Sommaire pour June 2020 de go!

It’s a weird time we’re living in, and one thing that has become abundantly clear is that nobody knows what the future holds. But spending a lot of time and energy contemplating this unknown future, which we have little control over, can in turn lead to what a wise university professor of mine called “mental theatre”. Mental theatre is when anxiety and uncertainty cause us to make unfounded assumptions, and we build models in our heads of a world that doesn’t exist. To combat the drama, the wise prof never said don’t plan, but he did caution us not to get stuck in an imagined worst-case scenario world, as this would only drain us of energy and optimism. With that in mind, I try to keep my mind focused on…

The berg adder is one of South Africa’s smaller adders, averaging between 30 and 40 cm in length. As its name suggests, it’s a high-altitude snake that occurs at elevations of up to 3 000 metres above sea level. It’s only found close to the sea in Betty’s Bay, Strandfontein and George in the Western Cape and St Francis in the Eastern Cape. Populations are found in four places: the Cape Fold Mountains, the Drakensberg (in Mpumalanga and KZN) and in eastern Zimbabwe. Hikers often encounter this cheeky little snake basking on footpaths or rocky ridges. It’s known to be bad-tempered and hisses and strikes readily, but is usually quick to seek shelter. This snake is locally abundant in some areas and sought after by reptile smugglers as it fetches…

A humble, weary traveller will never expect too much from a picnic site next to a rural back road. And, yes, the R56 between Middelburg and Steynsburg is a back road, even though it’s tarred. You want shade, for starters, and this picnic site delivers with 43 bluegum trees of varying size. One even has a white-browed sparrow-weaver nest in it. The trees are spread across both sides of the road, which is important because you want safe access whether you’re travelling east or west. Both sides have shade, and both have cement tables and chairs. Humans can be so destructive. For many of us, it’s peaceful to sit by the roadside in the middle of the Karoo, but not for everyone. I know, and you know, because we’ve both…

Field Guide to Butterflies of South Africa by Steve Woodhall, Struik Nature R250 in bookstores “The caterpillar does all the work, but the butterfly gets all the publicity,”comedian George Carlin once remarked. Local butterflies can’t ask for better publicity than the second edition of this amazing guide. Steve Woodhall is a former President of the Lepidopterists’ Society of Africa and he also wrote the first edition in 2005. That was during the early days of digital photography, which revolutionised the way butterflies were documented in their natural habitat. The photography is even better 15 years later, and there’s also an interactive app version of the guide called “Woodhall’s Butterflies RSA” (sold separately). This updated field guide features all 671 butterfly species known to occur in South Africa, including the extremely…

Have you been somewhere you think other go! readers would enjoy? Write about the experience and we might publish your story. Please keep it short (1 500 words maximum) and send us some sample photos. If we do decide to publish, we’ll need the original, high-resolution photos so make sure your camera is on the right setting. E-mail your story to editor@ gomag.co.za. We reserve the right to edit and shorten your text, and use your photos elsewhere in the magazine, on our digital platforms and in our marketing material.…

TENTED ACCOMMODATION Never been to Botswana? This camping trip makes things easy for you. Upon arrival at your camp, your tent is already pitched. Hungry? A bush chef prepares your meals! Explore Botswana’s Okavango Delta, the great rivers of the Zambezi Region (the old Caprivi Strip), and mighty Victoria Falls, while our experts make sure you’re safe, well fed and comfortable at all times. This self-drive tour is one of the most popular on the Bhejane itinerary, for good reason: It allows you to have a true African adventure at a reasonable price, and you don’t need any technical off-road driving skills. Travel from the vast Makgadikgadi Pans around the Okavango Delta and up the Panhandle, pausing at the mysterious Tsodilo Hills, which is a world-renowned rock art site. You’ll…

The last time I spent so many hours staring at the purple backpack on my dad’s shoulders was two years ago when we walked the Camino pilgrimage in Spain. Then, as now, I resented the weight of my own pack. We could have left the tent at home and slept out in the open, but when I packed last night there was a chill in the air. So I brought the tent, along with a sleeping bag, camping mattress, gas stove, warm jacket, three bottles of water, my camera and a tripod. I adjust the shoulder straps, wipe the sweat from my brow and let my eyes roam the rocky path as it winds up the ridge. At the top I can see the sun’s first rays touching the silhouette…

