See our town to town Blogs!

Tree art at the Limpopo River: double click on these pictures to get a closer look at the sculptures carved in its trunk

Grey evening calm before the storm: Jeffreys Bay 15 November 2009

Port St Francis: October 2009
South Africa boasts a thriving fishing industry, exporting the finest quality deep sea species to all corners of the globe. For these fisherman, work is a passion and a way of life away from the mad rush of city life. Finest quality fish goes hand in hand with finest quality life style, as the three pictures below will reveal.

5 September 2009: Cape St Francis

Rock formations on the sea bed create spectacular ocean spray displays.


See links to the garden route of South Africa below, which runs along the coast of the very southern tip of Africa. Scroll down below interesting facts about South Africa:

South Africa has won 6 Nobel Prizes

• Two of the Nobel Peace Prize winners have homes the same street in Soweto, Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu


• South Africa ranks top ten for sunny days in the world. The average annual temperature is 28 to 8 degrees celcius


• South Africa produces half of the world’s gold


• South Africa will host the 2010 FIFA Football World Cup


• South Africa is the current Rugby World Cup champion


• The world’s first heart transplant was performed in South Africa by Dr Chris Barnard in 1976


• South Africa is the second largest exporter of fruits in the world


• Tugela Falls is the second highest waterfall in the world at 2,789 feet


• The automatic pool cleaner was invented in South Africa


• The South African Constitution recognises eleven official languages


• The South African population is estimated at 50million people


• South Africa is 1 221 037 square kilometres


• The greatest variety of wildlife species on the African continent can be found at Kruger National Park


• Bloukrans Bungy is a Guinness World Record holder for the highest commercial Bungee Jump in the world at 216m http://www.faceadrenalin.com/bloukransbridge.asp


• South Africa has the cheapest electricity in the world


• South Africa is the only country in the world to voluntarily abandon its nuclear weapons program


• South Africa has nearly 90% of the platinum metals on earth, 80% of the manganese and 73% of the chrome


• The world’s largest diamond, the Cullinan Diamond, was found in South Africa in 1905


• The fastest land animals in the world can be seen in South Africa: cheetah (100 km per hour), wildebeest, lion, and Thomson's gazelle


• The tallest Giraffe recorded was 6 metres tall


• The largest elephant recorded was 4m tall at the shoulder and weighed 10 tonnes


• The warm Indian and cold Atlantic Ocean meet at Cape Agulhas (From the coast of the Antarctic continent northwards, along the meridian of 20º E to Cape Agulhas (34º 50’S – 20º 00’E), the southern extremity of the Republic of South Africa, in Africa (the common limit with the South Atlantic Ocean)


• The Baobab Tree Bar is in the world’s largest Baobab Tree (47 m circumference, 22 metres high) in South Africa


• Judah Square outside Knysna is home to a large Rastafarian community


• South Africa offers Cage diving with Great White Sharks to tourists near Gansbaai helping to raise awareness for conservation


• To highlight concern for climate change, the Kahuna Surfing Academy in Cape Town organised a Guinness World Record attempt for the most surfers standing on the same wave for five seconds. South Africa won at Muizenberg in 2006 when 73 surfers rode the same wave


• Jeffreys Bay is one of the five most famous surf spots in the world


• Cape Route 62 is the longest wine route in the world


• South Africa was re-admitted to the Commonwealth of Nations in 1994


• South Africa has the 41st longest coastline in the world at 2,798 km’s


• The highest mountain in South Africa is Njesuthi at 3,408 metres


• The highest paid CEO in South Africa is Steve Ross from Edgars, who earned a reported $111,600,000 in one year


• Total estimated South African GDP for 2007 was $467.381 billion


• South Africa’s prime interest rate is 11% at 26 July 2009 and the interest rate on savings in money market accounts reached above 12% in 2009


• The South African Rand can only be directly exchanged for $USD on the world market

1 June 2009: Spectacular Cape Town Thunderstorms





12 March 2009: Presidential Election News

Amazing world events often coincide with a full moon or lunar eclipse. An interesting example was the creation of the world bank.


