South Africa

South African artist Pierneef 

Our arrival in South Africa was pleasant with a smooth border crossing as we entered the Karoo area. 

The Karoo known for its great sky, great heat, great frost, great floods and great droughts and old-fashioned windmills are showing up on the horizon. 

 Small settlements farms and vineyards are making their appearance. 

We stopped for lunch under the Blue Gum trees. The Blue Gum tree is part of the Eucalyptus family and was introduced by a British botanist. With the trees rapid growth it was thought to be used for the mining industry. It also consumes 2000 litres of water in a day and recently in particular areas the trees have been removed and regarded as an invading species. Because of their natural enemies who were left behind in their country of origin, they can survive, reproduce and spread unaided across the landscape. 

In one of the trees are the weaver birds nests and captured my imagination and an illustration of it soon followed.