Napier Photographs

Napier is a pretty town sur­roun­ded by fields of bar­ley and wheat and was named after the Governor of the Cape at the time; Sir George Napier.  Interesting shops and eat­er­ies line the streets of the town and if you are in town you must make sure you visit The Farm Stall which is loc­ated dir­ectly through the town.  The interior is a quirky col­lec­tion of enamel signs (unfor­tu­nately not for sale) and other mem­or­ab­ilia.  Other inter­est­ing objects hang on the walls out­side – it makes for inter­est­ing con­ver­sa­tion as you wait for your deli­cious meal to arrive!

As like most of the towns in this area, the Dutch Reformed Church is a migh­tily impress­ive build­ing – look out for its unusual archi­tec­ture and if you visit, admire the teak interior.  Napier hosts the Patatfees (Sweet Potato Festival) in June each year and the route of the Voet van Afrika Marathon goes through the town when it’s held in October.

I’ve been to Napier twice now and always enjoy­ing stop­ping – whether it’s for an overnight stay or just for lunch at The Farm Stall!

Continued

Elim Photographs

Id heard about Elim and see­ing as we were in the area over the week­end we stopped off for a wander around on Sunday.  Elim dates back to 1824 when it was foun­ded by Moravian monks and became the third Moravian mis­sion sta­tion in the Cape.  Today it is one of the few sur­viv­ing mis­sion sta­tions in the coun­try.  Most of the cute, thatched cot­tages date back to the 19^th cen­tury and are made of mud-brick, plastered with lime plaster and thatched with res­tio grass.  Many of the 2000 cur­rent Elim res­id­ents are sought-after thatchers.

Worth vis­it­ing is the water­mill which is still work­ing after being built in 1824!  The same is to be said for the church clock – it’s been count­ing time since 1824 and is the old­est work­ing clock in the coun­try.  I can vouch for the clock; it struck 1pm when I was there! Elim proudly has South Africa’s only memorial to the eman­cip­a­tion of slaves.

Elim is an import­ant part of the wine pro­du­cing industry with four pro­du­cing part­ners: Black Oystercatcher, the Berrio, Zoetendal and First Sighting cre­at­ing Elim Winegrowers, a self-sustaining farm­ing com­munity.  The fruit pro­duced in Elim is slightly dif­fer­ent to other fruit; the cool south west and south east winds restrict upward growth which means that the vine pro­duces a con­cen­trated fruit.

Continued

L'Agulhas Photographs

The rel­at­ively small vil­lage of L’Agulhas is situ­ated in the Cape Agulhas region of the Western Cape, a mere two hour drive from Cape Town and is fam­ously known as the place where the two oceans; the Indian Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean meet.  Discovered in the 15^th cen­tury by the Portuguese, Agulhas was ori­gin­ally known as Cabo das Agulhas (Cape of Needles) because no vari­ation between true north and mag­netic north was shown on compasses.

Many ships have ended their sea-going jour­ney on the jagged rock form­a­tions found along this coast­line; hence the con­struc­tion of the Cape Agulhas Lighthouse which was built in 1840 (the 3^rd to be built in South Africa).  The fam­ous red and white build­ing was restored in 1968 and after being declared unsafe is now a National Monument.  The light­house is open to vis­it­ors and has an inter­est­ing museum and a quaint cof­fee shop should you need light refreshment!

The area has many walk­ing and hik­ing trails; per­haps try a walk along the sandy beaches all the way to Struisbaai?

Continued

Arniston Photographs

This pic­tur­esque little fish­ing vil­lage on the shores of Marcus Bay is also known as Waenhuiskrans (‘wagon shel­ter cliff’).  The name comes from a large sea-cave, which although only vis­ible dur­ing low-tide resembles the struc­tures used by set­tlers to house their wag­ons and cattle.  The vil­lage itself got the name ‘Arniston’ from the Arniston ship which wrecked off the in 1815.  After cut­ting away three of its anchors the ves­sel ran ashore and broke up on the sharp rocks off the Arniston Reef.  Sadly, only six of the 378 pas­sen­gers sur­vived to tell the tale.

