Wildlife photographers

Port Elizabeth and its environs offer numerous wildlife photography opportunities for a wide variety of animals. The best place to photograph elephants in their natural environment around here must be the Addo Elephant National Park and I have many elephant photos from there. But nothing could prepare me for a visit a while ago to Addo Elephant Back Safaris situated in the Zuurberg mountains. Although the main activity there is riding elephants, my favorite part was walking with these gentle giants and getting the opportunity to photograph them really up close. In this pic I wanted to show how close we could get by taking a photograph of two of my fellow photographers doing their thing.

Algoa Bay Yacht Club

The Algoa Bay Yacht Club in the Port Elizabeth Harbor is a club with a proud history. Established in 1959, the club organises regular organised regattas and informal sailing events on top of being home to most of Port Elizabeth's yachting fraternity. I am sure Alan will pop into the comments section and add a few tit bits more.

Footnote: Alan did pop by and here follows his few tit bits:

mmmmm how many more titbits can you stand from the loquacious one!!

ABYC has hosted many International, National, Provincial and Local Regattas.

In the last five years ABYC has hosted two World Champs:
1. The Mirror Dinghy World Champs which saw an all female team win the Pre-World AND the World Championships for the first time ever.
2. The Hobie 16 World Championships.

The feedback from international sailors is that our Algoa Bay presents absolutely ideal sailing conditions with a perfect mix of weather.

As an example during the Mirror Worlds the sailors experienced conditions that saw the wind from all points of the compass, seas that were flat, with large uniform waves or troubled and wind from mild to strong.

Algoa Bay never fails to present ideal conditions to ensure that a worthy champion is selected over the period of a regatta.

Of course the setting is great, refreshments at club prices, visitors welcome and food on the deck a treat.

During our official organised sailing season, which starts in September we have Wednesday evening Sundowner Sailing - anyone interested in sailing can pop down at 5:00 p.m. and beg a ride.

Blue Wildebeest

A couple of Blue Wildebeest (also known as black tailed Gnu) at one of the game reserve just outside Port Elizabeth. People always say that wildebeest are the ugliest animals around and put together from all the left overs from when the animals were created. The horns of a buffalo, the mane of a lion, the body of a cow, the legs of an antelope, the tail of a horse and the nose of a ... lets not insult anybody.

Wagon Jungle Gym

*mumble mumble* years ago when I was still in primary school, my mom used to have a stall at Art in the Park at St Georges Park every first Sunday of the month. I remember us playing all over the park, exploring the gardens, running down the paths and climbing on the jungle gyms. The ox wagon play structure has been there forever. When we went to Art in the Park the other day I was glad to see that it got a new coat of paint before the World Cup and brought back memories while the kids were climbing on it.

Footnote: For those who follow The Firefly Photo Files as well, this is where this pic was supposed to come. Its just that when I did the Random theme... Ox Wagons the other day I realised that it would also fit in very nicely there.

Hospital peacocks

The peacocks at the St Georges Hospital is become an institution over the years. I'm not sure where they originally came from, but they are always found in the hospital's gardens. Sometimes they venture down towards Settlers Park, but the safe bet for them is sticking around the hospital with its security guards. Its a common sight seeing the males show off their tail feathers during breeding season, but on the day I was there nobody wanted to oblige.

Footnote: Traci gave me the following info on FB: "Years ago one of the lawyers from a local law firm tried to have them turfed from the park, but then the former MD from VW's wife and mother in law started a save the peacock campaign. It was quite a thing ... Amazing what some people have time to fight about? Needless to say the VW camp won, the peacocks remained with St George's Hospital as a very strong contender to keep them... hence why the hospital used the peacock as its icon "

Baakens Valley sunrise

I was heading down to the beachfront the other morning to get some sunrise shots, but got going way too late. I ended up looking down the Baakens River Valley towards the harbour from the top of Valley Road as the sun was rising. It may not have been the beachfront, but any sunrise, doesn't matter where, is worth the effort.

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Visit Skywatch for more sky related pictures.

King Edward Hotel

The King Edward Hotel in Central is one of Port Elizabeth's landmark hotels and was built in 1903. It was taken over by a Dubai group a couple of years ago and is busy going through an extensive renovation process. The Grand Hotel across Western Road has also started a renovation process while the Donkin Reserve in front of the hotel is in the mids of a major upgrade as well. All of this bodes well for Port Elizabeth, and in particular the Central area. This picture was taken just after the hotel was taken over and I will post another when the renovation is done.

Forest Hill Heroes' Acre

I don't really need to say it as regular readers of specially my other blog will know, but I have a thing for cemeteries. Specially old ones. This is to such an extend that I have had a couple of people ask me to track down headstones of their ancestors for them. Anyway, Port Elizabeth has several cemeteries with military connections and/or sections. The Forest Hill Cemetery had a 'Heroes' Acre' laid out in 1980. This was in the Apartheid years and it was initially intended for whites who died in action in Namibia. This was obviously changed after democracy came to South Africa. The monument reads: "Those who rest here died in the service of the RSA. Their names liveth for evermore."

PAG Memorial

After a month of 2010 FIFA World Cup themed photos the big event is now something of the past and I can return posting "generic" pictures of Port Elizabeth and its surrounds. One of my favorite memorials in Port Elizabeth is the Prince Alfred Guard Memorial in St Georges Park. The memorial was erected in remembrance of men from the regiment that died in four different wars, one of them the Anglo Boer War. The memorial stands on Port Elizabeth's second oldest water reservoir. There used to be a fountain with water all around the memorial, but these days its been filled and contain flowers. The fountain must have pushed up daisies.

Last day of the World Cup

The 2010 FIFA World Cup is over. Actually, as I post this the final between Holland and Spain still needs to be played, but by the time most people read this it will have been something of the past. Before the World Cup the doom profits predicted that the event would be an absolute failure, that overseas supporters shouldn't come to South Africa cause they will be robbed and murdered and that the stadiums would be empty. How all of them have been proven wrong. Yes, there were a few incidents that will be pointed out by these folk to try and prove their earlier statements, but the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa was a resounding success. South Africa proved to the world that we don't have to stand back for anybody when it comes to hosting big events. Black and white stood together cheering for Bafana Bafana, and after their exit from the tournament adopted other countries to support without abandoning the event. Before the start of the World Cup the international media was looking for anything bad they could find to report on, but during it they realised how great this country is and gave it the kind of exposure it deserves, with publicity that money can't buy. We have received new stadia, new infrastructure and a renewed sense of togetherness and nation building. SOUTH AFRICA ROCKS and the legacy lives on!!!

Monday morning the soccer supporters that are still in the country would be packing their newly discovered vuvuzelas, head home and our lives would start to get back to normal. But would it ever be what it was before the tournament? Probably not quite. Let's hope all of those who visited South Africa (and in particular Port Elizabeth) would go back home and spread the word on how awesome a destination this is and to tell their friends and family to come back (home).