PETER GIDDY.: December 2018 -- Peter Giddy Guided Tours. Addo; Kragga Kamma; Running; Swimming; Hiking; Cycling; Garden Route; Christmas and Year end parties; Completion of our Kitchen and other alterations. End of school year; End of the Year;

December 2018
Peter Giddy Guided Tours Blog

Beautiful Zebras which we found on an Addo Safari.
Contact Peter at peter.giddy@gmail.com

Peter has been actively taking people like yourself to a variety of interesting and enchanting places around the Eastern and Western Cape for the past three years.
I specialize in small or family groups. Wildlife reserves such as the Addo Elephant Wildlife Reserve; out of the way and interesting outdoor venues and activities.

Private (Not more than 7 guests).
Addo Elephant Park
Kragga Kamma; Daniel Cheetah; Seaview Lion Park; African Dawn (Birds) and other Combo Tours
Morning 2 or 3 hour hiking trail combined with a Kragga Kamma Wildlife Park.
City; Township; Cultural and Historical Tours
Tsitiskamma adventure tours; Plettenberg Bay beach walks; Bungy; Zip Lines; Segway; Storms River Mouth and Suspension Bridges; Monkey land and Birds of Eden. (Single Day or multiple days)
Namaqualand; Historical; exploration and flower tours (August and September)
Garden Route and Cape Town
Ocean Safari
Passenger Liner -- Shore Excursions.
Horse Riding for both Experienced and Novice Riders

Contact Peter at peter.giddy@gmail.com to arrange your tours to suite your individual needs.

Giraffe in Kragga Kamma.. This is a really splendid reserve with a variety of animals to see.

I am finishing the \10k run. There was a westerly wind blowing so we went out into the wind but the return half was mainly in our favour so we were able to run a faster second half. Jenna was timing us and realised that this was to be a PB for her so we pushed even harder as we approached the finish.

Jenna is part of the MPRG and joins me for the 10k run this morning. For Jenna it is a PB as she times her distance at each km.

A hardy lot of Achilleans -- Bob; Graham; Kenny and Paulette.

John and Tom on the run.... John tells me that he has run just two events this year. Tom is at every race.

Geoff looks pretty tired after his 10km run in the wind
Saturday 1st December 2018. I start the month off with a 10k run in Lorraine with Jenna as running partner. A bit of a windy morning but we have a great run, knocking off the kays in quick succession and Jenna runs a 10k PB.
Official Results from the Aspen 10k
Graham 51min
Paulette 54 min
Jo Anne and Cindy 55min;
Kelly 5 min
Jenna Jeffries; Peter; Tom and John -- 60min (Jenna 60min and 5 secs.)
Geoff 61 min
Michael 63 min
Kenny and Bob 65 min

My afternoon Addo Tour with Crew Members
Sunday 2nd morning. I have a half day Addo for 7 Crew in my vehicle for the Europa. Afternoon Addo Tour for 7 crew members in Mark Heck's Peugot.

Thomas; Velia; Cornelia; Remo; Peter and Tamara at lunch.
Monday -- Start the morning with a 1500m swim with Megan.
I have an Addo Tour with Thomas who is a Social Worker in Austria; Tamara and Velia from Switzerland and Remo (A policeman) and Cornelia (a Nurse) from Switzerland.
Tuesday 4th... Running 7k with Mike; Chris and Jenna.
A Kragga Kamma with Tiphanie Bourgios a nurse from France. We saw one of my most fascinating sightings of all time. A Black Headed Heron hunting. We watched this bird as he stalked a huge frog. We had no idea what it was that he was hunting but could see the intensity of the hunt and the careful precision of the Heron as he slowly slowly sought after and eventually stabbed at the long grass where the Frog clung for dear life. The Heron has this long piercing beak and he eventually pulled the Frog out from its hiding and stabbed it repeatedly until it was dead and he could begin to feed.
Load Shedding is becoming a real pain after years of no load shedding
I meet up with Hiller Kolnick who is a butcher at the Walmer Park PnP. He has Kosher foods and could possibly assist with future Kosher clients. I buy some King Prawns which Barbara and I have for supper. This is the first time I am cooking a supper in the new kitchen which is almost complete.

Megan and I have been swimming off and on for around two years. This has been a good discipline for me and has helped me improve on running as I have maintained the effort but relaxed the amount of leg impact.

