Innehållsförteckning för Nov-15 från go!

An unwanted guest? Q DIRK BURGER from Kleinmond writes: I took this photo of a male pygmy falcon perched under a sociable weaver nest in the Kalahari. The female was also around. Before long the two moved into the nest. According to a friend, sociable weavers put up with falcons because they keep snakes away from the nest. In turn the falcons are “allowed” to eat some of the chicks. This sounds a little far-fetched. Is it true? A Ornithologist ADRIAN CRAIG responds: Pygmy falcons will sometimes kill a sociable weaver or one of their chicks, but it’s definitely not “rent money”. And I don’t think a pygmy falcon could fend off a Cape cobra. The weavers tolerate the falcons mostly because they can’t drive them off. They’re not always…

Planets in a dwaal The word “planet” comes from the Greek word “planan”, meaning “wanderer”, and this month you can understand why: The planets’ movement relative to each other is clearly visible. Venus has been the “morning star” in the east for a few months. Early risers take note: On the morning of 26 October, the two brightest planets, Venus and Jupiter, will brush past each other within one degree to form a very noticeable grouping. It will be best viewed about an hour before sunrise. Venus will hunt down its next target on the morning of 3 November when Venus and Mars will be three-quarters of a degree from each other. And then the moon comes along, showing its pace! Between 6 and 8 November, the moon will gradually…

Our very own dragons I once heard an amusing story of a guest at a safari camp who asked management to remove a lizard from her room. The staff told her that it was probably just a gecko and good for keeping mosquitoes at bay, so she went back to her tent. Half and hour later she came back, this time demanding that the reptile be removed. Only then did the manager realise that the “gecko” was in fact a rock monitor of more than a metre, glaring ominously at the poor client. The rock monitor is the second biggest lizard in Africa after the water monitor. The rock monitor’s tail is slightly shorter than its body, whereas a water monitor’s tail can be as much as one-and-a-half times the…

How did you end up in the safari industry? In 2010 I received a B.Com degree from Stellenbosch University, but I decided to pursue a career outdoors instead. I did my safari guide training with andBeyond ( andbeyond.com ), a company that organises luxury safaris in Africa and India. Today I work for the company full time as assistant head safari guide at Phinda, a private nature reserve in northern KwaZulu-Natal. Where does your love of nature come from? As a child I would watch David Attenborough’s programmes over and over again. I saw the documentary Meerkats United when I was three and for a while afterwards I believed that I was actually a meerkat. My poor parents have a home video of me refusing to speak…

CITY BOWL This is where it all happens! Hipsters and vendors and tourists jostle on Cape Town’s narrow streets – the oldest in South Africa. Get a bird’s-eye view of it all from the summit of Lion’s Head, then immerse yourself in the sights and sounds of the city. MORNING The easiest way to the top of Table Mountain is via the cableway, but it’ll cost you R240 per adult and R115 per child for a return ticket. The free option is to hike, but even the most direct route via Platteklip Gorge will take about 4 – 5 hours return. Another alternative? Climb Lion’s Head, Table Mountain’s equally scenic little brother. The starting points for both hikes are at the same height above sea level, but Lion’s Head is…

CATHY WITHERS-CLARKE Nikon D7100 Sigma 18 – 250 mm lens CATHY WRITES: I took this photo in Addo Elephant National Park. It had been a long day. We’d been in the park since the gates opened. As we were leaving, we came up behind this ellie family walking down the road. I loved the way they were all ambling along in line in no hurry at all, keeping pace with each other except for the little one whose legs were just too short. They looked as if they’d also had a long day, and were just as happy as we were to be heading home to rest for the night. SHELLEY SAYS: Cathy did an excellent job composing this frame, leaving just enough of the road in the picture to…

JOHANNESBURG ZOO Ask any parent in Joburg for advice about the best places to take young children and the zoo regularly features top of the list. You can do a round-the-world trip on a Saturday morning from the rainforests of the Amazon to the African savannah. The animal enclosures are clean and spacious and the zoo itself remains one of the loveliest properties in the city, with lawns shaded by tall trees and views of Westcliff and Saxonwold. Of course a zoo will never compare to a game reserve, but if you’ve always wondered how big a tarantula actually is, or how small a pygmy hippo is, a zoo is the place to go. Each exhibit has biological and conservation information about the species it houses, which makes for an…

