Welcome to the Uitenhage and Swartkops River Valley site, use any of the above buttons or text links on the left of the page to navigate
Redhouse
Photo © Alex Cummings
'Redhouse'
Not far down river from Uitenhage is Redhouse
A lone angler tries his luck at Redhouse, impervious to the
sailing dinghies from the sailing club, just up
river from this spot.
Below is a view of some of the homes in the village of
Redhouse on the banks of the Swartkops
river.
Photo © Alex Cummings 'Redhouse houses 2011' Like this site tell your fiends on Facebook
Bluewater Bay
Photo
© Alex Cummings 'Bluewater Bay'
Above left is the mouth of the Swartkops river which
flows through Uitenhage entering the sea at the
picturesque area of Bluewater Bay.
This is a favourite spot for anglers and in the photograph
below a rather adventurous one is about to have his
vehicle marooned by the incoming tide.
Swartkops
Swartkops produces good fish all year round and the main species that you will be targeting is the Spotted Grunter. A plentiful supply of bait and mud prawn can be pumped on almost every bank of the river that you park on. Modderspruit is one of the places where getting bait is relatively easy. Grunter are caught through most of the river, but a favourite spot to catch them is the main stretch past Modderspruit and Amsterdamhoek towards the mouth where Garrick can also be targeted. You another is by the train bridge and you can catch decent Grunter there as well.
Amsterdamhoek;
A drive through Amsterdamhoek and you will see cottages almost right in the river Swartkops and the owners boats on their private jetties or floating just offshore. This family of ducks objected not only to having its photo taken but to any car which tried to go in front of the family crossing the road and the drake caused a few cars to back up until the family was in the water.
Photo ©Alex Cummings 2011 'Amsterdamhoek'
While in Amsterdamhoek why not take a trip on the ALOE TRAIL
The Aloe trail comprises two trails: one of 2 km, marked with yellow arrows, and a longer one of 7 km which is marked with red arrows. Both start at a gate at the top of Tippers Creek Road, between Amsterdamhoek and Bluewater Bay and take a circular route via the escarpment, running through Succulent Thicket on the plateau. The trail overlooks Amsterdamhoek, returning through valley bushveld on the plateau. There are views of the sea, Redhouse, Swartkops Nature Reserve and saltpan and beyond to Uitenhage and the Cockscomb, the highest peak in the Winterhoek Mountains. Amsterdamhoek is named after a Dutch man-of–war, the Amsterdam, which ran aground near the mouth of the Swartkops River on 16 December 1817. The walks are suitable for reasonably fit persons, who are advised to walk in a group, wear stout shoes and take a sunhat and drinking water, note there are no amenities. No permit is required but also be aware that no dogs are allowed.
Addo Elephant Park
The Park over the years has expanded as has the number and variety of game to be seen, at one time visitors could only view the Elephants from specific viewing areas and were separated from them by a specially designed fence. That is long gone and visitors can now drive right beside the Elephants. There is a variety of other game in the park but patience is required to spot these as they are free to roam the vast area of the park. It also now reaches right to the coast at woody point.
If you have gone to the Addo Elephant Park then while in that area take a drive to Sunlands and the Sundays River Valley.
Photo © Alex Cummings Addo Elephants
This page has been checked for CSS and HTML 4.01
