Getaway August 2021

Early one morning in June, my wife, Sarah, and I woke to a strange sound. Crack! Crack! Crack! As we stumbled out of bed, the room was briefly lit by flashes from the window. Peering out I realised the electric fence was arcing on a giant number two. Thatʼs not a toilet euphemism, you understand; a metallic-looking party balloon in the shape of a ʻ2ʼ was tangled in our tree and was bouncing against the wire. It wasnʼt only our sleep that was disturbed… there was a miserable child somewhere lamenting the loss of their inflated second year. Pop! A couple of days later we were on the Franschhoek Pass photographing the valley and mountains for a magazine feature. Sarah looked up and exclaimed: ʻVerreauxʼs eagle!ʼ Sure enough, a black…

Melanie van Zyl SODWANA DIVING (P68) Way back when cars were allowed to cruise along the beach, Melanie van Zyl was that Vaalie who spent the December holidays fending off vervet monkeys from the campsite and burying her sister in the sands of northern KwaZulu-Natal. Following the beach driving ban, her family increasingly took to the Limpopo bushveld instead. It took a fishing-mad Pietermaritzburg born-and-bred partner to reintroduce her to the wonders of what is now called iSimangaliso Wetland Park. Melanie has since grown a sweet fondness for the sea and exploring the wild underwater world. So much so, that she introduced others to it on a scuba diving trip with Womxn for Wild. Lynelle Govender and AJ Wattamaniuk DESERT LIONS (P82) It takes two! Writer Lynelle Govender and photographer…

Finding Memo While all whales have the ability to breach, none do so more often than humpback whales. Scientists believe breaching is a form of communication, a way of sending long-distance messages to other whales. Humpbacks can weigh a whopping 40 tons each, so we’re sure those memos are very well received. Each year these giant communicators migrate from Antarctica to the warm waters of Mozambique and Madagascar, where they give birth. They are most active along the Cape Coast in August – watch out for them swimming with their calves alongside them.…

August 24, 79 AD VESUVIUS erupts, destroying the Roman cities of Pompeii, Stabiae and Herculaneum in southern Italy. August 2, 1939 ALBERT EINSTEIN writes a letter to US President Franklin D Roosevelt concerning the possible use of atomic weapons. ‘A single bomb of this type carried by boat and exploded in a port, might very well destroy the whole port, together with some of the surrounding territory.’ Six years and four days later, on 6 August 1945, the US drops the first atomic bomb on the Japanese port city of Hiroshima. August 5, 1962 NELSON MANDELA is arrested at a roadblock just outside Howick, KwaZulu-Natal, and sentenced to five years in prison for incitement and leaving the country illegally. In 1964, he is placed on trial and sentenced to life in…

KOKETSO MOETI Founder of online activist platform Amandla.mobi, Koketso Moeti is an advocate for social justice and equality. Many of the campaigns that Amandla.mobi undertakes are focused on gaining accessibility for black women. FATIMA ASMAL Based in Durban, Fatima Asmal runs a number of programmes through the Institute for Learning and Motivation, an organisation she set up to empower women, often from abusive backgrounds, to start their own businesses and become self-sufficient.ilmsa.co.za KWEZILOMSO MBANDAZAYO, the manager of the women’s rights and gender justice programmes for Oxfam South Africa (oxfam.org.za), runs workshops to raise awareness of gender-based violence, and empower those affected by it.…

The Woman’s Day theme for 2021 is GENERATION EQUALITY: Realising Women’s Rights for an Equal Future, which links to a global campaign to achieve gender equality by 2030. Representatives of each race delivered 14 000 signatures to the Office of Prime Minister JG Strijdom. The march to the Union Buildings was PLANNED FOR A THURSDAY when black domestic workers usually had a day off, to ensure maximum numbers. The women stood for 30 minutes in silence, then sang Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika followed by a women’s freedom song called WATHINT' ABAFAZI, WATHINT’ IMBOKODO! (YOU STRIKE A WOMAN, YOU STRIKE A ROCK!) For the first time in South African history, 50 percent of ministers in the cabinet are women, but there is still huge inequality in the workplace. For the past 30 years, women have been earning…