Chris Marais http://chris-marais.suite101.com/ acclaimed journalist and author of iconic South African books such as “Karoo Keep sakes” and “Coast to Coast” amongst others has chosen to portrait Port Elizabeth and surrounding areas in a series of articles published online at www.southafrica.net as well as in the “must read” Country Life magazine where Alan Tours has had the good fortune to collaborate with Chris to help point out the highlights and hidden gems of the friendly city. Thank you Chris for your support,
Alan

Article by Chris Marais, March 2012

The light that watches over Algoa Bay
Cape Recife Lighthouse, Port Elizabeth

Lying within the bounds of the Cape Recife Nature Reserve on the southern boundary of Port Elizabeth is an active lighthouse that has been warning sea captains off Thunderbolt Reef since 1851. The area is particularly prone to fog, and the lighthouse is an essential guide to passing sea traffic.

( Cape Recife lighthouse near Port Elizabeth )

Travel tips & planning info

Who to contact:
Cape Recife lighthouse
Tel: +27 (0)41 583 4004
Email: enquiries@pinelodge.co.za

Bird & Eco-Tours
Tel: +27 (0)41 466 5698
Email: info@birdtours.co.za

Alan Tours
Tel: +27 (0)72 358 4634
Email: info@alantours.co.za

How to get here

Take Marine Drive and head south along the Port Elizabeth beachfront. You will soon head through the gates of the Cape Recife Nature Reserve, where the lighthouse is the main visual beacon.

Best time to visit

Cape Recife lighthouse looks great any time of the year.

Where to stay

Port Elizabeth has many hotels and guesthouses – see the listed website. Look for a place in the nearby Summerstrand area.

Around the area

The area around the lighthouse is also a birding spot, especially if you’re looking for a sighting of the roseate tern. If you’re looking for exotic wildlife encounters and you’re patient, you might see a Cape clawless otter.

Tours to do

Alan Fogarty of Alan Tours is a good local guide and makes the Cape Recife lighthouse part of his popular Port Elizabeth Heritage Tour.

DID YOU KNOW?

Early lighthouse lanterns were mostly fuelled by sheep-tail fat and paraffin before ‘going electric’.

As you drive up to the Cape Recife lighthouse on the southern tip of Algoa Bay in Port Elizabeth, you might well find yourself in a swirl of mist. You might also experience that deliciously creepy feeling of being momentarily lost in time, with only the swinging beam of a lighthouse to guide your way.

The zebra-striped Cape Recife lighthouse warns passing ships of the dangers of the equally romantically named Thunderbolt Reef, which has claimed many victims over generations of southern African seafaring.

The deadly spine of rocks is named after the HMS Thunderbolt, a steam-driven man o’ war that ran onto the reef on a fine day in 1847. There was hardly a cloud in the sky, and certainly no fog or mist.

The Thunderbolt was refloated and beached in Algoa Bay. She was, however, beyond repair. Her timbers were sold to a Mr JO Smith for just more than 100 pounds sterling. The locals thought he’d been had, and immediately dubbed the purchase ‘Smith’s Folly’, according to travel writer Lawrence Green in South African Beachcomber.

Smith, it seems, had the last laugh. He sold the timbers on to house builders in Port Elizabeth and made a good profit. So when you do a heritage walk of the Windy City and you pass some of those lovely old Victorian homes, you might well be seeing little bits of the HMS Thunderbolt.
The Cape Recife lighthouse was built in 1851, and over the decades has served its purpose. However, it did not deter some rather determined sea captains from beaching their vessels around Algoa Bay.

A certain Captain Nimmo beached his freighter, the Strathblane, after striking a mysterious pinnacle of rock out at sea. After his men landed safely, Nimmo calmly had his bath, dressed up and disembarked. He took the next Cape cart to Port Elizabeth, where he reported the unfortunate incident.

