Magalies River - Maree Clarkson

God has cared for these trees, saved them from drought, disease,

avalanches, and a thousand tempests and floods.

But he cannot save them from fools.

- John Muir

"Magalies River at Wicker" pencil sketch and watercolour in Moleskine Watercolour Notebook

One of our favourite Sunday outings is to go to Wicker Tea Garden on the banks of the Magalies River in Magaliesburg (Gauteng, South Africa), surrounded by the Magaliesberg Mountains. We normally choose a table right on the riverbank from where we watch the Malachite Kingfisher diving for fish. Afterward he preens and suns himself on one of the branches overhanging the Stream.

On the other side of the river is an open-air wedding chapel which one can also access by crossing the rapids via some stepping stones when the river is not in flood.