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193 years of being called PE

If you could go back 193 years in time to this day in 1820, you would see the arrival of Sir Rufane Donkin, Acting Governor of the Cape Colony, in Algoa Bay to oversee the arrival and settling of the British Settlers.  You would also see him look around at the beautiful bay with the small settlement on the coastline and name the town in honour of his late wife, Lady Elizabeth, who died not long before of fever in India.  He also proclaimed the…

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06/06/2013
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Umhlanga Pier

Many visitors to the beachfront at Umhlanga Rocks take a walk onto the 80 meter long Umhlanga Pier to enjoy the view of the coastline and the Umhlanga Lighthouse close by.  What many of these visitors don't know though is that the pier was actually built to assist with the dispersal of storm water into the sea.  Before the pier was built storm water used to be discharged onto the beach at Granny's Pool.  A large underground box culvert was constructed…

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06/06/2013
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Ranger stories

The guides doing the open vehicle guided game drives in the Addo Elephant National Park are vast treasure chests of information.  I can't find the note I made of our ranger's name (Vincent van Zyl left a comment pointing out that the ranger's name is Ryan), but my mouth hung open as he rattled off plant names, animal information, pointing out birds and just chatted away with the guests on the vehicle.  Guides and rangers like these are what makes visits to game reserves…

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05/06/2013
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Umhlanga Lighthouse

The 21 meter tall red and white Umhlanga Lighthouse is probably the best known lighthouse on the KwaZulu Natal coastline.  Umhlanga Rocks is situated on what was originally part of the sugar estate of Sir Marshall Campbell and means Place of Reeds in the Zulu language.  This refers to the beds of reeds that accumulate on the banks of the Ohlanga River a few kilometres north of town.  Incidentally Sir Marshall was also the person who introduced the colourful rickshaws to Durban's beachfront. …

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04/06/2013
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Harbour giraffes at sunrise

The first thing I noticed on my timeline when I opened Facebook this morning was a picture by my friend Cheryl Witte along with her daily Gratitude Journal.  I don't often feature other people's pictures on PEDP, but I immediately called her to ask if I could.  She took the picture on her way to work looking towards the harbour from Upper Valley Road just before the sunrise.  Pictures like this is exactly why one should always carry your camera with…

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04/06/2013
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Picnic at Dodds Farm

The Baakens Valley is crawling deeper and deeper into my heart.  I really wish more people realised what an amazing place we have running right through the city.  The Damselfly packed a picnic basket the other day and we headed into the Baakens Valley for a spot of geocaching, ending up at Dodds Farm with a picnic under the trees.  There were a couple of other people having a picnic and painting while a number of joggers and mountain bikers passed us on…

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03/06/2013
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The Muck Run

 This morning 500 muckers and about 50 muckchkins (little muckers) mucked around the mucky dams and mucken bush at Bushpig Adventures out in Theesecombe during the first (of what will become an annual) Muck Run in Port Elizabeth.  The Muck Run is organised by Zports and consisted of a 8km trail run taking in muddy ponds and dams, crawling through mud and dust under cargo nets, climbing through tunnels, running over tyres and poles and sliding down a 50m slippery slide.  It was the toughest…

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02/06/2013
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Baakens Valley

I explored a bit of the Baakens Valley along Lower Guinea Fowl Trail on a geocaching outing with the family and as always my camera went along for the walk.  This spot is looking east towards Dodds Farm and down at the Baakens Valley from the mountain bike trail.

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01/06/2013
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I can still see you

I attended the media launch of the Kirkwood Wildsfees in the Addo Elephant National Park and to end the program off we were taken on an open vehicle game drive through the park.  As is often usual in Addo we had some stunning sightings.  This guy was peeking at us from behind a bush trying to be inconspicuous.  Gives him a bit of a mysterious look, doesn't it. The annual Wildsfees takes place from 28 - 30 June 2013 in the…

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31/05/2013