Peter Giddy Guided Tours. September 2019. Wildflowers of Namaqualand; Addo Elephant Park

Peter Giddy Guided Tours.  September 2019.  Wildflowers of Namaqualand; Addo Elephant Park

I leave for a 7 day Tour of the Wildflowers of Namaqualand on 3rd September with Ann Thomas and her sister Margaret. Also from Plett are Gordon and Chrystal.  From PE I have Marjorie Malkin from the Hiking Group as we as Esther from Seaview.

I leave for a 7 day Tour of the Wildflowers of Namaqualand on 11th September with Simon and Dale Blanchard from East London. Also from EL are Johanna and Tollie.  From PE Eckart and Strelza join me.

Peter Giddy Guided Tours -- Shore Excursions -- Addo Elephant and other Wildlife Reserves -- Garden Route.  Flowers of Namaqualand -- 

0027 (0) 82 55 03 714    Whatsup

peter.giddy@gmail.com

• Addo Elephant Park
• Kragga Kamma Wildlife Reserve
• Daniel Cheetah Project
• Pumba; Shamwari; Amakhala; Kariega -- Day trips Private Reserves.
• Mountain Zebra National Park in Cradock. 
• City Historical and Cultural Tours
• Horse riding for both experienced and inexperienced riders
• Hikes and Walks around Port Elizabeth (2 hour Nature and Coastal walks)
• Garden Route Adventure Tours (Zip Lines; Segway  in the Forest; Adventure Quad Biking; Bridge Walks; Bungy Jump; Knysna Elephant Park; Monkey Land and Birds of Eden; Big Cats Sanctuary; Oudtshoorn Cango Caves and Ostrich farms)
• Shore Excursions from Passengers ships
• Airport; Hotel and Wildlife Reserve transfers. 
• Volkswagen Factory visits.  
• Golfing in Port Elizabeth -- where everything is supplied. 
• Flowers of Namaqualand.  Seven days of adventure and exploring places and sights you never even knew existed.  History and natural beauty of the South West of South Africa

Website --   petergiddyguidedtours.wordpress.com

For tours and bookings.. email me at.    peter.giddy@gmail.com

Contact me on Whatsup....  +27 (0) 825503174

Wednesday 18th September.  I am back from Four x 7 day tours of Namaqualand.  This morning I join the running group (9km) ... Actually the walking group and I run with them.  Susan; Adel; Mitch; Liesl; Stefany and Antoinette.

I join the Wednesday walking group .  It is Marjories 80th birthday and we have a small celebration in Barneys.

Thursday walking group.... Sandy is in front of me.. Also in the group -- Karen is the leader; Sheilah; Helen (Austrian); Alice -- British; Yvonne and Jenny.
Thursday... Running with the Walkers Chris; Stefany; Gaye; Antoinette and Susan.
And walking with the Thursday walking group.  From Sappershoek in an Easterly direction..  There is a strong East wind but warm so the 8 in our group have a good hike.

Thursday afternoon I pick up Vladimir (Ukraine Ships Captain on an Oil Carrier) and Alexi (Russian - Navigation officer on the ship) from the Humewood hotel. We go to Addo for a short zip around to see some Elephants; Zebra; Kudu and other animals.
Friday morning.. Back to swimming with Megan.  I do 1200m but battle with breathing.  It is over a month since I last swam and I am out of breath at the end of each 100m.

 Start of the Lady Slipper Parkrun with Dave; Bridget and Adrian as volunteers.

Susan; Helmut who I met on a Thursday walk and myself.   If you enhance the pic you may just be able to see the Lady's Slipper above Susan.

Lady Slipper parkrun results for event #125. Your time was 00:41:14.

Congratulations on completing your 76th parkrun and your 5th at Lady Slipper parkrun today. You finished in 5th place and were the 4th male out of a field of 23 parkrunners and you came 1st in your age category VM65-69.

Saturday morning.  Susan Burri came to do the Lady Slipper Parkrun with me.  It was her first time on this course.  Not an easy track with plenty ups and downs.  Helmuth is a man I met on a Thursday walk. Also an ex teacher.  He did well to keep up as he is not a regular runner and this is only his 5th parkrun ever.  It was a great morning for a run and we all enjoyed the outing. Charmaine was on Tuckshop Duty again and we had a Mince Jaffel after the run.
This afternoon I have a City Tour with McDonald and Spabi from Free State.

Barbara does a beach clean up with Melissa Riordan at Schoenies.

