Last weekend I was part of the most informative walking tour of St Georges Park. Photographer and journalist Ivor Markman has done some tremendous research on the park and it's history over the years and in the process not just collected tons of interesting information, but also some very rare photographs. Here he is showing off one of the oldest known pictures of the park while standing on the same spot it was taken way back then.
While visiting the Nelson Mandela Bay Science and Technology Centre in Uitenhage the other day I took a walk through the adjacent old railway sheds. There are future plans to turn them into a shopping centre but at the moment they're standing empty. The sheds are a photographer's dream though for both urban photographs as well as to photograph models.
I wouldn't really call war memorials a specific interest on my side, but I really enjoy discovering historic sites and attractions. Just about every city and town in South Africa has a war memorial of some sort and Durban is no different. Usually cities have a number of war related memorials and the first one I found in Durban was the city's South African Heavy Artillery Memorial, one of six around South Africa. After the end of World War I the Imperial Government…
Its the end of the week and the last Friday in September which means another month has seen its backside. Its been a rough month work wise and I'm glad it's over and to celebrate it I would love to have been sitting at Bridge Street Brewery on the deck overlooking the Baakens Valley with one of their own Pilsners in my hand. That is if two things weren't happening. Firstly the wind is howling in the Bay today and…
I always say that Addo is probably the best place in the world to watch wild African elephants in their natural environment and to get fairly up close sightings. Its not because these elephants are tame, not by a long shot. Over the years they have just gotten used to vehicles and as long as you don't intrude on their space and they don't feel threatened, the chances are often good that they would walk right by your vehicle. I…
I was very fortunate to go on a guided walk along the Flamingo Trail next to the Swartkops Estuary the other day and got some great flamingo sightings along the way. After posting the view of the flamingo's from the top of the hill I thought I'll follow it up with a picture taken from the side of the river of the flamingo's wading along.
In South Africa a braai (and please note how I say braai and not barbecue as barbecue is a chips flavour) is as part of the nation's heritage as ice is part of the North Pole. In my opinion a braai is also just a proper braai when you start with burning wood to create coals. But that is a discussion for a whole other day. Something that is very much part of the braai culture is potjiekos. Potjiekos literally translates…
Today is National Heritage Day, an official public holiday instituted by the government for everybody in this Rainbow Nation to celebrate their own heritage. This day is also informally known as National Braai Day as a braai (barbecue) is an important part of most cultures in South Africa and thus closely linked to our collective heritages. And here I am without a braai picture. To most people fishing is part of their heritage as well so I'm posting a picture of a couple…
A visitor to the Seaview Preditor Park getting some close-up shots of one of the park's tiger cubs
I can't think that there are many people out there who doesn't know about the plight of the rhino yet 618 rhino has been killed by poachers in South Africa this year so far to satisfy the demand for rhino horn in the East. At this rate rhino could disappear of the face of this earth before I have grandchildren one day and posts like this would only be possible with old photos or ones like this rhino conservation piece outside the…