SKETCHES OF SOUTH AFRICA, PART 3

Moving away from Kruger, we rented chalets for a few days at Giant's Castle. Amazing landscape and a truly wonderful setting nestled amongst the hills. Great walks too with plenty of wildlife. We were mostly birding and I added a few new birds to my life list. We saw Bearded Vulture on most days and Cape Vulture every day - they roosted amongst the rocks nearby. I surprised a caracal lynx early one morning but mammals were a bit scarce. The Mountain Chat that I did a study of (above) was present and singing most mornings - this one is of the dark form.

A pair of White-necked Raven kept us entertained as they mostly hung about the place and afforded great views for studying their habits. Gurney's Sugarbird was another 'must' for us and on the last day we found a single bird near the access road.

Other birds were found mostly in and around the chalets as they were well planted with bushes and small trees so attracted plenty of different species. A pair of breeding Cape Robin Chats had young so were always around - even foraging around one's feet at times! A great opportunity for more studies and photos.

We walked to the 'caves' where there were a number of well-preserved Bushman paintings. Wonderful really to see them up close - especially for an artist! Swifts of different species were all around including Alpine Swifts - another must-see for me. Starred Robin was a possibility and Steve thought he heard one singing but we couldn't find it later when we went back the next day - it was unfortunately raining so that was probably the reason.

I also did studies of the landscape. The ones shown above (also in my sketchbook) are just ideas and some may be the basis for larger oils later on. I think I gathered enough reference on this trip for a few years worth of work! I'm not sure when I'll be able to get to some of these SA studies though as I have a watercolor exhibition coming up soon so will be finishing work for that plus other stuff I'm working on at the moment - busy days!