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CONTENTS June & July 2021

#176

FEATURES 22 PROFILE: HAFFIE STRAUSS

“These mountains will always be extraordinary.

I’m 78 years old and every day I drive over the Pakhuis Pass, I’m amazed.”

32 COLUMN: EVAN NAUDÉ

“If you want to move rugby posts to a new location 300 m away in the middle of the night, you need at least four teenage boys with heads filled with more kattekwaad than common sense…”

34 CLASSIC ROAD TRIP: BUSHVELD

“It’s remote and wild; a place of escape where you can light a fire at sunset and watch bushbabies in the branches of an apple-leaf tree.”

44 ORANGE RIVER

“We bathe in the river and share stories until the golden hour fades and the Milky Way announces itself with one, then five, then fifty million stars.”

52 KNYSNA FOREST

RONEL STEYN

“Dappled sunlight filters through the canopy. I can’t see further than 10 m ahead, and when I get out of the bakkie, the leaves on the forest floor dampen the sound of my footsteps.”

44 Paddle on the Orange River

COVER PICTURE TOAST COETZER Baobab tree, Mapungubwe National Park

REGULARS 6 ED’S LETTER 12 LETTERS 18 UPFRONT

Pit stop – 19 Night Watch – 20 Books & Music – 28

30 CHECK THIS

74 Pie time!

SHELLEY CHRISTIANS

60 TAKE YOUR PIC

A dragonfly, an ellie’s eye and a waterfall, creatively framed.

Did your photo make the cut this issue?

66 PORTFOLIO

Island life on Zanzibar, under moody tropical skies.

74 FOOD

Shepherd’s pie, chicken pie, venison pie… Treat your family to delicious home-made pies this winter.

82 GEAR

A small, lightweight tent is invaluable if you’re going adventuring, whether on foot, on a bike or in a kayak. We share nine of the best.

88 WHEELS:

VOLKSWAGEN T-ROC

Where does the T-Roc fit into Volkswagen’s range of SUVs? Does it fit in?

92 & 112 TOURS

Nottingham Road 4 go! #176

KYRA TARR

96

Explore the Knysna Forest and northern Botswana with Bhejane Adventures.

93 STAY HERE

Hang out in Vanderkloof for the weekend, on the banks of SA’s second biggest dam.

94 TAKE A HIKE

There’s a lesser-known trail in the mountains above Simon’s Town, with great views of False Bay and the Atlantic Ocean.

96 TOWN

“Nottingham Road could easily be somewhere in the English countryside, but it’s also uniquely African. Nguni cows graze on a kikuyu-covered hillside and the air seems to vibrate as it relinquishes the day’s heat.”

113 THEN & NOW

What happened to the Sandown Hotel in Kleinmond?

114 BIRDS

You can now tick a bird if you’ve heard it – you no longer have to see it. Here’s why this latest move by conservation authorities should be applauded.

116 KIDS’PAGE

Help save the honey bee!

118 WITH MY OWN EYES

A waterbuck survives a croc attack in the Kruger.

120 TRAVEL JOURNAL: EUROPE – PART 2

The Gurneys camp their way through Slovenia, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria.

128 LETTER FROM CRADOCK

“I can see into Tannie Karin’s dark pantry where bottles and jars gleam with the promise of nourishment and motherly love…”

129 CROSSWORD 130 AFRICA AT ITS BEST

ED’S LETTER

Get in your car and drive!

RONEL STEYN

I

DON’T MISS OUR NEXT ISSUE! The August/September issue will be on sale at your local retailer from 30 July 2021.

BEHIND THE SCENES

recently had the privilege of travelling across the country from Lambert’s Bay on the West Coast to Morgan Bay on the East Coast. And then I went west again, along different roads back home to Stellenbosch.

My fellow explorers and I chose gravel roads where possible, taking our time over mountain passes and picking our way through all the villages and hamlets sown across South Africa’s interior, covering 3 700 km in total.

A story about this journey will appear in go! later in the year, but for now I’ll mention a few of the things that struck me: Since you’re a reader of this magazine, you’ll know this already, but wow – our country is splendid! The variety of landscapes and the diversity of its people are glorious to behold. You can forget this if you’re trapped in your own place for too long – as we were last year during lockdown.

On our journey, we met groups of fellow travellers – on motorcycles, in their cars, some towing caravans – all getting reacquainted with their own country. Even though there are some border posts open, which allow us to visit neighbours like Namibia and Botswana, most international destinations are still closed to those of us who use the

“green mamba” as a passport.

South Africans with the means to travel to places like Patagonia, Southeast Asia and Eastern Europe are now on local voyages of discovery, since the urge to travel can’t be locked down. One after the other, the owners of hotels and guesthouses would tell us how domestic travellers had saved them from complete ruin. Even though they had to drop prices and create enticing offers, some of them have had a first quarter that trumped even 2019. For many little towns – bullied by years of drought and municipal mismanagement – tourism is one of the few things that puts food on the table and keeps the lights burning.

If you plan your journey carefully, you can have one of your most affordable holidays in years, as you rediscover your country from north to south, west to east. And there’s nothing better than a go! magazine to inspire you and help with the planning.

Now is the time to get in your car and drive!

Photographer, writer and tour guide Evan Naudé has been contributing to go! since 2017. For this issue, he went looking for echoes of Dalene Matthee in the Langkloof and the Knysna Forest (page 52).

JOHN VAN DEN BERG

is filled with interesting sculptures and she’ll tell you the stories behind each one over a cup of coffee. ridley.co.za

What was the highlight? Flying in a microlight early one morning with Morné Jonker from Louvain Guest Farm in the Langkloof. I’d never flown in one before and the bird’s-eye view of the Outeniqua Mountains at sunrise was spectacular.

6 go! #176

PI PIERRE STEYN PSteyn@media24.com

Anything interesting that didn’t make the cut? While we were driving to visit Jimmy Zondagh on his farm Belle-Vue, we pulled over at the Langkloof Gallery & Sculpture Garden where artist Sheena Ridley displays her work in an old farm shed. Her garden

Do you have a connection with Dalene Matthee’s books? Circles in a Forest was a set work when I was in high school. I read all the others, too, including Fiela’s Child and The Mulberry Forest. But it’s Saul Barnard from Circles in a Forest who has stuck with me, thanks to his compassion for the creatures of the forest and his special bond with Oupoot the elephant.

Favourite place in the Knysna Forest? I love the two-day Harkerville Coast Hiking Trail that takes you through the forest to the sea and back.

It’s one of the first overnight trails I hiked as a child and it’s still a favourite.

Tell us about your photography tours. I lead tours to places where I have had some of the best experiences as a journalist – the Cederberg, Tankwa Karoo, West Coast… I teach guests photography techniques and how to use their camera, but the goal is also to have a relaxing holiday in a beautiful place. (Visit evannaude.com for more info. – Ed.) What do you never leave home without? I use my GPS a lot, but I love a good paper map. Slingsby’s maps, and those produced by Tracks4Africa, are both great for back roads, hiking trails and 4x4 tracks because they indicate places that Google doesn’t know about.

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#175

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EDITORINCHIEF WEG & GO: PIERRE STEYN editor@gomag.co.za DEPUTY EDITOR: ESMA MARNEWICK TRAVEL EDITOR: TOAST COETZER FOOD EDITOR: JOHANÉ NEILSON COPY EDITORS: MARIJCKE DODDS, MARTINETTE LOUW CONTRIBUTING EDITOR: JON MINSTER JOURNALISTS: SOPHIA VAN TAAK, KYRA TARR ART DIRECTOR: LYNNE FRASER CARTOGRAPHER: FRANÇOIS HAASBROEK WEB EDITOR: DESIREE HARTNEY

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S R E T LET

Where have you been? What have you seen?

Write to editor@gomag.co.za COMPILED BY MARTINETTE LOUW

WINNING LETTER

Colourful next to the Kruger These lilac-breasted rollers were feasting on insects next to the Olifants River in the Struwig Eco Reserve about 40 km from Hoedspruit. We spent a week at Struwig in March – it’s right next to the Kruger Park and one of my favourite wild places.

MIKE VAN DYK, Springs

WRITE TO US & WIN! Mike wins a Zartek TX-8 two-way radio twin-pack, worth R1 099. The TX-8 has a slim, lightweight design, the audio is loud and clear, and the reception range is excellent. The set comes standard with a cradle, USB charging cable and a belt-clip case. zartek.co.za

SPEAK TO US Send your letters to editor@gomag.co.za – include your name, surname and where you live. Please also include a photo if you have one (at least 2 MB in size). We reserve the right to edit and shorten letters, and use your photos elsewhere in the magazine, on our digital platforms and in our marketing material.

12 go! #176

Lost connection found

SOPHIA VAN TAAK

The article about Barrydale in go! #175 – specifically Bob Wolf and his coal stoves – took me way back to 1967. That’s the year I got married and my husband and I toured the coast in our Volkswagen Beetle for our honeymoon.

At Port St Johns, we set up camp with only a two-man tent, a small camping mattress and a torch. Our neighbour in the campsite soon popped around to offer us another mattress. They were heading back to Pretoria the next day, but he gave us his address and said, “If you bring the mattress back, great. If not, it’s no big loss. By the way, my surname is Wolf.”

We looked him up, discovered his first name was Bob, and returned the mattress.

Our paths crossed again in later years – I was his granddaughter Gerda’s teacher in Bronkhorstspruit. Bob had just opened the Ndebele Stoves shop in town and I was an avid collector of antique furniture: I bought a coal stove and a Singer treadle sewing machine from him, and also two beautiful washstands.

We lost contact until I opened the April/May issue of your magazine.

I’d like to send my regards to Bob and say thanks again for the mattress!

ELSA VAN ZYL, Modimolle

Coast to coast on two wheels In January this year I set out to cycle most of South Africa’s coastline, starting in Springbok in the Northern Cape and ending in Richards Bay in KZN. I rode about 3 000 km in a month, along highways, quiet tar roads and back roads. The back roads were scenic but often uncomfortable because of the corrugations.

I took this photo on a service road next to the Sishen-Saldanha railway line near Elands Bay. It was early and morning mist hung over the West Coast.

I love cycle touring but I almost always do it overseas. The Covid-19 pandemic has forced me to explore my own country, and that’s not a bad thing!

PAUL BARNARD, Johannesburg

Hea Orange Rrivthere ro ar

Earlier this yea r, the people of the Northern Cape pricked their ears Heavy summer rains and full dam: upstream alon g the Orange Rive s r meant floodwa ters and a great noise wer e Augrabies Falls coming to National Park.

WORDS & PICTU

RES MARTINETT

E LOUW

Augrabies: A flood of memories

Good morning, moon!

This is the moon setting behind Ribbokkop on my farm between Calvinia and Loeriesfontein in the Hantam Karoo. The quiver trees are part of a forest that starts on the Gannabos farm near Nieuwoudtville and stretches along the course of the Hantam River for about 70 km.

SIMEY DE KLERK, Calvinia

The article “Hear the Orange River roar” in go! #175 took me back to my childhood. There was a severe drought in 1966 and by late winter the river had stopped flowing in the Lower Orange River area. Only a few puddles of water remained in the riverbed and you could cross without getting your feet wet.

I visited Augrabies with my parents during that time. There were no fences yet and you could walk on the rock slabs above the waterfall.

There was so little water in the river that year… I was a young boy and I remember standing astride the stream. Impossible to imagine when you look at the recent spate!

Things change quickly. Six months later, in February 1967, the Orange was in flood again – at about the same level as earlier this year.

JOHAN BOSMAN, Durbanville

go! #176 13

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LETTERS

Right place, right time My wife Ansie and I live about 25 km from Crocodile Bridge. We spent the day in the Kruger Park and went looking for something to photograph at Sunset Dam near Lower Sabie.

These two hippos were chasing each other around the dam. I took about a hundred photos, never noticing the water thick-knee in the background!

MANIE LOUW, Emjejane

Gotcha!

I’m 13 years old and love birdwatching. My family and I stayed at Wavecrest Hotel on the Wild Coast this past December. We fished and enjoyed the views, but one of my highlights was a walk in a coastal forest next to the hotel’s airfield.

We spotted a mangrove kingfisher flying into a hole in a tree trunk and my brother Evan (11) and I immediately knew that we had found the bird’s nest. We took lots of photos as the kingfisher flew to and fro, bringing dragonflies, spiders, frogs and beetles for its chicks to eat.

RUVEN SCHOEMAN, Durbanville

Old broom, new home We recently found a nest in a grass broom that hangs on our wall, made by two Cape wagtails. They laid two eggs in January and the chicks soon hatched – I took a photo of them every day to track their progress.

They left the nest after about two weeks, but hung around our garden for another three days – the parents still fed them.

Then they were gone. We left the broom up on the wall in the hopes that the parents would return to breed again.

JOHAN KOEN & TERRY DU TOIT, Meyerton

Nature doesn’t have a PG rating!

On a fiercely hot day this past summer, my neighbour’s attention was drawn to her thorn tree by the noisy clamour of birds. For a couple of hours, we had ring-side seats to a pair of boomslangs mating.

The brown female was enormous, perhaps twice the width of the male, who displayed attractive green and yellow patterning. Every conceivable part of their bodies, from the thin, lashing tails to the thick centre coils, became intertwined at different stages. The curious birds seemed to know they were safe to come close.

KATH HIGGENS, McGregor

go! #176 15

LETTERS

Q& A

Every month our experts answer your questions about birds, bugs and beasts.

Send your photos and questions to editor@gomag.co.za

An extra one for luck?

EDWIN PAGEL from Windhoek writes: I recently saw this black rhino at the Okaukuejo waterhole in Etosha National Park in Namibia. Does it really have three horns, or is that just a big wart on its forehead?

Wildlife expert LD VAN ESSEN says: It’s a third horn and a very rare phenomenon! I know of a three-horned black rhino photographed in Etosha in 2015; there are records of three-horned rhino around Lake Young in Zambia; and one that was shot at Elmenteita in Kenya in 1906.

The third horn was probably caused by a non-genetic developmental defect when the rhino was in utero. The defect won’t be passed down to the rhino’s descendants. If it were genetic, several rhinos in the area would have three horns.

Another possibility is that an injury led to the third horn. Antelope often grow horns in abnormal places, like on their forehead, face or even bodies due to injury. The same could happen to a rhino.

The third horn, no matter its cause, won’t influence the rhino’s quality of life.

Clean your web THEO MOSTERT from Goodwood writes: I found this beautiful spider in Bontebok National Park. I think it might be an orb-web spider, but its web looks a bit messy?

Entomologist DUNCAN MACFADYEN says: This is the black-legged golden orb-web spider (Nephila fenestrata), the smallest of our orb-web species. It occurs across most of South Africa, excluding the arid central and western regions, and is the only species of Nephila to occur in the Western Cape.

There appears to be an abundance of this species at the moment, which could be linked to a higher than average rainfall and more prey.

The female of the species is almost entirely black, and the first, second and fourth pairs of legs have a brush of bristles. The abdomen is creamcoloured to yellow towards the tail end, with black or blue speckles.

To identify this species, look for the black legs and the window pattern on the ventral side of the abdomen – the scientific name fenestrata means “windowed”in Latin.

The material caught in the web is old prey items and leaf debris that has blown in. As far as I know, this species does not hoard debris like some other spiders.

16 go! #176

Crime scene or opportunism?

LINDA MARAIS from Kleinemonde writes: This poor songololo was covered in red insects. I’m not sure whether it was already dead when the insects found it, or whether they killed it.

Entomologist DUNCAN MACFADYEN says: These are the nymphs of the millipede assassin bug. As the name implies, they feed exclusively on millipedes. The adult bugs, which can be up to 30 mm long, are shiny black with a dull yellow thorax incised with a black cross.

The nymphs hunt in packs to subdue their prey. They jump onto the millipede and inject digestive enzymes through their mouthparts into the soft, intersegmental membranes, then they suck out the fluids. As the nymphs grow bigger, fewer are needed to tackle prey and once they are fully grown, they can hunt on their own.

Fights between adults and their prey can be dramatic, as the millipede tries to rid itself of its attackers by running through coils of its own body to strip them off.

IN BRIEF

JOHAN MARAIS

SNAKE FILES

All about antivenom Carry-on companions In a first for South African air travel, our newest budget carrier, LIFT Airline, has delighted dog owners by allowing their furry companions to travel with them inside the aeroplane’s cabin!

“Many ‘paw-rents’ can’t always make use of kennels, family or friends to look after their pets,” says LIFT co-founder Jonathan Ayache. “And they want their four-legged family members to be included when they travel. Until now, this hasn’t been possible when travelling by plane.”

The one snag is that only small pooches are eligible to fly. They must fit into a pet-friendly bag no bigger than 28 cm x 20 cm x 45 cm so they can be stowed safely on the floor diagonally in front of the owner.

For those nervous of allergies, fear not. Only certain flights will be reserved for pet travel and each“doggy bag”must have an empty seat behind it.

Need to know: Only dogs older than 10 weeks may fly. They will need all their accompanying travel papers, a health statement from a vet and proof that their vaccines are up to date. Fare will be equal to that of the accompanying adult.

Visit lift.co.za for more information.

– Kyra Tarr Service animals do not fall under the above restrictions and are welcome on board.

Although Buddhist monks have been drinking snake venom to build up immunity to certain snake bites for hundreds of years, antivenom as we know it today was first developed in the early 1900s and is produced by various companies around the world. In South Africa, antivenom is made by the South African Vaccine Producers, which falls under the National Health Laboratory Service.

Making antivenom is a time-consuming and expensive process during which animals like horses, sheep and camels are hyperimmunised against snake venom. In South Africa we use horses. How, you ask? A very small amount of snake venom is injected into the horse to activate its immune system. This is followed periodically by gradually increasing quantities until the horse becomes immune to the venom. The process usually takes about nine months. Blood is then drawn from the horse and the antibodies are collected and purified. This is what is used to make the antivenom.

Two antivenoms are made for southern African snakes – a monovalent boomslang antivenom that is seldom used as these snakes seldom bite, and a polyvalent antivenom that covers ten other dangerous snake species including cobra, mamba, rinkhals, puff adder and Gaboon adder.

Antivenom is highly effective in serious snakebite cases, provided it’s injected sooner rather than later and at the right quantity. This should only be done by a medical doctor in a hospital environment, because antivenom can have side effects. Some patients develop an allergic reaction and have been known to go into anaphylactic shock.

Knowing what snake was responsible for the bite is not vital – doctors simply look at symptoms and treat accordingly.

Antivenom is not cheap to make and is only needed once in a blue moon.

For that reason, the average treatment where antivenom is administered and the patient spends a few days in ICU can cost R100 000 or more. Only about one in ten snakebite victims who are hospitalised receive antivenom, since the symptoms of being bitten usually do not justify such radical treatment.

– Johan Marais

Visit

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africansnakebiteinstitute.com to learn more.

PIT STOP

Vogel Valleij farm stall, Bot River It’s an overcast day in April when a snap decision to visit the Vogel Valleij farm stall has me hitting the brakes a touch too hard, launching my freshly brewed cappuccino across the dash.

I’ve driven past this farm stall – a small, solitary building next to the R43 – on my way to Hermanus many times, but today feels like a good day to pull over.

The exterior is rustic: white walls and a corrugated iron roof. The stoep is also surrounded by a few sheets of corrugated iron, presumably to shield the entrance from winter rain, which is imminent. A white plastic chair stands under the overhang facing the busy road, but it’s empty at the moment.

Walking inside I’m greeted by the chair’s usual occupant, Margie le Roux, a small

woman with grey hair and a warm smile.

“This farm stall is about 25 years old,” she tells me. “I’ve been running it for about a year and a half now.”

Margie recently celebrated her 70th birthday.“It’s amazing that you can be 70 and still have so much to learn,” she says. “I love this job because of the people I meet on their travels. I thrive on conversation and interaction.

This time last year we were closed due to Covid, but we made it through, God willing.”

The products on Margie’s shelves are all bottled, baked and brewed locally. There’s a huge selection of preserves, from tomato jam (R48) and gooseberry jam (R48) to mint jelly (R45). When she has the time, Margie makes some of the products herself and is famous for her pickled onions.

Only 3,3 km up the road from Vogel Valleij is Salandra Park with its Shell garage and the region’s first Ou Meul Bakkery – a popular chain where you can buy pastries and frothy coffee.

If you’re after something less commercial and more traditional, however, Vogel Valleij should be where you stop. It’s just the place to stretch your legs and linger under the trees while you enjoy a bag of peanuts (R10) and an ice-cold coke. I also choose a big stick of biltong for only R42 and a small succulent (R25) to take home with me before bidding Margie farewell.

Where? About 8 km south-east of Bot River, on the R43 towards Hermanus. (Search for “Vogel Sang Farm Stall” on Google Maps.)

Open: Daily from 9 am to 5 pm.

Contact: 079 955 6090

– Kyra Tarr go! #176 19

NIGHT WATCH

PHASES OF THE MOON JUNE

LAST QUARTER 2 JUNE NEAP TIDE: 3 JUNE HIGH TIDE: 10.42 AM & 11.10 PM

Mars Venus

NEW MOON 11 JUNE

Moon

SPRING TIDE: 10 JUNE HIGH TIDE: 3.04 AM & 3.31 PM

Venus

FIRST QUARTER 18 JUNE

Moon

NEAP TIDE: 18 JUNE HIGH TIDE: 9.14 AM & 9.47 PM

STELLARIUM.ORG

FULL MOON SISTERS MOON 24 JUNE SPRING TIDE: 25 JUNE HIGH TIDE: 3.24 AM & 3.59 PM

JULY 12 JUNE 2021 SISTERS MOON (FULL MOON, 24 JUNE)

NW

12 JULY 2021

NW

LAST QUARTER 1 JULY NEAP TIDE: 3 JULY HIGH TIDE: 10.44 AM & 11.06 PM

MEERKAT MOON (FULL MOON, 24 JULY)

NEW MOON 10 JULY SPRING TIDE: 11 JULY HIGH TIDE: 4 AM & 4.24 PM

FIRST QUARTER 17 JULY

The Evening Star returns

NEAP TIDE: 18 JULY HIGH TIDE: 9.51 AM & 10.14 PM

Venus has been the “Morning Star” for the past year. In early April, however, it gradually disappeared into the glow of the sun and will reappear in June with increasing prominence, as the “Evening Star” in the west.

During June and July you’ll see Venus rise out of the glow of the setting sun. Shortly after sunset on 12 June 2021, Venus reveals the position of the thin crescent moon, low on the northwestern horizon. At that point, the moon is only “one day old”, or rather, one day into its new cycle, which makes it tricky to spot were it not for Venus’s help. This is a nice little challenge for photographers to capture on camera, or even just for interested observers to spot with the naked eye.

Exactly one month later, on 12 July, the situation repeats itself but with some differences: Deep winter means it will be darker and the moon will be slightly easier to see as it’s now“two days old”.

Meanwhile, Mars will also have joined the group for a very special photo opportunity.

One day later, Venus and Mars will pass by one another as closely as their orbits allow.

The sun stands still

SPRING TIDE: 24 JULY HIGH TIDE: 3.2 AM & 3.50 PM

These are the high tide times for Cape Town.

For other places, add or subtract minutes: Saldanha: +5; Hermanus: -4; Port Elizabeth: +19; Durban: +26 Tide information reproduced with permission from the Hydrographer, SA Navy.

The Hydrographer is not responsible for any transcription errors. sanho.co.za

SUNRISE & SUNSET 14 JUNE

This year, the winter solstice officially falls on 21 June at 5.32 am. (It’s sometimes called the June solstice to avoid confusion with the northern hemisphere, where it is summer.)

The word “solstice” comes from the Latin words sol (sun) and sistere (to stand still) and it’s a lovely description of the time of year when the day or night is almost magically long. (The Afrikaans word sonstilstand is even more evocative.)

Some believe that the June solstice always falls on 21 June, however it could be on either side of that date. A long and complicated calculation that tracked all the solstices between 1900 and 2021, and onward to 2050, shows that it does fall on 21 June most often – 98 times (65 %). In the same period, it falls on 22 June 44 times (29 %) and on 20 June nine times (6 %).

– Willie Koorts

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FULL MOON MEERKAT MOON 24 JULY

Cape Town 7.49 AM & 5.44 PM Bloemfontein 7.06 AM & 5.24 PM Johannesburg 6.53 AM & 5.23 PM Durban 6.49 AM & 5.03 PM

16 JULY Cape Town 7.49 AM & 5.56 PM Bloemfontein 7.07 AM & 5.35 PM Johannesburg 6.54 AM & 5.34 PM Durban 6.50 AM & 5.15 PM Source: saao.ac.za

IN BRIEF

VIEW FROM HERE Meet the first South African to compete in the Rebelle Rally – an off-road navigation race in the United States and the first of its kind for women in that country. Over eight days and 3 000 km through the deserts of Nevada and California, the competitors had to use only use their smarts, a map and a compass to find their way.

