Welcome to Thursday Doors, a weekly feature allowing door lovers to come together to admire and share their favorite door photos from around the world. Feel free to join in on the fun by creating your own Thursday Doors post each week and then sharing your link in the comments below, anytime between 12:01 am Thursday morning and Saturday noon (North American eastern time).
You can join in Thursday Doors here: https://nofacilities.com/2022/01/27/revolutionary-wethersfield/
During our recent road trip, our first stop was at Ganora Guest Farm near Nieu Bethesda in the Eastern Cape. I planned an overnight stop here so that we could see the Karoo fossils and Bushmen (San) paintings the area is famous for, as well as some etchings from the Second Anglo Boer War.
You can find out more about Ganora Guest Farm here: https://www.facebook.com/Ganora.Guest.Farm/
We arrived late in the afternoon on Day 1 of our road trip, after an 8 hour drive from Johannesburg. The area where Ganora Farm is located is called the Groot [Big] Karoo and is semi desert. The region has been getting uncommon amounts of heavy rains and was the greenest I’ve ever seen it. The clouds opened shortly after our arrival at the farm and the torrent of rain caused a flash flood at the nearby rivulet. The owner’s son nearly came unstuck trying to cross the river in his 4 X 4 while it was in flood.
You can hear the rushing water in this short video:
In the early evening, the owner showed us his amazing fossil collection and we listened to a 45 minute talk about the mammal-like reptile fossils of 280 million years ago found in this area. That is a long time before the dinosaurs…
roberta-writes.com 
Robbie, great summary of your trip, along with striking photos! Perhaps all that rain is another example of climate change? 😦
LikeLiked by 3 people
Hi Dave, I also think that, but it could also be natural. It’s impossible to tell now because so much is swept up as climate change.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I know this is “doors” day, but look at that cool ceiling in the dining area!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Yes, everything about this farm was interesting, Priscilla.
LikeLike
I still can’t get over the plague of locusts. (For me, any more than one or two bugs, and they’re a plague.)
LikeLiked by 2 people
Always terrific stuff Robbie!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thanks, John.
LikeLike
That’s some nice flash flooding and swarms of locusts. Cool fossils.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Thanks, Timothy. It was quite a day.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Interesting trip to see the reptile fossils of 280 million years ago, Robbie. It makes us think how old this earth is.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Yes, and how much it has changed. This was when the semi desert Karoo was an inland sea and the continents were all one called Pangea.
LikeLike
I remember the geology class about the shifting of land and sea. With the climate change and rising of ocean, scientists predict some of the islands in the south east Asia and Hawaii will disappear.
LikeLiked by 1 person
That seems very possible. I wonder how it will impact on the rest of the world. I live in a high area, but our coastlines are already experiencing very bad storms and flooding.
LikeLike
Oh! 😮 Locusts, boiling water and sharp-toothed pre-dinasaur mammals! All that and lovely doors too, of course.
LikeLiked by 2 people
It was an exciting day! Thanks for visiting.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Fascinating. I’m impressed with the tools they created back then- cool!
LikeLiked by 2 people
I loved the dining room with all these interesting tools.
LikeLiked by 1 person
the owner must have loved having you there – a fellow history buff! and the number of locusts is crazy!
LikeLiked by 2 people
HI Jim, the swarms of locusts have been awful this year and so destructive. I have some more picture from when we returned home 10 days later, it was even worse. There were some great people at the farm, mainly people who were interested in the fossils and Bushmen painting so it was a lovely time.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I can’t iamagine having to put up with all those locusts. And I’m glad you had such good time at the farm, seemed right up your alley…
LikeLiked by 1 person
I definitely was. No TV or wifi either.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I like the no tv and wifi part…
LikeLike
It’s all great, but what caught my attention, in particular, was the wide assortment of ancient farm tools.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Hi Pete, I liked those too. This was a very nice place to visit and I have another set of pictures for next week.
LikeLiked by 1 person
great photos and the video snippet of the water was nice 🙂
LikeLiked by 2 people
I’m glad you enjoyed it, Yvette.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks for this interesting post, Robbie.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Hi Stevie, I am glad it interested you. A hectic day to be sure.
