Hennops Pride

A little bit of paradise 20 minutes outside Pretoria and an hour from Johannesburg.

As we entered the premises, there was no-one at the gate. "Great," I thought. "No entrance fee. They must only charge over weekends." We drove down the slanting pathway  and had to cross the Hennop's River over a dilapidated (plywood reinforced) bridge before entering the picnic site.

As we found parking, a guard walked up to us. Turns out the entrance charged that day was R30 per person. Not too bad considering that we heard the fee was R30 per person as well as R70 per car.

The picnic sites and braai areas are very nice. There are lots of trees providing shade from the hot Africa sun and a kiddies pool makes it fun for the whole family.

The trail down to the river was very nearly the end of me. I was carrying my camera bag on my back talking to Mark and my dad. Not paying too much attention, I turned around quickly and was dragged down the steps by my camera bag. Luckily I didn't fall very far, but my ego was sufficiently bruised to be very agitated with my companions' giggles.

The swing bridge across the river was quite exciting. It seemed quite neglected, which only added to the sense of adventure. The cables holding up the bridge was frayed and a couple of planks was missing from the floor. Exciting stuff!

Crossing the bridge takes you on a trail up the koppie (hill). This offers some really cool views as well as some climbs up and down rocks which get the blood pumping without being really dangerous.

As you climb down the tyre-ladder, you come to a "Hole in the Wall" type of rock formation. It is very pretty. People must camp there overnight, because we saw a lot of candle wax in the little crevasses and holes in the rocks.

After spending a few minutes looking at the rocks and the pretty views from he top, we made our way back to the parking area. The water in the river isn't the cleanest I've seen, but it is also not the dirtiest. People do swim in the river and I have even done so myself, albeit 7 years ago. You swim in the foam at your own risk.

 

Directions: Travel North on the William Nicol past Fourways Mall, Indaba Hotel and Diepsloot. Drive under the R28 Krugersdorp Highway and travel for 3.6 km. Turn LEFT on to R511 and drive for 8 km. (Signpost reads Hartbeespoort and Brits). You will drive past Idle Winds Conference Centre. The first river you cross over you travel for 40 m and turn LEFT into Hennops Pride.

Tariffs:

A little bit confused here, but we paid R30 per adult.

Words and Photos By Louis Beetge

Bust A Move!

Two weeks ago, my wife dragged me kicking and screaming to the "Strictly Hip Hop Dance Competition 2007". I thought that I was going to be extremely annoyed and bored the whole time, as Hip Hop is about as appealing to me as a visit to the dentist. I come from a strictly Hard Rock (read Metallica, AC/DC etc) background.

Imagine my surprise when I found myself actually getting caught up in the action. The kids that participated were simply amazing. I knew absolutely nothing about dance, yet I could still appreciate the acrobatic ability needed to pull of the moves the kids were doing.

I was stuck in the stands and couldn't get as close to the action as I would've liked. The light in there forced me to use ISO 1600 as Flash was not allowed. My shutter speed ranged between 1/60 - 1/125 with a 70-300 Zoom. As you can imagine, I was not really hoping for any great shots.

Back home, after some post processing, I was actually quite happy with some of the shots. The cross processed look fitted perfectly with the Hip Hop theme. Even my wife was pretty impressed with the shots, considering the conditions.

I know this is a bit off-topic for Scapeout, but it did allow me to "Escape the Bustle" and experience something new and different.

Below are some of my favourite shots from the day. I hope you enjoy.

Please vote for me!

I have entered the NYIP International Photo Contest. The theme of the competition is "Photograph your hometown". There are four categories:

• Main Street
• Faces In The Crowd
• Pets & Wildlife
• Local Music

My entry is under Pets & Wildlife and was taken at the Lory Park Zoo in Midrand. Please vote for it here:

http://contests.fotki.com/nyip/petsandwildlife_sort1/215680479.html

There is only four days left before public voting closes. After that it is up to the judges. The judges will judge the top 100 voted pics in each category and choose a winner per category as well as a Grand Prize Winner.

To make it to the Judges decision, I will need about 200 votes.

If you like my pic, please vote for it and let's put Midrand Jo'burg on the map. Thanx in advance.

Walther Sisulu Botanical Gardens

As far as Botanical Gardens are concerned I had the strange notion that if you had seen one then you have seen them all. That’s why I wasn’t all that excited when Louis phoned me up on Friday and asked me to meet him at the Botanical Gardens in Roodepoort.

“Is it pretty?” I asked, not really in the mood to be tagging along if it was the same old same old. “You’ll love it” he said.

So I took the drive out there and while still parking I noticed that I had stepped out of the dull brown of Jo’burg’s winter into an oasis of green. Sprinklers were on everywhere in the park and as Louis walked towards me he smiled and said “prepare to get wet.”

"The sights were incredible, rolling green lawns, paved walkways and incredible plant life."

We paid the fee and walked into the park. It was about midday and the sun was already beating down quite hard as we made our way … “Where are we going?” I asked realizing that Louis and Mark were obviously walking with a purpose and not just dilly dallying like they usually did.

“Look up there.”

I looked up in the direction that Louis was pointing in. In the distance I could see a waterfall. “ They have a waterfall” I shrieked with pleasure.

The sights were incredible, rolling green lawns, paved walkways and incredible plant life.

The park even has a few trails for the more adventurous type and because it is situated in a mountainous area these trails can be a bit of a challenge. We decided to face one of these challenges in our aspiration to get to the top of the waterfall.

I mean after Louis’ last episode with the mountain and having not yet fully recovered from an exertion of that magnitude you would think that this trek would have deterred him. But no, not my husband, he was eager to see were the trail went and what photo opportunities lay waiting for him.

So we walked and walked and walked and walked until we found ourselves in front of a sign that alerted us to the fact that we were entering Black Eagle territory. We didn’t see any today but we were told by other visitors that there were even new chicks in the nest.

The view from up there was spectacular. We couldn’t believe what a gem we had found right in our backyard.

"...plants and vines grew overhead and formed a canopy of shade for the walkway..."

After catching our breath, taking a few pictures and soaking up the magnificent surroundings we decided to make our way down again. We were quite exhausted when we got down but as we walked back past the river we realized that we couldn’t leave without checking out one last feature. We followed the signs to a path along the river. Trees, plants and vines grew overhead and formed a canopy of shade for the walkway and provided us with the sense that we were indeed walking in the woods. The path was aptly named the Wood Walk.

On exiting the park we passed a stage and wondered what it was used for. We later found pamphlets at the exit explaining that there were concerts held there with live musicians playing most Sundays to families and couples sitting on picnic blankets, sipping wine out of plastics goblets. Just another reason why this is the perfect weekend escape no matter who you are or what it is that blows your hair back. Needless to say, we were quite impressed and will definitely be visiting again to see what else we can find to do at this breathtakingly beautiful Park.

More Information: For more information about the gardens as well as a downloadable map, please visit: http://www.sanbi.org/frames/sisulufram.htm

Tariffs:

R18 for adults
R7 for Students
R5 for Scholars

Words By Kathy Beetge
Photos By Louis Beetge