WIN! a set of five x day passes (valued at R1000), complements of Kingfisher FM & Nelson Mandela Bay Tourism .
The day pass gives you access to a whole range of activities & discounts. It is a fun & affordable way to travel Nelson Mandela Bay.
Answer this question in the comments section at the bottom of this post: ‘Where did the Tribe share a festival?’
Entries close on 4 October 2012, at midnight.
Winners announced on 5 October 2012 on Kingfisher FM’s Big Breakfast.
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LOCATION: Nelson Mandela Bay is located in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. It is 763 km east of Cape Town.
DATE VISITED: 28 – 30 September 2012 (Spring)
WHAT WE DROVE: A Jeep Cherokee complements of Maritime Motors
WHAT WE DID: We visited the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Art Museum, the Prince Alfred’s Guard Drill Hall, The Campanile, No 7 Castle Hill, Settler’s Park & The Red Location Museum. We also attended the Afri-Save Marathon & The Bird Street Bash on Trinder Square.
WHERE WE STAYED: The little house on the not so little hill
WHO GUIDED US: Craig Duffield from Mosaic Tourism
RECOMENDATION: Nelson Mandela Bay is the ultimate family destination. There is a whole lot of history to be discovered. This was our fifth weekend exploring our city – a tourist could easily spend a whole week experiencing new & interesting trips. Come visit Nelson Mandela Bay!
WEBSITE: Nelson Mandela Bay Tourism
How caught up we can become in busyness?
Entrapped, almost.
Not in life.
In work.
In worry.
Rushing from one thing to the next.
Never stopping.
Trying to achieve.
To obtain.
To survive.
Even our holidays, a rush to the next thing.
And then we stop.
To experience.
What we thought was familiar.
For 5 weekends in a row we’ve been traveling our own city.
Nelson Mandela Bay.
Beautiful she is.
Exquisite.
Breathless she left us as we discovered her to be more than we ever imagined.
Filled with a new optimism we come away from the experience.
We approached our last weekend with hesitation.
Would she have more to share with us?
More to awaken in us?
We walk through the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Art Museum.
Stunningly creative.
Hear soldiers of centuries past practice discipline on the tidy space which is the Prince Alfred’s Guard Drill Hall.
We stand at the foot of the Campanile, beautifully kept, considering the remembrance of a previous generation.
1820 settlers.
That evening we walk the corridors & rooms of No 7 Castle Hill.
Another remembrance.
Of life as it was.
For a few.
A surgeon and his family.
Two children schooled at home.
The furniture.
The art.
The decor & amenities of 180 years ago.
Conserved.
A family who left their land of birth.
To begin again.
In a new place.
We think of our new global village.
Families beginning again in many places.
Far from home.
We wonder if, once left, home could ever be found again.
We smell the ordered beauty of Settler’s Park.
Learn of the trenches, once dug to protect a city against attack.
We sit in memory boxes.
Built from rust-red corrugated iron.
Empty boxes.
Remembering the many who sacrificed.
And we think to ourselves: governments have immense responsibility.
To govern.
On behalf.
So that freedom, justice, equality & fairness may prevail.
Perhaps the history of South Africa is not so unique?
Someone always trying to take control.
To own.
To use.
Perhaps the history of South Africa is unique?
A new nation born.
Peacefully.
Slowly.
Drenched in values.
Beyond the skin & eye which divide.
‘Divide & conquer’, the warrior believes.
Imagine what would be if undivided we embrace the shared values alive in our being.
Freedom.
Justice.
Equality.
Fairness.
Imagine a society, kind & gentle.
Not controlled.
Enabled.
To live.
To be.
To do.
Create.
In Nelson Mandela Bay you will meet this society.
This people.
As we are.
And will be.
Beating a new rhythm.
On new African Drums.
Here Govan Mbeki left his footprints.
Vuyisile Mini the marks of fingers on his world.
Uncle Ray.
Ernest Malgas.
Idealists.
Dreamers who believed anything was possible.
And it is.
Even now.
As we stumblingly find our way.
The ‘struggle’ which left such a deep impression on our being was never a struggle against.
We realize as we take time to spend inside the Red Location Museum.
It was a struggle for.
Freedom.
Equality.
Justice.
On Trinder Square, that place where colonists watered their horses almost two centuries ago, we share a festival.
It is being renewed.
Into an emotion filled space.
Filled with the optimism of this city’s people.
And so we are grateful.
For being allowed to meet her again.
In all her history.
In all her present.
To be courted by her.
Invited to dance.
Without inhibition.
And so we resolve – in her we’ll come to life.
Hopeful dreamers.
Like Mbeki & Mhlaba.
Believing, without a moment’s doubt, anything is possible.
And so we invite you to come share her awesomeness.
And be wowed!