Eastern Cape

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Irrigating the Gamtoos Valley

How often do you wonder where exactly the water in your tap and fruit and vegetables in your kitchen comes from?  We'll, if you live in Port Elizabeth its possible to answer both these questions for yourself by visiting the Gamtoos Valley.  The Gamtoos Valley is often referred to as the food basket of the Eastern Cape as it is one of South Africa's biggest citrus and vegetable producing areas.  The farms get their irrigation water from exactly the same…

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20/01/2014
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Port Elizabeth Whale skeleton

The Port Elizabeth Museum, which forms part of the Bayworld complex, has a very unique exhibit hanging in the Marine Hall.  It's the skeleton of the last Southern Right Whale to be harpooned in Algoa Bay.  Its the focus piece of a exhibit that covers whales and sharks along with everything associated with them.

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17/01/2014
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Going nowhere slowly

Just west of Patensie, travellers through the Gamtoos Valley will find the Padlangs farm stall.  It's a favourite with both visitors and the locals and I really have to do a post on it one day, but that day is not today.  Outside the farm stall visitors would find the remnants of transport methods used in the valley in the past.  Parts of an ox wagon and an old bakkie (a Chev perhaps?) I placed a couple of Geocaches in the…

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15/01/2014
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Fisherman on the Wildside

Unlike my brother who has provincial colours for fresh water fishing, I'm not a fisherman.  I don't have the patience for it.  I would much rather go for a walk with my camera and find something interesting to photograph.  Perhaps its the same thing, just different.  Its the same with Geocaching.  I can spend hours doing it while others see it as a waste of time because other than a smiley face on my geocache map and my name on…

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13/01/2014
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Port Elizabeth Harbour sunset

Since the Jester started with cruises of Algoa Bay in 2012 it has become one of the most popular attractions (or should I say activities?) in Port Elizabeth.  Locals, visitors and corporates alike all love cruising along the beachfront doesn't matter if its a short leisure cruise, their popular braai cruise or a charter for a party or function.  I've had the pleasure to do an late afternoon cruise and the sun started to disappear over the city as we…

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07/01/2014
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Foggy hills

We are slap bang in the middle of a warm hot sweltering summer spell.  Days are hot and the crows are yawning, every bit of shade gets used by big and small and people, specially the farmers, are keeping their eyes skyward in the hope of a shower to cool things down a bit.  When the sun rises in the east and the hills are covered in early morning fog, like this Gamtoos Valley scene close to Patensie, its a sign…

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06/01/2014
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The biggest South African flag

Over the last few years Port Elizabeth has had a couple of new landmarks go up that has very much become part of the city's landscape.  The Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, the Boardwalk Hotel, the wind farm turbines and the great flag on the Donkin Reserve.  The great flag forms part of Route 67 and flies on top of the second tallest flag pole in Africa.  At 65 meters tall its only shorter than a pole in Angola.  The flag itself…

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03/01/2014
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Gamtoos Valley mountain silhouettes

Just after sunset the mountains of the Baviaanskloof west of Patensie turn into silhouettes against the colour changing sky.  Shortly after they turn transparent in the fading light before disappearing into the night.

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29/12/2013
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You can’t help but smile when you watch a penguin

One of the things that Libby Sharwood at the South African Marine Rehabilitation and Education Centre (SAMREC) in Port Elizabeth always say is, "You can help but to smile when you watch a penguin."   The African Penguin is highly endangered with only just over 20 000 breeding pairs left in the world, most of these right on my doorstep on St Croix Island in Algoa Bay.  SAMREC does an amazing job both in the care and rehabilitation of birds that…

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09/12/2013