Tabla de contenidos para Apr/May 2023 en go!

SPLASHY FEN First held in 1990, Splashy Fen is South Africa's oldest music festival. It's also the so-called “friendliest festival”, thanks to its chilled-out location in the foothills of the southern Drakensberg, and because it's suitable for families with a line-up that caters to all ages. Some of this year's headliners include the Ndlovu Youth Choir, GoodLuck, Jeremy Loops, Desmond &the Tutus and Mango Groove. When? 6-10 April 2023 Where? Underberg, KwaZulu-Natal Tickets: splashyfen.co.za…

If you think of a leopard in South Africa, the first image that probably comes to mind is a big Bushveld cat, probably lounging in a tree in the Kruger Park. Or maybe you think of a similarly imposing specimen patrolling the dunewld of the Kgalagadi. These leopards are bulky - males weigh around 80kg on average; females average about 40 kg. In places like the Lowveld and the Kalahari, where the habitat is ideal, leopard population density can be very high. For example, at Singita Sabi Sand, a private reserve bordering the Kruger, up to 12 animals have been recorded in a 100 km2 area. But there are other leopards in SA that far fewer people are aware of - the elusive cats of the Cape Fold Mountains in…

COLUMN The long-tailed widowbird, pitch black with a patch of red on the shoulder, races my white Kia Picanto and wins, his long tail flapping elegantly as he hurries ahead to announce my arrival. The widowbird was born for the farmland winds, my Picanto was made for the inner city. Yet here I am plunging deeper into the belly of the Free State, dodging potholes while my entire body vibrates on the merciless gravel. It's been a nine-hour drive from my home in Mtunzini, in northern KZN. A name drew me here: Rosendal. Previous visitors to the town describe it as a haven for artists to burrow away, pulling their fraying ends together after pouring themselves out on screens and stages. Some of my friends who've grown up in the…

BOTSWANA Sunlight oozes onto the blunt spikes of the knob-thorn trunk above me. Nearby, red-billed wood-hoopoes wriggle their long bills into the nooks and crannies of a jackal-berry tree in search of snacks. A crested barbet looks on silently, its ruffled feathers giving it the appearance of having had a rough night out. On the ground in the leaf litter, a handful of arrow-marked babblers are scratching around. With coffee in hand, I walk a few steps away from my tent so that I can feel the sun against my face. It's early winter and one of the most pleasant times of the year to be in Botswana. The nights are cool enough to justify actually sleeping inside your sleeping bag, but the days are warm – shorts and T-shirt…

PHOTO ESSAY The annual sardine run is unpredictable and it's impossible to know what to expect, but that's also what makes it so exciting. Each year in winter, Port St Johns and other towns along the Eastern Cape and KZN coast play host to visitors from all over the world: keen amateur photographers, adventure-seeking free divers, professional film crews looking to capture the magic for an international audience… The sense of excitement is palpable. Over three magical days in July 2022, I got a taste of the sardine run from the air and from water level. I took off in a light aircraft from the landing strip at Port St Johns, which itself is in a magical location on top of Mount Thesiger. We spent an hour ogling the mangrove…

GEAR DOWN STILL DOES THE TRICK Despite all the technological marvels of our age, nothing beats a goose down sleeping bag. The soft plumage remains one of the world's best insulators, plus it's lightweight and you can stuff a down bag smaller than one filled with synthetic material. You do pay a premium, however, and down doesn't like to get wet, so make sure the outer material is coated with DWR (durable water repellent). There are also ethical considerations, since down is an animal product. If you want to be sure the down in your bag has been sourced using humane methods, look for logos for Downmark or the Responsible Down Standard (RDS). CRUNCHING THE NUMBERS The “loft” or “fill power” you see quoted on the bag refers to the…

TOWN In February, at the height of summer, the Swartland is stitched together in shades of hazel and beige. The harvest has come and gone and everything seems to gasp in the blistering sun. That is, until you crest Bothmanskloof Pass and look out over the vivid greens of the Riebeek Valley. The apparent oasis beckons as strongly as it must have in 1661, when a discovery party of European settlers sent inland by Jan van Riebeeck to scout for fertile soil first saw it from the peak of what is today called Kasteelberg. Although Riebeek-Kasteel is relatively close to Cape Town (about 90 km), it feels a world away from the city's urgent pace and traffic-clogged roads. For this reason, the past decade has seen a wave of new…

When did the Antarctica bug bite? Ages ago! I think any curious South African traveller will glance at a map at some point and wonder about that big white continent lurking at the bottom. South Africa has a real connection with Antarctica. Besides the fact that we have a research station there, Cape Town was always one of the last ports of call for the polar explorers of yore. Who did you travel with? Guts Swanepoel (pictured above right) was the tour leader and I was his assistant - a bit like Batman and Robin.! met Guts many years ago in Kasane, Botswana, where he runs the wildlife photography company Pangolin PhotgSafaris. Chobe and Morerni might be in his backyard, but he also leads tours to other iconic international destinations.…

Something's brewing in the Karoo… Coffee is made from coffee beans, right? The Coetzee family from Prieska in the Northern Capehave discovered another kind of “coffee” made from the pods of the mesquite tree, which grows wild on the banks of the Orange River. They call their creation: Manna Brew, and although it's not coffee per se, the rich, dark liquid can be made and enjoyed in precisely the same way. Mesquite trees are an invasive species and this project is helping to curb their spread. During the two- to three-week window each year when pods can be harvested, community members get involved and they sell the pods to the Coetzees by the kilogram. After the pods have been hand-sorted, they're bagged and transported to Somerset West, where the processing…