Everyone has a favourite back road, and this is mine. It’s at the foot of the Swartberg on the Prince Albert side, running parallel to the folds of the mountains; a 45km gravel ribbon of a road that unspools into a grove of fig frees at the Weltevrede Fig Farm. Dust from this road is deeply embedded in just about every crevice of my car and in all the hard-to-reach nooks and crannies of my camera. Normally that might pose a problem, but I actually quite like the thought of it being there...…

To write this month’s feature about Kaapsehoop on the escarpment near Nelspruit (p 106), we enlisted local resident and journalist Annemarie van der Walt. But a few days before photographer Marianne Schwankhart arrived with a brief to make the village look as pretty as possible, the forestry teams started lighting fires… Heck! What do we do now? Annemarie: Kaapsehoop is in a forestry area and contained fires to clear vegetation for firebreaks are common during the winter months, as are smaller fringe burns. But I had thought they would only happen much later in the season. A few days before Marianne was scheduled to arrive I saw smoke on the mountain and my heart sank. A faded winter landscape is dull enough; charred veld is just plain sad. Hoping that…

2581m Bidstone Pass in the Eastern Cape. This is the pass you need to conquer to reach Tiffindell Ski Resort. 2587m Naudé’s Nek, also in the Eastern Cape. The average gradient of this pass is 1:16, which means that you climb one vertical metre for every 16 m you progress. It’s named after the Naudé brothers, farmers in the region who helped to design the pass. There’s a memorial for them at the foot of the pass (GPS: S30.76354 E28.05673 ). 2820m Moteng Pass in Lesotho. It’s 7,9 km long and can be quite dangerous in winter when there is ice on the road. 2876m Sani Pass in KZN. This is the highest pass in South Africa and has a maximum gradient of 1:3. The road was…

4 – 7 NOVEMBER Delmas Christmas Market  Buy special gifts for your family or spoil yourself with something nice. Lorraine Swanepoel, one of the contestants on the Afrikaans cooking show Kokkedoor, will host a pop-up coffee shop where you can try various baked goods and gourmet milkshakes. Where? Hervormde Kerk hall, Sarel Cilliers Street When? 4 – 6 November from 9 am to 7 pm; 7 November from 9 am to 2 pm. Contact: 082 928 4317 (Ria); delmasmall.co.za 7 NOVEMBER Innistraat Festival, Winterton  Once a year, the people of Winterton in KZN close their main street for a big party. There will be more than 60 stalls selling food, wine, craft beer, handmade goods, toys and art, plus cultural activities like performances by the Drakensberg Boys Choir…

Every dorp has a festival, it seems, although the line between celebrating something unique to an area and looking for an excuse to crack open another bottle of Klippies is often a bit blurry. Not so for the biggest event on the Hantam social calendar: For 25 years, the Vleisfees has been about the quality of the region’s lamb, bringing the community together and showcasing the hospitality of its people. To kick off proceedings, we gather at the golf club on Thursday evening for a cowboy-themed dance and a three-course meal, with Afrikaans singer Nic Stevens on the mic. When the first chorus kicks in, couples shuffle onto the dance floor and I get a sudden flashback to school sokkies and feeling like a wallflower – I don’t know a…

It had been a while since I’d listened to Aussie band Midnight Oil. I hadn’t realised I’d missed them until I was exploring the back roads between Hoedspruit and Nelspruit in the new KIA Sorento and their track “Dreamworld” played on the local radio station. “The Breakfast Creek hotel is up for sale, the last square mile of terra firma gavelled in the mail,” sang Peter Garrett in his trademark rasp. It seemed like the perfect theme song for the trip and I made a mental note to dig out my old Diesel and Dust CD as soon as I returned home. A week later I was behind the wheel of a Subaru Outback, this time driving through Dinokeng Game Reserve just north of Pretoria. I had added “Dreamworld” to…

THE RATE INCLUDES WHAT TO BRING TOUR DETAILS When and how long? 20 – 31 July 2016; 12 days, 11 nights Departure point? Plumtree Border Post End point? Victoria Falls Accommodation? Mostly in lodges, plus two nights on a houseboat on Lake Kariba. Cost? R29 750 per adult; single supplement additional 30 %. WHAT TO EXPECT DAY 1: We meet at the Plumtree Border Post between Botswana and Zimbabwe. From here it is two hours to our lodge where we’ll spend the next two nights. DAY 2: A specialist tour guide will join us at World’s View in Matobo National Park. DAY 3: We make our way to Masvingo via Bulawayo to restock and refuel, and spend the…

