A blooming nice display at Van Stadens

 

The West Coast and Namakwaland is famous for their spring flowers while a number of reserves in the southern Cape, one of these being the Baviaanskloof Wilderness Area, are UNESCO World Heritage Sites as it is where the Cape Floral Kingdom occurs.  Living in Port Elizabeth it's not always possible to do the trek west to go and view flowers but a few weeks ago I realized that it's not  necessary.

About 40 kilometers west of Port Elizabeth is the Van Stadens Wildflower Reserve, a 500 hectare open space next to the Van Stadens River gorge.  The reserve covers the gorge's southern wooded slopes, a large plateau to the east and the northern river banks, each with its own vegetation types.  The reserve is covered in various hiking trails ranging from a short 500 meter trail to longer ones up to 11 kilometers.  Some of the trails are also suitable for mountain bikers while there are also gravel roads accessible to cars in the plateau section.  The flowers, especially the flowering proteas, in the reserve is stunning at the moment.  Enjoy the display. 

More information about the reserve can be found on their listing with Nelson Mandela Bay Tourism or with the Friends of Van Stadens.

Shefetswe goes crawling for a cache

I love to road trip, doesn't matter if it is for work or pleasure, solo, with friends or family.  Road tripping takes me to places, allows me to sightsee, discover things, give me photo opportunities and... Geocache.  It's amazing how one can actually plan your whole road trip and all your stops around Geocaching.  It was no different on a recent Cape Town road trip with friends and fellow travel peeps and Geocachers Erenei and Shefetswe.  On the way back we stopped at a picnic spot next to a little waterfall outside Caledon in the Overberg to stretch our legs a bit and to allow Shefetswe to find a cache Erenei and I had done on a previous trip.

While I was having something to snack on and taking a few photos, Erenei and Shefetswe did a bit of mountain climbing towards ground zero. 

Size wasn't on the big guy's side as you have to get right down low to find this container and it was quite funny watching him crawl around.  Yeah, yeah, it's always funny if somebody other than yourself is doing it.  He did come up with the cache successfully shortly after I snapped this last pic. Log signed and it was time for us to hit the road again.

Sunset on the Zuurberg Mountains

An afternoon trip to Addo for an early evening meeting had me arrive in the area an hour or so early.  Problem? Not at all.  Doesn't matter where you are, if you have a passion for travel and is a Geocacher to boot, there will always be something to see, do or find.  This day was no different.  I decided to take a leisurely drive up the Zuurberg Pass to pick up a Geocache I hadn't done before plus it's been a while since I've been up the pass and I was keen to see what the road is like these days.  For a start, the road is in excellent condition.  Secondly, I found the cache I was looking for.  Thirdly, and this was the special bonus of the day, I was greeted with this sight on my way back down.  A beautiful sunset over the Zuurberg Mountains.

Exploring the old Storms River Pass

I have a special connection with the Tsitsikamma forest.  It is where I go to plug in my soul for a bit of a recharge.  It doesn't even have to be an extended recharge.  Just a couple of minutes sitting in the forest next to a stream taking in the forest with all my senses is enough.  There are various ways to explore the forest with trails being the most effective way to leave everything behind.  One of these "trails", the biggest one actually, is the old Storms River Pass starting from Storms River Village.

The Tsitsikamma (then known as Zitzikama) area was first surveyed by the famous pass builder Thomas Bain in 1879.  He found impenetrable forests east of Plettenberg Bay with access made even tougher by deep gorges.  During the planning process of building a pass through the Storms River gorge, Bain followed the ancient elephant migratory routes down to the river and as elephants find the easiest way down, decided to build his pass along those routes.  Labour for this difficult task was provided by convicts and some of their graves can still be seen on the outskirts of the Village.  The pass itself was completed in 1884 and until the N2 and Storms River Bridge were built in 1955 was the only way to get through the gorge.  Today the road is closed for traffic and can only be access on foot, bicycle or on Storms River Adventures' Woodcutters Journey tour.  