And just before World War I was declared in 1914, the German steamerItzahoe appeared out of nowhere 1 night, heading straight for the lighthouse at speed. The shocked light-keepers resorted to yelling and waving their arms at the vessel, which continued straight onto the rocks nearby.
The Cape Recife lighthouse itself carries some tragic memories. Sometime in the mid-1900s, a fight broke out between 3 squabbling light-keepers up on a hoisted scaffolding, and 2 fell to their deaths.

These days, the lighthouse is part of the Cape Recife Nature Reserve and welcomes visitors by day ... if they can make it through the mist.

Chris Marais http://chris-marais.suite101.com/ acclaimed journalist and author of iconic South African books such as “Karoo Keep sakes” and “Coast to Coast” amongst others has chosen to portrait Port Elizabeth and surrounding areas in a series of articles published online at www.southafrica.net as well as in the “must read” Country Life magazine where Alan Tours has had the good fortune to collaborate with Chris to help point out the highlights and hidden gems of the friendly city. Thank you Chris for your support,
Alan

Article by Chris Marais, March 2012

A wildlife feast, on sea and land

The Big 7

The Big 7 includes lion, leopard, rhino, elephant and buffalo, plus 2 more from the ocean – southern right whales and great white sharks. They are worthy additions. The southern rights come to South Africa's eastern coastline in particular for calving and lolling. The sharks are there all year round.

( Great white shark, member of Big 7 )

Travel tips & Planning info

Who to contact:
Addo Elephant National Park
Tel: +27 (0) 42 233 8600
Fax: +27 (0) 233 8643
Email: addoenquiries@sanparks.org

Alan Tours
Alan Fogarty
Telephone: +27 (0) 41 378 1486
Fax: + 27 (0) 86 603 3701
Cellphone: +27 (0) 72 358 4634
E-mail: info@alantours.co.za

How to get here

The Eastern Cape has 2 international airports at Port Elizabeth and East London. From either of these, you can hire a vehicle.

Best time to visit

While the sharks are around most of the year, the best time to see southern right whales is between June and November.

Where to stay

Addo has excellent accommodation ranging from luxurious to rustic to camping.
Around the area

You're close to Port Elizabeth, one of South Africa's pleasant coastal cities.
Tours to do

Alan Fogarty, a tour guide based in Port Elizabeth, has considerable experience in 'hunting down' the Big 7.

DID YOU KNOW?

About 2 500 southern right whales visit South Africa’s coastline every year.

If you head on a safari into the Eastern Cape, specifically Addo Elephant National Park, you’ll certainly hear some boasts about the area having the Big 7.

In other words, apart from having lion, leopard, rhino, buffalo and elephant, there are also great white sharks and southern right whales to be seen. The term started to be bandied about in the early part of the new millennium, after the Addo Elephant National Park’s area started to be extended to the coastline. The park’s marine reserve component now includes Cape gannet and African penguin strongholds like Bird Island and St Croix. Among these islands swim southern right whales and great white sharks.

So now, in theory, you can see all these animals in one area – a fact worth trumpeting.
But in fact, it hardly conveys all there is to see. You can also see humpback whales, plus a resident group of Bryde’s whales, keen streamlined hunters with a turn of speed that makes them look like giant torpedoes if you’re lucky enough to spot them.

There are endangered humpback dolphins and bottlenose dolphins too. Birders will be excited to know that the endangered roseate tern is found here, as is the black oystercatcher.

It’s not only the Addo Elephant National Park that has the Big 5 in the Eastern Cape, incidentally. There are a number of private game reserves, including Shamwari, Kwandwe, Kariega and Kuzuko – just to mention a few.

The Eastern Cape also has the advantage of being at the other end of the Garden Route, and is malaria-free to boot.

In this context, the boast of the Big 7 starts looking rather like an understatement.

