Sky Watch Friday - Heading South

A scene in the Southern Part of the Addo Elephant National Park. It is still under development and will be a great addition to Addo, when the fences eventually come down to allow the game through.

For more great pictures from around the world go to the Sky Watch site

Taking the back roads

When you leave the Addo Elephant Park through the Southern Gate, you enter a completely different biome and get a spectacular view of Algoa Bay before dropping down to the coast at Colchester.

New life

This little elephant calf looks like it is a very recent arrival to the Park. What a delight it was to watch him or her running after the mamma.

Dust bath

Group of elephants enjoying a dust bath at Rooidam, at the Addo Elephant National Park. I do not know what the appeal is, but they were certainly enjoying themselves.

Meerkats and Elephants

I have been in Addo withdrawal so we just has to take a jaunt there this morning. We were rewarded by the troop of meerkats, or suricates if you prefer. This is the first time we have seen them there and they were most entertaining scavenging in the grass and checking the area for predators.


And then there were the elephants at Gwarrie Pan. These two juveniles were having fun strolling along the edge of the pan annd stopping for an occassional drink.

Erica Building

The old Erica Building, which is just across the park from our house, started off as a girl's school. It also had a short stint as a military establishment in the 1980's and it now houses the school of art for the Port Elizabeth College.

When I stopped of to photgraph it the wind was blowing up a storm and I had to support the tripod to stop it from shaking. Not sure that I was that succesful in stopping the camera shake, but if adds to the eerie look of the place.

Sky Watch Friday - Rainbow skies

Cape St Francis lighthouse taken last Saturday. It was a case of being in the right place at the right time. I was taking pics of the lighthouse, when suddenly the rainbow appeared and put on a quick show and then it was gone.

For more pictures from around the world, visit the Sky Watch site.

Cameos of a lighthouse # 4

I wonder about the mind that came up with the design of the prism, to magnify the light. Aside from its functionality, it is a work of art.

Then onto the top balcony, with the original railings. The view is magnificent, but on a really windy day you could easily be blown off.

Cameos of a lighthouse # 3

When the concrete steps run out, you reach the top with by the metal stairs

In the early days the light was rotated with a clockwork mechanism. The lighthouse keeper was kept on his toes, by having to climb the tower every few hours to haul up the weights. The cable for the clockwork mechanism was run through the wooden tube.

I took this shot of the inside of the wooden tube, through an inspection hole in the side. The cable is still in place.