fitravel - Firefly the Travel Guy

Firefly the Travel Guy / Port Elizabeth Daily Photo

Hiking to the Lower Van Stadens Dam outside Port Elizabeth

The history of Port Elizabeth's water supply starts way back when Frames Reservoir was built on the Shark River in present-day Happy Valley back in 1864. As the demand for water increased, the need for a bigger dam was identified and the Van Stadens Water Scheme was initiated. I'm always amazed how people say there is nothing to do in Port Elizabeth and how everything is too expensive. Did you know that you can take a short hike to see…

Comments Off

01/04/2022

Firefly the Travel Guy

Nieu-Bethesda’s historic NG Kerk

Whenever I visit Nieu-Bethesda I just seem to be attracted to the historic Dutch Reformed Church (Nederduits Gereformeerde Kerk or NG Kerk). There is just something to this beautiful building in this tiny village that has me going back to it time and time again. Also, the fact that there are so many different angles to look at it and then add to it the time of day and different weather conditions. I did a post on the church last…

Comments Off

21/03/2022

Firefly the Travel Guy

Nieu-Bethesda’s owl sellers

Nieu-Bethesda's biggest export item, as in what people take away with them, must be their cement owls. It all started at the Owl House where Helen Martins transformed the house and then the yard, the latter with the help of Koos Malgas. Although there are so many different cement figures in the yard, the owls are the most prominent. No wonder it's called the Owl House. It's also the one thing most visitors to the village want to go home…

Comments Off

14/03/2022

Firefly the Travel Guy

Chokka boats in Port St Francis

Ahhhhh, St Francis Bay. Beaches, canals, luxury homes, a Jack Nicholas designed golf course, laid-back holiday atmosphere, girls in bikinis (I just wanted to put that in), surfer boys, sundowner cruises and lekker seafood. Like any good infomercial and destination, there's always a, "But wait, that's not all..." Located between St Francis Bay and Cape St Francis is one of the only private harbours in South Africa called Port St Francis. The chokka, or squid, industry in the area started…

Comments Off

24/02/2022

Firefly the Travel Guy

Road scenes of Nieu-Bethesda

Nieu Bethesda's Dutch Reformed Church The village of Nieu-Bethesda really is a special one. High on the to-do list of travelers wanting to visit the Owl House, learn more about fossils or just experience Karoo country life. It's also somewhere to go and find yourself, recharge your soul and rediscover your being. Nieu-Bethesda only had dirt roads, no street lights nor a petrol station. The best way to explore the village is literally on foot with your camera in hand,…

Comments Off

11/01/2022

Firefly the Travel Guy

Karoo skies

The Karoo Heartland of the Eastern Cape is big sky country. The wide open spaces aren't just on the ground. You just need to look up anywhere in the Karoo and you will know what I'm talking about. Blue skies, dramatic skies, thunder clouds rolling in, stunning sunsets and stars at night like you've never seen in your life.

Comments Off

03/12/2021

Firefly the Travel Guy

The Stonefolk of Nieu-Bethesda

Nieu-Bethesda is famous for the Owl House and fossils you find in the area. That's not all you can see in this small Karoo Heartland village though. There's actually so much more and now it has a new addition. A couple of stone figures has made Ongeluksloot on the farm Doornberg their home and we just had to go and visit. Inspired by the landscape of Nieu-Bethesda, the stone figures in Kaokoland in Namibia as well as The Dance by…

1 Comment

25/11/2021

Port Elizabeth Daily Photo

Van Stadens Narrow Gauge Bridge

A couple of weeks ago we walked to the Lower Van Stadens Dam and got a side view of the narrow-gauge bridge over the gorge from the northern side. The Van Stadens rail bridge is the second highest railway bridge in South Africa and the highest narrow-gauge bridge in the world. Construction on the bridge was completed in 1905 and the bridge is 156m long, 77m high and contains 1 112 cubic meters of concrete and 574 tons of steel.This…

Comments Off

16/11/2021

Firefly the Travel Guy

Water furrows in the Karoo Heartland

One of my favourite things about Nieu-Bethesda is seeing the water run through the village's water furrows. These ancient stone leivore date back to the early days of the village and supplies water to the village from a spring in the mountain above the village. Residents who have leivore running past their properties pay a minimal amount for water rights annually and channel water into their gardens using smaller gated funnels on the days when the water flows in that…

Comments Off

11/11/2021

Firefly the Travel Guy

Bini’s Tea Garden in Nieu-Bethesda

How boring is life if one never explores? How much would we miss out on if we didn't? Nieu-Bethesda may be small but there are so many things to see and places to check out. Although I've been to the village a couple of times, the Damselfly hadn't seen much of it so I loaded her in the car for a drive around on a recent visit. We drove up to the township for the view back to town and…

Comments Off

09/11/2021