Get the gold rush experience Join Dusty Tracks for a variety of outdoor adventures. There are historical hiking trails in Mountainlands Nature Reserve, scenic drives, gold panning, mine tours and trips to the Kruger Park and the Kingdom of eSwatini. “Our all-in-one, full-day trip is the most popular,” owner Wynand Engelbrecht says. “We drive 50 km through Mountainlands, where the remains of old mining towns can be seen. We drive through 14 streams, visit Eureka City, the Golden Quarry, Sheba Mine, and we do gold panning in the Suidkaap River at Digger’s Retreat Hotel. It is the entire gold rush experience.” Cost: R795 per person (minimum four people) for the full-day tour, which lasts six to seven hours. Contact: 072 668 4063; dustytracks.co.za Check out some amazing rocks Pack a…

Why do you travel? Travel is in my DNA. I became a journalist because it takes you to places you’d otherwise not go. I take two or three longer trips every year, often to write. I reckon I’ve been to about 80 countries. What makes a place memorable? I love a place with an old soul and history – slightly battered and weathered. Istanbul, Buenos Aires, Hanoi, Porto, Palermo… I detest Dubai. It’s bland and characterless. What do you collect on your journeys? So much! My restaurant and guesthouse in Riebeek-Kasteel is like an ethnographical museum. I have an original red-and-gold Soviet velvet cloth with Lenin’s head, Mexican angels, an ancient scroll from Timbuktu, a Coptic parchment from Eritrea, Vietnam war posters, restaurant signs from the Virungas… What do you…

Forest is an app that helps you put down your phone and pay attention to the task at hand by offering a digital incentive to stay focused – whether you’re working, studying or trying to improve your quality time with friends and family. Every time you begin a new task, you “plant a seed” – specifying the task and the time period over which you’d like to complete it. Instead of your usual home screen display, you’ll see the seed and a timer instead, and as time passes, the seed will gradually grow into a tree. If you can’t resist the temptation to use your phone during the specified time you’ve allotted, your little tree will die. As you get more productive and grow more trees, you’ll soon find yourself…

It looks like the moon is eager to shake off its cabin fever this month. Within the space of just two weeks it will visit five planets – and all the sightings will be visible to the naked eye. This promises to be a fun project to follow, but be warned: You’ll have to sacrifice a few hours of sleep, and the final leg is a challenge to spot. The first visit is a biggie: On 8 June, Jupiter, Saturn and the bright waxing moon move very close together. Depending on where you are in South Africa, the moon will start moving from the east towards this position at about 9 pm. The grouping is at its most picturesque at bedtime (10.30 pm), when it forms a beautiful triangle. This…

What do you enjoy most about crime fiction? I like the plotting aspect. Plot, suspense and pace play a big part in fiction nowadays. Crime fiction thrives on these elements. The research also often requires journalistic skills. Do you travel a lot for your research? Yes, I visited all the places in the book to experience the texture of the cities and towns. One of the creative sparks for the story was a conversation with an Uber driver, who used to be a security guard at diamond mines near the Namibian border. He told me how diamonds were smuggled inside fruit to Cape Town. I knew then that Port Nolloth, with its diamond diving and reputation as a smuggler’s hideout, simply had to be in the book. The diamonds then…

DAY 4 Sutherland to Matjiesfontein (113 km) This morning I have the strength of six men again. I eat one last jam sandwich and a sweet potato and return to the R354. The wind is at my back and before I realise what I’m doing, I’m speeding down Verlatekloof Pass about 30 km south of Sutherland, which descends more than 600 m over roughly 14 km. My luggage weighs my rear wheel down and keeps it on the tar. Brakes, what brakes? I whoop when I reach 70 km/h. My eyes are watering and I’m not sure whether it’s due to the wind or pure happiness, but it doesn’t really matter right now. I’m almost halfway to Matjiesfontein and again I cross the border into the Western Cape. I chew…

ELMAR VENTER Canon EOS 1Dx Canon 500 mm lens with a 1.4x converter ELMAR WRITES: I took this photo of a juvenile bearded vulture at the Giant’s Castle vulture hide. I visited the hide for four consecutive days and hoped one of these raptors would come in for a landing. On the last morning, everything fell into place. I like the symmetry of the bird’s posture. TOAST SAYS: Four days in a row? That’s dedication! Sometimes you have no choice: You know exactly what kind of photograph you want, you’re in the right place, so you just have to be patient and wait. The bearded vulture isn’t any old bird of prey – it’s our most endangered, rarest vulture. Some context: There were 285 tries scored during the 2019 Rugby…

Pork-and-beans potjie Serves 6 Preparation time 20 minutes Cooking time 3 hours You need • 3 tablespoons oil • 1 kg pork shank slices, skin removed and set aside • 1 large onion, chopped • 3 carrots, chopped • 2 celery stalks, chopped • 1 teaspoon whole peppercorns • 2 bay leaves • 500 g dried sugar beans, soaked in water overnight and drained • 3 cloves of garlic, chopped • 1 teaspoon dried chilli flakes • 1 teaspoon paprika • 2 capsules Knorr stock concentrate • 2 teaspoons sugar • 1 tin (410 g) tomato purée • 1 lemon • salt, to taste Here’s how 1 Heat the oil in a big pot and fry the meat in batches until browned all over. Remove the meat and fry the onion, carrots and celery in the same pot until glossy. Return the meat to the pot…

