Mini vs Maxi Tour - The Eastern Cape has it all

When I was looking at the plans for the Mini vs Maxi tour I was again reminded that the Eastern Cape is a really amazing tourist destination, but that is not always recognised as such.

Sue and I recently joined Couch Surfers and have had some fantastic people come and stay with us, but it always seems that they are just passing through. When I ask them if they are planning a trip to the Addo Elephant Park, they look at me blankly and say, "No, we are going to Kruger. I am sure we will see elephants there."

"Yes you will, but we have the big seven here," I say.

They also don't seem to realise that our elephant cows are much prettier, because they do not have their delicate facial features spoilt by large tusks.

And then, can you see whales and dolphins and sharks in Kruger?



We have the Wild Coast, the Sunshine Coast and the Garden Route.
We have lush green forests with amazing yellow woods and the wide open spaces of the Karoo. There are mountains and valleys and rivers, lakes and dams.

We have the most amazing fynbos and aloes. In fact there is always something flowering in the Eastern Cape, no matter what time of the year.

You can ski in the snow in winter and on the lakes and rivers in summer.

We have everything in the Eastern Cape and next week the Mini and Maxi teams will be experiencing the "adventure" activities the province has to offer. There will be many updates on what the province has to offer next week.

What don't we have? Malaria..............so, who cares. There is no need to go further North or South.

A whale of a time

On Saturday we went out on a whale watching trip with Lloyd, from Raggy Charters. It was a round trip, of just over three hours, from the harbour to Brenton Island and then around St Croix and Jahleel Islands, past the new deep water port at Coega and back along the coast to the harbour.


Lloyd warned us not to be disappointed if we did not see any whales, but to sit back and enjoy the trip, because there was so much to see. The first sighting was the spout of a Bryde's Whale, which was not very cooperative and disappeared very quickly. These whales live permanently in the Bay and are quite shy and seldom seen.

"There she blows!"


On the return trip just past Coega we came across a pair of Southern Right Whales, just beyond the breakers, which did not disappoint us. All our earlier sightings have been of little specs in the distance, photographed from the shore. I did post some pictures once, but never again.

We spent about twenty minutes (the maximum legal limit) watching this pair and left.


All I can say is, "Wow what a trip. It was corth every cent". If you live in Port Elizabeth and have never done it, take the plunge, you will not regret it.

For more pictures of these whales go to Port Elizabeth Daily Photo.

Conserve our Sea-life

We always look forward to June as it is the start of the whale watching season, along the Eastern Cape coast, which runs through to September.
This year has started out very well. A recent newspaper report said that about 20 humpback whales were passing Cape Receife every day on their way to their breeding grounds.

Sue and I took a jaunt down Marine Drive and weren’t disappointed. The whales were everywhere. And even though they were far out it did not stop us from photographing them. We have lived here since 1978 and it is wonderful to see the increase in the whale population. This is a testimony to the efforts of the conservationists, who have done so much to stop the wholesale slaughter of these great animals

But, being a person with a short concentration span (sometimes) something else caught my eye. Rubber ducks and divers! So I started clicking away.

I would like to think that they were recreational divers, but something about their modus operadii said they were not. Perlemoen (abalone) poachers - the scourge of our coastline!

This suspicion was confirmed when a family of whale watchers parked in front of us drove off.

I looked up to see a rather tough looking character, dressed in a wet suit watching me. In fact he never took his eyes off me. At the same time another fellow was diligently carrying oxygen tanks up from the beach to his car. All this time the two rubber ducks were circling around the many divers in the rock pools off shore.

When a third diver arrived I suggested that it was time to leave. These are not the most amenable people and are prone to resort to violence at a whim.

Just do a Google search for “perlemoen poachers” and see what I mean.

What a contrast. The whales on the one hand the product of international conservation efforts and poachers on the other, a group of unscrupulous people intent on the ruthless plundering the coast and creating another ecological problem.