Western Cape

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Breathtaking views

Earth Day gets celebrated annually on this day, 22 April, to demonstrate support for environmental protection and is celebrated in more than 192 countries every year.  The name and concept of Earth Day was pioneered at a UNESCO Conference in San Francisco by John McConnell in 1969 . He proposed 21 March 1970, the first day of spring in the northern hemisphere., for the celebration of this special day.  A month later a separate Earth Day was founded by United…

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22/04/2013
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Cape Town Jazz Festival

I'm not a Jazz fan, not by a long shot.  For some reason, perhaps because of watching too much television, when I hear "jazz" I think of a smoke filled bar with a lady hanging onto a mic accompanied by a piano, sax and double bass.  So when I was invited to Cape Town on a blogger tour which included the Cape Town International Jazz Festival I wasn't too sure what to expect. Jazz? Festival? Me? That's going to be an interesting…

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17/04/2013
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Oudtshoorn graveyard

Regular followers of my blogs would know by now that one of my strange travel quirks is historic cemeteries.  On a recent visit to Oudtshoorn in the Klein Karoo I decided to revisit the Kerk Street Cemetery in the town for a closer look. The graveyard is an old one with most graves having disappeared over the years.  In some cases there are headstone that look like they stand in the middle of nowhere and in other places you can see a grave mound…

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11/04/2013
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Clock towers

I haven't done a Random ... post for ages and these two church towers have cropped up, ideal for a Random Church Towers post. Roberston Dutch Reformed Church tower Montagu Dutch Reformed Church tower

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10/04/2013
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Waterfall nymph

A waterfall nymph at the Rust en Vrede Waterfall close to Oudtshoorn.   I would really like to encourage visitors to Oudtshoorn to do the little detour to the waterfall when they are on the road to or from the Cango Caves.  It took me years to finally go there and I'm so sorry that it did cause it truly is a very special spot.

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02/04/2013
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Rust en Vrede Waterfall

When I was in primary school we did a tour to Oudtshoorn and one of the places we were supposed to visit was the Rust en Vrede (Rest and Peace) Waterfall.  The visit was cancelled due to bad weather and I've always wondered what I had missed.  When I started working as a tourist guide about 15 years ago I noticed the turnoff and sign to the waterfall on the way to the Cango Caves, but as it wasn't included in any of…

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22/03/2013
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Calm waters

Late afternoon on a windless summers day in Montagu in the Western Cape...... paddle boating on the Montagu Caravan Park's dam

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08/03/2013
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British Fort at Cogmans Kloof

On top of the Cogmans Kloof tunnel outside Montagu stands an old English fort built by the British in 1899 during the Anglo Boer War.  The fort has a great view of the approaching road and kloof through the mountains and one can immediately see why the British chose the spot.  To get to the top there is a steep little path from across the road from the parking area and after a couple of minutes of huffing and puffing you get…

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01/03/2013