28. Day 10 (Aug 26) – Back to the Garden Route

As I discussed yesterday, we took a bit of a northern (well actually north-west) detour to get to the Klein Karoo yesterday, so today it’s a south-west jog back to the Garden Route (and beyond as we’ll see in the next post).

Much of the route south through the Klein Karoo was similar to the trip north yesterday.  There was one spot that we pass through that I would have expected were we traveling through the rural west or south of the United States – and it seems that much of the Klein Karoo shares some of this culture.  The place is called Ronnies [no apostrophe] Sex Shop.  There are several stories as to how this place got its name.  Everyone agrees that a man named Ronnie, who still owns and operates the shop, started it in a dilapidated old building on one of the (more or less) main routes south from the Klein Karoo to the southern coast.  The location is easily found in the dictionary under the term “middle of nowhere.”  Ronnie intended to sell fresh fruits and vegetables from the local area.  

Here is where the two stories diverge:

1) The version we heard on the trip notes that Ronnie always intended the place as a pub / general store.  But when the place was suffering from lack of business, Ronnie painted the word “Sex” on the sign and people started coming in.  

2) The “official” version says nothing about the original intent of having a pub, and it was only when some of Ronnie’s friends played a prank on him by adding the word to the sign, that someone suggested he make the place a pub.  

I’m told there is no sex in the shop – unless you are one of those types who consider women’s undergarments hung on walls to be sex.  When we stopped by the shop, our guide, who you may remember we had significant issues with, decided to add sexism to the list of complaints we had.  He mainly addressed the men in our group and suggested they might want to go in.  None of the women went in nor did I, so I can’t say what is inside.  The outside of the building looks like this:

Ronnie's Sex Shop

But the funniest part of what is really a fairly stupid little stop along a road in the middle of nowhere is the advertising sign right next to the building.  My guess is that the Logo Studio is possibly the only printing place within 100 miles of this location.  I wonder if they charge extra for proof-reading.

Proof Reading Not Included

Now, on to the more scenic parts of the trip to the southern coast.  Once you cross the pass out of Klein Karoo, the landscape becomes more lush and there are even small ponds.

Pond in Lush Landscape

In the background of that picture, you can see what appears to be a mustard field.  Let’s look at it a bit closer.

Mustard Field

Another view shows just how scenic acres (or hectares in this case) of mustard can look.

Closeup of Mustard Field

The farming in the area also changes, and we have herds of sheep which require a more lush grazing land as well as more water.

Sheep Grazing

Being back on the Garden Route, we also saw our old friend the Southern Sunbird.

Southern Sunbird

We also had a really good chance to see the weaver finch, which we first saw in Johannesburg.  

(In the first posting, I promised that when the story required it, I would deviate from a strictly chronological series of photos.  This is one case as the photos of the weaver finch now being presented were taken in several different locations over a span of several days.  There are presented here as a story about weaver finches rather that a story about my travels with weaver finches interspersed when we see them.  This will be the norm for a while when we go on safari and see various animals in different locations, but presented together).

In the Klein Karoo, on the ostrich farm, there is one tree that should probably be called the Weaver Finch Condominiums.

Weaver Finch Condos

At Grootbos (which we will visit more generally in the next post) there were also several weaver finches.  One is checking out the door to the nest he built.

Weaver Finch Checking Door to Nest

Another weaver is contemplating the building project awaiting him, having just finished the “foundation” for the nest.

"OK -- Foundation's Done" 

"But so much more to do."

As I noted earlier, the male (he of the more colorful plumage) makes the nest to attract a mate.  And if the woman of his choice rejects the nest, he destroys it and starts over again.  Or at least that’s what the ornithologists tell us – I’ve never seen it.

I was also fortunate to catch a photo of a weaver in flight carrying a long leafy blade back to wherever he is building his nest.

Carrying Building Materials Back to the Nest

Next stop – Grootbos and our final look at fynbos.

Link to Full Resolution Photos