my cottage by the lake

i loved my time at reflections eco-reserve. absolutely loved it. it's a simple place: a lake, a bunch of birds, lots of fynbos bushes, and a handful of cabins. five years ago it was all a pine-tree plantation, but with the hard work and investment by the owner and our great guide to the garden route, tim carr, it's on its way to nature's balance of indigenous species. (to get a taste of the damage tree plantations cause, it won't be for another fifty years of constant work by tim that this area is back to a natural state.)



the cottage and the landscape grew onto me as we stayed there. the completely hardwood cottage with an outdoor shower, expansive deck with dinner table and lounging chairs, and the lofted bedroom with a near panoramic view of the lake. the grasses, only fun obstacles for birds as they dive through them looking for grub, the trees with nests of fish eagles, the far off dark forests, rolling hills and hazy mountains.



the best part of the cottages though has to be that they are completely off-grid and utilize a lot of energy and water saving measures. each cottage is completely powered by a small wind  turbine and a solar panel. the stove, oven and refrigerator are all gas fuel. hot water is heated by solar energy (both solar panel and the fact nearly all 'geyers' here are painted black and placed the roof). water is all filtered rainwater and borehole. all the spent water is used as gray-water, for watering nearby plants. knowing exactly where all your energy comes from (and having a clean conscience about it) and also knowing where your water comes from and goes just eases weight off your shoulders. it was the icing on the cake for me to just be able to relax and finally breathe in rural air.

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we are in the 'garden route' of the western cape of south africa, for our next great guide, tim carr. he is our guide to the area, because of his extensive knowledge of the region, and his passion for the continual conservation and restoration of it. it is called the garden route because of the great diversity of the region, illustrated by the fact it has five out of the seven biomes of the world within it. to wonder through some of it, he took rachel and i on a great hike along the cliffsides of a valley, which opened out to the rocky coast of the atlantic.




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pine tree plantations cover a lot of area in the garden route, a gift from the logging industry and good ol' american plants. it's horrible to the natural environment, because the trees create a 'green desert' or a 'monoculture' of plants in the third most bio-diverse place on earth (first being the area around cape town, the second being the amazon rainforest). the green desert refers to how all other plants die from lack of sunshine and water within the pine forests, and the monoculture signifies how these forests stop and kill off a lot of the natural biodiversity found within the fynbos. but pine trees love it here. there is constant sunshine and generally a fair amount of rain. except now we are in a severe drought, leaving many of the fynbos' drought-familiar plants withering. and yet the pine trees and gum trees, of australia, root deeper than everything else and still manage to just get by.

to further illustrate the severity of the drought, the family we stayed with after tim carr's reflections is nearly out of water, having not had substantial rains in well over a year. when we left tim's cottages, we filled up our vagabond with 500 liters of water to deliver as a gift. it was much appreciated.

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i lamented out departure from tim's 'reflections eco-reserve', but i was quickly happy at our next stop. driving along the long dirt road to their house, it reminded me of idaho. we arrived and were greeted by three eager dogs and a braai on the way. while only managing to be twenty minutes from town, our new hosts, rhi and stu, live as they were in the middle of no where. their closest neighbors are way out of sight, and they have a backyard that encompasses a huge hillside field of fynbos. i was most excited about tenting in their backyard, and overwhelmed by the good food, good company, and fantastic views. on my first morning there, masai, my favorite of the three dogs, woke me up just in time to watch the sunrise. it was perhaps the best sunrise of my life. i eventually gave up trying to limit the photos i was going to upload from it.












view panorama full-sized.

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sadly enough, i spent most of my time here at this table editing video and trying to catch-up on work. somehow, with the view from the table, the work just didn't seem all that painful though. (the smoke clouds in the next photo are in fact two fires burning through the afternoon and to the evening. the furthest one climbed the mountainside almost all night, creating a massive ring of fire visible for miles and lighting up the night clouds.)



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above is another photo of the bray family, now conquering the drift-wood playground and stealing rhi and stu's two-year-old. below is my favorite book i found in rhi and stu's bookcases. it has been a growing habit that as we visit people i browse all their books while i am there, and this one made me felt i missed out on some childhood magic. gnomes was written by rien poortuliet and wil huygen, and is basically an ethnography of gnomes. i don't know if that was their intent, but if i had read that as a kid, i would have flipped.








 
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i have really been enjoying this traveling. camping. cooking by fire. not showering (seven days so far, with next possible shower coming in two days). wildlife. people. being productive. spending time with the girls. teaching them some crafts and about the color wheel. new music. breathing fresh air.

we have since moved onto our next great guide, town, and host, but i am not at all prepared to blog about my experiences here. if i don't try to get it exactly right, you won't believe me... it's just that crazy.

cheers to anticipation, and i hope all is well.

tbk