We spent a couple hours at the Groot River bridge just outside of Natures Valley before breakfast attempting to find a Finfoot - but still no luck. That's birding; you have to be at the right spot at the right time, and be lucky! We headed towards Grahamstown by 9:30, stopping at the Port Elizabeth Hertz office to trade in our car for one without a cracked windshield (windscreen in South African terminology). We were successful, and got a Kia Sportage in trade - after a wait of 1 1/2 hours and 20 minutes out of the way to get there. We arrived in Grahamstown at 3:00ish and checked in to our guest house. Very nice and spacious, but VERY noisy neighbors. I decided to be the obnoxious American and ask if there was another room available that was quieter. The young fellow in charge said he totally understood, and put us in a room that has no adjoining neighbors - it's HUGE, with 3 bedrooms, a full kitchen, dining room and living area. No. Additional charge. Geesh, I've been dissatisfied with the last 2 rooms I reserved online in May; hope my choices improve for the remainder of the trip! We were a little hesitant to walk to dinner here, as there are bars and gates on everything, but we decided to brave it and walked about 8 blocks to a pub/restaurant that we found on the web. It was ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL food, and we had no problems walking there and back, even after dark. For a dinner that would have cost $120 in the US with 2 starters, wine, and 2 entrees, it cost us about $45. We had entrees of pork belly, and kingklip fish.
Photos are of Tom on the bridge this morning with the baboons coming to visit, a section of the Groot River and the reflection, one of the extremely large yellowwood trees in the forest, a sign showing the tree's names, a Reed's Cormorant, breakfast on our deck this morning, an African Dusky Flycatcher that visited us both mornings on our deck, another view of Nature's Valley as we were leaving this morning, our outrageously large accommodation in Grahamstown tonight.
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