A hot afternoon and no electricity made us to answer the river's call.
This lady basking in the sun is an Elusive Skimmer (Orthetrum rubens) and they are endemic to the South Western Cape. Classified as rare.
We get regular chances to go out into nature as the power cuts shut everything down. Some shopping centers have generators to keep their businesses going, but who wants to be in a shopping center if one could rather be near the mountains and a river in nature?
Most of the power cut durations are 2.5hrs long, but then we have much longer ones that can stretch to 6-8hrs. So every day we have to monitor the power cut times and then plan our day of work around them.
But we do what we can.
A lovely stream and the river was low, as we had no rain.
This river can get very angry during rainstorms, as the water flows off the mountains at a rush and many dead trees can attest to that.
Just a wider look at the photo above.
What you see below, is a line of smaller trees. These are young olive trees, as there is an olive farm on the opposite bank of the river. That planted hill is also on the farm.
This doggy wanted to go to take a swing, but the owner restrained him.
A view of the mountain from the river bank.
Finally, the gold of sunset started setting in, and it was time for us to get back home.
We are fortunate to have many places that we can go to during the power cut periods, but sadly we cannot travel too far out due to the terrible gas prices. In South Africa, we call the car gas by the name of "petrol", and we also have "diesel", but I don't know what this is called overseas.
They reckon that the power cuts will still last for a number of years, and by that time I will have taken photos of most everything around here from the biggest bug to the smallest ant, and many other of nature's residents in-between :)
But I am not complaining as life is a gift, and we have to make the best of it. As we only have the one chance.
I hope that you have enjoyed the story and the pictures.
And That's All Friends.
Photos by Zac Smith-All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Canon Powershot SX70HS Bridge camera.
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