Our walk today was a Maitlands Beach Walk

Spoilt for lunch at Flo Zoetmulders house. I bought some porkers and enjoyed these wonderful salads with them.

Paul and Ian in deep discussions

The Braai Area at Beach view

The Ladies table with Dennis gate crashing

The mens table with Dave and Michael who provided the music.
Wednesday 5th... Start the morning with a 1500m swim with Megan.... The pool is almost empty of swimmers as there is a Hockey match there for the rest of the week.
I have a Wednesday hiking group from Maitlands Beach for about 2 hours. We then move over to Flo Zoetmulders beach home where we have a great braai and year end celebrations.
I receive a call for a City Tour ... I pick up these two Indian Men Father and Son who are here to visit Aspen Pharmacuticals.

Lindi; Chris; Jo Anne and David.

Mike ; Jenna and Pat at the 8th Ave intersection with Adrienne in the background

Andrea and Kelly with JoAnne and David

Ronel Charges up Target Kloof
Thursday 6.12.2018 -- Target Kloof run with Chris; Mike; JoAnne; David; Adrienne; Jenna; Pat and Ronel; Andrea and Kelly; Lindi. We run about 8km to 10th Ave and back up Target Kloof.

Ornament found on Reathas Trail.

Josh and I discover this trail all over again.

Melanie -- Swiss -- City Tour from the Beach Hotel.

This is a short walk behind the Sacramento Restaurant.
Josh and I drive to Sacramento to hike with the Thursday group but they had already walked and were having breakfast at Sappershoek. So we walk Retha's Trail and then Breakfast at the Sacramento restaurant. I receive a call for a City Tour which works out very well with Melanie who is Swiss on holiday for a few weeks. I take Melanie to Schoenmakerskop and then I walk the Retha's Trail for the second time today..

Cabbage Tree Emperor Moth. Found while cycling in Linkside this morning.

Bromeliads. Found in Mill Park Gardens

Barbara; Daniel and Lene at the Clarendon Park Grade 7 final Assembly

Daniel and Grandad at the Main Entrance to the school

In the Clarendon Hall.

Alan Lones explains the procedure to the parents and thanks for their support.
Friday 7th. MTB Cycle twice around Grey and Linkside. First cycle in a long time.
Daniel has his final Assembly.... As does Lynne Joliffe.

Lindi; Mike, Chris and Elmarie on the Beach Front run this morning. Elmarie and I ran the 7km. I think that the others did a bit of a walk run. Same distance.

Jacques duToit staff outing to Pumba this morning.
Saturday 8th. Chris picks me up and we run beach front. I run with Elmarie about 7k. Chris; Mike and Lindi follow walking and running. Mike and I swim.
I pick up a Quantum from Mark and then fetch Riana and Jacques DuToit for a Pumba Safari with their staff.

Kim has started cycling recently and has done a TITS 60k cycle to the St Albans Market on Saturday morning where they have pancakes.

Kate is a natural. A few weeks ago she cycled a 70k event in East London. Off road and tough hills.
Sunday... I arrange to meet Kim and Kate for a Cape Recife Cycle. After the cycle Kim continues for another hour or so. She is getting super cycling fit.
Tuesday 11th... Back on track... Running 8km -- 11 000 steps..
City tour from Caitlin from the Beach Hotel. JT from Las Vegas. Looking around PE.
Ally has been ill the past few days and went for a Ultrasound and then blood tests. Now in Hospital for more tests. Suspected Appendix problem.

Moshde and Scruffy. On holiday in SA.

Mfuneko Ngam at Crusaders Cricket ground where he is the assistant coach to the Warriors.
Wednesday -- I have a City Tour for NMBT Pass x 4 with Arshad and his family. We meet Mfuneko Ngam the Warriors Assistant Coach at St Georges Cricket ground. I visit Ally in Hospital where she spent the night and will be there a second night. I then pick up Moshe and Avrohom (Scuffy) who are from New Jersey and we shop for some Kosher food and then I drop them at their hotel where I meet some people who need a ride to their wedding venue in Draaifontein Road. Later that night I fetch them after midnight.

Josh is an ex Woodridge boy. He explains to Moshe and Scruffy what they will be doing

We visit the Carel Landman Monument.
Thursday -- Running 8km with the group. I have a flat tyre which I pump and then take the car to Supaquick. I take Moshe and Scruffy to Holsi Amakhala for a day safari. We stop at the Carel Landman on the way home. I swim 1500m before fetching Ally.

