South Africa Mystery Thorn Tree

I see these trees on my daily walk with my friend's dogs and I have no idea what kind of tree they are but I think they look great. I find them fascinating.

They have the most amazing "thorns" on their trunk and all their branches... I don't even know if you can call those things "thorns". I should say some trees of the same specie have little to no thorns, so presumably when you plant of of them you cannot be sure what you are going to get.

You see what I mean, serious "thorns"

.....on all the branches.

I think, but I really do not know for a fact, that they might be related to baobabs. Their leaf is similar, the general shape of the tree with large trunk and branches reminds me of baobabs.

I always managed somehow to miss the blooming season of baobabs, so I cannot compare the flowers, but my mystery tree has beautiful pink blooms. And it is blooming right now, so in late Summer to early Fall on this side of the equator.

And it isn't just a cultivated tree, it also grows in the wild which makes me think that it is a native of South Africa, though I should add that I saw either the same tree or a tree with similarly impressive "thorns" on their trunk in Trinidad.
This one I saw in the wild forest around Sabie.

If anybody kows the name of that tree and its relation to baobabs, please let me know. Just post a comment.

ADDED LATER: I did some hunting around the internet and this tree is called Chorisia Speciosa, and belongs to the Bombacaceae family as does the baobab !!!
Apparently its common name is Silk Floss Tree ...... I prefer Mystery Thorn Tree, but here you are.
...and it is native of Brazil or Argentina, so the ones I saw in the wild were escapees.

Interestingly the Kapok tree is also a member of this family (in fact some website refer to this tree as Kapok Tree). You can go and have a look at this and a all lot more on this website.
One online dictionary defines Kapok as; "the silky down that invests the seeds of a silk-cotton tree (ka·pok tree), Ceiba pentandra,  of the East Indies, Africa, and tropical America: used for stuffing pillows, life jackets, etc., and for acoustical insulation." so at least the other member of the family may after also be native of South Africa....... Problem is you cannot beleive everything you read, and especially no on the internet!

Nicole's First Birthday

Time flies, Nicole is one already. She is growing up but she is as cute as ever.

... thank goodness her birthday cake was pink ..... which is a lovely colour on her!

Saffron-scented Lamb with Almond Sauce

Saffron-scented Lamb with Almond Sauce or Badam Zarda Ghost.

I want to have this recipe with me when I travel so I can make it for he people I visit. It is taken from "660 curries" by Raghavan Iyer.
I highly recommend this book. The only problem with this book as I see it is that it is too big for me to carry it around the world with me.
Obviously in the book the recipe gives proper instructions and measurements.

Ghee (or oil)
Cumin seeds (1 tsp)
Cinnamon sticks (3x3")
Bay leaves
Black cardamon (3)
                    Temper together

Lamb cubed
                   Add to pan and brown for a quite a while

Ground almond mixed in half it volume of water
                     in blender together to get rough paste
                     then add to lamb...add water if needed

Saffron
Salt
         add and cook until lamb is tender. Add water as needed

Lions at Pumba

While in Kenton with R and T (over New Year) we went for a day drive at Pumba Game Reserve. A very fancy place. I would never be able to stay there it is too expensive for my budget but very nice if you can afford it. The day drive is a little pricey but not outrageously so. And it was pretty good. Here are some photos (my camera ran out of memory very early on in the day so the photos in this post are not mine they are T's photos):

This is one of their white lionesses

And this is one of their white lions. We had just woken him up. Apparently lions sleep 18 hours per day!

You can compare the colour of the white lion above with the colour of one of their "normal" lions. Beautiful creatures!
Because these lions grew up in reserves they have no scars on their faces which is unheard of in wild lions. I should say that even though those are in a reserve they hunt for their own food, but they just do not fight among each others.

And here is a young female.  You can still see her "kitten" spots.

Obviously there isn't just lions, but those stood out the most over the day.

It was really fun to watch the  elephants eating thistles. They all used the same technique. They would grab the thistle with their trunk (you think it would hurt!) then while pulling gave the base of the thistle a light kick with one of their front foot which would then release the thistle right at the root. Honestly I cannot think of a better way to get rid of thistles. I am sure I and P in Tasmania would like a couple of elephants like these on their farm.

