I know I've done posts about the Sundays River Ferry before, but it stays one of my favorite attractions and activities in Port Elizabeth. I enjoy the relaxed atmosphere of the cruise down the river, the chance of seeing birds or water monitors along the river bank, the company of owners Les and Maggie and to climb to the top of the dunes at the turning point. Really a wonderful experience and you will definitively see it again in future.
The historic Mackay Bridge and old road acorss the Sundays River used to be the main route from Port Elizabeth towards Grahamstown. Today the only traffic crossing it are people on foot and the odd bicycle and motorbike.
Fishing is a very popular pass time for a lot of people. A way to relax and be one one nature. Me? I'm no fisherman. I just don't have the patience. Sitting there waiting for something that may or may not happen. Perhaps for ten minutes or so, but anything longer, "Bha humbug". Cruising along the Sundays River on the Sundays River Ferry recently we passed a couple fishing from a little motor boat. As we pulled up next to them the…
The banks of the Sundays River is home to a huge variety of birds ranging from herons and kingfishers to waders and bee eaters. Amongst the herons are Black headed herons, Goliath herons and Grey herons, like the one sitting on top of the pole in the picture.
Yesterday's photo of the Sundays River was taken from the Mackay Bridge which was opened on 5 March 1895. The Colchester area was a very busy spot in the mid 1800s and early 1900s, as it had the only pont over the Sundays River on the main road between Port Elizabeth and Grahamstown. In 1874 the original pont washed away and they started looking at plans to build a bridge. This bridge was constructed entirely of steel and iron brought all the way from…
The Sundays River is said to be the fastest flowing river in the country. The Khoisan people originally named the river Nukakamma (Grassy Water) because the river's banks are always green and grassy despite the arid terrain that it runs through. The picture was taking from the Mackay Bridge looking towards Cannonville with the sand dunes in the background.
Sand blowing on top of the sand dunes at Colchester. Wind or no wind, its still an awesome view from up there.
A week or so ago I accompanied a group of media around the Port Elizabeth area for a couple of days. One of the activities we did was cruising down the Sundays River with the Sundays River Ferry before climbing the big Colchester sand dunes. The camera man of the SABC 1 show Real Goboza had a ball of a time both on the boat as well as the dunes and here he's busy filming while we were cruising downstream.
Most people living in Port Elizabeth has driven along the N2 past the Sundays River and Colchester at some stage in their lives and would have seen the sand dunes beyond the river. But I want to bet that very few actually realise how big the dune fields out at Colchester really is. Its huge, as you can see from the pic I snapped on the return flight from Indaba in Durban the other day. The Colchester Dunefields are just the first…
The Sundays River Ferry proudly flies the South African flag along with the flags of some of their international visitors when cruising down the river. I was one of those who wasn't happy when the old South African flag was replaced by the new one, but damn, you have to admit we really have a stunning flag. Something for all South Africans to be proud of.