Uniondale

 Thursday 21/10/21

We've left Stilbaai for a short camping trip and are heading inland.  We made a short stop-off in George and then, rather than drive through the modern route over the Outeniqua pass, we opted to go through the much older Montagu pass.  This gravel route was built between 1844 and 1847 and offered an alternative to the original Cradock pass which took three days to cross in those times.

This beats a tar highway over the mountains every time!

It was a fantastic drive, fortunately we only had to deal with one car from the other side and we could stop along the way to enjoy the sights and smells of the mountains and the sounds of the streams in the valleys.  We even spotted a mongoose fighting a large snake next to the road (but couldn't get a photo in time).

The Montagu in the foreground with the modern Outeniqua cutting across the background.

The Protea flowers were so big we saw them from the opposite side of the valley so
had to stop and photograph them in the valley below.

The rough roads were no match for Bakkie, Bokkie's smaller brother!

We are staying overnight in a self catered cottage in Uniondale, a dusty village in the Klein Karoo.  We've found there is no water in town at the moment as the water main has burst but we're hoping they can get it fixed at some point.

Tomorrow we head on to Addo Elephant Park to try and remember how to camp in a tent - how we miss Bokkie already!   

Bonus video:

We have been treated by the mating dances of a male pin-tiled Whydah who has been battling for the attentions of an apparently oblivious female who keeps dodging his advances.  He keeps tapping on our glass door - an attempt to convince her that he is fighting other males off, but she's having none of it.