Scuffy is with Monty the Cheetah

Moshe; Terry and Scruffy at Kragga Kamma

Sacramento Canon

Port Elizabeth small craft Harbour.
Friday ... Planned beachfront run is called off due to rain. A washout. In all ways.
I pick up Moshe and Scruffy. We start at Walmer Park where the Iphone place fixes Scruffy's phone. Then Kragga Kamma and we have Cheetah all around the car. They both go into the enclosure and pet Monty the tame cheetah. Then to Sacramento where they walk to the Whale Carcass and love the environment. We end the day climbing the Campanile and a visit to the PE Harbour. Arrive home all sweaty so rush to the pool and swim 2000m

Lindi; Mike and Chris... Running Strandfontein -- 8km route. After the run I swim with Mike and we meet up with Ron, Lyn; Megan and other beach front people .... Ron and Lyn are having their year end morning group breakfast with Champagne.

Vivian is my guest today Close encounter with Elephants on the route. We also have excellent sightings of Lion and other wildlife.

The Elephant Pool Party at Hapoor on Saturday afternoon Probably around 200 to 300 Elephant in the area.
Saturday 15th.... Run 8km and swim at the beach front with Chris; Lindi and Mike.
Addo with Vivian. 19 year old student doing a 6 month world tour starting in SA.

Moshe and Scruffy are in SA for two weeks and carry all of this luggage plus their backpacks. I drop them off at the airport where they pick up a car to drive to Plett.

Sebastian; Katharina and Thomas at Jacks for lunch
Sunday start the morning with a 15k cycle; Pick up Moshe and Scruffy for an Aiport Transfer. Addo with Katharina -- just qualified Computer science now world tour; Thomas -- App Designer for Apple; Sebastian -- Traveling with Randolf who has a travel agency in CT.

Ronel; Andrea and I ran the 7kay behind Summerstrand

Joubert; Adrienne; Ronel; Lindi; Chris; Sasha (Visiting from Vancouver Canada; Elmarie hiding in the background; Marinel is Jouberts girl friend; Andrea and myself.

My cousin Kate (Sephton) North makes her own Gin. This week I received a bottle from her. "Lets Gin"
Monday 17th is a holiday after 16th falls on a Sunday. So we go to the beach for a run. MESS! The mess at the beach appears to be worse this year than in previous years. We meet at Millers. Andrea; Ronel and I run to Admiralty and up into the suburbs. We run back via Erasmus drive and 5th Ave for a 7kay.

Paula; Daniel; Jenny; Suzie; Matthew and Peter Wilson.

At Hapoor today there were probably 200 to 300 Elephants.

At Spekboom Hide we find Elephants and this is a great opportunity to watch them in close action

Nicky and her children drive from Cape Town. In the kitchen playing games -- Aaron; Mia; Daniel; Zara; Christian; Jessica and Joshua.

Time to start making supper. I make us a couple of dishes of Cottage Pie.
Tuesday 18th. Running 7 kay with Chris; Liesl; Amanda and Lindi
Megan fetches me for a 1000m swim.
I have an Addo safari with Peter Wilson and his family -- Jenny and Suzie; Paula; Daniel and Matthew.

Wednesday hiking group.

Group Hike from Kini Bay

Wednesday evening Famil Braai.

Wednesday walkers.... Zara; Christian; Aaron and Joshua.

Sausages and Sosaties for supper.
Wednesday 19th
Swimming with Megan 1700m. Kini Bay hiking with Joshua; Aaron; Christian; Zara and Mia.

Target Kloof Group. Lindi; Jo Anne; Liesl; Chris; Mike; David and myself

Exclusively Craft with my Breweries tour group. ... and Deliah school friends; Eugene and Elandre; Denton; Nadine and Jan. Mostly from JHB on Holiday. The brewmaster and owner of Dockside Brewery is Mark with wife Jane.

Neil is the owner of Richmond Hill Breweries. Denton Richelle. Deliah; Elandre; Eugene; Nadine and Jan listen to the brewing process.
Thursday 20th. 8km Target Kloof run with Mike; Lindi; Liesl and Chris. I have a Breweries Tour ... Exclusively Craft Richmond Hill Breweries and Bridge Street Breweries. A lot of Beer and Gin. A lot of fun.

Florian; Franzinska and Baby Mathilda at Zuurberg Lookout in Addo Elephant Park.

