Port Elizabeth is situated in Big 5 country and is surrounded by luxurious game reserves. Most of these game reserves offer guests 5 star facilities with each lodge being different from the next one. This is the bedroom at one of the lodges at Pumba Game Reserve. The room opens up on the bush surrounding the lodge and a private plunge pool. Just check out the door before exiting to make sure there isn't an elephant drinking from your pool.
I am always glad when I see African Black Oystercatchers (Haematopus moquini) on the beach or next to an estuary. This oystercatcher is a protected bird with a population of less than 5,000 adults. They are noisy plover-like birds with completely black plumage, red legs and a strong broad red bill used for smashing or prying open mollusks such as mussels.The oystercatcher is unmistakable in flight with its all-dark plumage. The call is a distinctive loud piping. The nest is…
Sleepy Hollow caravan park truly is one of Port Elizabeth's best kept secrets. It is situated in the Maitland River Valley and is a real get back to nature spot. That is if some idiot doesn't play his music loud enough for the whole camp to hear. But them you occasionally find in all camping areas. Sleepy Hollow has various short hiking trails with the main one following the Maitland River up the valley. Along the way are a few…
I found these orange-brown wild mushrooms while walking the other morning and has no idea what they are. I checked my Wildlife of Southern Africa book and it wasn't in there. I also checked the internet but the answer seems to be eluding me. Anybody know? Joan probably will.
The other day I had to go and meet somebody at the Algoa Bay Yacht Club which gave me an excuse to take a walk down the walkway between the moorings. This gave me the opportunity to get a couple of pics around the area which I will post from time to time. This is a view between the yachts towards some of the fishing boats that use the Port Elizabeth harbour.
Travelling from Mossel Bay to Oudtshoorn a week or so ago, we made a quick stop at Eight Bells Mountain Inn for a site inspection. Although I haven't been to Eight Bells for a while, it used to be one of my regular overnight stops when I was a tourist guide. The morning of our visit there was quite a lot of fog on the mountains around the area and I got this shot looking from the hotel across to…
Bayworld series #10: Today is the last of my series of pics from the Bayworld complex on the Port Elizabeth beachfront. It shows Drama Princess looking down the barrel of one of the bronze cannons that was retrieved from the wreck of the Sacramento near Schoenmakerskop. The Sacramento exhibit can be seen in the Shipwreck Hall.
Ok, so I have a thing for barbed wire fences. Here is one I took at the hop farm between George and Oudtshoorn in the Outeniqua Mountains.
Bayworld series #9: Bayworld currently has a temporary exhibition called Africa's Lost World. It features a number of mechanical dinosaurs that move and make dino noises. Here Drama Princess is admiring the huge T Rex as its growling at her.
Bayworld series #8. One of the fairly new activities that take place at the Oceanarium is the Penguin Walk. It happens after the feeding session when some of the penguins are taken for a walk by the staff. Visitors are asked to stay on the grass and not get too close to the birds, but it does give one the opportunity to see them from a bit closer than in the enclosure.