Eastern Cape Archives - TRAVELBUCKET

GRYSBOK TRAIL @ NMMU

It was an early rise and shine on a Saturday morning for a walk on the Grysbok trail. The whole of the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU) campus was declared a Private Nature Reserve in 1983. The 830 ha is dominated by the St Francis Dune Thicket vegetation. This fynbos vegetation is highly threatened due to agricultural clearing and coastal development. Despite some problems with invasive Australian Acacias the vegetation is in very good condition. The trail meanders through the reserve, providing opportunities for observing the exciting fauna and flora of the area. Do take time to visit the reserve on different times of the year to experience the whole spectrum of the flora and fauna. There are two trail options that can be walked, a 3.2 km or a 2.5 km loop. Both trails cover relatively flat terrain and are suitable for moderately fit people and no bundu… Read more >

A WEEKEND VISIT TO HOGSBACK

During December of 2013 we took a quick pre-Christmas break to Hogsback to celebrate our daughter’s successful academic year. The road took us high up into the Amathole mountains amongst cloud and rain. As we arrived at the beautiful Hogsback Arminel Inn the rain was pouring down and our hopes to do some walking diminished. So we were on to plan B at J R R Tolkien’s place of Hobbits and fairies! Plan B included driving the road (indicated on maps as a normal road, but do not be fooled as this has degraded to a 4×4 track) from Hogsback to Seymour, which was on hubby’s to do list, as well as picking up some caches in the area. However the weather did not have a sunny outlook so we followed the road less traveled through the forest to Keiskammehoek Thanks to Geocaching we passed traditional huts and villages,… Read more >