Private Edition Issue 58

Finding the winter sun

ALL THE FUN OF THE (WATCH) FAIR EATING OUT IN COMFORT WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE

READY FOR OFF-ROAD

FROM THE EDITOR

ISSUE 58 2023

EDITOR SUSAN NEWHAM-BLAKE snewham@tppsa.co.za

ART DIRECTOR TINA REDDELL

COPY EDITOR WENDY MARITZ

ADVERTISING EXECUTIVE

BERNICE BLUNDELL bernice@adplacements.co.za 073 618 1882

DIRECTOR SUSAN NEWHAM-BLAKE

PRODUCTION DIRECTOR JOHN MORKEL

HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGER LIZ WOLFE

FINANCIAL MANAGER NAEEMA ABRAHAMS

IN AN ATTEMPT to stave off a winter of discontent, I recently spent a week at the Kruger National Park, away from the driving Cape rain, loadshedding and endless news broadcasts. But it wasn’t the brilliant blue skies, cheetah sightings or the beautiful establishments I was lucky enough to stay in that lifted my spirits. It was the people I met. The lodges were nearly fully booked with mainly international tourists from America, England, Europe and, yes, even Australia. These travellers were in awe of and amazed by our beautiful country.

A newly married British couple here on honeymoon had spent a week in South Africa and was spreading the word to friends and family back home to come and visit. A German tourist raved about South African people, our friendliness, warmth and general good humour. He was planning to extend his trip and thought he’d one day like to live here.

An American physician and his partner had spent a week in Cape Town and a week at Kruger and were already planning another trip to the country with the purpose of buying property in Cape Town and relocating here more permanently. ‘We just can’t stay in America anymore,’ they said, depressed by the ongoing gun violence and policies ‘moving the country backwards’.

These travellers were not naive to our many challenges, but still they regarded us a happy bunch with an unbeatable – and enviable – lifestyle. I returned from my trip with a feeling of renewed confidence.

In this winter issue of Private Edition, we examine other ways South Africa

continues to impress. In ‘Ticket to Mars’ (page 28), we meet South African theoretical physicist, Dr Adriana Marais, who’s leading the Off-World Project to find solutions to living off this planet that are also applicable to improving standards of living on Earth.

South African cuisine carries on making its mark internationally, with FYN recently being awarded ‘The World’s 50 Best Restaurants’ Flor de Caña Sustainable Restaurant Award in Valencia. In ‘Out to Eat’ (page 46), we meet three chefs heading up other impressive restaurants and whose reimagined menus are make dining out as comfy as eating in.

In ‘A Glass of Red?’ (page 52), we celebrate local red wines, perfect for winter, and take a look at how they stack up internationally (which is very well, of course).

And if mention of Kruger has you longing for a sunny bush break, ‘Where the Wild Things Are’ (page 62) will give you a nudge to book those tickets to explore some of the finest lodges the iconic park has to offer.

Here’s to finding the sun this winter.

SUSAN NEWHAM-BLAKE EDITOR

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Private Edition is published by The Publishing Partnership (Pty) Ltd, 8th Floor, Tarquin House, 81 Loop Street, Cape Town 8001. Copyright: The Publishing Partnership (Pty) Ltd 2023. No portion of this publication may be reproduced without prior written consent from The Publishing Partnership or the authors. The publishers are not responsible for any unsolicited material. The opinions expressed are not necessarily those of The Publishing Partnership or the editor.

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42 THE SIZE OF IT

New technologies are allowing larger cars to once again be acceptable – and celebrated.

46 OUT TO EAT

Three chefs lift the lid on their secrets to creating the perfect home-away-from-home dining experience.

52 A GLASS OF RED?

We’re celebrating SA’s red wines this winter which, according to the experts, stack up very well internationally.

56 TAKING ROOT

Join us as we travel Portugal – a country of pretty cities and wine regions of breathtaking beauty and a place so difficult to leave.

62 WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE

If you’re looking for an authentic safari experience, nothing comes close to the dramatic landscape and game-viewing experience as the iconic Kruger National Park.

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THE BRIEFING

TASTINGS

A rare cask unveiled

AFTER MORE THAN 10 YEARS, NATURE, TALENT AND TIME HAVE INTERTWINED TO REVEAL LOUIS XIII’S LATEST WONDER.

Available in only 775 unique black crystal decanters, Rare Cask 42.1 is Louis XIII’s latest limited-edition release.

The tierçons (traditional wooden oak barrels) that lie in the shadows of the cellars of Domaine de Grollet – the confluence of the Louis XIII legacy – are wonders in themselves. Together they hold a treasured collection of eaux-de-vie, distilled from the Cognac Grande Champagne terroir, and from which Louis XIII Cognac is born.

Each tierçon is produced from French oak trees that take more than 100 years to reach maturity. Kept in obscurity and seemingly undisturbed, the eaux-de-vie inside undergoes an enchanting transformation, giving Louis XIII Cognac its inimitable complexity.

The uncovering of a Rare Cask is a unique moment in the life of a Louis XIII cellarmaster. Such a spontaneous, rare occurrence may never happen in a single lifetime.

‘While the singularity of a Rare Cask rests on a miracle given by nature, the know-how that is necessary for its creation was born from a transmission of an art, from generation to generation, where each cellarmaster perpetuates the gestures of his predecessors,’ says Baptiste Loiseau, fifth-generation cellarmaster of Louis XIII.

The single tierçon provides a limited amount of Cognac for just 775 decanters, which have been specially crafted from black crystal by Baccarat. rarecask-42-1.louisxiii-cognac.com

TIMING

London calling

DEVOTEES OF WORLD TIMERS, OR GMT WATCHES KEEP AN EYE OUT EVERY YEAR FOR THE LATEST ITERATIONS OF THEIR FAVOURITE COMPLICATION.

Representing 24 time zones on a tiny wristwatch is no mean feat. On 2023’s must-have list of beautiful heures universelles is Lange & Söhne’s Lange 1 Time Zone, Bulgari’s Octo Roma WorldTimer and Jaeger-LeCoultre’s sublime Geophysic Universal Time. And this: Omega’s recently released Seamaster Aqua Terra Worldtimer. The Biennebased company has used cartography to represent the world: in the centre of the titanium dial is a representation of Earth as viewed from above the North Pole, with continents carved out by laser. Omega’s home city is one of the 24 global destinations included. Interestingly, London, home of Greenwich Mean Time, is depicted in red rather than yellow gold, to denote its importance in global time-keeping.

omegawatches.com

DEPARTURES

The lodge of water

BRAND-NEW BABOHI LODGE IS AN ELEGANT TAKE ON THE TRADITIONAL GAME LODGE.

Qwabi Private Game Reserve has unveiled the latest addition to its Big Five safari destination, with the opening of the five-star lodge Babohi that overlooks the game-rich hills of the world-famous Waterberg Biosphere. Offering 25 luxurious rooms and suites, Babohi is the second of three lodges to be built and refurbished on this 11 000-hectare conservation area. Babohi is dedicated to delivering understated elegance in a Big Five setting and, in keeping with the remarkable surroundings of the Waterberg, water has been a key influence in its design.

Selected suites promise a range of additional indulgences, from private plunge pools to the on-trend addition of wood-fired hot tubs. But the stand-out offering is the expansive ‘Lion’ presidential suite, a 150m2 space that allows for exclusive private dining and a bespoke butler service on request.

Within the main lodge, the spacious communal areas include an elegant restaurant showcasing regional and international cuisine, while the lodge’s vinoteque is stocked with sought-after vintages from some of South Africa’s most famous cellars.

Beyond the lodge, guests can look forward to twice-daily game drives to spot the Big Five or the reserve’s other lesser-known, yet equally thrilling residents, from the elusive aardvark to the more than 200 bird species – all in the company of expert safari guides. www.newmarkhotels.com

DEPARTURES

Respite from the cold

TAJ CAPE TOWN’S NEW REVEAL HONOURS HERITAGE, WHILE ADDING A TOUCH OF CONTEMPORARY LUXE.

If you’re looking for a respite from the Cape winter, Taj Cape Town, a heritage building in the epicentre of the oldest part of Cape Town, has undergone a beautiful refresh of its ground floor. The grand architecture of the old South African Reserve Bank, where Taj Cape Town has made its home, is still intact (including the iconic fluted marble columns), but there is a range of new experiences for the Taj guest to indulge in.

Thanks to the installation of a large, customised bar framed between sash windows, the Lobby Bar now features even more spectacular views of the iconic St George’s Cathedral. Taj Cape Town has also introduced a Whiskey Bar, offering a wide range of fine whiskeys, perfect for a lazy winter’s afternoon. Guiding you through the tasting, Taj Cape Town’s whiskey sommelier, Andrew Chirauga, takes enormous delight in sharing both his knowledge and passion for the drink. Each 60-minute guided tasting is paired with dishes prepared by Taj Cape Town’s legendary chefs.

If it’s a luxurious spa treatment you’re after, the award-winning J Wellness Circle is a special space drawing on the fabled lifestyle and culture of Indian royalty through the centuries, along with 6 000-year-old Eastern wellness philosophies devised to align body, soul and mind. And for a sensory dining experience, the hotel’s signature Indian cuisine at the Bombay Brasserie restaurant (popular among locals) is a must.

Indeed, a night or two spent at the historic Taj Cape Town is as comforting and rejuvenating as a winter getaway can get. tajhotels.com/en-in/taj/taj-cape-town/

TASTINGS

The world’s best

IT’S AWARD SEASON FOR FINE-DINING RESTAURANT, FYN.

Peter Tempelhoff’s FYN restaurant was presented with The World’s 50 Best coveted Flor de Caña Sustainable Restaurant Award in June in acknowledgement of the far-reaching sustainability philosophy underpinning FYN’s combination of South African and Japanese flavours and techniques.

With the emergence of sustainability as a dominant global dining trend, The World’s 50 Best has sought to commend restaurants achieving the highest environmental and social-responsibility ratings. This accolade follows the announcement of FYN’s placing on The World’s 50 Best Restaurants Top 100 list for the third consecutive year.

Delicately balancing the wildness of Africa with Japanese refinement in its seasonally led kaiseki-style menu, FYN’s cuisine is deeply rooted in its locale, which it honours through conscious sourcing of indigenous ingredients from the Western Cape. fynrestaurant.com

TIMING

Race to watch

THE 24 HOURS OF LE MANS, WITH ROLEX AS THE OFFICIAL TIMEPIECE, MARKED ITS CENTENARY THIS YEAR WITH A SPECTACLE BEFITTING OF ITS REPUTATION AND AUGUST HISTORY.

It had all the makings of a Bizet opera: a newcomer in town, a score for the ages, angry weather gods, even a diva or two. France’s celebrated race of kings – the 100th outing on the famed Loire Valley track – delivered a new star in the form of Ferrari, which returned to and conquered Le Mans after a 50-year hiatus. The Italian Scuderia team was certainly not expected to win on its first time out, but one man, ‘Mr Le Mans’ Tom Kristensen, predicted it. ‘Toyota is obviously the team to beat, but Ferrari has had a spectacular year so far and it is the outfit to watch,’ he told Private Edition in May. The nine-times Le Mans champion, a Rolex Testimonee since 2001, was this year’s race ambassador and Grand Marshall, handing over the special Centenary Cup to the winners. The Ferrari team also received specially engraved Rolex Oyster Perpetual Cosmograph Daytonas (Rolex has been the race’s Official Timepiece since 2001). ‘This race will go down in history as, if not the best, then very close to the best race ever.’ rolex.com

STYLE

The pull of time

HISTORY, TRADITION AND LEGACY HAVE BECOME VITALLY IMPORTANT TO WATCHMAKERS OF LATE.

Established ateliers are increasingly underlining their gravitas by accenting and updating past glories. So it is with IWC Shaffhausen’s latest Ingenieur Automatic 40, which broke cover at Watches and Wonders earlier this year. IWC’s standout classic, designed by industry legend Gérald Genta in 1976, is one of the most sought-after heritage watches today, and the new version received a standing ovation at its reveal. There are four variants, all using the calibre 32111 for their internal workings and there have been subtle changes to the face and dial. A fresh aqua option is likely to prove popular with a younger audience and the rarer-still Titanium variant will undoubtedly become a valuable collector’s item. iwc.com

DESIGN

The most beautiful of sounds

THE ICONIC LUXURY AUDIOVISUAL BRAND BANG & OLUFSEN LAUNCHES A NEW PORTABLE SPEAKER.

Bang & Olufsen has long been renowned for its immersive sound, meticulous craftsmanship and product longevity, and the newly released Beosound A5 is no exception. The new high-end portable speaker combines Bang & Olufsen’s longstanding approach to timeless design with their vision for the sound of the future, says VP of Product Marketing, Michael Henriksson. Designed in collaboration with the Danish-Italian design duo GamFratesi, the resulting two-speaker designs rooted in Scandinavian aesthetic offer a distinct design signature of their own. Both finishes can sit beautifully inside a home or outside in nature, presenting the best of Scandinavian design excellence. bang-olufsen.com/en/za in nature, presenting the best of Scandinavian design excellence.

TASTINGS

Specially yours

LIMITED-EDITION GIFT BOXES INVITE CHAMPAGNE LOVERS TO ‘SAY IT WITH MOËT & CHANDON’ BY ADDING A SPECIAL MESSAGE TO THEIR GIFT OF CHAMPAGNE.

Personalised ‘Specially Yours’ limited-edition gift boxes, available with the house’s signature Moët Impérial and Rosé Impérial, express a message of love, a private thought, or personal, well-chosen words to mark a meaningful milestone. The words on the bottle’s cardboard gift box or the keepsake metal box are an elegant token of appreciation that enhances the joy of gift-giving. For those who wish to personalise a bottle of Moët & Chandon, the House makes it possible to choose from six different special messages. Personalisation options are also available for those who wish to compose their own words on the gift box of Moët Impérial. Available in selected retail outlets from July 2023. moet.com/en-int

STYLE

Love of the classic

THE STEEL VERSION OF THE CLASSIC TOURBILLON MANUFACTURE PRESENTS A WATCHMAKING COMPLICATION IN A CLASSIC DESIGN.

Following the success of an initial limited anniversary edition in rose gold unveiled at Geneva’s Watches and Wonders show, Frederique Constant is now offering collectors two all-new variations of its Manufacture Tourbillon in a 39-millimetre steel case with a blue or silver-coloured dial. The contemporary look is a perfect complement to the classic design – and sits beautifully alongside the original rose-gold version. Each of the two timepieces will be available in a limited edition of 350, with the visible tourbillon at 6 o’clock revealing all the Geneva-based firm’s watchmaking know-how. frederiqueconstant.com

DEPARTURES

A night away

THE FINE COUNTRY HOTEL, GRANDE ROCHE, PRESENTS ATTRACTIVE OVERNIGHT PACKAGES AND DELECTABLE MENUS THIS WINTER.

