Firefly the Travel Guy

Read more about the article Water furrows in the Karoo Heartland
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…

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11/11/2021
Read more about the article Bini’s Tea Garden in Nieu-Bethesda
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…

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09/11/2021
Read more about the article Honesty shop on the stoep
Firefly the Travel Guy

Honesty shop on the stoep

Towards the bottom of Martin Street in the village of Nieu-Bethesda stands a white Karoo house with a blue sign. blue cupboard(on the stoep)honesty shop The two words in the name that caught my eye immediately were "honesty shop". It was peculiar. Interesting. Strangely Karoo Heartland. Definitely worth checking out. On the stoep we found a variety of things. On the right-hand side mostly second-hand and antique items, books and other stuff. Nice and cheap as well. On the left-hand…

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04/11/2021
Read more about the article Cape Ground Squirrel
Firefly the Travel Guy

Cape Ground Squirrel

Driving on the gravel road near Nieu-Bethesda something darted across the road. "Don't hit the meerkat!" my wife shouted. "That's not a meerkat," was my response. "Don't hit the mongoose then," she said."Also not a mongoose," I answered. "It's a ground squirrel.""It does look like a squirrel," she observed. The Cape Ground Squirrel (Geosciurus inauris) is found in most of the drier parts of southern Africa. The name Cape ground squirrel is somewhat misleading as it actually has a much wider area of habitation. This…

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28/10/2021
Read more about the article Giraffe spoor
Firefly the Travel Guy

Giraffe spoor

While on a game drive at Samara Private Game Reserve near Graaff-Reinet in the Eastern Cape I spotted a set of tracks next to the road. Too big for an antelope and definitely not a horse or a cow as it's inside a game reserve. Possibly a buffalo? Hoofprint from a giraffe was the answer from our game ranger. A hoof is the foot of certain animals known as ungulates. These animals walk on their toes which have a hard cover made out…

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22/10/2021
Read more about the article Tracking and double tots at Samara
Firefly the Travel Guy

Tracking and double tots at Samara

Rangers are like the cowboys of a game reserve with their game viewing vehicle as their steed, a cap rather than a cowboy hat and bino's at their side in the place of a revolver. But what about the dude sitting on the bonnet jump seat? Is he the Tonto to our Lone Ranger? Who is the guy with the thing in his hand that looks like a tv aerial? What is he supposed to do? Why does he get…

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18/10/2021
Read more about the article The canals at St Francis
Firefly the Travel Guy

The canals at St Francis

Manuel de Perestrelo, a Portuguese explorer weighed anchor in a sheltered bay in 1575. He was struck with the natural beauty of what he saw and named it Bahia de Sao Francisca after the Patron Saint of Sailors, St Francis of Assissi. As legend has it, the landward side reminded him of the beautiful cloisters of the 14th Century Gothic monastery of St Francisca, at his hometown of Santareme. Little did he know that over 400 years later a unique village…

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14/10/2021
Read more about the article Elephant and snowy mountain
Firefly the Travel Guy

Elephant and snowy mountain

One day when I'm big I would love to see elephants walking on the plains of Kenya with a snow capped Mount Kilimanjaro in the background. The closest I got to that scene so far was visiting Samara Private Game Reserve outside Graaff-Reinet recently after a cold front that brought snow to the mountains of the Karoo Heartland. At least I can say I've seen an elephant with a powder of snow on a mountain top in the background.

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12/10/2021
Read more about the article Blue mountains of the Karoo
Firefly the Travel Guy

Blue mountains of the Karoo

There is an Afrikaans folk song made famous by Johannes Kerkorrel that starts off mentioning the blue mountains. "Al lê die berge nog so blou,al lê die berge nog so blou,al lê die berge nog so blou,haar woorde sal ek steeds onthou."Whenever I see the blue silhouette of mountains on the horizon this song always pops up in my head and it was no different while driving through the Eastern Cape's Karoo Heartland on my way to Graaff-Reinet. This time…

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04/10/2021