Pincushions at Van Stadens

I haven't been to the Van Stadens Wildflower Reserve for a few months so I think it's time to swing by again to see what is in flower.  This is a picture from a little while ago with Pincushions in flower. 

Underneath the bridge

A couple of years ago I got to walk underneath the Van Stadens Bridge for the first time while following one of the trails in the Van Stadens Wildflower Reserve in search of a Geocache.  A couple of days ago I saw a friend post a similar picture and I decided to go and dig this photo out to post again.  Not the usual view of the bridge, is it? 

The Fynbos Trail after the December fire

In early December a huge fire swept through the bush on the Wildside in the Schoenmakerskop area.  One of the specific spots effected by the fire was the Fynbos Trail that starts next to Sappershoek in Schoenies.  I am the cache owner of the PE series of Geocaches that is located along the Fynbos Trail and last Friday Chaos Boy and I headed down to do the trail and some much needed maintenance replacing the caches damaged by the fire.

The devastation of the fire is mind blowing but it is fantastic to see how green sprouts and flowers are appearing all over the burned out landscape.

Life returns after the fire

Life returning to the Fynbos Trail at Schoenmakerskop after the devastating fire of late 2016

Van Stadens Wildflower Reserve bridge view

When you're walking along the trails in the Van Stadens Wildflower Reserve you get to see glimpses and different angles of the Van Stadens Bridge all the time.  The bridge, over which the N2 highway crosses, was opened on 11 November 1971.  The bridge used to be a notorious suicide spot until barriers were set up all along the side of the bridge a couple of years ago. 

Searching for the oldest Geocache in Port Elizabeth

I've been Geocaching for four years and have found just short of 2000 caches, yet, and I should probably be ashamed to say it, I have never gone to look for the oldest cache in Port Elizabeth.  The cache, located in the Van Stadens Wildflower Reserve, is called Van Stadens Flower Power and was originally placed on 18 May 2003.  Having cached in the reserve a couple of times before I just can't believe that I have never taken this specific trail to go and tick it off my To Do list.  A couple of weeks ago I bundled the family into the car and off we went for a quick outing to the flower reserve to find this cache.  While I went climbing to get to ground zero Drama Princess was playing around with my camera and snapped this intrepid explorer in search of treasure.

Van Stadens mountain bike trails

The Van Stadens Wildflower Reserve doesn't only have great hiking trails, it also has a few very nice mountain biking trails.

Pincushion Proteas at Van Stadens

We stopped by the Van Stadens Wildflower Reserve on Sunday afternoon for a quick walk.  I've always found that it doesn't matter what time of year I visit the reserve, there is always something in flower.  At the moment it's the Pincushion Proteas.

The Van Stadens Gorge

Looking down the zig zagging Van Stadens River gorge towards the N2 Van Stadens Bridge while hiking in the Wildflower Reserve yesterday

A quick hike at Van Stadens

This afternoon we headed out to the Van Stadens Wildflower Reserve for a quick walk to go and find the oldest Geocache in Port Elizabeth.  While the Damselfly waited in the car, Drama Princess and I headed down one of the trails in search of this very significant cache.  The Pincushion Proteas are stunning at the moment so I kept on falling behind. 

Setting off on a hike

A group of people setting off on the very popular Sacramento Tail between Schoenmakerskop and Sardinia Bay during the late afternoon.

Van Stadens King Protea

The Van Stadens Wildflower Reserve must be one of the best places around to see Proteas and other Fynbos species growing in the wild.  Not just is it great to view wild flowers, but the reserve also has a number of excellent trails for you to go and stretch you legs along.  The trails range from short easy walks along the plateau to longer ones that require a bit more effort down into the surrounding gorge and valleys. 

PE's favorite walks and hiking trails

I was invited to participate in the #SharetheBay Port Elizabeth #Blogathon 2016 campaign in collaboration with Cheap Flights, Nelson Mandela Bay Tourism and Travel Concept Solution this week.  As one of eight bloggers taking part I decided not to do the usual "Things to do in PE" kind of blog but rather focused on my favorite nine walks and hiking trails around Port Elizabeth.  The post covered the beachfront boardwalk, Sacramento Trail, Coastal Fynbos Trail, Roseate Tern Trail in Cape Recice, the Grysbok Trail in the NMMU Nature Reserve, the Baakens Valley, The Island Nature Reserve, Van Stadens Wildflower Reserve and Sleepy Hollow.  I'm not going to repost the whole post here, but do head over to Firefly the Travel Guy if you want to read it.

Wild flowers along Sardinia Bay

While walking in the Sardinia Bay Nature Reserve last weekend I realised that you don't need to travel to the West Coast to see flowers.  We also have a huge variety of wild flowers in bloom during spring.  We may not have the quantity but we definitely have the variety and the beauty.

A selfie while walking in the Sardinia Bay Nature Reserve

After a morning of mowing the law and doing some things around the house I headed out for a spot of Geocaching this afternoon.  Rather than just doing a few park and grab caches, I opted to go for a walk in the Sardinia Bay Nature Reserve and pick up a series of 12 caches that I've been wanting to do for a while now.  The caches in question aren't on the regular trails but rather higher up in the reserve along a track used mostly by horse riders and the municipality to access the overhead electricity lines.  I did about 5 km from Victoria Drive close to Schoenies all the way to Sardinia Bay road without seeing another soul. Pure bliss.  

Mountain biking in the Baakens Valley

We are so fortunate to have the Baakens Valley green belt running through Port Elizabeth.  The area truly has the potential to become a prime outdoors activities part of the city and already is very popular with mountain bikers and trail runners.  When I found this great video on YouTube showing off the great trails through the valley I just had to share it with you.

Humble Ways Road

This afternoon I went for a drive up to Humble Ways private nature reserve on Lovemore Heights.  It wasn't that I wanted to go for a walk, I just wanted to drive down the track to the gate through the vegetation tunnel around the track.

Chasing the Rainbow hiking in The Island Nature Reserve

Sarah and Ralph from Chasing the Rainbow dragged  the kids (ok, so they did go willingly but you know teenagers) off for a hike through The Island Nature Reserve just outside Port Elizabeth last weekend.  I've done the Bushbuck Trail through the reserve and it is one of my favorite trails in PE.  Check out the video they made and then head over to their blog and read the post by clicking the link above.

Zebras in the city

It's not often that you get the opportunity to see game right in the city.  An early morning walk on the Grysbok Trail in the NMMU Nature Reserve gave us the opportunity to see zebra fairly close up and while on foot.

Animals in the Sardinia Bay Conservancy - Chasing the Rainbow

Chasing the Rainbow is a fellow travel blog based here in Port Elizabeth.  The blog is done by Sarah and Ralph Dirsuwei and covers mostly family travel which means that they involve their three sons Jacob, Luke and Cian.  The family lives in the Sardinia Bay area within the Sardinia Bay Conservancy.  For the last few months Jacob has had a bush camera set up along a fence within the conservancy which get triggered by movement.  And movement there is lots of.  Check this out.