If you’re looking for a micro-break, Grande Roche Hotel is running one-night package stays that are irresistible. These must-try getaways include one night’s accommodation in one of the hotel’s generously spacious suites set amidst vineyards and a mountain backdrop; a full English breakfast; a sunset cocktail and canapés of the day; and a four-course sharing-plate dinner and a bottle of wine at Grande Roche Hotel’s restaurant. Each room and suite offers its own unique ambience that celebrates

both the indigenous flora and the farm’s rich history. Wooden beams and exposed thatch warmly encapsulate the rich heritage of Cape farms and fynbos-inspired signature wallpapers provide a vibrant splash of contemporary colour.

The four-course sharing plates created by Grande Roche Restaurant’s head chef Kevin Grobler feature delicious flavours from seasonal produce sourced from nearby farms. Expect dishes including lip-smacking pork pot stickers with chilli and sesame dressing; fried zucchini bhaji, tzatziki mousse and dill dust; calamari steak with sticky rice and gochujang sauce; and Cape Malay mussels cooked in curried apricots and served with garlic naan. To end the feasting, you can choose from a selection of delicious desserts including lemon éclairs and crème brûlée doughnuts.

Packages are available until 30 September 2023. granderoche.com

INSIDE BEAUTY

The aesthetic deglobalisation of a number of contemporary beauty brands begs the question of whether interior architecture and design have surpassed consumer psychology in shaping today’s cosmetics stores.

WORDS MARTIN JACOBS

IT USED TO BE – and not that long ago – that store design was considered and configured predominantly on feedback provided by research into consumer psychology. With as much as ninety percent of the population of Western countries being right-handed, for example, the layouts of many retail environments favoured merchandising on the right, as these consumers tended to enter a space and naturally gravitate in that direction. Consumer insights like this, and other data gleaned from extensive research into how we shop, dictated design. And while this was and in many ways is still relevant, for

department stores or retail environments with significant floorspace, it impacted the thinking behind single-brand stores too, like those of boutique beauty brands.

Such thinking was also a factor in the globalised aesthetics of stores. In South Africa, one Edgars Red Square looked pretty much identical to another and, internationally, a cosmetics retailer like Sephora appears consistently the same regardless of country or continent. In addition to the manufacturing advantages standardised aesthetics offer corporations, the understanding was that they also left the consumer recognising the familiar

OPPOSITE PAGE Designed by AIM Architecture’s Wendy Saunders and Vincent de Graaf, a spiral staircase in Harmay’s Chengdu store doubles as display shelving while connecting floors.

THIS PAGE CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT Filmmaker and interior designer Luca Guadagnino conceptualised the interior of Aesop’s Piccadilly (London) boutique; industrial piping transforms into display shelving the further one enters into Harmay’s Shenzhen store; at the heart of Glossier’s Seattle store an artificial mossy boulder references the flora of the Pacific Northwest.

‘RETAIL DESIGN HAS BECOME MORE FOCUSED ON AN IMMERSIVE EXPERIENCE THAT ENCOURAGES THE VISITOR TO DOCUMENT AND SHARE.’ SUSAN SCOTT

and feeling comfortable. To what extent though do uniform aesthetics and consumer psychology insights still hold true today, in a post-pandemic world in which our appreciation of the local, the regional and the cultural has only increased?

A growing number of interior architects and designers would argue not. So too does cult publishing brand Wallpaper*. Ever the bastion of high design, it recently described contemporary beauty stores as ‘flipping the design script’. Unquestionably, there is a design revolution (better yet, reinvention) underway. One that, in an Instagram era that has shoppers more visually adept, addresses a design-savvy consumer. ‘Retail design has become more focused on an immersive experience that encourages the visitor to document and share,’ says Susan Scott, founding architect of Vancouver-based Scott & Scott Architects, and lead creative behind the interiors of Formula Fig, a Canadian beauty brand that offers instore treatments and skincare products.

The importance of the relationship between retail experience and social media on future commerce is equally of value to international brand Tom Ford. With the opening of the designer’s first stand-alone beauty store late in 2022 in Covent Garden, a new benchmark was set for tech-lead beauty retail. The store offers augmented-reality cosmetics trialling and mirrors that record one’s make-up tutorials (later emailing them to you, ready for social media upload). It’s safe to imagine that further stores like this will open globally. And, given corporate thinking, it’s equally safe to assume that these interiors and

experiences will be largely standardised, designed to look and feel the same regardless of location. They’re forward thinking in terms of technology, less so in terms of interior design.

Founder of Australian skincare brand Aesop, Dennis Paphitis, in conversation in 2012 with Marcus Fairs, the then editor-in-chief of Dezeen, explained that it was through necessity that the brand (in its infancy, with a small team working to open a handful of stores simultaneously)

took the decision to work with different interior architects on different retail spaces. ‘That just got me thinking about the kind of assault on the streetscape that retailers inflict through the ordinary course of mindless business, the idea that one size would so often be forced to fit all,’ he said. ‘I was horrified at the thought of Aesop evolving into a soulless chain. It wasn’t so hard to respectfully consider each space individually, consider the customer, the context and to bring a little joy into the conversation.’ Ahead, in thinking, of the then beauty pack, Paphitis’s comment points to his understanding that, while universal

TODAY’S BOUTIQUE BEAUTY BRANDS, AND THE ARCHITECTS THEY PARTNER WITH, KNOW THAT STORE DESIGN HAS BECOME AS ALLURING TO CONSUMERS AS THEIR PRODUCT OFFERING.

FAR LEFT While the brand’s packaging may be consistent, no two Aesop stores share the same design DNA, including Sydney’s Pitt Street boutique, designed by Snøhetta to echo the terrain of a nearby rocky coastline.

LEFT In a Formula Fig bar in Vancouver, architect Susan Scott alludes to an age when the region was once forest, by incorporating green materials, like tactile marble and velvet, in her design.

RIGHT South Africa’s Roxanne Ferreira intended for the interior of Glow Theory in Johannesburg to have a welcoming, homely feel.

similarities may unite us in how we shop (for example, evidence suggests we spend more time in stores with mirrors), our geographies – and in turn cultures – offer equally different ways in which a brand can entice and form a relationship with a consumer.

‘We didn’t ever want a standard Aesop shade of orange or green that was plastered onto stores with a nasty logo over it,’ Paphitis continued, ‘but instead to look at the streetscape and try to retain and redeem existing facades that are there, and work with a local and relevant vocabulary to contextualise what we do.’ Design that considers its immediate environment, and graciously defers to it, has been at the forefront of Aesop’s visual language ever since. The brand’s store in Rome, for example, was designed by film director and designer Luca Guadagnino, who referenced a bygone Rome when the city and surrounding countryside were more connected. Both his colour palette and material choices were inspired by the city’s aged buildings, while hay bricks on the ceiling allude to Rome’s proximity to a rural landscape. The result is a look that’s not replicated elsewhere, but specific to this store.

Paphitis’s embrace of aesthetic deglobalisation has given rise to a new generation of beauty brands that have followed suit. Chinese cosmetics retailer Harmay has, since the opening of its first store in 2017, worked with AIM Architecture on the design of all its stores. The architects have further interrogated concepts around deglobalisation, applying these to Harmay’s 12 stores across China, a country with vastly differing regions. Each

PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF ARRANGE STUDIO

OPPOSITE PAGE

Buly 1803’s newest boutique in Kobe (Japan) oozes vintage charm. Yet fun design elements abound, like a blood-toned marble that calls to mind the grain of Kobe beef, and melting Surrealist-inspired lights that drip from the ceiling.

THIS PAGE CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT Inspired by Hollywood’s Golden Age, an oversized beauty dropper is affixed to the ceiling of Glossier’s West Hollywood store; conveyer belts that double as product displays direct customers through Harmay’s Chongqing space; all of Buly 1803’s 25 stores reference the brand’s apothecary history, as does the product packaging.

IN AN ERA OF RAMPANT CONSUMERISM, IT’S ENCOURAGING TO KNOW THAT THE BEAUTIFUL BEHIND THE BEAUTY BRANDS IS MORE THAN SKIN DEEP.

store has its own look and offers consumers the opportunity to browse unassisted. Rather than shop assistants ushering shoppers through each space, interior design now tackles the task. In Chengdu, an architectural spiral ramp between floors doubles as shelving. In Chongqing, a conveyor belt houses product and dictates the floor plan. And in the brand’s newest store (opened last year in Shenzhen), steel piping at the store’s entrance morphs into display units, while simultaneously referencing the city’s dramatic urbanisation over the past half-century.

Today’s boutique beauty brands, and the architects they partner with, know that store design has become as alluring to consumers as their product offering. Renowned creative couple Victoire de Taillac and Ramdane Touhami understood this when relaunching French skincare brand Buly 1803, which now has 25 stores, from Paris and London to Bangkok and its latest addition in Kobe, Japan.

‘Each one is a manifesto against standardisation. Each is inspired by its home city: the architecture, the culture, the residents, and their customs,’ the couple explains. Details borrowed from each location’s surroundings marry with the aesthetics of

19th century French pharmacies, and include furniture and panelling in polished walnut, antique faucetry, and bottles, flasks, and vials in various materials. The strength of such aesthetics extends to the brand’s exquisite packaging too.

On home soil, local interior architects’ and designers’ thinking reflects this global shift. With a background in consumer science, Roxanne Ferreira, founder of Arrange Studio, conceived the interior of online retailer Glow Theory’s first physical store in Johannesburg. Her design addresses both the practical and the creative. ‘I asked myself what’s the most comfortable height for a consumer to reach and read,’ she says, then explains that her choice of pale-pink tiles and terrazzo mimics a home bathroom (leaving customers feeling comfortable) and simultaneously provides the staff with an interesting surface on which to photograph product for social media. ‘Any planning, be it of a small boutique or multi-level department store, should always put the customer experience at the forefront of design,’ Ferreira says. In an era of rampant consumerism, it’s encouraging to know that the beautiful behind the beauty brands is more than skin deep. 

TICKET TO MARS

South African theoretical physicist Dr Adriana Marais may have missed out on going to Mars but becoming an extraterrestrial is a dream she continues to pursue.

WORDS VERUSKA DE VITA

BLESSED WITH A PARTICULAR PATTERN of thinking that considers an extremely broad view of the universe, it is not surprising that South African Dr Adriana Dr Marais was shortlisted to fly to Mars with the Mars One mission, a project that was subsequently cancelled in 2019.

‘When I first read about the call for volunteers for a one-way mission to Mars in 2012, I felt nauseous, struck by a strange childhood memory that suddenly rushed back to me in perfect clarity. I remember being on my black scooter, and as it rattled down the brick driveway, I had a series of imaginings. I pictured a global radio broadcast: a call for a volunteer to go on an urgent journey to find a new home for humanity. The volunteer would travel through space far away from Earth and send back a message if a suitable planet was discovered in time. It was a one-way trip. I would volunteer, I silently decided. I must have been four or five,’ recalls Dr Marais.

Her childhood prophecy almost came true when in 2015, Mars One announced 100 astronaut candidate finalists selected from 200 000 applicants from around the world, and she was

one of them. Sadly Mars One declared bankruptcy in February 2019, and while the project never launched, it did succeed in influencing popular culture and getting people outside of the space industry thinking about human exploration beyond Earth.

‘Nothing changes for my plans. The mission to Mars is bigger than any one of us – we’ll get there, one way or another,’ Dr Marais says. ‘The technology we require to inhabit Mars already exists; living at the International Space Station or even on the Moon is more challenging from an engineering perspective than setting up camp on a rocky planet with significant gravity and an atmosphere.’

However, at more than 200 million kilometres away, the remoteness of Mars requires a different approach to infrastructure choices, with a focus on sustainable production and consumption,

and recycling of waste. But at the heart of the success of a Mars community is learning how to live in extreme and resourceconstrained conditions. In fact, this is mission critical.

In 2019, Dr Marais founded Proudly Human, bringing together engineers, explorers, astrobiologists, psychiatrists, transition coaches, technologists and others to contribute their skills and knowledge in order to develop solutions for how to best live off-world. The solutions could also be applicable here on Earth to improve standards of living.

In 2023, under the Proudly Human banner, Dr Marais launched the Off-World Project – a series of habitation experiments in which teams build off-grid structures and communities in perilous environments. ‘Location scouts have taken me to Antarctica, Norway, deserts in the US, the Middle East and Africa,

‘EARTH IS BUT A PALE BLUE DOT IN A UNIVERSE OF STAR STUFF WAITING TO BE KNOWN.’

the Aquarius Reef Base underwater habitat and submarine naval bases. Antarctica is arguably more remote than Earth orbit or the Moon – during the winter, there is no way in or out, no boat can crack through the sea ice to access the continent and no pilot and co-pilot can be expected to risk their lives in the dark, windy and treacherous conditions that prevail,’ she explains.

The project will culminate with six experts living underwater for 78 days in the Aquarius Reef Base, an undersea facility situated 8.7km off Key Largo in the Florida Keys. The conditions of confinement within the base, deployed on the ocean floor at 19m, in an environment where life-support is necessary, has parallels with the spaceflight to Mars or beyond.

The Aquarius Reef Base was originally built in 1986 as a sea lab to research oceanic life. The extreme environment has also been used to train NASA astronauts, as an analogue to the International Space Station (ISS), before departing for Earth orbit. ‘While I was in Florida, I met an astronaut at a pool party celebrating the first all-private Axiom-1 crew being launched to the ISS by SpaceX, and we got talking about Aquarius. He had spent time at the ISS and said that living in the undersea base is the closest experience he’s had to being in space. There are many analogies: the need to suit up to explore the region beyond the habitat, the experience of zero gravity while doing extravehicular activities, emergency evacuation decompression taking 17 hours... In fact evacuation from the ISS is quicker, achievable in four hours,’ says Dr Marais.

Dr Marais believes that in the long run, we will have to leave Earth and begin our expansion into the stars in our lifetime and she hopes her project will inform how best this can happen. There is no doubt that Dr Marais was born ready for the journey.

‘For many, Earth is their favourite planet. But for those who feel a curiosity, an affinity and indeed a sense of belonging with that overwhelming majority of what is beyond, Earth is but a pale blue dot in a universe of star stuff waiting to be known,’ she says.

TOP Dr Adriana Marais takes a seat inside a Soyuz capsule, originally built for crewed lunar programmes, at the Cape Town Science Centre.

ABOVE Summiting Mount Kilimanjaro in 2017.

OPPOSITE PAGE Walking in the Namid Desert during an Off-World Project locationscouting trip. PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY ADRIANA MARAIS

ALL THE FUN OF THE FAIR

Detecting trends at the annual Watches and Wonders event in Geneva can be an exercise in futility. Not so this year. Front and centre was a newfound vibrancy – even playfulness –underlining the industry’s broader return to health.

