Eastern Cape Archives - Page 2 of 6

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 >

SPAR EASTERN CAPE IS JOINING #PlasticFreeJuly

#PlasticFreeJuly is probably the biggest anti-plastic movement for 2019. It is thus comforting to see that big retailers like SPAR Eastern Cape has entered their next phase of STOP Plastic campaign earlier this week. Retailers are the link between manufacturers/distributors and consumers. It is them that thus sub-consciously force us to make better choice, to live a little greener. At a function at the Boardwalk Hotel in Port Elizabeth on Monday, Angelo Swartz, who will soon take over from Conrad Isaac as the SPAR EC managing director, said they were ready to strengthen their commitment to cleaning up the environment. These are no empty promises as SPAR EC has sold 4.3-million fewer plastic bags since the launch of the campaign in April 2018 compared to the corresponding period the previous year. However, both Isaac and Swartz agreed they needed to continue their commitment to the project in collaboration with various… Read more >

GONJAH AND TOLBOS IN GAMTOOS VALLEY

It sounds like a children story title or, if you are adventurous, it might sound to you like the adventures of two travelers in some remote area. Well, you might be right whichever way your thoughts take you. All our special days, including birthdays, mother’s day, father’s day, Christmas and any other special day we can think of, is spent exploring different places. The Gamtoos Valley is quickly becoming one of our favourite places to explore. It was thus a no-brainer to spend Felicity’s birthday in the citrus capital of the Eastern Cape. Except, this time around there were no citrus involved, but instead we discovered another secluded campsite not to far off the main road. After spending a night in Baviaanskloof, it was time to meet the parents for a weekend camping and spoils for mom on her birthday. So after stopping of at Tolbos (more about this quaint… Read more >

….. AND WE ARE OFF TO THE BAVIAANSKLOOF MEGA RESERVE

This will be our eighth escape to the magical world of the Baviaanskloof in the adventure province of the Eastern Cape! From all of our trips we entered only once from the Eastern access gate and all the other times we entered through the Nuwekloof pass on the Willowmore side. It does not make any difference from where you enter, the rugged beauty is always special to us. On 15 March 2019 the catchment area of the Baviaanskloof had a down pour of about 75 mm in a time span of 40 minutes which caused huge damage to roads and alike. Once through Raaskrans and crossing the first “drif” we noticed that big amounts of water rushed through the kloof. Debris was hanging from trees to indicate the water’s reach. This was the trend for the next two days – short and easy water crossing, longer water crossings, washed away… Read more >

ADDO ELEPHANT PARK

This is one of SANPARKS’ 19 national parks and situated in the adventure province of the Eastern Cape. At the moment Addo Elephant Park ranks third in size following on the famous Kruger National Park and Kgalagadi in the Northern Cape Province. It is not as big as Kruger and as crowded as Kruger, but still give you a wildlife experience like none other. Here you can not only see the Big Five but also, hyena, warthogs, various buck species, zebra, smaller creatures and birds (more than 417 species have been listed). Remember that you will see lots and lots of elephants – it is after all Addo Elephant Park – and do not forget the smaller creatures and birds. The park is within easy reach for a day drive from Port Elizabeth. Pack a picnic basket and leave early as the gates open at 06:00 during summer and closes… Read more >

KOUGA DAM, BAVIAANSKLOOF

On our recent trip to the Baviaanskloof – another World Heritage Site ticked – we made a slight detour to visit the Kouga Dam. The dam is situated about 21 kilometres outside the village of Patensie on the R330 in the beautiful citrus growing area of the Gamtoos Valley in the Eastern Cape. Although the end of the citrus season was near the air was still heavy with the smell of oranges as we took the gravel road of about 7 kilometres to the dam wall. Some of you will know the dam by its former name of Paul Sauer who was a prominent politician on the South African scene. However, after 1995 the name of the dam was changed to the Kouga Dam. The dam was built in 1957 for irrigation purposes in the valley and to supply drinking water to the greater Port Elizabeth area. Something that I… Read more >

WINSTON LE ROUX CABLE WAY, BAVIAANSKLOOF

THE STORY At the time that the farmer, Winston le Roux, embarked on building this cable way in 1967 on his farm in the Baviaanskloof (Eastern Cape) he was 33 years old. Winston set out identifying the right spot for the cable way by consulting aerial photographs that was available from the Department of Agriculture. This was before GPS’s or drones arrived on the scene! Winston sourced the components of the cable from the nearby EP Cement quarries at Lime Bank, Loerie who operated an 11 kilometer cable way from the quarry at Lime Bank to Loerie station. The quarry did maintenance at regular intervals and some of the components of the cable way became redundant and Winston saw the opportunity to salvage it and build his cable way. More than 1 200 meters of cable were needed to cross the gorge at ground level. To bring the first wire… Read more >

Tag Archive: Eastern Cape