Monday Geology Picture(s): Duiker Footprints at Gnoem Gnoemskloof

Teeny tiny footprints, with hammer for scale.

When my husband and I visited Gnoem Gnoemskloof in the Robertson area of South Africa a little over a week ago, we noticed some teeny tiny footprints, shown above with a rock hammer for scale. We’re not animal footprint experts, but we suspect that these tiny footprints belong to the duiker, a little antelope which is found throughout sub-saharan Africa. Most likely, these are footprints of the common duiker.

I have yet to take a good picture of a duiker in the wild (these little antelope move quickly!), but here are a few pictures of duiker in a small zoo in Knysna, South Africa:

Duiker1 — A little duiker taking a drink.

Duiker4 — All nestled in the little house.

Aren’t these little duiker cute? I especially love their little houses!

Monday Geology Picture(s): A Few More Everglades Pictures

Today I thought I would share a few more pictures from my recent trip to Florida with my husband. These pictures don’t have much to do with geology except that the Everglades is an important geological feature in Florida. These pictures were all taken at the Billie Swamp Safari, which I highly recommend visiting if you’re ever down in southern Florida. Enjoy!

A view of the everglades from an airboat.

Georneys with Dana- Part IV: The Turtle

Note: I convinced my Geokittehs co-author Dana Hunter to fly from Seattle to New Hampshire to visit me for a few days. I handed in the final version of my PhD thesis on Friday May 4th, and Dana arrived the next day to help me celebrate. This is Part IV of my description of the fun georneys we had together during Dana’s visit.

Before continuing with my description of the fun georneys that Dana and I had during Dana’s recent visit, here’s a biological interlude. During a walk along a dirt road in New Hampshire, we found a turtle making his (or her?) way across the road. We stopped to take a few pictures and also to gently move the turtle off the road and out of harm’s way.

I think this is an Eastern Painted Turtle. Can anyone confirm? Does anyone know more about this turtle?

The turtle retreated into his (or her?) shell when we went to remove him from the road.

West Coast Flowers in Pictures

A field of lavender flowers. That's the ocean in the distance!

About a month ago I posted some pictures from a Saturday picnic at Langebaan Lagoon, which is located in the West Coast National Park just north of Cape Town, South Africa. I promised to post a few more pictures of our visit to the park. Here they are… mostly, these are pictures of the beautiful September flowers. The flower season in the park is brief– a little over a month– but spectacular. Enjoy!

A field of flowers with a granite hill in the distance.

Field of flowers, houses, ocean. Not a bad place to live!

Human for scale. Oh, wait... does that only work for rock pictures?

Beautiful beach. There were whales hanging out in this little bay!

Okay, not a flower, but a close-up of the Cape Granite, which is found as small, rounded hills throughout the park. This is a geology blog, after all!

Ostrich Riding in Oudtshoorn

I’ve been so busy working on my thesis recently that I haven’t had time to post many pictures from my new home in South Africa. That’s okay since I’ve been spending most of my time in my home office, which looks pretty much like offices back in America.

My fiance and I did manage to escape for a weekend trip, however. We visited some incredible geology near the town of Oudtshoorn. I’ll write up a few geology posts as time permits, but for now here’s an ostrich riding interlude:

Saddling Up:

Preparing for the ride. Remember to hold onto the wings, not the neck.

Video Evidence: