Fanas early morning birding trip #12March2023

Greetings to all who read here.

Earlier today, Sunday 12 March 2023 I was fortunate enough to experience a truly awesome boat trip on the St Lucia estuary with friends and visitors to the area.

 The captain of the boat, Shaun, who is a long time friend of mine acted as the your guide on this truly awesome birding excursion.

We departed from #SunSetJety St six bells sharp, and traveled South to the St. Lucia Estuary Mouth, then further South past Mapelane, along the Umzunduze river which is a tributary of the Umfilozi river. 

The Reeds along the river which are an ecological problem had a supprizing number of birds, and we all took many pics. Some more than others. I am not really a super keen birder, so I spent most of the time chatting to the other folks on board FANAS as we slowly powered along the estuary, past the mouth area, up steam leaving Mapelane Sand dune far behind us.

Mapelane is a rather talk vegitayed sand dune which is a local historical land mark that gets its name from Zulu History. Loosely translated from Zulu to English Mapelane means "Journeys end" or the end destination of a travel quest.

Mapelane is also marketed as the second tallest vegitated sand dune in Africa. 

My Friend Petrus Viviers did a live YouTube  video of this very beautiful and informative birding excursion. 

We saw many different birds including the #AfricanSkimmers and giant heron . Really awesome trip thanx to  trip. https://www.facebook.com/FannasHippoCrocTours/

Strangler fig walk about in St. Lucia KZN

 The Strangler Fig walk about is a short walking tour about   2 hours, and is a guided tour show casing a few Strangler Fig trees in the small village of St. Lucia Estuary within the isimangaliso wetland Park World heritage Site.

Strangler fig trees are parasitic trees that grow on the outside of other trees, wrapping them selves around the host, and quite often killing the host tree a decade or so after germinating at some strange spot on the host, where the seed was contained in bird shit. 

During this short walk you will see strangler fig trees at various stages of growth. You will see some young stranglers, some not so young strangler fig tree, and dome rather old  trees with one fella that has killed his host and taken control of the ground where he is growing.

 Today this is eye candy for the visitors to BARRACA RESTAURANT 

We will start at BARRACA then walk along McKenzie street towards Shop right.  Across the road from shopright is a nice example of a medium age  strangler fig tree, and we will see others who are younger before reaching Shop Right.

From Shopright we will walk through the park towards the St. Lucia police station. On The Way We Will pass a very strange example of a long standing rather old strangler fig tree that has not been successful at killing it's host. 

The tour will end at the St. Lucia public library across the road from the St. Lucia Police Station.  Then we will walk back to Barraca restaurant where we started the walk about.

Phone Frankie2Socks on 0630702571

Phone/whats app Siya on 063 523 3522 

Mail stranglerFig@info4u.co.za 

 

water lilly tours

 The 4u2fish campaign needs some funds.  this tourism package to take pics of water lilies opening in the morning is going to be our initial entrance into the tourism market. 

water lilies close up real tight and are insect proof at night, coz there are nasty insects that eat the heart of these delicious flowers at night. here in the iSimangaliso wetland park these flowers are not really on the menu. they have also not rally been on the menu here in Umkhanyakude like they were in the western and western cape those years back. you can still find recipes for WATER BLOM BREDDIE 

The water liliies of north east KZN and the iSimangaliso wetland Park  are actually rather large, and this page will soon be updated to contain more info as the tour guide offering these   tours speaks with us and fills us in on the deeper setails.

we hope to have these early morning photo opportunity tours up and fully functioning as income streams for the rural folks of the Kula village and Dukuduku areas. for more info seend an email to waterlilies@info4u.co.za  

these are gonna be very interesting photo opportunity tours, where spiderwebs and dewdrops in the early morning sunshine will add to the supprise photo opportunities that come along with sunrise every morning..

wanna know more about these photo opportunities ? send an email to our team 4u2fish@@info4u.co.za and we will hep ypu find the right tour guide to introduce you to the many sunrise photo opportunities here within the iSimangaliso wetland park in North East KZN South Africa.

besides water lilies, there are many other wildflowers that offer great photo opportunities. If you wanna come into the bushes and wildlands to get pics of any wildflowers, let us know by email to flowers@info4u.co.za and we will see what can be arranged for you to get really great wildflowers in front of your camera so you can get real nice pics that make other folks jealous. 

early morning (Sunrise) tours are always interesting, and this is the time that nature wakes up and shows of its true glory.. once the sun gets a little higher in the sky, it gets warm and uncomfortable here in Zululand. it is the same with your trips into the game parks to see wild life. you see a very different set of life experiences in the sunrise times, that are simply not believable, unless you have experienced them yurself.  sunris on the ebach is also a great experience. contact us at  morningtours@info4u.co.za and we will see what you would like to experience and we will see what we can do to make it happen.