WORDS PETER FROST

IT’S A COIN TOSS as to which timepiece won the unofficial audience award at Geneva this year. Rolex dropped a series of unexpected fun bombs with their delightful Rolex Oyster Perpetual Day-Date creations, as did Oris’s indefatigably cheery Rolf Studer with his marvellous ProPilot X Kermit timepiece in, well, Kermit froggy green. Then there was the monstrously gauche but oh-such-fun US$20m Billionaire from Jacob & Co, TAG Heuer’s Carrera Plasma with its lab-grown diamonds as well as their spectacular Carrera Glassbox. Cartier’s brave Gaboon viper-like Clash (Un)limited won’t soon be forgotten, and the epic Hermès textured stand, created in collaboration with kinetic sculptor Clément Vieille, celebrated the new Hermès H08 Yellow. There was more. Grand Seiko’s astonishing Hana-Ikada that beautifully referenced Japan’s cherry-blossom season, Cartier’s Tank Normale Skeleton, which literally stopped traffic and Hublot’s transparent Square Bang Unico.

The fun and the vibrancy – 2023’s event took to the streets of Geneva with exhibitions, bands and showroom tours – felt as much like relief as it did happenstance. Enthusiasts returned to both the city and watch culture in droves, with 600 million people tuning in, arriving and taking part in the various elements on offer. And this year, Watches and Wonders revealed an exploding trend as some 25 percent of visitors to the Palexpo centre were under 25. It was for them, suggested the pundits, that the world of horology seems suddenly to have brightened, ditching the gunmetal for a splash of colour. If, then, Geneva’s job is to herald the industry’s new direction, imagination is unquestionably the base architecture for the next decade.

So, to the superstars. Rolex doubled down as the industry leviathan, offering new takes on the Cosmograph Daytona, GMT-Master II and Sky-Dweller, as well as delivering an all-new watch, the 1908, honouring its founder, Hans Wilsdorf. But really the buzz was about its mad-as-monkeys Oyster Perpetual Day-Date. The new dial decorations – choose either bubbles or jigsaws – are complemented by a series of emoji-like suggestions in place of the days of the week. ‘Happy’, ‘Eternity’, ‘Gratitude’, ‘Peace’, ‘Faith’, ‘Love’ and ‘Hope’ are all on offer. The traditionalists weren’t best pleased but everyone else was delighted.

Cartier, too, managed a real sense of rejuvenation. Two ranges flagshipped their new energy, Clash (Un)limited and Tank Normale Skeleton. The (Un)limited pleased in a contrast of wild textures, with sharp angles and oceanic orbs on the

ABOVE Patek Philippe’s gorgeous unisex Aquanaut Luce Annual Calendar is the first Aquanaut to feature the salon’s patented Annual Calendar mechanism.

LEFT TAG Heuer’s latest Carrera Chronograph 39mm broke with tradition, sidestepping the usual bezel, favouring instead a curved tachymeter and minute track.

ABOVE Breitling’s popular Premier B01 Chronograph has six new variations, all fitted with the latest selfwinding Breitling Caliber 01 manufacture movement.

LEFT Cartier revealed the Clash (Un)limited, set in an astonishing bracelet featuring sharp angles and oceanic orbs.

bracelet. The demonstrably Art Deco Normale, particularly with yellow-gold skeleton case, is ravishing. It features blued hands, a cabochon on the winding crown, rail tracks and a secret signature. It paid homage to the original Tank created by Louis Cartier in 1917 and launched a couple of years later.

Patek Philippe concentrated on cementing its reputation as an innovative and precision-obsessed company. Much praise was lavished on the pared-down 5224R Travel Time with 24-hour timescale, but most interest was on the Aquanaut Luce Annual Calendar, largely because it was refreshing to see a woman’s watch that wasn’t covered in diamonds. The non-gem set model – in rose gold – would look equally at home on male or female wrists. It’s also the first style from the Aquanaut collection to feature Patek Philippe’s patented Annual Calendar mechanism from 1996.

The talking point at Panerai wasn’t just the free trip to Rome for those lucky enough to procure one of the Italian brand’s exquisite new Calendario Annuale Platinum pieces. The annual calendar itself caused a stir; it’s a first for the company that traditionally doesn’t go in for complications. Happily, legibility is still a byword and, intriguingly, the months are noted in Italian on the dial...

Tudor’s energy was evident across Geneva, the ascendent watchmaker seemingly everywhere, including in a novel pop-up boutique slap bang in the middle of the city on Place de Longemalle. Its approach was admirable – every watch launched was immediately available to buy in the boutique. Top of the list was its latest 37mm Heritage Black Bay 54 that evoked the watch-

maker’s history. It’s close in style and character to the legendary Submariners of yore, but embraces the modern age: that burgundy bezel Black Bay is only the second Tudor watch to be certified as a Master Chronometer by METAS.

TAG Heuer naturally chose Geneva to reveal its latest Carrera Chronographs as well as the latest Aquaracer. Eyes were firmly fixed on the latest iteration of Carrera’s ‘glass box’ design, the novel wrapping of the dial. In new signature blue it looked magnificent, subtle, unique, playful. TAG, continuing with their policy of using lab-grown diamonds on their pieces, offered yet more playfulness with the audacious Plasma Diamant D’Avant-Garde, a riot of precision-cut stones and blackened aluminium. The watch dial is especially arresting: it’s a single polycrystalline diamond plate, essentially a multitude of tiny crystals grown as one.

Grand Seiko’s Geneva contribution was art as much as engineering. The Hana-Ikada, a beautiful piece that uses Japan’s cherry blossom season as inspiration, was a big hit. The dial is a gentle, soft-textured pale pink and the case just so; it was a personal highlight, the art of less is more.

Always innovative, Breitling chose to show its Premier B01 Chronograph 42 at its new Geneva-based restaurant, The Kitchen, rather than the fair. The simple cream dial with the alligator leather strap was a beautiful pairing, timeless and tasteful. There are six

FAR LEFT Grand Seiko drew on Japan’s cherryblossom season as the inspiration for the Hana-Ikada’s exquisitely delicate face.

LEFT Panerai’s Calendario Annuale features the months of the year in Italian.

BELOW Rolex’s wellreceived Oyster Perpetual Day-Date was introduced with various faces, including a choice of bubbles or jigsaws.

LEFT Tudor’s Heritage Black Bay 54 evokes the watchmaker’s history, resembling the style and character of the legendary Submariners of yore.

ABOVE Four new Hermes H08 watches debuted, all with lightweight composite cases, grainy textured grey dials and colourful strap options, including the trademark yellow.

RIGHT Much fun was had by Oris, which delighted fair-goers with a surprise reveal: the ProPilot X Kermit, complete with froggy replacement for the number 1 on the date function. Once a month Kermit pops into view for a bit of light relief.

new variations, each fitted with the latest self-winding Breitling Caliber B01 manufacture movement, which can be seen through the transparent sapphirecrystal caseback.

Transparency was indeed as much a theme as fun was. Hublot’s gorgeous Square Bang collection features a clear sapphire case for the Unico Sapphire, a bold approach on a progressive watch. It also features the brand’s One-Click strap-changing system that connects to a transparent textured rubber strap fitted with a titanium buckle.

Finally a note on a Geneva first-timer. Bell & Ross, the French watchmakers creating pieces for that country’s space programme, had a stellar show, revealing its BR 03 Diver BR 03-93 GMT Blue, among others. The company (which makes its watches in Switzerland, naturally) is known for its square pieces and the Diver is exactly that. It’s water-resistant up to 300 metres, and a classic diver’s helmet is etched in hypoallergenic stainless steel on the back.

Geneva’s star shines bright. At a moment when the world was looking for a time-out from global tension and worry, Watches and Wonders delivered a dose of genuine relief – and optimism. Luxury has its place, it seemed to say, as much to remind us of our capacity for creativity as our desire for beautiful things. 

ABOVE RIGHT New to Watches and Wonders, French salon Bell & Ross debuted their BR 03 Diver BR 03-93 GMT Blue. The diver’s watch is traditionally square, unashamedly masculine and used by French astronauts.

RIGHT Hublot’s transparent Square Bang, with its clear sapphire case, transparent rubber strap and titanium buckle.

IF, THEN, GENEVA’S JOB IS TO HERALD THE INDUSTRY’S NEW DIRECTION, IMAGINATION IS UNQUESTIONABLY THE BASE ARCHITECTURE FOR THE NEXT DECADE.

THE FAST, THE FURIOUS, AND THE FREE

Sailing is evolving. The latest racing boats –catamarans built from futuristic materials and crewed by the finest sailors on earth – are capable of attaining speeds and performing intricate manoeuvres that, even a decade ago, might not have been imagined possible.

WORDS KEITH BAIN

IT WAS 1996, a few months before his first Olympic gold in Atlanta. Brazilian sailing superstar Robert Scheidt was in Cape Town, earning his second World Championship title in a competition he remembers viscerally. ‘It was in Simon’s Town. I remember the cold waters, the possibility of meeting white sharks. It was wild, the sea quite rough. A lot of wind, a lot of current, a lot of waves.’

Scheidt, who always wears a silver necklace with a cross, and since his earliest races as a boy has carried a chess piece – a black knight – in his bag, has been sailing since he was five, starting on São Paulo’s Lake Guarapiranga with his father.

By age nine he had his first Optimist, a small, single-handed sailing dinghy made for children. Aged 11, he won his first South American championship; the following year he represented Brazil at the Optimist World Championship.

Crowned Rolex Sailor of the Year – sailing’s highest achievement – in 2001, he’s won nine World Championships and three Olympic medals in a Lazer, the single-handed Olympic-class boat he believes brings sailing down to basics: ‘It’s all about the sailor, reading the wind, making decisions, being physically and mentally prepared,’ he says.

Scheidt, now 50, says that while sailing is about meeting the forces of nature – wind, sea, weather – head-on, being a good sailor is about understanding those elements, knowing them well enough to be able to decide what to do next in order to win the race. ‘It’s a highly complex sport requiring physical prowess and the use of your intellect. There’s a lot of decision-making and planning ahead that makes it similar to chess, but you need to make decisions really quickly.’

A generation ago, the fastest sailboats were achieving speeds of around nine knots, perhaps 15 knots if they were in a real hurry. Nowadays, boats competing in events such as the America’s Cup, the world’s oldest surviving yacht race, literally fly above the water, at a pace much, much faster.

Other key races on the international yachting calendar include the Rolex Giraglia, an offshore race from Saint-Tropez to Genova; the Rolex Fastnet Race, which is the biggest offshore race of the year and poses the challenge of navigating back and forth across the treacherous Celtic Sea; the Ocean Race, which goes around the entire planet; the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup; the Rolex Middle Sea Race; and the gruelling Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race across the Tasman Sea.

It’s unsurprising, perhaps, that Rolex shows up – again and again – as a headline sponsor of the sport’s signature events. The timekeeping brand’s associations with sailing go back to when the

‘IT’S A WAY OF LIFE. ONCE YOU ARE A SAILOR, YOU’LL BE A SAILOR UNTIL THE DAY YOU DIE.’ ROBERT SCHEIDT

Sleek, sexy, ever-evolving: today’s yachts are achieving the unimaginable – and looking incredible in the process.

This is the Robert Scheidt-crewed Stella Maris, which competed in the 2022 Rolex Swan Cup last September.

watch manufacturer’s founder Hans Wilsdorf sought to specifically create timepieces able to withstand the rigors of seafaring. Rolex has enjoyed an unprecedented association with the sport for almost 70 years, supporting regattas, yacht clubs and many of the most prestigious and fiercely contested races.

With its high-stakes competitiveness, though, it’s SailGP, another Rolex-partner event, that, since its inception in 2019, has been making a play as the ultimate spectator version of the sport. Surely the world’s fastest sailing league, analogous with Grand Prix motor racing, the year-round competition sees some of the greatest sailors globally competing at breakneck speeds –the event’s F50 catamaran can be pushed beyond 100 km/h, to around 55 knots.

At the frontline of this shift in gears is Sir Ben Ainslie, fivetime Olympic medallist and four-time Rolex World Sailor of the Year.

Ainslie, whose ‘intense battle’ with Scheidt at the Sydney Games in 2000 altered perceptions of just how competitive

sailing can be, skippers the Great Britain SailGP crew. In Sydney, 23 years ago, Ainslie’s fierce tactics earned him gold while sparking conversation around the aggressiveness of his racing strategy – manoeuvring of that sort had never before been seen at such a high-profile competition.

The ferocity of that race also inspired sailing’s younger generation, among them a teenager named Tom Slingsby who now captains SailGP’s Australia team, which has won all three previous seasons of the competition with its US$1-million grand prize.

Having kicked off on Lake Michigan in Chicago in June, SailGP’s fourth season will see the league’s nine teams (up from six in 2019) racing in LA in July, Saint-Tropez and Taranto in September, in Spain from Andalucia to Cadiz in October, and then in the UAE, Sydney, Auckland, Bermuda, Canada and New York, before reaching San Francisco for the Grand Final next July.

Each event during the exhausting 12-month season involves two days of exhilarating action – five furiously contested fleet races culminating in a three-boat final.

ABOVE SailGP’s futuristic F50 catamarans pretty much fly above the water’s surface – races are tight, with a higher-than-usual chance of collision.

LEFT Leaning out: helmeted and kitted for the future, SailGP’s Great Britain team is captained by multiple Olympic gold medallist, Ben Ainslie.

Ainslie refers to the league as ‘a major milestone in the evolution of yachting’, thanks to boats that use ‘the most stateof-the-art technology’.

‘It’s the introduction of foils,’ Scheidt explains. ‘They can lift the boat so the hull doesn’t touch the water. In a sense, sailing is becoming kind of a flying sport.’

By raising the vessels above the water, drag is dramatically reduced. Such high-flying sci-fi action enables the twin-hulled catamaran – 15 metres long, weighing 2 400kg, sometimes unstable – to reach phenomenal speeds.

There’s an evolving lingo, too. Manipulating the elevations and angles of the left and right hydrofoils centred between bow and stern is the ‘flight controller’ who lifts the boat higher or lower above the water. Higher is quicker, but sets the boat up for the risk of a nosedive, which is as worrying as it sounds.

Sails are now called wings and are built of carbon fibre with titanium fittings under a light plastic wrap. Wing trimming is handled by the wing trimmer who shapes the airfoil wing for onthe-go enhanced speed and stability. Up to a point, they’re only going to get quicker, say the engineers driving the technology behind the $6-million boats.

Managing all of this are the ‘drivers’, helmsmen such as Ainslie and Slingsby, who work the crews like choreographers coordinating an impromptu dance.

Some crew members liken the experience to playing a fastmoving video game, but with real-life consequences.

