Rock Hyrax

HAPPY NEW YEAR

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and New Year and are ready for everything that 2015 has to offer. We had a lovely quiet Christmas which was much needed followed by my best friends wedding (link to the photos to follow soon) and a quiet New Year with a few drinks and Chinese takeaway with some friends. After a much needed break it is time to hit the ground running with so many exciting things planned for this year including sharing some more of my favourite images animal by animal and next up is the adorable Rock or Cape Hyrax (Procavia capensis).

The Cape hyrax also known as a dassie, is one of only four extant species in the order Hyracoidea and the only living species in the Genus Procavia. Despite looking like a small rodent, the closest living relatives of the hyrax are actually elephants and manatees and they have the most adorable little faces and characters.

On an early morning trip to a location to look for penguins, this small group of hyrax where on the rocks just before the main penguin colony and getting there nice and early they were quite curious about that strange thing pointing something at them.

This first image is of two hyrax sitting on the rocks, they have moist rubber soles to their feet which help them with their lives on the rocks and they love basking in the sun!

These next few images are of one rather inquisitive individual who I just adore, so much personality in something so small.

This last image was one I took on the way back from the penguins just sprawled out on the rocks watching the world go by, you can see their rubbery feet which are so vital when climbing around steep rock faces.

I really enjoyed the short time I had with this family but would love the opportunity to return and spend longer photographing the lives of these wonderful creatures around South Africa.

I hope you have enjoyed my images of the hyrax, still to come are penguins and a chameleon, but for now it's time to get back to processing the wedding photos.

Have a lovely day.

Victoria x

South Africa Part 1

Hello, I'm a bit late in posting from our trip to South Africa, but things have been a bit hectic and I only had a short time at home before I had to re-pack and head out to Romania to put the Nat Geo research to bed. But now I am back home I am playing catch up with a few things before the pop-up shop opens in just a couple of weeks time here in Frome, but more about that later.

So, South Africa was calling and although I have visited many times, this time I was going with a new perspective on my photography, as well as for a special celebration for our 1st wedding anniversary and the wedding of Meagen and Matthew and to catch up with all our family out there. As mentioned in my previous post I had a new companion with me on this trip, the Sigma 120-300mm f2.8 lens, many of the images were taken with this lens (except the lizards in this post and the chameleon and butterflies in South Africa Part Two) and in the next post I will include the link to my thoughts on this incredible lens.

After a brief stop over with family, Chris and I jump back on the plane and headed for Cape Town for a week to see some penguins and visit some vineyards and to celebrate our 1st wedding anniversary. I have to say it was a very much needed week and we were very lucky with the weather with only the odd bit of sea mist in the early mornings. First up were the penguins and anything else we could find, here are just a few images for that first day!

Next up we headed off to Table Mountain in search of some lizards and great views, we were certainly not disappointed especially as there was not a cloud in sight until we were back down in Cape Town to visit the aquarium and find some dinner. I haven't been to the Two Oceans Aquarium for a few years now and I have to say a lot has changed but for the better. Everywhere you looked there was information not only about the species but also the threats they face and what is being done to conserve them, there are certainly a fair few places that I can think of that would benefit from taking a leaf out of their book in terms of informative displays! Here are just a couple of photos from Table Mountain.

We had a few more days left to explore and relax which included spending a day visiting vineyards for our anniversary and some very yummy food! So I will leave with a few last images from our adventures in Cape Town and in the next post will share our adventures back up north near Jo'burg and Pretoria.