Spiderwebs in the morning sun offer stunning pics that will make your trips really memorable.  the opening of water lilies will also add tou your life experiences and give you something to chat about for a week or three, then again once every so often when you want to brag about your photo skills or tings that you have personally experienced.

thanx for reading here.. enjoy take care and remember to live life to its fullest, just because you can.. Go experience life... 

#Frankie2Socks

Uodate : 27 Jan 2023 St. Lucia estuary

 Greetings to all who read here. It is Saturday 27 Jan 2023 and I am in St. Lucia KZN South Africa. I am busy with the 4u2fish project which has an internet presence  Where 4u2fish is used as a domain name issue as well as a campaign specific hashtag which works together with the #Frankie2Socks HASH TAG  WORKS TOGETHER WITH OTHER ONLINE MARKETING TACTICS.

Yours Truly (Frankie2Socks) was at the beach again this morning, well before the sun stuck its nose over the horizon.  My self and Petrus Bier from s from  Bier pens tv are on the beach every day before sunrise.  This is where Petrus gets his YouTube clips from. if you watch the channel you will hear Petrus mention me every know and then. So just to put all my readers, subscribers, and fans in the right thinking mode, I ask you all to talk about the 4u2fish campaign, and what its impact should be on the DOMESTIC TOURISM MARKET.   this has many sides to the story and, we as the public need to stand up for our rights, the collective community rights and the rights of them creatures who have no voice or say in how mankind is changing the water flow issues and related biodiversity losses within the Greater St. Lucia wetlands Park, which is now managed and governed by the iSimangaliso Wetland Park or the  IWPA 

Our area which has had many names over the years is vastly open spaces that fall into the nature conservation zones, with some human  habitat and agricultural use including commercial forestry, harvesting and resales of natural renewable resources including but not restricted to 

• fish
• prawns
• crabs 
• thatching reads 
• Ncema grass
• Ikhwane  (Bull Rushes) leaves not flowers or seeds
• ILala Palm tree leaves and Njemane beer

So Tourism and fishing-related matters have been the corner stone of the Umkhanyakude district municipality for many years. In the years before the 4X4 Ban fishing was really active hear in St. Lucia and at one stage there were many fishing tackle outlets and both the Dolphin supermarket and Spar (St. Lucia)  The 4x4ban closed many tourism businesses here along the Elephant Coast.  This blog supports and gets a commission on any sales through the HEJJU sub pages at frankie2socks.hejju.com and we will be actively promoting these pages and our related online marketing assets like  facebook.com/4u2fish 

the biggest issue for us at the 4u2fish management team is the fact that tourism associated with fishing is being ignored by the St. Lucia Torusim folks, and this needs to change and change rather seriously, coz the lake systems are TOTALLY FUCKED... EFF You SEE KAY EEE DEEEE all in capital letters and Underlined in RED     so we gotta get the lake and estuary system dunctiional again, and do theis soon.  tourism numbers are qdwindling and we gotta do some thinng to save jobs, and bring others back into existand. take a #PeepSee her and help us by taking a break, and booking through the platform found here  

the IWPA will soon be starting their Public Participation process and to stay abreast of these issues see our FB PAGE at feacebook.com/4u2fish

Tourism in and around St. lucia

The village of St. Lucia estuary. More commonly called St.  Lucia is in north east Zululand KZN South Africa. The main source of income from the local folks is tourism associated with the IWPAWHS or iSimangaliso Wetland Park world heritage site. The iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authority is the juristic person appointed by the South African Government to look after the St. Lucia wetlands Park and surrounding areas that were incorporated into the iSimangaliso Wetland Park world heritage site.

St. Lucia is the main tourism hub in the Mtubatuba local municipality, which is one of four local municipalities within the Umkhanyakude district municipality. St. Lucia estuary village lies in the extreme south East corner of the Umkhanyakude district municipality, and borders on the 

KwaMbonambi Municipality.

Frankie2Socks Consulting services is based in St. Lucia and we consult on FUFISM BASED MARKETING strategies specifically geared for the tourism industry. Frankie2Socks.hejju.com is our online sales platform that we favour. Coz we get paid a commission for every sale that we generated on this hejju.com platform 

Once again this blog is in place to market tourism  opportunities and tourism businesses within the Umkhanyakude district municipality and durounfing areas, with a primary focus on St. Lucia and the fishing issues conne Ted to the 4u2fish campaign 

These pages in this blog Frankie2Sockstravel.blogspot.com are in place to supplement  the marketing for the Frankie2Socks online assets within the hejju interwebs platform.

The 4u2fish campaign is a project driven by Frankie2Socks Consulting services so as to revive the fishing and consumptive tourism base within Umkhanyakude district municipality, where lake St. Lucia and the village of St. Lucia form the two main pillars of the domestic tourism industry. The ecotourism associated with the other game reservers and game farms forms the third pillar of this tourism base which is supported and fluffed out by cultural and historical tourism within Umkhanyakude

Tourism and tourism marketing are our game, and U mkhanyakude district municipality is our playground. 

