November 11, 2006 by admin

Lunch with the hippos, weaving weavers and a cheetah with a shoe fetish!

A typical Sunday in East London Album

Living in East London can sometimes be quite exciting. The other Sunday, we decided to go to the nearby Mpongo game reserve and stop at the nearby Lion Park on our way back. Mpongo park has a special 3 course Sunday lunch which is served in the restaurant right next to a lake with three hippos. They also feed the hippos (some kind of bread) at 1pm. Lunch was decent and observing the hippos, turtles and birds definitely made the exerperience very pleasant.

While we were leaving Mpongo park, we noticed a weaver (bird) who had just started a new nest and was in the process of building it. It was fascinating to see this and we got some lovely pictures of the busy weavers.

On our way back, we stopped at the lion park. Apart from the lions, they now have a young cheetah (about 7 months old or so) that you can pet. It was a bit shy at first but once Karl started talking to it and it had some food, it became much more alive. The cheetah, named Chinx, loves to chew on feet. Luckily we put on shoes before our visit, otherwise we may have had some very sore feet!

Although the trip was only a few hours, it was great fun and we ended up with some lovely pictures of hippos, weavers and cheetahs´s. Click here or on the picture to visit the gallery! As always, make sure to check out the captions for additional insights!

October 15, 2006 by admin

First swim this season

The weather has been pretty odd this year. We have had some really heavy rain causing flooding (see also blog entry from August 4th) and then suddenly some very sunny days. Yesterday, Saturday October 14th, was one of those sunny days. And it got warm enough to motivate me to get into the pool!

The pool was quite pleasant at 23.7C (74.66F) and my first swim was therefore a very good experience. If you remember, last year we did not get to go into the pool until the end of October, and even then the pool was a couple of degrees Celcius colder. It is amazing how much difference two degrees makes in pooltemperature.

And today … well, of course, it is raining again! We will see what happens by the time we get into the real rainy season in December/January! At least the weather is predicted to stay above 20C (68F) for days to come.

September 10, 2006 by admin

A whale of a time in Hermanus!

The last weekend of August we flew to Cape Town for a long weekend (3 days) and visited Hermanus, which claims to be “the best land-based whale watching” location in the world. A very tall claim that we needed to check out!

The trip was amazing! The weather was sunny with summery temperatures of 26C/61F, after it had been miserably cold and wet for a few days. Hermanus is a nice town where you can easily walk around the towncenter and next to the ocean. The accomodation was great – we stayed at a self-catering apartment right by the ocean that gave us great views over the bay (If you visit the website – select the left hand section for 45 marine drive, not the right hand section for the Esplanade). And Hermanus MUST be the best place to see whales – we saw many, including some close to shore, some breaching (this is where they jump out of the ocean), some sailing (this is where they stick their tale out of the water for an extended period of time), some waving (where they stick one of their fins up and seem to be waving) and we saw some mothers playing with their youngsters! We also heard the whales making noises as if they were calling to each other.

This must be one of the nicest experiences we had, yet, in South Africa. Definitely worth a visit during whale season (July-October)!

As always, we had our cameras with us and took some great pictures of Hermanus and surroundings as well as the whales. Click here or on the picture to go to the album.

Hermanus Album

August 4, 2006 by admin

Weather havoc

Funny how the weather in East London works – we have had lovely weather for the last month or so (daytime temperatures in the 20’s (celcius), nighttime temperatures around 15 celcius) and then suddenly the weather changes. Lots of rain, high winds and cold weather created havoc. Have a look at two newsstories to get some ideas of what it means to have bad weather in the Eastern Cape (with pictures) (Update August 2013: newsstories have been removed at source).

By Monday the weather is supposed to be better again!

Wet ‘n wild

Last weekend we went to the “Wet ‘n Wild” festival nearby East London which is supposed to promote the wild coast. It definitely wasn´t wet and it was hardly very wild as it took place at Inkwenkwezi game reserve, which is really before the wild coast.

