I ♥ Port Elizabeth Because ...

I ♥ Port Elizabeth

Hi, I’m Jonker Fourie (known online as Firefly) from Port Elizabeth Daily Photo in Port Elizabeth.

Port Elizabeth IS BEST KNOWN FOR its friendly people, beau­ti­ful beaches and coast­line, game reserves on our door­step, diverse his­tory and unfor­tu­nately... the wind, which isn’t any­where as bad as people like to make it out to be.

GET YOUR PICTURE TAKEN AT with a lion cub at Seaview Game and Lion Park or chee­tah at Kragga Kamma Game Park.

THE BEST sun­rise PICTURES CAN BE TAKEN AT Shark Rocks Pier or on the Donkin Reserve.
OTHER HAPPY SNAPS AT Sardinia Bay, Maitlands or around the his­toric build­ings on the Donkin Heritage Trail.  Check out PE Daily Photo for lots of happy snaps ideas. Continued

I ♥ Jeffreys Bay Because ...

I ♥ Jeffreys Bay

Hi, I’m Mia from Moya Manzi Beach House in Jeffreys Bay on the Sunshine Coast of the Eastern Cape.

Jeffreys Bay IS BEST KNOWN AS a surf­ing para­dise and espe­cially for the world renowned Billabong Pro Surfing com­pet­i­tion in July.

GET YOUR PICTURE TAKEN AT the Supertubes over­look­ing the beach and surfers. This is one of the most pop­u­lar surf spots in South Africa and you will be sure to find the waves filled with loc­als who enjoy the surf. For those who wish to show off your skills — remem­ber tim­ing is everything!

THE BEST surf­ing PICTURES CAN BE TAKEN AT the Supertubes surf spot. Take some pics of the incred­ible surf­ing tal­ent Jeffreys Bay has to offer — you will be able to get some fant­astic action shots!
Continued

I ♥ Stutterheim Because...

I ♥ Stutterheim

Hi, I’m Ingrid Newbold from The Manderson Hotel & Conference Centre in Stutterheim in the Eastern Cape.

STUTTERHEIM IS BEST KNOWN FOR its indi­gen­ous forest and moun­tains, this small town is nestled under­neath the Kologha Mountains.

GET YOUR PICTURE TAKEN AT Gubu Dam for an incred­ible back­drop, the water is incred­ible and has beau­ti­ful clear steams. The river is also stocked with both brown and rain­bow trout.

OTHER HAPPY SNAPS AT that are great for photo shots are in the indi­gen­ous forest and of the moun­tain with the sun set­ting behind it or of the first rays of morn­ing light­ing up the moun­tain. Continued

I ♥ Storms River Because...

I ♥ Storms River

Hi, I’m Kitty from Serenity Retreat in Storms River on the Garden Route / Eastern Cape.

Storms River IS BEST KNOWN FOR the Tsitsikamma National Park and sus­pen­sion bridge across the river mouth, The Big Tree and our ancient indi­gen­ous forests – and the fam­ous Tsitsikamma Tree Top Tour.

GET YOUR PICTURE TAKEN AT The Big Tree, Storms River Mouth and on the Tree Top Canopy Tours, the Bloukrans Bungi Jump – lots of these activ­it­ies can even offer you a DVD of your adventure.

THE BEST for­set PICTURES CAN BE TAKEN AT at in the Plaatbos indi­gen­ous forests and the best coastal pic­tures on the Waterfall Trail (first 3 kms of the Otter Trail) and at the Storms River Mouth. Continued

Rhodes and Barkly East — Photographs

The Northern Ukhahlamba region of the Eastern Cape is an area of wide open spaces dom­in­ated by the majestic Drakensberg.  Known for its freez­ing winter tem­per­at­ures it is one of the only areas in the coun­try where snow ski­ing is avail­able!  This is not the only activ­ity avail­able though with options like moun­tain bik­ing, trout fish­ing, horse trails and fossil trails also high on the list of things to do.