For spectators, it’s a thrilling peek at the seemingly futuristic possibilities of wind-powered boats. For the mixed-gender crews doing the work, there’s an intense interweaving of physical

stamina and intellectual rigour. Crews are required to interpret technical data and react decisively to prevent mishaps.

With competition fierce, the boats are almost always within striking distance of each other. One tiny misreading of the elements, a fractional timing mistake or overlooked detail can mean losing a race – or worse. With such head-spinning speeds, there’s a very real possibility of nosediving, colliding, or crew members being sent flying by a wobbling boat.

SailGP’s catamarans are all identical – any equipment upgrades happen to all boats at the same time and everyone has access to everyone’s race data. With the playing field level, it’s down to a crew’s know-how and performance.

Not to mention their sheer passion for being on the water, flying free.

Scheidt says sailing’s hold over those who do it has less to do with the technology and the competitiveness of the sport than with something far more fundamental. It’s the unprecedented sense of freedom, he says, ‘having the freedom to come and go and to enjoy the wind, the water, the elements of nature’.

He says this sense of sailing as a liberating force has been with him since the beginning. ‘Learning to manage the hard moments – capsizing, getting the water out of the boat, caring for your equipment… these elements make this sport unique. Ultimately, though, it is the freedom. Being able to manage my boat to take me in any direction I want to go.’

It is why, decades later, he is still sailing, why he continues to express his desire for freedom on the water. ‘Sailing is a way of life,’ he says. ‘Once you are a sailor you’ll be a sailor until the day you die.’

THE ADVENT AND GROWING ACCEPTANCE of electric and hybrid technologies across the world is having an unexpected corollary – a new breed of behemoths is retaking centre stage. Today it is perfectly possible to own a large SUV or supercar without depleting the world’s carbon resources; luxury and speed are once again countenanced.

ROLLS ROYCE SPECTRE

Nobody is as happy at this turn of events as Rolls Royce. The reputational damage of large V12 petrol engines was beginning to be felt even at the ultra-high end of the market. Understanding

the coming storm, the wholly owned BMW subsidiary began a root and branch rebrand some 10 years ago aimed at aggressively reinventing itself as relevant to a new, younger owner.

The apogee of that process is the recently launched, all-electric Spectre, a full-sized coupé that shouts Rolls Royce in both presence and detail yet also ticks the responsible-transport box. It’s contemporary and hip as no Rolls Royce could previously claim to be, simply by virtue of its drivetrain.

In many ways electric and Rolls Royce were made for each other – effortless, silent progress has always been the marque’s raison d’être. ‘If you can’t hear the clock, something’s wrong’ was always the old adage. And so it is with Spectre, which continues

THE SIZE OF IT

The growing paradox in motoring is that size no longer determines efficiency; new technologies are allowing larger cars to once again be acceptable – and celebrated.

WORDS PETER FROST

the Rolls tradition of naming cars after supernatural elements. Two electric motors – one on each axle – combine to produce 415kW, ample to propel the three-ton two-door at a more than brisk clip. Revealing such figures was once regarded by the marque as gauche, but this is the new era and it openly reveals a 0-100km time of 4.4 seconds, evidently enough to impress new money without alienating old.

The ride is exemplary, as expected; there’s four-wheel steering and a vast bank of batteries to ensure a cruising range of 500km. Standard too is the sense of opulence, in both design and execution. Spectre’s body, the work of Anders Warming and his team, harks back to an age of British nautical elegance, yet is also

Rolls Royce’s new all-electric Spectre has a 520km range and comes with the promise of a new world; the company is radically reimagining its approach and clientele.

demonstrably cutting edge. And if the exterior suggests Art Deco grandeur, inside it’s Hollywood glamour – plush, traditional, almost ancestral. That’s something of a surprise; most electric cars today feature banks of screens and all manner of digital trickery. Rolls has created a clean, traditional facia with the emphasis on bespoke detailing rather than overt technology. Thick pile carpets, the trademark starry-night headliner now extending into the door panels, supremely comfortable seating, a steering wheel that is a work of art, and the softest of Muirhead leathers. All contribute to a pervasive sense of classic couture, Dior not Westwood, as familiar as it is à la mode. Rolls Royce deserves all the accolades being heaped upon it for Spectre.

MERCEDES-AMG EQS 53

Rolls Royce may be stealing the electric limelight but it’s Mercedes-Benz that is substantively reordering the luxury car market. Stuttgart’s commitment to an electric future by 2025 is real; it has promised to have an electric vehicle in every segment in which it competes by that date.

Including at the top-end. The company’s striking EQS 53 – big, imposing, panther-like – is the silent sister to the iconic

S-Class. As Benz’s flagbearer it offers a window into future luxury. Whisper-quiet certainly, magnificently appointed obviously, the big EQS 53 is also delightfully quick. Just a prod of the accelerator pedal and Star Wars warp speeds are possible. Instantly. The lack of drama – you can pipe in fake engine noise if needs be – only adds to the sense of future shock. The largest infotainment screens in the business add theatre, though happily they are easy enough to use, gateways to the car’s myriad safety and entertainment features. In the back, space is the ultimate luxury, a veritable rugby pitch of foot, elbow and headroom. That all this is possible without a petrol station ever coming into the equation, is remarkable. Its electric cruising range is close to 600km, comfortably more than the current gold standard of 500km.

PORSCHE CAYENNE E-HYBRID

Porsche has been slower to the electric lightshow, reluctant to alienate confirmed petrolheads in love with the sound and glory of their traditional Boxer engines. Nevertheless, Porsche’s strategy has been smart, creating an altogether new model to introduce electric cars to Porsche fans and then slowly introducing the new technologies to existing, iconic

Mercedes’ electric S-Class heralds an era of choice for the marque’s buyers – by decade’s end both electric and fuel-based propulsion will be on offer.

models. So it is that the barnstorming Taycan, one of electric’s true performance stars, is paving the way for other E-Performance models – Boxer and Cayman first, then SUVs Cayenne and Macan.

Cayenne is, of course, the most important, Porsche’s bread and butter, beloved of the mink-and-manure belt that love it for its dynamism, space and versatility. As an electric car it should sell well, as long as it stays fast, reliable and beautifully built. Until that day in 2026, Porsche offers its Cayenne E-Hybrid as a foretaste, its 6-cylinder petrol engine combined with an electric motor. It has a pure electric range of just 90km but that’s not essentially the point; the combined petrol and electric power sources combine to make it remarkably powerful and agile.

This latest Cayenne, revealed recently, has been given a substantial makeover, visually and under the skin. Front and rear aspects to the body have been modified, and inside there is now the option of no less than three digital screens

across the dashboard, the third extending to the passenger side. Changes to its chassis ensure an even better driving experience – a tough ask as the big SUV is already the industry leader in terms of drivability. Tweaks include new suspension and shock-absorber technology.

Size, apparently, does matter. Not just for safety and practicality but also, suggests research agency ScienceDirect, for psychological comfort. As our world gets ever more crowded, we ironically choose larger cars for their generous personal space. It’s a generational thing too, with Australia, America, Brazil and South Africa handing down preferences through the years. Whatever the motivation, manufacturers of large cars are breathing a sigh of relief – electric and hybrid has made their jobs far easier.

CAYENNE IS, OF COURSE, THE MOST IMPORTANT, PORSCHE’S BREAD AND BUTTER, BELOVED OF THE MINK-AND-MANURE BELT THAT LOVE IT FOR ITS DYNAMISM, SPACE AND VERSATILITY.

Porsche’s latest Cayenne features an entirely configurable digital interior.

OUT TO EAT

A shift in dining trends has seen patrons looking for home-away-from-home experiences. For three female chefs this is an opportunity to reimagine the way they create their menus.

WORDS KEITH BAIN

DIGITAL DINING.’ The term has a hollow ring to it; one that puts you in mind of the gloomiest part of the pandemic, when restaurants were shuttered and we were unable to eat in public, when dining with strangers – that most noble aspect of the restaurant experience – was banned.

The term was used by The Washington Post late last year to describe a post-pandemic phenomenon – a ghastly pivot, really – towards a new trend in dining culture that, in the US, has seen a carving out of in-restaurant dining by as much as 18%.

That statistic may apply specifically to the US, but there are analogous movements in South Africa, where it’s impossible not to notice the impact of order-in apps, ghost (or dark) kitchens and a movement to fetch-and-carry food orders.

For those who crave something beyond stay-at-home complacency, the desire is for experiences that are both nurturing and entertaining. There’s a move away from stiff, starched-linen restaurants towards places offering something more akin to comfort dining.

The difference is in the details, not necessarily the menu prices.

Places, and menus, are designed around a feeling, a warmth, even a sense of community. And food that means something more than whipping out your phone to commemorate each dish on Instagram.

At Upper Union, chef Amori Burger has envisioned a style of dining reminiscent of indulgent family feasts. Here, her southern fried chicken (top centre) is surrounded by a selection of sides – all vegetarian, all delicious –that are meant to be shared.

While ‘back to basics’ is her mantra, Amori Burger’s food is far from basic – as this yellowtail crudo dish (with mulled orange semillon, pomegranate and fennel) hints.

RIGHT Amori Burger says it’s important to be kind and generous in the kitchen, although she’s demanding of her team, too.

‘Wars are started around tables, and wars are ended in the same way,’ says Amori Burger, who made her name as a bubbly TV chef with a knack for revamping restaurants.

She has vast experience presiding over a variety of kitchens across South Africa, from safari lodges to special standalone spots like Van der Linde in Johannesburg.

‘A lot happens over a meal,’ she says. ‘We break bread, families fight, couples make up.’

Burger understands that a meal can make or ruin your day. That food is both a social lubricant and a source of emotional connection. She laughs at the fact that the first ‘serious’ dish she learnt to prepare was a carpetbagger. ‘Back then, two decades ago, that kind of thing –fillet with mussels in garlic sauce – was all the rage.’

Tastes have changed, and dining culture has cycled through several evolutions. For years, Burger has been bringing it back to basics, replacing overly pernickety, complicated meals with dishes full of beautiful flavours. Simplicity is cooking’s key ingredient, she says. She eschews foams and gels and emulsions.

At her newest restaurant, Upper Union, in Tamboerskloof, Cape Town, her concept revolves around the idea of a family feast. It’s food cooked by your grandmother if she were a world-class professional chef with a contemporary outlook: sharing plates of tasty vegetables, and mains with hints of nostalgia. Food for the breaking of bread, not so much for starting wars, although she says that, because it’s a family feast, someone might end up crying. ‘Because – you know? – red wine!’

‘I want this to be like a family-style dinner party where you’re eating and I’m eating and I’m saying, “Oh, my God, did you taste the cabbage? Here, taste this! What do you think…?” And everyone’s laughing. And crying.’

Upper Union’s launch menu had a spice-route influence, Burger’s nod to Cape Malay heritage.

Her new winter menu includes nostalgic elements, albeit creatively enhanced. There’s a cheesy crème brûlée that combines a beautiful

Firestarter: Serushia Naidoo (below) says her brief for the menu at The Art of Duplicity encouraged her sassy side to come out; among her brow-furrowing creations are lobster rolls that looks like eclairs.

sharp cheese flavour with more delicate qualities. There is also a dish inspired by her own childhood.

‘When we braaied, my dad ate nothing but lamb chops with spanspek and blue cheese. So on the menu I’ve got ribeye with spanspek, watermelon and blue cheese, and a pink peppercorn sauce. Old school with a twist.’

A twist is what you can expect from another chef newly relocated to Cape Town. Serushia Naidoo, who’s worked mainly at safari lodges, has taken the reins at Truth Brasserie and the associated ‘secret-location’ speakeasy, The Art of Duplicity, which has launched a menu laced with novelty.

Naidoo’s brief was to roll out outrageous, head-turning ideas. ‘I’m naturally sassy, mischievous and playful,’ she says. ‘Here I get to bring that into my food.’

A high point at Truth has been a collab between Naidoo and the famously experimental Rikku Ó’Donnchü, aka The Viking Chef. In May they presented a 12-course tasting menu pop-up experience that featured outlandish dishes such as Ó’Donnchü’s banana miso and caviar.

Likewise, The Art of Duplicity’s dishes are designed to surprise guests – even confuse them – using visual deception. For a beetroot gazpacho, for example, the soup arrives looking like a takeaway coffee, the chunk of brioche from Truth’s bakery in a paper bag.

That’s enough to make guests raise a brow, but Naidoo says she initially wanted the soup to be served in an IV bag, with bread shaped like a human brain.

She’s also created a lobster roll that looks like an eclair and her tuna tartare is served on a savoury macaron with squid ink.

Less deceptive, though, are the flavours she creates. Her prawn ceviche is accompanied by a prawn bisque, a rich, warm ‘hug in a bowl’ that she says is based on her love of bouillabaisse.

‘I wanted to create a seafood-by-the-sea sensory experience – you have the aroma of the ocean that transports you, perhaps to a beach in France on a cold day.’

What Naidoo cherishes most about food is its ability ‘to take your soul to a faraway place’.

A secret location with theatrical flair inspired Serushia Naidoo’s slightly twisted menu at The Art of Duplicity, as these macarons with caviar suggest.

ABOVE Reinvented: a dessert of maize porridge with lemon and lime jellies, topped with lemon ice cream, at Mmabatho Molefe’s Emazulwini restaurant in Cape Town.

OPPOSITE Always smiling, always reimagining: for a winter menu, Molefe transformed chicken liver into truffles with onion jam and chocolate crumbs.

At Emazulwini (‘in the heavens’ in isiZulu), a restaurant that opened in the midst of the pandemic, Mmabatho Molefe transports diners to another faraway place: her childhood.

Her multi-course set menus, which get seasonal revisions, are reinterpretations of traditional, indigenous recipes – childhood memories transformed into refined, contemporary dishes.

Molefe works with lesser-known cuts of meat, especially offal, an under-appreciated source of protein that she says is vital in many households on restricted budgets.

Showcasing her heritage through her food, she unapologetically dishes up her contemporary plating of samp with lamb

and kidney (‘isiklabhu’) – it’s served with spinach and barley (‘imfino’), butternut puree, and chakalaka, and the samp is wondrously creamy.

There might be slow-cooked ox tongue (‘ulimi noshatini’) served with pap with sour milk (‘uphuthu namasi’). Or maybe beef heart biltong tartlet, or a chicken liver and chocolate sandwich.

She wants you to get over any preconceived ideas, experience something that’s potentially outside your comfort zone. Your taste buds will thank you.

Located at Makers Landing at Cape Town’s V&A Waterfront, Molefe’s restaurant has in the last two years been heaped with praise. She won Eat Out’s 2022 Rising Star award, and appears on a global list of the 50 best young chefs believed to be shaping the future of gastronomy. She’s not doing it for the accolades, though, but rather because she’s determined to show the world that her Nguni culinary heritage can exist in a context that is sophisticated and refined. Her aim is not merely to alter perceptions of what African food can be, but to put her soul on the plate. Which is something you’ll never experience by dining digitally. 

