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Mushroom Farm Park – greening urban areas

Johannesburg boasts that it's the world's largest man-made urban forest and that's difficult to imagine until one actually visits the city and see how many open spaces, parks and nature reserves there are.  One of these parks is Mushroom Farm Park in Sandton.  I've passed here a couple of times before but visited for the first time on my last visit to the City of Gold. Sandton started out in the 1930's as farms and estates and only transform from a farming community to a…

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01/07/2013
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Farm gate close to the city

I can't say enough about how fortunate we are in Port Elizabeth to have fantastic open spaces and rural areas right on our doorstep yet still within the Nelson Mandela Bay metropolitan area.  One minute you can be driving through suburbia and the next you are surrounded by small holdings and farms so its nothing strange to find farm gates like this one right outside the city.  This particular one I photographed in Coleen Glen.

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30/06/2013
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The deadline for complaints was yesterday

Its weekend, and a busy one at that.  The Kirkwood Wildsfees is on in the Sundays River Valley and the National Arts Festival has kicked off in Grahamstown so I don't want to hear any complaints.  Like this sign I spotted in the Padlangs Farm Stall outside Patensie says, "The deadline for complaints was yesterday."

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29/06/2013
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Kings Beach Egyptian Goose

Egyptian Geese are generally very territorial so once a pair finds a home they will very much stick around.  This means that young birds have to find their own "unused water holes" which isn't always that freely available.  I know of some that even made a dogless backyard with a swimming pool their home.  It was great to see that a pair of Egyptian Geese quickly made their move in at the lake at the new Kings Beach development.  Always great to see wildlife…

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28/06/2013
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Dusk in Addo

Dusk is by far my favourite time when visiting any game reserve or national park. It's preceded by the most beautiful light for photography but when the sun starts to dip, touching the horizon, it’s like calm sets in on the bush. The cross over from day to night. When the daytime animals start to settle down and the night time animals wake up. After a hot day the coolness of evening brings relief while the wind often dies down.…

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26/06/2013
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Maitland view from Colleen Glen

I ventured into Colleen Glen west of Port Elizabeth the other day in search of a geocache and ended up at the top of a narrow little road with the most beautiful view down towards the sea.  The Maitland sand dune can be seen in the background with farmland and small holdings in between.  Pity it wasn't a bright sunny day.

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26/06/2013
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We all love Addo

Port Elizabeth is usually associated with elephants due to its close proximity to the Addo Elephant National Park.  Most visitors to the city, both local and international, spend at least a day in the park with others staying over at some of the park's variety accommodation options.  Its easy to get to Addo from Port Elizabeth and its possible to sit and watch elephants less than an hour after leaving home or your hotel.  The park can be accessed via the main…

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25/06/2013
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Citrus farms

The Eastern Cape is South Africa’s second-largest producer of citrus fruit.  Oranges make up the vast majority (80%) of citrus products, but the province is also well regarded for its production of ‘easy-peelers’ such as clementine and Satsuma tangerines, as well as navel oranges.  Lemons, grape fruit and naartjies make up the balance of the harvest.  Port Elizabeth has two major citrus producing areas right on our doorstep, the Gamtoos Valley to the west and the Sundays River Valley to the…

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24/06/2013
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Citrus Festival photos gallery

The annual Patensie Citrus Festival took place on 15 June 2013 in the Gamtoos Valley west of Port Elizabeth.  The Gamtoos is mainly a farming area with beautiful scenery, not forgetting true farming hospitality, so I take any excuse I can get to visit.  After really enjoying the 2012 festival we decided to head out there again this year and bundled the family in the car on the Saturday morning, headed out to the countryside.  Here are a some scenes from the festival. 

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24/06/2013
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Old McDonald had a farm

Old McDonald had a farm, E, I, E, I, Oand on his farm he had some cows,E, I, E, I, Owith a moo, moo hereand a moo, moo there,here a moo, there a mooeverywhere a moo, moo Have you ever wondered where Old McDonald's farm really is? Well I found it right here in Port Elizabeth on the Old Seaview Road.

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23/06/2013