Things to do and photograph in Paarl

Living in Cape Town means there are so many options when looking for a day trip out in the country.

We decided to visit Paarl, the third oldest town in South Africa, due to its historical significance.

I was planning to photograph some of the beautiful old buildings on the Main Street, but the Taal Monument was our first stop and we were not disappointed. It really is impressive and the views are incredible even on a cloudy day.

We made our way to the twelve kilometre-long Main Street and duly admired the carefully maintained mix of Cape Dutch, Victorian, Georgian and Edwardian Buildings. A stop at the Strooidak Church built in 1805 with its imposing old churchyard is well worth it for good photographic opportunities.

There are many buildings along the Main Street in Paarl that have been converted into businesses, B&B’s and guesthouses and quite of few of these are National Monuments.

Running out of time rapidly, we decided to switch from heritage sites to conservation with a visit to the Drakenstein Lion Park on the Old Paarl road. It is a sanctuary for captive born predators, some of which have suffered the horrors of abuse and neglect in circuses and zoos and the illegal pet trade.

These big cats are in enclosures where an attempt has been made to mimic their natural environment as much as possible and there are walkways from which guests can hope for a good sighting.

We were lucky as it had started to rain lightly and some of the lions were active and close to the fence. Shooting through a fence has its challenges. I switched to manual focus with a zoom lens as it affords more control over what is in focus – in this case the lion and not the fence.

Most amazing of all is that a few of the lions had started to roar. The most awe-inspiring and chilling sound.

I ignored all the rules of trying to shoot through gaps in the fence with a large aperture on manual focus in this image and decided to incorporate the fence as it is part of the story.

It started to rain in earnest, but we stayed and were rewarded by seeing Nala, the rare white lion rescued when Tygerberg Zoo closed down. She recently given birth to triplets in spite of Brutus, the male having been sterilised.

Brutus was more elusive due to another surgical procedure to ensure there are no more cubs as Drakenstein Lion Sanctuary do not have a breeding program. This is a genuine santuary and there is no captive breeding or cub petting.

Photographing this beautiful trio was interesting as there is a contention that to create groups of three in your composition is particularly powerful.

And then we ran out of time. We had not been to the neighbouring chimpanzee haven or any of the fabulous wine farms in the area so we are planning another visit soon.

More to follow.