Why did you decide to compete in the Rebelle? As a child, my parents took us on holiday to the bush. We overlanded all over Africa, including Botswana, Mozambique and Zimbabwe. Being in the bush was healing for me. After five years of living in the USA – I currently live in Hawaii – that’s what I longed for the most; that connection with the earth and nature. It made me feel terribly homesick.

I realised I’d have to recreate what I missed from South Africa in my new life, so I upgraded my car and bought a Jeep Wrangler, the closest I could come to my parents’ Defender, and I started researching.

I googled for groups of women who enjoy 4x4 driving and the Rebelle kept popping up.

I was drawn in by the women’s stories about how the Rebelle had helped them overcome difficulties in their lives and I knew I had to be part of the event.

Did you have to modify your Jeep? Prior to the rally, I named my Jeep Uhambu, which means “to depart” or “travel” in isiZulu, and I spent about US$15 000 getting it race-ready (about R220 000). I know, crazy!

Uhambu got a suspension lift, bigger wheels, a reinforced chassis and extra odometers (the inside of my car now looks like a racing car) so that my teammate in the passenger seat could see how fast and far I had driven in order to do the calculations that determined our directions.

That’s the navigating part – it’s a lot of maths!

My teammate, Mandy Brezina, and I shared the driving and navigating responsibilities equally.

Tell us about Mandy. She’s amazing! She’s a US Army veteran whose whole family has a military background. Today she’s a defence contractor and a CrossFit coach – what a lady! We built a wonderful friendship.

One of my biggest fears going into the rally

was who my partner would be, because for eight days you sit in a car together for 10 to 12 hours straight. But luckily my fears were totally unfounded. I couldn’t have asked for a more competent and wonderful partner – we pushed each other, for sure.

How did you prepare for the race? Mandy and I did a few extra 4x4 courses. We learnt technical driving skills, but more importantly we learnt what to do if the car breaks down.

On the rally, you’re expected to know how your car is put together so that you can sort out any potential engine issues. You’re in the middle of nowhere – if you spring a leak, burst a tyre or catch on fire (hopefully not), you only have yourself to depend on. You do get satellite phones and trackers for emergencies, though.

Driving was the fun part. In the beginning, we were all terrified of learning how to navigate with only a map, but then we met up with the founder of the rally, Emily Miller – a sweet, tiny woman, but a total badass – and she reminded us not to underestimate ourselves.

Tell us about a typical day in the race. It begins with a 4.30 am wakeup call and at 5 am the gathering bell rings. You pack your camping things and rush to the main tent where they serve coffee and breakfast. From there you get your map and the co-ordinates of the various checkpoints you need to pass through on that day.

Trying to get to every checkpoint is ambitious, as Mandy and I quickly learnt, so you pick your battles and try to get to as many as possible. The checkpoints are flags, and each equates to a certain number of points; the main ones are big and green, which are positioned towards the beginning and end of each stage because they lead you towards that night’s camping spot. Then there are small blue flags

REBELLE RALLY

Irma Bosch

IRMA BOSCH (RIGHT) AND TEAMMATE MANDY BREZINA and finally, black flags, which are virtual and the hardest to hit. Your satellite phone serves as your proof that you hit a certain checkpoint. With the black flags, you just punch in the location of where you are and think the flag should be and hope for the best. Those are mostly for the professionals aiming for podium, but we went for them!

Is there something in particular that stands out for you? The community! It humbled me to meet such strong and accomplished women.

You have professional racing car drivers and NASA engineers rubbing shoulders with NPO founders and single moms who are CEOs. I felt a fire being lit inside me – having women of that calibre support you gives you confidence you can’t even begin to describe.

Was it special to represent South Africa? It was fantastic. It was my love of South Africa and longing for a piece of home that drove me to take part in the race in the first place.

There’s an innate sense of adventure in all South Africans that makes us unique as a nation. We printed two huge SA and USA flags on Uhambu’s roof and our team was called Hemispheres United. Isn’t that what events like this are all about?

What’s next? We’re registered for this year’s Rebelle Rally, taking place in October. We’re hoping to be sponsored for an electric 4x4. And after that, let’s see – maybe we’ll get some more Saffas on the track next year!

– Kyra Tarr

Follow Irma and Mandy’s adventure at rebellerally.com or check out Irma’s personal Instagram accounts @moerkoffi_overlanding and @irmabosch

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Fear not, you won’t have to pass through Hell’s Gate, but you will have to portage your croc around this notorious rapid.

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PROFILE

When it got busy on the farm during the potato harvest, my sister Dana and I would drive the trucks to the markets in Cape Town.

Opposite page, clockwise from top left: This zebra foal is on the Sevilla Rock Art Trail. Haffie drives past her rooibos tea fields. Haffie’s father Piet Olivier built this 15 km aqueduct in the 1960s. Haffie with her Boerboel, Leeu.

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boots and with her knobkierie always close at hand. But then your eye catches the diamonds on her fingers and her nails painted red. She’s deeply rooted in this soil, but her fruits are… exotic.

(A conversation in years to come would reveal the reason for this contrast.)

As we drove through the rooibos plantations back in 2018, there were more pressing matters to attend to. The last time there had been enough rain was six winters previously, and even if the weather improved, it would take a year and a half for the tea to recover.

But they still have the sheep, right?

“Yes, the dorpers…” she said. “We might switch back to merinos because the wool price is quite good at the moment.

And the dorper is a difficult breed. They keep breaking out of their camps.”

Like many other farmers, Haffie has looked to tourism for additional income.

Not many people came to the AgterPakhuis in the old days, although buses did come over the mountain during the wildflower season to get to the Biedouw Valley. Haffie’s daughter Charité and Charité’s husband Edu opened a farm stall and restaurant. Traffic increased when the Pakhuis Pass was tarred, and they renovated old workers’ cottages and built more guest units in a kloof next to the Brandewynrivier. Traveller’s Rest now offers accommodation for about 120 people and about 80 % of their income is derived from tourism. South Africans flock here to see the wildflowers in spring, but the majority of their visitors are rock climbers. “Rocklands” as it’s known in climbing circles has some of the best bouldering on the planet: relatively low outcrops that can be climbed without ropes. There are also some fine sport climbing routes.

“For serious climbers, this is their life,” Haffie said when we returned to the farmyard. “Some of them will stay for the entire winter, and they come back year after year. They’re from all over: America, Germany, Finland…

We’ve had a few Russians, too. They rolled their bakkie – twice! Some just show up without a booking, especially the Spaniards – they are so disorganised.

If all the units are booked, I let them sleep in my house. I never know who

will still be there in the morning.

It’s unbelievable, really. People from all corners of the world come to the Pakhuis. When you tell the climbers that this is one of the best climbing areas, they always say: ‘No, you’re wrong – it is the best!’ No one wants to wait in line to climb. The sport is popular in Europe and their mountains are crowded. It’s still quiet here. They develop new routes on our property. The sport has boomed over the past five years and they say it will continue for the next few years.

Unless disaster strikes.”

Haffie’s words that afternoon turned out to be prophetic. Little did we know that the whole world would soon retreat into its shell, and the Agter-Pakhuis would become as isolated as it was in Haffie’s childhood.

It’s 2020 now and I’m back at Traveller’s Rest after Covid-19 lockdown restrictions were eased. Haffie hasn’t changed at all: She’s still wearing her hiking boots and her nails are still perfectly manicured. We hide from the heat in her front room where family portraits decorate the walls. There’s nothing to say about the drought any more – it’s still ongoing and out of our control – so we delve into her history instead.

“My father Piet grew up on the farm Drilrivier about 8 km downstream from here,” she says. “He worked as an advocate, then came back to buy Lorraine, the farm next door. My mom’s name was Charité; she was Englishspeaking and grew up in Clanwilliam.

Both my parents were very open-minded for the era in which they lived, so we had a different life to our peers. We were given so much freedom. If my parents went hunting jackals, we joined them on horseback. When it got busy on the farm during the potato harvest, my sister Dana and I would drive the trucks to the markets in Cape Town. I had a driving licence for heavy vehicles right from the start!”

Haffie gave herself her nickname in childhood – her real name is Anna Elizabeth. She, Dana and their brother Le Fras went to English-speaking high schools in Cape Town, like their mother

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PROFILE

had done. Before then, they went to the Betjiesfontein farm school.

“All the children up to Standard 2 were in one classroom and the older kids were in the other classroom. You could hear what they were learning in there and if you could understand, you were put through to the next standard.

I skipped a few years and matriculated at 16.”

The school she matriculated from was Rustenburg Girls’ High School, where she spent five years as a boarder. “We weren’t allowed to phone home. You went to school in January and returned to the farm in April. The hostel was horrible and strict. But I enjoyed school itself – I was just way too young.”

Her father Piet had her future planned out. “During the September holiday of my matric year in 1960, my dad asked me whether I could speak French. I said no, it was just a school subject, I couldn’t really speak it. So he took matters into his own hands, and he wasn’t a man who did things by half measures. He contacted the French consulate in Cape Town and heard about a Frenchman who was living in Paarl with his daughters while his wife kept the family farm going in Provence. I finished my matric exams and the very next day, my dad put me on a plane to France. He gave me the address of this woman – her name was Madame Gautier – who farmed with cattle in Arles, near Aix-en-Provence.

“We landed somewhere in Africa twice before the plane reached Nice.

There, a man from a travel agency met me and put me on a train. You know, if I think back now, I never would have done that to one of my children! But that’s how my parents raised us: They threw us in the deep end.”

Haffie spent a year looking after cattle by day and keeping Madame Gautier company by night. “I really struggled with French,” she says. “And I remember being sad on Christmas Day. I was used to turkey and ham and pudding and the whole traditional spread, but Madame Gautier didn’t really cook. We ate liver on Christmas Day – it was dreadful.”

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After her baptism by fire in the countryside of Provence, the rest of Europe – and a flair for brightly painted nails – beckoned. She finished a course about French language, culture and the economy at the university in Aix-enProvence, then met up with a group of South Africans and together they toured for months, from Norway to Morocco.

Life was one big adventure for this young woman from the Agter-Pakhuis.

Back home, she was met with a different reality, a memory from the past that echoes the present. The farm was in the grips of a drought. Her mother kept everything going while her father worked as an advocate. Further tertiary studies were not an option.

“We were told that we couldn’t afford this or that because my dad wanted to build an irrigation channel,” Haffie remembers.

But it wasn’t any old irrigation channel. No, Piet Olivier’s dream had the whole district talking. The Brandewynrivier rises in the mountains and he wanted to build an aqueduct to lead the water to Lorraine.

“Everyone thought he was mad and said he’d never get the water all the way to his farm,” Haffie says.

But her dad didn’t listen to his detractors – he carried on with his measurements and sums while Haffie handled the farm’s accounts. He built his aqueduct with a gradient of 1:1 000 over about 15 km, to a few dams on the farm. It was an incredible feat of engineering – in those years, the longest private cement canal in the country.

They still use it.

Did she ever return to Europe? Yes, a few times. But not right away – the Pakhuis first burrowed deeper under her skin.

In 1964, Haffie married Koos Strauss from the neighbouring farm Traveller’s Rest and became a farmer. “We started with rooibos and sheep, and later we supplied potatoes to Simba and sweetcorn to Woolworths. We exported melons… But those were difficult years.

Koos wasn’t interested in foreign shores – his world was here, on the farm. I did

keep in contact with some of my friends overseas, and I ordered magazines like Paris Match.”

Koos and Haffie farmed side by side for decades; they built a house together and they raised their kids. In 2011, Koos passed away after a long illness, the foreign rock climbers started visiting, and Haffie’s wanderlust was reignited.

“I’m not sure where I first heard about the Camino,” she says. “It was a little crazy to do the pilgrimage alone and unfit, but I did it in 2013.”

In 2016, she did it again. “People want to know whether I have a spiritual reason for walking, but I’m attracted to the simplicity of it. You don’t have to worry about anything while you walk.

All you have to do is get up, get dressed and go. There’s also a wonderful sense of community among the pilgrims – we’re all strangers, which allows us to talk about things you’d never discuss with those in your close circle.”

Ever since then, she’s been wearing her hiking boots daily to stay in shape.

Who knows, maybe there’s one last pilgrimage left in her legs. But for now she’s focused on getting the tea and the sheep through the drought.

Haffie doesn’t actually farm any more – her son Jas has taken over – but when it’s time to plant the tea, you can’t keep her out of the fields. “I’ve always liked it,” she says. “I’ve always been more comfortable among the men and their talk about farming than among the women and their talk of house and home. I’m like a spare wheel now. If there’s a problem, they fetch me.”

I tease her: Haffie the Mother Hen! “No! I’m Mother Earth!” she retorts: “You won’t believe me – in 1991 we were eating outside when a car pulled up with three or four Japanese tourists.

They approached us very apologetically and said they were interested in rooibos tea and they’d heard of a ‘Doctor Norki’ – that’s my grandfather, Nortier.

Afterwards, I thought to myself that it must have been planned. How could they possibly have arrived at the exact farm they were looking for in this remote and unfamiliar area? But we invited them to eat with us and we became friends.”

Later, the Strauss family started doing business with the Ueomatsu family – Nori and his son Hayato.

“They visit twice a year to check on the crop and order their supplies. One year they were part of a group of 21 people! And they eat a lot. Sometimes they bring boxes full of ingredients from Japan and cook us meals.

“They love the Cederberg, especially the stars. At night, the farmyard is full of cameras on tripods. The Japanese do things properly – they’re not as slapdash as we are. Everything is always carefully considered. One year they brought a professional violinist. Before every performance, she spent half an hour putting on her tiara and make-up, and massaging her hands. And when she finally played that violin… It was winter, the river was full…” Haffie’s voice trembles a little at the memory.

But where does Mother Earth come in?

“Oh ja,” she says. “Nori sells the rooibos in Japan and the box has an illustration of my face on it, with a short description of how the tea is grown by Mother Earth!”

The day is fading. We take another drive on the farm and Haffie pulls over next to a kloof.

I follow her through a narrow corridor and she points her knobkierie at yet another Agter-Pakhuis rock art panel.

We sit down and look at the mysterious paintings. We’re quiet for a long time, then Haffie speaks: “When I was a child, I never could have dreamt that I would treasure this place in so many ways. Travel is wonderful. I have had so many happy experiences that will stay with me forever. But this is where I want to be. There is no better life.”

Find yourself a shelter in the veld In the solitude where the aloe is king Encircled by rock, lovely, sublime, Weathered by wind and the violence of time.

With ancient trees in the ravines to show That here, once, rewarded by its power, Lived a more beautiful beauty than now.

“Skoonheidstroos” by C Louis Leipoldt was written in Afrikaans. The translation is ours.

Here is the original stanza:

STAY HERE Self-catering accommodation at Traveller’s Rest from R250 per person. Bookings 027 482 1824; travellersrest.co.za The Sevilla Rock Art Trail is 5 km long. Get a permit (R40 per adult; free for children under 12) at the Traveller’s Rest farm stall.

Peter Slingsby’s guide to the trail (R250) is also available there, or you can buy a copy online at slingsby-maps.myshopify.com

Vind vir jouself ’n skuilte op die veld In die eensaamheid waarin die aalwyn troon, Omring deur grootse kranse, pragtig, skoon, Verweer deur wind en tyd se kras geweld; Met ou-hout in die klowe, wat vermeld Hierlangs het eers, ryk deur sy krag beloon, ’n Skoner skoon as wat nou is, gewoon.

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MEET THE AUTHOR

Tell us about The Forgotten Scientist. It’s about a pioneering black scientist who made a great contribution to the fields of anthropology and ornithology in South Africa. Saul Sithole worked at the Transvaal Museum (now the Ditsong National Museum of Natural History) from 1928 to 1990. He gave six decades of his life to the scientific world and even apartheid did not stop him.

I was inspired by his dedication to his profession. Whether he was doing taxidermy or working with fossils, he gave his all. Yet he never received the official recognition he deserved.

How did you approach your research? It was important for me to speak to Sithole’s family, former colleagues and acquaintances to get a full picture of him so as to bring his story to life. I formed a close bond with the family, as well as with Professor Francis Thackeray, a paleoanthropologist and former colleague of Sithole’s who ended up writing the foreword to the book.

I was also fortunate to meet Zondi Zitha, Sithole’s only daughter, and Zondi’s daughter Divine, before they both passed away in February and December 2020.

Who will enjoy the book? Although I wrote it for young adults, it can be used for research purposes in academic work or enjoyed by just about any reader.

It’s the second book in the Unsung Heroes series, which I started in 2016. (The first book was Against the Odds: The Story of Rosina Sedibane Modiba about South Africa’s first black track-andfield athlete to compete against white women in the 1970s.)

AUBREY JUDAS

South Africa’s troubled history has resulted in many important people being overlooked or forgotten. That’s why Lorato Trok started her Unsung Heroes series – to tell the stories of these people in a way that is accessible to young people. In the second book in the series, The Forgotten Scientist, she introduces us to Saul Sithole who worked at the Transvaal Museum for 62 years.

I think it’s important for children and young adults to know these stories – maybe the book will inspire a future generation of black scientists?

South Africa has a past where the majority of people were denied equal opportunities. We all need to acknowledge this past so that we can build a better future.

histories and the culture of the N|uu people.

Without any financial backing, she has taken on the responsibility of keeping her language alive.

I’m also continuously writing children’s picture books and radio stories. Follow me on Facebook, Twitter (@loratoauthor) and Instagram (@troklorato) for updates.

Did any existing books influence you? I was inspired by a book for young adults I once read at my local library in Saulsville, Pretoria. It was about the life of the sprinting legend Jesse Owens, who went through adversity as a black man in segregated America but still won four gold medals at the Berlin Olympics in 1936.

I’m also inspired by children every day – it’s such a pity that we don’t have more of these kinds of books for young people in our country.

The Forgotten Scientist is published by Jacana Media and costs R150 in bookstores.

Your book is published in six languages…

Yes! The Forgotten Scientist is published in Afrikaans, English, isiXhosa, isiZulu, Sepedi and Sesotho. Research has shown that children learn better in the language they best understand: their home language.

Language connects us to more than just learning, it is our heartbeat!

What’s next? I’m writing the third book in the Unsung Heroes series about 87-year-old Katrina Esau – she and her last surviving sibling are the only two people left in the world who can speak their mother tongue, the N|uu language.

Esau opened a school in her backyard in Upington to teach children how to speak and sing in this endangered language, and to pass on the oral

CHECK THIS

Hikers leave footprints on the beach in the Geelkrans Nature Reserve, east of Still Bay in the Southern Cape.

The circular trail in the reserve snakes through coastal fynbos to Geelkrans itself – towering, yellow, fossilised dunes above the high-water mark. From there, it’s a 4 km stroll back along the beach to the starting point.

You can buy a permit at the kiosk at the reserve entrance (R10 per person), but you won’t be in trouble if there’s no one there to accept your payment, which is often the case.

Contact Still Bay Tourism for more info: 028 754 2602

PICTURE RONEL STEYN

go! #176 31

Small town trouble Late one night, the rugby posts at Vredendal High School uprooted themselves and moved nearly half a kilometre. Evan Naudé explains the reason behind this mysterious phenomenon.

O

ne morning, near the end of my first year in high school, I was surprised by what I found at school: toilet paper hung from trees, posters pasted on doors and graffiti on the windows. When the matrics arrived, things got even more strange: The boys wore dresses and ribbons in their hair, and the girls wore grey school shorts and boys’ socks pulled up to their knees. This was my first introduction to Forty Days.

It’s a tradition in some places – a

32 go! #176

ILLUSTRATION NICOLENE LOUW

hangover from SADF conscription when soldiers in the 1970s and ’80s were desperate to be done with their national service. The name comes from a Cliff Richard song: “Forty Days (To Come Back Home)”.

Five years later, I was in matric myself and my final 40 days of school were fast approaching. A few days beforehand, the principal – Mr Von Zeuner – called the matrics in and asked us to behave ourselves.

“Stay out of trouble and don’t let me down,” he said.

“Yes Sir, we understand Sir,”

we all promised.

But what Von Zeuner didn’t know was that we were already planning something more daring than toilet paper and graffiti…

On the night before Forty Days, we would remove the posts from the rugby field and plant them on the lawn in front of the staff room – in the quad where all the pupils gather in the mornings. The following day, all the pupils and teachers would find an unforgettable monument to the matric class of 2004.

My best friend and co-conspirator, Jacobus, determined that the shorter,

COLUMN lighter posts on the B field would work best for our monument. The vertical poles were planted in cylinders in the ground and would be fairly easy to remove. We worked out that two guys could lift one vertical pole out, but we’d need a third person to hold the other vertical pole to make sure the whole thing didn’t fall over. The horizontal pole was hooked to the vertical poles – once everything was on the ground we’d be able to pull the structure apart and transport each pole separately.

In summary: If you want to move rugby posts to a new location 300 m away in the middle of the night, you need at least four teenage boys with heads filled with more kattekwaad than common sense. Luckily, this description applied to most of my friends. Jacobus and I soon got two more team members.

When Forty Days arrived, we were well prepared.

I snuck out of the house just before 2 am, dressed in a dark tracksuit. I met Jacobus outside. In School Street, the two other members of the Original Four joined us. Francois had tied a spade to his back and Tommy (not his real name because he was never officially there that night) wore a balaclava.

In the school quad, we found about 10 other matric boys decorating the place with toilet paper, paint and posters. It didn’t take much effort to recruit them for our cause. Many hands make light work.

Ironically, our ensemble now matched a rugby team in number as we walked down to the B field. Now the fun started.

We joked around as we lifted the posts out. We separated the three poles and hoisted them onto our shoulders. Four or five guys per pole, and we were off. In the parking area, floodlights illuminated the procession inching towards the school like a drunk caterpillar.

But hang on – there were lights bobbing in the dark up ahead. We were caught off guard and froze in our tracks.

When we’d left the school building earlier, it had been deserted…

A sharp voice cut through the darkness: “Stop! Don’t move! Police! Don’t run!”

There was a clang of metal on tar as the posts were dropped, and our takkies slapped the ground as we sprinted away.

It was my first ride in the back of a police van.

Two such vans ferried us to the police station.

We were plonked in the charge office, told to remove our shoelaces and belts.

The members of the Original Four had lots of getaway practice. In those days, we enjoyed playing toktokkie around the neighbourhood – door-bell ringing – and we’d target the same houses every weekend. Over time, you’d get to know which owner would storm out in pursuit – sometimes on foot, sometimes in a vehicle, always swearing. Our version was more intense than your standard game of toktokkie, to be fair. We were in a group and our escape plan was always to scatter in different directions to confuse our pursuer. Later, we’d meet up at a predetermined spot and share stories about who’d been closest to getting caught.

So, when the police showed up, my toktokkie reflexes kicked in. I ran up a small entrance road to the left, away from my friends. This road led to the street outside the school, and a suburb with lots of good hiding places. In retrospect, this entrance road – actually a funnel, with a wall on one side and the fence of the tennis courts on the other – wasn’t the smartest choice.

I was halfway down when a police bakkie with flashing blue lights cut me off and plugged my escape route. My adrenaline was pumping. I ran past the first police officer at full tilt – he was still getting out of the driver’s seat. But his partner in the back was wise to my moves. With a skilful tackle (a bit high, if you ask me) he pinned me against the fence.

Lots of other boys were also being apprehended, but none of them were members of the Original Four…

It was my first ride in the back of a police van. Two such vans ferried us to the police station. We were plonked in the charge office, told to remove our shoelaces and belts.

Soon Von Zeuner arrived, with a deep frown on his face. His displeasure was evident. Under the harsh glare of the fluorescent lights, I looked around at my classmates. One guy’s dad was a teacher at the primary school; the other’s was a detective in this very police station!

Four of us, including myself, were on the council of learners. For some reason, there was also a guy who had matriculated the previous year. The only missing faces belonged to Jacobus, Francois and Tommy.

Von Zeuner’s eyes widened in surprise when he saw me. “Evan! Does you dad know you’re here?” he asked.

I was too embarrassed to answer.

In the end, the principal showed us mercy and didn’t lay a criminal charge.

“I want to see each of you in my office tomorrow morning,” he said as he left.

Our parents were summoned to pick us up, but mine didn’t answer the phone.

I got a lift from one of the other escapees and tiptoed to bed when I got home.

When we gathered around the breakfast table the next morning, I kept quiet. My parents still had no idea what I had got up to the night before, and I decided to keep it that way for the time being. It was only when we got to school that I asked my dad if I could talk to him about something.

“Sure”, he said. “Let’s go to my office.”

He got out and I followed him to his office in the school building – the one marked “Vice Principal”…

Later that morning Jacobus and Francois were standing next to me and the rest of the boys in the principal’s office.

They had decided to turn themselves in in solidarity. I learnt that they had escaped through the primary school’s grounds, adjacent to the high school.

(Tommy, well, he’s still at large to this day.)

Von Zeuner looked at each of us in turn, as if he couldn’t believe that it was really us – especially Jacobus whose dad was the principal of the primary school.

And I sometimes can’t believe it either, thinking back to that ridiculous night…

go! #176 33

The Bushveld

A zebra under a giant leadwood tree in the Pafuri area in the far north of the Kruger National Park.

beckons

Ah, the Bushveld! The word alone is enough to ignite your wanderlust. This week-long travel plan includes national parks and a few secret spots… and a campfire every night.

COMPILED BY TOAST COETZER

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HIGHLIGHTS MARAKELE NATIONAL PARK LIMPOPO RIVER BLOUBERG NATURE RESERVE MAPUNGUBWE NATIONAL PARK KRUGER NATIONAL PARK

ASSIC CL

Mmabolela private reserve

Lo tsa ne

R572

Swartwater

to Gaborone

o L im p o p

Swartwater Baobab Tolwe

lal a

Steenbokpan

R518

Vlakpan

Limp op o

R522

oc od ile

36 go! #176

Klei

R578

vh

n-Le

u

R524

Kruger Par S hingw edz i

taba

Giyani R36

Polokwane

R81 ba G re a t Le ta

Modjadjiskloof

R71

R71

Phalaborwa O li fa n ts

R526 50 km

Mokopane R518

R33

to Pretoria

Lebowakgomo

Hoedspruit

R37

N11 R516

R40 R579

to Groblersdal

he Bushveld is a mythical place. It brims with stories, with Jock’s adventures, and with big game hunters’ close calls. It’s remote and wild; a place of escape where you can light a fire at sunset and watch bushbabies in the branches of an apple-leaf tree. When the sun rises the next day, Swainson’s spurfowl will wake you with their raucous call, and you’ll hear a grey go-away bird in the canopy of a marula tree.

Somewhere in the Bushveld, you’ll come face to face with a baobab or a tall nyala tree; you’ll see herds of impala, maybe an elephant, and so many southern yellowbilled hornbills that you’ll grow tired of them.

Above all, you’ll come to the Bushveld to dream – of a time when life was simpler, when that night’s camping spot was the only thing that mattered.

This route will take you to animals, birds and trees – and a few of our favourite places.

DAY 1

R36

R519

N1

Many roads in the Bushveld, including the tar roads, are in a poor condition. Rather drive this route in an SUV or a bakkie. (Any 4x2 with high ground clearance will do the trick.) Be careful on the smaller“tar roads”that haven’t seen a contractor in decades.

There are sometimes more potholes than tar… Consider it part of the adventure!

vu

R81

R81

T ROADS

Le

Tzaneen

Vaalwater

Modimolle

e

R524

Louis Trichardt

R567

Berg van Winde

Thabazimbi

tal

ts

Cr

Bontle rest camp

Mu

R523

S O U T PA N S B E R G

Dendron

R518

Marakele National Park

Thohoyandou

Pafuri

Klein-Tshipise

Tshipise Forever Resorts

Tibane

W AT E R B E R G

Sentrum

Tshipise

N11

Marken

Bateleur Tented Safari Lodge & Bush Spa

s

R510

R521

Overyssel

R510 laba

kwena

Pa

M ok ol o

Lephalale

Vivo

Blouberg Nature Reserve

M o g a la

Baltimore

RSA

Bokmakierie Baobab Toll Plaza

R525

R508

Sand

Marnitz Baobab Farm Stall

R572

N1

R523

Molope camp

Tom Burke

Stockpoort R510

Mat

Delicious Coffee Shop

Bush & River Camp Pafuri gate Crook’s Corner Masisi

Sagole Baobab

Musina Sand

Alldays

Maasstroom

Grobler’s Bridge

Moriti Bush Camps Kokomori Birder’s Lodge

Platjan

Boelamien River Camp

Zanzibar

R572

R521

fan

Palapye

B OT WA N

Ratho Bush Camp Mapungubwe National Park

ZIM B AJuju’s BWE Nthakeni Spaza Shop

Beit Bridge

Ho ut

DT

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Oli

A1

OA

Mazhou campsite

Pontdrift

to Masvingo

A4

he

R

A6

L im p o p o

as

to Francistown

to Bulawayo

Sh

Thune

Marakele

Marakele National Park is about 2½ hours’ drive from Pretoria (about 220 km). Stretch your legs in Thabazimbi,

Burgersfort

R36

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M pu a l a g a

CLASSIC ROAD TRIP BUSHVELD take out your binoculars and look at the excavations on the slopes of the Berg van Winde. Iron ore was mined here for decades, although operations are currently at a standstill. If you haven’t shopped for groceries yet, take a turn past Thaba Mall. (We recommend The Biltong Box…) Follow the tar road out of town to the park and pitch your tent in Bontle rest camp. As soon as you’ve settled in, go on a game drive so you can make the most of the afternoon.

Even though the distances don’t seem that far, they take a long time to drive. The mountain route in particular is so narrow that one buffalo can cause a traffic jam.

The veld around Bontle – the “flat” section of Marakele – is typical bushveld, but Lenong Drive leads you up the magnificent Kransberg, the western end of the greater Waterberg. The vegetation changes as you climb: In the ravines there are broad-leaved yellowwood trees, and at the top you’ll see sugarbush and mountain cypress.

When you reach the top, you can sit on a bench and take in one of the most scenic views in South Africa. Look for Cape vultures soaring – there’s a breeding colony here.

Slowly make your way back to Bontle in the late afternoon and enjoy a good night’s sleep – you’re in the Bushveld, after all.

STAY HERE

MARAKELE NATIONAL PARK Bontle rest camp: Camping R325 per night for two people, plus R100 per extra adult and R50 per extra child (max six people per stand). Safari tent R1 470 per night for two people. Tlopi Tented Camp has more luxurious safari tents: R1 705 per night for two people. Motswere guest cottage: R2 935 per night for four people, plus R530 per extra person (sleeps eight). Children aged 2 – 11 get a discount.

012 428 9111; sanparks.org

Above: Buffalo in Marakele National Park.

Below: Lenong Drive, Marakele National Park.

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Adéle & Alberto Engelbrecht Owners, Moriti Bush Camps “The people of this area are salt of the earth. If there’s a crisis, everyone bands together and helps where they can.

Most Bushveld towns like Marnitz, Baltimore, Tolwe and Tom Burke are so small, if you blink you’ll miss them. But each place usually has a co-op, a post office, a farmers’ hall, a shop or two, and maybe a church or a police station.

Swartwater has a primary school with 80 pupils and a kindergarten.

“People also like to get married in the area – Bordeaux is a popular venue – and you can play golf at the Sesambos course near Swartwater.”

Phillip Bronkhorst Owner, Bateleur Tented Safari Lodge & Bush Spa “Tourists always enjoy a campfire in the Bushveld. There’s something magical about the flames – fire has signified a gathering place for humans for centuries. You come for the heat, the atmosphere and the stories. A fire doesn’t care about race or class, it just does its job.”

38 go! #176

Nyala campsite at Moriti Bush Camps has great facilities, including its own little kitchen (in the background).

DAY 2

Tom Burke

Today you have a choice: You can either follow the highways or take a back road that traverses a corner of Limpopo few tourists ever visit. You’ll need a bakkie for the latter because the dirt roads can throw anything your way: corrugations, sand, or mud in the rainy season.

Aim for Sentrum (nothing but auction kraals) and linger in Steenbokpan, a classic Bushveld town with fuel and cooldrinks. Then drive north to Tom Burke via Stockpoort. This route is about 270 km in total and you need about four hours to complete it.

The easier route is tarred most of the way. When you exit Marakele, don’t go back to Thabazimbi. Follow the public dirt road that runs north through the national park (you’ll see game and cliffs to the east) until you reach the R510 – turn right towards Lephalale.

Lephalale is the last big town on this route. If you had to brush your teeth with your finger last night, now is the time to buy what you need. Follow the road north of town – you’ll drive parallel to the Mokolo River (also known as the Mogol).

When you reach Tom Burke, you might wonder where the town is. There isn’t one! The Tom Burke filling station and co-op are just after the junction between the N11 and the R572. You come to this area to enjoy the Limpopo River, and there’s no better place to do that than Moriti Bush Camps.

STAY HERE

MORITI BUSH CAMPS There are two exclusive campsites, Nyala and Matopi.

The facilities are great, the view unparalleled and the

big trees on the riverbank offer more than enough shade. Nyala (with power) R280 per adult; Matopi (no power) R230 per adult; children under 12 camp for free (maximum eight people per stand).

You get a discount if you book for three or more nights (the camps are popular over weekends – you have to book for at least two nights).

Seditse Safari Lodge is also part of Moriti. Chalet accommodation R375 per adult, half-price for kids under 12 (each chalet sleeps six).

079 515 6357 (Adéle); moriticamp.co.za KOKOMORI BIRDER’S LODGE This lodge, owned by Dian and Minda Geerkens, is about 25 km from the Grobler’s Bridge border post – you turn off the R572 towards the river. There are stone units (R400 per person) and an exclusive bush camp with no facilities – R350 per vehicle per night; it’s just you and the bush.

082 898 1631 (Dian); kokomori@mweb.co.za BATELEUR TENTED SAFARI LODGE & BUSH SPA This great lodge is south-east of Lephalale near the Palala River – it’s a good alternative if you want to stay longer and explore the district. You can overnight here and then continue our route from Day 4 – this way you won’t miss out on the Limpopo River. Bateleur offers game drives and sometimes animals are fed near the lodge – you can watch an eland with a beer in hand.

The lodge has nine luxury safari tents: from R1 095 per night for two people (self-catering; options with meals also available).

082 529 5997; bateleurlodge.co.za

DAY 3

Platjan

Drive to Baobab Farm Stall in Marnitz for brunch, or head directly to Swartwater. There’s a scenic back road to Swartwater that starts at the Grobler’s Bridge border post: Turn right and follow the dirt road through agricultural fields until you reach the R572 tar road again.

Turn off to Swartwater and have a look around. This small village even has a few streets! Take a photo of a church (there are two) or the general dealer and pop into the coop. (Isn’t it fun to browse the shelves?) If you’re interested, there are loose, dried tobacco leaves behind the counter.

Ask for permission at the co-op to go see the Swartwater Baobab. It’s on Joep Maree’s property and he also owns the co-op. It’s not far from town.

Return to Swartwater and follow the road towards Maasstroom, but turn off to the left for a dirt road closer to the river. You’ll see irrigation farms, but also pristine bush when you drive through the Mmabolela private reserve.

Continue along this road until you reach Boelamien River Camp. Settle in, plant your camping chair and pull up the cooler box. That right there is the Limpopo River, the main artery of the Bushveld!

STAY HERE

BOELAMIEN RIVER CAMP Follow the dirt road along the course of the Limpopo, from the Zanzibar to the Platjan border posts. Boelamien is on the left just before you reach Platjan. Camping from R150 per person; self-catering chalet R350 per person.

Four chalets sleep two people each; one family chalet sleeps four people. 082 453 8336 (Mariana) MMABOLELA PRIVATE RESERVE There are two farmhouses here for bigger groups who want to holiday together. Tuli Homestead R500 per person (sleeps eight, minimum four people per night).

Weederdooper Homestead R600 per person (sleeps 14, minimum four people per night). At Weederdooper you have to book at least three nights’ stay.

Mmabolela is for nature connoisseurs – you can hike or cycle in the veld because there are no dangerous animals except for the hippos and crocs in the river. Visit Mabalel’s Pool and the Raaswater rapids.

082 872 4397; mmabolela.co.za

The Limpopo River as seen from the new bridge at the Platjan border post.

EAT HERE

BAOBAB FARM STALL, MARNITZ Marnitz basically is the farm stall (pictured left) – look for the colourful windmill. From here, you can follow a back road to the big baobab at Swartwater.

Baobab Farm Stall (they also offer accommodation) is one of those great spots where you can park off on the stoep and spend a few hours, especially if you get chatting to owners Anél and Henk Malan.

They have pizza (Bosveld Bielie R125 with bacon, ham, mince and Peppadews), cheese burgers (R75), pap and kaiings (R75), and venison pie with chips and salad (R54). You can also buy biltong and droëwors (R260/kg) for the road, or gifts like their “Bushveld Uber”T-shirt (R110). A Bushveld Uber is a donkey cart – you can book a ride on one.

Opening times: Monday to Friday from 7 am to 6 pm, Saturday 7 am to 5 pm, Sunday 7.30 am to 1 pm.

082 708 1928 (Anél); baobabaccommodation.co.za

Anne & Frans van Zyl, Tzaneen “The pristine scenery is what draws us to Boelamien River Camp – you camp under big weeping boer-bean trees.

We enjoy being alone here, walking around and taking photos. We’ve seen a Pel’s fishing-owl before, and just this morning we photographed lilac-breasted rollers in a tree right in front of camp. Bushbuck are common along the Limpopo River.”

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Above: Blouberg Nature Reserve is a Bushveld tree paradise.

Below: Delicious Coffee Shop, Alldays.

DAY 4

Blouberg Nature Reserve

Head straight to Alldays, the unofficial capital of the Bushveld, and have a cup of coffee or something to eat at Delicious Coffee Shop.

Don’t linger too long, though, because you’re on your way to one of Limpopo’s secret spots. Blouberg Nature Reserve stretches across a part of the Blouberg mountain itself, a big outcrop that looks like the runaway stepchild of the Soutpansberg.

The tamboti, weeping boer-bean, caterpillar pod and mallow raisin trees in Molope Bush Camp are particularly lush in summer. The camp also has umbrella thorns, of course, because you’re in the Bushveld! Go for a drive to see a big baobab and get out of your vehicle at the wild fig forest to walk a short trail.

The reserve has lots of game. The Buffelpan hide is sunk into the ground so you can photograph animals like giraffe, buffalo and kudu at eye-level. The reserve is also known for its big breeding colony of Cape vultures – drive around to the southern side of the mountain to see the colony. There’s also a vulture restaurant on the northern side where carcasses are sometimes left out and you can see these special raptors up close.

STAY HERE

BLOUBERG NATURE RESERVE Molope Bush Camp (shared ablutions, no power) R270 per night for two people, plus R90 per extra adult and R45 per extra child under 12 (max six per stand).

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Modumele Wilderness Camp (exclusive, no power, pit toilet) R340 per night for two people, plus R160 per extra adult and R80 per extra child under 12 (max 10 people).

Tamboti tented camp (gas stove, shared ablutions) R850 per night for four people, plus R160 per extra adult and R80 per child (sleeps eight).

Mashatu self-catering house R950 per night for four people.

Day visitors R50 per adult; R25 per child under 12.

Gate times 6.30 am to 5.30 pm. There’s firewood for sale at reception, but you have to bring everything else.

073 068 3180 (Shadrack); bloubergreserve.co.za

EAT HERE

DELICIOUS COFFEE SHOP, ALLDAYS Look for this oasis on the right as you enter town from the north-west. Sit on the stoep or walk through the shop to the nursery at the back, where there are tables made from old road signs.

The menu has everything: breakfast options, sandwiches (the chicken mayo with chips and salad for R57 was good value for money), hamburgers, meat dishes (their speciality: beef fillet hamburger and chips for R100) and salads. The milkshakes are big and cost R37.

Opening times: Monday to Friday from 7 am to 5 pm, Saturday from 8 am to 3 pm, Sunday from 8.30 am to 2.30 pm.

084 235 4588; shopdelicious@gmail.com

DAY 5

Mapungubwe

Today you’ll return to Alldays (have another milkshake at Delicious!) and drive further north to Pontdrift. When you approach the Limpopo River Valley, you’ll see the scenic koppies typical of the Mapungubwe region.

Set up camp at Mazhou in the western part of Mapungubwe National Park – it’s more remote than the main section of the park. The campsite alone is a big drawcard and you can spend all day there to enjoy the atmosphere. The nearby Maloutswa hide overlooks a waterhole and elephants are abundant.

Visit the museum at the reception office and go look at the confluence of the Sashe and Limpopo rivers in the eastern section of the park. This is where the borders of South Africa, Botswana and Zimbabwe meet. You’ll see cattle in the veld – they cross from the Zim side.

Mapungubwe is part of a transfrontier conservation area and there are no fences to prevent domestic or wild animals from crossing the borders.

It might have something to do with how far north you’re in South Africa now, but the Bushveld feels wilder here. Enjoy the veld and what it has to offer.

STAY HERE

MAPUNGUBWE NATIONAL PARK Mazhou campsite R320 per night for two people, plus R100 per extra person (max six people per stand).

Leokwe rest camp has cottages from R1 425 per night for two people, plus R434 per extra adult and R217 per child. sanparks.org RATHO BUSH CAMP This tented camp overlooks a waterhole where food is sometimes put out for elephants. Drive towards Pontdrift and look for the turn-off on the left. Visit the crocodile farm on the same premises or go on a game drive in the Limpopo riverbed.

Luxury en suite safari tent (communal kitchen and living area) R700 per night for two people.

082 448 7998 (Sandra); rathobushcamps.co.za

Top: Lions rest underneath feverberry trees next to the Limpopo River near Ratho Bush Camp.

Above: The Kroukamps from Centurion at Mazhou in Mapungubwe. go! #176 41

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STAY HERE

DAY 6&7

Above: Nthakeni Bush & River Camp Opposite page: The Sagole Baobab (known locally as the“Muvhuyu of Madifha”) is estimated to be more than 3 500 years old. It’s nearly 25 m high, with a circumference of 43 m.

GO SEE

SAGOLE BAOBAB GPS: S22.50020 E30.63304

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Mutale River

Today you’ll drive along the R572 from Mapungubwe to Musina, then you’ll turn south to Bokmakierie (a place with a filling station and a shop) and east to Tshipise. Other options: Take the R508 from Musina to Tshipise, or follow the dirt road from Musina along the Limpopo River – it swerves south and joins up with the R525 tar road again.

If the corrugated roads of the Bushveld have knocked your chakra out of balance, have a refreshing dip in the Tshipise hot springs. Unfortunately, they don’t allow day visitors so you’ll have to overnight for a swim.

Or skip it and follow the R525 east for 24 km (measured from Tshipise Forever Resorts) and turn right at the sign that says Nwanedi Dam. This road takes you to the Sagole Baobab (use the GPS waypoint below), which looks like an elephant on its knees. It’s a sacred tree: Take a photo, then sit with your back against the trunk that has been growing here for more than 3 000 years.

From Sagole, head to Masisi where you can eat braaied chicken at Juju’s Spaza Shop – you’ll order extra for padkos – then continue to the Pafuri gate into the Kruger Park.

You could spend your entire Bushveld holiday in the Kruger, but this travel plan leaves the Kruger’s wildest, furthest corner for last.

You’re not going to overnight in the park because we also want to introduce you to another of our favourite places: Nthakeni Bush & River Camp on the banks of the Mutale River, about 5 km from the Pafuri gate. Owners Annelize and Kobus Venter make you feel right at home.

You can walk a short trail through the koppies and baobabs downstream from the camp.

Visit the Pafuri section of the Kruger Park as a day visitor – Nthakeni is closer to the far north than Punda Maria is!

Pull over on the bridge over the Luvuvhu River and have a braai or a picnic at the Pafuri picnic site – and make sure you drive all the way to Crook’s Corner.

Now you can say you’ve been in the Bushveld!

NTHAKENI BUSH & RIVER CAMP Two private campsites called Mufhanda and Mushato with their own kitchens (fully equipped for self-catering and ideal if you don’t want to bring all your cooking gear along) R400 per night for two people, plus R125 per extra person (Mufhanda max six people, Mushato max eight people).

The Baobab campsite is perfect for a bigger group: R300 for two people, plus R100 per extra person (max 10 people). It has two showers and two toilets.

The other two big stands are Marula and Mutale: R350 per night for two people, plus R100 per extra person (max 10 people). The stands each have a scullery.

Mopani Tented Group Camp has a great bush feel – R1 500 per night for up to six people. For more comfort, stay in Muvhuyu Cottage (two people, R950 per night) or Mulala Family Cottage (four people, R1 200 per night).

078 854 9218; nthakeni.com TSHIPISE FOREVER RESORT This popular resort has different rates for weekends and peak holiday seasons. These are the mid-week and off-peak rates (visit their website for a full list): Caravan park R330 per night for two people, R490 per night for four people, R810 per night for eight people. Rondavel from R995 for two people (some rondavels sleep two, others sleep up to six).

012 423 5600; forevertshipise.co.za

EAT HERE

JUJU’S SPAZA SHOP, MASISI Julia Sawada’s open-air braai restaurant (pictured below) with seating under an awning focuses on chicken cooked over the coals. Whole chicken R110, half chicken R60, quarter chicken R45. You get pap and sauce with your meal – vegetables like marogo are also on the menu. It’s in the middle of Masisi, about 100 m south of the R525 – look for the sign.

GPS: S22.42119 E30.86171 Opening hours: Daily from 5.30 am to 6.45 pm.

076 708 3714 (Julia)

Entering Thunder Alley on the Orange River, the paddlers are surrounded by black basalt rocks .

Go slow, be the flow

There’s a place in the Northern Cape where a city slicker feels like he’s between nothing (Hopetown) and nowhere (Douglas). Here, the Orange River has carved a deep trench out of black basalt, polished smooth by centuries of sun, wind and water. Come paddle with us through this ancient landscape.

WORDS PIERRE STEYN PICTURES RONEL STEYN

PADDLING ORANGE RIVER

T

he Orange River snakes through the arid heart of South Africa, its water a source of life and grace for those who live along its banks. From where it rises, high in Lesotho’s Maluti Mountains (where it’s called the Senqu), to where it empties into the Atlantic Ocean 2 200 km west, the river also offers a sanctuary.

My wife Ronel and I had some of our best family holidays paddling and drifting down the Orange, blissfully cut off from the frantic buzz of city life. Many of those holidays were spent on the border between South Africa and Namibia, between Onseepkans and Pella, or between Vioolsdrif and Aussenkehr.

As the winter of 2020 ebbed and the days became longer and warmer, we heard the call of the river again. But this time we wanted to explore a different section, a part I’d only read about. It was time to pack the Toyota Fortuner and aim for the middle of the country. We were going to Vanderkloof!

River fever

It’s early on a Wednesday afternoon and the Vanderkloof Dam comes into view. It’s the second largest dam in the country, with the highest dam wall – an impressive 108 m. But the fact that we’re driving into the tiny town of Vanderkloof at all means we’re lost.

I somehow missed the turn-off to Stoney Rapids Lodge, which is about 3 km downstream from the dam wall. It’s the gathering place for the paddlers on this trip – where we’ll meet the guides from Adventure Kayaking and where we’ll spend our first night.

“This gives us the chance to explore the town!” I declare happily.

My wife Ronel sighs, and in the rear-view mirror I watch as my 25-year-old daughter Rebecca rolls her eyes.

But I am immune to eye-rolling these days and besides, one should never waste a chance to get lost.

This village – with its views of the water and its magnolia trees in bloom – is the setting for Deon Meyer’s Fever, although it’s a little more post-apocalyptic on paper. We’ll be spending a few days in Vanderkloof in a self-catering cottage before we head back to Cape Town (see p 93).

Opposite page, clockwise from the top: Few experiences are as good for the soul as enjoying the golden hour on the banks of the Orange River.

Adventure Kayaking uses crocs on the river – they’re easy to portage.

The old Wagon Bridge was blown up during the South African War, but has since been rebuilt. Tour guide Gavin Myburgh (right) is an expert at loading a croc so no space is wasted.

Etienne Geldenhuys lends a helping hand. Another benefit of crocs is they can easily be stacked on top of each other.

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After a quick loop, we find the road to Petrusville and I soon spot a big signpost pointing to the lodge.

“How did I miss that?”

My question is answered by some more eye-rolling.

Even though we can’t see the river yet, the gravel road takes us through leaf-green fields of lucerne, irrigated with water from the Orange.

It takes only a few minutes to reach Stoney Rapids, where a tanned, trim man with cropped grey hair is unloading big waterproof containers and cooler boxes from a trailer and carrying them briskly to the lawn next to the lodge swimming pool. He’s Gavin Myburgh, owner and chief guide of Adventure Kayaking.

He marches over to greet us. “A man of action,” I think to myself. (After our three days together on the river, I’ll amend my initial characterisation to: “Action man with a heart of gold”.)

“Welcome, welcome! Unload. Unpack.

Make yourself at home,” Gavin says. Behind the thatched roof of the lodge and its adjoining braai lapa, there’s a lane of pecan trees filled with finches having a choir practice. And behind that, I can see and hear the river.

