Kings Beach is a beautiful piece of white sandy beach stretching from the harbour wall up to McArthur Pool. With the royal visit to South Africa in 1947 the royal family also stopped in Port Elizabeth. The train they were travelling on was parked just above what is now the Kings Beach parking area and apparently part of the beach was fenced of for the use of the royal family. The princesses went horse riding and the king went for swims…
Most people notice Route 67's big colourful mosaic next to the Donkin Reserve but doesn't realise that there is another beautiful mosaic right across the green in front of the King Edward Hotel. The Welcome Carpet was done by Lisbet Demeyer and was one of the first art pieces to be done as part of the Route 67 development. The mosaic is made up of coloured quartz and bead work and forms a red carpet welcoming visitors to the Donkin Reserve. …
I absolutely love visiting private game reserves, who wouldn't? Luxury accommodation, excellent food, personal service, sipping drinks around a camp fire under the stars and, my ultimate favorite about game reserves, going on game drives in the late afternoon and early morning. I've discovered photos I haven't posted before and here are three from the magnificent Pumba Game Reserve between Port Elizabeth and Grahamstown showing some of their accommodation. I got to visit Pumba while showing some media around in…
The South African Airforce Museum in Port Elizabeth has a fantastic collection of aircraft, miniatures, uniforms and other memorabilia for such a fairly small museum. They receive very little funding from the airforce itself and get a lot of their funds from donations while a lot of the work done there are done by volunteers. One of the aircraft in the collection is a SA Airforce Dassault-Breguet Mirage F-1CZ which was manufactured in France and first took to the air in 1966.
When I was in primary school we did a tour to Oudtshoorn and one of the places we were supposed to visit was the Rust en Vrede (Rest and Peace) Waterfall. The visit was cancelled due to bad weather and I've always wondered what I had missed. When I started working as a tourist guide about 15 years ago I noticed the turnoff and sign to the waterfall on the way to the Cango Caves, but as it wasn't included in any of…
One of the things I've discovered since I've taken up geocaching is that even though I thought I knew everything there is to see in and around Port Elizabeth, I haven't. I've already been to at least three spots I've never visited before and I have another two new places lined up. One of those I haven't seen before was a corner of Settlers Park called Wellington Park which is quite popular for a short walk with the residents living in…
Chaos Boy rock hopping at Schoenmakerskop
South Africa has two very recognisable skylines. The one is Cape Town with Table Mountain and the other is the Johannesburg skyline, easily identified with the Hillbrow Tower in the middle. The picture was taken from Midrand, north of the city.
I don't think all Port Elizabethans realise how fortunate we are to have the Baakens River flow through the city, creating a green belt all the way from the suburbs towards the city centre and the Port Elizabeth Harbour. The Baakens Valley is great for walks (or hikes), mountain biking, trail running, bird watching and so many other activities. On the day I took the photo I was out geocaching with Chaos Boy, looking for one of quite a few…