Lalibela Game Reserve – a photo essay

There are some truly awesome game reserves around Port Elizabeth ranging from the epic Addo Elephant National Park to excellent private game reserves with top class lodges.  Playing right in that space is Lalibela Game Reserve between Port Elizabeth and Grahamstown.  Lalibela is home to the Big 5 as well as other predators like cheetah, hyena, jackal & lynx on 7500 hectares with visitors staying in one of three excellent lodges.  I spent a night with the Damselfly in late…

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Place of Glory – the KidZ edition

Going anywhere with the KidZ in a car, and that includes the local supermarket a couple of blocks from home, more often than not result in a back seat battle of some sorts.  When those back seat battles start to take on epic proportions and I'm forced to stop in a cloud of dust on a dirt road in the middle of nowhere to threaten them that I will be kicking them out the car and leave them just there, then you know…

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What’s in a star (grading)?

What's in a star? Well, lets first see what is a star?a. A self-luminous celestial body consisting of a mass of gas held together by its own gravity in which the energy generated by nuclear reactions in the interior is balanced by the outflow of energy to the surface, and the inward-directed gravitational forces are balanced by the outward-directed gas and radiation pressures. Eish, that's a bit heavy. Let's just say its the twinkling points of light in the night…

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Storms River Mouth Trail

I can never rave enough on how awesome the Tsitsikamma National Park.  Its an absolutely beautiful place and the amount of visitors, both domestic and international, that go there daily is proof that its one place you cannot miss when travelling along the Garden Route.  Most of these visitors do the Mouth Trail from the rest camp to the Storms River Mouth which is one kilometer away.One of my personal highlights of the walk is the stream that flows past…

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Dias Cross at Kwaaihoek

During our December holiday at Cannon Rocks, one of the things that I really wanted to do was to visit the Dias Cross at Kwaaihoek. Bartholomew Dias was the first (known) European to discover what is today known as South Africa. He left Portugal and travel down the west coast of Africa searching for a seaway to the East. He rounded Cape Point without knowing in a storm and first set foot at Mossel Bay in 1488, where he planted…

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Sleepy Hollow

Driving out to Sleepy Hollow just outside Port Elizabeth on a drizzling Thursday, my mind wandered to the tale of Ichabod Crane. I wondered if at some stage during the weekend I would encounter a headless horseman who would hurl his head (or some shape of pumpkin) at me making me throw myself into a bush or a stream. Or even worse, disappear forever. But luck was on my side. Three days of absolute natural bliss and not a wandering…

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London

After visiting Germany (here, here, here and here), we headed for London to take part in World Travel Market, the biggest travel trade show in the world. Of the five days spent in London, four consisted of non-stop work. On day 5 we were being picked up at 13:00 to go to the airport for our return flight, which gave me a morning to do some sightseeing. And I wasn't going to let the opportunity slip me by. I wasn't…

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Zuurberg Pass

In today's modern day people traveling between Port Elizabeth and Cradock crosses over the Zuurberg Mountains at speed via the Olifants Kop Pass (R32). In olden days travellers had to cross over the old Zuurberg Pass which was quite a treacherous journey. The Zuurberg Pass is still accessible today although its mostly a very bumpy dirt road. In the past I have travelled up to the Zuurberg Inn several times, but I've never been over the pass' back and down…

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