The three Steyns smile at each other. River fever is contagious.

DAY 1

Always hope for the best

By the time the Adventure Kayaking minibus drops us at the launch site, about 4 km upstream from Hopetown, it feels like we’ve known the other paddlers in the group for years. We’re 11 people in total and we spent the previous evening getting to know each other in the braai lapa.

Before supper, Gavin, a champion paddler with 30 years’ experience, showed us how to pitch our tents, wear our flotation devices, stow our inflatable mattresses and pack our dry bags and cooler boxes. All this gear is supplied by Adventure Kayaking. Gavin’s business partner and wife Lorna, a champion paddler in her own right, is the master chef responsible for all the catering, with the help of another guide, Steve Moseley. We just had to bring our clothes, cameras, bird guides, snacks and drinks (no glass bottles) and a good attitude.

It’s a 40-minute, early morning drive to the launch site. We’re all keen to get into the water. We unpack our gear and the two-man inflatable kayaks, better known as crocs, and carry everything down to the river. Gavin has perfected the art of packing a croc. Every bit of gear has a specific place and everything is tied down with colour-coded straps.

It’s not like I’m incapable of tying my own shoelaces, but this kind of precision

GO&STAY GUIDE

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rapid called Hubbly Bubbly.

The guides will steer each boat through the rapid, with each of us as a passenger in the front. Rebecca is the first to volunteer – probably to get it over and done with. She has a huge, wave-soaked grin on her face as she speeds through with guide Wesley Slabbert paddling frantically at the back to keep the nose straight.

Ronel shoots the rapid with Gavin, and Steve takes me through without any mishap. We’ve all made it and the adrenaline is pumping.

We’ve only gone another kilometre when Gavin pulls us over again, this time to the other bank. In front is the notorious Hell’s Gate rapid, and even the most experienced paddlers in the world will think three times before shooting this one. It’s a turbulent waterfall, booby trapped with sharp rocks.

The only way around is to portage the boats. So, one by one, the men in our group carry the heavily laden crocs around the spitting, angry, water demon and place them back into the water at a sheltered bay about a 150 m downstream.

We’ve now officially entered a 30 km stretch of river known as Thunder Alley, where the river narrows and views of the Karoo landscape make way for polished and beautifully weathered black basalt cliffs. It’s like floating through a black marble cathedral, and the mood is appropriately reverential.

Then the quiet is shattered by an unearthly scream that makes the hair on my arms stand on end. But it’s just a barn owl, exiting a crevice next to our heads, shrieking as it climbs into the blue sky.

Our floating meditation session comes to an end when Nannie de Villiers, Steve’s paddling partner, pulls up at a cliff face and excitedly beckons to Rebecca. She’s found the flip-flop that went AWOL yesterday at Try Me. Somehow, this left-foot Havaiana made it through Hell’s Gate none the worse for wear.

The last big rapid of the day is Sarel Sidewinder, but we’re old hands by now. If a flip-flop can make it to hell and back, Sarel is not going to scare us. We shoot through like pros. Gavin leads us to a bay where we’ll pitch camp for the last time. Our cans of Windhoek Draught are still cold and Lorna’s lasagne has a well-deserved reputation in these parts.

Later, in my tent, I wonder how much a house in Vanderkloof might cost. Fortunately for my bank balance, there’s no Internet to Google prices…

PADDLING ORANGE RIVER DAY 3 Call of the fish-eagle to Campbell

R357 to Prieska

to Kimberley

Douglas Or

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Va a l

Ritchie

Va a l

Mokala National Park

Jacobsdal

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R705

End N12

Thunder Alley

to Petrusburg

Riet

Koffiefontein

Free St a te

Start

Hopetown

to Fauresmith

R48

Lückhoff N12

O ra

Kraankuil Orania

nge

R387

Strydenburg

Nor t hern Cap e

R369

Stoney Rapids Lodge House on Suikerbossie

Vanderkloof

Petrusville

R388

Va nd erk lo of Dam

Potfontein

R48

to Britstown to Hanover

50 km

Nobody is in any rush to get going this morning, even though most of us are awake before sunrise. We’re enjoying our coffee and savouring the peace.

I see the fish-eagle before I hear it, swooping in low over the river before veering over my head and perching on the top branch of a tree no more than 100 m away. I sit as still as I can.

We look at each other for more than a minute, before it flaps off upstream. Maybe it’s late for a date with a largemouth yellowfish?

Today is a relaxed day of paddling to our extraction point 22 km downstream, just before Douglas, where the Vaal River links elbows with the Orange. The river opens up again as we exit Thunder Alley, and now we’re flanked by game farms. The occasional kudu kicks up stones as it scampers up a ridge.

It seems like the fish-eagle I saw this morning went to fetch its mates. At one stage there are six circling above us, taking turns to swoop down to the water in front of us. Ronel is trying her best to capture the action on her cellphone, since the big camera is packed away in a dry bag on Gavin’s croc.

“Forget about the photos, just enjoy this,” I say to her. She stows her phone in its waterproof bag and lies back in the boat to savour this final gift – here in the middle of somewhere, where a river feeds body and soul.

KNOW BEFORE YOU GO

Steve Moseley and Nannie de Villiers take a moment to admire the unique rock formations in Thunder Alley.

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Cost: R4 500 per person (children younger than 12 get a 20 % discount). The rate includes guides, two nights of camping on the river and two nights camping at the base camp. All meals are included and so is transport to and from the launch and extraction sites.

When? Thanks to the generation of hydro-electric power at Vanderkloof Dam, water is released into the river every day, which ensures good flow throughout the year. It’s hot between September and April and the winters are very cold, especially in the evenings.

Adventure Kayaking do most of their trips in summer, but they will run tours in winter on request. The same applies for their tours on Vanderkloof Dam. Contact them for dates.

What do I pack? Snacks and drinks. Remember you’re not allowed to take any glass onto the river. Bring old takkies or water shoes, plus a light windbreaker or rain jacket, swimming costume, camera, binoculars, headlamp, towel, sunscreen, sun hat and sunglasses. The sun is merciless – paddle in a long-sleeve hiking shirt or rash vest, and wear lightweight, long pants. Also pack comfortable clothes to wear in the campsite and a sleeping bag for winter (not necessary in summer).

Adventure Kayaking provides tents, inflatable mattresses and dry bags.

Contact: Lorna Myburgh lorna@adventurekayaking.co.za; 082 454 0112; adventurekayaking.co.za

Fear not, you won’t have to pass through Hell’s Gate, but you will have to portage your croc around this notorious rapid.

Follow old footsteps in the forest Join us as we travel deep into the Knysna Forest, into the world of Saul Barnard, Silas Miggel and Fiela Komoetie.

We might even run into Oupoot…

WORDS & PICTURES EVAN NAUDÉ

T Above: From his vantage point in a microlight, Evan watches the first rays light up Louvain Guest Farm’s wheat fields as the sun rises over the Outeniqua Mountains.

Opposite page: John van den Berg and Morné Jonker (right) look out over the Langkloof.

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he wind whips at my moustache and tries to wind it around my ears as I soar high above the Langkloof.

It feels like I can reach out and touch the beams of golden sunlight pouring over the peaks of the Outeniqua Mountains and onto the quilted wheat fields in the valley below. Morné Jonker nudges the nose of his microlight sideways and points to something, but the engine drowns out his voice.

I’m lost in thought anyway. From up here, I can see that Fiela Komoetie was right: No three-year-old could cross the mountains north of Knysna and make it into the Langkloof on his own. If only the magistrate could have gone up with Morné, he would have agreed, but then Dalene Matthee’s book Fiela’s Child would have been much shorter and we would have missed out on a wonderful story.

I’m visiting Morné’s guest farm Louvain, about 64 km west of Uniondale, with John van den Berg – owner of Bhejane Adventures. We’re on a scouting trip to work out a new tour that follows in the footsteps of the characters in Dalene Matthee’s forest novels. If you enjoy South African literature, you’ve probably read Fiela’s Child, Circles in a Forest and The Mulberry Forest. I read them in high school and to this day, I can’t help thinking of Knysna as the place

where Saul Barnard crossed paths with Oupoot the elephant, where Benjamin Komoetie was sent to live with a different family, and where Silas Miggel met the silkworm farmers.

Matthee’s books are fiction but the stories are grounded in truth. All the historical details accurately reflect what life was like here in the 19th century, when Knysna and surrounds were home to an eclectic assortment of woodcutters, ostrich farmers, gold diggers and Italian silkworm farmers. Once you’ve explored the forest for yourself, you’ll also feel part of her stories…

In the midst of freedom

Yesterday we drove north out of George and made our way into the Langkloof via Montagu Pass. This impressive old road with its neat stone walls was completed in 1847 by a team of prisoners supervised by Henry Fancourt White (the golf estate in George was named after him).

John and I stopped for a while at the old toll house. Back in the day, every ox wagon and horse cart had to pay a fee of two pennies per wheel and one penny per animal to use the pass. After a fire in 2018, the toll house was restored with a new collection of antiques and a new restaurant.

“We serve tea and pancakes, too,” said

Peleş Castle was built as a summer residence for the Romanian royal family in the 1800s. The detail of the interior woodwork is astonishing, and the whole castle was powered by its own water turbines. Visionary!

KNYSNA FOREST 1. Guests on the Bhejane tour stay at a special camp on the Bitou River, except in winter when accommodation is at Protea Wilds Retreat in Harkerville, between Knysna and Plett.

2. Book a microlight flight at Louvain for stunning aerial views of the Langkloof. ( louvain.co.za) 3. When you drive over Montagu Pass, stop and say hi to Joulian Roelofse who’s in charge of things at the toll house.

4. It’s easy to get distracted by the scenery on Prince Alfred Pass, but heed the graffiti and keep your eyes on the twisty road.

5. Jimmy Zondagh with a photo of his great-grandfather Petrus Hendrik, who appears as a character in Dalene Matthee’s books.

6. The Dalene Matthee memorial at Krisjan-se-Nek picnic site was fittingly erected next to a 880-yearold yellowwood.

7. In its heyday, this was the place at the Knysna Heads from where countless loads of wood were transported.

8. Hardy Loubser possesses a wealth of knowledge of the Knysna Forest – from the tallest tree to the smallest leaf.

9. The Bitou River is a great place for birding.

The same thing happens when we take a drive on the farm. “See that building?” Jimmy points through the bakkie’s window. “That’s where the governess stayed – she was a young lady from England who taught the kids how to read and write.” He points to another building.

“That’s the blacksmith’s workshop, where stagecoaches were repaired after they’d been hauled over the mountain. My house? It was built in the 1840s.”

We drive past apple orchards up a slope behind the farmhouse. “My family started to farm apples in the early 1900s. We’re a thousand metres above sea level here. It’s one of the coldest places in the country – a great climate to grow apples.”

We get to the top and Jimmy explains the lay of the land: “Those are the Kammanassie Mountains. The Outeniquas are on that side.

The Swartberg is over there, and there’s the Baviaanskloof.”

What about the mountain we’re standing on? “This is the Zondaghsberg,” he says with a smile. I guess if your family has lived at the base of a mountain for 250 years, it should carry your name.

We say goodbye to Jimmy and drive deeper into the mountains, to Avontuur – a tiny village that originated on the Zondagh property. Then we turn south onto one of Thomas Bain’s famous mountain passes – Prince Alfred Pass.

I’m a mountain pass fanatic, especially if it’s dirt. As we snake down the mountain, I imagine how frightened Benjamin Komoetie must have been as the census men drove him through these narrow bends and away from his family.

It’s late afternoon when we arrive in the Bitou Valley near Plett, where we’ll be staying for the next two nights – Bhejane has built an eco-friendly bush camp called the Garden Route Biomimicry Camp on the banks of the Bitou River. The safari tents might have white linen, but they can be packed up within an hour. The rest of the camp was likewise designed to have as little impact on the environment as possible, so expect composting toilets, hot bucket showers and even a fridge with a charcoal cooling system. You can’t get any closer to nature.

I close my eyes in my tent under a milkwood tree and dream of soaring over the Outeniqua Mountains, looking down on a green forest.

When the forest calls

The next morning we meet guide Hardy Loubser at the filling station in Harkerville, between Plett and Knysna. We drive a few kilometres west, enter the Garden of Eden section of the

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Garden Route National Park, and follow the Petrus-se-Brand route – a 24 km road through the forest – to the Diepwalle forestry station.

The route is open to the public as a mountainbiking trail, but Bhejane has a concession to use vehicles.

Hardy has been leading tours in the Knysna Forest for years. He’s also an honorary ranger, so I pepper him with questions about the forest’s biggest mystery: elephants. “They were once abundant, but by the 1800s there were only about 500 left,” he says. “Their numbers decreased rapidly after that. In 2000, someone thought they saw an elephant bull near Gouna.

The rumours swirled. Nobody knew how many there were, if there were any at all.”

The forest envelops us. Dappled sunlight filters through the canopy. I can’t see further than 10 m ahead, and when I get out of the bakkie, the leaves on the forest floor dampen the sound of my footsteps. I can understand why it would be difficult to find a shy animal here, even one as big as an ellie.

“An environmentalist, Gareth Patterson, visited the forest,” Hardy continues as I look at the ferns, moss and mushrooms among the tree roots. “He wrote a book called The Secret Elephants and estimated that there were about 11 elephants remaining. Cameras were installed to test his theory and they found that all the previous sightings were actually of one lonely cow. It’s a sad story – she’s the only elephant left. They’ve named her Oupoot, like in the books.”

Later we pull over at Kleineiland, a hill that sticks out above the forest like a bald head. The woodcutters lived here, where they could breathe fresh air, grow vegetables in the sun and see an elephant approaching from afar.

With his long hair, full beard and axe in hand, you’d think Hardy had grown up in the forest.

He laughs. “I’m from the Free State! I knew nothing about forests. When someone said ‘forest’, I would picture the Amazon or the Congo. I didn’t even know we had a forest like this in South Africa.”

The librarian in his home town of Senekal was a family friend. “One day she told me to read Circles in a Forest and I was hooked,” Hardy says.

He visited the Knysna Forest as an adult, but life took him elsewhere before he settled in Knysna permanently.

“The call of the forest saved me,” he says.

“If I think back now, it’s actually Dalene Matthee who brought me here. Through her books.”

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(Morus alba), which didn’t want to grow here.

The silkworm farm was a pipe dream.

The government gave the Italians food and accommodation for a few months and eventually they went on to find work as labourers, farmers and woodcutters. The San Ambroso chapel was built for them in 1891, and renovated by one of their descendants, Rayno Sciocatti, in 2005. The chapel has an interesting collection of letters, newspaper clippings and photos that tell the immigrants’ story. It’s a must-visit destination if you’re related to a Sciocatti, Robbolini, Fardini or Polonia.

Layer upon layer

Above: At Jubilee Creek, a 3,6 km path leads you through the forest, past a stream and past abandoned mine shafts from the 1880s.

Opposite page: Montagu Pass between George and Herold has 126 bends and is the oldest, unaltered mountain pass in the country.

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The mulberry affair

I walk through the Forest Legends Museum at Diepwalle. One of the rooms has a collection of old photos of people who tried to make a living in the forest with axes, saws and gold sieves. The complete skeleton of one of their biggest adversaries can be seen in another room: an adult elephant found at Harkerville in 1983.

The historical battle between Knysna’s woodcutters and elephants reminds me of Saul Barnard arguing with his brother Jozef about hunting elephants in Circles in a Forest. Saul said the elephants should be left alone because they were here first and had nowhere else to go.

He was right, of course, but nobody listened.

Now there’s only one elephant left.

From Diepwalle, we follow Kom-se-pad west into the Gouna section of the forest. The Italian silkworm farmers settled here and it’s where Matthee’s third book, The Mulberry Forest, takes place. Her story is based on the 32 Italians who were invited to South Africa by the government of the Cape Colony in 1881. The colony hoped to establish a silk industry in Knysna, but they made one big mistake: Silkworms won’t eat the leaves of the indigenous wild mulberry tree (Trimeria grandifolia); they only eat the white mulberry

The next morning, John and I return to the forest, this time to Jubilee Creek about 30 km north of Knysna where a tea-coloured stream flows past a handful of picnic tables, beneath a footbridge, and disappears into the greenery.

We follow a path along the watercourse, into the forest.

“It’s a different experience when you get out and walk around a bit,” says John.

I agree. You smell mud and wet leaves, and you hear a Knysna turaco clearing its throat in the canopy. You run your fingers over the rough bark of a stinkwood, a yellowwood, a white alder… And when you crouch down, you see another layer of forest in the undergrowth: mushrooms, moss, baby ferns and spiderwebs.

We find an old mine shaft next to the path.

In the late 1800s, prospectors discovered gold here, but the mining industry didn’t take off and within 10 years, most miners had left for the richer gold fields of the Witwatersrand.

Late afternoon, we go out on the Knysna lagoon for a sundowner cruise. The sky is grey and I pull my jacket tight against the chilly wind. The Heads rise on either side of the estuary and I wonder how many ships have passed through over the years, carrying precious cargo. How much wood was exported? How many kilograms of gold? How many elephant tusks? And how many people arrived through this intimidating passage with dreams of a better future?

Thanks to the novels of Dalene Matthee – and now thanks to Bhejane’s wonderful tour – you can immerse yourself in this history. Even though indigenous trees are no longer felled and no one farms with silkworms, there’s still one elephant tying her own story to the present.

Somewhere, deep in a secret, sacred part of the forest, Oupoot walks in her ancestors’ footsteps.

May she live forever.

KNYSNA FOREST

to Oudtshoorn

to Uniondale

We s tern Cap e

N12

Belle-Vue

Avontuur Prince Alfred

Zondaghsberg

N9

R62 to Joubertina

Louvain Guest Farm

OUTENIQUA

Herold N12

Montagu Toll house

Karatara

R339

Jubilee Creek

Garden Route National Park Gouna

Rheenendal

George

San Ambroso chapel

Wilderness

Herolds Bay

Sedgefield

I ndi an O ce an 50 km

STAY HERE LOUVAIN GUEST FARM This guest farm in the Langkloof has an accommodation option for every budget. The campsite has hot showers and flush toilets, but no electricity. The Stables consist of seven adjacent units, each with three beds and a bathroom, a communal kitchen and braai facilities. The three luxury self-catering cottages are surrounded by green lawns and mountain views.

N2

Garden Route Biomimicry Camp

Bitou Pe t rus-se -B ran d road

to Storms River

Harkerville

Knysna Buffels Bay

Rates: Camping R100 per person.

It’s a big campsite with no marked stands. The Stables from R900 per night for three people (sleeps 21 in total). The Dairy R2 500 per night for 10 people. Fiela se Huis from R3 200 per night (sleeps eight). The Homestead from R4 000 per night for 10 people.

The Homestead Annex has two units with a communal braai – rates from R700 per night for four people.

044 518 0015; louvain.co.za

R340

Diepwalle Kleineiland

R339

N2 to Mossel Bay

Ko m -se -pad

Noetzie Knysna Heads

GARDEN ROUTE BIOMIMICRY CAMP This eco-friendly camp is only open over the Easter weekend and during the December holidays. The safari tents are spread out among milkwood trees, each with two single beds, a composting toilet and bucket shower. Meals are served in a communal boma. You can kayak, ride a stand-up paddleboard or a fat bike, and you can watch birds from a hide. Rates from R990 per person, all meals and activities included.

082 724 0442; bhejane.com

Plettenberg Bay

JOIN US ON TOUR! Bhejane offers a five-day guided tour that includes many of the Dalene Matthee landmarks. R8 450 per person. Turn to page 92 for more information.

082 724 0442; bhejane.com

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TAKE YOUR

PIC

Here are this issue’s reader photos, with tips from Toast Coetzer.

Send your best shots to takeyourpic@gomag.co.za

WINNER

DIRK HEYNS

Canon EOS 5D Mark III Canon 100 mm macro lens DIRK WRITES: When dragonflies land near water, they always seem to look down. If you want a close-up where you can see their eyes, you need to get yourself into a really low position. I jumped into our swimming pool to get this photo, which meant I was pretty much at eye-level with the insect. My shutter speed was 1/500 second, aperture f7.1 and ISO 250.

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TOAST SAYS: A macro lens is a good arrow to add to your quiver. Save up and buy one when you feel like trying something new – a lens like Dirk’s costs about R10 000.

Think of your garden as a miniature wilderness and approach it as such when you’re out with your camera. When you’re at a Kruger waterhole, you want to be at eyelevel with a buffalo to get a striking image. The same goes for that bulbul in the bird bath at home.

I like that Dirk put in the effort

to get this photo – the eye-level perspective makes the shot.

A macro lens will be your new best friend, but it can also be your enemy. Be careful when you focus: It’s very sensitive and can easily jump to the wrong part of your subject. Even when your subject is an insect, you should still try to focus on the eye as you would with a bigger animal or a person.

But which eye, you ask – a dragonfly must have thousands!

Nope, it has five: two big

compound eyes (with thousands of lenses) and three small eyes between them.

Dirk got his focus right: The abdomen (standing up, to the left) is pin sharp, as are some of the legs (look at those fine bristles!).

The main, bulbous part of one compound eye is in focus, too. The wings are not in focus but that’s fine – they add an artistic effect, almost as if they’re in motion.

Well done, Dirk. You win the camera bag this time!

PETER MULLINEUX

Canon EOS 7D Canon 24 – 105 mm lens with a Yongnuo flash PETER WRITES: Opportunities for photography were limited during the 2020 lockdown, so I decided to get creative. I built a feeding station for birds in my garden with the goal of taking photos of birds in flight as they came in to land.

I set up my camera and tripod about 20 cm from the station, plugged in a shutter release cable and hid in a big box with a peephole cut out. Then I waited for the birds to arrive…

I took more than a thousand photos before I was satisfied – this shot of a Cape weaver is exactly what I wanted.

I used a flash to freeze the action. The shutter speed was 1/125 second, aperture f22 and ISO 100. The very narrow aperture meant that hardly any ambient light fell onto the sensor – that’s why the background is so dark even though it was daytime when I took the photo.

The next steps happened in post-production: I used Adobe Lightroom to crop the photo and adjust the black point. I also decided to remove the branches visible in the background (see original version, inset) to create a totally black background. I used the“spot remover”function in Lightroom to do this.

I have since bought a remote

shutter release so I don’t have to hide in a box any more! I’ve taken successful photos of doves, southern fiscals and bulbuls.

TOAST SAYS: I’m not sure I would have sat in a box in my garden for hours each day… The neighbourhood watch would have reported my behaviour and sent a security bakkie screeching to a halt in front of my house!

But Peter did, and he ended up with an amazing, technical and wellplanned shot.

The bird’s wings, spread wide, are the highlight of the composition. I also like that the weaver’s head is turned slightly to the side so the flash catches its eye.

By now you should know that we like to see a sparkle in an animal’s eye, and this guy is sparkling like a soapie star on the red carpet.

Thanks for pointing out all the editing you did, Peter. A note to anyone who wants to send photos for Take Your Pic: We prefer to feature photos that, with minimal editing, show wildlife and landscape scenes in as realistic a way as possible. Sure, tweak the contrast, brighten the image if needs be, but leave that “irritating”twig right there.

We don’t mind!

That said, Peter did a very professional fixing job and his photo will look magnificent printed and framed on the dining room wall.

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KIM STEINBERG

Canon EOS RP Sigma 150 – 600 mm lens KIM WRITES: I visited Umlalazi Nature Reserve in Mtunzini, KZN, after a bout of heavy summer rain in January this year. I wanted to see which birds and animals were foraging around. I came across these vervet monkeys, shivering and cold. The youngster was having an afternoon feed and I thought the shot illustrated the bond between mother and child very well.

My settings: shutter speed 1/100 second, aperture f6.3, ISO 400. I adjusted brightness and sharpness in Lightroom afterwards.

TOAST SAYS: An ISO of 400 is a good choice on an overcast day: It gives you extra leeway for a slightly faster shutter speed. But Kim was in risky territory here – her shutter speed of 1/100 was relatively slow considering the big lens she was using. She managed to pull it off and the shot is sharp, but it would have been safer to go for ISO 800 or higher and increase the shutter speed.

You hardly notice that a branch obscures part of the mother’s face. That’s because Kim made sure that the eyes of both monkeys were clearly visible.

Neither vervet seems to be looking directly at the camera, but there’s still enough engagement with those bright, inquisitive eyes. Including the eyes is key to the success of a strong animal portrait. Not only should the eye be included, it must also be in focus!

The sodden monkeys make for an unusual photo, and their slightly bedraggled look brings extra character to the scene. Nice.

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ELMAR VENTER

Canon EOS 5D Mark III Canon 100 – 400 mm lens ELMAR WRITES: Magwa Falls is near Lusikisiki in the Eastern Cape.

