Zuurberg Pass

In today's modern day people traveling between Port Elizabeth and Cradock crosses over the Zuurberg Mountains at speed via the Olifants Kop Pass (R32). In olden days travellers had to cross over the old Zuurberg Pass which was quite a treacherous journey. The Zuurberg Pass is still accessible today although its mostly a very bumpy dirt road. In the past I have travelled up to the Zuurberg Inn several times, but I've never been over the pass' back and down the other side.

The ideal opportunity to explore the whole pass came my way when we got to go to Addo Elephant Back Safaris which is situated in a valley at the top of the mountain. I took the wrong road decided to attempt it from the inland side and exit on the Addo Elephant National Park side which is the side I'm familiar with. We started out on the Jansenville dirt road (R400) linking the Cradock road (R32) with the Graaff Reinet road (R75). All started well with a straight and smooth dirt road which was a pleasure to fly drive along.

At one of the intersections close to the historic Ann's Villa we found this sign. I just had to stop to take a picture. It also told me that the road has been around for a while and I could start to hear the ghosts of ox wagons grinding along the dirt road heading north. But we were heading south and there were thunder in the air ... or was it just my stomach grumbling.

It wasn't long before the road started to get narrower and a lot more bumpy and rocky. It was winding its way up and down the mountain like a hungry python trying to choke its prey. But the scenery made up for the fact that if I had dentures I would have had to pick it up from the floor.

The mountain side was covered in a blanket of heather. Like somebody took a pink quilt and draped it over the Zuurberg. It was absolutely awesome. Heather forms part of the Fynbos biome or Cape Floral Kingdom, the smallest of the world's six floral kingdoms. The Cape Floral Kingdom was proclaimed an UNESCO World Heritage natural Site which means that fynbos is highly protected by law.

As much as the Damselfly wanted to stop and pick some to take home for the lounge I wasn't prepared to take that chance of the flower police sitting somewhere watching me. Specially not within the Greater Addo Elephant National Park At the end of the winding road we got to our destination for the night and after the next mornings elephant ride and activities we went on up the mountain again, still heading south. After some more rattling we got to the historic Zuurberg Inn which seems to be going up full steam ahead after last years big devastating fire. From there its smooth sailing down the mountain side before hitting the tar road again near the National Park's main gate on the R335. A trip to be recommended if you like mountains, passes and fantastic natural scenery.

Golden sunrise

Sunrise on Hobie Beach taken yesterday morning just before the start of Ironman

Ironman South Africa

Probably one of the biggest challenges in the world of endurance sports is Ironman. Run all over the world, the only city in Africa to host an Ironman is Port Elizabeth. Ironman is the ultimate test of endurance. It starts with a 3,8 kilometer swim followed by a 180 kilometer cycle and a 42.2 kilometer run. I get tired just watching these guys go.

I was on the beach at sunrise this morning to see the competitors off on their swim. The conditions were perfect with barely a breeze and a very flat ocean.

07h00 and they are off...

They swim two laps before coming out the water into transition before the cycle. There was a hole in the shallows and a couple of the competitors had a bit of a dive after the fact.

The grueling 180 km cycle gets done over three circular laps of 60 km each around the city. The cycle was done in souring heat with temperatures probably reaching into the 30's today. As I am writing this most of the competitors are still busy with their run. Cut-off is at midnight tonight and by then some competitors would have been going for 17 hours. Two of the most awesome competitors out there today were a blind guy with his guide and a guy who towed a young boy with him the whole way. And of cause Pamiejane, one of my blog friends.

Elephants eating

It is not often that one gets the opportunity to get right down on the ground close to an elephant to get photos of him eating and going about his daily routine. This was one of the things I really enjoyed at Addo Elephant Back Safaris last weekend.

Elephants are fascinating eaters. They eat up to 200kg of vegetation per day.

Because they are herbivores (vegetarians), and thus only eat plants. Imagine if the were carnivores. What would it look like when elephants hunt? Anyway, they eat anything from grass and leaves to roots and bark. In this case this particular one was eating Acacia Karoo or Sweet Thorn. You can see the thorns on the piece in his mouth.

Elephants are referred to as very destructive feeders. This isn't just because of the quantity that they eat, but also because the would tear down whole young trees just to eat the leaves or get to the roots. The other thing is that they have very bad digestive systems. They only digest about 60% of their food. If you look at the pic above, the little mushrooms are growing in elephant dung. It looks like dead grass, which proofs the point. Pity I couldn't get the focus right, but the elephants were coming and I was in the way. I wasn't about to be stepped on by a 3.5 ton animal to get the perfect photo.

Elephant close-ups

Just a couple of close-up shots of elephants taken last weekend at Addo Elephant Back Safaris.

Elephant skin taken with the macro setting of my camera. *skin cream needed*

The bottom of an elephant's foot. It is amazing to watch them walk. They put their feet down flat and not heal and toe like us. The feet has a kind of a cushion in it which absorbs the impact when they walk which means they are very delicate walkers. *heal balm needed*

The hair at the end of an elephant's tail. Those hair is very coarse and I have seen curio shops selling bracelets made of several tail hair woven together. *conditioner needed*

Kite Spider and web

Ok, so this isn't a conventional Skywatch photo, but I love the way the sun shines through this spiders web we found on our visit to Addo Elephant Back Safaris. Sun = sky thus Skywatch.

Getting a bit closer we found that the web belongs to a Kite Spider (Genus Gasteracantha). So Kite = Sky which means more reason to post this under Skywatch. The Kite Spider has a shiny and hard abdomen which is rather flattened with spiny projections. They are normally yellow or white with black markings, specially at the tips of the projections. They have very short legs and is found in symmetrical orb webs in trees.

For more great Skywatch pictures from all over the world, follow the link.

Black-legged Golden Orb-web Spider

We got to see quite a few smaller things while on the nature walk at Addo Elephant Back Safaris. At one stage we were walking next to the boundary fence and stopped while the ranger was telling us about some plant. I looked around and noticed a pretty big spider sitting on a strand of spiders web literally centimetres from the Damselfly's back. Suddenly every body's attention shifted to the spider and cameras were clicking away. Its real size was probably 2/3 of the size it is in the picture.

My The Wildlife of Southern Africa book tells me that it is a Black-legged Golden Orb-web Spider (Nephila pilipes). Their abdomen is yellow with blue marbling and they have tuffed unbanded legs. They hang in large webs of golden silk surrounded by trip lines. Small males are often present in the web. Looking at this picture I took later on the same walk, you can actually see the smaller male just below the unfortunate moth.

Amazing how close one will get to something like this spider when looking through a camera, but without it ...