Arniston how­ever is a pretty vil­lage, with spark­ling blue water and gor­geous beaches, per­fect for laz­ing away sunny sum­mer days.  Artists and pho­to­graph­ers are attrac­ted to the sea­side loc­a­tion; the white-washed cot­tages, rolling sand dunes, steep cliffs and blue ocean make for pic­ture per­fect pho­to­graphs and paint­ings!  The cot­tages are Kassiebaai are more than 200 years old and are a National Monument.

De Hoop and De Mond Nature Reserves neigh­bour Arniston; a bird watcher and hikers delight.

Continued

Struisbaai Photographs

Although a bit windy on the day we vis­ited Struisbaai and not being dur­ing ‘sea­son’ just yet we could still get a vibe for this pretty sea­side town loc­ated in the Cape Agulhas region of the Western Cape.  Colourful fish­ing boats bobbed in the har­bour and chil­dren swam and boogie-boarded in the waves (don’t chil­dren ever feel the cold?!). A board­walk through part of the dunes makes for easy walk­ing and the views of the beaches are worth see­ing – whether it’s windy or not!

During the sum­mer months Struisbaai enjoys a healthy amount of vis­it­ors who come to the town to enjoy the water sports on offer.  It’s easy to launch a kayak or small boat from the beach while kite-surfing and board­ing are also pop­u­lar.  Struisbaai, like many of the coastal vil­lages in this region boasts quaint white-washed fishermen’s houses and newer houses must fol­low the design of the ori­ginal cot­tages.  If in the town make sure you visit the Anglican church which is now a National Monument. Continued

Bredasdorp Photographs

We had the oppor­tun­ity to visit the town of Bredasdorp when we took part in the Voet van Afrika Marathon this past week­end.  The town is situ­ated in the Cape Agulhas region of the Western Cape and claims to be the first town or dorp to be estab­lished in South Africa.  Apart from being a big pro­du­cer of wheat and pro­tea flowers, Bredasdorp is also well known for hav­ing South Africa’s only Shipwreck Museum (which was sadly closed on this week­end).  The museum has an extens­ive col­lec­tion of arte­facts from ships wrecked along this coast­line … one can see can­nons, coins, chinaware and ship bells.  One of the rooms at the museum is a trib­ute to Audrey Blignaut, a South African author born in Bredasdorp.

The wheat fields that sur­round the town attract many dif­fer­ent birds; we were lucky enough to see 13 Blue Cranes in one field alone and although not avid birders ticked off our first ‘lifer’; a Cape Teal duck mer­rily pad­dling around a farm pond! Hueningberg Nature Reserve is a must if you enjoy the great out­doors – there are lots of walks avail­able.  Bredasdorp and the area around it is a won­der­ful place to visit and at just over two hours from Cape Town, it’s the per­fect dis­tance for a week­end get­away. Continued

I ♥ Napier Because ...

I ♥ Napier

Hi, I’m Craigan Millar from The Suntouched Inn in Napier.

Napier IS BEST KNOWN FOR the little arty town on the way to Arniston!
GET YOUR PICTURE TAKEN AT the biggest sun­dial in South Africa, at the Napier Muncipal Building.
THE BEST scenery PICTURES CAN BE TAKEN AT the top of the Grootberg.

WHEN THE WEATHER'S GOOD, I LIKE TO visit the beaches of Arniston or Struisbaai and enjoy the Elim Wine Route.
WHEN THE WEATHER'S BAD, I LIKE TO visit JD Wine cel­lar and Napier Brewery.
I THINK THE BEST TIME OF YEAR TO VISIT IS September, BECAUSE the fields are vibrant green and bright yel­low with grasses and can­ola, and June when the Patat Festival takes place. Continued

I ♥ L’Agulhas Because ...

I ♥ L’Agulhas

Hi, I’m Hilary Marshall from South Point Self Catering and B&B and B&B in L’Agulhas in Cape Agulhas.

L’Agulhas IS BEST KNOWN AS being the south­ern­most town in Africa, where the Indian and Atlantic oceans meet.

GET YOUR PICTURE TAKEN AT the stone cairn, mark­ing the south­ern­most tip of Africa, as this is where these two oceans actu­ally meet, and at that point in time, you will be more south than any­one else in Africa!