It’s a beautiful waterfall that few tourists visit.

A wide-angle lens would have allowed me to capture the full scene of the water tumbling 142 m into the ravine, but I decided to use a zoom lens rather, and focus on this false assegai tree clinging to the cliffside.

Sunlight illuminated the tree and I underexposed a little to make the rocks darker and to emphasize the tree’s bright green canopy.

This photograph made me realise that I should use my long lens for landscape photography more often!

TOAST SAYS: It’s rare to see a photo of Magwa Falls that’s not taken with a wide-angle lens.

We all tend to shoot the “entire” scene, maybe because we feel we’ll leave something out if we don’t show it all. If you photograph Table Mountain from the beach at Blouberg, you’ll include it all, right – from Devil’s Peak to Signal Hill?

Ninety-nine percent of people will do the same.

A photographer should have a range of lenses – not a bag-full, but at least two. Most of us start with something versatile and affordable like an 18 – 55 mm (good for landscape and portrait photos) and later we’ll add a zoom lens

TAKE YOUR PIC

CECILE NOWERS

Fujifilm X-T3 Fujifilm 55 – 200 mm

CECILE WRITES: I took this photo in Addo Elephant National Park in October 2020. I love the texture of an elephant’s skin, and they have such kind eyes.

This elephant was close to us and it gave me an opportunity to highlight these features with a close-up portrait. Luckily this one’s eye didn’t have that white goop in the corner that you often see.

My settings: shutter speed 1/125 second, aperture f13, ISO 400. I cropped the photo and enhanced the contrast afterwards.

TOAST SAYS: An elephant has a “third” eyelid called a nictitating membrane, which sweeps from side to side across the eye, wiping away dust and other obstructions. That’s what causes the “white goop” Cecile is referring to. No such cosmetic imperfections here though – this ellie is all celebrity glam!

This kind of photo is often easier to take on a cloudy day, when there’s less harsh contrast between the dark skin and the eye, which might also be in shadow on a sunny day. I’m assuming Cecile lightened the iris using editing software – this helps to lift out its marble-like quality, which is often lost because an elephant’s eye is so small in relation to the rest of its body.

Cecile followed the rule of thirds perfectly: The eye anchors the top left of the frame, and the rest of the composition is devoted to the beautiful skin texture. The increased contrast deepens the folds and enhances this effect. Good job!

like a 70 – 300 mm, to take photos of birds and animals that are further away.

But sometimes it’s worth experimenting. If the elephant is close, don’t use your telephoto lens, try your wide-angle. And next time you’re photographing a landscape, use your long lens to highlight specific details in the scene. Doing this will open yourself up to so many new photo opportunities.

Elmar’s settings also contributed to this unusual photo. He used a tripod, a very narrow aperture of f22, a low ISO of 50 and a slow shutter speed of 0.4 seconds. The slow shutter speed blurs the movement of the water. Striking stuff!

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HENRIETTE VERMEULEN

Canon EOS 600D Canon 55 – 250 mm lens

TOAST SAYS: Henriette took this photo outside the harbour in Lambert’s Bay as the fishing boat made its way to shore. She used an aperture of f8, ISO 160 and a shutter speed of 1/400 second – fast enough to freeze the action.

Her photo stands out because the boat is fire-engine red, but the composition also plays a role. She got the basics right and included enough open space ahead of the boat, in the direction that it was moving. It feels like you can “see”the boat moving into that open space.

Had she positioned the boat further left, it would have felt as if it were bumping up against the side of the frame. Funny how your mind works!

The five fishermen are equidistant from each other on the deck. This creates a feeling of balance as your eye roams from one fisherman to the next. Look at their body language and expressions – they look tired after a long stint at sea.

The bright colours bring the scene to life and contrast with the washed-out blues and whites of the West Coast landscape in the background. This photo is so typically West Coast, it smells like a bokkom!

DAWIE NOLTE

IG: @dawie_nolte_wild_photo Canon EOS 1Dx Tamron 150 – 600 mm lens DAWIE WRITES: My wife Lana, our three kids and I love to sit and drink our coffee at Sunset Dam in the Kruger Park. The day I took this photo, the hippos were very active.

This particular animal was to the right of the dead tree in the dam.

I always try to get action shots of the hippos mid-yawn, or when they’re chasing each other. My settings: shutter speed 1/500 second, aperture f8, ISO 400.

There is always something to photograph at Sunset Dam. I’ve seen a crocodile eating an impala 5 m from my vehicle! So many different animals come to drink early in the morning and late in the afternoon. And the birds…

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TAKE YOUR PIC

SEND US YOUR BEST TRAVEL AND NATURE PHOTOS! WHY? We publish a selection of reader pictures in every issue.

Don’t be shy, haul out those shots you’ve been hoarding on your computer and send them to us! We like just about anything: wildlife, landscapes, portraits, holiday snaps or bugs in your garden.

HOW? Send your photos to takeyourpic@gomag.co.za Submit only your three best shots each month. Don’t send files bigger than 4 MB – if we need a bigger version, we’ll ask for it.

Give the name, surname, home town and contact number of the photographer. Also include info about where and how the shot was taken, and what equipment was used. If you manipulated your photo in any way, tell us what you did.

THE FINE PRINT We reserve the right to use your photos elsewhere in the magazine, on our digital platforms and marketing material.

Want to sign up for our online photography course?

Visit takebetterphotos.gomag.co.za We’re on Instagram! Follow us and our sister mag Weg for travel and wildlife pics: Search for @gomagsa and @menseselense

TAKE THE WINNING PHOTO You can win this durable camera bag worth R650!

Pied and malachite kingfishers hang around the cement outflow, and other special birds are also common, like fish-eagle, yellowbilled stork, marabou stork, three-banded plover and several heron species.

Not to mention the monitor lizard that likes to bask in the sun next to the wall with the name sign… We don’t go to the park only to see the Big Five, we appreciate every butterfly and dung beetle, too!

TOAST SAYS: If you know when a monitor lizard will be at its favourite sunny spot, you’re on the right track! Sunset Dam is one of the places where our readers take their best photos.

The table is set at Sunset Dam, all you have to do is take your seat.

But it’s one thing watching a hippo yawn and another thing to actually get a good photo of the moment.

If you have to reach for your camera on the seat next to you, you’ll miss it. And it might be another hour before the hippo decides to move again.

Keep your camera switched on, make sure the right settings are dialled in, and rest the heavy lens on your window, using a window mount, a bean bag or even a towel.

The sunlight hits Dawie’s hippo just right. If you can, position yourself with the sun behind you so it can shine onto your subject.

It’s usually better to shoot with the sun than against it.

This canvas bag has sturdy sides and a soft inner to protect your valuable gear. The compartments are adjustable to fit your camera and lenses.

Product available at

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PORTFOLIO

Adrift in time COMPILED BY LYNNE FRASER

Z

anzibar might be part of Tanzania politically, but in reality, it’s a world of its own – a slice of coral and palm trees caught in the current of history that has swept up the East Coast of Africa for hundreds of years.

Stone Town – the old half of the capital, Zanzibar City – is the cultural epicentre of the island, a labyrinth of alleyways, crumbling Arabian architecture and sad echoes of slavery. The rest of the island is ringed by holiday resorts, the fanciest of which are in the north-west around the town of Nungwi.

On the opposite side of the island, life is humble and more rural – visitors can experience Zanzibar at a gentle pace. In the fishing villages of Jambiani, Paje and Bwejuu on the south-east coast, the Swahili mantra of pole, pole (slowly, slowly) still rings true.

Once restrictions had eased after the Covid-19 lockdown in 2020, documentary photographer Jac Kritzinger travelled to Zanzibar and spent some time under moody tropical skies.

JAC KRITZINGER

Visit jackritzinger.co.za to see more of his work.

As the tide rises at dawn, a fisherman from the village of Jambiani sets out for his dhow – a traditional East African fishing boat. The reef in the distance shelters this part of the coastline, resulting in an almost otherworldly calm. The fishermen mainly keep to the lagoon on the inside – on the other side, sharks and powerful waves await.

How? Nikon D610, 85 mm lens, shutter speed 1/80 second, aperture f1.4, ISO 50.

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While mainland Tanzania has a mix of religions, Zanzibar is almost entirely Muslim. You’re never too far from the call of a muezzin and most women and girls wear headscarves.

This young girl smiles for a portrait in front of her house in Jambiani – she had just finished sweeping the front yard with her makeshift broom.

How? Nikon D610, 85 mm lens, shutter speed 1/400 second, aperture f1.4, ISO 50.

PORTFOLIO

A visit to the east coast of Zanzibar is not complete without a bonfire on the beach. A deep pit is dug in the sand and drummers gather in a circle around the flames, their rhythms carrying far into the night. With the full moon rising behind the clouds, a young man gets the festivities going on a balmy island evening.

How? Nikon D610, 35 mm lens, shutter speed 1/30 second, aperture f2, ISO 1 250.

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Sky-blue election posters for Tanzania’s ruling party, Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM), decorate a construction site on the outskirts of Paje, the biggest village in south-eastern Zanzibar.

Most posters feature Hussein Ali Mwinyi, the current head of Zanzibar’s semi-autonomous government, but right in the middle is the late president of Tanzania itself, John Magufuli, who died of Covid-19 in 2021. Tanzanian authorities have published scant data on Covid infections and their vaccination plans remain murky.

How? Nikon D610, 50 mm lens, shutter speed 1/200 second, aperture f2.2, ISO 50, with an off-camera flash fired via remote.

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PORTFOLIO

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PORTFOLIO

Women collect seaweed on Jambiani Beach as a thunderstorm rolls in from the west. Along with fishing, seaweed harvesting is one of the main sources of income for villagers on the southeast coast. The seaweed is dried in the sun and used in local dishes; some of it is also exported to be used in health and beauty products abroad.

How? Nikon D610, 20 mm lens, shutter speed 1/50 second, aperture f8, ISO 200.

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Pulled pork pie

With these delicious fillings and crusts, you can feed your family home-made pies all winter!

RECIPES & STYLING JOHANÉ NEILSON PICTURES SHELLEY CHRISTIANS

Chicken pies

FOOD Pulled pork pie with cornbread crust Serves 4 Preparation time 30 minutes Cooking time 3 hours

You need • 1,2 kg pork shoulder, deboned and in 3 cm cubes • 1 tablespoon brown sugar • 1 teaspoon each braai salt and smoked paprika • 1 chilli, chopped • 1 clove of garlic, chopped • ¼ cup brown vinegar • 1 cup beer (we used lager) • ¼ cup braai sauce of your choice

For the crust • 2/3 cups milk • 1 tablespoon vinegar • ½ cup fine polenta • ½ cup self-raising flour • 1 egg • 1 tablespoon melted butter • ¼ cup finely grated cheddar • 1 preserved jalapeño chilli, chopped (optional)

Here’s how 1 Preheat the oven to 160° C. Add all the ingredients for the filling except the braai sauce to an ovenproof pot and roast for about two hours with the lid on.

Pour the braai sauce over the meat and roast without the lid for 30 – 40 minutes. Remove the meat from the sauce and set aside to cool down.

2 Flake the meat using two forks.

Skim the fat off the meat juices.

Return the meat to the pot or a pie dish and season to taste with salt and pepper.

3 To make the crust, combine the milk and vinegar and set aside for a minute. Add all the remaining ingredients for the crust and beat the mixture until smooth. Spoon the dough over the meat filling and increase the oven temperature to 200° C. Bake the pie without a lid for about 20 minutes or until cooked. Set it aside for 10 minutes before you serve.

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TIP If you want to increase the servings, add a tin of red kidney beans to the filling.

Chicken pies Makes 12 Preparation time 1 hour, plus cooling time for the filling Baking time 25 minutes

You need • 1 big potato, cut into 1 cm cubes • 1 cup chicken stock • 2 tablespoons butter • 2 tablespoons flour • 1 cup milk • 2 cups flaked roast chicken • 1 cup frozen vegetables (we used mielies, peas and carrots) • 1 teaspoon hot mustard • small handful of parsley, chopped • salt and pepper, to taste • 1 roll (400 g) frozen short crust pastry, thawed • 1 egg, beaten

Venison pies

Here’s how 1 Cook the potato in the stock for about 5 minutes or until soft.

Remove it from the stock and set aside. Reserve the stock. Melt the butter in a pot over a medium heat. Add the flour and whisk until smooth. (This mixture is called a roux.) Fry the roux for a minute until foamy.

2 Remove the pot from the heat and gradually beat in the milk and stock until smooth. Return the pot to the heat and add the cooked potato, chicken and vegetables.

Cook over a medium heat until the mixture thickens. Add the mustard and parsley and season to taste with salt and pepper. Let the filling cool down while you preheat the oven to 180° C. 3 Dust a surface with flour and flatten the pastry with a rolling pin.

Use a glass or cup to cut out circles that will fit in small aluminium foil pie dishes. (The ones we used were 7 cm in diameter and 3 cm deep.)

Cut two circles for each dish – one for the crust and one for the lid.

4 Line each dish with a crust and add some chicken filling. Brush the edges with the egg and gently press the lid on top of the filling. Cut off any pastry that hangs over the sides and seal the edges by pressing down with a fork. Make a small hole in each pie to allow steam to escape.

5 Put the pies on a baking sheet and brush the tops with the egg.

Bake for about 25 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm or at room temperature.

TIP Small pies work great as padkos, but require a lot of pastry and effort. It’s tricky to estimate how thick you should roll out the pastry so keep a second roll on hand in case you need an extra circle or two.

If you don’t have enough pastry, place a spoonful of filling in each circle and fold over to make half-moons. Adjust the baking time according to the size of your pies.

Venison pies with a soft crust Makes 8 pies, with leftovers Preparation time 40 minutes Cooking time 4 hours for the filling, 30 minutes for the crust You need • 1,5 kg venison (we used springbok leg), cut into 2,5 cm cubes • 4 thick strips of smoked bacon (rashers), chopped • 1 onion, roughly chopped • 6 cloves • 1 teaspoon ground coriander • 1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns • 1 cup red wine • ¼ cup balsamic vinegar • pinch of nutmeg • salt and pepper, to taste • ½ cup cream • 2 teaspoons potato flour or cornflour

Three-cheese wreath

For the soft crust • 1 cup vegetable oil • 1 cup milk • 2 eggs • 2 tablespoons chopped parsley • 1 cup self-raising flour • salt and pepper, to taste

Here’s how 1 Add all the ingredients for the filling except the cream and the potato flour to a pot and cook covered for about four hours or until the meat is tender but not dry – it should be easy to flake. This is a time-consuming process so be patient or use a pressure cooker.

2 Flake the meat, return it to the pot and add the cream. Heat the filling through and add the potato flour or cornflour to thicken it. Set aside to cool down.

3 Preheat the oven to 180° C. To make individual pies, grease eight tin mugs. Add the filling to the mugs until they are just more than

Curried chicken pies

half full. (Keep portion size in mind and leave enough space for the crust to rise.) To make one big pie, spoon the filling into an ovenproof dish. (The leftovers are delicious with pasta, mash and vegetables, or in a jaffle. The filling freezes well.)

4 Beat the oil, milk, eggs and parsley together. Gradually add the flour while you continue beating to form a smooth batter. Season to taste with salt and pepper and divide the mixture between the mugs or pour it over the big pie. The crust should be about 1,2 cm thick. Bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown and cooked. (A big pie may take longer.) Serve with chutney.

TIP If you have time, marinate the raw venison in one or two cups of buttermilk overnight to soften the meat and take away some of the gamey taste. Remove the meat from the buttermilk and pat it dry with kitchen paper before you cook it.

Three-cheese wreath Serves 8 – 10 as an appetiser or snack Preparation time 15 minutes Baking time 25 minutes

You need • 1 wheel camembert • 1 – 2 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced • a few sprigs each of thyme and oregano, leaves stripped and finely chopped • 1 roll (400 g) frozen puff pastry, thawed • 100 g feta, crumbled • ½ cup finely grated parmesan or mature cheddar • 1 egg, beaten • honey and fresh figs, to serve

Here’s how 1 Preheat the oven to 200° C. Use a sharp knife to prick holes in the camembert. Stuff the holes with the

sliced garlic and some of the herbs.

Line a baking sheet with baking paper and put the cheese wheel in the middle.

2 Carefully fold the puff pastry open on a clean work surface and use a sharp knife to cut it in half along the width. Mix the feta, parmesan and the rest of the herbs together.

Spread the mixture over one half of the pastry in an even layer and press down lightly. Brush the other half of the pastry with egg and place it over the filling with the egg side facing down.

3 Cut the pastry layers in 2 cm-wide strips. Pick up each strip at both ends and twist it to form a long spiral. Arrange the spirals around the camembert in concentric circles. Brush the top with the extra egg and bake for about 25 minutes or until golden brown and cooked. Drizzle the honey over the warm pie and serve with fresh figs or biltong.

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FOOD Curried chicken pies Serves 6 Preparation time 30 minutes, plus cooling time Cooking time 40 minutes

You need • 4 chicken breast fillets, in bite-sized cubes • 2 tablespoons flour • salt and pepper, to taste • 30 ml butter • 1 medium onion, chopped • 1 green pepper, chopped • 1 clove of garlic, chopped • 1 tablespoon medium curry powder • 2 ripe tomatoes, seeded and grated

• 45 ml raisins • ½ cup cream • 6 sheets phyllo pastry • 1/3 cup butter, melted

Here’s how 1 Dust the chicken pieces with the flour and season with salt and pepper. Melt the butter and fry the chicken until golden brown all round. Add the onion, green pepper and garlic to the pan and fry for a few minutes until the onion is translucent.

2 Add the leftover flour, curry powder, tomatoes and raisins to the pan. Add the cream and simmer the mixture until the chicken is cooked through and the sauce thickens. (It shouldn’t take more

than 5 minutes.) Let the filling cool down.

3 Preheat the oven to 180° C. Put a sheet of phyllo pastry on a clean work surface and brush it with melted butter. Spoon a portion of the curry filling onto the middle of the sheet in a line. Leave about 3 cm of pastry open on each side.

Wrap the pastry around the filling and twist the ends. Move the roll to a greased baking sheet with the seam facing down. Repeat the process with the rest of the pastry sheets and filling.

4 Brush all six pies with butter and bake for about 25 minutes or until golden brown. Scatter over some sesame seeds and serve with fresh coriander.

Shepherd’s pie with gnocchi Serves 6 Preparation time 20 minutes Cooking time 50 minutes

You need • 1 tablespoon olive oil • 8 strips of bacon, chopped • 500 g lean mince • 250 g mushrooms, chopped • 1 onion, chopped • 1 carrot, grated • 1 clove of garlic, finely chopped • 1 tablespoon flour • 1 cup stock • 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce • 1 tablespoon tomato paste • salt and pepper, to taste • 500 g gnocchi • big pat of butter • ¼ cup parmesan, grated

Here’s how

Shepherd’s pie with gnocchi

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1 Heat the olive oil and fry the bacon and mince until flavoursome and brown. Use a wooden spoon to break up any clumps of mince.

Add the mushrooms and fry for another minute or two. Remove the mixture from the pan and fry the onion, carrot and garlic in the same pan until soft. Add more oil if necessary.

2 Stir the mince mixture through the vegetables, followed by the flour. Add the stock, Worcestershire sauce and tomato paste to the filling and stir briskly. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Simmer for 30 minutes.

3 In the meantime, preheat the oven to 200° C. Transfer the pie filling to an ovenproof dish. Boil the gnocchi in salted water until they float to the top. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the gnocchi to the pan you used to fry the meat. Add the butter and half of the cheese.

4 Spoon the buttery gnocchi on top of the meat in a single layer.

Add the rest of the cheese and bake for 20 minutes or until the cheese starts to bubble. You can also use the grill to speed up the process…

Namibia

2021

GUIDE

The 2021 go! Namibia guide will be on shelf from 25 June, or order your copy online at weg.co.za. EFT and credit card options are available.

For enquiries, send an e-mail to verkope@media24.com or call 021 406 2205. Digital copies available at zinio.com or magzter.com

ON SALE 25 JUNE!

EVAN NAUDÉ

VERUSCHKA CRAFFORD

EVAN NAUDÉ

Covid-19 ruined many of our travel plans, but thankfully Namibia is open and accessible – and it’s green after good rains! There are fewer tour buses and the roads are in a good condition. This is the best time to plan a trip to the land of unparalleled views and endless space.

And our brand-new 2021 go! Namibia guide is here to help you do it. We drive through Damaraland, talk about stars in the Khomas Hochland, climb Brandberg and show off some of our readers’ best rain photos.

Photojournalist Willem van der Berg writes about his very first holiday in Namibia and hiking guide Grant Christie tackles the Fish River Canyon. The guide also includes great maps and road trip plans, and we give you all the info about the border posts.

See you there!

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GETTY IMAGES

Carry your house with you

A small, lightweight tent is invaluable if you’re going adventuring, whether on foot, on a bike or in a kayak. It must be easy to pitch and pack away but still be comfortable to sleep in, and it must be as compact as possible when stowed.

Here are nine of the best.

BY PIERRE STEYN

GEAR

2

3

ONE-PERSON TENTS

3 Naturehike Cycling

Ultralight

1

This is the smallest tent from South African company First Ascent, and it’s our favourite among the “official” one­man tents that we tested. It might weigh an energy bar or two more than the other tiny tents, but the quality of the aluminium poles, the solid zips and the ripstop material of the flysheet compensate for the extra grams.

Both sides of the tent can be zipped open into O­shaped entrances, and it feels reasonably roomy inside. The tent has been designed to be packed into a bag that fits comfortably on the handlebars of your bicycle, in the bottom compartment of your hiking backpack, or in the top box of your motorcycle.

At first glance, this bivy seems like the perfect solution if you’re looking for no more than a sleeping shelter – protected from the bugs and dew after a hard day’s hiking or cycling. It’s the lightest and most compact of all the tents tested; you can pitch and take it down within minutes.

Make sure you’ve got it securely anchored with tent pegs, pull on a rope to lock the hub system above the head section, put your hiking mattress and sleeping bag inside and you’re off to dreamland within minutes…

Well, that’s the idea, at least. If you struggle to fall asleep easily, or if you’re claustrophobic, it’s going to be long night. At least the mesh panels above your head do a good job of circulating air, and there’s a small flysheet to keep things dry.

This tent is solidly aimed at the solo adven­ turer – a cheap alternative to a traditional tent, especially if you’re out and about in the dry season.

Almost 40 years ago, one of the pioneers of modern mountain biking, Keith Bontrager, had the following to say about bicycles: “Strong, light, cheap. Choose two.” The same principle once applied to tents: In the past, you would have had to pay big bucks for a tent that you could carry high into Lesotho; one that would stand up to a howling wind on a freezing cliff face.

Enter the Chinese company, Naturehike, which is doing its best to prove Bontrager wrong. They make a range of affordable camping gear based on tried­and­tested designs, and some innovative new ones, too.

This tiny tent uses one lightweight aluminium pole with two Y­connections. You can pitch and take it down in a jiffy. The inner tent is made almost entirely of mesh, and there’s good ventilation even with the flysheet attached. The groundsheet is packaged separately – both tent and groundsheet will easily fit into a carry bag, which you can attach to the handlebars of your bike or stow in the bottom of your backpack.

Weight: 2,04 kg Dimensions (pitched): 230 cm (L), 105 cm (W), 87 cm (H) R1 999 firstascent.co.za

Weight: 1,4 kg Dimensions (pitched): 220 cm (L), 80 cm (W), 50 cm (H) R995 seagullindustries.co.za

Weight: 1,5 kg Dimensions (pitched): 205 cm (L), 96 cm (W), 110 cm (H) R2 399 naturehike.co.za

2 Oztrail Switch Pitch

Bivy Tent

1 First Ascent Stamina

go! #176 83

GEAR

1

TWO-PERSON TENTS 1 Vango Banshee

2

Pro 200

This iconic tent made by Scottish company Vango (an anagram of Govan, the company’s home village) is supposed to be a two-man tent. Ha! Maybe for two primary school lads whose voices haven’t broken yet… Rather think of it as one of the best one-man tents you’ll find anywhere for this kind of money.

The design is a work of art. The flysheet and inner are attached, so you pitch everything and fold it away in one go. The ripstop flysheet has a water column rating of 5 000 mm, the two prebent poles are made from Yunan alloy (light and super strong) and a patented tension system will ensure peace of mind – and peaceful sleep – if you’re stuck in a blizzard high in the Drakensberg.

If you intend camping right through the year, the Banshee falls into the same category as a quality knife, headlamp and coffee flask. It’s an investment.

