Standing at only 30 cm tall, meerkats, also known as suricates, have captured the attention of television and film audiences around the world because of their endearing appearance and interesting social behaviour. They depend on group cooperation to survive. They live in groups of 20 to 50 extended family members in large underground tunnels. These family groups, called gangs or mobs, are led by an alpha pair, with the female being dominant. 

Meerkats are active during the day. They can be spotted in the early hours of the morning huddling close to one another when it is still too cold to warm themselves in the early sunlight. Self-grooming can be evident during this period of gathering. However, meerkats have been found to spend less time in grooming during drought times as the morning rest tend to be short and the feeding gets underway immediately. After grooming, they begin to look for food.

Meerkats dig throughout the day looking for food while communicating by means of vocal calls to the rest of the group. This strategy helps keep the group a distance of a maximum of about 5 m apart from one another while foraging. A sentinel stands on guard on a rock or tree stump looking out for possible predators, communicating danger to the rest of the group. It has been found that they make two different types of alarm call depending on how urgent the situation is: either ‘run for cover’ or ‘danger may be in the area’. Which call is uttered normally depends on whether an aerial or a terrestrial predator has been spotted.

Meerkats are restricted to southern Africa, where they occur in the more arid parts of Namibia, Botswana, Angola and South Africa. In South Africa they occur in open areas, across much of the central and western part of the country.

~~~~~~~

Visit my online gallery for more images of African animals and birds, botanical works, 
iconic buildings and interesting locations in and around Cape Town.

All images are available in monochrome and colour,
as high quality prints on non-archival paper or on ready-to-hang stretched canvas.

Click here for prices.

Contact me:
by phone on +27 79 247 7532
by email to gutmansolly@gmail.com

The Adderley Street Flower Market is one of the oldest markets in Cape Town. For over 150 years these ladies have been selling their flowers in the Adderley Street Flower Market and businesses are handed down from grandmother to mother to daughter. And they're still here to this day!

Here you’ll find hundreds of flower bouquets in colourful pots, buckets and containers. These flowers are much cheaper than you’d find in any shop. The prices aren’t fixed and it’s a pleasure to bargain with these bright and witty ladies to come to a price you both agree on.

~~~~~

Visit my online gallery for more images of early Cape Town and surrounds, animals and birds, and botanical works
in both monochrome and colour.

All images are available as high quality prints on non-archival paper or on ready-to-hang stretched canvas.
Click here for prices.

Contact me:
by phone / whatsapp on +27 79 247 7532
by email to gutmansolly@gmail.com
​

Just 150 years ago, Africa’s savannahs teemed with over a million black and white rhinos. Relentless hunting by European settlers saw rhino numbers rapidly decline, and poaching escalated during the 1970s and 1980s as demand grew for rhino horn, a prized ingredient in traditional Asian medicines. 

​But there is good news. Thanks to vigorous conservation and anti-poaching efforts and an international ban on the trade in rhino horn, some African rhino populations are now stable or increasing. Read more about the importance of the rhino on the WWF website.

~~~~~

Visit my online gallery for more images of animals and birds, botanical works and images of iconic buildings and places in and around Cape Town in both monochrome and colour.

All images are available as high quality prints on non-archival paper or on ready-to-hang stretched canvas.
Click here for prices.

Contact me:
by phone / whatsapp on +27 79 247 7532
by email to gutmansolly@gmail.com

Proteas are now in full bloom here in South Africa. The Western Cape has had plenty of rain this winter and the all the members of our rich floral kingdom are loving it. Capturing these intricate and beautiful flowers in scratchboard is quite a challenge, but definitely worth it. I hope you agree.

~~~~~

Visit my online gallery for more images of botanical works, African animals and birds,
iconic buildings and  interesting locations in and around Cape Town, available in monochrome and colour.

All images are available as high quality prints on non-archival paper or on ready-to-hang stretched canvas.
Click here for prices.

Contact me:
by phone on +27 79 247 7532
by email to gutmansolly@gmail.com

Church Square, located in the corner of Spin and Parliament Streets, was one of the first areas of Cape Town to be developed. The square once functioned as a slave market connected to the Slave Lodge, built in 1679. In 1701 the Dutch Reformed Church, the Groote Kerk, which today is known as the Old Supreme Court, was erected on its southern side and later, the eastern boundary was defined by a spinning factory.

