Woodstock market Cape Town!

Life is good in Africa!

We started building extra accommodation last September. A garden cottage with kitchen, living room and private terrace. Almost 1,5 month later, it's almost finished. Who says people don't work hard in Africa? Still some decorating to be done and then the first guests can sleep there in November.

As every year, the Southern Right Whales are visiting the Cape for the moment, still breathtaking every time!

Newest addition to our "little farm": six chickens. There will be daily fresh eggs served at breakfast time.
During spring cleaning Oscar was transformed from an almost black to a white donkey again. He's not a huge fan of water but seemed to feel better afterwards.
And so we are ready to start of our second season!

Oscar the donkey!

On a drizzly day in September 2009 we visited the SPCA in Grassy Park. We were looking for ‘something’ for in our garden and had some chickens or maybe a small goat in mind. But when we saw this white Donkey, we immediately fell in love.

They had picked him up by the side of the road a few days earlier after he got hit by a car, leaving a gap wound in his side so big you could stick a melon in there. Also his head was full of scars, sad remains of his previous life as a cart animal no doubt with lots of beatings and abuse.

They couldn’t give us any guarantee at the SPCA that he was going to recover, but we decided then and there that we would provide a loving home in case he did. Two weeks later we received a phone call that he was feeling much better and his wound was nicely healing. Bram started right away building a stable and some fencing.
Since Monday, Oscar stands happily grazing in the garden. Welcome to the family!

South African winter

After a very relaxing holiday in our home country Belgium, we returned well rested AND married to Noordhoek. Our time there has literally flewn by and we already look forward to our next visit. But we're equally happy to be back home where Evi, Piet and Kathy had taken good care of our home, guests and Badu. Right away we were back in business, preparing breakfast for our German guests the next morning!Badu has been struggling with a severe ear infection for a few weeks now and after all sorts of experiments such as panties around his head, we had to bring him in at the vet for a small procedure. After stumbling around for two weeks with a plastic collar around his neck, luckily the wound has now properly healed.
We're enjoying the Capetonian winter to the fullest, with some very mild temperatures and loads of sun. It still amazes us they call this winter...
Steven, Natasha and Henri have arrived and are busy renovating their new business Zensa Lodge in Scarborough. Last sunday we all cycled to the Cape Point nature reserve. We won't mention the fact that some of us didn't quite make it to the finish and needed a ride back to lodge by car...We also won't mention the fact that some of us, nearly made it out of bed due to stiff joints the next morning...

June 2009

http://www.nieuwsblad.be/Article/Detail.aspx?ArticleID=UM2BVK07

Stranding pilootwalvissen @ Kommetjie beach

On saturday morning about 50 pilot whales had stranded on Longbeach in Kommetjie. These beautiful creatures life in large groups in which they hunt and mate, they also react to cries of distress from their fellow group members. This is the reason why, despite all the effort from the local community to bring the animals back into the ocean, they didn't succeed. As soon as one animal was brought deep enough to swim off, you could see it immediately returning to its group (still on the beach).
It was very sad to learn that after a whole day of rescue attempts, all animals had to be put down humanely...

Fishermans friend & co

It's with great sadness that we have to say goodbye to our friends Anke and Phillippe. They have decided to return to Belgium again.
Our traditional sunday walk, this time on Chapmans Peak almost turned into a disaster after Phillippe nearly missed stepping on a puff .

Four days of fishing on the national fish Galjoen, two guys (Bram and Phillippe), result one fish...no comment

April 2009

The yearly cheese festival in Franschoek. We had a great time tasting all the different local wines and cheeses.

After the last crayfish of the season had been caught and braaied, Badu and Eames had no better idea than to declare war to each other in pursuit of chocolat labbie Pandora. One small masacre and a finger that needed stitches for Phillippe were the sad result. They have (sort of ) mended peace while all wounds are healing...

Sunday lunch at Cape Farmhouse in Scarborough.

Finding bait for Galjoen fishing, not an easy task.

Two oceans marathon passage @ African Queen.

Bevoorrading met o.a. gekookte aardappelen...lekker.

Easter 2009

Het Zuid Afrikaanse seizoen loopt op z'n einde, maar de African Queen is nog druk bezet tijdens de paasvakantie.

Deze -ongevaarlijke- 'molesnake' vond de composthoop een ideale huisvesting.
Toch even schrikken, maar tuinman Lameck stuurde het diertje terug richting wetlands.

African skies vanop het terras, blijft prachtig en elke dag anders!

March 2009

Autumn is slowly getting here. Still we're enjoying pleasant temperatures between 20 and 25 degrees and breakfast can still be served on the terrace.

A successful participation to the B&B expo with thanks to Daan, Denise and Carine.

Trips to Zeekoevlei and the Karoo

Pelicans at Zeekoevlei.




We were invited by the Woestyns at their huge project Karoo1. It's promising to be beautiful! Main house dates from 1835

Beautiful sunset.