EENUURKOP, SWELLENDAM The R60 from Ashton to Swellendam is one of my favourite drives. Orchards and green pastures, dotted with meditating sheep and masticating cows, flash past your window as you keep to the shadow of the Langeberg. The trip between the two towns takes no more than 40 minutes, just long enough to listen to At Folsom Prison by Johnny Cash from beginning to end. Well, almost the end. By the time you get to the second last song “Green, Green Grass of Home”, about 5 km before Swellendam, you’ll see a sign on your left pointing to Eenuurkop Guest Farm. Tersia and Jeremy Puren named their 110 ha farm after what is arguably the most imposing of Swellendam’s “hour peaks”; there’s also a Twaalfuur-, Elfuur- and a Tienuurkop.…

Distance: It’s about 5 km to the Wolfberg Cracks and back (3 – 4 hours). The Wolfberg Arch is another 3,7 km further (7,5 km return). You can walk to the arch and back in a day – set aside at least eight hours. How to get there? Drive north along the N7. When you’re 28 km north of Citrusdal, take the turn-off to CapeNature’s Algeria campsite. Continue along this dirt road for 46 km to Dwarsrivier Farm and Sanddrif Holiday Resort. Best time to hike? Year-round. Even when it’s blistering hot in summer, it will be cool in the cracks. Start early so you can walk in the shade up the steep hill to the cracks. Pack a hat and sunscreen. Where do I park my car? There is…

LET’S GET THIS PARTY STARTED! Do you remember your first school social? You were probably 12 or 13 years old, and it was most likely a Friday evening. It probably involved a lot of awkward standing around – girls whispering and giggling and boys looking confused and slightly terrified. Maybe there was a choreographed dance number? There was certainly a mountain of Nik Naks and a river of Sparletta. Fast forward a few years to high school. The snacks are still there, but the social dynamic is different. Everyone knows their place in the hierarchy. Cliques are established and iron-bound. The jocks are tossing a ball on the lawn, the skaters are smoking around the corner and the musos are clustered around the hi-fi. At some point a fight may…

KRUGER NATIONAL PARK My wife Leoni and I spent the first week of 2020 in Satara rest camp in the Kruger Park. Late one afternoon, we drove to the Ngotso area north of Satara (towards Olifants) because it’s known for its leopard sightings. We had heard that there was a male leopard, a female and a young leopard in the area. The wildebeest in the park had started to give birth in December so there was no shortage of prey. We found the young leopard soon enough and watched as she tried to catch a wildebeest calf. The adult female was resting in a culvert under the road and the male must have been around, but we didn’t see him. The calf was lying down under a tree about 200…

Approximate daily budget? Travelling with your own vehicle in South America is no more expensive than travelling in southern Africa. Our average travelling expenses are about R1 300 to R1 500 per day, which includes food, accommodation for two, diesel and car services. We often camp wild to save costs, and we only stay in formal accommodation when we have no other option. Getting around? You don’t need your own vehicle to explore Chile or Argentina – or South America for that matter. Bus transport on the continent is very efficient and there are many options to choose from. The other alternative is to buy an overlanding vehicle – this is quite popular in Chile. Travelling with your own foreign-registered vehicle in Argentina and Chile, as we did, requires careful…

I flew out of Cape Town last night and spent this morning staring at shelves of expensive cigarettes, whiskeys and designer perfumes in Dubai International Airport. Now it’s late afternoon and I’m in China, waiting for another flight – my final flight – which will take me to Mongolia. If you want to travel on the cheap, you take the long way around. It’s a challenge to stay awake, waiting in one airport after another. You become so jetlagged that you stumble like a zombie from one queue to the next with your passport in hand. You’re awake, but only just. I’m in a restaurant on the second floor of Beijing Capital International Airport and I order a black coffee. I try to read a book, but it makes me…

Did you know that we have a podcast series called go! Stories? Produced and hosted by François Haasbroek, it features some of the funniest and most moving travel writing published in the magazine, as well as interviews with the writers. Search for it on your favourite podcast app! HOW DO I LISTEN TO A PODCAST? If you follow the links published here, you can stream the podcasts directly from their websites. Alternatively, Apple users can use the Podcasts app and Android users can access podcasts via Google Play Music.…