LikeLiked by 1 person
This makes me wonder, to whom shall WE be the fossils? Thank you so much for sharing. You are a wonderful presenter of history.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Wow. I would not want to be trying to cross that stream and would certainly not want to meet up with a fish with teeth like those. It must be so strange to have this much rain in what is normally desert. And, just for extra measure, let’s throw in a swarm of locusts. There’s a unique element that I could see making it into a book one day 😏
Great post, Robbie. Thanks for sharing with Thursday Doors.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Hi DAn, it is very strange to see this area so green. The locust swarms are linked to all the rain as the eggs from years gone passed have all hatched this year.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Wow, Robbie, 280 million years ago! The oldest fossils I’ve come across in my research about the history of the Western Cape are a large collection of fossilized hominid bones, dating back some 60,000 years, which were uncovered by a devastating flood somewhere around present day Hopefield, if memory serves.
LikeLiked by 3 people
The Karoo has a lot of fossils, Chris. They are literally lying around. You can read more about it here if you are interested: https://theconversation.com/why-south-africas-karoo-is-a-palaeontological-wonderland-43045
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks for the link, Robbie 🙂
LikeLike
I loved those locusts, first time I’ve seen them in flight.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Hi Danny, lovely to see you. It was actually the first time I’d seen them in flight and initially I thought they were butterflies as their wings glittered in the sunlight. They were not as much fun coming home.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I like especially the room with the farm implements on the wall. They are beautiful and worthy of display. (K)
LikeLiked by 2 people
HI Kerfe, I liked this room too. There are some other fascinating objects at the farm which I will share next week.
LikeLiked by 1 person
What an adventure, Robbie, and dramatic landscape and skyscape! That toothy fossil is fascinating. Right out of a sci-fi movie. I’m glad you have fun on your break. 🙂
LikeLiked by 3 people
We most certainly did, Diana. I am so glad we could go despite the Omicron outbreak.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m on a short break as well, and traveled anyway despite the virus. So far so good. We need the breaks.
LikeLike
Excellent Doors post, Roberta!
I love all the history you show us. Thank you!
LikeLiked by 3 people
Hi Resa, I do spend lot of time dwelling on historical things, don’t I? Reading your comments in a row has made me realise how much I historical content I write.
LikeLiked by 1 person
The photo that really grabbed my attention was the room with all the farm implement tools from the 1700s. Fascinating! And the fossils! Thank you for sharing! A great door post!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thank you, Jan. I’m glad you enjoyed this post.
LikeLiked by 1 person
This is s great post, Robbie. I really enjoyed these pictures of your trip. Such drama of rain and locusts! I love looking at very old structures and imagining the world back then. I’m trying to get an idea of how big that mammal you took the fossil picture of would have been – tiny? Those teeth are amazing!
LikeLiked by 3 people
Hi Barbara, they were very small little mammals. The big creatures came much later in the evolution of the world.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Super interesting.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Beautiful and rugged landscape, Robbie. Looks like you had quite an adventure.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Wonderful pictures, Robbie. I love the sound of rushing water.
LikeLiked by 1 person
beautiful post! omg – so many locusts! love all the pix as well as the video 🙂
LikeLiked by 2 people
HI da-AL, the locusts were horrible. They are brown and horny. I am glad you enjoyed. I love the sound of water.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I enjoyed the opportunity to explore by looking through your aperture.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I am glad, Bernadette. I enjoy travelling virtually via blogs too.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Such an interesting place. That is one scary looking fossil.
LikeLiked by 1 person
HI Jean, it is a scary little creature. It could give you a nasty bite.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Great photos Robbie is that something drying on the ceiling I know some cultures use the ceiling for drying wood and food…The teeth look sharp… it’s lovely when something like that is impressed on a stone…I found a stone when I was young and it had a flower that had been pressed into it it was very pretty I took it to school and a teacher borrowed it and never gave it back…that is imprinted on my memory I so wish my mother or father had gone up the school and they didn’t …which is why I think I have always championed my children…
LikeLiked by 1 person
HI Carol, the ceiling is made of wooden poles, they do that to help keep the room cool. I think that was a horrible thing your teacher did. So disingenuous. It was probably a fossil you found. I champion my children too.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh ok…good idea…Yes, it was either a trainee or supply teacher I never saw them again but the memory has always stayed with me…I was only in Junior school about8/9 yrs old …
LikeLike