Weight: 2,4 kg Dimensions (pitched): 265 cm (L), 175 cm (W), 100 cm (H) R3 495 mountainmailorder.co.za

84 go! #176

3

4

4 Tentco Caprivi 2

The Kili is relatively expensive for a two-man tent, it’s one of the heaviest tents tested, and it takes a while to figure out the instructions when you pitch it for the first time. But once it’s up, it stays up! The flysheet is made from ripstop nylon, the aerodynamic design deflects the wind and it has a good water column rating of 3 000 mm (the higher this rating the better – see p 86).

Two people will have a comfortable night in this tent. Even though it’s heavy when folded, the weight can be distributed between two hikers or cyclists. (Dibs on the flysheet and pegs! You can carry the inner and the poles…)

Ultimately, it’s a tent that will reward you with years of good service.

The Mongar uses a Y-connector one-pole system, similar to its smaller one-man cousin (p 83) although this one includes a central brace. You can pitch it in minutes, and a bonus is that you can use the same pole if you just want to pitch the flysheet – great for some quick shade after lunch.

The tent is rectangular and the entrances are on the long sides, which makes getting in and out easy. It’s a bit of a squeeze for two people compared to the Kilimanjaro, but the Mongar weighs almost a kilogram less and it’s much easier to pitch. The inner is almost all mesh, so there’s very little condensation, but it also means that you’ll want to avoid using it for winter camping.

This proper old-school nylon tent is not only the cheapest tested but also one of the roomiest – high and just as long as it is wide. We could fit three adults inside, sleeping side by side.

The groundsheet of the inner tent is made from tough polypropylene that will protect you from thorns and sharp sticks, but it also adds weight and bulk and you’ll sweat to pack it away.

The poles are made from fibreglass (compared to the more modern aluminium of the others), which also adds weight.

At least you don’t need an engineering degree to pitch the Caprivi. Just make sure you anchor it well in a strong wind, since it’s a bit of a skyscraper. It’s good value for money though, especially if you’re looking for a tent for your next paddle down the Orange River, where your canoe will do all the heavy lifting.

Weight: 3,5 kg Dimensions (pitched): 220 cm (L), 160 cm (W), 110 cm (H) R3 999 capeunionmart.co.za

Weight: 1,7 kg Dimensions (pitched): 210 cm (L), 135 cm (W), 100 cm (H) R3 399 naturehike.co.za

Weight: 3 kg Dimensions (pitched): 210 cm (L), 210 cm (W), 130 cm (H) R799 tentco.co.za

2 K-Way Kilimanjaro

3 Naturehike Mongar

Ultralight

go! #176 85

GEAR

THREE-PERSON TENTS

WIND

There’s nothing like wind to send you and your possessions over cliffs of despair when you’re huddled in your tent at night. The taller the tent, the more exposed it is to wind.

Check the wind direction before you pitch your tent – you want the entrance on the opposite side from where the wind is blowing. Make sure the tent walls are taut and invest in good tent pegs – most of the pegs supplied with tents deserve to be binned.

1

WATER

2

1 Oztrail Vertex 3

2 Vaude Taurus 3

As is the case with the Vaude Taurus also featured in this section, this tent made by Australian outdoor giant, Oztrail, is aimed at two people keen on a bit of extra space, rather than the advertised three…

It’s a traditional cross-pole design similar to the Tentco Caprivi (p 85), with a bracing pole at the top to ensure more head room. The poles are made from duralumin (a light, strong aluminium) and there are big mesh entrances on either side.

The water column rating of the flysheet is a respectable 3 000 mm.

Once again, it’s best to spread the weight between two hikers or riders, also because it’s a bit of struggle to get everything back into the carry bag.

Vaude is a specialist outdoor company based in Germany, well known for the quality of its products that are conceived and tested in the Alps.

The Taurus 3 – the most expensive of all the tents tested – is aimed at serious hikers. It’s surprisingly light for such a roomy tent, especially since you can share the weight with your sleeping partners. The unique T-design of the aluminium poles, and the fact that you can pitch and stow the flysheet and inner in one go, saves time and hassle.

Ventilation is excellent, and a water column rating of 3 000 mm means you can use it for three of the four seasons (wet Cape winters excluded).

German design and the quality of the materials mean that this might be the last tent you buy…

Weight: 3 kg Dimensions (pitched): 220 cm (L), 160 cm (W) 120 cm (H) R3 349 seagullindustries.co.za

Weight: 2,75 kg Dimensions (pitched): 230 cm (L), 165 cm (W), 95 cm (H) R5 175 mountainmailorder.co.za

86 go! #176

No tent is completely waterproof, which is why the term “water column”is used to indicate the level of waterproofing. The bottom of a pipe is sealed with tent fabric, and the pipe is filled with water. If the fabric can withstand a water column of 1 000 mm for five minutes, it has a rating of 1 000 mm. The higher the number, the better the waterproofing of the tent.

KG WEIGHT

If you’re hiking or bike-packing over long distances, weight matters. Your hiking tent should not weigh more than 2 kg. Share a tent if you can and spread the weight between two backpacks.

Cyclists are accustomed to paying thousands of rands to save a few grams on their carbon bikes so you don’t want to lug a tent around that weighs more than 3,5 kg. If you’re paddling or riding a motorcycle, weight is less important than the space your packed tent will occupy.

LEATHERMAN PROMOTION

Take care of your Leatherman – so it can take care of you

A dull tool doesn’t necessarily mean you have to return your Leatherman. Sharpening the blade or giving it a proper clean might be all that’s needed. Leatherman SA shares tips on how to care for your multi-tool so it never has to leave your side.

THE LEATHERMAN WARRANTY EXPLAINED

All Leatherman multi-tools have a 25-year limited warranty (for tools purchased for personal use only), and Leatherman SA is more than happy to repair tools that don’t qualify for the warranty, but broken parts will be charged for. Sometimes, however, returned “broken” tools don’t need to be replaced, they just need some TLC. Leatherman SA will gladly service tools at a minimal cost, but first prize would be to protect and maintain your multi-tool at home to ensure that it’s always ready for an adventure.

If you do need a repair or service, always send your tool directly to Leatherman SA instead of via a retailer. Click on the warranty link on our website (leatherman.co.za), complete and submit the warranty form and follow the courier instructions.

Please e-mail trackingnumbers@ awesometools.co.za to track your repair in our system.

MAINTAIN YOUR KNIFE/MULTI-TOOL AT HOME

¡ Clean excess grime or dirt using water and a cleaning solvent. Avoid harsh detergents. ¡ Dry the knife completely with a cotton or chamois cloth to remove water spots, moisture and fingerprints. ¡ Spray or wipe down each joint of the knife with cleaning oil and rub it over the knife’s surface (including the handle). Trisol (gun oil) works well. ¡ Check your knife often for trouble spots. You may not know that you’ve missed a spot until it shows up as rust oxidation, and tarnishing is common with knives made of carbon steel. ¡ Remove any sticky residue with nail polish remover and a rag. Clean inside the knife with toothpicks, cotton buds and cotton swabs. ¡ Search “how to clean a multi-tool” on YouTube.

w w w.leatherman.co.za

HOW TO REMOVE RUST

¡ Cut two slices of potato (skin and all). The slices must be large enough to cover both sides of the knife blade. Rub the potato slices on the blade for a few minutes. ¡ Pour ½ cup of bicarbonate of soda into a bowl. Wet a soft-bristled toothbrush with water and press it into the bicarbonate of soda, covering the bristles well. Using the toothbrush, scrub both sides of the blade for a few minutes. ¡ Wipe with a paper towel and repeat the cleaning steps until all the rust is removed. ¡ Put ½ teaspoon of light, general-purpose oil on both side of the blade. Wipe with a microfibre cloth.

CARE AROUND SALT WATER

¡ Before salt water exposure, ensure that all the pivot points and the whole tool has been saturated with engine oil. ¡ After exposure, rinse in fresh water and shake it dry. This should be enough, but you can occasionally wipe the tool down with an oily cloth. ¡ Rust on stainless steel (normally light staining only) can usually be fixed with steel wool and engine oil. ¡ Awesome Tools doesn’t recommend using spray-penetrating oils or products like WD40 as they don’t leave a protective oil film (a must in highly corrosive environments). ¡ Use a nylon instead of a leather pouch because nylon pouches are machine washable.

BLADE SHARPENING

¡ Straight-edged blades can be sharpened using any standard equipment, including whetstones, rods, dry stones (diamond embedded) and various kits. ¡ Leatherman’s standard sharpening angle for plain-edge blade sections is 32° (16° per side). Serrated blade sections are sharpened to 20° (one-sided). ¡ Serrated blades need a sharpening system specifically designed to accommodate serrated edges to maintain the curvature of the serrations. Sharpen serrated blades only on the edged side. Sharpening the flat (back) side of the blade will cause the serrations to wear away, reducing the blade’s effectiveness.

Rocking the T The arrival of the stylish T-Roc adds a fourth option to Volkswagen’s T-range of SUVs. But is this a case of one musketeer too many?

BY PIERRE STEYN

V

olkswagen is a company rich in evolution, not revolution. They’re a conservative bunch who will spend years camped on the banks of the Rubicon, surveying its ebb and flow.

But when they eventually do decide to cross, they do it with intent.

While other automotive manufacturers jumped onto the sport utility (band)wagon almost immediately, Volkswagen spent two decades doing things systematically and carefully. The big, luxurious Touareg came first in 2002, followed by the family-friendly Tiguan in

88 go! #176

2007. Despite the fact that the mid-sized Tiguan was a hit (it’s the best-selling car in the whole VW range), the diminutive T-Cross only made its appearance 12 years later in 2019 – at the tail end of the small SUV market boom.

Touareg, Tiguan, T-Cross.

The positioning of these three musketeers makes perfect sense: The T-Cross is aimed at younger families looking for an entry-level SUV. Then, as the kids start going to school, the family can upgrade to the more spacious Tiguan. Once the bank balance has grown as much as the teens have, the Touareg

becomes the last rung in this automotive ladder.

Now the T-Roc has joined the party and it has no place in this fairy tale. It was launched locally in 2020, only a few months after the T-Cross. It’s roughly the same size as its supposedly “smaller” sibling, but it costs about the same as the bigger and more practical Tiguan.

Cynics might wonder what the bean counters had stuffed in their socks the day they smoked them and approved the T-Roc project, but as always, Volkswagen had a plan.

To understand this car, you have to stop thinking of it as an SUV. Rather

think of it as a bigger and higher version of the Golf hatchback – powerful and stylish – rather than a practical people-mover. It plays d’Artagnan in this fable – not a fully fledged musketeer, but also no mean swordsman on the road.

In South Africa we can choose between two turbo-charged petrol engines – a 1.4-litre and the same 2.0-litre engine you’ll find in the Golf GTI. There are a variety of colour options and combinations to play with: The body can be one of eight colours and you can match that to one of four roof colours. Just because you and your neighbour

WHEELS

wear the same Guess jeans doesn’t mean your T-Rocs have to look the same!

The most expensive model is the R-Line, spruced up with LED daytime running lights, 19-inch alloy wheels, a hypermodern interior and Volkswagen’s 4Motion all-wheel-drive system. The car is a joy to drive and clings to corners like a tick with attachment issues.

(Personally, I’d spec my car with 18-inch wheels for a more comfortable ride.)

One problem: This top T-Roc costs almost R600 000! And even though it reminds you of a higher and wider Golf, there are some hard plastic surfaces inside that don’t compare to the quality you’ll find in a GTI. So, let’s recap: The T-Roc is neither a hatchback nor an SUV. But that’s okay, because Volkswagen have drilled into another rich vein – the rapidly growing“crossover”market, which bridges traditional automotive segments. It’s the surf-and-turf option on the menu, and it will definitely catch your eye.

VOLKSWAGEN TROC RLINE Engine

1 984 cc turbo-petrol

Power

140 kW @ 4 500 – 6 200 rpm

Torque

320 Nm @ 1 500 – 4 400 rpm

Transmission

7-speed DSG dual clutch

Top speed

216 km/h

Fuel consumption (claimed)

7,2 ℓ/100 km

Fuel tank

50 litres

Ground clearance

158 mm

Warranty

3 years/120 000 km

Service plan

5 years/90 000 km

Service intervals

15 000 km

Price

R596 750

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TOURS

Dalene Matthee’s Knysna Forest Join us and Bhejane Adventures on a five-day tour of the Knysna Forest and surrounds, listening for whispers of famous stories among the ferns and giant yellowwoods.

T

he Knysna Forest will forever be remembered in the narratives of Dalene Matthee, one of South Africa’s most beloved authors. On this adventure with the Bhejane Adventures team, you’ll experience the places depicted in books like Fiela’s Child, Circles in a Forest and Dreamforest.

The tour links many of the sites featured in the stories, including the Langkloof where Fiela farmed with ostriches, the overgrown paths of Diepwalle where Saul Barnard swung his axe, and the original church of the doomed Italian silk farmers who inspired The Mulberry Forest.

This is a self-drive tour and although a 4x4 is not essential, we recommend a vehicle with decent ground clearance and off-road tyres. Unfortunately no trailers are allowed.

Accommodation is at Louvain in the Langkloof and a little slice of heaven at Protea Wilds Retreat overlooking the Tsitsikamma Mountains just outside Plett. All meals are taken care of so you can properly relax. Your tour leader will be an experienced nature conservationist and adventure guide, who will be in radio contact at all times to impart a wealth of biological, cultural and historical information as you explore one of the most spectacular destinations in the country.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Historical mountain passes • Langkloof • Exclusive concession route in the Knysna Forest • Diepwalle, Gouna and Millwood forests • Knysna Lagoon boat cruise • Secluded retreat overlooking the forest

Contact

bookings@bhejane.com or visit

RATES R8 450 per adult; 50 % per child under 10 WHAT WE SUPPLY

• Specialist guide • Two-way radios in all vehicles • Three meals per day • Entry fees to all parks and activities WHAT YOU NEED TO BRING

• Your own vehicle – ground clearance and off-road tyres are important • Cooldrinks, alcoholic drinks and snacks • Personal items such as medication, sunblock, binoculars, camera etc.

• A hot water bottle for the winter months • Your old copies of Matthee’s novels!

bhejane.com for a complete itinerary and a list of tour dates.

STAY HERE Want to go away for the weekend?

Here is a great place to stay.

HOUSE ON SUIKERBOSSIE, VANDERKLOOF reckons Vanderkloof Dam is the best place in South Africa to catch largemouth and small-mouth yellowfish.

He also runs Flyfish Vanderkloof, and acts as a guide for fishing enthusiasts from all over the world.

Sandy will tell you that people don’t just come to Vanderkloof for the fishing. There are several game farms in the area; the town itself borders Rolfontein Nature Reserve.

But above all, people visit Vanderkloof for the tranquillity and the happy marriage between water and arid Karoo.

Facilities: The self-catering house has three bedrooms, an open-plan kitchen and living area, and a big stoep. It sleeps six people, plus two guests in a separate self-catering flat.

Best time? The best months for fly-fishing are from late September to late April when the water is not too cold.

Where? Enter town on Protea Street, which eventually becomes Suikerbossie Street. House on Suikerbossie is on the right.

Rates: The rates vary depending on the season. Fly-fishing season from R2 800 per night for eight people.

You get a discount if you stay for more than five nights. Cleaning service available for R150 per day.

Contact: 082 909 9558; flyfishvanderkloof@gmail.com – Pierre Steyn

RONEL STEYN

V

anderkloof in the Northern Cape was never meant to be a town. In the 1970s, the Department of Water Affairs build prefab houses for the workers constructing the PK le Roux Dam (now Vanderkloof Dam).

When the dam wall – the highest in South Africa at 108 m – was finally completed in 1977, many of the employees were close to retirement age. They had come to love the place so much they didn’t want to leave. The government sold the houses to them and over time new houses, buildings and shops were added. Today, Vanderkloof is a popular – if remote – retirement and holiday town.

House on Suikerbossie is one of the original prefab buildings that has been restored by owners Robert and Sandy Nicol. Robert handled the renovations and the construction of a self-catering flat, and made all the outdoor furniture using railway sleepers and metal rods. There’s also a bench made from the front of an old VW Beetle next to the fire pit on the stoep. Robert is very proud of the outdoor shower, which is screened off with a full-length Pulp Fiction movie poster.

The Nicols live in Gauteng but discovered Vanderkloof in 2013.

Since then Robert has been a regular visitor – he likes fly-fishing and

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TAKE A HIKE True peace on the Swartkop Trail above False Bay.

BY SOPHIA VAN TAAK

I

’ve lived in Cape Town for many years, but I only recently heard about this hike. I was excited: The trails on Table Mountain are so packed over weekends, by the time you’re halfway up, you start wishing you’d stayed at home. Good morning, goeiemôre, you say as you pass one hiking group after another, sidestepping into the fynbos to make space for runners and dogs to pass.

Don’t get me wrong: I want everyone to enjoy the outdoors, but when I head into the mountains, it’s to get away from people. I want to be surrounded by the silence of the stone.

So when friends invited me to try the lesserknown Swartkop Trail above Simon’s Town, I said yes right away.

The trail starts on a fire road above the suburb of Seaforth. At the first bend, you leave the road and follow a path to the right that leads you up Swartkop for about 2,5 km. The incline is not too steep, but take it easy because you still have a mountain to climb.

About halfway up, at an old blockhouse, silence envelops you. The vehicles and weekenders scurrying around the peninsula feel far removed. Stand still and take in the view: The Simon’s Town’s naval base is in front of you, a flat rock known as Noah’s Ark is further out to sea, 94

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and the Roman Rock lighthouse cuts a lonesome figure as it weathers the onslaught of the waves.

Further north: Mackerel Bay, the houses of Glencairn, Elsie’s Peak and Fish Hoek behind, then Kalk Bay, St James and the long arc of Muizenberg Beach. Far in the distance, Table Mountain looms in the blue.

Pass the blockhouse on the right. The path gradually climbs to a saddle called the Blockhouse Gap. To the north is Simonsberg (547 m), south is Swartkop Peak, below is the navy’s ammunitions stores in the narrow Klawer Valley. I can make out a shooting range, but the rest of the buildings look generic, mysterious, strictly off limits, like a Bond villain’s lair.

From the saddle, the path climbs a few hundred metres until you’re on top of Swartkop.

At 678 m in altitude, it’s the highest point on the southern half of the Cape Peninsula. Now there’s sea on both sides and you’re so high up it feels like you’re looking down on a topographical map.

Remember to bring your binoculars. On a clear day, you can easily see the 35 km across False Bay to Pringle Bay, where Hangklip butts heads with the heavens.

Have a break on the summit then push on through the shallow valley behind the mountain, where protea bushes stand as

tall as your shoulders.

I’m regretting not wearing trousers. The path has disappeared into the dense tangle. I blindly follow the others hoping that I don’t step on something venomous along the way. Then the hiker in front of me does leap into the fynbos with a scream. Yup, puff adder up ahead.

We make it through the thickets in one piece (phew) and back onto the unsheltered ridges of Swartkop. This is not a good trail if it’s very windy, or for hikers who are scared of heights. At certain points, there’s a sheer drop only a few steps to the left.

After about 7,5 km, the path slopes down steeply to where Cape Point looks like the end of the earth. Look for Judas Peak and its identical twin, Paulsberg, on the coastline. Smitswinkel Bay is now visible, but it takes a murderous decline of 3 km to get there.

By now it feels like you’re descending an entire contour line with each step. The terrain is rocky and uneven. I put my camera away – to get down safely I’ll need my hands.

When we reach the tar road, we pull ticks off each other, drink water and drive back to Simon’s Town with big smiles.

Swartkop is a tough day out and you climb high, but we didn’t see a soul.

Success!

Opposite page: Not many people get to experience this view of Judas Peak, Paulsberg and Cape Point.

Clockwise from top left: A section of the Swartkop Trail winds through dense protea bushes – make sure you wear trousers. White everlastings grow like patches of snow on the slopes. You’ll pass this blockhouse above Simon’s Town. After climbing the 678 m-high Swartkop, you’ve earned a break at the top.

Where? Above Simon’s Town. From the main road (Queens Road/M4), turn into Harrington Road and drive up the hill to the T-junction with Jan Smuts Drive, then turn left. Continue past Whittle Way and look for the gravel road to the right. You can leave your vehicle here.

(Don’t park in front of the turn-off – it’s an access road for the fire services.)

Leave another vehicle at the end of the trail – park next to the M4 between the entrance gate to the Cape of Good Hope section of Table Mountain National Park and Smitswinkel Tented Camp.

Distance: About 10 km one-way. There’s a wide shoulder on the M4 – if you walk back to Simon’s Town along the road it’s about a 20 km circular route.

Make it an outing: Bring your swimming costume and have a dip on the way back.

There are several beach options along the M4: Miller’s Point tidal pool, Fisherman’s Beach, Windmill Beach, Boulders Beach with its penguin colony… Boulders entry fee R40 per adult; R20 per child. Remember your ID. Cost: Free, but you have to arrange for a SANParks permit beforehand. The route crosses private property and the owners are informed of the number of hikers.

Contact Zizipho Mfazwe at the Boulders office; tell her the date of your hike and the size of your group. She can also arrange for the gate to Smitswinkel Tented Camp at the end point to be unlocked if you’d prefer to park your vehicle there instead of next to the road.

Contact: 021 786 2329 (Boulders visitors’ centre); zizipho.mfazwe@sanparks.org

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NOTTINGHAM ROAD

The butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker Nottingham Road is tucked away in the hills of the KZN Midlands, where potters, weavers, farmers and painters go about their business. It’s home to the founding families of the Midlands Meander, but more importantly, to all those whose hearts yearn for the country.

WORDS & PICTURES KYRA TARR

T

he KZN Midlands is a canvas upon which the seasons are painted. In winter, the brittle grass is burnt by frost and dampened by mist that lingers in the valleys. Black firebreaks mar the land beneath a pale sky. And then, as if remembering itself, the landscape explodes into a dazzling summer. The sun awakens Christmas beetles that call the thunderstorms and herald the green world that surrounds me now.

I’m driving on the R103 towards Nottingham Road, a small town I haven’t visited since playing hockey matches there as a girl. (I grew up in Hilton.) “Notties” is about 20 km north-west of Pietermaritzburg and 25 km south of Mooi River. Before the N3 was built, this was the main route to Johannesburg. It has so many twists and turns, I’d imagine people felt a little queasy by the time they got there!

I tick off the usual stops as I drive deeper into the Midlands: The Belgian chocolate shop, Nelson Mandela’s capture site, the Piggly Wiggly shopping centre, the impressive schoolgrounds of Michaelhouse, and Rawdons Estate – the final beacon before entering Nottingham Road.

A view of the farmlands on the Fort Nottingham Road, as seen from the Shuttleworth farm’s driveway.

ALADDIN’S DELIGHT Visit this stained-glass Aladdin’s cave belonging to Jan and Louise van Niekerk to buy anything from glass lamps to windows and doors.

Enquire about stained-glass classes.

033 266 6460; aladdins.co.za SHUTTLEWORTH WEAVING The Shuttleworth farm is a 10-minute drive from the town’s centre on the Fort Nottingham Road. Give them a call if you’d like to view the factory. If you’re more interested in purchasing a carpet or rug, pop in to Shuttleworth Weaving in Main Road, Nottingham Road.

076 709 3049; shuttleworthweaving.com FORT NOTTINGHAM If you’d like to visit Fort Nottingham, contact Louise Fox to make arrangements: 082 490 9951.

There’s no entry fee to the museum, but donations are encouraged.

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Some pre-assignment sleuthing taught me that Nottingham Road owes its existence to the railway line. When KwaZulu-Natal was still a colony, pre-1910, the line stretched all the way from the sugar-cane fields of Durban to the interior, passing Pietermaritzburg, Mooi River, Estcourt, Ladysmith and Dundee on the way. The line made these remote stretches of farmland less daunting and connected farmers to civilisation.

Preceding this, the first white settlers to populate the area were Boers, who started selling their farms to the British after the Boer Republic of Natalia was annexed in 1843. Many of the incoming settlers were Scottish, hence you’ll find neighbouring towns with names like Balgowan, Gowrie, Glencoe and Dundee.

In 1853, the British settlers wrote to the Acting Governor of Natal requesting protection from the San who were raiding their livestock.

In reaction to this complaint, Fort Nottingham was established in 1856, named after the 45th (Nottinghamshire) Regiment of Foot from Nottingham in England. They were to serve as a buffer between the settlers and the San, who lived at the foothills of the Drakensberg.

In 1885, the railway reached where the town lies today, and a fledgling community sprung up in its wake. The town eventually took its name from the fort, which is about 15 km away, and it grew into something of a rural epicentre. This was helped along by the building of the Railway Hotel in 1891, today known as the Nottingham Road Hotel. In 1905, Nottingham Road was officially declared a town.

