This is a shot of the R719 and the railroad that runs parallel to it about 18 miles south of Bothaville in the Free State, a couple of miles south of our camp at Schoonspruit/Skoonspruit.
This photo, looking to the west from the eastern end of the survey area shows the grid of lines we left across this area. When you look at the Google Earth satellite view you can't see any tracks so no lasting damage, apparently. Also, no new mine shaft so it looks as though our client didn't find what they were looking for.
On this survey we were using four Failing Y1100 vibrators mounted on International 6x6 trucks as our energy source. In this photo you can see the four vibrators shaking the ground and carving their way through the maize. In the foreground a spare fifth vibrator sits idle, ready to go to work if one of the other four breaks down. In the background are the Schoonspruit/Skoonspruit grain silos.
Since our pilot had been a pilot in the SADF, he preferred to fly his helicopter with the doors off! I thought this was brilliant! Although I had my set belt on to keep me attached to this quivering craft, I had the flexibility to lean out and take photos without having to worry about reflections from or scratches on the plexiglass windows.
In this image we'd taken off from behind his red-roofed house and I was able to take this shot looking to the north, towards Bothaville. Our camp is in the triangle made by the rail-road, the highway and the road that runs in front of the grain silo's. The settlement in the left mid-ground is the farm workers settlement.
In this case a storm rolls by to our north with lightning forks illuminating the surrounding skies. You can even see a lightning trail within the cloud. Off in the top left corner, the moon attempts to shine through the clouds.