The vil­lages of Rhodes and Barkly East are found in these Eastern Cape Highlands (one reaches Rhodes from Barkly East).  Barkly East is known as the Switzerland of South Africa, offer­ing almost guar­an­teed winter snow.  Rhodes is a little more remote and almost seems frozen in time.  Declared a con­ser­va­tion area in 1997 the vil­lage boasts won­der­ful archi­tec­ture from the flat-roofed church house to the Herbert Baker designed stone school house.  If you are vis­it­ing make sure you pop into the Rhodes Hotel. Continued

I ♥ King Williams Town Because ...

I ♥ King Williams Town

Hi, I’m Alida  from Twins Guesthouse in King Williams Town in the Eatern Cape.

King Williams Town IS BEST KNOWN FOR its his­tor­ical build­ings and sites. The town star­ted as a mis­sion sta­tion on the banks of the Buffalo River in 1834 and boasts a num­ber of old and inter­est­ing build­ings.  The British Kaffrarian Savings Bank housed the fin­an­cial insti­tu­tion from the 19^th Century to the cur­rent time and Fort Murray dates back to 1848.

GET YOUR PICTURE TAKEN AT Terry’s Sound and Vision. If you don’t fancy that why not find a suit­able spot in the Botanical Gardens.  The gar­dens are beau­ti­ful and fea­ture five sep­ar­ate con­ser­vat­or­ies. Continued

The Kouga Wilderness – experience it by land or by water

Eden to Addo

I know someone who has kayaked along the Kouga River. He describes his trip as a com­plete escape from civil­isa­tion and some­thing you have to do once in a life­time. Camping on the banks of the river, which leads through isol­ated wil­der­ness the beauty of which will cap­ture your heart and enslave you to the memor­ies of what it is to be alone on a river, is now top of his list of the incred­ible get­aways he has exper­i­enced (and he's exper­i­enced a number).

The Kouga Wilderness is prob­ably best explored this way. It hasn't been described by some as 'inhos­pit­able' for noth­ing – tangled rav­ine forests, sheer rock faces that scream to be abseiled, whilst beau­ti­ful from the tran­quil, rel­at­ive safety of the river, are rather ardu­ous on foot. Continued

I ♥ Addo Because...

I ♥ Addo Because...

Hi, I’m Molly O’Hagan Ward from The Colonial on Arundel in Addo in the Eastern Cape, South Africa.

Addo IS BEST KNOWN FOR The Addo Elephant National Park which offers a wide vari­ety of game view­ing, out­door adven­ture, accom­mod­a­tion and cul­tural experiences.

GET YOUR PICTURE TAKEN AT Zuurkop in the Addo Elephant National Park over­look­ing the Zuurberg Mountains and the Addo Plains.
THE BEST wild­life PICTURES CAN BE TAKEN while under­tak­ing a private safari with my hus­band Conor, a registered guide, who will give you an out­stand­ing exper­i­ence in the 160,000 hec­tare wil­der­ness area of the Addo Elephant National Park. Continued

10 Great things to do when in Port Elizabeth

Port Elizabeth

Regarded as both the friendly and windy city, depend­ing on who you're talk­ing to and when, Port Elizabeth is deemed a great place in which to hol­i­day, its people gen­ial, its beaches envi­able and its weather gor­geous almost the whole year round – winter beach moments can eas­ily sur­pass scorch­ing sum­mer sizzlers.

And des­pite the jibes about copi­ous amounts of 'indus­trial scenery', the warm waters of the Indian Ocean are enough of an attrac­tion for the aver­age Capetonian to turn a blind eye to the factory-scattered skyline.

There is a list a mile long of great things to do when in Port Elizabeth, but here are 10 we think you'll enjoy, some of them indis­put­able, oth­ers a little less obvi­ous ... Continued

Kei Fever

Coffee Bay

The anti­cip­a­tion of a new des­tin­a­tion punc­tu­ated the air with laughter. None of us had been to the Wild Coast before and our minds con­jured images stolen from budget travel guides and well-thumbed back­packer manu­als. Still in Hogsback, in the midst of a bit­terly cold winter, we shared stor­ies gleaned from oth­ers, of the abund­ance of oysters and warm waters for night swim­ming, sun-kissed bod­ies, per­fect surf and end­less sum­mers. We exhausted the cock­tail menu that night, already pre­par­ing for the next chapter of our already poetic getaway.

