Ever heard of a place called Melon? No? Well, the other day I discovered such a place. Melon is a siding on the narrow gauge line between the Gamtoos Valley and the Langkloof. Its basically a farming area and Melon itself is nothing more than two small buildings next to the railway line, a general dealer and two houses.
The Karoo can be a dry and lonely if it hasn't rained for a while. Farmers are very dependent on water and most farms have boreholes and windpumps to get the water for their farms to be able to function. But when it does rain, the Karoo and its inhabitents rejoice. Specially if a thunderstorm approaches after a hot day and cools everything off. One of the things the people of the Karoo loves most is seeing water in puddles…
It is inevitable to drive around the Karoo and visit all its interesting towns and places and not venture onto a dirt road somewhere. And when you do drive along one of the dry Karoo gravel roads leaving a plume of duct in your trail, I bet you will stumble upon a couple of old rusty road signs. In this case the sign indicates a cattle grid on the road.
Fort Frederick can be found on the hill overlooking the Baakens River valley and Port Elizabeth Harbour. It's a stone fort built in 1799 by the British Forces to defend the mouth of the Baakens River to prevent a possible landing of French troops to assist the Graaff-Reinet rebels. It was named after Frederick, Duke of York and was commanded by Captain Francis Evatt. Even though the fort was built to defend the Bay, ironically, no shot was ever fired…
On my trip to Graaff Reinet we stayed at Buffelshoek Farm Guesthouse. The guest house is on a farm about 15km outside Graaff Reinet. Even though Graaff Reinet is a quiet place, its nice to get away from the whole city life thing and stay a couple of nights on a farm. Quiet nights with no lights around to spoil the view of the stars, the only sound being the frogs by the dam, no cars driving past all the…
The first biennual International Mohair Summit took place in the Karoo town of Graaff Reinet last week. "What does it have to do with Port Elizabeth?" I hear you ask. Well, Port Elizabeth is seen as the mohair capital of the world as more mohair moves through this city than anywhere else in the world. If you want to learn more about the summit, you can read more about it on The Firefly Photo Files. Specific posts are: International Mohair…
On my visit to the Karoo last week, I got to experience an awesome Karoo sunset from one of the viewpoints at the Valley of Desolation. You can see why the Karoo is called "Big Sky Country". This is the original picture. No extra colour added. No enhancement. Just a brilliant Karoo sunset.For more pictures of the sky from other exotic places all over the world, visit Skywatch.
The Gamtoos River Valley around Hankey and Patensie is an absolutely stunning area. This last weekend we went camping next to the bottom section of the Gamtoos River at a camp site called Wackey Woods. Saturday morning we drove to Loerie and Melon, but unfortunately not all the way up the valley to Patensie. The area is mainly a farming area and I couldn't help but to stop next to the road leading to Loerie to take a photo of…
I had to go to Cape St Francis a week or so ago for a work thing and got the opportunity to go on a boat trip on the St Francis Bay canals. Unfortunately it was heavy overcast and the pics wasn't as clear and bright as I wanted them to be. Here are just two to show you what the place looks like.In 1954, Leighton Hulett sold his sugar farm in Natal and arrived with his family at their…
Sunset in the Tsitsikamma National Park isn't always the most spectacular as the sun disappears behind the cliffs and mountains fairly early, but I did managed this pic during our last visit to the park.Want to see more pics featuring the sky? Visit Skywatch.