1 Lesoba Guest Farm The R711 between Clarens and Fouriesburg is one of the most scenic roads in the Eastern Free State, flanked by valleys of waving grass and poplar trees in the distance. Lesoba is at the foot of some sandstone cliffs that look like they’re wearing crowns. One of the formations is called Queen Victoria. Go for a late afternoon walk through the most picturesque part of the farm and watch the shadows lengthen, as the mountains in Lesotho turn blue. Or stretch out on your stoep and admire the view of the valley below. Facilities: Four sandstone chalets next to a small dam (three sleep six; one sleeps nine). Each chalet has braai facilities. There are also two double rooms next to each other with a connecting…

The Kgalagadi’s crazy horns Annetjie Carelsen’s photo of an impala with drooping horns in go! #112 caught my attention. When I was in the Kgalagadi Trans-frontier Park recently, I noticed many antelope with damaged or deformed horns. All the animals seemed to be doing okay, though, despite their unique headgear. CONRAD DREYER, Vredendal Thanks for the flower special Your spring flower edition helped us plan the holiday of a lifetime. During our 2 600 km journey I referred to it so frequently that the pages are now battered and dog-eared. We visited Ramskop Wildflower Garden in Clanwilliam and were overwhelmed at the variety of flowers on display. We stayed overnight at Pampoenfontein Guest Farm ( pampoenfontein.co.za ) near Porterville – it wasn’t in your article but it…

Proe-i-Biekie, Baltimore, Limpopo When you travel along the N11 from Mokopane towards the Groblersbrug border post into Botswana, Baltimore is the last “big town”. This means, of course, that it’s also the only town … North of town, Proe-i-Biekie suddenly appears next to the road. Park your car under the trees and order one of Johanna Mokweti’s vetkoek (R25 with cheese and syrup) or ask Bettie Hough to help you choose from the preserves. Owner Ina van der Walt bakes the rusks herself (R40 a pack). You can also order a milkshake (R29) or a toasted ham, cheese and tomato sandwich (R25). Accommodation is available on the farm if you won’t make the border before dark. Where? 12 km north of Baltimore, next to the N11. When? Monday to Friday…

It’s May in East Griqualand and I’m layered up to my ears in emergency winter clothing from Pep: R80 jeans, itchy polyester tights and a hoodie that makes me look like a penguin. Since February I’ve been based in a tiny village close to Mount Frere, researching local health-care access. My fieldwork is finally complete, my car is packed up with notes, isiXhosa language guides and camping gear, and I’m about to begin the long trek back to Cape Town for the next stage of the project. But with three months of dusty lodgings, long-drop toilets and bucket baths behind me, there’s something that absolutely cannot wait until Cape Town: a hot bath. I drive along the N2 towards Kokstad, where I’ve booked into a B&B. Giddy with excitement, I…

GATSRIVIER, TANKWA KAROO To get to Gatsrivier you have to open and close several farm gates, but that’s a good thing: It slows you down and prepares you for the tranquillity waiting at this holiday farm. I recently attended a 40th birthday party here – we booked out the whole place and chatted in the lapa until late. The kids had a ball in and around the campsite. Sit back and relax, drive one of the 4x4 trails (2 – 5 hours), hike, cycle or look for birds and plants. Facilities: The campsite and houses are spread out over several kilometres along the Ongeluks River (a branch of the Gats River, which runs into the Tanqua River) so you’ll have lots of privacy. The campsite is well managed and the…

One of the first questions a visitor to Kaapsehoop always asks me is: “Do you really live here?” And the second: “But why?” My village with its grid of gravel streets has a doll’s house feel and its charm is sometimes baffling, even to those who call it home. The name, which translates as “Hope of the Cape” won’t tell you much either. Kaapsehoop is actually in the northern Drakensberg in Mpumalanga. It’s right on the edge of the Lowveld but it’s about 1 000 m higher than nearby Nelspruit. Then there’s the fickle weather. The sun might be cooking the landscape below, but Kaapsehoop will be shrouded in mist, which can hang around for days. But let’s start at the beginning. Like other towns in the area, Kaapsehoop was…

Did you know that the Malmesbury Museum used to be a synagogue? Next time you’re driving past on the N7, turn off and go have a look at the yellow building close to the town centre. The Hebrew for “How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob” is still inscribed above the front door. The first Jewish traders settled in Malmesbury in the late 1800s. By the early 1900s there was an active Jewish community of 40 families and they decided to build a synagogue. One of the founders of the first congregation, Max Goldman, drew up the plans and also supervised the construction of the synagogue in Prospect Street. The cornerstone was laid on 11 November 1911. Over time, the Jewish community dwindled as more and more people moved to…