A GLASS OF TASTINGS

RED?

We’re celebrating our reds this winter which, according to the experts, stack up very well internationally. Of course, we know this...

WORDS BIANCA COLEMAN

WHILE THOSE IN THE KNOW are aware that you can chill a bottle of red to 16-18°C and thoroughly enjoy it during summer, in winter, thoughts naturally turn to the comfort of red wine, especially enjoyed in front of a fireplace, on its own or paired with hearty, rich and delicious dishes like beef bourguignon, slow-cooked short rib or coq au vin.

Shiraz, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec… the names roll off the tongue as smoothly as the wines themselves. While the great Old World wine-growing regions, like Bordeaux in France, are famous for their reds, what of our own here in South Africa?

‘Our wines stack up very well internationally. In style, they’re probably closest to the Old World but from the New World. So, although fruit-driven, they are more elegant and restrained than a lot of other New World examples,’ says Cathy Marston, associate of the Institute of Wines & Spirits and approved programme provider in Africa for the Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET).

Marston recommends Raats Jasper Red – the ‘baby’ version of the flagship MR de Compostella.

‘This is delicious and approachable now but has the structure to age for another five-to-eight years at least.’ she says.

‘Hartenberg Doorkeeper Shiraz is another excellent entry-level wine (also try their Cab/Shiraz) for everyday spicy, peppery pleasure.’ Another rich Bordeaux-style wine worth trying is the Vigne d’Or 2018 Red Blend from the Terre Paisable estate.

‘Stellenbosch is the bastion of red-wine making in South Africa,’ says esteemed wine judge and award-winning wine writer Malu Lambert. ‘While it is most famous for its exceptional, site-specific styles of Cabernet Sauvignon, the diverse appellation likewise produces world-class Syrah (Polkadraai Hills) and Pinotage (Simonsberg).’

Ah, Pinotage. The quintessential South African red wine variety, created in South Africa in 1924 by Abraham Izak Perold, the first Professor of Viticulture at Stellenbosch University. Perold was attempting to combine the best qualities of the robust Hermitage (now more commonly known as Cinsault) with Pinot Noir, a grape that makes great wine but can be difficult to grow. Pinotage is in a class of its own with Beyerskloof and Kanonkop usually topping the leaderboard.

‘Premium red-wine making in South Africa is unparalleled globally due to its rarefied nature. While many in the top tier easily stand up to

international counterparts in terms of quality, the fact that the majority of these bottlings are in small volumes makes our fine-wine sector highly specialised – and the wines hard to get – in comparison to, say, high-volume, high-quality brands from more well-known regions,’ says Lambert, whose recommendations include Boschkloof Epilogue 2021, Le Riche Cabernet Reserve 2019, and L’Avenir Single Block Pinotage 2018.

‘South African red wines have made great strides and I believe that winemakers understand their vineyards better, plant varieties where they are best suited, and make wines with personality, reflecting the terroir and the thumbprint of the vintage,’ says Cape Wine Master Dr Winifred E Bowman.

‘Our reds don’t have to stand back, and we should be proud of them. I love Constantia Glen FIVE, a cool-climate regal and elegant Bordeaux style blend; Ian Naude’s Werfdans Cinsault from Old Vines is just so, so delicious and a nod to the old vines of the Cape; and then there’s Creation’s Art of Pinot Noir for the grace and delicacy in treating this special barrel selection that just gets better the more it ages.’

Only 680 bottles of the 2021 Leeu Passant Wellington Old Vines Basson Cinsault were produced, making it something extra special.

Samarie Smith, creator of online platform

Married Two Wine with her sommelier husband

Georgio Meletiou, affirms that you get megabang for your buck when drinking some of South Africa’s finest red wines. ‘South African winemakers showed confidence moving away from the mere Bordeaux or Rhône-inspired red blends, embracing Cape Blends, where Pinotage is featured as their heritage grape and taking inspiration from Super Tuscans by blending Cabernet Sauvignon with a cultivar like Sangiovese.

‘South Africa will always excel in diversity, and a noble grape like Cabernet Sauvignon has proven to produce quality from many areas beyond just Stellenbosch.’

When it comes to red wine in winter, Smith and Meletiou are led by what they cook and eat.

‘Georgio will always embrace his Italian heritage in the kitchen, hence our preference for Pinotage or Cabernet blended with Italian varietals. As most dishes will have a tomato base, whether it is homemade pizza, Parmigiana di Melanzane or duck ragu with pappardelle, acidity in your red wine matters.

‘There is something soothing about a rainy weekend and a red wine that lifts a hearty dish

TASTINGS

with its tangy, bright and aromatic character. Innovative blends, including cultivars like Sangiovese, Mourvedre, Tempranillo, even Malbec, give Cab and Pinotage a vibrant, mouthwatering appeal.’

South

South African wines are showered with annual accolades at home and abroad, and for those to whom such things matter, Nederburg in Paarl is the only winery from South Africa to achieve the top honour for Cabernet Sauvignon at the 2022 The Drinks Business Global Cabernet Sauvignon Masters in the United Kingdom, with the 2018 vintage of its Private Bin R163 Cabernet Sauvignon earning a prestigious Master medal. That’s in addition to a duo of golds and silvers attained by other Cabernets in the award-winning Paarl winery’s portfolio, making this label a reliable go-to.

For something extra special, a bottle of the award-winning Hazendal Carignan 2017 is worth a try, or look to the 2021 Leeu Passant Wellington Old Vines Basson Cinsault. With just 680 bottles produced from the 2021 vintage, the grapes come from the oldest registered red wine vineyard in South Africa, planted in 1900 on the first selection of rootstocks available in the country.

Here’s to a winter of full-bodied congeniality.

For Here’s

ABOVE The utterly delicious Raats Jasper Red has the structure to age for at least another five-to-eight years.

BELOW The award-winning Hazendal Carignan 2017 promises flavours of dried cranberry, fresh blackberry and black plum.

The L’Avenir Single Block Pinotage is made from a selection of the finest barrels produced from L’Avenir’s famed Block 2 Pinotage vineyard.

SATISFYING THE SENSES

Discover the wines of Hazendal with an exlusive cellar tour and tutored wine-pairing experience in the elegant subterranean wine library.

HAZENDAL ESTATE, ideally situated in the Bottelary Hills in the Stellenbosch Winelands has become synonymous with superior culinary and cultural experiences. Among its many offerings, including golf and museum tours, the estate offers wine lovers a unique opportunity to delve deeper into its elegant, award-winning wines with a tutored tasting conducted at the estate’s underground wine library. Accomplished wine ambassadors lead guests on a tour through Hazendal’s state-ofthe-art wine cellar, an elegant subterranean space that is home to a historic display of Hazendal wines. The tasting showcases vintage and current award-winning releases created by the estate’s winemaker. Expect such delights as Hazendal’s intriguing Roussanne, a rarity for the Stellenbosch region, as well as its

Sémillon Sauvignon Blanc with its creamy and textured finish. Guests will also learn more about the unique terroir of the Bottelary Hills and the rich winemaking heritage of the estate.

Each wine is paired with a flavour-packed micro-plate, reflective of the executive chef’s inventive cooking style and contemporary flair. The paired tasting portions are served in a striking ceramicand-glass tower crafted by local ceramicist Hennie Meyer. Once one portion is served and enjoyed, the next bite is revealed – a delightfully interactive experience.

The tour lasts for approximately two hours and a maximum of 14 guests can be accommodated.

The experience is available from Tuesday to Sunday at 12.30. Bookings need to be made 24 hours in advance. To reserve your place, contact bookings@hazendal.co.za. 

ROOT TAKING

Portugal is a mixture of ancient and modern, of pretty cities and wine regions of breathtaking beauty. It is a country that is going places, and very hard to leave.

WORDS PIPPA DE BRUYN

I THINK THIS MIGHT BE one of my favourite hotels ever.’ My husband, who has seen a few, is not one to gush. A multidisciplinary designer with an inevitable eye for detail, he’s half the reason I’ve racked up 25 years as a hotel reviewer. So this is high praise indeed.

After a few nights in the establishment luxury of grand Bairro Alto Hotel in Lisbon – right in the heart of its namesake hood – and the equally fabulous but funkier The Ivens (home to Rocco, a jewel box of a restaurant not to be missed), we are now comfortably ensconced in Hotel das Amoreiras, a boutique hotel in the true sense of the word. Grand yet homely, with immaculately detailed finishes, it feels both opulent and restrained, classic yet contemporary. Every decision is personally considered by owner Pedro Oliveira, who has carved 19 elegant bedrooms out of an abandoned three-storey 18th-century building, and created a womb-like restaurant that is dangerously cosy – morning breakfast here can stretch deep into the day.

The location is pretty perfect too: overlooking Jardim das Amoreiras, a picturesque garden square dwarfed by the towering arches of the city’s famous aqueduct, an engineering feat that delivered water to Lisbonites from 1700 to 1968. Shaded by well-established trees and dotted with sculptures, the park is a drawcard for locals – frequented by families who sit around the central kiosk-café sipping coffee, wine or beer, depending on the hour. Tram 24 stops here before trundling directly into Príncipe Real, its narrow high street lined with tiny bars and restaurants, and fashionable shops. (Pica Pau, specialising in traditional Portuguese dishes, is so good we dined here twice; diagonally opposite is EmbaiXada, a palace repurposed into a treasure trove of shops showcasing only local designers and concept stores, to mention just two must-sees.)

From Príncipe Real it’s a downhill stroll into Bairro Alto. Stop here to enjoy São Pedro de Alcântara ‘miradouro’ (meaning viewpoint), one of a series of terraces cut into or cantilevered off Lisbon’s seven hills, a particularly fine place to be when the sun makes its final descent, turning windows on facing hills into glowing squares of molten lava.

Porto’s

Ribeiro neighbourhood is where you will find the dinky seven-roomed Gran Cruz House, and Casario, its fabulous in-house restaurant overlooking the Douro.

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP The beautifully designed restaurant Rocco in The Ivens is one of the best all-round restaurant experiences in Europe; authentic Portuguese cuisine like this monkfish, rice and shrimp dish (‘arroz de tamboril e camarão’) can be enjoyed at Pica Pau; the courtyard at Hotel das Amoreiras, Lisbon’s most considered boutique hotel.

OPPOSITE The Ivens Hotel, the funky oasis in the heart of the old city, surrounded by restaurants, bars and shops. And through the double doors lies Rocco.

From here you can head on foot towards the Tagus, then veer west to the gastronomic warehouse that is Time Out Market. Or drop down into Baixa using the Elevador da Glória, one of three funiculars that take the strain out of strolling, and explore the narrow cobbled streets of Alfama. This is the heart of the oldest (and most touristic) part of Lisbon, easiest done in one of the tuk-tuks that beetle about, offering exclusive tours of different parts of the historic city. Pick one up outside Sé Cathedral, then sit back as the driver chugs uphill to more of the city’s most panoramic miradouros: Portas do Sol, Da Graca and finally Da Nossa Senhora do Monte, the highest natural

point in Lisbon, and the best place to see how undulating hillocks, carpeted in roofs and punctuated by spires, meet the vast expanse of the river Tagus.

It takes three hours to get from Lisbon to Porto but we make a day of it, travelling via the monasteries of Alcobaça, Batalha and Tomar (if you have time to see only one, make it the jawdropping Alcobaça) and arrive at night to a twinkling fairyland of lights sparkling on the steep hillsides of Porto and Vila Nova de Gaia.

Gran Cruz House, on the banks of the Douro, is a sevenroomed hotel in the heart of historic Ribeiro. Getting anywhere in Porto is uphill from the riverbank but it’s vibrant with buskers

THE IVENS IS HOME TO ROCCO, A JEWEL BOX OF A RESTAURANT THAT IS NOT TO BE MISSED.

and punters. From our bedroom we have the most fabulous view of Porto’s bustling waterfront scene, and the metal arches of the Dom Luis I Bridge that connects Porto to the warehouses of Vila Nova de Gaia. We dine downstairs at Casario, the hotel’s cosy destination restaurant. The next day we catch a water taxi to the opposite bank and drink cocktails at Rooftop Bar 360.

Ribeiro is heaving with little restaurants and bars; Taberna dos Mercadores, where we eat lamb chops with our hands (raised with love by Talho Loureiro in the Douro Valley, or so we are told) is authentic Portuguese and makes us feel right at home.

Porto’s steep hills are riven with narrow lanes that spread like rivulets down to the Douro. It’s dense with low-rise buildings, some derelict, most with original vintage signage. The visual effect is somehow a little Disney, like walking through a giant film set, but it’s a real city thrumming with local life. From great food markets (don’t miss Mercado do Bolhão) to fashion

(Forty Degrees on Rua das Carmelitas, near Porto’s famous bookshop Livraria Lello, is a stand-out), the shopping is great. So is the nightlife. I drink too much wine at Aduela, a little tavern frequented by far too many good-looking young hipsters, then we stop at Capela Incomum, located in a converted church, for a Portuguese classic, peixinhos da horta – literally ‘little fishes from the garden’, and finish with a hearty pork and rice stew at Taberna Santo Antonio. Our new Porto pad is the 19th-century Torel Palace, where we marvel at the most ornate ceiling. It’s an opulently creative hotel, themed around Portuguese writers and poets; the in-house restaurant, Blind, is named after José Saramago’s novel Blindness. I am not usually keen on taking my stomach on a forced-march tasting menu but Blind blows us both away, every dish a multisensual surprise and beautifully balanced with the wine pairing.

It has been said that wine only grows where it is beautiful, and the Douro Valley – a 90-minute drive east of Porto –

is Helshoogte Pass on steroids. Vineyard-braided mountains as far as the eye can see, interspersed with the occasional olive copse and cypresses like exclamation marks against whitewashed walls. At dawn, thin tendrils of what looks like smoke rise from the river, condensing into a thick blanket of mist that rolls through the valley before the sun reveals the steep stone terraces. It feels like they’ve been here forever; in fact, vines were first rooted here more than 2 000 years ago. We spend a few nights at Quinta Ventozelo, a 13th-century wine estate with a cluster of rustic-chic farm buildings dotted among vineyards that run all the way to the river, before heading to Quinta Nova, the first of the estates to convert their historic homestead into an award-winning guesthouse. By day the views are magnificent; at night it’s inky black – the luxury of real darkness. Drinking a silky Mirabilis Tinto on its terrace high above the vineyards I watch occasional cars snaking their way along the river bank, like glowworms. Heading home? Not quite ready yet.

