I wonder how many people know that Walmer used to be a town on its own before becoming part of Port Elizabeth. In 1815 the farm Welbedacht, covered an area just under 14 square miles, to the south west of Port Elizabeth was granted to AM Muller. When Muller died in 1845 his farm was inherited by his 8 sons who, true to form, could not decide on how to sub divide the property. As a result the farm was sold and…
The prickly pear season is usually around January to March but I was surprised to find a prickly pear plant with a flower in the Baakens Valley the other day. Taking a close up photo I realised how my photography has stagnated lately. Why stagnated? Well, for one I can't remember when last I've taken any good macro pictures. I also used to always be on the lookout for nice compositions and specifically for something interesting to put in the…
Going by its popularity with both big and small, the new skate park at Kings Beach seems to go down quite well with skaters of all sorts. Passing there the other day there were skate boards, a j-board, a BMX and somebody on in line skates trying out the new facility.
Cape Point is a many historic tales and legends. In 1688 Bartolomeu Dias passed around the point in a storm without even knowing it and only got to see it for the first time on the return journey. He named it Cabo Tormentosa or the Cape of Storms. Its also off this point and coastline that the mythical Flying Dutchman under the command of Captain Hendrick van der Decken is doomed to sail into eternity. Cape Point is also one of the biggest tourist attractions…
I'm not a huge wine drinker. Not that I don't want to but because I never really learned to drink wine. Don't get me wrong though. I enjoy a good wine as much as the next guy as long as it's something like a late harvest or a sweet Rosé. This past weekend The Wine Show Nelson Mandela Bay took place in the city for the fourth consecutive year and for the first time at the brand new Boardwalk Convention Centre. Some of…
Standing next to Shark Rock Pier at Hobie Beach, this is the view towards Kings Beach and the harbour. We've had rain for the last couple of days but the sun's been sticking its head out from behind the clouds a little bit today. After all the rain we had last year, this year has been pretty dry so the rain is very welcome.
The Nizamiye Turish Masjid - or Midrand Mosque - has made a big impact on the Johannesburg, and in particular Midrand, skyline. The mosque with its 55 meter high minarets is the brainchild of retired Turkish property developer Ali Katircioglu (known as “Uncle Ali”) and was modelled on the Selimiye Camisi mosque in Edirne, Turkey.
Some visitors to game reserves often get as excited about seeing something like a zebra than they are when seeing elephants or lions. Perhaps we as locals take these animals for granted as we see them often in game reserves and don't get as excited by them. I kinda lost what I was trying to say with this now other than seeing zebra is always exciting for me even if they aren't part of the Big 5. I found these two Burchell's Zebra…
As you may have noticed lately, I have developed a special fondness for the Baakens Valley. I've always had a bit of a soft spot for it, but since taking up geocaching I've had to venture into it a couple of times to look for caches and have taken my camera with on every occasion. The spot in the photo is in Settlers Park at one of the places where you cross the river hopping from stone to stone. The river dams up a…
Johannesburg boasts that it's the world's largest man-made urban forest and that's difficult to imagine until one actually visits the city and see how many open spaces, parks and nature reserves there are. One of these parks is Mushroom Farm Park in Sandton. I've passed here a couple of times before but visited for the first time on my last visit to the City of Gold. Sandton started out in the 1930's as farms and estates and only transform from a farming community to a…