Morning finally broke and we bundled ourselves into our cars and headed towards Cintsa, in the Transkei. Leaving everything we knew behind, the land­scape began to change rap­idly, giv­ing way to rolling green and golden hills and cows roam­ing freely in the roads. Completely un-littered with ugly build­ings and struc­tures, the open plains were only peppered with clay huts and rural scenes. My eyes drank in the wild land­scapes, like I’d dis­covered a new land ... Continued

The Otter Trail in photographs

The Otter Trail

The Otter Trail is one of South Africa’s most well-known hik­ing trails, pop­u­lar with both loc­als and inter­na­tional vis­it­ors thanks to its incred­ible scenery. The trail starts at the Storms River mouth and ends at Nature’s Valley in the beau­ti­ful Tsitsikamma Nature Reserve on the Garden Route.

Our team of 5 hikers recently "did" the Otter Trail — here­with a pre­view of their exper­i­ence in pho­to­graphs. We look for­ward to bring­ing you a series of art­icles about the 41 kilo­metre, 5 day hike which changes in elev­a­tion from sea level to about 150m above.

Though only 42.5 kms long, it is not an easy trail. It is how­ever, well worth the per­sever­ance ... Continued

Grahamstown, the 'Festival City'

Main Street Grahamstown

Grahamstown is renowned as “the Festival City”, as it is host to the largest arts fest­ival in Africa — the National Arts Festival. Most people visit the town dur­ing the fest­ival period, and exper­i­ence the crazy bustle of thou­sands of tour­ists jost­ling their way down High Street, dodging between the hawkers tout­ing their African wares, and on to the next fant­astic show. In-between fest­ival time, Grahamstown is a sleepy town. Grahamstown is also known for its many schools, and Rhodes University, and the town’s pop­u­la­tion seems to swell dur­ing term time when the stu­dents return to this quiet town that many stu­dents refer to as “the bubble.” Continued

Graaff-Reinet, gem of the Karoo

Graaff-Reinet

Stargazing, like whisky, is an acquired taste. It takes patience, an appre­ci­ation of subtle nuances and enough time to fully become involved in either activ­ity. Stargazing while drink­ing whisky? Well, that might just be the path to travel enlightenment.

Graaff-Reinet, the Gem of the Karoo, offers some of the best star gaz­ing in the world with enough space and an atmo­sphere con­du­cive soak­ing up some of the radi­ant cos­mo­lo­gical won­ders that the Southern Hemisphere’s heav­ens have to offer. Continued

So much to do in Mbotyi on the Wild Coast

Mbotyi, Wild Coast

Whether you’re look­ing for an adven­tur­ous hol­i­day or just a peace­ful break from every­day life, Mbotyi River Lodge can do both. In the Eastern Cape on the Wild Coast, the lodge is 26 km from Lusikisiki, on the Mbotyi river mouth. Snuggled between the undu­lat­ing hills of Pondoland, sur­roun­ded by flour­ish­ing indi­gen­ous forestry, this pic­tur­esque val­ley is the ideal loc­a­tion for any­one look­ing to exper­i­ence South Africa’s true beauty.

This pop­u­lar fam­ily resort, in the midst of Pondoland, is renowned for its friendly Pondo people, whose intriguing cul­ture has cap­tured the hearts of many and ensures their return time and time again. Be sure to exper­i­ence the true cul­ture of the Pondo people and take a walk in the vil­lage with a local guide. If you’re feel­ing adven­tur­ous visit a san­goma or have a drink at a she­been ... Continued

The Kowie Canoe Trail

Kowie Canoe Trail

Have you decided to have a week­end away and want to com­bine activ­ity and adven­ture?  Canoe trails make for an ideal hol­i­day.  The Kowie Canoe Trail will lead you approx­im­ately 21kms up the Kowie River past attrac­tions such as The Old Wreck, Windy Beach, Rabbit Rocks, Cob Hole, Black Rock, The old Mill, The Reef, Ferry Glen, White Rock and on to the Camp at Horseshoe Bend.

If you are the adven­tur­ous kind con­tinue a short way past Ebb and Flow where fresh water flows down the Kowie River and into the sea.  Look out for sight­ings of game on the east bank of the river ... Continued