One of the things I really enjoy about driving past Swartkops to Uitenhage is seeing the flamingos in the estuary and salt pans. Usually I'm in a hurry to get to where I have to be and I really need to stop more often and take some more photos of them.
The N2 bridge running over the Swartkops River at Bluewater Bay
Looking up at the N2 bridge over the Swartkops River from the river mouth
Not a lot of non-twitchers would know that the Swartkops River estuary is one of the best places around Port Elizabeth for bird watching. It is home to a huge amount of estuarine and water birds and the ideal spot to tick off a few feathered friends from your bird list.
The Swartkops Estuary is one of the best bird watching spots around Port Elizabeth. Making a quick stop at the river mouth a week or so ago I noticed that you can watch birds right up to the river mouth.
This is the view towards Port Elizabeth while standing next to the mouth of the Swartkops River
I made a quick stop in Bluewater Bay a week or so ago on my way out to Addo. While taking a couple of photos at the Swartkops River Mouth a team from the Bluewater Bay Surf Lifesaving Club was called out to assist with an incident on the river. They quickly towed the waveski out to the water and two lifeguards set off upstream. I don't think guys like these get enough credit for what they do.
I have been so busy at work lately that I have slowly ran out of photos to post which means that I will really have to make a plan in the next week or so to stock up a little. Even though I'm not quite out yet, I'm featuring one by a guest photographer today. I spotted this picture of the sun setting over the Swartkops Estuary with the old power station in the background on Johan Gerber's Facebook and immediately…
My three favorite flowers in the wild are aloes, proteas and arum lilies. The aloes are in full bloom at the moment and gives colour to the winter landscape. A hike along the Aloe Trail at Bluewater Bay took as to this spot from where we could see Amsterdamhoek and the Swartkops River mouth with flowering aloes in the foreground.
A view of the Swartkops River and Amsterdamhoek from the Aloe Trail