 

The Woodcutters Journey takes one down the pass in a small truck with a guide telling you more about the history of the area as well as the ecology of the forest.  The tour tops quite often for the guide to point our specific trees or plants and explains the role it plays in the forest and those who have lived in it in the past.  The tour also allows for you to hop off if you want and walk a section of it.  

I had been down the old pass a number of times, but on this specific trip the guide showed us something I have never seen.  He took us along a path next to the road and showed us some of the original stonework done by Bain and his workers.  In this case a small tunnel under the road to channel water away.

At the bottom of the pass the forest opens up and while the guide unpacked a picnic lunch, we took a walk to the low water bridge over the Storms River.  I'm sure I was told at some stage that the bridge were built by soldiers after the first World War, but please don't quote me on that.  I can't seem to find any info on it on the internet.

The trip down the Storms River Pass really is an alternative way to explore the forest and learn a bit more in the process.  I need to be alone to recharge though and the batteries are starting to run low.  I think a return visit is just about in order.

Clinking glasses and eating cheese at Packwood

Having a food and wine lover on a road trip means the trip is likely to be interrupted at some stage or another to indulge, or at least enjoy in moderation, either or both of these.  This is what happened on a recent road trip to Cape Town with fellow tourism peeps and Geocachers Shefetswe and Erenei.  We just left Storms River Village when Shefetswe got a phone call and announced that we were invited for a wine tasting at Packwood Wine Estate between Plettenberg Bay and Knysna.  Wine on the Garden Route? Yes, the Plett Winelands consist of 16 wine estates and is the most easterly wine route in South Africa.  I've had a chance to visit the biggest one in the area, Bramon, before so it was great to be able to experience what one of the others in the area had to offer.

 

We were met at Packwood Estate by owner Vicky Gent and Patty Butterworth of Plett Tourism.  Packwood started in 1998 as a dairy farm and today has about 950 Jersey cows who happily travers the rolling green hills of the estate.  In 2006 they decided to start a vineyard and produced their first wine, the Packwood Sauvignon Blanc, in 2009.  They also produce a Pinot Noir and a Pinot Noir MCC, with all three wines on the list for us to taste.

 

While we enjoyed the beautiful scenic view from the tasting area, Vicky was telling us about the farm and how they only use organic produce in their lunches. Lunch? Did somebody mention lunch?  Lunch came in the form of  a selection of cheeses made with milk from Packwood's Jersey cows, a crisp garden salads, delectable home wine estate baked bread, homemade chutneys and preserves.  Although Packwood doesn't produce it's own cheese commercially (they supply their milk to a commercial cheese producer though), they do produce cheese for the lunches they serve.  I'll be the first to admit that I'm not a big wine drinker, but cheese... I love cheese.  The one thing to keep in mind if you want to consider Packwood is that it's not one of those commercial wine tasting and lunch venues.  I would rather call it a boutique stop for the discerning wine and cheese lover.  Something a bit more exclusive and expensive so don't go there if you just want to stuff your face and get your tummy full while quaffing a few glasses of wine. 



One of the things to remember when serving food while hosting bloggers, photographers and social media people is that, come hell or high water, photos will be taken when food get served.  So don't grab anything before the cameras and phones didn't come out.  Here Shefetswe is doing his thing and, while I wait my turn to rearrange, I maar sommer took one of him.  And yes, that is an amused Vicky watching the whole process.

The wine and table with a bit of HDR added made for another great photograph. Something Erenei spotted.
 

It wasn't long and our visit to Packwood was over.  It does have me a bit more curious about the Plett

Winelands and at some stage I need to come and spend a couple of days in the area and explore a few more of the estates before the world discovers this special little wine route and descend on it en-mass.  Because it's going to happen at some stage.

