Holiday Journal No.5

My next stop was Plettenberg Bay which is one of my most favourite places in the whole world.  We stay in a golf complex called Goose Valley and fall out of bed and onto the golf course.  It has beautiful beaches and some special places to eat, such as the Look-out Restaurant which is a casual restaurant right on the water with excellent food and service.  Then there's Emily Moon which has the most stunning vista and decor and even though the food can be quite average I just think it's worth it for the atmosphere.

There is absolutely loads to see around Plett and two of my favourite places to go to are Monkeyland and the Birds of Eden.  I never tire of going to them.  Monkeyland is a sanctuary for monkeys who have been pets and are reintroduced into the wild and Birds of Eden is the largest free flight aviary in the world being a two hectare dome which again houses birds which have been brought up in captivity.  In Monkeyland you can only tour around the sanctuary with a guide to protect the monkeys and each guide has wonderful and interesting stories about the monkeys that are there.  Birds of Eden is situated in a gorge of indigenous forest and has wonderful canopy walkways.

So for my next collages it had to be the monkeys and the birds:

  For the bird picture I have tried to choose birds of South Africa with the exception of the Hartlaub Turaco which comes from north-east Africa.  The picture includes the Knysna Turaco (left-top: indigenous to this area), the Grey Crowned Crane, the Spotted Thick-knee, Hartlaub's Turaco and in the middle the Cape Glossy Starling.  The three highlighted birds are the one's we have seen in the wild as well during our holiday.  Being a golfer and a lover of birds is a marriage made in heaven.  Golf courses are wonderful habitats for birds and the birds become use to the sight of people and are less timid.