On Tuesday 11 February 2014, I was on the road again, the N2, this time Harding, Kwazulu Natal, South Africa
Besides the SA National Roads-works underway on the N2, the drive was most pleasant and beautiful.
I took a couple minutes here and there to capture on camera the beauty of our Lords creation.
The drive took about 2.5 hours there and 2.5 hours back to Durban.
The coastal area here is know as Hibiscus Coast, contrasting sugar cane fields and rolling dark hills
For the last year and a bit, George the chicken has been living on this corner.
I have passed him on a bi-daily basis since he arrived there, and affectionately call him George.
The corner of Umhlanga Rocks Drive and Westridge Road is where he makes his home, the kind man in that corner residence feeds him.
Around Christmas 2013, George vanished from his traffic light.
After a few weeks, the story came out.
The kindly man of the corner house, had taken George and relocated him to a residential complex, where he is well looked after.
It was sad, but better for George.
Then, yesterday, I spotted him. He has obviously broken free of the secure complex, and made him way back to the traffic light.
The weekend before my Cape Town Christmas trip, my friend and I went up to Mount Moreland, Kwazulu Natal, South Africa.
Mount Moreland is about 15 kms from Umhlanga, and is best known for its Barn Swallows.
The public can view this awesome sight of the up to 3 million Barn Swallows descending on their roost.
This initiative is courtesy of Mount Moreland Conservancy
Visitors bring their own chairs, food, drinks, binoculars, and mosquito repellent.
The roosting time is about half an hour before sunset, but we went on the trip for the serenity and quite of the landscape.
A pathway leads from the top of the view point, down towards the marshlands
I begin descending, the only sound the wind whistling and rustling through the cane fields
The path rounds a bend, and a tunnel of foliage leads down to the marsh, igniting the imagination
The sparse clouds provide little relief from the midday sun, I head back up the path.
En route out of Mount Moreland, we crossed a bridge
Stopped to take photos, my friend noticed a Legavaan (or Rock Monitor) in the road behind us in the road
The Legavaan vanished as quickly as he had appeared, scampering back to the safety of the brush.
Further along our route back to Umhlanga, we came across the Dust Pit Tavern.
It is housed in a picturesque building, Cape Dutch style almost.
The road home
Monique van der Walt 