Fort Peddie flowers

A little while ago I stopped by Fort Peddie on my way from Port Elizabeth to East London and discovered this historic site while hunting for a Geocache.  The thing with most travelers is that they are so focused on the big things that they often miss the little ones.  In this case the big things were the old tower and the cavalry barracks which I both went to have a look at.  The former to find the cache and the latter because I wanted to see it as I was there already.  I noticed these pretty purple flowers growing outside the old stables and the staff working in the office nearby must have had a good laugh at me crawling around trying to get a nice pic without catching my own shadow.

Hibernating snails

One of the beauties of travelling is exploring and discovering new places and things.  I dropped my mom off in Despatch after a visit and swung through town to pick up a Geocache I hadn't ticked off my list.  I parked next to a couple of Coral Trees (Lucky Bean Trees as some people know them) and on my way back to the car noticed a whole bunch of snails on one of the trees.  And when I say a whole bunch I don't mean like 10 or 20.  There were literally hundreds.  On closer inspection I saw them on all the trees along the road but I selected the one with the most and grabbed my camera.

 

I've been sitting with these pics for a while now and posted one of them on my Facebook Page.  The pic got a lot of reaction and somebody asked why they do that.  Going back to the day I saw this, I noticed that non of them were moving.  It was as if they were dead.  A snail cemetery perhaps.  Pulling one or two of them off they had a film across the hole of the shell and the snail was still inside.  Peculiar.  So this morning I decided to consult my good friend Google.  It took some time but finally I found out that some snails go into hibernation, specially during colder months and very dry periods.  Not sure which one of the two was the cause of this mass hibernation as it was a dry winter.  Both perhaps but regardless, always nice to discover and learn something new.

I got the following information off Snail World:

Some snails Hibernate.
Some species of snails actually hibernate during the colder months of the year. They cover their bodies with a thin layer of mucus, which prevents them from drying out. Sometimes snails are also able to hibernate in the summer to survive if they are faced with a severe drought. They live off of the stored up fat during this time of year. This process is one of the many reasons why they have been able to survive for million years.

At the top of Kloof Nek

I'm an Eastern Cape boytjie through and through and I have so many wonderful destinations and places to visit right in my backyard, but I do enjoy to venture a little further every now and then and is always open to invitations *wink*.  The Cape will always stay one of my favorite places away from home province and on my last visit I drove over Kloof Nek where I decided to stop and check out the Kloof Nek Cannons.  I snapped this pic of Table Mountain from the side with the Twelve Apostles stretching away to its right.

A walk to Salt River Mouth at Natures Valley

 

The Garden Route has some excellent hiking trails.  The Otter, Outeniqua and Tsitsikamma trails are epic and will take you a couple of days covering long distance lugging along backpacks while short loops like Storms River Mouth, The Big Tree and Garden of Eden will use up an hour of your time with only a camera over your shoulder before heading off to your next destination.  These aren't the only trails though and whichever trail you choose will depend on where you are and how much time you have.  Spending a Sho't Left long weekend in the Crags and Nature's Valley we decided to put aside a morning to do the 5km round trip hike to Salt River Mouth. 

 

We left our car at the Nature's Valley Restaurant and Trading Store and headed off down the beach in a westerly direction.  After a quick discussion we decided to do it anticlockwise so about 500 meters down the beach we turned right and followed the path through the coastal forest up towards the lookout point above Nature's Valley.  The lookout point is the perfect spot to get your breath back after the climb.  It gives you a stunning view of the coastline and Nature's Valley below.

Shortly after the lookout point you turn left and from there it's downhill all the way to the Salt River.  Before you get to it you start to catch glimpses of the river and the little lagoon by the river mouth.  The path spits you out slightly upstream and from here you follow the bank down towards the ocean.  We timed our walk to coincide with low tide so there wasn't as much water as you would find at high tide. 

There was more than enough water for a dip though and seeing the inviting water after a warm walk had the KidZ nagging for us to take a break before heading back.  There's no body surfing to be done in the lagoon so the Damselfly just splashed down in the shallows while the KidZ and I explored the banks (yes, there was a Geocache to be found) and swam a little bit.  This is also a great spot to break out the snacks we carried along.  Although we didn't spot anybody while walking, I was quite surprised how many people actually made their way down the path and along the banks while we were there.