Behing this rhinoceros you can see one of the "camps" on Pumba property.
I hate to even point out the rhino's amazing horn because rhino poaching (for their horn) is a big problem in South Africa. The all population is outraged against it but it just takes a few greedy people to have a lot of poaching. Amazingly enough when people get caught it turns out that vets are often involved in the poaching!

One year Anniversary (missed it)

I actually missed the one year anniversary of my retirement. My last day of work was Friday March 13th (I know Friday 13th!).

It seems like I didn't do much this year. Time just flew by. I think that I had hoped to do more traveling, or maybe more adventurous new traveling. (was this the plan?)

- I packed the Jo'burg house 
- From Johannesburg I took a short driving trip to Mozambique with a friend form work
- I flew to Australia and spent most of my time in Tasmania, stayed at I and P's farm and drove around Tasmania in a camper van
- I then flew to Canada, sold my house and took a long road trip to northern Canada in the Camper A. gave me
- A short time before leaving Canada I had a car accident and destroyed the car which came out of a parking lot right in front of me..... but nobody was hurt
- I flew back to South Africa with 2 short stops (4, 5 days), one in Santiago and one Buenos Aires
- In South Africa I drove to north west coast, then across the country to the southern east coast and back to Johannesburg. I spent significant amount of time on each coast
- I took a short trip to Gaborone so I could re-enter South Africa with a fresh visa
- I spent a all bunch of time with R. and T in Jo'burg and we cooked up a storm
- I planned a new Round the World plane ticket with an itinerary which is amazingly similar to the last one (I think that the scary part: is how similar my next trip is to the last one)

Biofuels, the other side

Biofuels are probably not a bad idea, though personally I think that research should go towards completely different fuel sources instead of mimicking petroleums, but here is for you the other side of the equations as BBC World News presents it in one of its articles about a biofuel plant in Kenya.

The question the locals ask is basically: why feed a car when we are still hungry?

Fruits

One of the great things about South Africa is how cheap and plentiful fresh fruits are. Right the nartjies (mandarins) just started, the mangoes are still going strong and guavas are here. I did see any granadillas (passion fruits) last week but it could very well be that they were sold out.
There are several kinds of mangoes at the green grocer, as well as a couple of different kinds of pawpaws (papaya). I eat a lot of fresh fruits when I am here.

I remember last time I went back to Canada when I first went to the grocery store I looked at the fruit and veggie stand and I thought "What am I going to eat? There is nothing for me to eat here." I get so spoiled in South Africa, especially Johannesburg where there is an incredible variety of foods available.

Look at the size of this mango! and I have big hands.

And here are the guavas sitting on a "bed" of nartjies.

and here is a shot with them still on the tree. This shot comes from on my last trip to Macmac near Sabie. These were actually wild guavas growing in the bush along the river path behind the coffee plantation I visited.

Roadside Sculpture

By posting this right after the Lydenburg Heads I am NOT suggesting that this is either of the same age or is of similar historical or cultural significance. This is just a little roadside which I happened to notice while driving in the area. For the record I should say that I asked people who drive this road a lot about it and nobody had ever noticed it before. It is among tall grass on the side of the road and I just happened to see it but it is not in anyway a famous figure. I like that it is anonymous, just standing there not far from the road.

Lydenburg Heads

On my last road trip I passed Mashishing, a small town in Mpumalanga which used to be called Lydenburg. This is the site of the discovery of the Lydenburg Heads. The town has a nice museum in which replicas of three of the seven heads are displayed.

