Simple days

 Winnie the Pooh decorated chocolate cakes to enjoy at a tea party in the child made den.

 Storks visiting the garden.

 Caterpillar finds.

 Toad spawn in the pond.

And a boy with his favourite cockerel!

Cycads and crabs and other nature discoveries

An incredible flowering-cone cycad we spotted at the botanical gardens recently.

Blue dragonfly on dry eucalyptus leaf.

We have been patiently waiting for a butterfly to emerge from a chrysalis we spotted on a plant a while back.  Luckily, the boys noticed at the right time! Magic.

This boy still spends his time head down seeking, seeking, seeking.  A whole world at this feet.

What has he found on this occasion?

 A big freshwater crab.  A fascinating chap.  We have him in a tank at home and he is doing very well indeed.  He likes to be fed worms!  His companion is a little fish called 'In the water'.

Mushroom walk, giraffes and other animals and armies!

We went on a mushroom walk led by a very informed mushroom expert at a local nature reserve.  Incredible what a wide variety of mushrooms can be found in the damp season if you really stop and look.  Some of the types found are traditionally edible although the mushroom expert advised not taking any chances as it is so easy to misidentify which could lead to something fatal.

We saw some beautiful tortoises there - leopard tortoises and Bell's hinged tortoises.  How my boys, especially Noah, really really would love a tortoise as a pet.

I knitted him one up soon after.  My handspun wool.  He is called Kamba (Shona for tortoise).

We also saw giraffe.  What creature is more beautiful and majestic?  They are incredible.  Always my favourite.

And a wasp nest.  Isn't this a magnificent, beautifully designed nest.

Love this type of day!

The boys also spent almost an entire day just before this day creating impressive armies.  Each boy designed his soldiers with weapons and fierce faces!  And played battle games for hours.  I love it when an idea absorbs them so and creativity takes off to the heights!

February findings

Here are some of our insect/reptile discoveries from early February.  Where did February go??  Didn't hang around very long!

Blind snakes from the compost heap.  These live underground and are harmless.  They feel beautifully smooth! 

We found a sweet tiny baby chameleon.  So small compared to one of our big chameleons! 

Sol's new pet - an axolotl.  These creatures have such beautiful faces.  They remind me of Chinese dragons.

Another blind snake wiggling about in the wild.

A type of mopane worm.  Lots of them!  They look very prickly but are very soft and can be handled.

And they are edible!

Domboshawa - walking rock hills

Domboshawa in the dry months.  This is a special place of granite rock hills and various rock formations.  There are rock paintings here in a cave dating back thousands of years.  I will seek them out again on another visit.  There are beautiful lichens that live on these rocks - mostly red, grey and green and lots of lizards and incredible views.  To walk these rock hills and feel the power of this African land.

Reflections and tadpoles and ramsons

On one of our explores recently, specifically to search for frogspawn in a natural place.
For a while, most of the watery places we thought we might find frog spawn, didn't have any.  Then I remembered the icy pools we had come across earlier in the winter in a forest nearby and we decided to look in those.
We were struck by the beauty of the trees reflecting in the water.

And then we found lots and lots and lots of frogspawn in those pools!

We also found lots of wild garlic growing over large areas on the banks of the stream.  We picked lots and baked wild garlic scones when we returned home. 

 

Noah visited his 'dragon', (a beautiful fallen tree)  and had a ride on him and a quick chat with him.

Glimpses of here

Some of this week.

Exploring misty fields as the warm sun melts away the cold frost.

Jediah nature baby exploring.  Just look at that expression!

Brotherly love!

And a few signs of spring! Dandelions, ladybirds, nettles!  Hooray!