Our last four-day break of the year.

Traveling to a place called Avalon Springs in a town called Montagu, in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Avalon Springs has natural hot water spring pools, and we were told that it is very healthy to take a dip in the pools.

I have seen many Rock Hyraxes, but never before a wild mom with a baby.

According to the Langeberg Municipality publications, Montagu is not only famous for its Hot Springs, Muscadel and dried fruit, but its also the perfect retreat for eco, wellness, and adventure sports. Other highlights in Montagu and the surrounding areas of Ashton, Bonnievale, McGregor, and Robertson, include olive tasting, museums, tractor trips, farm tours, sky diving, zip slides, game drives, nature reserves, farms stalls, and kloofing.

I forgot to mention the caves, hiking trails, cycling trails, donkey sanctuary, bird sanctuaries, farmer's markets and river cruises.
The historical walk through Montagu is an eye-opener to what happened over the centuries. Can't wait to share it with you all.

South Africa is a big country with vast open spaces, but the open spaces do not lie idle as many of them are farmed. Here below are a couple of shots of the roads.

A typical farmhouse in this area.

I told you that many of the areas are big farms.

We blitzed through a town called Ashton, which is the last town before Montagu, and that modern bridge fascinates me.

We arrived in Montague and our first stop was at this place in the photo below, for some coffee and a light snack. I will have to show you in another post as we found many surprises behind this house, that was converted into a restaurant.

And after that, we popped in at the Montagu Lei Dam to see hundreds of birds nesting in this bird sanctuary, which I will also show you in another post.

A few years ago, when we still lived up north, we saw a couple of Rock Hyraxes, but here at Avalon Springs there seems to be loads of them breeding in the rocks of the valley where the springs are. They also like to go into the water, and we also saw a number of birds enjoying the warmth of the mineral water. So, we are planning to take a historical tour tomorrow and to relax afterwards, and then the day after we will visit a few towns in the surrounds. There is so much to see here that I am sure I am going to take hundreds of photos. I don't know about you, but I don't like to sort through many photos, but I have a system that works well. Its just that same old, same old, that I don't like.

I hope you have enjoyed the first part of our trip and the photos.

Photos by Zac Smith-All Rights Reserved.

Camera: Canon Powershot SX70HS Bridge camera.

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