BEST PLACES TO STAY

Lisbon

For establishment luxury: bairroaltohotel.com

For hip luxury: theivenshotel.com

For boutique luxury: hoteldasamoreiras.com

Porto

For a boutique riverside bolthole: grancruzhouse.pt

For historic luxury: torelpalaceporto.com

Douro

For rustic chic luxury: quintadeventozelo.pt

For classic luxury: quintanova.com

For more of Portugal’s most beautiful properties and projects: oapartamento.com/pt/

THIS PAGE Quinta Ventozelo’s location on the Douro offers you a spot of wild swimming off its jetty, and the elevation of the vineyards and hotel allows for spectacular views. Enjoy truly delicious wines and classic farm-to-table dining provided, in part, by the kitchen garden.

OPPOSITE TOP TO BOTTOM Blind, the superb fine-dining restaurant at Torel Palace in Porto, opens onto this intimate courtyard; regardless of where you find yourself in Porto, the views are always picturesque.

WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE

The Kruger National Park is South Africa’s biggest and most iconic game park. And if you’re looking for an authentic safari experience, nothing comes close to its dramatic landscape, animal sightings, and the experience of getting away from it all.

WORDS SUSAN NEWHAM-BLAKE

Makuleke Contract Park, where Return Africa Pafuri Camp is situated, is home to three quarters of the Kruger National Park’s bird, mammal, fish, amphibian, reptile and tree species.

IV’E SPENT FIVE NIGHTS at South African’s largest national park, which spans 19 485m2 (nearly 2 million hectares) of undisturbed wilderness. From the luxurious bed in my tented suite, I hear the evening come alive with sound - the distinctive whoops of hyena calls, the eerie howls of jackals. Closer, there’s a loud splash and the low grunt of a hippo. Right outside my tent there’s the methodic crunching of leaves, then the snap of a twig. There is nothing that comes close to the exhilaration of being out in the wild, where animals roam free as they have done for centuries. And the Kruger National Park is the quintessential place to have this true safari experience. It is home to the Big Five and is known for its extraordinary animal-sighting opportunities. But its sheer size and the abundance of luxury lodges and wildlife experiences available mean planning a trip to the area can be daunting. To cover our bases, we tried out three very different lodges, one each in the south, east and north of the park to appreciate the diversity the Kruger has to offer.

THE UNIQUE

Leaning out of a train carriage, scanning the riverbed below, I’m instantly transported to another era, one that offered the slower pace of train travel. Although, in this case, the train, boasting a uniquely elevated vantage point, is stationary, and the carriage is a beautifully appointed suite that offers hours of game-viewing from both the king-size bed and opulent bath. Kruger Shalati, situated next to Skukuza, the park’s biggest camp, is easily the most unique and luxurious place to stay at Kruger.

Stationed on the disused Selati Bridge above the Sabie River, the iconic ‘Train on the Bridge’ has been re-envisioned

and restored, paying homage to khaki-clad travellers who ventured into the reserve back in the day via rail. It’s a reminder of the time of James Stevenson-Hamilton (the original warden of the reserve), when travelling into this wilderness in the early 1920s would entail an overnight stay in the exact place where the hotel train is currently located.

There are 31 rooms (24 carriage rooms and seven in the nearby Bridge House) although try, if possible, to stay in one of the carriages in the luxury locomotive. With floor-to-ceiling glass windows facing the river, these rooms offer a superlative experience. To make the most of the spectacular vista, there’s a dedicated viewing deck and a swimming pool jutting out beyond the train tracks. Unaware of the people watching from the bridge or train itself, huge breeding herds of elephant with moms and babies meander from sandbank to sandbank grazing, drinking and bathing in the river water. We witnessed a young elephant playing chase with a warthog who bravely and surprisingly stood its ground. Hippos and crocodiles sunned themselves on the lazy banks, and buffalo, monitor lizards and even leopard were spotted passing through.

Adjacent to the Selati Bridge, looking across the majestic Sabie River, Kruger Shalati’s reception and dining areas offer the opportunity to truly experience Shalati’s outstanding service. Here you can savour the vibrant flavours of African cuisine or sip on a drink in the firepit boma. Spending a couple of nights here is one of those once-in-a-lifetime experiences that is guaranteed to stay with you long after you’ve left. Getting there: Fly directly to Skukuza airport from Johannesburg or Cape Town and a transfer will take you to Kruger Shalati in 15 minutes.

krugershalati.com

KRUGER SHALATI IS EASILY THE MOST UNIQUE AND LUXURIOUS PLACE TO STAY.

CLOCKWISE FROM FAR LEFT Kruger Shalati, situated on the Selati Bridge above the Sabie River, offers unparalleled game-viewing opportunities; glassfronted suites maximise views across the valley; elements of old-world charm hark back to the days of exploration by rail more than a century ago.

THE EXCLUSIVE

After 24 hours and two game drives we’ve already spotted the Big Five at Klaserie Private Nature Reserve on the eastern border of the Kruger National Park. Our guide, Khutso, is an excellent tracker, braking suddenly to listen to alarm calls of birds and baboons, then flying into the bush in our trusty game vehicle to discover a pride of lions cooling themselves under the acacias or to track a leopard strolling purposefully through the thick bush.

Unlike the Kruger National Park, the rules of the surrounding private reserves allow for more off-roading so sightings can be closer and more thrilling. We watched a hyena chase a baby giraffe closely followed by the giraffe’s mother. Both mother and baby managed to escape into the thick bush. Only moments later a female buffalo, part of a huge herd grazing in an opening, went into labour and disappeared into a ditch to give birth.

Klaserie Drift Misava Safari Camp is situated inside the reserve and if you’re looking for exclusivity, you can’t beat this intimate five-star boutique safari lodge. With only four garden-view rooms and two opulent villas overlooking the river, it offers a more private retreat compared with the bigger lodges. An infinity pool and open-air bush bar offer views across the river gorge below where there are frequent sightings of buck, elephant and buffalo coming down to drink, as well as the penetrating cries of the fish eagles that regularly fly past.

The main restaurant and outdoor boma overlook a small waterhole and, being a fenced camp, you can watch hyena and even leopard walk past as you’re sitting down to eat. Misava has an air of tranquillity about it, and with the excellent service and superb cuisine, this is as exclusive and intimate as the bush can get.

Getting there: Fly direct to Hoedspruit Airport from Cape Town or Johannesburg and a transfer will pick you up and take you directly to the lodge.

klaseriedrift.co.za

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP Game drives at Klaserie Private Nature Reserve on the eastern border of the Kruger National Park include off-road excursions that offer bountiful sightings of the Big Five and sublime moments in nature’s vastness; spend a congenial evening around the camp’s firepit.

THE UNTOUCHED

The further north you travel in the Kruger, the wilder the landscape becomes and the less likely you are to encounter cars and other obvious signs of human life. It is said that there are fewer animal sightings here, a perception resulting from fewer big cats inhabiting the area. But this was certainly not our experience. Our stay at Return Africa Pafuri Camp, situated on the banks of the Luvuvhu River, offered unmatched animal sightings. While sipping a drink from the deck, we saw huge herds of elephant coming to play in the water nearby. Crocodiles, buffalo, baboons and a host of antelope were frequently present on the river and visible from the camp itself. Not to mention the frequent visitors that came to snack on the trees outside our tented suite. But you’d be remiss to shelve the game drives. The 26 500-hectare Makuleke Contract Park borders Mozambique and Zimbabwe and is by far the most diverse area of the Kruger with almost three quarters of the park’s bird, mammal, fish, amphibian, reptile and tree species to be found here.

But it’s the landscape that is so utterly breathtaking: a jawdropping river gorge, an abundance of baobab trees including one of the biggest in the park and a seemingly neverending forest of fever trees. A lucky few have been known to use this forest as a wedding destination, although you’d have to keep a watchful eye out for the many elephant and buffalo that meander through the luminous trees. The infamous Crooks Corner, where South Africa, Mozambique and Zimbabwe meet, brings to mind numerous stories of a time when outlaws and smugglers would hide out to escape the law, moving easily across the borders as long as they made it safely past the hippos and crocs.

Pafuri Tented Camp offers 19 luxury tented suites raised on wooden walkways stretching along the Luvuvhu River – each offering views of the water. In between your scheduled morning

and evening game drives, you can spend lazy hours at the camp’s bush bar, swimming pool, firepit and alfresco dining area where, unwinding beneath the branches of the giant trees, you’re bound to be visited by the many animals that wander through the unfenced camp.

We stumbled across elephant and buffalo while walking back to our suite and were visited by mischievous vervet monkeys and the resident bushbaby in the dining area. Staying at Pafuri tented camp offers an authentic safari experience that reminds one of what it might’ve once felt like when humans and animals lived side by side.

Getting there: Fly to Hoedspruit Airport and take a transfer or contact Pafuri for info on a chartered flight to their airstrip. returnafrica.com

As close to nature as it gets at Return Africa Pafuri Camp on the banks of the Luvuvhu River. BELOW Your luxuary tented suite is situated along a wooden walkway at the river’s edge.

BAKOVEN, CAPE TOWN

Asking: R25.5 million (no transfer duty) | 3 Bedrooms | 3.5 Bathrooms

A luxurious and private 248m2 apartment. The apartment has stunning views of the ocean and is ensconced by the Twelve Apostles mountains. It has a large terrace, with a rim flow pool, a lounge with a bio-fuel fireplace, a second lounge/executive office and a fully equipped SMEG kitchen. Features include secure lift access, an inverter, a gym, air conditioning, under floor heating, parking for two cars with visitors parking, a storeroom and 24-hour manned security. The interior design is contemporary and elegant, complimenting the beautiful landscape which is both invigorating and serene. Grant Bailey: 083 444 5171; Esme Skolnic: 079  896 6211; Web Ref: SIR106163 -Infinity-Grant Bailey.

BANTRY BAY, CAPE TOWN

Asking: R38 million | 3 Bedrooms | 3.5 Bathrooms | 2 Parkings

Situated on the ocean side of the road, this exquisite large apartment faces directly on to the sea. With three world-class, en-suite bedrooms and an openplan living area seamlessly flowing into a top-of-the-line, high-spec kitchen, this apartment embodies elegance in every aspect. Step out onto the entertainers’ deck and indulge in the sparkling blue plunge pool, all while being mesmerized by the breathtaking beauty of the Atlantic Ocean, which spreads out in front of you. The ever-changing backdrop of nature’s artistry instils a sense of tranquillity that can only be found in this extraordinary residence. Munya Mutanga: 074 762 2237; Maxine Schofield: 073 338 5827; Web Ref: SIR106480.

CAMPS BAY, CAPE TOWN

Asking: $3.6 million | 5 Bedrooms | 5 Bathrooms (en-suite) | 495m2

This timeless Stefan Antoni designed home is the epitome of elegant living in an unbeatable location overlooking Camps Bay Beach. Breathtaking sea and mountain views combined with elegant reception rooms make this a perfect home for lavish entertaining and family living. An eat-in breakfast bar, dining and stylish lounge area, with feature fireplace flows out to a terrace and heated pool to the front and a sunny courtyard perfect for an intimate barbeque leading from the kitchen. Additionally there is a playroom/study, staff accommodation, wine cellar, gym, inverter, scullery and garaging for four vehicles. Andrea Glew: 079 8939 197; Office: 021 401 4338; Web Ref: SIR.COM.

To view these properties visit www.sothebysrealty.co.za

CLIFTON, CAPE TOWN

Asking: R39.5 million | 3 Bedrooms | 3 Bathrooms | 2 Garages

360-degree panoramic views of unfettered mountain and sea; is the setting of this dynamic and unique penthouse on billionaire’s mile in the very heart of Clifton’s pearly white sands. A continuation of all four of the series of beaches with all the breakers boasting your visual and audio senses 365 days of the year. This entertainer’s paradise has no peer whether it’s Monte Carlo or St Tropez. A flow of double volumes, sliding skylight, a no expense spared finish defines this glorious lifestyle of white uncluttered living space, with infinity doors opening to every inch of the flaming red sunsets. Chad Shapiro: 083  668 1414; Web Ref: SIR105621.

BRYANSTON EAST, SANDTON

Asking: R14.9 million | 4 Bedrooms | 4 Bathrooms | 3 Garages

Chic and sophisticated ultra-modern home in gated guarded enclave. Architect designed – walls of glass and rich architectural splendor – bespoke open-plan designer kitchen with top of the range Siemens appliances to stunning openplan living areas to very large enclosed covered patio, pool deck & landscaped garden – a guest suite downstairs – a marble staircase leads to lux suites upstairs and family lounge – 3 garages – double staff accommodation –airconditioning – off the grid – A beautiful home that is a must view. Manuela: 082 552 7119; Web Ref: 5771139.

RIVER CLUB, JOHANNESBURG

Asking: R14.9 million | 4 Bedrooms | 4.5 Bathrooms | 2 Garages

Casual elegance is the hallmark here. Perfectly suited for families and grand scale entertaining. Imposing double volume entrance, timeless and elegant, high ceilings and grandiose proportions throughout. Many features compliment the lifestyle of this home, underfloor heating in bathrooms and kitchen, solar panels, borehole, unsurpassed security in enclosed area and private closed road, alarm, electric fencing, outside beams. There is a sense of community and security here. Sue: 083 378 1101; Web Ref: 5855867.

HYDE PARK, JOHANNESBURG

Asking: R10 million | 4 Bedrooms | 4.5 Bathrooms | 2 Garages

Stunning French Provencal double storey 4 bedroom en-suite home privately situated in a gated 24 hour guarded road. South entry north facing, designer built with beautiful finishes, this spacious family home lends itself to lavish indoor/outdoor entertaining. The heart of this home is the expansive covered patio that overlooks the meticulously manicured garden and pool. Di: 082 960 5353; Debbie: 083 326 7739; Web Ref: 5900105.

HURLINGHAM MANOR, JOHANNESBURG

Asking: R4.5 million | 4 Bedrooms | 3 Bathrooms | 3 Garages

Exquisite European-style home nestled within a secure “estate”. 4 Bedrooms, 4 receptions. With its gracious double volume foyer, where soaring ceilings and an elegant staircase create an impressive first impression. The library is adorned with bookshelves, high-quality finishes, including ornate mouldings and refined tiled flooring. The gourmet kitchen is a chef’s dream. Step outside and discover a separate home office / guest suite with private entrance and dedicated garage. Karen: 083 435 7703; John: 083 271 0231; Web Ref: 5917394.

SAXONWOLD, JOHANNESBURG

Asking: R8.95 million | 4 Bedrooms | 4.5 Bathrooms | 3 Garages

A distinctive home – filled with European Eclectic Charm!!! Ageless in dignity - classic in style. Immaculate Saxonwold double-story with spacious living areas with gorgeous Oggi Oak wood floors designed for entertaining family and friends. 4 Bedrooms upstairs for the discerning buyer. This Majestic lady had additions done and was cleverly modernized in keeping with the symmetrical style from yesteryear. Work from home with a fully fitted study and separate entrance plus 2 bedroom flatlet or office – upstairs from garages. Elsabe: 082 414 6655; Web Ref: 5739638.

