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Riding PE’s miniature trains

Ketik ketik... ketik ketik... ketik ketik... The sound of the train's wheels on the tracks.  A sound which so many kids these days have never heard before.  Everybody loves to ride on a train doesn't matter if its a luxurious tourist train, a cross country train, a day trip tourist train, a commuter train or, in the case of this post, little miniature trains.  On the first Sunday of the month Port Elizabeth parents gather their kids, pack picnic baskets and head down to…

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01/11/2013
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Scottish Cemetery for Halloween

Seeing that today is Halloween I wanted to post a scary or Halloween type photo but alas, I haven't done any pictures like that lately.  Clearly I need to spend some time doing some creative shots again.  I do have a picture of old grave stones in the historic Scottish Cemetery in St Georges Park though so it will have to do. St Mary's Cemetery used to be the only cemetery in Port Elizabeth in the 1820s, but an influx of people…

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31/10/2013
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Cannon Bay on the Sacramento Trail

In 1647 the Portuguese galleon Sacramento ran aground between present day Schoenmakerskop and Sardinia Bay with 72 survivors reaching the beach  and only nine making it all the way to Delagoa Bay (Maputo) in Mozambique.  That is a distance of 1,300 km on foot.  The ship carried a shipment of cannons and these spent the next 300 odd years on the ocean floor until they were salvaged in 1977.  40 bronze cannons were brought up and one of those cannons still stand in Schoenies at the…

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30/10/2013
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Bromance

A couple of elephant bulls interacting at Hapoor waterhole in the Addo Elephant National Park.  Nothing wrong with a bit of brotherly love or bromance.

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29/10/2013
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Succulent flowers at Kuzuko

Succulents always surprise me with the beautiful flowers that they produce specially when they grow in dry and arid areas.  The flowering succulent in the picture was growing next to the path to our room at Kuzuko Lodge in the northern part of the Addo Elephant National Park.After reading the post, Alan Fogarty of Alan Tours helped me out a bit with the name:  Crassula ovata or Kerky bush, Beestebul, iPhewula also commonly known as the "Botterboom"

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28/10/2013
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Langa Memorial

Most South Africans are familiar with the 1960 Sharpeville massacre where the South African Police opened fire on a protesting crowd, killing 69 people.  Very few people know though that on the 25th anniversary of Sharpeville, something similar happened in Langa township in Uitenhage when the Police opened fire on a crowd of mourners on their way to a banned funeral.  Twenty people were killed in the incident on 21 March 1985 and it became known as the Langa Massacre.  The incident was followed by…

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28/10/2013
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What goes up must come down

One of my favourite things about cruising on the Sundays River with the Sundays River Ferry is climbing the dunes at the turning point.  Going up is a leg aching, brow sweating and huff and puff affair but the view from the top makes it absolutely worth it.  Plus what goes up must come down...

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27/10/2013
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Motherwell storm water canal

The Swartkops River has huge pollution problems which emanates mainly from polluted water that flows into the system from storms water canals containing raw sewerage and many tons of litter and waste.  One of these are the Motherwell storm water canal which can be seen close to the start of the Flamingo Trail.  Its truly sad to see such an important wetlands area polluted in this way and although there are plans in place to counter it, there are a lot…

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26/10/2013
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Wildflower Reserve trails

The Van Stadens Wildflower Reserve is looking stunning at the moment with loads of Pin Cushions and King Proteas in flower.  We went for a short walk through the reserve and eventually Drama Princess and I fell so far behind the Damselfly and Chaos Boy cause she kept on stopping to look at flowers and ask questions about them and other things we saw.  I didn't mind though because it gives me a good excuse to snap some pictures as well. …

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25/10/2013
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Orchard rainbow

An afternoon shower washed off the dust of a day exploring the Gamtoos Valley along some dirt back roads.  As the sun came out we went for a walk through the citrus orchard at Nikalandershoek where we were staying and a rainbow appeared over the trees.  The perfect end to the day.

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24/10/2013