 

After drying off in the sun a bit it was time to head back towards Nature's Valley, this time along the coastal route.  After a short distance we hit an area I saw referred to somewhere as the Black Rocks.  I imagine this could become an exciting little piece of traversing at high tide and I was quite glad that we chose low tide what with having the KidZ with us and all. 

 

After a bit of rock hopping and finding the best path to follow we reached a spot from where we could look back on the coastline.  In the photo the Salt River is situated in the bay visible in the middle of the picture.  From here it was about a kilometer back to the car.  Not that we got back in the car.  It was first time for an ice cream and something to drink at the restaurant while watching a couple of hikers who just finished the Otter celebrate.  We may not have done the Otter, but we got to hike and see some of the beautiful coastline this part of the world has to offer.  Very much the same as the okes on the Otter. 

The Norvalspont Concentration Camp Memorial

The Anglo Boer War (1899 - 1902) is one of the big turning points in South Africa's history along with the arrival of Europeans in the country, the Great Trek, the Apartheid years and a new democratic South Africa.  Okay, so the history is about more than just those five turning points but that is what came to my mind just now.  One of the most significant things that happened during the Anglo Boar War was that it was the first time ever that concentration camps were used anywhere in the world.  During the war thousands of men, women and children were kept in these camps with 4 177 boer women, 22 074 children under sixteen and 1 676 boer men dying in these camps.  That's not even counting the over 14000 deaths in black concentration camps.

 

A couple of years back we spent a holiday at the Gariep Dam and I read about Norvalspont where one of these concentration camps we situated.  I never got a chance to visit the site but driving back from Johannesburg recently I decided to make a stop on my way back towards the coast.  The turnoff was on my route and after about 2 kilometers on a smooth dirt road I came across the site.  No magnificent monument, no fancy visitor centre, no guides hanging around to show visitors around and no tourist trap curio and food stalls.  In actual fact, there wasn't another soul in sight.  Just a big paved area surrounded by a low stone wall and three stone monuments with plaques on them.  From what I can gather its the site of the concentration camp's cemetery.

 

Norvalspont was seen as a model camp and was much better off than most of the other camps even though conditions were still very bad.  It was situated on the banks of the Orange River which meant that there was at least enough water and fire wood available.  It was not that Norvals Pont lacked the problems of the other camps. On the contrary, the measles epidemic struck early and was followed by scarlet fever and diphtheria.  Families also poured in without warning and tents and blankets often ran out.  The camp was one of those visited by Emily Hobhouse in 1901.  At times there were over three thousands people housed at Norvalspont, all housed in tents on the site, while the camp had a total of four hundred and twelve deaths.      

Standing there on a warm winters afternoon without a breath of air moving and only cicadas calling it does become a bit of a profound experience.  One where you realize how much sadness and despair there must have been right there yet there is also a spirit of strong and proud people who supported each other and stood together through this difficult time.  A profound experience indeed.   

For more information on the Norvalspont Concentration Camp have a look at
Anglo Boere Oorlog/Boer War (1899-1902) NORVALSPONT Camp/Kamp
and
Waschbank River Lodge

I miss my ellie friends

Way back when I started working in the tourism industry I worked as a freelance tourist guide and one of the companies that used me had tours going to Addo Elephant National Park just about every day.  That means that I got to go to the park 5 or 6 times a week and I never got tired of it.  These days I don't get to visit Addo nearly as much as I would like to and when I had the opportunity to drive through it on my way to a meeting I didn't say no.  It was nice to spend some time with my old ellie friends, even if it was only for an hour or two.

Forest scenes and senses from the Tsitsikamma

The Tsitsikamma is famous for its stunning scenery, magnificent forests and exciting adventures.  I often wonder how many people visit here and marvel at the big things but totally miss the little ones.  Ferns with new leaves opening up, soft moss growing on a rock, bracket fungus on the side of a log, the sound of a forest stream slowly flowing through the underbrush and over a little waterfall and the call of baboons in the distance.  What about the sound of the wind in the trees, the breaking of a branch falling down, the smell of the moist forest and the red flash of a Knysna Loerie overhead followed by it's ko-ko-ko call.  Suddenly I yearn to be in the forest, somewhere I go to feed my soul and always leave behind a piece of my heart.