Sunday morning.  Falcon Rock myrun

 It is a bit miserable with a light drizzle and wind.  So it is only the three of us.  With Bridget and Dave who organise the Lady Slipper parkrun.

 This is a really tough course with rocky surface; short sharp ups; branches crossing the path.

Falcon Rock myrun is a worthwhile course.   My time was 46 minutes which is over 9 minutes a km.

Peter and Susan -- Happy to be nearly finished this tough run.

 Bridget is the Sweeper today

 Susan and Peter ... The first 100m is uphill and it takes it out of me if I have not warmed up.

 Susan completed the first 1.5km and now into the forest area.

Peter working hard on the flats

This is Helmuth.  Thursday walking group. His first parkrun here. He is an ex teacher from Framesby and Township schools and is a German Speaker.
Sunday it is raining on and off the whole day.  Our guests (Christine; Richard and son, Carl) are here to watch their son / grandson playing cricket vs Grey high.  The game today is a washout. 
Monday morning.  It is cold and drizzle. But I go out to run with the walkers.  I find Lindi; Mitch and Sjani.  I do 11k of slow running in the wet. Nice hills though. By 8am the sun is shining ; on an off for the rest of the day.
Tuesday 24th September 2019 -- Heritage day.  It is a public holiday.  A number of people are away on holiday or relaxing as if it is a Sunday.  I meet Chris and Susan at the beach for a run.  There is a cold westerly blowing and I think that Chris was not feeling his best so he pulled out shortly after starting.  Susan and I run to Walmer Boulevard and then around Strandfontein road to 2nd Avenue.  By now it has warmed up and we have had a wonderful 10k.  I carry on for a bit and meet up with Steve Mc Donald (Earlier we had seen Bev). He is running with Johnny Bakkes who is on his bike.  His wife Hannelie has recently been appointed as Judge. They are both lawyers.
I visit Cathy Simpson to give her the Fridge Magnets that I had bought for her from the Flower Tour of August.

Barbara and I go to the beach to pick up some stones.  Barbara is using them to paint on the identification of her various flowers in the garden.

Wednesday.  Start the day with a 1500m swim with Megan.  I am starting to regain some fitness which I lost when on the four weeks of touring.

 Mike and Susan.  Mike took the day off after returning from England on Tuesday.

 Relaxing at Dodds Farm.

 This morning there are 30 walking the Settlers Park Trail.

As we top the return trail near to 5th Ave Walmer, Robin finds this Cats Claw flower.

The walk from the bottom of the valley at the River Crossing and back up to the car park is known as the Jan Smuts Walk.
I am joined by Mike and Susan on the walk in Settlers Park this morning.  There are 30 hiking today.  Robin; Di; Jimmy; Lesley; Marjorie; Martie; Keith; Ian; Julian; Jenny; Steve; Eugene; Vivian and Barbara; Des; Errol and Mo; Richard; Keiko; and seven I cant remember.

This afternoon I pick up Roland Rolon and 7 Bikers from Paraguay,  from the Marine Hotel for an Addo Night drive.  They hired 8 Harley Davidson Bikes in Cape Town and are touring South Africa.

 We were grateful of a bit of shade at the break. Sandy has blisters so I lend her my socks.

It had started off chilly this morning early with an easterly wind.  By 9am it felt like it was a berg wind and the sun was strong.
Thursday morning.  Running 8k with Susan.  Chris ran for a short distance with us but is not feeling his best.
Meet up with the Thursday walkers at Kini Bay.  In our group are Karen who is the walk leader again.  Bennie and Sandy who has blisters and falls a bit behind.  Nina and Annmarie; Liesl and Brenda. Jenny and Sheilah stop at Lauries Bay. On other distancesL Lynn Crowthall; Alice; Dave and wife; Yvonne and Marie.
After the walk we meet for lunch at the Dizzy Dolphin where I am at a table with Pam; Golda; Rene and ?.

 Friday 27th.  I pick up Frederik and Cornelia at Addo Wildlife for a day in Addo..  We find an abundance of Elephants and are fortunate to see Buffalo and Lions as well.

 Frederik is a Dentist and Cornelia a Dental Assistant in Germany.  They are here for a short holiday.

The heat was quite unseasonal for September.  At one time it was over 4 degrees.

Time to buy new running shoes.  All the pairs that I currently have are worn on top and on the soles.

Days in the Addo Elephant park are brightened by sightings of Zebra.  The most photogenic of all the animals.

