I've posted a couple of Dodds Farm photos lately and have a couple more to come, but somebody asked in a comment how to get to Dodds Farm. So to accompany today's picture looking down at Dodds Farm from the top of the steps on the Lower Guinea Fowl Trail are the directions to get there. Its quite straightforward really. Driving from the beachfront side one has to get to Main Road Walmer via Walmer Boulevard which becomes Heugh Road.…
Mountain biking seems to be getting more and more popular alongside trail running. This means that more people are also starting to get out there and back to nature, returning to places like the Baakens Valley where there are some awesome trails for both running and cycling. This guy was one of three cycling together on the trails through Dodds Farm.
Most people associate the Baakens River only with the 3rd Avenue Dip and the narrow canal the flows into the harbour along Valley Road and don't always think what it looks like in-between. During its meandering flow along the Baakens Valley it passes through Dodds Farm and Settlers Park, amongst others. This section is just above a weir at Dodds Farm and forms a nice little dam which is ideal to attract birds.
A Burchell's Zebra (Equus quagga burchellii) or just Plains Zebra as they are apparently being referred to now, grazing in the late afternoon sun in the Addo Elephant National Park.
If you could go back 193 years in time to this day in 1820, you would see the arrival of Sir Rufane Donkin, Acting Governor of the Cape Colony, in Algoa Bay to oversee the arrival and settling of the British Settlers. You would also see him look around at the beautiful bay with the small settlement on the coastline and name the town in honour of his late wife, Lady Elizabeth, who died not long before of fever in India. He also proclaimed the…
Many visitors to the beachfront at Umhlanga Rocks take a walk onto the 80 meter long Umhlanga Pier to enjoy the view of the coastline and the Umhlanga Lighthouse close by. What many of these visitors don't know though is that the pier was actually built to assist with the dispersal of storm water into the sea. Before the pier was built storm water used to be discharged onto the beach at Granny's Pool. A large underground box culvert was constructed…
The guides doing the open vehicle guided game drives in the Addo Elephant National Park are vast treasure chests of information. I can't find the note I made of our ranger's name (Vincent van Zyl left a comment pointing out that the ranger's name is Ryan), but my mouth hung open as he rattled off plant names, animal information, pointing out birds and just chatted away with the guests on the vehicle. Guides and rangers like these are what makes visits to game reserves…
The 21 meter tall red and white Umhlanga Lighthouse is probably the best known lighthouse on the KwaZulu Natal coastline. Umhlanga Rocks is situated on what was originally part of the sugar estate of Sir Marshall Campbell and means Place of Reeds in the Zulu language. This refers to the beds of reeds that accumulate on the banks of the Ohlanga River a few kilometres north of town. Incidentally Sir Marshall was also the person who introduced the colourful rickshaws to Durban's beachfront. …
The first thing I noticed on my timeline when I opened Facebook this morning was a picture by my friend Cheryl Witte along with her daily Gratitude Journal. I don't often feature other people's pictures on PEDP, but I immediately called her to ask if I could. She took the picture on her way to work looking towards the harbour from Upper Valley Road just before the sunrise. Pictures like this is exactly why one should always carry your camera with…
The Baakens Valley is crawling deeper and deeper into my heart. I really wish more people realised what an amazing place we have running right through the city. The Damselfly packed a picnic basket the other day and we headed into the Baakens Valley for a spot of geocaching, ending up at Dodds Farm with a picnic under the trees. There were a couple of other people having a picnic and painting while a number of joggers and mountain bikers passed us on…