Eastern Cape

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Sea monsters off Port Elizabeth

 Is there such a thing as sea monsters?  Huge tentacled beasts dragging ships in under the waves, long necked dinosaur like animals who survived millions of years in the deep or scaly monsters with huge teeth so terrifying that Great White Sharks flee in fear?  A morning's hiking around the Cape Recife Nature Reserve in Port Elizabeth nearly had me thinking twice that I have found proof.Walking along the Algoa Bay side of the reserve I spotted a spiky spine visible amongst the waves.  I started to…

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27/09/2012
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Up the dune

The sand dunes at Colchester outside Port Elizabeth are the western reaches of the Alexandria dune field, the largest coastal dune field in the Southern Hemisphere.  Although it is there for anybody to see, the only way to really get to them is by boat as you have to cross the Sundays River to get there.  The Sundays River Ferry is one of my favorite attractions in Port Elizabeth and thanks to the ferry I have had the opportunity to…

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25/09/2012
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World Rhino Day

Today we celebrate the third annual World Rhino Day not just here in South Africa, but world wide.  World Rhino Day highlight the plight of the rhino which is targeted by ruthless poachers all over the world for their horns which are thought to have medicinal properties by the people in most countries in the Far East.  Part of World Rhino Day is to debunk the myths and diminish the demand for rhino horn.  Up to 12 September rhino poaching in…

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22/09/2012
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Penguins under pressure

Last week I saw a stunning yet very sad picture by Luc Hosten on Facebook.  Two days later I was down at Cape Recife in Port Elizabeth and came across the scene photographed by Luc.  The penguin wasn't in the same position anymore and I didn't want to try and recreate the exact scene anyway, so decided on something similar yet slightly further away.  African Penguins are highly endangered and under immense pressure at the moment with some people giving them only 5 years if…

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20/09/2012
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Houtkappershuisie

Met sy inheemse woude vasgedruk tussen 'n pragtige kuslyn en die Tsitsikammabergreeks en bruingekleurde riviere wat daardeur vloei is die Tsitsikamma een van my gunsteling plekke in Suid-Afrika.  Wanneer mens die dorpie Stormsrivier besoek vind jy hierdie ou bosbouhuisies langs Eikelaning wat van die dorpie na die ou pad deur die woud lei.

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18/09/2012
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Uitenhage War Memorial

I'm fascinated by a lot of things so I won't say that war memorials fascinate me, although I find it very interesting how the war memorial in every town - because yes, just every town has some kind of war memorial - looks different.  Ranging from cenotaphs to historic cannons and massive monuments to small simple objects.  This is the war memorial in Uitenhage containing a list of men from the town who died during the two World Wars.

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18/09/2012
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Tackeling the city on the Urban Run

Road running isn't for everybody. Pounding away at the road for kilometer after kilometer bores me a little bit, but I do like to participate in races with a difference. The Urban Run around Port Elizabeth's city centre area surely is one of those. Urban Run is a 10,5 kilometer urban obstacle coarse which 1. helps to get people back into the city centre, 2. get people to visit places that they may not have seen or visited in ages,…

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17/09/2012
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Police cell graffiti

Yesterday (12 September 2012) was the 35th anniversary of Steve Biko's death and I got to join a group visiting the cell Biko was held in at the Walmer Police Station in Port Elizabeth shortly before his death.  This post isn't about the Biko story though but rather something a little bit more light hearted.  It seems that one of the suspects held in this cell at some stage not too long ago had a black permanent marker with him…

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13/09/2012
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Brown-hooded Kingfisher

On a game drive at Pumba Game Reserve near Port Elizabeth our ranger pointed out a Brown-hooded Kingfisher sitting in a tree next to the game drive vehicle.  The next thing he said kinda got our attention.  He asked us to look around and see if we could see any body of water.  There was none.  The Brown-hooded Kingfisher doesn't necessarily feed on fish but also on insects such as butterflies, bees, wasps, locusts and ants. These invertebrates are usually hawked…

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12/09/2012
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St Peter’s Ruin windows

South End in Port Elizabeth is similar to District 6 in Cape Town where the original inhabitants where removed because of the Group Area's Act of the 1960's.  St Peter's Anglican Church was built in 1877 and the school next to it was the first church school in South End to produce pupils to  standard six (grade 8), the highest standard for coloured people at the time.  The church was deconsecrated in 1972 and most of it demolished to stop the congregation from returning…

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10/09/2012