Author: fitravel

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Steve Biko’s cell at Walmer police station

Today is the 35th anniversary of the death of Steve Biko, anti-apartheid activist and founder of the Black Consciousness Movement.  I was invited to visit the police cell at the Walmer Police Station where Biko was kept after his arrest in 1977 before he was taken to the Sanlam Building in town where he was tortured.  I hadn't seen the cell before and was glad that the opportunity has come my way as it is one of only a few heritage sites…

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12/09/2012
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Brown-hooded Kingfisher

On a game drive at Pumba Game Reserve near Port Elizabeth our ranger pointed out a Brown-hooded Kingfisher sitting in a tree next to the game drive vehicle.  The next thing he said kinda got our attention.  He asked us to look around and see if we could see any body of water.  There was none.  The Brown-hooded Kingfisher doesn't necessarily feed on fish but also on insects such as butterflies, bees, wasps, locusts and ants. These invertebrates are usually hawked…

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12/09/2012
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Shri Krishna Temple

I've driven past the Shri Siva Subramanier Aulayam Temple in Upper Valley Road many many times but only got to go inside for the first time not too long ago.  The temple was built between 1893 and 1901 by the Hindu community and was consecrated in 1901.  The complex actually has more than one temple with the one in the picture being the Shri Krishna Temple which was erected in memory of JV Valayden in 1961.  The guy who was supposed to…

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11/09/2012
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Ode to the white rhino

I've been very fortunate to visit a couple of different game reserves over the last year or so and would like to share the following White Rhino pictures with you.  In the light of the pressure that poachers are putting on the rhino population I won't divulge which game reserve I took the pictures at.  Very sad really.  We were lucky enough to see them on both our game drives and it was amazing just sitting there in silence while…

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11/09/2012
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Filming the dunes

Today's post is a follow-on after yesterday's showing the camera man from Real Goboza filming on the Sundays River Ferry.  After the ferry stopped at the sand dunes I climbed the dunes with him in the hope that he will do some filming up there as well.  He just could not believe the views from the top and shot it at all angles and in all directions.  It really is a stunning view.

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10/09/2012
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Knysnakoppe

Die Knysnakoppe by Knysna in die Weskaap is een van Suid Afrika se bekendste natuurlike landmerke en word gereeld in reistydskrifte en brosjures gesien.  Die Koppe is ook een van die gevaarlikste ingange tot 'n natuurlike hawe in die wêreld met menige bote wat al hier deur die branders omgeslaan is of op die rotse geloop het.

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10/09/2012
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St Peter’s Ruin windows

South End in Port Elizabeth is similar to District 6 in Cape Town where the original inhabitants where removed because of the Group Area's Act of the 1960's.  St Peter's Anglican Church was built in 1877 and the school next to it was the first church school in South End to produce pupils to  standard six (grade 8), the highest standard for coloured people at the time.  The church was deconsecrated in 1972 and most of it demolished to stop the congregation from returning…

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10/09/2012
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Filming the Sundays River

A week or so ago I accompanied a group of media around the Port Elizabeth area for a couple of days.  One of the activities we did was cruising down the Sundays River with the Sundays River Ferry before climbing the big Colchester sand dunes.  The camera man of the SABC 1 show Real Goboza had a ball of a time both on the boat as well as the dunes and here he's busy filming while we were cruising downstream.

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09/09/2012
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Boardwalk construction crane

The construction on the new Boardwalk Hotel, Spa and Conference Centre is coming on very nicely with the roof having gone up already. 

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08/09/2012
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Grey Institute after dark

I always like photographing historic buildings lit up with spot lights after dark.  Perhaps its just me but there aren't as many these days as there used to be in the past.  I had to go to an evening meeting at the Grand Hotel in Central and because I was a bit early I popped along the Donkin Reserve to get a couple of photos of those buildings that were lit up.  This is the Grey Institute.

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07/09/2012