The wild Croc is not endemic to the Eastern Cape so I was very surprised to find one basking in the sun and taking a rest between the rocks at Lauries Bay on the Wildside. It wasn't threatening at all so I got nice and close to get a photo before leaving him alone. He probably would have left at the next high tide.
Making my rounds through Uitenhage on a Geocaching expedition a week or so ago I got to visit the MOTH garden for the first time. The garden is where the grave of Joseph Crow is located.Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Petrus Hendrik Crowe VC (12 January 1826 – 12 April 1876) was the first South African-born recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and…
It's amazing how much life one actually finds in rock pools at low tide. The other day I was looking for stuff to photograph and amongst others snapped a pic of these little guys in their "volcano" shells. I have no idea what they are but after lots of consultation with my friend Google I came across the name "Buckshot Barnacles" on an American website. So I'm still not to sure what we call them here in good ol' South Africa but…
Visiting a cucumber farm probably isn't very high on anybody's list when you talk agritourism, but I'm always up for something new. I was in the Gamtoos Valley as part of a media tour recently and Gamtoos Tourism organized for us to visit Malan Cucumbers. This isn't a technical post so I just want to tell you about the experience. We were met by the farmer and his daughter who took us on a walk around the facilities situated just outside…
I swung past the Pearson Conservatory last week while looking for a Geocache in St Georges Park and was happy to see that the fountain inside had a new lick of paint. Whatever they put on it after the Conservatory's renovation started to get ugly. The fountain itself wasn't working but I'm hoping its a case of not being turned on yet after it got painted. The Pearson Conservatory was originally built in 1882 and restored to its former glory between 2009 and…
The structure of the Pearson Conservatory in St Georges Park actually makes for a great photographic subject with all its symmetrical lines.
While out there in search of Geocaches one can find all kinds of containers. Bison tubes, pill bottles, clip lock lunchboxes, plastic peanut butter bottles, ammo cans, etc, etc, etc. Some Geocachers put in a lot of effort to create really unique and memorable caches. One of these I found in the Baakens Valley close to the Lower Guinea Fowl Trail under the fynbos a year or so ago. The container consisted of a pill container nicely fitted in a…
https://youtube.googleapis.com/v/XMfyng2j4IQ&source=udsThe dolphins at the Port Elizabeth Oceanarium at Bayworld was synonymous with Port Elizabeth for a very long time until the last two, Domino and Dumisa, was moved to a Ocean Park in Hong Kong. Although they were moved there in 2009 already there are still out of town visitors that come to the city asking if there are dolphin shows. This post isn't about keeping dolphins in captivity, doing dolphin presentations or part of a debate whether we should have dolphins…
If there is an area I'm definitely planning to get to know better then it's the Wild Coast. Earlier in the year while on a roadtrip to Durban, I spent a night at Trennerys Hotel at the mouth of the Qolora River, not far north of the Great Kei River Mouth. As I pulled in fairly latish in the afternoon, it meant that I had limited time to explore before sunset and had to make a choice between heading down…
I took a walk around Park Drive a day or two before the cricket test between South Africa and the West Indies were due to start and decided to pop into the St George's Park Cricket Stadium quickly. I love the fact that one can get in and right onto the field without anybody stopping and questioning you.St George's Park staged the first cricket test to be played outside England or Australia in 1888-89 with England winning by eight wickets. In…