully astonishing at the one end, but oh so frustrating at the other.

SA Mpox outbreak causes first death

Indeed:

Nothing to panic about here, but certainly one just to keep an eye on…

Explore your adventurous side

A recent advert on the web:

Ah yes. The silver self-defence spike. A true Camping and Outdoor Essential. And… does it really say “Thank you for choosing [manufacturer]” on the lanyard? That’s amazing.

I despair

A local page I follow on Facebook got hacked and started posting all sorts of weird stuff, including (but not limited to) a lot of AI generated content resembling American cities. In fact, the only local thing it posted was this range of images depicting (allegedly, at least) Cape Town, some lions in the Kruger, and some KhoiSan rock art in an ancient cave.

The worst bit was the comments though, with people from Cape Town fawning over the picture of their city. And this, despite all those new mountains, the sun setting on the wrong side, and that frankly weird extension bit coming out of Green Point.
Compare and contrast…

Also, while we’re on the subject, that is clearly not KhoiSan rock art, and WTF has happened to those lions? Our jobs are safe from AI for a while yet. But whether our lives are safe from idiot commenters on Facebook… well… that’s another story.

Winter in the vineyards

In more genuine pictures of Cape Town…
We took a walk around Groot Constantia a few days ago, and it was lovely.

Go and see more of the yellowing vines and lush, green grass on Instagram. And drop a follow if you haven’t already. Thanks.

* simply a turn of phrase, not an instruction.

Wildlife

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Last week’s trip through the Eastern Cape may have yielded some excellent experiences and sightings, e.g.:

and:

…but urban Cape Town fought back this morning at breakfast with a mischievous baboon troop passing through the Groot Constantia estate, much to the delight of the tourists and the chagrin of the restaurant staff.

The local baboons aren’t really dangerous – indeed, they would rather have absolutely nothing to do with us humans – but they can be a pain: emptying rubbish bins and damaging the vines.

Watching the estate staff attempting to chase them away with compressed air guns, whoops and shouting was interesting. A real battle of wills, with the staff happy that they were moving the baboons away from the restaurant areas, while the baboons seemed pretty much unphased by the noise and the commotion, and were content to grudgingly head towards the mountain, but very much at their own pace.

More pics of more wildlife (and other autumn/winter photos) here.

Gatecrasher

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Afternoon drinks at the Jonkershuis Restaurant at Groot Constantia in honour of Mrs 6k’s **th birthday were interrupted by this gatecrasher.

He came straight in through the front door, smashed a cake stand and stole two scones, which he proceeded to eat on the lawns in front of the building, displaying the typical male baboon “Yes. I’ve just nicked these two scones and now I’m eating them right in front of you and what are you proposing to do about it?” attitude and making me wish that I hadn’t forgotten to take my camera along.

Other than this untimely interruption, food, wine, service and company at Jonkershuis was nothing short of excellent.