WEST CLIFF, JOHANNESBURG

Asking: R25 million | 4 Bedrooms | 4.5 Bathrooms | 3 Garages

Elevate your lifestyle to new heights? This home in West Cliff, is more than just a place to live - it’s a work of art. Complete with a professional proscenium arch stage and red theatre stage curtain, it’s perfect for bringing out the theatrical and creative side of your soul. And with 5 reception areas, a gourmet designer kitchen, guest cloakroom, 4 luxurious double beds, with spacious en-suite bathrooms. Park-like, landscaped gardens spanning +/- 6500sqm. Take a dip or train in the sparkling pool and enjoy the peace and quiet of this exclusive enclave in West Cliff. Beverley: 082 412 0010; Web Ref: 5878518.

HOUGHTON ESTATE, JOHANNESBURG

Asking: R8.5 million | 6 Bedrooms | 5 Bathrooms | 3 Garages

A Glamourous and Warm Family Home on the Avenues. This Bright and light Home invites all happy and big families to come and enjoy sumptuous and convivial living. South entry and north facing, this 4/5 bedrooms upstairs (downstairs guest bedroom, 1 bed, 1 bath) home offers grand living. Exquisite reception rooms look out onto the greenest of lawns for children to play and swim. A movie theatre, cinema seating and dolby surround sound complete the joy. 2 Bedroom staff quarters, guardhouse, cameras and more. Sabina: 083 254 6981; Kobus: 083 632 2626; Web Ref: 5912119.

CRAIGHALL PARK, JOHANNESBURG

Asking: R9.25 million | 5 Bedrooms | 4.5 Bathrooms | 6 Garages

Open plan living inspiration for the modern family. Filled with bright natural light, calming architect designed style and simple luxury on a manageable scale. Let the good times roll from the gorgeous and expansive indoor living rooms that connect freely to the generous undercover patio and barbeque area, in turn flowing onto the perfect sized heated pool, sizeable garden, and lawn area. Basking in the perfect sun captured north facing aspect. Spacious double garage with storage space and ample off street parking. A fully fitted executive staff cottage with separate access and privacy. Willem: 082 442 1497; Cornel: 082 468 8247; Web Ref: 5873992.

NORTHCLIFF, JOHANNESBURG

Asking: R7.449 million | 4 Bedrooms | 4 Bathrooms | 2 Garages

Stunning turnkey smart home, entertainer’s delight. 4 Bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, study, pyjama lounge, o/plan lounge with fireplace, dining room and bar opening onto patio overlooking beautiful garden, pool and tennis court. Chef’s kitchen with a view with double gas stove, oven and fridge. Pantry and scullery. Cognac room. Alexa on voice command, alarm, electric fence and CCTV. Double SQ and 2-bedroom flatlet, storeroom. Lithium-Ion Batteries + Inverter. Prosed gated community in progress. Fibre. Double garage with plenty of parking area. Stand size 4012, under roof 550sqm. Rates & taxes R2 513. It is now the time to buy in Northcliff. Heloise Azar: 072 294 4901; Office: 011 476 8303; Web Ref: 5964947.

OLIVEWOOD ESTATE, OLIVEDALE, JOHANNESBURG

Asking: R4.9 million | 4 Bedrooms | 3.5 Bathrooms | 2 Garages

Elegant and just Beautiful. Spacious open-plan design. 4 Bedrooms (2 En-suite), 3.5 Bathrooms, pyjama lounge, formal lounge/dining/family room, chef’s kitchen & scullery, pantry and enclosed patio, built-in braai and guest toilet. En-suite master bedroom. Sun-drenched deck with louvre roofing with well-maintained garden. Jojo tank, solar power, gas, staff, double automated garage (direct access into the home), air-conditioning, fibre/voip ready. The estate offers wide, well-lit, quiet streets, magnificent views, a central location, manicured lawns and an abundance of birdlife. Secure perimeter wall with electric fencing, 24-hour security, armed response vehicle and CCTV. Biometric fingerprint access. It’s a YES - CALL NOW!

Tania Fourie: 082 331 6948; Office: 011 476 8303; Web Ref: 5889315.

FAIRLAND, JOHANNESBURG

Asking: R2.65 million | 3 Bedrooms | 2.5 Bathrooms | 2 Garages

Ideal home to scale down in serene environment. Charming family home, tucked away in the well-popular Fairland security estate. Entrance hall, sunny lounge, patio offering a seamless transition. O/plan dining features two built-in study desks, TV room and kitchen. 3 sun-drenched bedrooms, 2 bathrooms plus guest loo. The house features a 5 KVA inverter with two lithium batteries. Auto irrigation is also available. 24h Guarded Estate, beautiful communal park, complete with a water stream, koi fish, and a jungle gym. This provides a serene and enjoyable outdoor space for residents to relax and unwind. A lifestyle not to be missed! Ria de Wet: 082 824 6925; Office: 011 476 8303; Web Ref: 5954213.

BOSKRUIN, JOHANNESBURG

Asking: R2.749 million | 3 Bedrooms | 3 Bathrooms | 2 Garages

Exquisite Cluster Home, in Boskruin. Designed with sleek and stylish elements. Seamlessly blends into the bushveld terrain with its architecturally designed fair-faced brick exterior. Charming character lounge with a wood-burning fireplace, separate dining room. Patio, pool and landscaped garden. Master bedroom with an en-suite bathroom, ample cupboard space plus private lounge. Modern, luxurious bathrooms. Bamboo flooring and under carpet. Double garage. Spacious o/plan kitchen, featuring Caesarstone countertops. Properties of this calibre are rare and tend to be in high demand. For investors, we have a potential tenant in place. It is advisable to act swiftly, contact us today. Jenni Jacobs: 082 820 8242; Shaun Jörgensen: 083 535 5967; Office: 011 476 8303; Web Ref: 5977486.

HELDERBERG ESTATE, SOMERSET WEST

Asking: R32 million | 6 Bedrooms | 7 Bathrooms | 3 Garages

This masterpiece out of glass, clean lines and exquisite finishes is a unique home in a private and secure unsurpassed location suited to those desiring a living space that would be effortlessly at home in an exclusive location anywhere in the world. Spacious living areas expand out in all directions onto top quality entertainment facilities and make the ultimate use of expansive 360 degree views including Table Mountain, False Bay and the Helderberg Mountain. Wolfgang Jakob: 082 577 1526; Detlef Struck: 079 597 1727; Office: 021 851 4450; Web Ref: SIR105955.

VAL DE VIE ESTATE

Asking: R27 million | 4 Bedrooms | 4.5 Bathrooms | 2 Garages

An exclusive family home nestled in a quiet cul de sac of Val de Vie estate. This home has been designed with space and tranquillity in mind, with big open spaces and big windows that are strategically placed and used as “picture” windows. This home is a true entertainers dream with inside and outside living seamlessly flowing together. A true modern masterpiece. The kitchen is modern minimalist, with imported taps and soft touch cabinets and drawers. The kitchen looks out onto the inner courtyard with a stunning swimming pool. The whole downstairs entertainment area opens up completely with pocket sliding doors. The lounge area has been sunken with a lovely wine cellar to the one side and big doors that lead out on to one of the outside seating areas. The dining room is grand in size with double volume ceilings and a gas fireplace that separates it from an additional lounge area. Winette Hattingh: 073 434 9675; Office: 021 770 0230; Web Ref: SIR104798.

FRANSCHHOEK

Asking: R39.95 million | 14 Bedrooms | 14 Bathrooms | 3 Garages

This gorgeous four star Provence-inspired guesthouse has an enviable reputation as one of South Africa’s top properties. This property offers country living amongst the vineyards yet only a short walk to the world renown Franschhoek village, South Africa’s culinary capital. It is surrounded by the most stunning uninterrupted views of the Franschhoek mountains and boasts 14 rooms set on 9100m2 of manicured gardens and a small lake. The spacious 2 bedroom grand villa has a large lounge & dining room, spacious kitchen and patio which leads onto a sparkling private swimming pool with an infinity wall. The other 12 rooms comprise Deluxe Garden Suites, Master Suite, large Studio and a Honeymoon Suite. Gary de Valle: 082 464 8038; Bev Malan: 082 901 6966; Moira Barham: 082 896 3597; Office: 021 876 8480; Web Ref: SIC93.

FRANSCHHOEK

Asking: R32.95 million | 11 Bedrooms | 12 Bathrooms | 2 Garages

This exquisite 11 Suite Guesthouse, with 3 separate titles, is perfectly positioned, right in the heart of the Franschhoek Village. This jewel offers magnificent mountain views from all suites with access to the Guesthouse off both Cabriere and Wilhelmina Streets. All 11 suites with extremely high-end finishes and interiors, most with their own private parking, private patios and a fireplace to add to the ambiance. The Guesthouse offers 2 saltwater swimming pools. The Guesthouse has just been fitted with a high-end solar system and thus allows every guest the freedom to move. A borehole water facility is not only there to ensure that the beautifully manicured gardens are always kept lush and green, but is also drinkable borehole water. All furnishings are included in this sale. Bev Malan: 082 901 6966; Moira Barham: 082 896 3597; Gary de Valle: 082 464 8038; Office: 021 876 8480; Web Ref: SIR106347.

WELLINGTON FARMS

Asking: R19.56 million | Size: 4.3 Hectares

Introducing a Premier Boutique Wine & Hospitality Estate of 4.3 hectares. A sanctuary in the heart of the Wellington Wine Route, just off the scenic R44 route, offering opulent living, lush vineyards and captivating natural beauty. Stately Cape Dutch Homestead where you will experience timeless elegance and modern comforts; with two en-suite bedrooms, an office space, and a guest bathroom; a spacious loft provides room for creativity and inspiration. Exceptional Guest Accommodations: Treat your guests to unparalleled comfort in two fully furnished cottages. A Wine Connoisseur’s Dream: Craft your own signature wines in the fully equipped wine cellar. With an established export market, your wines will captivate palates worldwide. Abundant Water Resources: Benefit from registered water rights and a borehole with excellent water quality. Storage tanks and municipal supply ensure a consistent water. Danie Hauptfleisch: 083 627 2148; Office: 021 870 1011; Web Ref: 464788.

STELLENBOSCH FARMS

Asking: R29.5 million | 11 Hectare Farm

This unique property is located in one of the most picturesque areas around Stellenbosch. Directly below the dramatic scenery of the Hottentots-Holland Mountains the approximately 11 ha farm offers peaceful living in nature and harmony. The main house, built around 1920, is a historical monument and still expresses the charm of the time a hundred years ago. It consists of four bedrooms, two bathrooms, a cosy lounge and dining room which opens up to a shaded terrace overviewing the large garden with swimming pool. About one half of the farm with a small romantic stream is on flat terrain with six dwellings providing in total eleven bedrooms, a studio, a large workshop and garages. Detlef Struck: 079 597 1727; Office: 021 851 4450; Web Ref: 5492568.

BOSCHENMEER GOLF & COUNTRY ESTATE, PAARL

Asking: R7.95 million | 5 Bedrooms | 3.5 Bathrooms | 2.5 Garages

Elegant, Bright and Spacious – Perfectly designed home in the tranquil and secure Boschenmeer Golf Estate. This magnificent home is designed with entertainment in mind creating the perfect combination of indoor/outdoor living. The entrance hall leads into the open plan living spaces which flow into the entertainers covered patio and out into the magnificent garden. Marilize Breytenbach: 083 241 1580; Marinda de Jongh: 082 573 2204; Office: 021 863 0266; Web Ref: SIR106021.

DIEMERSFONTEIN WINE & COUNTRY ESTATE, WELLINGTON

Asking: R14.75 million | 5 Bedrooms | 5 Bathrooms | 3 Garages

Luxurious living in Diemersfontein Wine & Country Estate a 180-hectares working wine farm which offers 24/7 manned/gated security, with thermal imaging, an on-site private school & guesthouse facilities. Estate Residents can explore & enjoy the Estate trails by foot, bicycle or on horseback. This sophisticated Master-Build Home is set in 1.2 Hectare Vines, surrounded by sweeping mountain views. A well planned, gorgeous family Home that became the epitome of Diemersfontein Wine & Country Estate living. Eddie Van Pachtenbeke: 071 003 0363; Office: 021 876 8480; Web Ref 5267477.

PAARL

Asking: R6.75 million | 5 Bedrooms | 3.5 Bathrooms | 3 Garages

This home was built with families in mind and is being offered to the market for the first time since it was built. Situated on a quiet and private cul de sac with easy access to the main gate, this home has been so well planned with spaces for the family to enjoy together and spaces to offer privacy as well. Lazy summer days can be enjoyed on the shady pool pavilion and entertaining is a pleasure on the deep covered patio at poolside with built in braai. The patio is enclosed with frame-less, stacking glass doors making this a haven at any time of the year. Adele de Almeida: 082 780 0067; Miranda Coetzee: 083 414 7212; Office: 021 870 1011; Web Ref: 3996599.

To view these properties visit www.sothebysrealty.co.za

MOSTERTSDRIFT, STELLENBOSCH

Asking: R16.75 million | 9 Bedrooms | 8.5 Bathrooms | 2 Garages

Centrally located in the beautiful historic town of Stellenbosch, this four star guest house is nestled in a stunning setting and beautiful street featuring lush trees, palms and a view on the mountain. The property has several unique features that add to its character and charm, including a stunning garden to frame the buildings and ensure privacy. With several potential uses, this property can work as a home with a passive income from tenants, a guesthouse, or an investment. Magdé Schoeman: 082 520 1515; Office: 021 809 2760; Web Ref: SIR105673.

UPPER CONSTANTIA, CAPE TOWN

Asking: R15.49 million | 5 Bedrooms | 3.5 Bathrooms | 2 Garages

Stylish & Modern Home with Mountain Views & Tranquil Ambiance. Step into this stunning home nestled in the highly sought after Avenues position within Upper Constantia offering a truly exceptional living experience. Accommodate your entire family with five bedrooms, upstairs main en-suite with own pj lounge / work from home office and four bedrooms and two bathrooms downstairs. Large undercover entertainment area, built in pizza oven, multiple seating areas and pool. Garden has borehole and irrigation. Easy living with open plan kitchen and living spaces. Jo Thomas: 084 404 4120; Rouvaun McKirby: 071 671 0821; Office: 021 701 2446; Web Ref: SIR106428.

