I haven't spent much time in East London. Always in and out without much opportunity to explore. My last visit was no different but I made sure I had a couple of minutes to swing by the Esplanade and snapped this picture of the beach as the afternoon shadows started to stretch out to sea.
The East London beachfront has a very interesting looking statue which had me scratching my head when I saw it for the first time. Multicultural Man is a bronze sculpture created by Italian artist Francesco Perilli. It depicts a faceless man in the middle of the earth who is trying to unite two meridians, while the other meridians are lifted by doves, the universal symbols of peace. The bronze man himself is three meters high and has been designed to represent…
Situated next to the German Settler Memorial in East London is The Symbol of Multiculturalism. With Wednesday 16 December being Day or Reconsiliation, I thought that this is actually a very relevant post. The Symbol of Multiculturalism was created by Francesco Perilli and was donated by the Nereto Municipality in Italy to the people of the Eastern Cape Province and for the African continent.It quotes Nelson Mandela in saying: "We might have our differences, but we are one people with…
On the Esplanade in East London visitors to the city will find the German Settlers Memorial. It was erected in remembrance of the than 2000 German settlers (men, women and children) who arrived in East London in 1858 as part of the colonial government's plan to try and introduce the black Xhosa speaking people of the Eastern Cape to a European type of society. Originally the British Government offered the colonial government the services of the British German Legion who…
I spent a couple of days in the city of East London, 300 kilometers east of Port Elizabeth, the other day. I didn't have much free time, but I did get to visit the East London Aquarium. The East London Aquarium is by no means a very big facility. It was officially opened on 2 December 1931 which makes it the oldest public aquarium in Southern Africa. The aquarium has a number of large fish tank displays that feature most…