Sundays River mouth

This is the last post in this week's Sundays River Ferry series.  After cruising down the river and climbing the dunes, this is the view you get of the river mouth.

 

The Sundays River is said to be the fastest flowing river in South Africa.  It was originally known as the Nukakamma (Grassy River) by the Khoisan because the river's banks are always green and grassy.  The river has it's source in the Compassberg mountains (the highest mountain in the Eastern Cape) near Nieu-Bethesda.  From here it flows past Graaff-Reinet in a horse shoe, through the Karoo, the Zuurberg Mountains, past Kirkwood and Addo in the fertile Sundays River before getting to this point about 40km east of Port Elizabeth.

River and dunes

Today is post #6 (and the second last) in this week's Sundays River Ferry series

The dunes at Colchester is part of the Alexandria dune field which is the biggest coastal dune field in the Southern Hemisphere and seriously high.  From the top of the dunes you get a fantastic 360 degrees view of the surrounding dunes, the river below all the way to the river mouth (picture to come tomorrow), Algoa Bay, St Croix Island and Port Elizabeth beyond.  After huffing and puffing to the top the view makes all the effort worth it.  And the best way down? Either flat on your tummy on a dune board or running down like an elephant. You'll know what I mean once you've done it.

Stopping at the dunes

This is post #5 in this week's Sundays River Ferry series.

A trip on the Sundays River Ferry is made up of two parts.  The actual cruise and stopping at the sand dunes to climb to the top.  Its difficult to decide which one of the two is my favorite part of the trip but I do have to mention that I was getting over bronchitis last time I went down the river with them and I still huffed and puffed up the dune with my tight chest....

Looking down the Sundays River

This is post #4 in this week's Sundays River Ferry series.

After cruising upstream to the Mackay Bridge the cruise heads downstream towards the river mouth to climb the dunes.  The river flows in a northerly direction with the villages of Cannonville and Colchester on the left hand side before turning east and seaward at Pearson Park.  Looking down the river you can see the sand dunes waiting with the ocean beyond.

Captain Les in control

Today is post #3 in this week's series on the Sundays River Ferry.

 

"Permission to come on board Captain?"  Who would answer this question when you want to get onto the Sundays River Ferry?  Darn, suddenly I want to sing... "Who lives in a pineapple under the sea?"  This answer may be Sponge Bob Square-pants but that of the former would be Les Kingma.  Les and partner Maggie Mann are the folk behind the Sundays River Ferry with Les expertly steering the ferry up and down the river and who's also the first to take off his shoes to climb the dunes at the downstream turning spot.  If Maggie isn't busy with guests at their guesthouse in Cannonville then she'll join the cruise as tour guide, expertly entertaining guests and pointing out birds and other interesting facts along the cruise.

In our wake

This is the second post in this week's series about cruising on the Sundays River Ferry in Colchester.  The cruise from the jetty first takes one upstream to the historic Mackay Bridge before heading downstream towards the Sundays River Mouth.  Along the way you can see many of the different bird species found in the area, monkeys, jumping fish (like we did on this trip) and if you're lucky perhaps even a water monitor.

Boarding the Sundays River Ferry

These days marketing a destination is all about experiencing that destination rather than just going there.  One of my favorite experiences around Port Elizabeth is cruising on the Sundays River Ferry and even though I have done some posts on it before, I have decided to do a series about it this week.  The photos used in the series were taken on a cruise I got to go on after a Addo Tourism meeting at Dungbeetle River Lodge a week or so ago.  We start off the series with the passengers boarding the ferry at Dungbeetle's jetty.