UPPER CONSTANTIA, CAPE TOWN

Asking: R49 million | 8 Bedrooms | 7.5 Bathrooms | 3 Garages

A chance to acquire your own 2 acre Country Estate in the heart of Upper Constantia with full equestrian facilities. A magical open thatch, beautifully designed with practical luxury in mind, will work either as a large family home or bijou guest house. 5 en-suite bedrooms on the ground floor, a sweeping wooden staircase to 2 further bedrooms upstairs plus a private 1 bed granny flat accessible from main house. Exceptional voluminous reception rooms, lounge and dining areas with open thatch, feature central fireplace, French doors to extensive undercover patio area all flowing beautifully to pool, manicured lawns and garden. Jo Thomas: 084 404 4120; Rouvaun McKirby: 071  671 0821; Office: 021 701 2446; Web Ref: SIR105289

STONEHURST MOUNTAIN ESTATE, CAPE TOWN

Asking: R13.5 million | 4 Bedrooms | 4 Bathrooms | 2 Garages

Modern masterpiece on one level with superb views. Nicely elevated for great views, this contemporary home offers spacious open-plan living for the modern family. An abundance of glass fills the open-plan living areas in natural light, with multiple living options to suit a variety of needs. This is an exceptional example of quality design, placed in a brilliant location. Make this yours, and enjoy the superior position. Dave Burger: 083 458 3333; Steve Thomas: 084 471 4722; Office: 021  701 2446; Web Ref: 2700637.

KENILWORTH UPPER, CAPE TOWN

Asking: R17.5 million | 4 Bedrooms | 2 Bathrooms | Double Garage

Standing proud on 1,700 Sqm of exquisite garden, is this gorgeous period property in Upper Kenilworth. Recently renovated, this wonderful family home offers everything a young family could want comprising of 4 large bedrooms with two bathrooms . High-end finishes are evident throughout the house and it is in immaculate move-in condition. Features include Large Pool; Borehole; Double Garage; Double carport and secure parking for 8 cars; Established garden with mature trees; Koi Pond; Fire pit; Staff accommodation; Excellent security; Large Inverter. Elaine Dobson: 082 413 7369; Ruth Leach 082 323 7550; Office: 021 701 2446; Web Ref: sothebysrealty.com/id/VNVJ9G.

CLAREMONT UPPER, CAPE TOWN

Asking: R13.95 million | 5 Bedrooms | 5.5 Bathrooms | 2 Garages

Comfort, Style and 24-hour Security. Located in sought-after Hen and Chicken Estate, this five-bedroomed contemporary home offers luxury, exclusivity and peace of mind. This house offers the ultimate in high-end security living and is a must to view for buyers wanting total peace-of-mind. Barbara Manning: 083 407 3656; Office: 021 701 2446; Web Ref: SIR106250.

NEWLANDS, CAPE TOWN

Asking: R11 million | 5 Bedrooms | 3 Bathrooms | 2 Garages

Situated on a picturesque tree-framed avenue, this beautiful original Newlands house has been well maintained and cared for over the years. Filled with character, the home is masterfully built with hand cut sandstone hewn from Table Mountain, slate tiles, teak windows and solid wooden floors. Lofty pressed ceilings provide a feeling of space and grace, not found in modern properties. There are four bedrooms plus a spacious self-contained flatlet with kitchenette and separate bathroom in the coach house - connected to the main home via a double-volume entrance hall. Brandon Challis: 084 491 0906; Jennifer Lee: 082 562 5139; Office: 021 701 2446; Web Ref: SIR106109.

HOUT BAY, CAPE TOWN

Asking: R26.35 million | 5 Beds | 4 Baths | Double Garage | 2 Secure Parkings

Tucked away in a secure and private setting, this stylish appointed home is set in a magical garden with heated pool. Offering easy, open-plan living & flow between kitchen, dining room, lounge and entertainment area. Gourmet kitchen designed for entertaining, with separate pantry, laundry & scullery. Spacious master suite with open-plan en-suite with dressing room and fabulous sea views. Two further en-suite bedrooms & guest suite downstairs with steam room shower. Extra features includes a wine cellar, underfloor heating throughout, air-conditioning in the main bedroom and staff accommodation. Terri Steyn: 082  777 0748; Office: 021 701 2446; Web Ref: 113150.

ST JAMES, CAPE TOWN

Asking: R14.5 million | 4 Bedrooms | 3.5 Bathrooms | Double Garage

This contemporary home boasts sleek finishes and modern design elements that combine to create a sophisticated and inviting living space. The open-plan kitchen seamlessly flows into the dining room and lounge with a magnificent fireplace as a focal feature. The terrace, offers incredible sea views and is the ideal space for entertaining guests or simply relaxing and taking in the scenery. The home has four bedrooms, with two en-suite and the other two sharing a full bathroom guest WC. Each of the bedrooms open out to the garden, offering a serene and peaceful atmosphere. Additionally, there is a double garage providing ample space for parking and storage. Paula Giusti: 082 770 7705; Jonathan Alexander: 082 570 9007; Office: 021 784 2260; Web Ref: SIR105904.

KEURBOOMSTRAND, GARDEN ROUTE

Asking: R11.5 million | 904m²

Your opportunity to own some of the last remaining beachfront property on this pristine 8km stretch of unspoilt beach in this new development. Build your dream home on this 904m² stand in the newly established Driftwood Private Estate which comprises only five stands available for development and considerable common property. The homes are to be built in line with eco-conscious design guidelines and care will be taken to ensure minimum impact on the surrounding flora. Unsurpassed, magnificent sea and beach views. Don’t miss this unique opportunity. Price includes VAT (no transfer duty). Elbie Pama: 082 569 2588; Hein Pretorius 083 701 3159; Office: 044 533 2529; Web Ref: SIR106278.

PLETTENBERG BAY, GARDEN ROUTE

Asking: R6.45 million | 4 Bedrooms | 3 Bathrooms | Double Garage

Beautiful newly built 4-bedroom, 3-bathroom single level family home with sea views in Whale Rock Heights gated estate, with quality modern finishes, attention to detail, spacious open plan living areas, modern kitchen with pantry and separate scullery, living areas with stacking windows that flow out onto the spacious covered patio with built in braai, swimming pool and big double garage with extra storage space. Ideal for both indoor and outdoor entertaining. A very practical layout, free-flowing, spacious layout. An easy 5-minute drive to beaches, gyms, schools and other amenities. Paul Jordaan: 082 876 0577; Office: 044 533 2529; Web Ref: SIR104592.

PLETTENBERG BAY, GARDEN ROUTE

Asking: R22.5 million | 5 Bedrooms | 5 Bathrooms | 2 Double Garages

Modern family home in Solar Beach with breath-taking views of the ocean and Robberg peninsula, offering stylish finishes and designed to be an entertainer’s delight. Double-volume entrance with feature staircase, spacious living areas, formal lounge and dining area that extends to extensive outdoor patios/ entertainment deck and pool area with built-in braais, well-appointed spacious kitchen, second informal lounge, 5 ensuite bedrooms, upstairs area can be a study, gym, lounge or studio with own patio, 2 separate double garages, staff quarters (bedroom and storage area), self-contained flatlet with private entrance (kitchenette, bedroom, bathroom), walled garden. A rare find for a discerning buyer. Hein Pretorius: 083 701 3159; Office: 044 533 2529; Web Ref: SIR105633.

PLETTENBERG BAY, GARDEN ROUTE

Asking: R57 million | 5 Bedrooms | 5 Bathrooms | Double Garage

A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity: an extremely rare unique large beachfront property on Lookout Beach. Must be viewed to be truly appreciated: triple-storey with 5 bedrooms, 5 bathrooms, upstairs open plan living area (kitchen with laundry/scullery and pantry), guest toilet, study, casual TV lounges, kitchenette area in lower levels, extensive patios on all levels, breath-taking sea and beach views, swimming pool with generous deck, lush established garden, double garage, storage, separate studio/staff/overflow accommodation. The entire scene is framed by the ocean and mountains. Private, direct beach access. Fully enclosed and secure. Sub-division is possible. Own a part of paradise. Hein Pretorius: 083 701 3159; Office: 044 533 2529; Web Ref: SIR106492.

NOORDHEUWEL, KRUGERSDORP

Asking: R5.97 million | 4 Bedrooms | 2.5 Bathrooms | 4 Garages

In Noordheuwel, Krugersdorp, discover this stunning property with panoramic views of Krugersdorp, Sandton, Pretoria, and the Cradle of Human Kind. Spread across 2200 sqm land, the luxurious residence offers 490.12 sqm under roof, epitomizing opulent living. Step into the grand entrance hall that sets the tone for a lavish lifestyle. The openplan design seamlessly connects living areas, including a chef’s delight kitchen with highend appliances, ample storage, and a built-in braai area. Enjoy entertaining guests in the spacious living and dining areas with breathtaking views.Three generous bedrooms feature beautiful en-suite bathrooms, while the master suite boasts a walk-in closet and a luxurious en-suite bathroom.The property also includes a private study, guest bathroom, and double garage, complemented by a serene rocky garden, adding to its grandeur. Bianca: 083 645 6590; Charmaine: 079 882 3360; Office: 010  900 3450; Web Ref: SIR106367.

OLIVE CREST ESTATE, ROODEPOORT

Asking: R6.299 million | 4 Bedrooms | 4.5 Bathrooms | 4 Carports

This sophisticated modern home, located in a secure Eco Estate, boasts an abundance of natural light and a spacious open plan living area. It is equipped with a Lux power 5kva Inverter, Volta 5.3kw Lithium-Ion battery, and JA solar 465w mono panels. The three-level house features indigenous rooftop gardens, two living spaces, and rooftop parking access. The elegant double volume living area has glass stacking doors leading to a sun-drenched 16-meter-wide entertainment deck with breath-taking views of the adjacent nature reserve. The deck includes a built-in braai, storage, and luxurious black marble countertops. Additional highlights include a solar heated lap pool, modern kitchen, ensuite bedrooms, a separate flatlet, and various amenities to enhance the living experience. Zona Coetzee: 084 626 6119; Office: 010 900 3450; Web Ref: SIR105006.

BLAIR ATHOLL ESTATE, LANSERIA

Asking: R9.5 million | 4 Bedrooms | 4.5 Bathrooms | 4 Garages

A home of generous proportions, well- designed with a manageable garden and a desirable position. This family centric home is designed with the entertainer in mind featuring spacious kitchen and reception areas. The entrance hall leads to the welldesigned kitchen and has a separate scullery and laundry area that leads to full staff quarters with a kitchenette. The carefully considered flow of the indoor – outdoor entertainment areas afford plenty of space for intimate family gatherings. The spacious formal lounge, with sliding doors open onto an underroof entertainment area with spectacular views of the Magalies mountain range. This home is the perfect retreat after a busy day. Zona Coetzee: 084 626 6119; Office: 010 900 3450; Web Ref: SIR105103.

To view these properties visit www.sothebysrealty.co.za

BLAIR ATHOLL ESTATE, LANSERIA

Asking: R16 million | 5 Bedrooms | 4.5 Bathrooms | 3 Garages

This prestigious property located in Blair Atholl Estate offers a luxurious and aweinspiring living experience. With its modern design and breathtaking views, this masterpiece appeals to even the most discerning buyers.Boasting 5 en-suite bedrooms, each with remarkable vistas, the property provides utmost comfort and tranquillity. The landscaped garden features a spacious deck, perfect for outdoor entertaining, along with main and children’s swimming pools for refreshing relaxation. The sleek and fully equipped kitchen is an entertainer’s dream. Adding to the serene ambiance is a stunning Koi Pond, while 3.5 garages and storage for 2 golf carts cater to storage needs. Zona Coetzee: 084 626 6119; Office: 010 900 3450; Web Ref: SIR106040.

ELALENI COASTAL FOREST ESTATE, BALLITO

Asking: From R935 000.00 | Development

Elaleni Coastal Forest Estate is a residential development located on the KwaZulu-Natal North Coast in South Africa. Set amidst a preserved coastal forest, it offers a serene living environment with amenities such as walking trails, a clubhouse, a gym, and pools. The estate promotes sustainability and community engagement, providing various housing options, including vacant land, sectional title, and freehold homes. With its emphasis on nature, luxury, and security, Elaleni Coastal Forest Estate offers a unique coastal lifestyle experience. Sabrina Errico: 082 414 8955; Deon Appelcryn: 083 411 1299; Yakshay Maharaj: 081 020 1398; Office: 032 946 1818; Web Ref: ELA00.

DURBANVILLE, CAPE TOWN

Asking: R32 million | 4 Bedrooms | 4.5 Bathrooms| 6 Garages | Pool

Clara Anna Fontein offers residents the ultimate secure lifestyle on 128 hectares of pure history dating back to the 1700’s with the original farmhouse beautifully restored and renovated. The estate borders a protected game reserve giving residents vistas of animals roaming to the watering hole. Further features: clubhouse, gym, squash, tennis courts, 25m lap pool, large, landscaped gardens, play parks, and walking trails. Ideally located in Durbanville between award-winning wine farms with access to the Winelands, beach, and mountains within minutes. Dawie du Plessis: 083 293 0449; Nicole Viljoen: 084 579 1126; Office: 021 979 4396; Web Ref: 5838172.

FOURWAYS GARDENS ESTATE, FOURWAYS, JOHANNESBURG

Asking: R6.95 million | 3 Bedrooms | 3.5 Bathrooms | 3 Garages (Triple Garage)

This standout home is designed with meticulous attention to detail, catering to modern families seeking luxury and sophistication. Completely off the grid, it features 26kWh batteries, a 15kW SunSynk inverter, and 10kW solar panels. The vibrant colour palettes and spacious rooms with luxurious finishes are impressive. The property offers stunning open plan design with three large bedrooms with en-suite bathrooms and balconies await. Outside, a covered patio, pool, garden, pizza oven, and triple garage complete the picture. Call Adam for a private viewing. Adam Brown: 072 026 4571; Office: 010 823 2205; Web Ref: SIR106160.

WILDERNESS VILLAGE, GARDEN ROUTE

Asking: R6.325 million | 3 Bedrooms | 3 Bathrooms | Double Garage

Style and endless ocean views! Situated on a quiet servitude road, which only allows access to three exclusive properties, this secluded ‘lock-up-and-go’ home enjoys spectacular views across the village, to the Indian Ocean, beyond. Newly-built with contemporary finishes, emphasizing open spaces and natural light. The ground floor, double garage provides direct access into the home and the upper floor comprises open-plan living, with three bedrooms and two bathrooms. The third bedroom may be utilized as a private suite, with its own lounge and private access. Joletta Eichweber: 082 579 0044; Office: 044  877 0767; Web Ref: SIR105885.

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Lew Geffen Sotheby’s

Lew Geffen Sotheby’s International Realty - Fourways is an independently owned and operated franchise business of Goldprop Realty (Pty)Ltd – Reg#2020/462864/07under sub licence from Geffen International Realty Franchises (Proprietary) Limited