The square was a convenient place for slaves to wait for their masters while they attended church. They waited under the shade of a tree at the entrance to the square, close to where the carriages were kept. The original tree which became known as the Slave Tree was cut down but has now been replaced by a similar one.

Between 1730 and 1753 Church Square became a meeting place for local dogs. They became such a menace for church goers that the city employed a dog-catcher to stop them harassing those attending church. Historians believe the dog menace was directly related to the smallpox epidemics of 1713 and 1750 when, at the church graveyard, bodies piled up at a rather alarming rate.
​
The square was declared a National Monument on 17 February 1961.

~~~

​Visit my online gallery for more images of iconic buildings and places in and around Cape Town, botanical works and images of African animals and birds in both monochrome and colour.

All images are available as high quality prints on non-archival paper or on ready-to-hang stretched canvas.
Click here for prices.

Contact me:
by phone on +27 79 247 7532
by email to gutmansolly@gmail.com

Proteas usually flower during spring time and are used for ornamental practices as cut flowers and for decoration. Protea cynaroides, the king protea, is South Africa’s national flower. It symbolizes change and transformation across cultures.
Proteas first attracted the attention of botanists visiting the Cape of Good Hope in the 17th century and many species
​were introduced to Europe in the 18th century, enjoying a unique popularity at the time amongst botanists.

 In local tradition, the Protea flower represents change and hope. 90% of the species occurs in the Cape Floristic Region, a narrow belt of mountainous coastal land from Clanwilliam to Grahamstown. The extraordinary richness and diversity of species characteristic of the Cape Flora are thought to be caused in part by the diverse landscape where populations can become isolated from each other and in time develop into separate species.

~~~~~

Visit my online gallery for more images of botanical works, African animals and birds,
iconic buildings and  interesting locations in and around Cape Town, available in monochrome and colour.

All images are available as high quality prints on non-archival paper or on ready-to-hang stretched canvas.
Click here for prices.

Contact me:
by phone on +27 79 247 7532
by email to gutmansolly@gmail.com

The Old Town House was built in Cape Town in 1755 under Governor Rijk Tulbagh as Cape Town’s first public building.  Located in the heart of the city on Greenmarket Square, the early Rococo-style building has served as a police station, magistrate’s court, a Burgher Watch House, the Burgher Senate and until 1905, Cape Town’s City Hall. In 1914 the Old Town House became the city's first art museum. The building has been used for corporate meetings and receptions and the beautiful courtyard for film shoots, wedding photographs and outdoor receptions.

Visit my online gallery for more images of iconic buildings and places in and around Cape Town, botanical works and images of African animals and birds in both monochrome and colour.

All images are available as high quality prints on non-archival paper or on ready-to-hang stretched canvas.
Click here for prices.

Contact me:
by phone on +27 79 247 7532
by email to gutmansolly@gmail.com

'Caught Napping' is a portrait I completed a few years ago. It captures a little slice of ordinary life: a man relaxing at the harbour side after a long morning's work. So peaceful in that moment, resting his eyes in the noon day sunshine.

Visit my online gallery for more images of local life, African animals and birds, botanical works and images of iconic buildings and places in and around Cape Town in both monochrome and colour.

Contact me:
by phone / whatsapp on +27 79 247 7532
by email to gutmansolly@gmail.com

Beautiful, isn't he? Unusually for me, this isn't an African animal. 

The white tiger or bleached tiger is a pigmentation variant of the Bengal tiger, native to parts of the Indian Subcontinent. This mutation is so rare that it is estimated that only one in every 10,000 tigers born in the wild is white. Therefore, white tigers are only found in captivity.

~~~~~

Visit my online gallery for more images of animals and birds, botanical works and images of iconic buildings and places in and around Cape Town in both monochrome and colour.

All images are available as high quality prints on non-archival paper or on ready-to-hang stretched canvas.
Click here for prices.

Contact me:
by phone / whatsapp on +27 79 247 7532
by email to gutmansolly@gmail.com