12 March 2009: Jeffreys Bay is a sleepy town with all the elements of pure paradise. The winter months bring hundreds of surfing dolphins into the bay from April to November. Whales tend to visit during winter months to mate and give birth putting on quite a show.

To see our local artist's impressions in original oil and acrylics, visit http://www.martinbakker.com/ and order your original directly from MNBakker@Telkomsa.net




7 November 2008: New Attraction! When heading from Plett to Knysna, why not hitch a ride on an elephant. It beats getting the bus (or even the river taxi).




Plettenberg Bay from Robberg, the most beautiful place in the world.

Click on the text links to see more pictures and a detailed review of each resort
To plan a driving holiday, we think the most useful map can be found at
http://www.sa.c2a.co.za/ , a map you can use to zoom in and out to see the highways and layout of the cities in relation to each other.

For a detailed route planner, select where you want to travel to and from at http://www.shellgeostar.co.za/

Port Alfred is a sleepy coastal town with a world class Marina and mansions galore. See more!

Port Alfred (& surf gallery)

Port Elizabeth is where the 1820 settlers first docked in the new country. A town with a rich history and quiet city buzz.

Port Elizabeth

The garden of South Africa bursts to life all year round, and what a great place for a bit of adrenaline rush.
Storms River and Bungee Jumps





Jeffreys Bay = world surfing capital. Enough said.
Jeffreys Bay

St Francis Bay is the world's perfect town. Sunshine, palm trees, finest restaurants, white beaches, rolls royces on water and beautiful homes.
St Francis Bay






Cape St Francis Seal Point








Plettenberg Bay

Polo, princes and spectular views.

Oyster farm, arts & crafts.

Knysna

Back to nature.

Brenton

Hollywood meets Swiss Alps

Cape Town Region

This blog-web is here to shine a light on the positive aspects of South Africa. Explore our beautiful towns and cities.

Choose from the links to hop from town to town and experience a sneak preview of what awaits you when you visit South Africa. Our National Roads are perfect for biking tours and the larger the group the better.

We do have a crime issue. Pepper spray is legal here, so get a small bottle for the car.

All you need to have the best adventure is a pair of shorts, jeans, a t-shirt, something to cover the rain and flip-flops/hiking boots. Our best entertainment is our bountiful natural resources.

This poem was written a few years ago by the creator of this blog, for her father, who was tied up in his home, a teacher robbed from his hard earned posessions and traumatised by strangers. The criminals did not harm him physically, but took his sense of freedom and independence with them. My hope is that they find this poem, and change their hopes and dreams for something better.

Ode to my burglar

Oh burglar of the night

Sweep in from the dark

You stand by my bed

Your sword stirs my heart

Oh burglar of delight

Bind limbs and good intentions
Play fiddle with my nerves
Kill my passion for invention

Oh burglar of posessions
Rewards of love and labour
You threaten to take my life
For lack of good behaviour

Oh burglar of profession
Growing minds and fruits of labour
You bleed your country of strife
For peace, prosperity, love for thy neighbour

Oh burglar I do wonder
Where does your hate stem from
What broke your mind and spirit

To harm those who do you no wrong ?

Oh burglar I hear thunder
War errupting from the throng
Of your footsteps trampling on the merit
Of work hard and effort long

Oh burglar why don't you see
The bounty you steal is worthless
The price is loss of freedom
Wealth stems from being virtuous

Oh burglar, for the power you seek
Your knife and string are useless
The power of knowledge is your only hope
To conquer your kingdom and happiness

Oh burglar where will it end
Cheap thrill and loss of dignity
What will your family and friends say
When you throw away your life and their privacy

Oh burglar will Thy Name End in Murderer
When fate and God deal their hand
I pray the Lord take you hand and eye
Before you destroy this beautiful Land

N Fowler January 2008

22 May 2008

WoW! Sitting on a packed commuter train to London this morning, what a pleasure to see beautiful Port Elizabethean ocean spread accross a page in the Metro. I never realised killer whales came so close to the Bay!! Just wonderful.