Here is what the museum site says about them: "Carbon dating proved that the heads date to approximately 490 AD and were made by Early Iron Age people. These people were Bantu herders and agriculturists and probably populated Southern Africa from areas north-east of the Limpopo river. Similar ceramics were later found in the Gustav Klingbiel Nature Reserve and researchers believe that they are related to the ceramic wares (pottery) of the Lydenburg Heads site relating to form, function and decorative motive. This sequence of pottery is formally known as the Klingbiel type pottery".
I was surprised to see how little information there was about them. I guess little is known.
They are quite small. Apparently of the seven five are quite small and two are a little larger, possibly large enough to be worn as mask by children. Of course as is always the case thing that cannot be understood they are assumed to have had ceremonial/religious functions.
That always made me laugh, if we do not understand something we always say "it was used for religious purposes". Goes to show that we do realize that religions appear completely nonsensical to the non initiated.

These are not great photos but the heads are obviously under glass and unfortunately the museum is kept slightly dark which made for terrible reflections.
Either way I was happy that I had seen them and if you find yourself near Mashishing I recommend going to the museum.

Now that's happiness

Look at Charlotte (S. and B.' daughter). Doesn't she look like she is having fun?!

When exactly is it that we loose the ability to feel that way?
It warms your heart to see her laughing and be happy. She is a really cutie. She has a great smile (with two upper teeth now and she is already working on the fifth lower tooth) but her laughter is even better than her smile, and that's not easy to do because she has a cute little smile.

I really like this picture!
I'm going to see her "in real life" soon.

Dress with fabric from Ghana

A friend helped me make myself a dress with one of the fabrics I bought the other day. I started with the red fabric from Ghana.

From close this is what the fabric looks like. (I came close to my friend to show her how to zoom and she took a shot as I was talking to her...In a way it is perfect to show the fabric.)

Another fabulous isolated road

I was just talking about another of my favourite roads, the one between Freycinet and the Tasman Peninsula in Tasmania, and now here is one here in South Africa:
the road from Houthoop (a farm just north of Kleinzee) to Kamaggas.

The road is partially paved, but even when not paved generally good.

You drive towards the mountains for a few kilometres.

I have to admit that that morning was just glorious, the temperature was ideal, the air smelled nice, the light was brilliant. I was one of those morning where you know you are in glorious Africa, the Africa they write books and make movies about.

Once again: red dirt and blue sky.

The day had started with a beautiful but weird sunrise at Houthoop. (That was between Christmas 2010 and New Year 2011)

Red dirt and blue sky

The last few posts have been about Tasmania but this is where I am: red dirt and blue sky.... at least most of the time (it was very grey yesterday) and almost everywhere.

Tasmania - random photos

From my 2010 trip.

Tasmania has some cute little village called Ross which come across as very British. There is a small but interesting wool museum in Ross which shows among other things the different qualities of wools in a display that explains it and lets you feel the different wools for yourself.

This is just East of Stanley in the North West corner of Tasmania. It was a beautiful spot with a nice simple camp site which offered a lot of private spots right near the beach.

Same beach but looking in the other direction (to the West). The rock formation you see is called "The Nut" and Stanley is just along it.
I like the little cloud just above the only piece of land which is more than a couple of metres above sea level.

Tasmania has a lot of "alternative" and artistic people. Here is a particularly nice large scale "rock painting" near Derby which was particularly appropriate since it was above a small river known for its fishing, and what a good use of the natural shape of the rock.

Along the North coast there are areas where penguins are plentiful at the time of year when youngs are born.

And in fact there is a small town called Penguin which of course results in all kind of hilarious signs all over town. You also have Penguin Market which I liked a lot too.

On the wild West coast there is a small very isolated village (Trial Harbour) where there is no electricity (apart from solar power), obviously no shops but a fabulous setting with beautiful beaches.

A random view of Freycinet after I left it and was driving north along the fabulous road. I like driving along isolated roads and some of them always stand out as being particularly fabulous. The road between Freycinet and the Tasman Peninsula is one of those.

There are quite a few mountains in Tasmania.

It is safe to say that I love trees.

Sky and Tree Kaleidoscope... (just having fun)

Tasman Peninsula - The views

Again, I am not in Tasmania (I am still in South Africa) right now and these are from last year. But I just reactivated my Google photo screen-saver and it reminded me of all the photos I meant to post but never did. So before I get back to Tasmania, and take more photos I am sure, here are the view of the Tasman Peninsula as seen when hiking along the coast in the Tasman National Park.