South Africa Archives - Page 5 of 24

A CRISSCROSS ADVENTURE

by Inge Triegaardt Picture yourself on a crisp Saturday morning, blue skies above you, on the back of a Safari vehicle, driving through some export quality citrus orchards with some foreign languages filling the air. That is exactly how we felt when we joined Crisscross Adventures in Addo for an amazing day filled with activities that makes you want more. First up was the river safari. I had a preconceived idea of what this might entail and with my very limited canoeing experience that I obtained as a kid, using some rented canoes on a Sunday morning outing in Wilderness, I was excited to see whether my picture was close to what they had to offer. On the way to the drop-off point further up the Sundays river, the guide was sharing his knowledge of the working citrus farm and we made a quick stop at one of the oldest… Read more >

THE QUEEN OF THE YELLOWWOODS

There are a lot of attractions and things to do in the Tsitsikamma region of the Garden Route that stretches more or less from Mossel Bay in the west to more or less Humansdorp in the east. Some of them is well known and others not. The most visited one is probably the swing bridge in the Tsitsikamma National Park, but today we are not stopping there. Instead, I am taking you to a big tree in the forest aptly named “Big Tree”. I left the home base a bit earlier to give myself time to stop in the heart of the Tsitsikamma. The big trees of our native forests are not as big as the massive Red Woods that you find in the United States, but they stand tall to reach the rays of sunlight. The Outeniqua Yellowwood tree is South Africa’s national tree which makes this particular big tree… Read more >

THE GLOBE ON THE HILL

It was a rainy day, but still perfect for an outing to explore the R72 and some gravel back roads of the Eastern Cape and to visit places we have not been before. We came across a brown sign at a turn-off that just says Karel Landman Monument. That is it. So this was the indication for us to put on your indicator and turn. We were not quite expecting this type of structure for a monument! Well maybe I am old school but a monument in my mind is sort of a subdued grey stone structure and not a huge ocean blue structure! Now who was this Karel Landman, because I mean to have a famous architect like Gerard Moerdijk design such a structure and plonk it down here in the green scenery near Alexandria you must be quite well-known? I was scratching my memory to find something familiar… Read more >

A MARINE ODYSSEY

Today we were up early and getting the troops ready for our boating trip with Ocean Odyssey in Knysna compliments of #visitknysna. The weather was looking a bit greyish when we departed from home base, but it turned out to be a beautiful day in Knysna. How lucky we are! Now our family are not sea people at all, but this trip however was on our to do list for some time, but somehow, we never got around to do it. We prefer the bush and greenery of the forest if we have a choice but are ALWAYS open for something new and eventful. Back to our sea expedition. As always, we arrived a bit early so there was enough time before the trip to use our coffee vouchers at nearby Trinity Coffee. This gave us enough sustenance to be happy on our expedition. The welcome and safety briefing was… Read more >

GOOD NIGHT, SLEEP TIGHT

Shopping for a mattress can be daunting as there are many choices out there and of course each manufacturer will say that they have the ultimate solution and every traveler will convince you that his choice is the best, but what is your choice?

A CAR FOR THE NATION

I am pretty sure most South Africans has one or another Volkswagen advertisement that lingers in their minds. Be it Gugu Zulu with his little rally car or David Kramer and his red veldskoene and the Volksie bus. Which one is your favourite? As the interest in motor sport runs deep in our veins we have visited a couple of motor museums in Europe in the past. This is no Porsche Museum or Alfa Romeo museum that spread over several floors and hosts any model that you can think of and more. This is rather an intimate display of loved Volkswagen products on the premises of the factory located at 130 Algoa Road in Uitenhage. In the “Meet the Beetles” area you will meet Herbie from the movies who needs no introduction. Delilah which is in pristine condition with no plastic surgery done and less than 1 000 km on… Read more >

THE DONKIN RESERVE

The Donkin Reserve is truly one of the most iconic sites and sights in Port Elizabeth and has been named one of Nelson Mandela Bay’s Top 10 tourism icons. The pyramid (I bet you never knew that we have our own little one here in South Africa) was built as a monument to Lady Elizabeth Donkin, after whom the Friendly City was named, by her husband Sir Rufane Donkin, who was sent to Port Elizabeth to oversee the landing of the 1820 Settlers. The lighthouse was originally built in 1861 and the first lighthouse keeper was Charles Hammond. The cottage next to the lighthouse was erected for Hammond’s family in 1865. Hammond must have enjoyed a lush green scenery from the top of the lighthouse. However, today the view of the city is quite different. The lighthouse was decommissioned in 1973 as there were too many city lights interfering… Read more >