2016 Travel Journal – Day 14, 15, 16 & 17

Keep travelling …

Day 14 – The wet weather did not stop me enjoying my day at the Zoo in Arth Goldau, Switzerland, which features many indigenous species. And on the evening of the same day I was invited by good friends to a superb dinner at their home. We started with pate de foie-gras de canard with brioche and Austrian red wine salt, followed by an Asian vichyssoise with five spices duck breast. As the main course we had thinly slices veal filets with port wine tomato cream sauce and lentil pancakes and we finished the meal with a rhubarb sorbet, rhubarb vanilla yoghurt timbale, chocolate covered strawberries on a strawberry coulis, accompanies by grand mangier and cherry amaretti. A night to remember!

Day 15 – My yearly visit to the Zoo in Basel, Switzerland, which is located in the center of town; this zoo is providing a beautiful oasis to relax.

Day 16 – On the way to meet more Swiss friends in Sempach, Switzerland, I stopped at the Schloss (Castle) Heidegg. It is a beautiful place in the middle of a vineyard with an amazing rose garden. The large collection of roses was started after a visit of Germany’s first post-war-chancellor, Konrad Adenauer, in 1951. He remarked during his visit at the castle, that a place as beautiful as this should have roses!

Good friends, who have recently visited me at Thanda, invited me for an evening at their home in Switzerland. Their house is one of the most spectacular and most unusual private places I have ever visited. It manages to be very modern, but very comfortable at the same time!

Day 17 – After a few days travel I now am back at my parents place in Germany. Heavy rains all day make me very envious (as we could use all this water at home in South Africa), but I enjoy sitting on the covered 🙂 terrace, having a drink and reading a book.

2016 Travel Journal – Day 9, 10, 11, 12 & 13

A few more exciting days in Europe. I visited the Zürich Zoo, I enjoyed Gregorian Vespers Chants and beautiful architecture at the Einsiedeln Abbey, I had more excellent lunches and dinners with friends and family, and I have visited my ‘2000-2007 home town’ of Zofingen in Switzerland over the weekend.

Enjoy the images – more to come!

2016 Travel Journal – Day 6, 7 & 8

A special day in Germany, celebrating my dad’s birthday. Three days with many lunches and dinners joining family and friend, and two short visits to a small zoo near Lucerne and a wild game park near my former home town of Zofingen in Switzerland.

Enjoy the images – more to come soon!

Getting There – 2016 Travel Journal – Day 3 & 4

These are a few pictures taken with my iPhone 6 Plus from my window seat on the airplane – Johannesburg at night and Switzerland at dawn.


… and a quick selfie on the plane before I went to sleep! – 10 hour and 30 minutes flight directly from Johannesburg to Zurich, but no time difference 🙂

Before departure
Before departure

Travel Journal 2016 – Day 1

First day of this year’s annual leave trip. I drove from Thanda to Pretoria to visit very good friends before departing for Europe on Wednesday.
It was a beautiful day and I was quite surprised when I passed a shallow lake with hundreds of Flamingos!

Bird of the Day – Rainbow Lorikeet

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A colorful parrot: Rainbow Lorikeet – These pictures were taken at Nashville Zoo at Grassmere.

To view more of my Rainbow Lorikeet images go to http://www.sperka.biz/sgb11

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Rainbow Lorikeets (Trichoglossus moluccanus) are parrots found in Australia. Their habitats are rain forest, coastal bush and woodland areas. They are medium-sized parrots, with the length ranging from 25 to 30 cm (9.8–11.8 in), including the tail. The plumage is very bright. Juveniles have a black beak, which gradually brightens to orange in the adults.

Clean-Up

The cleanup-crew was busy in front of my home (Thanda House) when I left in the early morning hours (6:06am). These three Spotted Hyena were cleaning up a nearby Lion kill.

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… and have a look at this recent Thanda Safari blog about our Hyena census project https://thandablog.com/2016/05/18/hyena-census/

‘Hello, I am on my way home!’

A journey of Giraffe (8 in total) were crossing the road in front of my home, just as I was approaching. I waited patiently for these graceful giants to move on before I passed through the gate to Thanda House.

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