Where do you want to go and what do you want to do. Let us know in the comments. ,and we will help your holiday find you. 

#Frankie2Docks 

frankie2socks@info4u.co.z

Who is Frankie2Socks

  Frankie2Socks (yours truly) is an old fashioned fella, born in June 1960 that does not properly conform to the rules of society, he has a wide based general information and studied electrical engineering at Technicon Natal in Durban KZN South Africa. He currently lives in St. Lucia KZN South Africa. 

Frank's current project ascociated  with #ProjectWork  is the #4U2Fish  campaign, and most of the income generated here will go towards the 4u2Fish campaign and related tourism projects 

Frank's itourism isues.s also the CEO of Frankie2Socks Consulting Services pty Ltd a tourism marketing Consulting  company focussed on FUFISM BASED marketing tactics.

Frankie2Socks blogs about FUFISM BASED MARKETING TACTICS at 4ubrand.blogspot.com where online seasrch and the SERPs are the primary focus. This blog discusess on-line marketing tactics and related #SemanticEngineering . Semantic engineering or good old fashioned Search Engine Optimisation Strategies are a very complex set of actions and reactions to online assets within the interwebs.

Online assets is just a new way of saying "Your online content " and gereal SEON is very seldom restricted to one page at a time. Coz your web site or blog is treated as a collo tive of all the online assets within your domain, if you own one, and if you do not have your own domain, then online marketing is just a little more complex, but all the same and a few extra rules apply.

Any way Frankie2Socks discussed these issues in many places. This blog is just one a enue where the Frankie2Socks brand is used in the domain. The Frankie2Socks brand and the Info4u brand work as a team. This is evident when you look at my Email address frankie2socks@info4u.co.za

Frankie2Socks uses the interwebs as an information distribution tool that is helpful in the public perception management strategies of the 4u2fish campaign, which is an integral part of the #Frankie2Socks project management strategies.

Frankie2Socks is a very complex person who has good fishing and out door fishing experiences in mind when ever you speak to him. The 4u2fish campaignand related pro domestic tourism issues including the fishing rights along with associated access and extraction rights are also always top of mind, coz he (Frankie2Socks) wants to braai fresh prawns on a scottle at the edge of the lake and enjoy a cold one in the sun.... 

If you want to know more, Do a #HashTag search for #Frankie2Socks in your favourite seach engine.

Sites to #PeepSee are

Frankie2Socks.hejju.com

Frankie2Socks.blogspot.com

4ubrand.blogspot.com

4u2,fish.blogspot.com

Frankie2Sockstravel.blogspot.com

Come visit St. Lucia KZN South Africa

 Greetings from Frankie2socks. I live play and work in St. Lucia estuary, a small village on the northern bank of the UMFOLOZI River where the waters from the Nyalazi, Mezeneni, Hluhluwe and Mkhuze river waters flow into the ocean after relaxing in Lake St. Lucia in the iSimanngaliso Wetland Park world heritage site in North East KZN South Africa.

My pet project is the 4u2fish campaign, which is a fast growing environmental tourism non profit that focuses on using fishing and related issues as a tourism draw card to get domestic tourists to visit theUmkhanyakude district Municipality. 

The iSimangaliso Wetland Park world heritage site is the primary draw card and the fishing within the iSimangaliso Wetland Park Need's to be leveraged to attract a certain class and type of tourist to the area. Sure we do have game reserves, wild life and beautiful land scapes,  but .... Fishing is a special sport which needs some serious protection within the far north coast of Zululand and Maputuland. These beaches have been well gished for many years untill the IWPA or iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authority stepped into the picture.

These fellas who manage the iSimangaliso Wetland Park world heritage site are for some reason not that freindly towards the fishing fraternity and are closing fishing opportunities at every chance they get. This is a serious issue and NOT A CONSPIRICY THEORY.

WUESTION IS what to do... How do we approach this without getting into a fighting mode ? The fishing fraternity have grave concerns around the lost biodiversity within Lake St Lucia and the St. Lucia estuary systems as well as the UMFOLOZI Flats and the Monzi sugar lands.  The fish breeding grounds and related environmental spaces are no longer properly functional due to the impacts of changing weather patterns, or as dome folks call this issue global warming.

Our rainfall patterns have changed rather seriously and we no longer have sufficient fresh water input to keep the St. Lucia Lake systems functioning in a recognized esturine manner. This is a disturbing issue, and it is not easily translated into a narrative that the public can follow. 

The 4u2fish campaign has a Facebook page at facebook.com/4u2fish and I would appreciate it if you took a #PeepSee and left a comment on any one of their posts.

Come experience St. Lucia 

The 4u2fish campaign needs your input. Visit our FB page and see how you can help.