CLASSIC ROAD TRIP KRUGER HIGHLIGHTS NKUMBE VIEWPOINT SABIE LOW-WATER BRIDGE TIMBAVATI ROAD (H7 AND S39) S100 LION-VIEWING ROAD N'WANETSI PICNIC SITE S90 DIRT ROAD BALULE LOW-WATER BRIDGE N'WAMANZI VIEWPOINT GUIDED RIVER OUTING (LOOK FOR PEL'S FISHING-OWLS!) TSENDZE LOW-WATER BRIDGE POOR MAN'S SERENGETI (S50) TSHANGA VIEWPOINT CROOK'S CORNER VIEWPOINT PAFURI PICNIC SITE LUVUVHU BRIDGE WHERE DO I STAY? We've only listed the camping options. Almost all the rest camps offer other accommodation like safari tents, rondavels and self-catering cottages. Rates range from R540 per night for two people to R3 000 per night for four. Our travel plan is just a guideline. Adjust it to suit your needs. The park is popular during school holidays and you should book at least a year in advance. The accommodation rates exclude the daily…

TOWN Sip a cocktail at The Royal Hotel Established in 1862, The Royal Hotel harks back to a bygone era of travel. The best way to tap into this feeling is to sip a G&T on the impressive veranda, which spans the entire front of the building. Where? 33 Main Street Contact: 022 448 1378; royalinriebeek.com Explore Short Street It might be one of the, er, shortest streets in the Riebeek Valley, but it's absolutely packed with unique stores to visit, its charm magnified by brick paving, bougainvillea and fairy lights that get switched on at night. You'll find everything from natural body products and leather goods to wine and clothing. There's also a market on the first Saturday of every month. Where? Short Street is opposite The Royal Hotel, just…

WHAT IS CLIMATE CHANGE? The earth's weather patterns are becoming more extreme. Floods are more common, and so are long droughts, which lead to devastating fires. The ice shelves around the poles are melting, which is causing the water levels of the oceans to rise. Seawater is getting warmer. Climate change is also affecting farms where our food is produced – it's either raining too much or not enough. It's a mess! What causes climate change? IN THE PAST There was less pollution in the atmosphere, which meant that much of the sun's heat was allowed back out into space. This kept the earth cool. NOW There are more harmful gasses in the atmosphere. They wrap around the earth like a thick blanket and keep the heat in, like a…

For years, scientists thought that the strikingly coloured orange sandveld lizard was extinct. There were only two recorded sightings in history and the last one was more than 10 years ago. But at the end of 2022, the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT) and various collaborators caused much excitement when they announced a sighting on the West Coast. Besides the obvious relief that human expansion hadn't wiped out yet another species, the presence of these lizards could mean a lotto conservation efforts in a region recently granted wide-ranging mining prospecting rights. If an animal is up-listed from “data deficient”, (the current status of the orange sandveld lizard) to “red listed” then the EWT has more legal clout to protect the animal's habitat. As explained in a recent EWT newsletter:“The species and…

IN BRIEF If you've hiked the Hangklip Trail in Pringle Bay, you've probably noticed the white house in the valley near the trailhead. You might have thought,“Who's the lucky owner of that place?” Wonder no more, because Bliss on the Bay belongs to the WWF and is managed by CapeNature - and it's open to the public The interior looks like something out of Scandinavia - lots of white, grey, duck egg, wood and natural fibres. There's art on the walls and big windows with views of the sea and the fynbos-clad mountains. It's a self-catering house with a huge kuier area that includes an inside braai and eight-seater dining table. There's also a games room with table tennis and foosball, and a smart TV. Notthatyou'll spend much time inside.…

TAKE FIVE Long Tom Pass links Mashishing (Lydenburg) on the Mpumalanga escarpment with Sabie in the Lowveld. Your drive might start off sunny, with views of grassland and pine plantations, but there's a good chance you'll soon be enveloped in mist. Long Tom is 26 km long and its summit is at 2 150m above sea level. From there, it loses 670 m in altitude as it snakes down the slopes of the northern Drakensberg. Just think how inaccessible these mountains must have been in the 1840s, when transport riders drove their ox-wagons through the bush to Delagoa Bay (Maputo). And long before then, between 1500 and 1820, the Bokoni people crossed these mountains on foot. They lived between present-day Carolina and Ohrigstad and farmed using terraces. On some of…

WHEELS The days when people would sneer at vehicles from India and China are long gone. The latest cars from these countries offer excellent value, they're well built, carry extensive warranties, and they feature the same technological aids and toys as their US, European and Japanese counterparts. And, since many are manufactured for roads that are not well manicured or maintained, they're perfectly suited to driving in South Africa. The new Mahindra Scorpio-N is a good example. The most expensive model costs“only” R590000 – it's a well-appointed 4×4 built on a ladder frame, equipped with a six-speed automatic transmission with low range and a mechanical difflock. We drove the Klein Tafelberg 4×4 route near Redelinghuys on a blistering hot day. With the tyres deflated to one bar, the Scorpio-N mastered…

Antoinette and I are both keen photographers. Recently, she has shifted her focus from stills to video. After one of our tours, we go through our photos and videos and select the best to make a 30-minute highlight reel with a great soundtrack. When you combine video and photographs, you have a better appreciation of the landscape you were in. We usually travel on our own, but occasionally we join a group. Almost every year since 2008, we've done a photography tour withTusk Photo at Elephant Plains Lodge in Sabi Sand, next to the Kruger Park. During our visit in October 2022, we were out on a game drive at about 5.30am. We were 11 guests in two game-viewing vehicles, accompanied by our Tusk photography guides Dawie Jacobs and Clint…