Exploring with my camera
We left Oudtshoorn late morning to drive the 238 kms to Swellendam on the tarred R62, then turned off on a quieter, concrete road, heading for Calitzdorp. The concrete road was the original road between Oudtshoorn and Calitzdorp and the first … Continued
We drove out of Oudtshoorn towards the Cango Caves but didn’t go in – I am claustrophobic – and just wanted to see the scenery closer to the mountains.
Cornelis Jacobus Langenhoven (1873-1932) was a writer, poet, and philosopher who lived in Oudtshoorn and was perhaps best known as the author of Die Stem, the poem whose words were used as the original South African national anthem.
Oudtshoorn as a South African town dates back to the mid-1800s and is principally known for the production of ostrich products. I visited last year and in this post just wanted to walk around the town and take in some … Continued
We left PE on a grey day for drive the 325 kms to Oudtshoorn, choosing to travel through the Langkloof on the R62 rather than along the coast. The Langkloof is a valley of c.160kms with a climate which is … Continued
Saturday’s heat and humidity had been tiring and so we decided on a quiet Sunday, wandering down the coast from Port Elizabeth with stops to smell the sea and perhaps see dolphins. The sea smells salty here, and fresh, and … Continued
It had been the hottest and most humid day of our travels in South Africa and after walking around the town in the morning it was the end of the day before we felt able to venture out again. Fresh, sea … Continued
The area around Algoa Bay, now known as Nelson Mandela Bay, was already inhabited 100,000 years ago by the Bushmen who were hunter-gatherers. They were gradually chased out by the Xhosa and other tribes. Europeans first found the site when Bartholomew … Continued
Graaff Reinet used to have a railway station, opened in 1879, and the slow but steady disintegration of the railway network is told in this excellent blogsite with wonderfully evocative photographs. I can remember the excitement of taking on a second engine … Continued
Hidden away behind the main street is one of the most amazing plant nurseries I have ever seen! The Obesa Nursery is Johan Bouwer – an extraordinary man in the real sense of the word. And here I was, in photography … Continued