THE BEST pan­or­amic PICTURES CAN BE TAKEN FROM the top of the his­toric light­house, the 2^nd old­est work­ing light­house in the coun­try.
OTHER HAPPY SNAPS a must at the ship­wreck along the coast inside the gates of the Agulhas National Park, or down at the quaint fish­ing har­bour. Continued

Hotagterklip, Struisbaai's historical village

Struisbaai

“Oh, you must visit Hotagterklip”, Ilze from the Napier farm­stall men­tions, on her way  to deliver another couple of her scrump­tious chicken pies to the table along­side us. We are busy pour­ing over a map of the area, enjoy­ing the idea of choos­ing where next to go, once we'd settled ourselves in Arniston.

“Hotagterklip? Where's that?” I ask, assum­ing it is another little town in the vicin­ity, one upon which I have not yet stumbled. I begin doing men­tal cal­cu­la­tions as I try to work out where another town could pos­sibly lie in the Cape Overberg. Continued

Arniston, respite for the soul on the shores of the Overberg

Arniston

Some people don't know this, but the sea­side vil­lage of Arniston has two names. It's also called Waenhuiskrans or 'wagon shel­ter cliff', which describes the huge cave that you can reach only at low-tide. And no, this does not mean, as I thought, that set­tlers and their wag­ons used to shel­ter here (hav­ing vis­ited the cave, I now real­ise they would have had to have a death wish) but instead describes the sim­il­ar­ity of the cave to the struc­tures in which set­tlers used to store their oxen and wag­ons. It is vast, the cave, and an incred­ible space to visit – just wouldn't like to be caught there at high tide! Continued

In search of Horatio Blair Adams at the southern-most tip of Africa

L'Agulhas

I am sur­prised. Pleasantly. As L'Agulhas is a lot more beau­ti­ful than I had anti­cip­ated. To my mind's eye the beach­side town that also serves as the southern-most tip of Africa would be awash with gar­gan­tuan hol­i­day homes, guest houses and pre­ten­tious restaurants.

In real­ity, L'Agulhas has man­aged to retain its unpre­ten­tious beach­side hol­i­day feel with barely a look-in from the usual second-homer sus­pects that move in and build double-storeys right infront of the best views in South Africa. Continued

Elim — a town with twelve fountains and seventy palm trees

Elim, Cape Overberg

They've only just tarred the gravel road that takes one from Bredasdorp to Elim. So it is only in the last three years that the little mis­sion town has become more access­ible for vis­it­ors to the Cape Overberg. Now an ordin­ary sedan like ours can make it to the vil­lage without a bat­ter­ing, and those with hired vehicles can even arrive unscathed in town (hired cars are not sup­posed to travel on dirt roads).

Which means someone like Emile is slowly exper­i­en­cing what in Elim's terms can only be described as a busi­ness boom. Emile is the local tour guide. You don't have to worry about find­ing Emile. Simply park at the mis­sion church — you can't miss it upon arrival in the quaint little vil­lage — and wait for him to find you. Continued

Struisbaai or Blue Lagoon?

Struisbaai

I have a very fond memory of swim­ming in a lagoon ten years ago. Not only found because I was ten years younger but also because the sur­round­ing were so exquis­ite. Basically it was like being in The Blue Lagoon. Ten years later I may have changed, but the Blue Lagoon hasn’t. It’s real name is Struisbaai and it’s well known for the longest con­tinu­ous stretch of white sand coast­line in the Southern Hemisphere. It’s also only ten minutes from Cape Agulhas, the south­ern­most tip of Africa.

Struisbaai is as close to a trop­ical para­dise as one can get with its exquis­ite white sand beaches, crys­tal clear water and little fish­ing boats.  Your first stop after the drive should be  Pelican’s Harbour, an awe­some little sea­food res­taur­ant serving fresh fish. Sitting on the deck, with the water lap­ping a few feet away from us at the harbour’s edge, you’ll be mes­mer­ized by the pic­tur­esque scene of Continued

Cape Agulhas Photographs

Photographs of Cape Agulhas, the geo­graphic south­ern tip of the African con­tin­ent, and the offi­cial point at which the cold Benguela cur­rent of the Atlantic Ocean and the strong Aghulhas cur­rent of the Indian Ocean meet. Historically, the cape has been known to sail­ors as par­tic­u­larly haz­ard­ous, notori­ous for winter storms and huge rogue waves Continued