Ganora Fossil Museum

When I grew up I wanted to be an archaeologist.  Somebody like Indiana Jones who discover lost cities and artifacts, dig up dinosaurs and made remarkable finds that would wow the world.  That dream kinda shattered when I found it it wasn't all quite as adventurous and glamorous.  Instead I went into tourism although the interest for archaeology is still there.  This interest truly got fed when I spent a night at Ganora Guestfarm out Nieu-Bethesda recently. 

 

In prehistoric times the Karoo was a huge inland swamp (and not a sea as some people claim) and 253 million years ago, during the Permian Period, the area around the present day Nieu-Bethesda was covered by big meandering rivers which flowed in a northerly direction.  The floodplains around these rivers teemed with prehistoric animals which died along the banks of the rivers, was covered with mud and got preserved as fossils.  This period was 50 million years before the first dinosaurs so the fossils in the Karoo pre-dates things like the famous T-Rex, Triceratops and Brachiosaurus.  One of the best places to go and see and learn about these fossils is Ganora Guestfarm and there is no better person to show you around than owner JP Steynberg.

When the Steybergs bought the farm in the 1990's they had no idea it contained a treasure trove of fossils and San (Bushmen) artifacts.  This they only discovered on a picnic in a riverbed on the farm a few months later.  That was the start of it and the rest, as they say, is history.  In 1998 they registered their private museum and today has one of the biggest private fossil and artifact collections in South Africa.  JP showed me around the museum and I literally didn't know where to look.  The collection truly is magnificent.  The fossils in the exhibit are on average about 280 million years old and comes from a time when mammal-like-reptiles roamed the earth.  As I said, from a pre-dinosaur time.  The collection also includes small models to give an indication of what these animals looked like, fossilised leaves from the Glossopteris trees and the Compasia dela Harpi fish fossil  of which they have the only complete example of in the world.  JP's passion for and knowledge of fossils comes through as soon as he starts talking and I was immediately sorry that I wouldn't have time to go out onto the farm with him to see fossils in their "natural" environment.

 

Next JP took me into the next room where the Bushman artifacts are on display.  Like the fossil museum this part of the museum is a registered museum as well and they keep careful record of where the artifacts were found and have cataloged them according to the law.  JP pointed out tools to grind seed and grain, arrow heads used to hunt and sharpened rock used to cut.  Also of interest is the ostrich egg shell beads.  Most of these came from caves and areas used as "workshops" on the farm and surrounding areas.  Again I cursed the fact that I had no extra time to go on a tour of the farm as I would have loved to see some of the rock paintings and natural shelters the San would have lived in.

 

It does mean that I have an excuse to return to Ganora for a weekend and give myself enough time to see all of it for myself.  Something I will seriously make work of.

Unusual monuments

At the end of August I took a road trip to Johannesburg and on my travels discovered two slightly unusual monuments.  Discovered by the way, as there were Geocaches hidden close to both.

 

The first one was a monument just outside of Middelburg in the Eastern Cape.  The stone monument has a picture of a chair on it and the sign says "Stoel Monument" (Chair Monument).  So what is the story behind the Stoel Monument?  There's a long and a short so I will keep to the short.  During the Anglo Boer War Commandant J. C. Lotter was well known for his daring hit and run tactics employed against the British forces.  Lotter and most of his commando were caught near Graaff-Reinet.  Lotter stood accused of "murder, marauding and disgraceful conduct of a cruel nature" and was charged with human rights violations and war crimes.  He was found guilty and sent to Middleburg where he was sentenced to death.  At the spot where the monument stands is where he was tied to a chair and shot.  Get it? Tied to a chair and shot = chair monument to remember him.   

The second unusual monument I got to visit on the trip was the Bles Bridges Monument outside Bloemhof in North West Province.  Bles Bridges was a much beloved and very popular Afrikaans singer who died in 2000 in a car accident on this spot just outside Bloemhof.  The local business chamber decided to put up a monument to remember him by and there you have it, a monument that looks like a grave stone with a guitar on it.