The Wild I See

A few weeks ago I was admiring the veggie patch behind our house when I noticed the red pepper plant had a leaf with another stray leaf resting on it. I gave it a tug but it was fastened solidly. I decided to peel away the front and have a look to see who was living inside. I often see jumping spiders prowling through the garden, but I hardly ever see them doing more than that. Their world is so miniature, and so its really special when you happen to meet them at an interesting moment. Two weeks later, a little jumping spider had caught a common house fly just one plant down from the red pepper. He wasn't actively eating it, but just holding onto it, waiting. I then glimpsed a tiny ant making its way up the stem towards the spider. When it approached, the spider, who had been rather still, shuffled to the end of the leaf with the ant hot on its heels. Just as the ant was about to make contact, the spider suddenly rappelled down to a lower leaf along a thin stra...

It's always great to take the time to step back from it all and think about the place you call home. Here's a short film  Lauren de Vos  and I made about the beautiful and diverse place that we call home.

In a twist of oceanographical fate, a five metre swell with an 18 second period surged over one of the world's most beautiful big wave reefs. Twiggy Baker, John John Florence, Albee Layer, Frank Solomon, Mike Schlebach, Andy Marr, Simon Lowe and others were there to harvest the stoke. Huge thanks to Steve Benjamin from Animal Ocean for taking me out there! Check out the video I filmed and edited  here .

It was Friday the 24th of May and the fog on the Atlantic seaboard was heavy. Steve predicted it would roll into the city and into Camp's Bay, so we headed up the mountain to search for a fresh perspective of our beautiful city. True enough, as the sun set and the land cooled, the fog rolled in boisterously under the full moon and the city disappeared. Cape Town - I love this city from Otto Whitehead on Vimeo .

Once upon a time there was a pair of rock kestrels that bred at Dias Beach in the reserve. That time is now and this season they laid four eggs (Anthony Van Zyl; pers. comm.). Last week I was lucky enough to glimpse one of the youngsters (photo below) all grown up and munching on a black girdled lizard (which are often seen sunbathing on the rocks). Note: adults have grey head feathers whereas this is absent in the juveniles.

Peeling waves. Paradisical beaches. Kelp forest splashes. Rock pool ramblings. Fynbos frolicks. Mountain ambles. Wilderness, right on my doorstep.