On visiting the Somerset East Museum recently, I discovered this old overgrown grave yard behind it on the slopes of the Boschberg Mountain. I have a thing for old cemeteries and had a look around. Unfortunately the guy who was going to show us through the museum arrived and cut short my exploration, but next time I'm in town I will definitively head back there for another look.
I used to go to the town of Grahamstown (about 120km east of Port Elizabeth) quite a lot during my tour guiding days. Just outside of town as you are heading towards Bathurst is a spot where fresh spring water flows out of a pipe into a little stream. Most of the times I passed there was somebody filling up containers of water which made me very curious.I asked around a bit and Oom Willem at the Grahamstown Tourism office…
Today the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium here in Port Elizabeth is hosting its 4th game of the 2010 FIFA World Cup between Chile and Switzerland. So far the stadium has already played host to Greece, Korea Republic, Portugal, Cote d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast), Germany and Serbia. The last first round match here will be England vs Slovenia on Wednesday. We are all still waiting with bated breaths to see who will play here during the knockout rounds. Since the start of…
I may use the name Firefly, but my favorite insect is the dragonfly. Skimmer Dragonflies (Family Libellulidae) are strong, fast flyers are are normally seen skimming low over the water's surface. They are carnivores and feed on other insects. Skimmer dragonflies mate in flight and the female will lay her eggs while skimming over the water. They would normally have their wings out horizontally when at rest, so I think this one was trying to hide from me by making…
On the two traffic circles outside the airport two big (half) soccer ball shaped structures surrounded by flags have been put up. At night the structures are specially beautiful with lights shining through thousands of holes in the tubes. I have done a post about these structures on The Firefly Photo Files before, so please follow the link for more pictures.
Outside the FIFA Fan Fest at St Georges, the municipality has put up festive lights for the occasion. The elephant refers to the fact that the Addo Elephant National Park is situated just outside Port Elizabeth and that provincial sports teams from the area use the elephant as their mascot.
I worked a shift at the FIFA Fan Fest at St Georges Park last night and popped out to have a look at the entertainment on the stage between the matches on the big screen. On the stage was a local rap band strutting their stuff to the enjoyment of the crowd.
It is amazing how beautiful some animals are. The tiger, leopard, cheetah, giraffe and a couple of others must heave been in the front of the row when God created the animals and were dishing out the skins. Poor warthog must have been standing close to the back. Here are a couple of close-ups of animal skins. All of these animals were (and hopefully still are) alive when I took the pics. CheetahCrocodile Giraffe
Looking up at the roof of the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth. The stadium's nickname is The Sunflower due to the petal like look of its roof structure. I know its a bit tongue in cheek, but if you look at it from the outside or above, it also looks a bit like a meringue. But that I say with all the respect in the world, as I am very very proud of our magnificent stadium. For more…
Today I am combining my Skywatch post with a Random theme... post. The random theme for today is weather vanes. There is a folk song in Afrikaans about the chicken that can't lay an egg and that chicken is the one that stands on top of the church spire. This weather vane I found standing on top of the church in Prince Albert in the Karoo The cock on top of the NG Kerk (Dutch Reformed Church) in the Langkloof…