Saturday 29th/   I start the day with a 7km run with Elmarie.  This morning I have brother Kurt and Sister JoAnn from California with me.  We start in Addo where we see vast herds of Elephants including babies and giant bulls. Up close, swimming at Hapoor Dam, Feeding and generally doing what Elephants do.
Our Tour of the day ends with a visit to Kragga Kamma where we are fortunate to find Giraffe and Rhino fairly close to the car.  We could not find the Cheetah in their enclosure but we saw the tame Cheetah, Monty with his two companions -- Bandit who was placed in this enclosure when he was found to be bullied in the main enclosure and the Female who escaped from the main enclosure and has been now put with Monty and Bandit to see if it is possible for her to have cubs.


Peter Giddy Guided Tours -- Shore Excursions -- Addo Elephant and other Wildlife Reserves -- Garden Route.  Flowers of Namaqualand -- 

0027 (0) 82 55 03 714    Whatsup

peter.giddy@gmail.com

• Addo Elephant Park
• Kragga Kamma Wildlife Reserve
• Daniel Cheetah Project
• Pumba; Shamwari; Amakhala; Kariega -- Day trips Private Reserves.
• Mountain Zebra National Park in Cradock. 
• City Historical and Cultural Tours
• Horse riding for both experienced and inexperienced riders
• Hikes and Walks around Port Elizabeth (2 hour Nature and Coastal walks)
• Garden Route Adventure Tours (Zip Lines; Segway  in the Forest; Adventure Quad Biking; Bridge Walks; Bungy Jump; Knysna Elephant Park; Monkey Land and Birds of Eden; Big Cats Sanctuary; Oudtshoorn Cango Caves and Ostrich farms)
• Shore Excursions from Passengers ships
• Airport; Hotel and Wildlife Reserve transfers. 
• Volkswagen Factory visits.  
• Golfing in Port Elizabeth -- where everything is supplied. 
• Flowers of Namaqualand.  Seven days of adventure and exploring places and sights you never even knew existed.  History and natural beauty of the South West of South Africa

Website --   petergiddyguidedtours.wordpress.com

For tours and bookings.. email me at.    peter.giddy@gmail.com

Contact me on Whatsup....  +27 (0) 825503174

Sunday 30th September 2019.  Barbara is now starting to plan for an Kilimanjaro climb in 2021.
I am one of just 5 runners who take part in the myrun at Humewood Golf Course this morning. Bertus is there.  Christine is with their daughter in Durban for Gymnastics.

 Craig Tudhope went ahead.  This is Mahongo who was placed second.

 Bruce Gault.  Jenni is in America which Beanie who is working in a Student Camp.

Linda is not as fit as she would like and is recovering from Flu.
Monday 30th September 2019.
Start the day with a Newton Park Pool Swim 1500m with Megan.  She is a lot stronger than I am and I think that she does about 1800m. 

Buffalo found on Ngulube Loop.

Eland on Harveys Loop.

Jacks Picnic with Sandra; Svenja; Fanziska and Nadine.
This afternoon we meet at Peter Joseph for our Month End meeting.  Generally a successful month.  A couple of new possible tours to be worked on and sold.


Peter Giddy Guided Tours -- Shore Excursions -- Addo Elephant and other Wildlife Reserves -- Garden Route.  Flowers of Namaqualand -- 

0027 (0) 82 55 03 714    Whatsup

peter.giddy@gmail.com

• Addo Elephant Park
• Kragga Kamma Wildlife Reserve
• Daniel Cheetah Project
• Pumba; Shamwari; Amakhala; Kariega -- Day trips Private Reserves.
• Mountain Zebra National Park in Cradock. 
• City Historical and Cultural Tours
• Horse riding for both experienced and inexperienced riders
• Hikes and Walks around Port Elizabeth (2 hour Nature and Coastal walks)
• Garden Route Adventure Tours (Zip Lines; Segway  in the Forest; Adventure Quad Biking; Bridge Walks; Bungy Jump; Knysna Elephant Park; Monkey Land and Birds of Eden; Big Cats Sanctuary; Oudtshoorn Cango Caves and Ostrich farms)
• Shore Excursions from Passengers ships
• Airport; Hotel and Wildlife Reserve transfers. 
• Volkswagen Factory visits.  
• Golfing in Port Elizabeth -- where everything is supplied. 
• Flowers of Namaqualand.  Seven days of adventure and exploring places and sights you never even knew existed.  History and natural beauty of the South West of South Africa

Website --   petergiddyguidedtours.wordpress.com

For tours and bookings.. email me at.    peter.giddy@gmail.com

Contact me on Whatsup....  +27 (0) 825503174