Heritage Day Braai

On Heritage Day we were invited to Tudor Woods to join Bryan, Marty and Mike for a braai

Maryann, Cynthia, Mike, Marty and Bryan

Alan manning the braai

the yummy meat 

All the delicious food waiting to be dished up.

Suikerbosrand Nature Reserve

We took a trip down to the Suikerbosrand Nature Reserve on sunday.

After a week of very hot temps, sunday dawned rather cloudy and cold but we didn't let that deter us

After picking up some info maps we set out on the drive around the park.

All the hikes are clearly marked and quite a few people seemed to be on different trails around the park

The start of the 60km drive around the park

The veld is very dry at the moment but the wind through the grass made the most soothing sound

These were the first two animals we saw at the park, afterwards we also saw a herd of wildebeest, zebra and a few more buck too

Lyn took a photo of all of us in the car

Al and Lyn then needed to go and investigate the remains of some poor critter in the park

I wanted a photo of the differences from the left side of the road to the right.
Obviously the left must have been burned at some point during winter while the right was still as it had been. It makes for quite an interesting photo

There are viewpoints all round the park, clearly marked, which are explained in the information sheet. This small dam was one of the watering holes for the animals

Looking past the water you can just see Heidleberg in the distance

We stopped in at the picnic area halfway down the route, which due to the weather was very quiet but on a sunnier day must be a good spot to stop for a braai

Love these thorn bushes

This entire section ofthe park is covered with these thorn bushes giving it an almost silver hue

And then we came across a bunch of baboons

The next lookout was for these amazing Aloes, some of them well over 6m tall

On the shorter 10km drive we came across this very pretty tree with pale pink blossoms

If you look half way down this picture, to the right hand side, you can make out the road we had just travelled on down in the valley

These are the original farm houses on the reserve which house a museum of life in the olden days

We took a hike along the Tok Tokki trail specially designed for blind people and those in wheelchairs. I can assure you it is all very well laid out and not too steep to reach the lookout

Group shot under a very curvy tree

All the Wild Pear trees were in bloom - so pretty

There are interesting facts boards located along the trail with words as well as braille descriptions

Kiepersol Tree bark

As the board said, you are encouraged to hug the Kiepersol tree so Lyn did

the very unusual Bitter Grape bush

Lichen on a tree

Cynthia, Alan and Me

Lyn and me

Al, me and Lyn at the top of the trail

the view from the top - very pretty with the wild pear trees down below

An exceptionally tall Kiepersol tree

We all had a lovely day and will definitely be going back again sometime.