We visited the “country fair” which had some stalls, free game drives, some activities, etc. As usual, we had our cameras with us and got some interesting pictures. Click on the image to get a larger version.

One vendor was selling mirrors. Between the blue sky, the objects around the mirrors and the people, this made for some very interesting pictures:

A portrait of a Xhosa girl that was waiting for the game drive:

A Xhosa woman selling trinkets. The sight of Xhosa woman resting on the grass is quiet common. For example, we see this frequently when we leave our street.

July 22, 2006 by admin

Bushmain paintings, olives and Xhosa dancers

What is the relationship between Bushman paintings, olives and Xhosa dancers?

…. We saw all of these things during our visit to Alicedale when we joined the “Alicedale Adventure” as part of the Grahamstown festival. The “Alicedale adventure” was a whole day activity which involved a bushwalk to the Bushman paintings, a visit to the town of Alicedale, a visit to an Olive farm, a look at a Mohair factorz and a demonstration of some traditional Xhosa dances.

We enjoyed our time in Alicedale and took some lovely pictures of this event, particularly of the Xhosa people. Click here or on the image to have a look.

Alicedale adventure album

It’s cold …. let’s open the windows!

One of the strangest things in South Africa is that the houses don´t have heating. Although the maximum temperature is usually between 20 and 25 degrees celcius in winter, the nights are much colder and this cold creeps into the house through badly insulated windows and doors. As a consequence, the house is usually much colder inside than the outside temperature during the day!

Practically, this means we tend to open the windows wide during the day to get the warm air in. We also often eat breakfast and lunch outside, as it is warmer to sit on the patio than to sit in the dining room!

You have to be careful with the opening of windows and doors, though. Today, we had a monkey visit us in our kitchen. He came in through the open door and stole all (four) our bananas and a bunch of bread. When we found him on the kitchen counter, our noise scared him into knocking some dishes of the counter! When we went outside, we found the finished banana peels:

As well as a glance of the culprit who had entered the house:

20 shows in 5 days

We just come back from Grahamstown where we spent 5 days at the National Arts Festival. Normally, Grahamstown is a relatively quiet town which is mainly known for its university. However, once a year, an arts festival takes place which brings thousands of visitors into the town to watch hundreds of shows in the “main” (official) and “Fringe” program (unofficial).

We choose to watch up to 6 shows a day on the festival.

Tickets for Grahamstown festival

We watched drama, comedy, dance, music, film and lectures. And that was just a fraction of what there is to see at the festival!

During the festival, any possible location in the town is converted into a venue. From the “cultural center” the monument …

The Monument in Grahamstown

… over the botanic garden …

Botanical Gardens Grahamstown

… to churches

Church plastered with posters

The festival is one of the highlights of our stay in South Africa. Karl likes to describe it as “the most fun we have had in South Africa”. We cann´t wait to go back next year. And, who knows, maybe next year we will have some time to visit the Jazz festival, the exhibits, the village green and the other stuff we did not find time for this year!

Mpekweni beach resort … the pictures

Mpekweni Beach Resort Album

Full moon … warm weather … low season …. and a desire to do something for the weekend. A perfect formula for a fabulous weekend at the nearby Mpekweni beach resort. The resort is about an hours drive from East London on the way to Port Alfred/Port Elizabeth on an area that is referred to as the “sunshine coast”.

We had a great time. The hotel is very nice with lovely rooms, good food and a sandy beach. When we were there, the beach was pretty much deserted making for some great walks and beautiful pictures. Click here or on the image to see pictures of ghosts in the moonlight, stairs that go up at night and down during the day and other interesting sights at the resort.

Chame … Chame… Chame… Chameleon

Chameleon Album

What an experience! On a recent trip to Mpekweni beach resort (pictures to be posted separately). We had a Chameleon visit us on the patio of our hotel room. It is the first time we ever saw a chameleon around here, so we had to investigate closer. We discovered the chameleon was very slow, so we managed to take some fabulous pictures and have it climb onto our hands. Click on the image or here to have a look at those wonderful pictures in the gallery.

The Wanderers

The Wanderers blog

South Africa