You’re a geology lecturer on a cruise ship? That’s right. I studied Earth Sciences at Stellenbosch University and graduated in 2011, but I didn’t immediately go into the field. My heart was set on becoming a professional big wave surfer, so I went to Hawaii for four months with the aim of surfing the most notorious big wave spots in the world. I achieved personal goals and caught some massive waves, but fame and fortune, sadly, did not follow. I came home to South Africa with an uncertain future. A family friend told me about the expedition cruise industry, but initially it didn’t appeal to me. Sometime later she forwarded me a Facebook post that was urgently advertising for a geologist, and out of sheer desperation I sent the company…

WHY? We publish a selection of reader pictures every month. Don’t be shy, haul out those shots you’ve been hoarding on your computer and send them to us! We like just about anything: wildlife, landscapes, portraits, holiday snaps or bugs in your garden. HOW? Send your best photos to takeyourpic@gomag.co.za Don’t send files bigger than 4 MB – if we need a bigger version, we’ll ask for it. Give the name, surname, home town and contact number of the photographer. Also include info about where and how the shot was taken, and what equipment was used. If you manipulated your photo in any way, tell us what you did. THE FINE PRINT We reserve the right to use your photos elsewhere in the magazine, on our digital platforms and marketing material.…

WHAT DOES IT MEAN ? WR Waterproof or Waterhead Rating Also known as “hydrostatic head rating” or “water column rating”, this is a test of how much water or hydrostatic pressure a waterproof coating can take before it leaks. For example, if you see a rating of 10 000 WP, or W/P, or 10 000 mm, it means the fabric can handle a 10 000 mm tall column of water before the liquid starts seeping through. The higher the number, the more waterproof the fabric. MVTR Moisture Vapour Transmission Rate This is represented as g/m²/24 – how much moisture vapour will pass through a square metre of fabric in 24 hours. The higher the value, the better the moisture vapour transmission rate. Basically, it’s a measure of how…

VULTURE TRAIL, DE HOOP NATURE RESERVE It is estimated that there are only 8 000 – 10 000 Cape vultures left in southern Africa. De Hoop Nature Reserve, between Arniston and Infanta, is home to the last remaining roosting colony in the Western Cape. The reserve has recently introduced a vulture trail, where hikers have the rare opportunity to see these raptors in their natural habitat, swooping and soaring above the cliffs of a mountain called Potberg. After meeting at the Opstal area in De Hoop Village, you’ll be driven to the beginning of the trail by your guide. Guides accompany hikers throughout the experience as this is a closely protected section of the reserve. The trail follows the valley floor for about a kilometre before crossing a small mountain…

“This is the kind of town I live in,” says Sheryn Nader, plonking a stack of books on the table. We’re at The Genesis Restaurant for dinner and pink G&Ts. “I just grabbed a few to show you how much has been written about this place. I have more than 200 books that reference Barberton.” Raindrops start falling on the restaurant’s tin roof. It’s music to our ears since the town is facing a drought. We page through the books: Dynamite and Daisies by Piet Meiring, Lost Trails in the Makhonjwa Mountains by Bernard John Lovell de Souza, No Time To Die by Grace H Hall, Pioneers of the Lowveld and Cockney Liz: Legendary Barmaid of Barberton by Hans Bornman. Sheryn is an occupational therapist, originally from Pretoria. “I had…

COOL FACTS Hyenas might look like dogs, but they’re more closely related to cats. Mongooses and civets are their closest relations. Hyenas, especially brown, spotted and striped hyenas, play an important role in the ecosystem. They act like vacuum cleaners. They have a strong immune system and can eat almost anything, even long dead animals. They keep the environment clean and prevent diseases from spreading. SPOTTED HYENA 60 kg Weight 80 cm Shoulder height 48 000 Global population SPOTTED HYENAS ARE KNOWN FOR THEIR LAUGH. They hunt in groups and their laugh is one of the ways they communicate with each other. THE WHOOPING SOUNDS MEAN “I’m over here”, “Help!”, “Lions!” or “I’m the strongest”. VISIT  bit.ly/hyenalingo to hear the sounds they make. They are excellent hunters and can compete…

We flew from South Africa to Argentina and travelled to El Boson, a small town in central Argentina, up against the Andes. It was mid-May and snow was already falling. Stretching for more than 7 000 km and spanning seven countries, the Andes is the longest mountain range in the world. It also has some of the highest peaks in the world and is home to volcanoes and the ruins of ancient civilizations. Our plan was to travel north all along the mountain range, staying as close and as high as possible. But we’d stick to the Argentinian side – the passes between Argentina and Chile are often closed by overnight snowstorms in winter. Bariloche is one of Argentina’s prime skiing destinations, but it was too early in the season…