Spending one night at Trennery's on the Wild Coast, I decided that I wanted to explore a bit. Upstream from the Qolora River Mouth is a spot called The Gates and it was here that I caught this heron sitting on a branch at dusk.
Sunrise on the Wild Coast near the mouth of the Qolora RiverHello, I am Firefly and I'm a travel blogger. It's been 6 years since my first blog post. I have an absolute passion for travel and tourism and that is why I work in the tourism industry. Not the other way around. But being passionate about travel doesn't mean that I only work in the field, I also play in the field. Having been a tourist guide and these days also…
I finally got to visit Port St Johns on the northern Wild Coast. It wasn't a case of not wanting to do it before but rather one of never being in the area. My visit was very brief though as we were on our way to Durban and still had a few stops to make so my Port St Johns experience consisted of stops at the mouth of the Umzimvubu River and Second Beach. It was impossible to get the whole…
When the first Dutch farmers arrived in the Kouga and Gamtoos region they had to travel upstream some distance to cross over the Gamtoos River. In the mid 1800's a pontoon was used to convey traffic across the Gamtoos River. The ferry was close to the Gamtoos River Hotel, and was owned by the late Mr. G. D. Smith, of Nocton Farm. The problem was that this very primitive method of crossing a broad tidal river was frequently a source of much annoyance and delay, owing…
Just outside the town of Hankey in the Gamtoos Valley visitors will find the biggest sundial in the Southern Hemisphere. Kids will always be kids and the monkey comes out of them when they see something they can climb. It was no different when Drama Princess decided to see how far she could go up the Hankey Sundial. The sundial was built by local farmer Mr Dirk Schellingerhout in 1989 to commemorate the town's 160th anniversary. It is located at the entrance to…
The Cockscomb mountain is situated north of the Gamtoos Valley and visible from not just in the valley but also from the Baviaanskloof, Uitenhage and Addo areas. The reason its visible from all over is that it's the second highest mountain in the Eastern Cape. It gets its name from its resemblance to a rooster's comb. The Cockscomb is part of the Groot Winterhoek mountain range with the higest peak being 1 768 m above sea level. This picture was taken from Vergaderingskop (the burial place…
The majority of the female elephants in the Addo Elephant National Park are tuskless. The general opinion amongst laymen is that it's because of selective hunting of the elephants with big tusks in the late 19th and early 20th century while others think it may be due to the vegetation (structure and/or nutrient composition) of the area. Long term records have been used to assess trends and it has been found that although it could have played a roll, selective…
This is post #4 in the Boardwalk series of this week. The Boardwalk lake forms the centre of the complex with the retail, food and entertainment areas all surrounding it. The lake is also where the Fountain Spectacular with its colourful lights and music takes place every evening.
A Burchell's Zebra standing on the Addo plains. Wonder what he's looking at? A lurking lion perhaps?
Route 67 on the Donkin Reserve in Port Elizabeth has some really interesting art pieces ranging from real taxi's mounted on a wall to the 470 square meter Piazza Mosaic next to the Pyramid. Then there's also the Voting Line with Madiba's figure at the front standing under the tallest flag pole in South Africa sporting a 10 m x 15 m South African flag. Looking across the reserve towards Algoa Bay stands a lone female figure on a pedestal. (Shouldn't men put all women on…