Author: fitravel

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The town of Somerset East

The town of Somerset East lies in the southern Karoo Heartland at the foot of the Boschberg mountain.  Somerset East was established by Lord Charles Somerset in 1815 as an experimental farm to provide meat and fresh produce to the soldiers on the Eastern Frontier.  The site was chosen over sites in the Gamtoos Valley and Swartkops Valley.  The farm was named Somerset Farm.  Ten years after being established the project was cancelled and a new Drostdy was declared.  The…

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11/03/2016
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Skateboarding around Port Elizabeth

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwzYy__-MDU&w=500&h=400]I'm not a skateboarder.  Fell way too hard off my skateboard trying it out as a kid.  Drama Princess loves to Jboard though.  But that's beyond the point.  Anyhow, I was looking for a video to post for this week's Video Friday post and found this one on the King's Beach Skateboarding YouTube channel.  Although it's one of their older videos it shows the guys leaving the skate-park behind and hitting the streets a bit, showing off some of Port Elizabeth's…

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11/03/2016
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Then and Now – Trinder Square

Back in the early days of Port Elizabeth there used to be a vlei area where Trinder Square in Central is located today.  The "Vlei" was a natural drainage point and in the early and mid 1800's it was used to provide water for animals with a lot of farmers coming to do business at the market square bringing their animals here to drink.  The Garrison Company's gardens was also laid out on the western side of the vlei.  The…

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10/03/2016
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Then and Now – The Beach Hotel

Yesterday morning Errol Somerville posted two old photos of the Beach Hotel on the Friendly City of Port Elizabeth Facebook group.  The first one dates from round about 1924, the year the hotel was built.  I went to have a look on the Beach Hotel's website to see if they had any history about the hotel on there and found the following:It is believed that the original Beach Hotel and surrounding area belonged to Piet Retief and his family.  His…

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09/03/2016
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Somerset East’s beautiful Beaufort Street

I spent a day in Somerset East recently just driving around town and visiting some of the historic building and attractions.  At first I thought about just doing one post featuring it all, but because there wasn't really a story to my visit (other than the fact that I was actually there for a Karoo Heartland meeting but couldn't help but going sightseeing) I decided to rather do a series on Somerset East featuring a different place or view every…

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09/03/2016
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Refreshing rain

I've done a lot of travelling over the last two weeks but aren't complaining.  I love to road trip for work cause it also gives me the chance to sight see and Geocache while I'm at it.  I had to dash up to East London yesterday and drove back this afternoon.  It's been a hot and humid morning and just after Alexandria I encountered the first drops.  Had rain all the way back and it hasn't really stopped raining.  As…

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07/03/2016
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The Noordhoek dune field

Standing at the view point on Marine Drive close to Noordhoek looking back at Cape Recife you can see a section of sand dunes in the middle of the coastline.  These dunes form part of the Noordhoek dune field, one of three driftsand bypass systems that used to take sand into Algoa Bay.  The other two are the Drifsands and Cape Recife dune systems.The main sand bypass, known as Dritsands, covered the whole area between Schoenmakerskop and Summerstrand.  In the…

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06/03/2016
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Wildside’s rocky coastline

Port Elizabeth's southern coastline is generally referred to as the Wildside.  The coastline is stunning on the best of days, but if the prevailing south-westerly really pumps and the rollers break white water on the mostly rocky coastline, then it's no surprise why it's called the Wildside.

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05/03/2016
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You better not come any closer

My yard seems to be a bit of a magnet for paper wasps (South African Paper Wasp - Polistes marginalis) with about three or four nests all around the house.  I know a couple of Geocachers who would be able to tell you all about the fact that unlike honey bees that only sting once, the paper wasp can inflict multiple stings.  The nest is built by a queen who lays the first eggs.  As these hatch and grow up…

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05/03/2016