Visitors to SAMREC in the Cape Recife Nature Reserve get taken on a tour of the facility which includes the penguin hospital, the admission room and finally the penguin pool. Here you get to see the penguins that are busy recuperating before they get released back into Algoa Bay again.
In a world of social media smileys its always nice to find a real one. In this case outside the front door of SAMREC in Cape Recife
One of the African Penguins at SAMREC swimming past a window in the centre's penguin pool
Uniondale between the Klein Karoo and the Langkloof is famous for it's ghost, but I'm sure most people know very little else about the town. Visitors will also find a lot of history in the area. Amongst that is the fact that the town was protected by 6 British Forts during the Anglo Boer War. One of these have been restored and can be visited on a hill overlooking the town. I've always looked up at it passing through but on my…
The story of Prester John is a mysterious one. In some circles he was believed to be a descendant of the Three Wise Men, some believed he was a crusader-era Christian king based in Ethiopia or possibly a high-born Mongol from the time of Genghis Khan. Then there were those who said that he watched over Holy Grail, never growing old but wiser and wiser as the years went by. Whoever this mythical king-priest Prester John was, it was the quest of the Portuguese explorers not…
Returning from Gauteng on a recent road trip I decided to make a little detour via the Gariep Dam and take the Steynsburg and Hofmeyr road through the Karoo to Cradock. I made a lunch and leg stretch stop at the lookout overlooking the Gariep Dam wall. The Gariep Dam was opened in 1071 and initially called the Hendrik Verwoerd Dam after the first prime minister of the Republic of South Africa. After the end of Apartheid it was decided to change the…
On Saturday we headed into the Gamtoos Valley for the annual Gamtoos Tourism Adventure Drive. This year the event took place around the towns of Loerie and Hankey and it was a heck of a lot of fun, to say the least. The Adventure Drive takes the form of a 60km round trip which gets completed by following directions given at the start of the race. Along the way there are 9 stops with challenges that need to be completed. …
This weekend the Boardwalk complex celebrates it's 14th birthday. The Boardwalk started out as a casino and entertainment complex and now also features a 5 star hotel, international convention centre and a spa. When the Boardwalk was built a fair amount of eyebrows lifted and people gave it 18 months before nobody would go there and the shops would close. On the contrary, it has become a Port Elizabeth landmark, standing central to most activities and events hosted on the beachfront. Somewhere most visitors to…
Last weekend on a Geocaching outing with the KidZ we swung through the Parsons Hill area to pick up a couple of caches and I snapped this photo looking down on North End with the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in the middle and Algoa Bay in the back. Yes I know it's skew but I uploaded straight from my phone so I didn't get a chance to edit the photo. Just tilt your head slightly and it will be fine. *wink and smile*
Its a hot day in the southern Karoo just north of the Zuurberg in the Eastern Cape. Not a breath of air moving. Cicadas are chirping away in the surrounding veld. Its been four days since you left the small port town of Port Elizabeth and after struggling up the rough Zuurberg Pass the previous day and camping out near the Zuurberg Inn, the day is spent making your way down the pass and into the dry and flat area beyond. …