The King

One of the adult male lions at Seaview Game and Lion Park.  I was fortunate to be able to take this photo without any visible fence in it and what was even better was that he was standing still and focusing on something.  I love this photo, even if I have to say so myself.

Fog bank

Earlier in the week we had a nice hot day in Port Elizabeth and I decided to take a drive down to the beachfront during my lunch time.  From the Flat Rocks parking area you could see a fog bank rolling into Algoa Bay as cooler air was blowing in from the Indian Ocean.  It look like in the movies and I was expecting to see a ghost ship sail out of the fog at any time.  Wouldn't that have made an award winning photograph! 

Donkin

Just to end off the series of photos of the upgrade on the Donkin Reserve in the heart of Port Elizabeth I have decided to feature the biggest and most important attractions on the Donkin.  The pyramid is the Donkin Memorial which was put up by Sir Rufane Donkin in 1820 as a memorial to his wife after which he named the city.  The lighthouse was built in 1861 and also received a major upgrade as part of the project on the Donkin Reserve.  The lighthouse keeper's cottage is occupied by Nelson Mandela Bay Tourism and used as a Visitor Information Centre.

Donkin Street Houses

On the northern side of the Donkin Reserve observers will notice what must surely be the first townhouse complex in Port Elizabeth.  The Donkin Street houses were built between 1860 and 1880.  Although each unit is one lever lower than the previous one, the house are all part of one structure.  Sadly the Donkin Street houses has gone from one of the most photographed historic attractions in town to what it is today.  That is sadly what you get when you have buildings like these being bought by an overseas "investor" who doesn't seem to care much about the heritage of the city.  But this blog isn't about naming and shaming, but rather about me saying that I hope sanity will prevail and that these beautiful buildings will be restored to their previous splendour.  Specially in the light of the current Donkin Reserve upgrade.

LIGHThouse

Seeing that I've been featuring the new art features on the Donkin Reserve I thought it would be appropriate posting a photo of the Donkin Lighthouse, Port Elizabeth's oldest lighthouse.  Seeing that I have done a number of posts in the past with the lighthouse in them, I decided on a slightly different shot.

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Donkin seat features

The last of the art features at the Donkin I want to show you are the new row of seats for the tired and weary.  Perhaps its just my personal opinion, but out of all the art features being put up at the Donkin Reserve these must be my least favorite.  They look like surfboards stuck in the sand and bending in the wind with the same kind of unappealing paintwork on them.  The least they could have done is decorate them better.  Like I said, not my favorite.

Donkin Red Carpet art feature

One of the new art features on the Donkin Reserve which seems isn't quite completed yet is the Red Carpet by designer Lisbet Demeyer.  The Red Carpet starts on the side walk directly in front of the historic King Edward Hotel and in a way pulls the hotel's grandness onto the Donkin Reserve.  At this stage I haven't found any information on all the symbolism of the Red Carpet, but I will do another post as soon as I get something more and the feature is completed.

Gazing across the Donkin

One of the most prominent of the new art pieces on the Donkin Reserve is the female figure gazing across the open space.  The sculpture was done my well known Port Elizabeth artists Anton Momberg and was the first of the art pieces to go up.  The building in the background is the historic King Edward Hotel.

I took another angle from the back to show what the view to the other side looks like.  A couple of months ago I took a similar photo at sunrise.

Donkin River Memory Piece

The third Donkin Reserve art piece in this series is The River Memory Piece which was created by Duncan Steward.  The Donkin Reserve has been an official open space in the city since 1820 and originally a stream flowed down what is now Donkin Street next to the reserve.  The idea of the art piece was to commemorate the natural environment lying beneath the recent layers of Port Elizabeth's growth.

Donkin "Fish-Bird"

The second art piece on the Donkin Reserve I'm featuring in this series is probably the most unusual.  The piece was designed by published poet and former art lecturer Dolla Sapeta who was inspired by the birds that visit the Donkin Reserve as well as the sites view of Algoa Bay.  The "Fish-Bird" is 3.8m high, has a wing span of 5m and stretches 6m from tail to head and has been situated slightly down the hill to hide it from most of Port Elizabeth's wind.