Skywatch Friday - The day the sky came down to earth

My, my but the week has flown by quickly.

With two long weekends in a row and a short week in between, with only three working days, it been a manic time, trying to get through all my work.

Last weekend Suzie-K and I did a spontaneous trip to the Mountain Zebra National Park. What was just going to be a day visit turned into an overnight stay, when we secured a chalet as a result of a cancellation. Unless you book well in advance accommodation in the Park is not available over a long weekend.

But for that we would never have seen the sky come down to earth.............

This picture was taken three years ago looking in the same direction at the endless vista of rolling hills that disappeared when the sky came down.

Two mountain zebras having a drink in a pool, reflecting their images and the sky. These rare animals may at a first glance look like their cousins, the burchell's zebra, but they are quite different with denser stripes, a brown muzzle, a dewlap and slightly larger ears.

More pictures from around the world can be seen at the Skywatch site.

Big cloudy skies

Big skies at the Mountain Zebra National Park during a respite in the rain, which fell on and off, mostly on, for three days.

More sky pictures from around the world can be seen at the Skywatch site.

Skywatch Friday - Milky Way

We just don't get skies like this in the city and it is always a joy to get out into the country where the sky is wide and clear.

This shot of the Milky Way taken at the Mountain Zebra National Park in the early hours of the morning.

More sky pictures from around the world can be seen at the Skywatch site.

My new favourite rodent

Many people who travel tyo game parks have one goal in mind and that is to see the big animals, preferably the big five. Suzie and I on the other hand take pleasure in all the animals, big and small. On a recent trip to the Mountain Zebra National Park we came across a few colonies of ground squirrels, which came out to forage in the late afternoon, which kept us occupied for ages.

They were very entertaining to watch, as they scuttled about looking for whatever it is they eat, stopping to look around and flapping their bushy tails up and down.

At the first sign of danger there would be a mad dash, as they beat a hasty retreat to their burrows, but they were soon on the go again.