Franziska at Spekboom hide -- a close encounter with Elephants.
Friday. Start the day with a 7kay run on the beach front with Jenna and Anton.
I have an Addo Tour with Florian; Franziska and Mathilda.

Spekboom Hide with Julianne; Emmy; Fiaka and Thyra
Saturday... I have an early pick up from Orange Elephant at Addo Village. So no running.
We do Addo and Kragga Kamma and have an excellent day.

Valeria; Gaya; Clemente; Filippo --- Elaine; David; Ralf and Yvonne.
Sunday 23rd. I have an Addo Tour for 6. I made a mistake and so the tour was to be for Filippo for a family of four. David and his wife and Ralf and Yvonne.
So Filippo drove his own car. . We still had a wonderful day.

Addo -- Hapoor is where it is all at during summer hot days as the Elephants love to swim and spend a long time drinking and cooling off

Mike; Nicky and I run from Hobie this morning
Monday 24th
Nicky and I join Mike at the beach front for a 5kay run and swim.
I have a list of things to do including some Dole Work which turns out to be quite successful.

Nicky takes her family for a Hobie Beach Parkrun.

Pictures of the Israeli sunset evenings.

Pool Party with a reasonably clean pool.

Christmas eve.... a pic of Michael with Lene; Jess; Josh and Daniel.

Zara is ecstatic about her gift of a set of colouring in pencils.

Mia is the proud owner of a Walkie Talkie Set.

Daniel receiving gifts.

Something really set Ally off. Ally seemed to commandeer the Gift Process.

Dinner with Ally; Barbara; Nicky; Christian; Mia; Zara; Joshua; Aaron; Daniel; Jessica and Lene.

Zebras of Addo Elephant Park

My group in Addo today,,, Romee; Saskia; Isa; Wilhelmina; Laura; Tom and Claire..

My flags on the combi.. Barbara had them specially made. Two on the back and two on the front and one on the side door. Looks great.
Tuesday 25th Christmas day. Pick up 7 for Addo from Kudu Ridge at 7am. December 2018.

Elephant back Riding with Chris and Elana

Andreas and Danil on Duma with Thembani

Not exactly a comfortable ride. An hour is almost too long. Duma (Thunder) is 28 years old and is the dominant male.

Chris is on Thaba with Elana. The last of the Elephants is Mukwa and with Mark and the honeymoon couple from Bloemfontein Should you have concerns about the handling of these Elephant -- They use the "Ask and Reward" system. The Elephants are free to move around as they wish and no force is used. You are invited to inspect the elephant for any signs of mishandling.. The background story to these Elephant (all around 30 years old) is to be found at the Knysna Elephant Park where they come from.

On the way to Knysna from PE it rained most of the way Here is Valeria; Lucia and Luiz at Storms River Bridge in the rain

Lucia is cold as she watches a couple of Bungy Jumpers.

The Knysna Hollow was almost completely destroyed in the fires of June 2017 They have now rebuilt and restored all the accommodation and the main building.

Valeria; Antonia and Lucia register at the hotel
Wednesday 15th. I have Andreasl Elana and Danil for Elephant back Safari
Pick up Luiz Da Silva and family .... Lucia; Antonia; Silvia and Ana for Radisson Blu at 15.50 and then to Knysna Hollow for three nights ... Finally to Taj Hotel Wale St Cape Town.

Youart and I are at the Yacht Club on Leisure Island.

Valeria; Luiz; Lucia; Antonia and Sylvia at Tobys restaurant in Plett.
After I drop off the Brazillians. I meet up with Youart Tose at the Bosuns Restaurant. We have a beer with his friends and then we have a take away curry and rice at his home on Lesuire Island.
Thursday morning we leave his home just before 6am. He gives me a bike to ride. A really good 29er..... He has a beautiful new Scott. We meet some of his friends at the gate but that is the last I see of them as we go ahead. I struggle to keep up as we ride westwards. We turn left at the Simola turn off and then a long climb up the Simola hill. This section alone takes us 20 minutes. On the way back to his home we stop for a Seattle Coffee and again meet up with some of his friends.

I pick up my guests and we make our way through traffic to Plett where we stop for a bit of a beach break. The group sits down at Tobys for a lunch. We stay seated until about 3pm after which we go to the Birds Of Eden.
On the way back to the Hotel we try at a number of Restaurants to make a dinner reservation but absolutely everything is fully booked. I pick up a bit of supper at Spar and am back in my room at Youart where I confirm some bookings for next year. My calendar is starting to look healthy for the months ahead.

