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Somerset East Old Parsonage Museum ghost stories

The museum ghosts of Somerset East

You know that feeling when you walk around a very old place, often on your own? Yes, that feeling when you think to yourself that you really don't want to be alone there after dark. That feeling that you are sure something goes bump in the night there. Yes, thaaaaaatttt feeling. The one when the hair on the back of your neck rises and something crawls slowly down your spine. Somerset East has two excellent museums with a lot of…

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22/07/2022

Firefly the Travel Guy

Marveling at a beautiful Karoo Heartland sunset from Bruintjieshoogte

If you travel eastwards on the R63 from Graaff Reinet, you drive along fairly flat terrain all the way through the town of Pearston. You will only encounter the first significant change in elevation 20km east of the town when you start to ascend the Bruintjieshoogte Pass on the way to Somerset East. The pass is named after the surrounding Bruintjieshoogte mountain range which lies between the Sundays River, Renosterberg, the Groot Winterhoek Mountains and the Sneeuberge. The range forms a watershed for the Little Fish River (a tributary…

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03/07/2022

Read more about the article The grave of Ouma Dora Jacobs in Somerset East

Ouma Dora's grave

Firefly the Travel Guy

The grave of Ouma Dora Jacobs in Somerset East

I have a particular interest in historic graves. They often tell a tale of an era long past in a way books can't. But sometimes a grave from the modern era holds just as many stories. Such a grave I found in Somerset East, set back in the trees at the end of a lane next to the Somerset East Museum. This is the grave of Ouma Dora Dotyi Jacobs who at the time of her death at the ripe…

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24/06/2022

Firefly the Travel Guy

Fungi in the Tsitsikamma forest

The Big Tree is one of the Tsitsikamma's most iconic attractions. To get to this 1000-year-old Outeniqua Yellowwood tree you have to walk about 500 meters through the forest on a wooden boardwalk. It takes you less than 10 minutes to get to the tree. Unless you're there on a quiet day with no other visitors around and you keep an eye out for interesting little tidbits next to the path. I did just that on my last visit, with…

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19/06/2022

Firefly the Travel Guy

Moonlight cactus flowers in the Sundays River Valley

I recently attended the opening of the revamped Sir Percy FitzPatrick Lookout in Sunland hosted by Addo Tourism and was amazed by the beautiful flowers blooming all around it. I knew it wasn't indigenous but had no idea what it was, so I just took loads of photos of it anyway. A little research with the help of Google Lense later and I now know that this is the Moonlight Cactus, (Selenicereus grandiflorus), also called Moon Cactus. It is a…

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03/06/2022

Firefly the Travel Guy

Karoo views and landscapes along the Swaershoek Pass

I don’t know how many times my tourism friends in Cradock and Somerset East have asked me if I have driven over the Swaershoek Pass yet. I just heard about the beautiful Karoo landscape and stunning views but because the route is 76km of dirt road I’ve been a little hesitant. But that changed recently when the N10 road outside Cradock was blocked due to protests and I had to take the alternative between the two mentioned towns in the…

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04/05/2022

Firefly the Travel Guy

A Kite spider’s web in the forest

An early morning walk on a trail through the bush or forest often leads to the person in front doing strange dancing moves swinging their arms and ducking their heads. It's not due to music playing but rather them walking into a spiderweb spun overnight. Not always the most pleasant feeling, especially if you don't know what or where the actual spider is. A walk along the old Storms River Pass in the Tsitsikamma had me spot a spider's web…

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29/04/2022

Firefly the Travel Guy

Percy’s Place – the most scenic view in the Sundays River Valley

I'm sure most South Africans have read, or at least heard, of the book Jock of the Bushveld. The book was written by Sir Percy FitzPatrick, (24 July 1862 – 24 January 1931) who in his younger years was involved in gold and diamond prospecting in Mpumalanga where Jock of the Bushveld also plays off. He also had involvement in the Anglo Boer War and politics. Not many may realise though that the Sundays River Valley has very strong links…

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27/04/2022

Firefly the Travel Guy

Swallows planning their winter travels

I visited the Sundays River Valley in early April and while enjoying the view from the Sir Percy Fitzpatrick Lookout noticed a couple of swallows on an aloe. It looked like they were having a conversation and I imagined it to be about their upcoming trip north. I'm no bird expert so as soon as I got home I had a quick look in my bird book to see what they were, and they turned out to be lesser striped…

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21/04/2022

Firefly the Travel Guy

Addo’s endangered Flightless Dung Beetle

Driving around Addo Elephant National Park one tends to keep an eye on the bush and the distance fields. If you heed the warning signs close to the gate though you will also keep one eye on the road as well. You may just spot, and safely avoid driving over, one of the park's endangered residents. The Flightless Dung Beetle. I recently took the Addo Heights access road between Addo and Nanaga and spotted quite a few of these guys…

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12/04/2022