When visiting Notties, your first port of call should be the hotel pub. It’s the beating heart of the town and draws patrons from near and far, especially on Friday nights. Owner Clive Foss is often to be found behind the bar counter and is eager to share stories about the role the hotel has played in the town’s history.

The wooden interior is believed to be original; every scuffmark tells a tale of years gone by, back when horses were hitched to posts outside. Time feels suspended here. It could be the old photos of cricket teams on the walls or the diagonally pitched beer mugs dangling jauntily behind the bar, but I think it’s the fireplace – its inviting crackle lights up faces and warms you through on a cold night.

It’s worth abandoning your vehicle and exploring Nottingham Road on foot. The town’s shaded lanes, guarded by poplars and oaks, are best appreciated as you amble from shop to shop. You’ll notice Gowrie Village, the town’s residential development, and a swanky

estate where many Michaelhouse and Hilton College parents keep second homes. Then there’s The Junction and Meander Square, both centres where you’ll find craft shops, gift shops, book shops, strong coffee and your local Engen and Spar.

But my favourite quirky gem is called Aladdin’s de-Light. Owners Jan and Louise van Niekerk specialise in staining glass – a craft they’ve been perfecting since the early 1970s.

Their shop tinkles and chimes, reflecting the most beautiful colours through dyed glassware so that you feel as though you’ve stepped into a kaleidoscope.

I leave Aladdin’s and find my way into another showroom – this one tranquil and cool, with carpets and blankets piled everywhere in heaps. A woman is leaning over her work in the corner, teasing out a violet mohair blanket with a hairbrush to make it fluffy.

Her name is Elizabeth Gwatidzo. “Come look,” she says. “To finish a blanket like this will take me two days. Everything you see in this room is handmade by women because…” She pauses to smile. “Women are the patient ones.”

Most of the carpets are made from mohair, wool and jute – natural fibres sourced from Namibia, Lesotho and the Eastern Cape. Each carpet, rug and blanket is spun, dyed and woven on a nearby farm, about 10 km outside town.

I find myself at the farm 20 minutes later.

Merry dogs bound over, curious to meet the newcomer. Julia, one half of the husband-andwife team that runs Shuttleworth Weaving, strides out of a large, corrugated iron shed where the looms are housed. Both looms and shed were built by hand from salvaged parts.

“Rob and I took over about six years ago when his folks retired,” Julia tells me. “They still live on the property.”

The “property” she’s referring to is this smallholding, the place where Rob’s parents, Helen and Andy, realised their dream of living under the stars and off the grid in the 1970s, long before it became fashionable.

Weaving was a pastime for them, something to do as they sat by the fire every night. After mastering the spinning wheel, they got together with a few other craftspeople and artists in the area and founded what is known today as the Midlands Meander, a famous tourist route connecting all the artisanal businesses in the region. Rob and Julia are keeping the family tradition alive.

A little Internet research that evening confirms my suspicions: Shuttleworth

TOWN NOTTINGHAM ROAD Weaving is world-renowned. Just ask actor Liam Neeson, who is one of their many happy customers…

If you carry on past Shuttleworth Weaving along the Fort Nottingham Road for about 4 km and turn right onto a dirt road, you’ll soon arrive at the historical fort after which the town is named. (I know, Nottingham Road, Fort Nottingham, Fort Nottingham Road… It’s confusing stuff, but you’ll soon get the hang of it.)

Prepare to be charmed by this hamlet, which consists of the fort and a few surrounding plots.

It even has its own town hall, and you’ll giggle with delight when you see it – a tiny, whitewashed cottage that can’t be bigger than a single room. Before it lies a great expanse of land, and the only thing alerting you to its status is a small sign.

The fort itself is built on land that’s now owned by Louise Fox and her family. “It’s the third-oldest military building in KZN,” Louise tells me as we walk towards the museum, which is housed inside the fort. Surrounding us are other buildings that belonged to the small regiment, such as stables and a stone barracks. The buildings stand together to form a grassy quad.

The museum is filled with artefacts from the fort’s heyday: Military uniforms, animal skins, letters, tobacco pipes, buttons and bows and arrows. There are various accounts of the region’s history written down and carefully stored in flip-files.

Near the fort is a dense indigenous forest.

I can’t help but imagine what this area must have looked like all those years ago. To be honest, I don’t think much has changed…

SHUTTLEWORTH WEAVING

ELIZABETH GWATIDZO

ROB AND JULIA SHUTTLEWORTH

It’s a lazy November afternoon when I bid farewell to Notties. I drive out on the R103 and pause one last time to savour the view.

Nottingham Road could easily be somewhere in the English countryside – a parallel that’s often drawn by villagers and visitors alike. But it’s also uniquely African. Nguni cows graze on a kikuyu-covered hillside and the air seems to vibrate as it relinquishes the day’s heat.

“These hills are grass-covered and rolling, and they are lovely beyond any singing of it,” writes Alan Paton in Cry the Beloved Country, about the Midlands.

A gentle day like this makes you realise just how beloved.

Sources: nottieshotel.co.za; zulu.org.za

web.archive.org;

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5

THINGS TO DO

IN OTHER WORDS

Sbusiso Hlongwane, District 103 “Families love The Junction because there’s plenty of room for kids to play safely while their parents relax.

District 103 makes the best juices!”

1. Taste beer at the Notties Brewery

Your time in Notties would be incomplete without a visit to The Nottingham Road Brewing Company. Pickled Pig porter, Tiddly Toad lager, Tipsy Tiger IPA, Whistling Weasel pale ale or Pye-eyed Possum pilsner – take your pick!

“We’re one of South Africa’s oldest independently owned breweries,” says brewmaster John Morrow.

Do a beer tasting in the tap room (R60) or spend an afternoon at The Boar’s Head pub just across the parking lot.

They’ve recently branched out into distilling craft gin, too.

Where? Rawdons Country Hotel, R103 Contact: 083 782 8959; nottsbrewery.co.za

2. Picnic at The Junction Nonhlanhla Gumede, Caversham Mill “I’m from Hammarsdale but I fell in love with the Midlands when I came to work at Caversham Mill. Being near nature and getting to work with such friendly people is what makes this place so special.”

THE JUNCTION

Pack a blanket and go picnic next to the dam at The Junction. This country lifestyle centre has plenty of shops to explore, including The Ugly Duckling (everything from wind chimes to door handles), Dirt Road Traders outdoor apparel and Madame Butterfly decor.

The little ones can enjoy themselves on the jungle gym and run around the lawn. Why not treat them to a chocolate-dipping experience at Chocolate Heaven (R95)? Sugar rush guaranteed.

There’s a self-service restaurant on the property called District 103. They offer a wide assortment of

freshly pressed juices, coffee, sandwiches and deli products.

Should you wish to picnic, all food and drink must be bought on the premises.

Where? Main Road Contact: 033 266 6116; junctionshopping.co.za

3. Go fish

The Midlands boasts some of the best fly-fishing spots in South Africa. If your accommodation doesn’t offer fishing on the property, the following places can help you out: • Lavender Trout Farm: 082 929 7667; lavendertroutfarm.co.za • Tillietudlem: 033 234 9045; tillietudlem.co.za • Glengarry: 033 2677 225; glengarry.co.za Alternatively, contact Gareth George from Wildfly ( 033 266 6981) or visit wildfly.co.za for expert advice about fishing in the area.

4. Meander along the R103

You’ll have driven past more than one intriguing signboard on your trip to Notties. Now it’s time to get acquainted with the potters, weavers, cheese-makers, bakers and other artisans who call the R103 home.

The R103 is part of the original Midlands Meander, first conceptualised in 1985 by a handful of artists who wanted to put this region on the map. Since the first map was printed on brown paper in 1990, its membership has grown to more than 150 small businesses, all dedicated to slow living.

Here are some of our favourite places to check out within a 30 km radius: Ardmore Ceramic Art, Swissland Cheese, Spiral Blue, Tsonga, Groundcover Leather Company, Terbodore Coffee Roasters and the Indezi River Creamery.

Download a comprehensive map at midlandsmeander.co.za

5. Spend the night in a “haunted” hotel

Apparently, there’s a woman who haunts Room 10 of the Nottingham Road Hotel. The ghost is said to shift flower arrangements and straightens bedsheets.

We don’t put much stock in ghost stories, but there is something thrilling about the whole business…

Tall tales aside, the hotel is one of the oldest buildings in town and a cosy place to spend the night.

They have 14 hotel rooms and 10 garden suites.

Where? Main Road Rates: Hotel room R850 per person sharing; garden suite R970 per person sharing. Rates are lower during the week.

Contact: 033 266 6151; nottieshotel.co.za

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TOWN NOTTINGHAM ROAD WHAT ELSE?

• There’s something about a

farmer’s market in a farming area – the gumboots aren’t just for show!

Get the region’s best produce at the Karkloof Farmer’s Market, about a half-hour drive away on the Karkloof Road. There’s plenty to keep the kids busy, too. 082 820 8986; karklooffarmersmarket.co.za

• Ever heard of an outdoor

shopping centre? No? It’s time you take the family to Piggly Wiggly, a must-visit destination on the Midlands Meander and only 24 km from Notties. There’s a small train ride for the little ones, a zipline, candle-dipping, ceramic painting, Putt-Putt, chocolate-dipping and more. You can try out the new Wedgewood Nougat ice cream

THE NOTTINGHAM ROAD BREWING COMPANY

PIGGLY WIGGLY

at their on-site store, lounge on the lawn, get your shop on, or browse the beautiful art in Zulu-Lulu. pigglywiggly.co.za

• Pack your golf clubs and tee

off at Gowrie Farm (Main Road, Nottingham Road). Ranking among the top 50 golf courses in South Africa, a round of 18 holes costs R400 per player. Call 033 266 6248 to book, or visit gowrie.co.za Alternatively, you can go to Bosch Hoek, a nine-hole course about 15 minutes outside of Nottingham Road via the Curry’s Post Road. Nine holes R310; 18 holes R445; under 25s and scholars get a discount.

033 234 4232; boschhoek.co.za

Pop into the Notties Tourism office to grab a Midlands Meander pamphlet, and get the low-down on upcoming events.

Where? Sherwood Centre, R103 Contact: 033 266 6308

CAVERSHAM MILL

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TOWN NOTTINGHAM ROAD

BEACON VLEI GUEST FARM

MIDLANDS INVERNESS COTTAGES STAY HERE Midlands Inverness Cottages These four cosy self-catering units feel as though they’re in the Scottish Highlands. With a stunning view over the Caversham Valley, you’ll be spoilt for choice when it comes to picking a spot for sundowners.

Three cottages sleep two people and one sleeps four. Extra mattresses can be arranged for kids upon request. All units are private and have their own braai facilities.

Where? Inverness Farm, Caversham District Road (P133) Rates: From R745 per adult; R360 per child aged 4 – 12.

Contact: 082 445 7397 (Jayne); midlandscottages.co.za

BLUEBERRY CAFÉ EAT HERE BREAKFAST Blueberry Café With floor-to-ceiling windows that look out towards the Drakensberg, this café on top of a hill is the best place to sip your morning coffee.

Try their yoghurt panna cotta (R80) or breakfast stack with eggs and bacon (R80).

It’s also a favourite breakfast-run destination for Durban’s HarleyDavidson enthusiasts.

Where? Netherwood Farm, R103, Nottingham Road Contact: 033 2667132 LUNCH Caversham Mill At the beautiful stone bridge spanning the confluence of the Lions and Impafana rivers, you’ll find Caversham Mill, named after the first water mill in the area.

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Sit on the deck and enjoy anything from Zulu spring rolls (like normal spring rolls, but with chakalaka, R61) to lemon-and-garlic-stuffed trout (R173).

Where? Impafana Farm, C6, Caversham Valley Contact: 082 389 1395; cavershammill.co.za DINNER Nottingham Road Hotel This is quite literally the establishment that breathed life into Notties back in the 1800s.

Honour it by going for a pub dinner.

The building is charming and the portions are hearty. Try the classic steak, egg and chips (R105).

Where? Main Road Contact: 033 266 6151; nottieshotel.co.za

Otters Den Self-Catering Cottages These four thatched self-catering cottages sleep two people each. The decks look down on the Lions River, where guests can swim and enjoy a gentle walk that loops around the property. As a bonus, each bathroom has a jacuzzi spa bath!

Bring your mountain bike and explore the surrounding countryside at leisure.

Where? About 15 km south of Nottingham Road on the Fort Nottingham Road.

Rates: From R1 370 per night for two people.

Contact: 082 972 5537; ottersdensc.co.za Beacon Vlei Guest Farm You can fish, go birding, walk, run, paddle, swim or have a picnic – all on the property! There’s also a

private dam – depending on which cottage you choose, you can sleep a mere 10 m from the water.

There are four cottages that sleep between four and six guests each. All cottages are equipped with DStv and braai facilities. You can also hire the Farm House, which sleeps 12. Dinner and breakfast can be arranged.

Where? P144, Farm B3, Balgowan, Nottingham Road Rates: Cottages from R1 300 for two people; Farm House R4 500 per night for the whole house, or R2 500 per night for one to six guests sharing.

Contact: 071 872 1360; beaconvlei.co.za Waterwoods This lush farm has a dam and plenty of space to stretch your legs. There are seven self-catering cottages and one log cabin, as well as double rooms if you’re looking for an overnight option.

The cottages sleep two and vary in style from thatched rondavels to country-chic units. The log cabin has two double bedrooms and a loft bedroom with four single beds.

Where? About 14 km south of Nottingham Road on the Fort Nottingham Road.

Rates: Cottages from R850 per night; log cabin from R2 500 per night; Barn Suites (double rooms) from R750 per night.

Contact: 083 236 3535; waterwoods.co.za

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Eastern Cape • Western Cape • Northern Cape • Mpumalanga • North West •

GO&STAY GUIDE

Eastern Cape , Western Cape, Northern Cape, Mpumalanga & North West

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Hikingtrails–cycling trails – bird watching – game drives – plenty of game

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ACCOMMODATION. 4X4 & CAMPING EQUIPMENT HIRE VEHICLE TOURS: Richtersveld, Namibia, Kaokoland, Orange River, Abseiling, Adventure tours.

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THE A –FRAME

Affordable Family Accommodation

info@theaframehazyview.co.za | Ellen 066 406321 ▪ Perfect for large families or a group ▪ Fully equipped and serviced. of friends.

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TANEAL VAN DER LINDE

HANNETJIE STANDER

ONLINE PHOTOGRAPHY COURSE Like our readers who took the beautiful images on this page, our online course will improve your photographic skills and confidence. It’s aimed at amateurs who want to learn the principles of photography and how to operate their camera. If you have a D-SLR but you tend to only use “auto”mode when shooting, this is the course for you.

HAVE YOU SIGNED UP?

HOW DOES IT WORK?

You can start your first lesson as soon as you’ve registered and paid. You can go through the modules at your own pace and from the comfort of your own home – everything is online.

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TOURS

Game-rich northern Botswana!

Our latest adventure into Botswana introduces a few new destinations while keeping some firm favourites. Explore this country on the journey of a lifetime and discover some of Africa’s wildest places.

O

ur northern Botswana tour begins at the community-based Khama Rhino Sanctuary in central Botswana, where we spend our first night before moving on to the spectacular Kubu Island, a granite rock outcrop on the Makgadikgadi Pans, for a night under the stars. The next morning after enjoying coffee and rusks against a backdrop of the iconic baobabs, we head north along the edge of the empty salt pans, testing our 4x4 driving on the sandy terrain.

We have a light picnic lunch en route to our next campsite. We spend two days on the banks of the Boteti River, 30 km from Maun. There will be an opportunity to do a flight over the Okavango Delta (own expense), explore the local markets or simply chill in camp before a late afternoon cruise on the Boteti River.

Then we continue to the Khwai River, north of Moremi, for three days of camping. The area is renowned for prolific game, beautiful scenery and magnificent birdlife. Next on the itinerary is Chobe National Park, where there are excellent gameviewing opportunities. It’s one of the best places to see elephants, as well as lions, leopards, hyenas and wild dogs.

Contact

(A mokoro experience is included in the tour package.)

Leaving Khwai behind, we traverse the Savuti section of Chobe National Park to our camp on the Chobe floodplain, close to Ngoma in northern Botswana. Our transit through the park is yet another chance to watch game.

By the time we arrive at our camp in the late afternoon, the Bhejane team has dinner on the fire, so the only thing left is to wash off the Savuti dust before enjoying a sundowner.

Go on a self-drive tour along the Chobe River to explore at your own pace. The area is known for its large herds of elephant and buffalo. Our camp is situated close to the Ngoma entrance to Chobe National Park, so you can easily do a drive along the riverfront and floodplains in the park – good places for birdwatching and game.

And finally, we’ll spend two nights on the Chobe near Kasane. There are no fences between the park and the town so it’s quite common to see wildlife wandering through town!

A visit to Chobe would not be complete without a sunset cruise on the river, watching the animals make their way to the water. What a fitting way to round off the adventure.

bookings@bhejane.com or call 082 724 0442 for a complete itinerary and a list of tour dates.

DATES AND RATES

27 March – 6 April 2022 R18 250 per adult; 50 % per child under 10 Duration: 11 days, 10 nights Start: Khama Rhino Sanctuary End: Kasane WHAT WE SUPPLY

• Tented accommodation • Specialist guide • Two-way radios in all vehicles • Three meals per day • Entry fees to all parks and activities • 4x4 assistance if required WHAT YOU NEED TO BRING

• Your own vehicle – a 4x4 is essential (fuel is for your own account) • Your own travel insurance • Cooldrinks, alcoholic drinks and snacks • Personal items such as medication, sunblock, binoculars, camera etc.

• A camping chair each

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JUSTIN RHYS NICOLAU/UNEARTH SAFARIS

BARRED LONG-TAILED CUCKOO

BIRDS

BY FAANSIE PEACOCK

S

HEARING IS BELIEVING

ee-you! See-you! See-you!

For nearly two hours, this simple refrain has been saturating the humid air, overpowering a chorus of akalats, alethes, apalies and other Mozambique specials. The calling cuckoo can clearly see us, but we can’t see it. I’m starting to get a little offended! But it’s one of the most rare and mysterious of all the world’s cuckoos, so we persist with our search.

First described after a visit to the present-day DRC in 1928, the barred long-tailed cuckoo remains an enigma almost a century later.

For example, we still don’t know which forest bird falls prey to its 114

go! #176

parasitic breeding strategy. Like all cuckoos, the female barred longtailed cuckoo deposits her egg into the nest of a specific host, which is then duped into raising the cuckoo nestling at the expense of its own offspring. Is it the East Coast akalat, chestnut-fronted helmet-shrike, African broadbill?

See-you! See-you! I shift position slightly, ignoring the battalion of mosquitoes swarming around my legs, praying that my malaria prophylactics will work. But try as I might, I just can’t see the bloody bird. It’s 40 m up in the canopy and has been calling from the same perch for much of the morning, but the countless layers of leaves are

obscuring it and causing my stress levels to rise by the second. I’m petrified that the bird will depart, and with it my chance of adding this mega rarity to my list.

Then suddenly, an ominous silence falls. Twenty seconds go by and the cuckoo starts calling again much deeper into the forest.

Sections of this forest track were apparently mined during Mozambique’s civil war, so my chance at the tick is gone. I stumble back into the sunshine, frustrated, scratched, hot and deeply disappointed. I notice my birding buddy, who is grinning, and my world comes crashing down. The lucky so-and-so

managed to glimpse a fraction of that barred tail through a miniscule gap in the foliage. A lifer for him, nothing for me.

But should it be like that? We had both travelled for three days, we had both woken up at an ungodly hour, both craned our necks painfully for two hours, and we’d both been equally excited when we heard the call. Literally, the only difference was that he had seen the bird whereas I had only heard it.

Traditionally, this has always been the rule: You can only add a bird to your life list if you see it.

After all, it’s called birdwatching, not birdlistening. Actually, no, it’s

and would remain invisible if not for their distinctive vocalisations. To actually see one, you either have to clear a path through the vegetation and play their calls repeatedly, hoping the playback will entice them to shoot across a gap for a blurry, second-long glimpse, or you can walk noisily through the wetland in the hope of putting the bird to flight. Forget about photos as the trickster flushes and dives back down.

Both these strategies are detrimental. Playback upsets foraging and breeding activities, challenges territory boundaries and causes stress. And the physical disturbance caused by trampling is obvious. But if you can tick the bird simply by enjoying its call – the core of the experience – then the sensitive environment is protected.

The experience of listening to the bizarre mechanical rattling of a

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called birding, and sound plays an integral role in our hobby.

BirdLife South Africa agrees: As of now, you can officially add a bird to your list having only heard it. This is a move to be applauded.

Not because I can finally tick that damned cuckoo, but because it’s better for conservation.

Following Cyclone Eloise, Limpopo province turned into a giant floodplain and it wasn’t long before ephemeral migrants arrived. These near-mythical birds arrive in years of exceptional rainfall, breed in secluded marshes and ghost birders when the pools and puddles dry up. I’m talking striped crake, lesser moorhen, dwarf bittern and a host of other tropical species that will make any serious birder go weak at the knees.

But there’s a catch: These migrants are extremely elusive

ALAMY

DWARF BITTERN

CHESTNUT-FRONTED HELMET-SHRIKE

striped crake or the eerie hooting of a flufftail is much more thrilling than actually seeing the bird in question. It’s a lifer – and you get to keep your shoes dry!

This is part 1 of a two-part series about birdcalls. Read the next instalment in the August/September issue. Until then, keep your ears open!

Opposite page: Professional bird guide Justin Rhys Nicolau took this photo of a barred long-tail cuckoo. He has done more than 30 trips to the forests of central Mozambique and only came across the bird twice. In 2014, he couldn’t get a photo, but in November 2020 his patience was rewarded.

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Save the honey bee, save the world Bees are smart and hard-working, and they make delicious honey. But honey bees are also under threat!

The African honey bee has bright yellow stripes on its body. The species occurs across the country and might sting you if you bother it.

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20 000

The number of different bee species in the world.

1 000

The number of bee species in South Africa.

2

The number of bee species in South Africa that produce honey – the African honey bee and the Cape honey bee. Only two!

What is pollination?

For plants to bear fruit, vegetables, berries or nuts, the male plant’s pollen needs to reach the female plant’s flowers. Sometimes the wind will blow the pollen from one plant to the next, but most plants rely on bees and other insects to transport the pollen.

Bees pollinate up to 50 types of food (like grain, vegetables and fruit) on South African farms. Try name 50 things in your fridge or pantry that bees helped to make!

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The Cape honey bee is light brown. You’ll see it in the Western Cape and Southern Cape where there is fynbos. It’s not very aggressive, but be careful – it still has a stinger!

THREATS TO BEES

Pesticides, used to control insects on farms and in gardens, also kill bees.

Their habitat is destroyed as towns and cities expand.

Alien tree species like blue gum trees are being removed, but bees need their flowers for food.

Parasites, viruses and fungi attack the bees or their hives.

Why are honey bees important?

They don’t just make honey. Bees help to produce the food we eat – they pollinate trees and plants that bear fruit, berries or nuts, and everything else from pumpkins to watermelon!

They keep the veld healthy. Bees also pollinate plants in the wild and ensure that lots of different plants grow in one place.

They show us when something is wrong.

If an ecosystem is healthy, there will be bees.

When the bees move away, it means the environment is polluted or something is killing the plants.

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BY THE NUMBERS

BY SOPHIA VAN TAAK

KIDS’ PAGE

A day in the life of a bee

1

1

1. The bee flies around from early in the morning, looking for flowers with nectar and pollen.

Bees have a special mouthpart called a proboscis that they use to suck up the nectar.

2. Nectar is the sweet liquid inside a flower. Bees love it. To reach the nectar, the bee has to climb into the flower and it gets covered in pollen.

1

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3. The bee uses its front legs to comb all the pollen on its body into cavities on its back legs, called “pollen baskets”.

1

3

WHAT CAN I DO TO HELP? Buy raw honey.

This way you’ll support local bee farmers and their bees. Raw honey comes straight from the hive – it’s not heated, pasteurised or diluted, and it contains healthy antioxidants, vitamins and minerals.

4. The bee returns to the hive to drop off the nectar and pollen. It does a little dance to tell the other bees where to find the flowers. Now all the bees can go harvest nectar and pollen.

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LYNNE FRASER

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Pollen is the fine, powdery substance in flowers that plants use to reproduce.

It’s also a form of protein for bees – like meat, cheese and eggs are for humans.

5. The bee stores the nectar in honeycombs. It sits on the nectar and fans it with its wings until a thick syrup remains – honey!

6. The bee mixes pollen with nectar or honey to make bee bread to feed its larvae.

1

6

Plant a garden for the bees!