The view from Youart\s home on Leisure Isle

Youart likes to meet up with his pals after a bike ride. He stops at the coffee shop for a Seattle Coffee

On Leisure Isle. Youart has a perfect mooring for this magnificent boat which he uses for fishing.

Youart and I on the bike ride. I am using a bike belonging to a friend of his (Andrew).... It is a really good 29er and fits me well.

We cycle around Knysna to Brenton and then turn right towards Phantom Pass. But today we do a flat route .... Just a few km of dirt

Our route is called the Red Bridge Route as we cross this old abandoned bridge.

I am able to run the Knysna Parkrun this morning. They have a huge number of visitors. The run takes us along the promenade pathway that we used earlier for our bike ride.

It was a good run and I have had a nice hard morning.

Knysna parkrun results for event #197. Your time was 00:25:51.

Congratulations on completing your 63rd parkrun and your 1st at Knysna parkrun today. You finished in 89th place and were the 73rd male out of a field of 508 parkrunners and you came 1st in your age category VM65-69.

I pick up my Brazillian Group and we spend the morning at the Sedgefield Market which is really overcrowded this morning.

After the market we visit the Jukani Wildcat reserve where I buy myself a breakfast.

We end our day at the Drydock Restaurant. Here with Luiz; Valeria; Sylvia and Lucia.
They have steaks, Prawns, Oysters and beers. They are having a wonderful holiday.

Early evening supper at Drydock.

Youart setting up on his boat the Tomcat

The Leisure Isle small craft harbour.

He catches this Bonita Fish with his Rapallor and allows me to reel it in.

We return through the heads.

Heads lookout point in the background

Looks so very calm as soon as you enter the Lagoon.

This heron decides to land on the boat as we approach. He is looking for fish scraps.

We visit the Penguin Sanctuary at Bettys Bay with Lucia; Valeria; Berto; Sylvia and Antonia.

Sunday 30th December.
I start the morning with Youart and I going out on his boat to the Lagoon and then out the Heads... This is something that I Never thought that I would do. Exciting.
Once out of the heads Youart attaches he Rappaler to the Rod and then trolls Within minutes there is a bite and he hands me the rod to reel the fish in.
It is called a Bonita which means beautiful woman in Portuguese I think. It is a Predator fish. Youart pulls it in and keeps it to give to the man in the yacht club who works there.
It was a most exciting morning and completely unexpected.

I then fetch my group from the Knysna Hollow hotel and we drive through to Bettys Bay where do the Penguin thing before continuing on to Cape Town where I drop them at the Taj Hotel in the center of town.
I spend the night at Nickys house while they are out at a Wedding.
Monday 31st morning I drive 8.5 hours from CT to PE with just two stops. The George to Plett section is slow and made even slower by a motor accident involving a bus that had to be removed from the ditch.

Ken; Sonja; Kim; Wayne and Simon.

Wayne; Simon; Barbaraa; Ron.

Elmarie; Pat and Ronel.

Elmarie; Pat; Ronel and Adrienne

Lindi; Peter; Michael and Chris.

Peter and Grace

Sonja; Ken and Elmarie.... School Reunion.

Elmarie and Ron.

Our Kitchen in the background has turned out to be a great asset.

This evening we have a whole group of friends for a Braai. It was so funny because Barbara had sent me a message a few days earlier, saying: "Invite a few people, it is probable that everyone has already made plans"....
So in the end it was Chris and Elmarie; Pat, Gerald and Ronel, Ron and Lyn; Wayne and Sonja, Ken and Kim with Kerrin leaving early, Peter and Elmarie with Grace, Michael (Mof) Botha, Peter and Adrienne; Simon and Lindi; .... 21 for supper which was mainly braaied by Chris; Ken and Mof.

December is a month of Christmas and Family

At our home in Port Elizabeth with 7 children... Christian. Aaron. Daniel. Mia. Zara; Jessica and Joshua.

Nicky takes her four children to the Hobie Beach Parkrun. A 58km timed event held around the country at 8am on Saturday mornings.

We managed to clean up our pool in time for the Summer. Here is Lene and 7 and family ... They had a great time together as cousins love to be together. This would be Nicky's first visit in many years to Port Elizabeth and even longer for some of her children.