Young bull

Addo Elephant National Park really is one of the best places anywhere in the world where one can see wild African Elephants fairly close up from your own car.  Here is a couple of elephant facts for today.

•  A bull elephant can weigh up to 6000kg (6 tons) with a female weighing up to about 3500kg
• The elephants in Addo eat about 200kg of food a day and also drinks between 150 and 200 litres of water
• Only about 40% of what they eat gets used due to their bad digestive system.  This makes them very destructive feeders
• An elephant's gestation period is 22 months
• Elephants have six sets of molars during their lifetime.  When the old set gets worn away it falls out and gets replaced by a new set.  Between the ages of 40 and 60 the last set starts to be worn away and they will likely die of starvation
• Elephants can't jump due to their weigh

Dodds Farm directions

I've posted a couple of Dodds Farm photos lately and have a couple more to come, but somebody asked in a comment how to get to Dodds Farm.  So to accompany today's picture looking down at Dodds Farm from the top of the steps on the Lower Guinea Fowl Trail are the directions to get there.  Its quite straightforward really.  Driving from the beachfront side one has to get to Main Road Walmer via Walmer Boulevard which becomes Heugh Road. Turn right into Sixth Avenue (Walmer) and then left into Main Road.  Travel along Main Road and turn right into 9th Avenue. Follow the road to its end and turn down to the right to get to the parking area.  From here you exit the parking area on the right and follow the path over the weir and to Dodds Farm.  There are several paths around there with picnic spots under the trees.  The Lower Guinea Fowl Trail runs through the area from the 3rd Avenue Dip side towards Settlers Park.

Mountain biking at Dodds Farm

Mountain biking seems to be getting more and more popular alongside trail running.  This means that more people are also starting to get out there and back to nature, returning to places like the Baakens Valley where there are some awesome trails for both running and cycling.  This guy was one of three cycling together on the trails through Dodds Farm. 

The Baakens River at Dodds Farm

Most people associate the Baakens River only with the 3rd Avenue Dip and the narrow canal the flows into the harbour along Valley Road and don't always think what it looks like in-between.  During its meandering flow along the Baakens Valley it passes through Dodds Farm and Settlers Park, amongst others.  This section is just above a weir at Dodds Farm and forms a nice little dam which is ideal to attract birds.

193 years of being called PE

If you could go back 193 years in time to this day in 1820, you would see the arrival of Sir Rufane Donkin, Acting Governor of the Cape Colony, in Algoa Bay to oversee the arrival and settling of the British Settlers.  You would also see him look around at the beautiful bay with the small settlement on the coastline and name the town in honour of his late wife, Lady Elizabeth, who died not long before of fever in India.  He also proclaimed the present day Donkin Reserve an open space and commissioned the construction of an pyramid as a monument to his wife.  On the pyramid is an plaque with the following:

To the memory

of one of the most perfect

of human beings

who has given her name

to the Town below

Ranger stories

The guides doing the open vehicle guided game drives in the Addo Elephant National Park are vast treasure chests of information.  I can't find the note I made of our ranger's name (Vincent van Zyl left a comment pointing out that the ranger's name is Ryan), but my mouth hung open as he rattled off plant names, animal information, pointing out birds and just chatted away with the guests on the vehicle.  Guides and rangers like these are what makes visits to game reserves extra special.

Harbour giraffes at sunrise

The first thing I noticed on my timeline when I opened Facebook this morning was a picture by my friend Cheryl Witte along with her daily Gratitude Journal.  I don't often feature other people's pictures on PEDP, but I immediately called her to ask if I could.  She took the picture on her way to work looking towards the harbour from Upper Valley Road just before the sunrise.  Pictures like this is exactly why one should always carry your camera with you. Good one Cheryl.

Picnic at Dodds Farm

The Baakens Valley is crawling deeper and deeper into my heart.  I really wish more people realised what an amazing place we have running right through the city.  The Damselfly packed a picnic basket the other day and we headed into the Baakens Valley for a spot of geocaching, ending up at Dodds Farm with a picnic under the trees.  There were a couple of other people having a picnic and painting while a number of joggers and mountain bikers passed us on the trails.

The Muck Run

 This morning 500 muckers and about 50 muckchkins (little muckers) mucked around the mucky dams and mucken bush at Bushpig Adventures out in Theesecombe during the first (of what will become an annual) Muck Run in Port Elizabeth.  The Muck Run is organised by Zports and consisted of a 8km trail run taking in muddy ponds and dams, crawling through mud and dust under cargo nets, climbing through tunnels, running over tyres and poles and sliding down a 50m slippery slide.  It was the toughest 8km run I have done in my life and the fact that the first water point didn't have water made it even tougher.  The KidZ took part in the muckchkins run over about a kilometer or two taking in most of the main obstacles while I joined the Damselfly's morning running group, the Charlo Taffies, in the main run.  The run is a fun, non-timed event and we caught a lucky break by being allocated spots in the first group which meant that we hit the mud before it got too bad.

 

 Drama Princess (in pink) approaching the Rabbit Holes trying to catch up to Chaos Boy -

picture by the Damselfly as I was on the course already

Drama Princess exiting the mud hole at the bottom of the 50m slippery slide 

The Charlo Taffies heading along the course - photo by Chaos Boy

The Charlo Taffies (minus the Damselfly who couldn't take part as she's still recovering from her op) and some of our kids in front of the photo wall for our BEFORE photo

The AFTER photo.  Yes, yes, I know I need to loose some weight and get into shape, but I'm working on it. Our next team challenge... Urban Run in September.

 

Just one post event note.  Usually after races like this you get a medal that ends up in a drawer or box somewhere.  Some even go straight into the bin.  Zports went a different route with Muck Run and rather than medals gave every finisher a Muck Run bandanna instead. Very good idea.

Baakens Valley

I explored a bit of the Baakens Valley along Lower Guinea Fowl Trail on a geocaching outing with the family and as always my camera went along for the walk.  This spot is looking east towards Dodds Farm and down at the Baakens Valley from the mountain bike trail.