Ask your mom or dad if you can get a flowerbed for plants to attract bees.

Bees like flowers that are violet (like lavender), blue (agapanthus), white (heaths) or yellow (nasturtiums).

Bees also need water. A shallow bird bath in your garden is a good idea.

Don’t use pesticides or other chemicals in your garden. Weeds also have flowers that bees like.

WHICH PLANTS WILL WORK BEST?

Visit bee-effect.co.za and click on “Good bee food” for tips about which trees, shrubs, vegetables and indigenous plants will attract bees.

You can select the province you live in to get a list of options.

The website will also tell you when these plants will bloom.

Sources: planetbee.org; sanbi.org; lifeisagarden.co.za; beekeepers.co.za; beewildhoney.co.za; sabio.org.za; Pollinators, Predators & Parasites (Struik Nature) go! #176 117

WITH MY OWN EYES

BY VIC IVES

1

CROC VS WATERBUCK, KRUGER PARK

M

y partner Steph Perrin and I spent almost the whole of February 2020 in the Kruger Park. We were camping at Satara and left camp early to start our usual dawn drive to see what the bush had to offer. Just outside the gate, we came across a pride of lions doing what they do best: sleeping. With about 10 cars already jostling to get a glimpse, we decided to smile, wave and squeeze past in hopes of a better sighting.

We headed south on the SataraTshokwane road. Just a few kilometres further, we stopped on the bridge over the Nwanedzi River. We always stop at water crossings as you never know what animal might be having a quick drink.

The only thing we could see was a lone waterbuck lying down in the water. That’s strange, I thought to myself. I know it’s called a waterbuck, but you don’t often 118 go! #176

see one doing this sort of thing…

I took out the camera, thinking that the reflection of the antelope would make a nice photo. 1 As I picked up the lens and rested it on the car door, a massive tail suddenly rose out of the water! 2 I immediately realised what was unfolding. A big croc was busy taking this antelope down. A waterbuck is no small meal and it seemed like they were in the middle of a tug of war. The croc had a grip just behind one of the front legs, but it couldn’t seem to get enough traction to drag the antelope into deeper water.

With a big splash, the croc attempted a “death roll” – twisting the waterbuck’s front leg. 3 We were convinced it was the end for this animal as the croc thrashed around with the buck clamped in its jaws. Steph struggled to watch.

For a second the water was quiet, then the waterbuck suddenly shot up, adrenaline

pumping, and tried to escape with the reptile still attached to its side! The crocodile let go, probably to try for a better grip. In that split second, the waterbuck seized the opportunity and leapt free. 4 It staggered to the edge of the water on three legs and continued up the bank and into the bush.

The croc pursued but to no avail.

The whole sighting was over so quickly, probably lasting a very tense 10 minutes. No one else saw it – all the other cars just drove past, not noticing what was going on.

What we witnessed was nature at its most raw. Afterwards, we sat there for a few minutes with mixed emotions. Steph was glad for the waterbuck because it had escaped, but she also felt sad because it would probably suffer a slow and agonising death after the attack. Weakened, it would be easy prey for hyenas and lions. We felt sorry for the croc too, because it had lost a valuable meal.

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EUROPE Part2 TRAVEL JOURNAL

From Romania, with love

On their 18-month trip of a lifetime from France to South Africa, Patrick and Marie Gurney head into Eastern Europe, looking for castles, bears and berry wine.

Peleş Castle was built as a summer residence for the Romanian royal family in the 1800s. The detail of the interior woodwork is astonishing, and the whole castle was powered by its own water turbines. Visionary!

TRAVEL JOURNAL

From left to right: Marie at a wild camping spot on the beautiful Soča River, Bovec. Downtown Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. At Vintgar Gorge in Slovenia, wooden walkways lead you into a narrow valley.

W

e left Croatia in August 2018 and arrived in tiny Slovenia – about the size of the Kruger Park – where our first impression was that it was extremely tidy. We drove through pristine-looking villages full of traditional Alpine chalets and bright flower boxes.

Our first destination was Postojna Cave, where a mini train took us underground for 3,7 km through lit-up halls and galleries. We even saw the famous “Baby Dragon”, a type of aquatic salamander called an olm. Olms, we were told, can live up to 10 years without food and have a lifespan of 100 years!

Our admission ticket also included a visit to the beautiful Predjama Castle, which is perched halfway up a towering cliff and partially built into a cave.

Slovenia only has one national park, but when it’s as spectacular as Triglav, the country really doesn’t need any more. Triglav is famed for its crystal-clear glacial river systems that descend from the Julian Alps. The drive there took us along the exquisite Soča River to Bovec, a small town known as the country’s adrenaline capital. It was still late summer in Europe so we kayaked and hiked and tried out Europe’s longest zipline: 4 km in total, with the longest single line at 650 m.

Using the park4night app we found a wild (i.e. unofficial) camping spot right on the Soča River. It was crazy beautiful! But we weren’t the only ones there… Three other campers had also parked, and in the morning we were woken up by a policeman. He was intrigued by our rooftop tent, the South African number plates on the Hilux, and our 18-month itinerary.

“You are driving to where?”he asked with a massive grin.

“Africa!”

He just shook his head.“You can go, but the others must pay the fine – they know the rules.”

It was a valuable lesson learnt: Always find a quieter spot if possible, something we would perfect over the coming months. This time we dodged a R550 fine.

A road trip through Slovenia is not complete without tackling Vršič Pass, which is also in Triglav National Park. Nicknamed the“Russian Road”, it was built by 10 000 Russian prisoners of war in 1915. The pass is 20 km long and 122 go! #176

gains 1 600 m in elevation along 50 hairpin bends – they’re numbered so you can keep track of your progress. With an average of one hairpin per 500 m travelled, our Hilux – nicknamed Kukuza – was taking strain. I loved the deft road construction with nail-biting drop-offs, but Marie wasn’t as enamoured.

She kept wondering how quickly she’d be able to open the door and dive out…

Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, was calling. Because the country is so small, it meant we were only 80 km away. En route, we stopped at Vintgar Gorge where 1,6 km of suspended wooden walkways take you deep into the narrow valley.

Next was the charming town of Bled with its lake and island church. It was hot, so we took a dip (with a few hundred other swimmers), then we had a quick lunch followed by coffee and the local culinary treat – Bled cream cake, a delicious flaky pastry with custard and cream.

Arriving in hip Ljubljana, we chanced upon Odprta Kuhna, a buzzing street-food extravaganza where top chefs share their latest creations every Friday. Then we checked into a pricey Airbnb for two nights. (In general we found Slovenia to be the most expensive country on this leg of the journey.) We met the owner who gave us the keys, a cup of kava (coffee) and a customary shot of snops – moonshine with a 40 % alcohol content. (It was barely 9 am…) After seeing the poor state of our room, I went back to the bottle for another throatstripping experience.

Expense aside, Ljubljana had an arty, laid-back feel. We visited the Metelkova – a cluster of ex-Yugoslavian military barracks that squatters took over in 1993. The state has been trying to tear it down for years but to no avail. Today it houses youth organisations, art institutions, bars and coffee shops.

We were heading to Hungary next, and then Romania. Sitting in a kavarna (coffee shop) in Ljubljana researching the latter country, I came across a website describing a huge cultural festival near Prislop Pass, which would take place in a week’s time. We’d have to rush through Hungary if we wanted to make it…

Blue cowboys and a rally driver The day we crossed into Hungary, we drove 400 km along a network of picturesque, rural tar roads, alternating with highways to make up time.

We stayed with new friends in the town of Pecs – a couple called Katia and Josef whom we’d befriended earlier in Croatia. In Hungary, they drink a smoother but stronger moonshine called pálinka. Josef and his two neighbours were excellent home distillers of this national elixir – the next two days were jovial!

We camped wild along the Danube River on our way to beautiful Budapest, which we loved for all of one morning. The city is split into two by the river and it has a similar sense of romance as Paris.

Back in Kukuza, we headed out of the city to meet the Csikós, also known as the“Blue Cowboys”because their traditional costume is blue. Hortobágy National Park is Europe’s largest pastoral land and home to these horse herdsmen – we were captivated by their horsemanship. There were plenty of Hungarian Grey cattle in the park; it’s tradition for farmers to let their cattle graze here in summer. But we were amazed to see Hungarian water buffalo as well.

Sadly, we had to cut our Hungarian visit short: The Prislop Folk Festival was only days away…

We crossed the border into Romania late one evening, at 8.30 pm. We usually arrive in a new country in daylight so that we have time to look for a secluded camping spot for the night. While eating dinner in the town of Satu Mare, we used Google Earth to find a quiet place just out of town on the banks of a river. We went to bed but we were woken unceremoniously at 2 am by some chap who seemed to be practising his Dakar Rally skills in the countryside! It was a taste of things to come…

The next day, we drove 120 km to Maramureş, a region famous for its 17th-century wooden Orthodox churches, built with tall spires and roofs with oversized shingles. Perched right on the Ukrainian border, this is a land locked in time. There’s nothing odd about seeing a horse-drawn cart filled with hay, or locals dressed in folk costumes. Maramureș is basically a living museum.

We visited a village called Săpânţa, home to Romania’s tallest wooden church with its 75 m-high spire, and the Săpânţa-Peri Monastery. When a citizen of Săpânţa dies, an artist is commissioned to carve and paint a pictorial homage of the deceased onto a wooden headstone in the tiny “Merry Cemetery”. We took a guide to help us decipher the verses – some were sad, some funny. As much as this was “modern” Europe, it felt somewhat magical.

Miraculously, we were still on track to make it to the festival near Prislop on time. To get there, we drove the winding Prislop Pass. We turned the last corner and arrived in the area, but hang on… Where was the festival? This celebration of folk dance supposedly draws 20 000 people, but we saw just two parked cars at a wooden hut selling Romanian souvenirs.

We asked the shopkeeper where everybody was. “Ah,” he replied, bemused.“No party now, come in 2019!”

The website we’d seen clearly said it was taking place in 2018, but now it seemed to have been postponed due to funding issues.

Disappointed, we headed into the hills to find a campsite for the night.

We met a sheep famer feasting on cheese and shared some of our Hungarian pálinka with him. A few shots later, Marie and I had drowned our sorrows. We vowed to never let our route be influenced by outside factors again – we’d simply let the road unfold.

From the top: A“blue cowboy”shows off his skill on horseback in Hortobágy National Park, Hungary. The Hungarian Racka sheep is best known for its unusual spiral horns. Patrick and Marie outside the Hungarian parliament building in Budapest. The Zsolnay Fountain in Pecs has four spouts shaped like oxen heads. go! #176 123

TRAVEL JOURNAL

Romanian chicken Many people in rural Romania still use horse-drawn carts, but just as many seem to be trying to fast track themselves into the present. They’ve been buying up Europe’s discarded vehicles for next to nothing, unleashing a dangerous mix of too much horsepower and too little driving experience onto the roads.

Take“Romanian chicken”, for example: If you see an oncoming vehicle in your lane, it’s your responsibility to get out of the way! We didn’t see a single accident, though, so everyone at least seemed to be on the same page.

The further we travelled, the more we experienced Romania’s strong cultural heritage. The food is a little heavy, but the slow-cooked lamb stew served by a local shepherd on the side of the Transfăgărăşan mountain pass was the best I’d ever eaten. We enjoyed the local wine – Marie was particularly partial to berry wine.

Romanians are welcoming and always willing to assist. We met the seasonal pickers – usually Roma people – who pick wild berries and mushrooms in large quantities to be exported.

We also loved that Romanians let you camp anywhere. Wild camping is celebrated and viewed as a national right. We camped on farmland, in forests, next to rivers… We even drove up a mountainside (no road!) to get a good view, and nobody flinched.

Besides Transfăgărăşan, we also traversed several other beautiful passes such as Transalpina, Bicaz Gorge, Buzău Pass and Rucăr-Bran Pass. Every 100 km delivered another authentic village, castle or church – and, of course, the obligatory Romanian chicken contestant…

We continued east to the Churches of Moldavia. These huge churches and monasteries are masterpieces of Byzantine art. Entire walls both inside and out are decorated with elaborate 15th- and 16th-century frescoes that brought the stories of the Bible to life for many Romanians.

From the top: Horse-drawn carts are still a popular mode of transport in Romania. With its colourful wooden crosses, Săpânţa cemetery makes for a pretty resting place. Romanian sheepskin coats, for sale on the Transfăgărăşan pass, are guaranteed to keep you cosy.

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There was still one prime Romanian attraction we were keen to see: a bear! After all, Romania has the largest concentration of European brown bears on the continent. Marie was less keen… I kept teasing her, saying that when standing up, a bear would “only just” be able to look us in the eye in our rooftop tent.

Each night, ignoring“Do Not Enter”signs, the advice of the local residents and Marie’s pleas, I chose camps in the most remote corners of the biggest forests I could find – all in the hope that we would encounter a bear. Then, one night deep in the Şureanu Mountains, we got lucky.

“Did you hear that?”Marie whispered.

“No,” I answered, but then I did hear it. And it didn’t sound happy.

It sounded like the bear was right outside our tent, but it was probably 500 m away. Petrified, we didn’t even peek out. The bear moaned every 30 seconds or so, while walking away from us through the forest. Marie finally came up for air and there was much nervous chatter between us before we could get back to sleep.

But we still hadn’t seen the darned bear. So, after three weeks of wild camping, we decided to use a professional tracker to find one. We joined Absolute Carpathian tours on an outing and saw more than 10 bears in two hours at a feeding station high up in the mountains. The bears are fed to dissuade them from rummaging through bins in the nearby town of Zărneşti.

It was special to see European brown bears in the wild. They’re huge but very shy and their group behaviour was fascinating to watch from the comfort of a secure wooden hide, which pleased Marie no end.

Near Zărneşti, we also visited Bran Castle, often believed to have been a former home of Count Dracula. (Not actually true, but who cares? It looks the part!) Unfortunately, we arrived five minutes after four tour buses, so we were only able to take a few snaps from the outside.

Way more impressive was Peleş Castle, 50 km away, which was built in the 1800s as a summer residence for the Romanian royal family. The detail of the interior woodwork is astonishing, and the whole castle was powered by its own water turbines. Visionary!

Bucharest was next, the beating heart of Romania – a mix of old-world Paris and Soviet-era apartment blocks. We booked into an Airbnb for two nights and saw the gigantic Palatul Parlamentului (Palace of Parliament), believed to be the heaviest building in the world weighing an estimated 4,1 million tonnes.

We dined at Caru’ cu bere – “The Beer Wagon”, a restaurant in operation since 1879 and so named because the beer gets delivered by wagon from the family brewhouse around the corner – and we visited the beautiful opera house and lunched in the parks.

We also visited Nicolae Ceauşescu’s opulent residence – he was Romania’s final communist-era leader. Our guide was an incredibly dry, funny man. Showing us around the different rooms, he would say things like,“Look my comrades, at these humble gold taps and Persian carpets!”or,“See this humble cinema room, this is not the same Romania I lived in, comrades!”

Through his almost forced laughter, we could feel the pain he must have suffered in those years.

We spent a month in Romania and fell in love with this wild and free place. It was also a very affordable country to visit.

Top: Over time, Patrick and Marie became experts at finding beautiful wild camping sites, like this one on the banks of the Lake Bicaz – the largest artificial lake in Romania.

Above: Sunset over Romania’s capital, Bucharest. go! #176 125

TRAVEL JOURNAL

Blasting through Bulgaria It was mid-November in 2018 and getting colder by the week. Bulgaria was to be an eight-day stepping stone into Greece as we searched for sunshine.

Crossing the Danube River via ferry, we landed in Silistra and drove to Varna on the Black Sea coast. We followed the coastline south towards the ancient city of Nessebar, famed for its cobbled streets and wooden houses – and because some of Europe’s earliest coins were minted here in 400 BC. Heading inland again, we completed the short but beautiful Shipka Pass and camped next to Bulgaria’s “UFO”, or Buzludzha Monument, which looks like a flying saucer sitting on a hill. Built in the 1970s to celebrate socialism, the abandoned concrete behemoth is yet another relic of Eastern European communism.

Further back in time, more than 5 000 years ago, Thracian kings and other nobles left burial mounds all over central Bulgaria. We visited a few of these elaborately decorated tombs in the Kazanlak Valley. Bulgaria is a relatively new archaeological tourism destination in Europe and there are many sites spanning at least 8 000 years of history, with new discoveries being made each year.

The Kovan Kaya archaeological site was our last stop in Bulgaria. We slept in the parking lot and visited the following day. This massive lump of granite has more than 100 mysteriously carved rock niches. Some believe it was a place of remembrance – each niche holding an urn of ashes.

We enjoyed driving through Bulgaria’s mountainous countryside, and there was unique food to be tasted, which exhibited both Balkan and Middle Eastern influences. Highlights included kufta (meatballs) and banista and broek (both phyllo pastry dishes).

But the best thing about Bulgaria was discovering a Russian-built, retrolooking 4x4 and former army troop carrier called the UAZ350. We saw them often in the countryside where they seem to be used for just about anything.

I’m on the hunt to buy one and Marie and I would love to return to Europe one day and explore further in this adorable vehicle.

For now, we had Kukuza. We pointed the nose of the Hilux towards Greece. The olive groves were calling…

From the top: This unofficial site outside Varna, Bulgaria, consists of just a few clearings where“hippies”camp in summer. The monolithic Soviet-era Buzludzha Monument looks more like a spaceship on a hill. Various theories exist about the origins of the carved niches at the Kovan Kaya archaeological site, but the mystery remains.

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Some 5 000 years ago, Thracian nobility were buried in tombs like this in the Kazanlak Valley in central Bulgaria.

VIENNA

AUSTRI A

BUDAPEST

Prislop

Hortobágyi National Park Da nu b e

J u l i a n A l p s HUNG ARY Triglav National Park Bled LJUBLJANA Bovec Pecs ZAGREB Predjama Castle

SLOVE NIA

CR OATI A ITA LY

Fast facts The prices below are just to provide an approximate idea of Patrick and Marie’s costs during their trip. Keep in mind that they travelled in 2018 and prices will have changed.

SLOVENIA Postojna Cave entry: R750 per person.

Standard café meal: R250 per person.

Bled cream cake: R120 per person.

Ljubljana Airbnb: R3 650 for two nights for two people.

Triglav National Park: Free to drive through.

Vintgar Gorge entry: R170 per person.

HUNGARY Hortobágy National Park entry: R320 per person (including the Blue Cowboys).

Săpânţa graveyard and monastery: Free

Ad ria t i c S ea

Săpânţa-Peri Monastery

Satu Mare

R OMAN IA Şur ean u Mo unt ain s

BELGRADE

BOSNI A & HE RZE GOV INA

M ONTE NE GR O

ROME

AL B AN IA

TIRANA

for the graveyard; R120 per person for the monastery.

Zărneşti Peleş Castle BUCHAREST Silistra

SERBIA

SARAJEVO

PODGORICA

CHISINAU

BU LG ARIA

SOFIA Kazanlak Valley burial mounds

Kovan Kaya archaeological site SKOPJE

NORT HERN MACED ONIA

Varna Nessebar

B la ck S ea

TUR KE Y

NOTE

ROMANIA Churches of Moldavia: R100 – R150 per person (per monastery).

Brown bear trek with Absolute Carpathian: R950 per person.

Peleş Castle entry fee: R120 per person.

Bucharest Airbnb: R3 800 for two nights for two.

Caru’cu bere restaurant: R250 per person – included mains and a good local beer.

We have already published the African leg of Patrick and Marie’s journey – see issues #158 to #166 to read about their travels through Egypt, Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

This European part of the trip preceded the African leg. Read Part 1 of Europe in go! #175. In the end, the Gurneys visited 23 countries and travelled 50 000 km, arriving back home in Johannesburg on 19 December 2019.

BULGARIA Ferry over Danube River: R550 (one-way).

Buzludzha Monument entry: Free.

Kazanlak Valley tomb visit: R153 per person.

Kovan Kaya entry: R36 per person.

MORE INFO: info@skultcha.com; skultcha.com Facebook: “skultcha” Instagram: @skulcha

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LETTER FROM

Cradock Writing from his mother’s farm near Cradock in the Eastern Cape, Toast Coetzer reckons that future happiness is determined by how many Consol bottles you have in the pantry.

I

t’s a Saturday morning at Rietvlei and my mother and I drive to a camp called Waterkloof, where we find Drakensberger cattle at the salt lick, each one black as an oil slick. A lone gemsbok – of the fancy, golden colour variant – is also there, but it’s further back, between the bushes, showing off its spectacular horns. It jumped over the fence from the neighbouring farm a couple of years ago and seems to have settled in.

My mother has been a farmer all her life. She can tell at a glance that there are a couple of calves missing from the herd.

She farms on feel, on instinct, rather than in a scientific way.

We walk a short distance up the stony jeep track to see if we can spot the two missing calves. Ah, there they are, lying down behind a clutch of blinkblaar trees.

Happy with her herd, we get back in the bakkie and drive down towards the main kloof road, where we turn left. A few hundred metres further, Ooievaarkrans (Stork Cliff) rises on the right, named after the black storks that once nested here, back when I was a child and the kloof carried more water.

The big, untidy nest you can see today belongs to a hamerkop.

My mother recalls when she and her two grandchildren (my sister’s boys, Slater and Oliver) stopped here last year and saw four hamerkop fledglings trying out their wings.

A couple of days ago, just before we received more than two inches of rain, I came across a leopard tortoise digging a hole on the side of the road, here at Ooievaarkrans. The tortoise was old and the ground was rock hard and dry. She struggled.

When I returned an hour later, she had urinated to soften the ground and dug down 10 cm already. This was early evening – she laid her eggs overnight. When my mother passed the same spot the next morning, she watched the tortoise tamping down the earth, job done.

128 go! #176

Our neighbour, Tannie Karin, phones later that afternoon.

She asks if we’d like to come and fetch more tomatoes, peaches and apples – just bring a few baskets. Karin has had a bountiful season and my mother has already fetched a few boxes of produce from her. They’ve both been drying fruit, making jam and bottling fruit – common fruit like peaches but also rarer pickings, like quince.

Everyone else is busy, so I drive the short distance (about 2 km up the kloof) by myself, past the poplar grove where our spring lies hidden, and through Diepdrif before turning right into Tannie Karin and Oom Johann’s farmyard.

Their farm is called Leliekloof and much of the extensive garden was laid out over a century ago. They have prickly pears, cherry trees, walnut, mulberry, quince and many apricot, peach and apple trees. Apricot season has come and gone. It was a good one, too: Tannie Karin made enough jam to last her for years to come. Of course, every child, grandchild and other visitor drove away with a Consol jar or three.

Later, after we’ve picked a basket of apples, a basket of peaches and another of tomatoes, we sit down for a cup of coffee. Glancing over Oom Johann’s shoulder, I can see into Tannie Karin’s dark pantry where bottles and jars gleam with the promise of nourishment and motherly love. Nothing is wasted on this farm: Everything gets eaten, shared, dried, canned, saved for later. Some of the produce might even make it to Canada, where their daughter Louise lives, or to their sons in Phalaborwa and Bloemfontein.

As dusk gathers and the kloof cools down, I say goodbye and drive out of the yard. Just before Diepdrif, I stop and get out of the car, marvelling at the low sun lighting the high outcrops. They look like ripe peaches, and it makes me think of all those Consol jars again – the jams, the pickles, the syrupy delights – and how they are an investment towards a happy future. Together they sing a quiet, uplifting song about family gatherings to come, everyone sitting happily around a table laden with food, the chairs occupied by people who love each other deeply.

Thanks Tannie Karin. And thanks, Mom.

Nothing is wasted on this farm: Everything gets eaten, shared, dried, canned, saved for later.

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AFRICA AT ITS BEST

Kru

Photography • Readers’ best photos • Tips from an expert snapper • Advice for brilliant bird pics

r IDE

WE CHAT TO…

• A Big Five veterinarian • Every rest camp’s head guide woman engineer who • Akeeps choppers in the sky

Shake off the city in SA’s favourite park!

REST CAMPS • BUSHVELD CAMPS HIKES • GAME DRIVE ROUTES • MAPS

RSA R112 N$112 (Namibia)

+Identify 10 classic Lowveld trees

130 go! #176

go! Kruger 2021 is on shelf now.

Order your copy online at winkel.weg.co.za

It was early one December morning near Pafuri in the far north of the Kruger Park. The veld was lush after a good rainy season – there were puddles everywhere and the grass was hip high.

But I was a bit despondent. The abundant water meant the animals were not clustered in obvious areas, and they were hard to see and photograph because of all the dense greenery.

Thank goodness for this zebra mare and her foal near Klopperfontein Dam – their stripes contrasted beautifully with the different shades of green. The scene gave me new hope that my game viewing was not in vain.

BY ESMA MARNEWICK