Chris Marais http://chris-marais.suite101.com/ acclaimed journalist and author of iconic South African books such as “Karoo Keep sakes” and “Coast to Coast” amongst others has chosen to portrait Port Elizabeth and surrounding areas in a series of articles published online at www.southafrica.net as well as in the “must read” Country Life magazine where Alan Tours has had the good fortune to collaborate with Chris to help point out the highlights and hidden gems of the friendly city. Thank you Chris for your support,
Alan

Article by Chris Marais, March 2012

A Portuguese wreck loaded with cannon
Wreck of the Sacramento

The way the elegant Portuguese man o’ war called the Sacramento was shipwrecked off the shores near Port Elizabeth, the dramatic 1400km journey of survivors making their way north to a Mozambican port, and the subsequent discovery of the ship’s many cannon make for a stirring South African sea tale.

( Sacramento cannon displayed at Schoenmakerskop, Port Elizabeth )

Travel tips & Planning info
Who to contact:

Nelson Mandela Bay Tourism
Tel: +27 (0)41 582 2575
Email: info@nmbt.co.za

Alan Tours
Tel: +27 (0)41 378 1486
Cell: +27 (0)72 358 4634
Email: info@alantours.co.za

How to get here
From Port Elizabeth Airport you take the M18 on Victoria Road through the suburb of Walmer and follow the signs to Schoenmakerskop. The drive out should take you no longer than 30 minutes.

Best time to visit

It’s a year-round destination, so pick a clear day with good visibility and pleasant walking conditions.

Where to stay

Port Elizabeth has a good selection of accommodation – see the listed Nelson Mandela Bay Tourism website for choices.

Around the area

There is lots to do in Port Elizabeth, including a visit to the local aquarium and museum. There are also great day trips to the Addo Elephant National Park, Grahamstown, Port Alfred and Jeffreys Bay.

Tours to do

Try a Heritage Tour of Port Elizabeth, 1 of South Africa’s oldest cities.

DID YOU KNOW?
A perfectly preserved Sacramento cannon stands at the Prince Alfred’s Guard headquarters in central Port Elizabeth.

The Sacramento was the pride of the Portuguese fighting fleet in the 17th Century. She ran aground just off Schoenmakerskop outside Port Elizabeth on 30 June 1647 in foul weather. By the time she hit the rocky coastline, she had a badly damaged rudder and her sails were in tatters.
The legend of the wreck of the Sacramento has many dramatic parts, 1 of which is the march of the 72 survivors up the coast towards a port in Mozambique, from where they hoped to be transported back to Portugal.

The distance from Algoa Bay (site of the modern-day Port Elizabeth) to the haven in Mozambique was nearly 1400km. The Sacramento survivors stayed on the beach near the wreck site for 11 days before beginning their pathetic trudge up the coast. Along the way, their numbers dwindled to 9 souls.

As they walked, they came across 2 other wreck sites of ill-fated Portuguese vessels: the Nossa Senhora de Belem and the Atalaya. More than 4 weeks into their trek, they met up with a large contingent of survivors of the wreck of the Atalaya. Eventually, 127 people from the wrecks of the Sacramento and Atalaya made it to Lourenco Marques (now Maputo).

The Sacramento, a highly prized man o’ war with 60 fixed cannon, was heavily loaded with a cargo of brass cannon destined for the Portuguese-held districts of India. In fact, 1 of the cannon carried an inscription from its maker (famous gunsmith Antonio Backer) bearing the name of Antonio Telesdemenez, the Portuguese governor of India at the time.

The many cannon of the Sacramento lay undisturbed on the ocean bed for 330 years until most of them were salvaged in 1977. One brass cannon had been totally submerged under the sea sands and was brought up in perfect condition.

One of the original Sacramento guns stands at a special site on Schoenmakerskop, pointing out in the general direction of where the warship met her fate. A plaque briefly tells the story wreck of the Sacramento.

Visitors to the Sacramento memorial site also have the option of embarking on the Sacramento Hiking Trail between Schoenmakerskop and Sardinia Bay. It’s a lovely mix of attractive coastal and ocean sights: gannets and dolphins at sea and large displays of wild flowers on land and as you walk, spare a thought for others who left their footsteps here in more perilous circumstances.