Adventure in Hartbeespoort

View of the Hartbeespoort Dam from the aerial cableway

Mr. Deep and I know that sometime in 2017 we will be leaving South Africa. When this will happen and where we will go are questions that we don't have answers to. Living with this uncertainty is not easy. This is the part of the story when the lead characters realize that their script only has a few pages left but they are not ready to exit the stage. 

We simply aren't finished with South Africa. We have an endless list of places that we still want to visit, restaurants where we want to eat, neighborhoods to explore, markets to browse. We haven't even spent enough time enjoying the roof deck at our own house. Regardless of all of our efforts to maximize our time here and our constant and consistent knowledge that living here was temporary we, it turns out, wasted too much time watching TV, sleeping, surfing the Internet and doing who knows what else. 

Because I'm the kind of person who relies on lists and goals to get me off my ass, I've come up with personal challenge which I'm calling 20 Adventures. The goal of 20 Adventures is for me to have 20 South African Adventures. Likely I will have to have more than 20 because a few might end up being too boring to warrant a blog post. Mostly, I will try to explore new places and experience new things but as 20 Adventures was designed solely by me and for me, I can return to places that I have been before if I want and still count it as an adventure. Mr. Deep will be roped into joining me for some of these adventures but I alone am responsible for achieving the goal of 20. 

This past Saturday we had our first official adventure (19 to go.) We visited Hartbeespoort in the North West province located 45 minutes from our house. We have been to Hartbeespoort before when we visited the elephant and monkey sanctuaries but usually we are just passing through on our way to Pilanesberg or to Madikwe. We haven't made the time to explore the area. Located in the Magaliesberg Mountain Range, there is a man made dam in Hartbeespoort called (of course) Hartbeespoort Dam. 

The Ops team planned the whole adventure. First, we took a ride on the Harties Area Cableway for great views of the dam and the surrounding areas.

A little massage parlor at the top of the mountain

Deep relaxation in the grass

Photo by Mr. Deep. The cloud and its shadow.

Live music. There are also several restaurants and bars at the top. 

Following a period of relaxation at the top of the mountain we drove about 20 minutes to lunch at a place called Die Ou Pastorie. You might think it's strange for a restaurant to have the word die in the name but Die in Afrikaans means "the." Die Ou Pastorie translates to the old rectory which was what it was before it became a police station and before it became a guest house and restaurant. We sat in the garden and had a lovely lunch. Side note there are so many restaurants where you can eat it gardens in this area of South Africa. Maybe one of my adventures will be a post about eating in various garden settings. 

In the garden

In true South African fashion the adventure we planned turned out to not be the real adventure at all. After lunch we were ready to head home when my car wouldn't start. The battery was dead. We knew it was the battery because the day before I had taken my car in for service at the dealer and it was suggested that I purchase a new battery. As I had not any any issues with the battery, I declined. Fortunately the always prepared Mr. Deep sprung into action and the ResQ battery charger saved the day. As we headed for home we discussed when we might be able to take my car back to the dealer for a new battery. The challenge was that Mr. Deep's Jeep was in the shop and we were sharing just one car. 

As we drove we saw a gas station with a garage. Mr. Deep said "what the hell" and we drove in to see if they could possibly replace our battery. Sitting in front of the garage were four workers. Mr. Deep explained our situation and two guys immediately got to work removing our old battery and searching their inventory for a new one. Within 20 minutes we were on our way home with a new (or possibly used so lets just say working) battery. As they worked on my car, I noticed the employee work schedule posted to the wall and I'm pretty sure they two guys who helped us were named Surprise and Respect. 

Surprise and Respect working on Schmool

Sometimes we use the phrase T.I.A. which stands for This is Africa to remind ourselves not to get frustrated when things don't work correctly. But the phrase can also be used in a positive and loving way. It's not every day that you can you take in a gorgeous view, eat lunch in a fancy garden and then pull into a garage only to find people who are just waiting to help you with a smile? More adventures to come...

For some reason there were several shelves of these pumpkin chews for sale at the garage.

Close Up

I'm pleased that my blog is featured on the website Expat.com. If you are planning a move to South Africa or anywhere outside of your home country, Expat.com allows you to get in touch with expats living nearby and provides a great resource for discussions, jobs, housing information and more. The website also provides an opportunity to meet people and make friends in your new country. Check it out!

And now onto today's blog post.  

When on safari you have the chance to see many animals. The best part is you are seeing these creatures in their natural environment doing whatever it is they would be doing whether you were there or not. However the animals you are viewing may still be far away and if you are taking photos on safari you likely need to use a zoom lens in order to get really good pictures. 

Recently Mr. Deep and I had the chance to see some animals up close. A few weeks ago we went out for another 4x4 adventure near our home. We came upon some zebras munching on grass. These zebras must be very used to humans being nearby because we were able to get quite close to them and they didn't seem to mind. 

This is not a picture of a zebra. But I love this photo anyway.

Very artsy

A few weeks ago we also visited the Elephant Sanctuary in Hartbeesport in the North West Province. This sanctuary is housed on the same property where the thieving monkeys that I wrote about in this post live. The elephants and the monkeys are kept separately from each other. The elephant sanctuary is home to former zoo and circus elephants who now have the chance to live in a semi-free environment. 

While we were waiting to see elephants we were hanging out with this guy. We are caged and he is free. 

The elephant sanctuary gave us the opportunity to get extremely close to the elephants. We got some great photos!

I can't get over the eyelashes!

Close up of a broken tusk

Our guide, Charles. Pronounced Chouse (rhymes with house)

Charles showing us an elephant skull. The spongy looking area contains air to keep the elephant's brain cool.
The below photo is a dung beetle in the shadow of an elephant.

Here are two photos of the same bug. In the first he is eating a flattened mango. We first noticed the white stripes on his tail. In the second you can really see all of his colors. Does anyone know what kind of insect this is?