Parks

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Settlers Park

The 54-hectare tranquil Settler’s Park, which lies along the banks of the Baakens River, is located in the heart of the city. In many ways its the city's green lung. The park has three entrances and may be accessed via How Avenue, just off Park Drive; Chelmsford Avenue, just off Target Kloof or from Third Avenue, Walmer. It also offers recommended short walks that may commence from any of these entrances. The Park facilities include a flower display house, a…

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08/09/2009
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Happy Valley stream

The little stream running through Happy Valley is actually Shark River. In the early days of Port Elizabeth Shark River used to be the town's main water supply. Shark River isn't really much of a river anymore and the water gets pumped from the bottom pool back to the top of Happy Vally which means that it doesn't have a river mouth into the ocean anymore. In actual fact the Eastern Province Rugby Stadium and the suburb of Forest Hills…

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08/08/2009
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Happy Valley characters

Happy Valley is quite a popular spot with families with small children on a calm summers evening. The attraction of Happy Valley is the colourful lights and characters from fairy tales, rhymes and popular kids movies. In this pic you can see all the characters from Winnie the Pooh as well as The Three Blind Mice and The Three Little Pigs.

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16/07/2009
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Pin Cushion Protea

This 450 hectare Van Stadens Wildflower Reserve lies 40 km west of Port Elizabeth on the N2 to Cape Town. It is the best place near PE to see lowland fynbos with flowering Proteas and associated fynbos endemics. I used to stop there quite often in my tourist guiding days and there is always some kind of protea in bloom. In this case there were lots of pin cushion proteas in flower on this specific day I was there. The…

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09/04/2009
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Community get together…

Richmond Hill and Central have earned themselves reputations as the crime hotspots of Port Elizabeth. To a degree there may have been some justification for this, but that is rapidly becoming a thing of the past. The activities of the Richmond Hill Sector Crime Forum have made the area an uncomfortable place to commit crimes in, and there has been a marked drop in crime stats recently. This is because the community, instead of isolating themselves behind bars, have joined…

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06/12/2008
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Enjoy it while you still can…..

Despite a huge amount of opposition from local residents, and despite the fact that much of the land they plan to use is an historic burial ground for the Mfengu people who lived in Richmond Hill in the 1800s, the PWD and Police seem determined to go ahead and erect a 4 storey eyesore on the site next to this lovely historic building. They will effectively block most views of it, as well as casting the park into shade for…

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05/12/2008
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Green Piece!

Yay Yippee Yay!! It is appropriate to feature a photo from Central today, because last night saw the inaugural meeting of the Central Sector Crime Forum. It was well organised and a strong and committed committee was chosen, with the aim of eradicating crime and grime in the area. The Chairperson is Ken Denton, who owns the majority of the buildings in the area. We are really optimistic about this initiative, and wish them all the best in their endeavours…

6 Comments
28/11/2008
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Keeping the Parks clean….

Even in winter, the Kikuyu grass in Richmond Park, and many others around the city, remains green and needs mowing, although it is certainly not as rampant as it is in summer. The Municipality has outsourced the mowing of the parks to private companies run, according to the latest PC Speak, by PDs, as part of its BEE initiative. I could write a book about how irritating I find acronyms, and when you get into the international realm of blogland,…

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23/06/2008