Eastern Cape

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Queen Elizabeth Profile

Driving east through the Gamtoos River Valley from the Baviaanskloof side towards the town of Patensie, the road wounds along a section between the river and Enon conglomerate cliffs. If you keep one eye on the cliffs above while watching the road with the other, you may just spot one of the valley's landmarks. The profile of Queen Victoria. I'm not sure who would have been the first person to recognise her, but with a bit of imagination you can…

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18/07/2010
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1820 Settlers Monuments

The town of Grahamstown (well, its actually a city as it has a cathedral) in the Eastern Cape is situated right in the middle of Settlers country. It is in this area that the 1820 British Settlers (see here, here and here for the Settler story) settled down and it was inevetable that the town would put a monuments to them. On the hill overlooking the town the Settlers Monument was built as a living monument. Opened in 1974, the…

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10/07/2010
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Nieu Bethesda Fossil Centre

I love Indiana Jones and when I was younger I wanted to be an archaeologist discovering lost civilisations and crawling through jungles looking for artifacts. I still have an great interest in archaeology and have a small collection of fossils and other interesting bits which I hope to still add to in future. So on a visit to Nieu Bethesda in the Karoo I reveled in the knowledge that I would be able to visit the Kitching Fossil Exploration Centre…

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07/07/2010
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Prince Alfred Guard flower

I snapped this picture at the Prince Alfred Guard Memorial in Port Elizabeth the other day. I hadn't been to the monument for a while and stopped by to see if I could get a couple of photos from angles that I haven't taken there before.

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02/07/2010
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Sharing a meal

A couple of pachyderms having a meal together at the Addo Elephants National Park just outside Port Elizabeth. I just loved the fact that the second elephant actually looks like the first one's reflection.

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29/06/2010
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Commemoration Methodist Church

The Commemorative Methodist Church, or as the locals call it The Commem, stands at the bottom of church square in the beautiful Eastern Cape town of Grahamstown. The church was completed in 1850 and was built along the Gothic Revival lines which was very "in" at that stage. In front of the church stands the statue of the Winged Angel of Peace supporting a dying soldier,which commemorates those who have fallen in the Anglo Boer War (1899 - 1902). This…

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28/06/2010
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Horse Memorial Silhouette

For a while now I've wanted to get down to the Horse Memorial here in Port Elizabeth to get a nice silhouette sunset shot. Well, the other night I had my chance. It wasn't the most painted sunset sky, but I love the effect.

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23/06/2010
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Overgrown grave yard

On visiting the Somerset East Museum recently, I discovered this old overgrown grave yard behind it on the slopes of the Boschberg Mountain. I have a thing for old cemeteries and had a look around. Unfortunately the guy who was going to show us through the museum arrived and cut short my exploration, but next time I'm in town I will definitively head back there for another look.

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22/06/2010
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God’s Property

I used to go to the town of Grahamstown (about 120km east of Port Elizabeth) quite a lot during my tour guiding days. Just outside of town as you are heading towards Bathurst is a spot where fresh spring water flows out of a pipe into a little stream. Most of the times I passed there was somebody filling up containers of water which made me very curious.I asked around a bit and Oom Willem at the Grahamstown Tourism office…

7 Comments
21/06/2010