We also saw an area of tin roof homes bounded by green toilets and fences where laundry dried in the South African sun. But we knew our boundaries and stayed in the van while the driver made a U-turn.

Huge area of tin roof dwellings bounded by toilets on one side and fences on another: Soweto, South Africa.

For more entries in this photo challenge — Weekly Photo Challenge: Boundaries — click here.

For more entries in the Weekly Photo Challenge: Monochromatic, click here.

Ready to go ATVing with a guide from Xtreme Clarens in South Africa.

For those of you familiar with our blog, you know that we traveled to the country of Lesotho to build a Habitat for Humanity house.  But when a coup against the government forced us to evacuate the country, we found shelter in nearby Clarens, South Africa.  Worn out with waiting, worrying, and packing so hurriedly, our whole group decided we deserved a bit of excitement.  Xtreme Clarens to the rescue with rentable ATVs! We took to the hills.

On the way, we were treated to scenes like we’d never seen before.  Good scenes — rocky terrain, heights from which we could view sites miles away, the homes and shelters of people who lived on the mountainside.  And not so good scenes of devastating fires creating environmental hazards and hardships for the people trying to breathe heavily polluted air.

On the way back to the rental place, we welcomed paved streets and a smoother ride. But what we really loved seeing were the people, especially the children, who stood on the side of the road, waving wildly or attempting to high-five us.

Shot with my iPhone held in one hand, we tried to capture a shot of the children who ran out of their houses to high-five us!

Kinda reminded us of a quote by Robert Frost in “Birches”:  That would be good both going and coming back. 

For more “on the way” shots, head over to this week’s WordPress Daily Post Challenge right here

Poster we saw on the way!

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Long winding pathways lined with towering trees, some dating back to the early 1900s, form lasting images for those who visit Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden in Cape Town, South Africa.

For more lasting tree images, check out Ailsa’s blog Where’s My Backpack for Travel theme: Trees.  

Nature’s plan to blend even the biggest, boldest of animals into the landscape works well. So well, in fact, that coming (surprisedly) upon this kingly fellow — mostly of one colour — had all of us in the safari Jeep scrambling for cameras while speaking in hushed tones.  Better to let sleeping lions lie, right?

For more photos in one colour, go to Ailsa’s blog site — Where’s My Backpack? — and look at Travel Theme: One Colour right here. (And please.  Do it quietly.)

Beautiful South African sunset – ah, the great outdoors!

One of the prettiest places to be in the great outdoors is Thornybush Game Preserve, South Africa.  Our jeep pulled into an open spot on the plain so we could toast sundown with friends and revel in the fact that we were alive and traveling in beautiful South Africa near Kruger National Park. Such memories!

For more entries in this week’s Travel theme: Outdoors created by Ailsa of Where’s My Backpack, click here.

Vendor of colorful Balloon Fiesta souvenirs — Albuquerque, New Mexico

Colorful baskets made of telephone wire for sale in Soweto, South Africa

Colorful runners in the International Biscuit Festival 2014 early morning race, Knoxville, Tennessee

For more entries in Ailsa’s Where’s My Backpack photo challenge — Travel theme: Colourful — click here.

Baby and mother giraffe near Kruger National Park

Our guide said it was unusual.  Unusual to see a baby giraffe nursing from its mother.  But we have no idea if it were an unusual sighting or not.  After all, it was our first and possibly only safari.

But regardless of how uncommon it might be to see one little giraffe grateful for its belonging  — to his/her mother, to the tower of giraffes in the area, to the game preserve on which it lives — we relished in the sight since we were in a good place at the right time. And a glimpse of the ordinary became extraordinary for us.

For more entries into Ailsa’s Where’s My Backpack challenge — Travel theme: Belonging — click here.

A climber at rest, some 3000 feet above Cape Town, South Africa.

The view from the top is no less than spectacular, as you would imagine it would be — or at least it is if fog hasn’t “socked it in,”  blocking the scenery of the city below.

Looking out at Cape Town from the top of Table Mountain

But it’s the descent that brings you back to earth.  A slow, crowd-quiet descent that follows the spectacle left behind — one of the New7Wonders of Nature — and a peak to which you may never be so fortunate to return to again.  The descent from Table Mountain literally and figuratively took our breath away. We had indeed been to the mountain top!

Descent via Table Mountain Aerial Cableway

For more entries in the WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge: Descent, travel here.

For more information:

New7Wonders of Nature: http://www.tablemountain.net/content/page/new7wonders-of-nature

Table Mountain Aerial Cableway: http://www.tablemountain.net/

Cape Town: Official Tourism Website: http://www.capetown.travel/attractions/entry/table_mountain_cableway

For more on our travels in South Africa, click on the Page called Lesotho and South Africa.

This shot, taken from a moving bus, shows several stalls near the Kliptown Open Air Museum selling oranges.

In Lesotho, a lady wearing a colorful blanket pauses to eat her orange.

For more entries in the Ailsa’s Travel theme: Bountiful, head to her blog Where’s My Backpack for this week’s bounty.

And to read more about our travels in Lesotho and South Africa, check out the Page at the top of this blog.  Thanks!