Eastern Cape

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Citrus Festival photos gallery

The annual Patensie Citrus Festival took place on 15 June 2013 in the Gamtoos Valley west of Port Elizabeth.  The Gamtoos is mainly a farming area with beautiful scenery, not forgetting true farming hospitality, so I take any excuse I can get to visit.  After really enjoying the 2012 festival we decided to head out there again this year and bundled the family in the car on the Saturday morning, headed out to the countryside.  Here are a some scenes from the festival. 

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24/06/2013
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Boardwalk Hotel lights

The Boardwalk Complex in Port Elizabeth has always been a beautiful sight at night but since the completion of the new 5 star Boardwalk Hotel and Convention Centre it's become an absolute visual feast for the eyes.  The lights become even more obvious when seen from inside the Boardwalk Complex itself where it reflects off the Boardwalk lake.

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20/06/2013
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The Sacramento Trail in pictures

Following Thursday's post on the Sacramento Trail in Port Elizabeth I noticed that I had preciously upload a whole series of pictures taken along the trail on a recent outing.  It's been sitting in my drafts folder all this time waiting to be posted and I think it will serve as a follow up to the previous post. The trail follows the coastline from Schoenmakerskop to the turning point at Sardinia Bay, four kilometres away.Part of the trail actually follows the beach and…

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27/05/2013
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Meandering on the Sacramento Trail

The Sacramento Trail is probably Port Elizabeth's most popular day hike around the city.  The hike starts in the village of Schoenmakerskop and follows the coastline to Sardinia Bay over a distance of 4km before returning along the bridle trails on top of the vegetated sand dunes.  The 8km trail includes beautiful bays and coves, stunning views and even a little bit of history.  The trail is named after the Sacramento, a Portuguese galley carrying a cargo of cannons, that wrecked…

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23/05/2013
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International Penguin Day

The 25th of April is Internation Penguin Day and with Algoa Bay being home to the biggest population of African Penguins in the world I thought I would do a post to celebrate it. The South African Marine Rehabilitation and Education Centre (SAMREC) is located in the Cape Recife Nature Reserve in Port Elizabeth and the staff and volunteers involved there do an amazing job in the conservation effort of this endangered specie.Why is 25 April celebrated as International Penguin…

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25/04/2013
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Kids party at SAMREC

 "A birthday party with 20 kids! Are you mad?" Just one of the comments I got when I told people that Chaos Boy has invited 20 kids to his birthday party this past weekend. "What are you going to do with them? They'll wreck your house!" Another couple of comments.  Well, I asked Chaos Boy what he wanted to do for his birthday party and he decided that he wanted to take his friends to go and see the penguins…

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24/04/2013
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The KidZ are Ironkids

This past weekend (12 - 14 April 2013) was Ironman weekend in Port Elizabeth which, in addition to the main Ironman event on Sunday, also included an Irongirl 8km run on Friday and Corporate Ironman and Ironkids on Saturday.  Both Ironkids and Irongirl are the biggest events of their kind in the world.  Just for those who don't know what Ironman is, its an ultra triathlon with competitors doing a 3,8 km swim followed by a 180 km cycle and ending off…

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16/04/2013
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Rust in Peace

Next to The Ark in Joubertina in the Langkloof stands the rusty remains of a tractor. A very old tractor.  In actual fact a 1928 Wallis tractor.  The first tractor to be brought to the Langkloof and the first of many tractors to follow.  Seeing a sight like this as a monument could be a bit on the weird side anywhere else, but in the Langkloof where farming plays such an important part in everyday life this is a significant part of their…

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05/04/2013
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The Ark in Joubertina

Most people travelling between Port Elizabeth and Cape Town either barrel down the Garden Route's N2 in eight hours or explore the area over a period of several days.  Sadly very few people travel through the Langkloof along this beautiful section of Route 62, better known for the part running through the Klein Karoo.  The Langkloof isn't a popular tourist destination, not because of a lack of beauty but rather because of its direct competition on the other side of the mountains. …

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04/04/2013