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Noorsveld

The Karoo is well known for its many different succulent species. Driving through some parts of the Karoo, specially around the Jansenville area, one will find a variety of euphorbia plants. One in particular stands out. The local euphorbia are smallish, thorny plants with a milky sap and are known as noors, giving the region its name of Noorsveld. It is uncertain where the word noors comes from. The plant with its yellow flowers reminded the British of gorse and…

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30/11/2009
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Toy Run

On our way home from church this morning we stopped along the way to watch the bikes taking part in the annual Toy Run go by. The Toy Run is a national initiative which takes place in all the cities and big towns around South Africa. It is the largest motorcycle charity event in the world with about 50 000 motorcycles taking part nationally. The main purpose of the event is to collect and distribute toys and gifts to less…

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29/11/2009
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Rain in the Karoo

The Karoo can be a dry and lonely if it hasn't rained for a while. Farmers are very dependent on water and most farms have boreholes and windpumps to get the water for their farms to be able to function. But when it does rain, the Karoo and its inhabitents rejoice. Specially if a thunderstorm approaches after a hot day and cools everything off. One of the things the people of the Karoo loves most is seeing water in puddles…

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29/11/2009
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Sardinia Bay Golf Course

Port Elizabeth has a number of golf courses around the city. The best known one is the Humewood Golf Course, a links course which is seen as one of the best courses in the country. One of the lesser known ones are the 9 hole Sardinia Bay golf course. I'm not much of a golfer (not enough time), so I haven't played the big courses, but I thoroughly enjoyed playing Sardinia Bay the other morning with my Boet.

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28/11/2009
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Red succulent flower

I have a number of succulents and plants in pots around my pool and the other day I noticed that one of the small succulents had a couple of flowers in bloom. I liked the little "frog" peeking at me from below the flower

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28/11/2009
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Greater Striped Swallow

Recently on a early morning walk while visiting in the Karoo, I found this Greater Striped Swallow sitting on the barbed wire farm fence while his kin was sweeping all over the show chasing insects. The Greater Striped Swallow, like all the other swallows you get around here, are summer visitors to our part of the world. They are fairly widespread throughout South Africa and can usually be seen perched on trees and fences or gliding over open, rocky or…

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27/11/2009
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Old South End road

In the old days South End was a vibrant multi cultural area, but in the 1960's everybody was forcible removed from the area because of the Groups Areas Act and relocated to other areas in Port Elizabeth. The majority of the buildings in South End was demolished and the area laid empty for about twenty years. In the 1980's they started developing the area again and since Democracy in 1994 some of the people have even moved back into the…

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26/11/2009
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The Wildside

The southern coastline of Port Elizabeth from Cape Recife to Schoenmakerskop is generally knows as the Wildside. It's mainly because the coast is rugged with lots of rocks and little sand. Its also open to the prevailing south-westerly wind which means that it can become quite stormy out there outside the shelter of the Bay.

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25/11/2009
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Then and now from the Donkin Lighthouse

After my last venture up the Donkin Lighthouse, Sue sent me two old pictures that were taken from the lighthouse in the late 1800's. She asked me if I had any pics taken in the same direction to be able to compare. I didn't, but took Chaos Boy to climb the lighthouse on Saturday and took a couple. I am sure that I recognise the rusty roof house in both the old and new pics. There is another one which…

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24/11/2009
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Farm road

It is inevitable to drive around the Karoo and visit all its interesting towns and places and not venture onto a dirt road somewhere. And when you do drive along one of the dry Karoo gravel roads leaving a plume of duct in your trail, I bet you will stumble upon a couple of old rusty road signs. In this case the sign indicates a cattle grid on the road.

7 Comments
24/11/2009