The Maitland Nature Reserve's 9km trail is one of Port Elizabeth's lesser known trails. I got to do it for the first time a little while ago and although it was very overgrown (not sure if its been cleared yet) I really enjoyed it. Most of the trail goes through indigenous bush and coastal forest with great views of the Maitland dune and coastline at the turning point.
A week or so ago I got the opportunity to venture into the Maitland Nature Reserve for the first time. It wasn't that I've never wanted to go there, its more a case that I just never had the opportunity. The reserve is made up of mostly indigenous coastal forest and is located just up the road from the giant Maitland sand dune. There are two shorter trails (3km and 4km respectively) as well as a longer 9km hike. The short 3km…
Walking along the Wildside coastline on the Roseatte Tern Trail through Cape Recife
We took the Kidz and the Worse (our dachshunds) for a walk on the first section of the Sacramento Trail a couple of weekends ago. This little gully is just past the Sacramento monument just as you pass into the nature reserve.
Most people hiking along the Sacramento Trail between Schoenmakerskop and Sardinia Bay follows the path along the shore line in both directions not really knowing how stunning the views are from the top trail. I had taken the bottom path many times before and got to take the top path for the first time while doing the trail with some colleagues recently. The views are absolutely amazing.
The Groendal Wilderness Area just outside Uitenhage is the ideal spot to go and loose yourself in a natural area for the weekend while actually still being fairly close to the city. Groendal is typically characterised by rugged terrain, streams and vast ravines and is surrounded by the Groot Winterhoek Mountain range. The reserve is 30 000 hectare in size and is the catchment area of the Swartkops River with the Groendal Dam being one of the water supply dams for…
The residents of Nelson Mandela Bay is very fortunate to have a place like the Groendal Wilderness Area right outside our "back door". (Hopefully I don't insult any of Uitenhage's residents by saying it that way) The 30 000 hectare Groendal Wilderness Area protects the water catchment area of the Swartkops River with the Groendal Dam in its centre. All of this falls within the Groot Winterhoek Mountain range and these days form part of the Greater Baviaanskloof Wilderness area. Groendal's rugged terrain…
After yesterday's post on the Grysbok Nature Reserve tour, Peter Betts made a comment on my Facebook page regarding the reserve. Peter, who has a deep found love for nature, lives right on the edge of the reserve in the suburb of Summerstrand and commented on how interesting a trip it is. He highlighted something that I didn't mention which are the Khoisan shell middens in the reserve. He also mentioned how he loves hearing the zebras calling in the…
Alan Fogarty of Alan Tours does a very informative tour of the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University's Grysbok Nature Reserve. Usually the tours are conducted in an open 4x4, but on the day we went the weather was a bit iffy and he took us in his closed vehicle. We stopped a couple of times during the tour and Alan showed us the indigenous dune vegetation and fynbos as well as the plants that the Khoisan used for medicinal and other purposes. The…
The Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University's South Campus (previously the University of Port Elizabeth main campus) is very unique in that it is the only university campus in South Africa wholly situated inside a nature reserve. The campus covers 830 ha and was declared a Private Nature Reserve in 1983. The reserve is dominated by the St Francis Dune Thicket and fynbos vegetation. The vegetation is highly threatened due to agricultural clearing and coastal development and the NMMU Nature Reserve, also called the…