Baby sea turtles at Bayworld

Visitors to the Oceanarium at Bayworld will find a tank with baby sea turtles in it.  Most of these were hatchlings that got washed up after storms forced them out the warm Mosambique current and into Algoa Bay.  They're often in cold shock due to the sudden change in water tempreture that also compromise their condition.

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T-Rex in Port Elizabeth

If you had a time machine and could choose any time to go back to, what time would you choose?  I think most children would choose to go back to the time of the dinosaurs.  Bayworld gives visitors a opportunity to get to know some moving life sized dinosaurs fairly up close and personal.  Amongst them a life size T-Rex.

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Snake Park demonstrations

The Port Elizabeth Museum at Bayworld is the third oldest museum in South Africa, while the Snake Park is the oldest of its kind in the world.  When the museum moved to premises in Bird Street in 1919 the complex opened the Snake Park with demonstrations by snake handler, Johannes, being a huge highlight.  He was reputed to have been bitten on average once a year for the 30 years he was on the staff and eventually died.  The Port Elizabeth Museum…

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Science Centre bridge

The Nelson Mandela Bay Science and Technology Centre in Uitenhage is a treasure trove waiting to be discovered by young and old.  Since its opening many schools and individuals have enjoyed the different activities and scientific experiments visitors can participate in but this has really only been a drop in the ocean compared to the potential the centre has.

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Science Centre dinosaur

The Nelson Mandela Bay Science and Technology Centre in Uitenhage is Nelson Mandela Bay's newest "museum" and is slowly becoming a favorite with both local and visiting school groups.  Taking a walk around the centre I found this boy looking at the T-Rex model with interest.  While his friends were gathered around the racing simulator nearby he was looking at the mechanical workings of the model.  Amazing how different people have different interests. 

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Courtyard pump

The well in the courtyard at No 7 Castle Hill must truly be one of the highlights to kids visiting the museum.  Not because of the hole in the ground, but for the pump that gets the water out the hole. The date on the pump is 1849 which means its been in place for over 150 years already.  Rain water collects in the well from the roof and kids are encouraged to try it out.  According to Grizel Hart, the…

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Roadhouse Garage

The VW AutoPavilion is an absolute heaven for any car fanatic with some great Volkswagen related exhibits covering the whole history of VW.  Outside the front entrance of the museum is a roadhouse and garage that may take some people back in time a little bit.  But so will most of the exhibits inside the museum as well.

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Ready, aim, pretend to fire

The South African Airforce Museum truly is one of Port Elizabeth's most under rated museums. Its so much more than just another museum. In addition to their fantastic collection of planes and other memorabilia, they have also started to introduce more interactive components to their displays. One is a gun torrent which kids just love to try out.

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Airforce Museum Mirrage

The South African Airforce Museum in Port Elizabeth has a fantastic collection of aircraft, miniatures, uniforms and other memorabilia for such a fairly small museum.  They receive very little funding from the airforce itself and get a lot of their funds from donations while a lot of the work done there are done by volunteers.  One of the aircraft in the collection is a SA Airforce Dassault-Breguet Mirage F-1CZ which was manufactured in France and first took to the air in 1966.

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Red Location Museum – Maduna Road

Maduna Road is one of the road in Langa, Uitenhage, where the Langa massacre took place in 1985.  The Langa massacre took place on the 25th anniversary of the Sharpville massacre of 1960.  The police fired on a group of mourners on their way to a banned funeral, killing 20 people. There was an international outcry following this incident and a Commission of Inquiry (Kannemeyer Commission) was immediately appointed to investigate the cause of the shooting.  The story is told…

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