Innehållsförteckning för August 2018 från go!

The advent of the podcast is the one thing that has fundamentally improved my state of mind by the time I walk into our office in the city centre in Cape Town. I have chosen to live 40km away in rural tranquillity, but the flip side is a commute from hell that sends my blood pressure soaring, my heart racing and shortens my lifespan if my timing is off. I don’t like swearing, but “taxi” is a four-letter word! Listening to talk radio doesn’t help. Politics, crime, drought, recession... Or the news that another darned minibus has lost a wheel and is now blocking my – and thousands of other grumpy commuters’ – route into the city. No wonder my brain feels like a mouldy Brussels sprout by the time…

Next time you head to Addo Elephant National Park, pull over at Marley’s for breakfast on the stoep. Owner Mareli Meyer grew up in the area and jumped at the opportunity to open a restaurant next to the Orange Elephant backpackers hostel. “We’re a breakfast option for the people who stay at the backpackers and for anyone who drives by,”she says. The menu certainly adheres to the backpacker ethos and offers good value for money: Keep it simple with the Early Bird (bacon, eggs and toast for R30) or an omelette (two eggs R15; from R5 per filling) or go big with the Farmhouse breakfast (bacon, eggs, boerewors, chips, tomato and toast for R70). In summer they also serve smoothies and fruit with yoghurt. Start your day with a good…

MEET THE AUTHOR Tony Park from Australia has published 15 thrillers since 2004, all set in Africa and often with a conservation focus – he’s been hailed as the next Wilbur Smith. Tony loves the bush so much that he spends six months a year in the Lowveld. He tells us more about his writing life and his novel Captive , which is set in South Africa and Mozambique. Tell us about your first visit to South Africa. In 1995, my wife Nicola booked a self-drive trip for us around South Africa, Zimbabwe and Botswana. We flew from Sydney to Johannesburg and went straight to the Kruger Park in an old Toyota Corolla with no aircon. The first camp we stayed in was Pretoriuskop and it’s still…

Stadsaal Caves & Truitjieskraal: R40 per adult; R20 per child at CapeNature offices and most guest farms. Maltese Cross Trail: R60 per adult; R35 per child at CapeNature offices, Dwarsrivier (reception office for Sanddrif), Kromrivier and Driehoek (if you hike via Eikeboom). Hiking trails on private guest farms are free for guests. Day visitors R40 per adult; R20 per child. Driehoek hiking trails R60 per adult; R35 per child. Wolfberg Arch: R60 per adult; R35 per child at CapeNature offices, Driehoek and Dwarsrivier (R100 per adult; R60 per child at Dwarsrivier because you have to go through the cracks to get to the arch). Wolfberg Cracks: R50 per adult; R30 per child. You can only get the permit at Dwarsrivier because the cracks are on their property.…

If you have a passport, a bakkie, a GPS and something in your bank account, you’re ready for an extended tour of Africa. We live on a continent with world-class destinations. What does the Ngorongoro Crater look like in real life? Are the wildebeest herds in the Maasai Mara as amazing as people say? How easy is it to explore a smaller country like Rwanda or Uganda, where mountain gorillas roam? Then there are the Great Lakes, mountains like Meru and Kilimanjaro, rainforests, savannahs, bushveld, coral beaches, old trading towns… Don’t put off your trip. When I first drove to Dar es Salaam in 2012, I was surprised by how easy it actually was. I travelled in the magazine’s old Toyota Condor. I didn’t have a roof tent or a…

Marcus Jooste grew up on a farm in Zimbabwe and was fascinated by butterflies and other insects from a young age. That fascination grew into a love for macrophotography; his camera, like a magnifying glass, revealing the miniature world right under our noses. Eventually, one humble creature began to dominate the limelight – a common garden snail called Vincent. (Vincent made his debut in go! #113) For Marcus, Vincent is a character who inhabits a fairy-tale world; a world that the photographer constructs using props like mushrooms, leaves and flowers, and which he brings to life using various lighting techniques. “I strive to get as much right in-camera as possible,” says Marcus, who only tweaks things like sharpness and colour in Lightroom. “I consider myself a photographer and not a…

Looking at Williston from the top of the koppie, the landscape unfolds like a map. The Carnarvon road comes in from the left and the Fraserburg road approaches from the opposite side of town. In the distance I can see the road from Calvinia, and at the base of the koppie is the road to Brandvlei. The sun is rising. As the light touches the church tower, the big neon cross nearby on the koppie flickers and switches off. A truck rumbles in from the north – the first of many that will pass through town today. The roosters of Williston start to crow and the lights come on in the dining hall of the school hostel. That reminds me: It’s time for breakfast. I find a table at Die…

1 THE WAFFLE HOUSE Eat a waffle Ask any local whether they’ve been to The Waffle House and the answer will be: “Dude! Duuuh!”The Waffle House next to the Ramsgate Lagoon has been a landmark in the area since 1957, when it was known as the Tea House of the Blue Lagoon. Every crisp, golden waffle served is freshly made and you can order almost any kind of topping you can think of: ice cream with chocolate sauce, smoked salmon, chicken curry… The restaurant has free Wi-Fi so you can share a photo of your waffle on Instagram to make your friends jealous. If you can’t stomach the thought of so many calories, take a walk on the beach afterwards or hire a paddle boat and burn off your waffle…

BIRDS ROBERTS VII MULTIMEDIA BIRDS OF SOUTHERN AFRICA The Roberts app might not look as impressive on your coffee table as the stupendous Roberts VII hardcover, but it delivers the same info and it’s much cheaper. The app provides detailed information about 968 bird species and has interactive functions like a checklist, bird-call recordings and GPS maps. It will take up 1 GB of storage on your phone, so you might need to cull your music collection before you download it. Cost: R500 NEWMAN’S BIRDS OF SOUTHERN AFRICA The Newman’s app is a concise field guide for your phone, rather than an encyclopaedia with long descriptions. It features 975 bird species found in southern Africa, with illustrations, photos and about 800 bird-call recordings. You can download…

KING KORI OF THE KALAHARI Whether they are conscious of it or not, birders have a fierce fascination with etymology. The study of the meaning and origin of words plays an Oscar-winning supporting role in our hobby. The main plot line, of course, is to identify the species: calling it by its correct name. But what does that name mean, and what are its roots? There is a whole section of my bookshelf dedicated to tomes that delve into bird-themed Latin and Greek. Then there are the Afrikaans names, and the names in other African languages. The English names are the least reliable of all – they’ve been in a state of flux for years and continue to cause grumbles. Take the kori bustard, for example. That titan of the…

It’s a bit of a drive from Cape Town to the KZN South Coast – about 1 500 km – but who doesn’t like a long road trip? I travelled via the Karoo and it was wonderful to watch the landscape change around me. The rocky ridges became grassland and mielie fields, which were then drowned out by subtropical, so-green-it-hurts-the-eyes vegetation. I was born and raised in the Cape so holidays at the seaside have never been a priority. Instead, we usually went to my grandfather’s farm in the Eastern Cape Drakensberg. But when I visited the South Coast for this story, I finally understood why people are so enamoured by the sea. No matter where (or when) you go, there’s a holiday spirit in the air: Hawkers sell souvenirs,…

At the time of going to print, the following hiking trails were still closed due to a big fire that ravaged the Cederberg in December 2016. The trails will be opened as soon as the vegetation has recovered. Contact CapeNature for the latest updates. • Wolfberg Arch • Wolfberg Cracks • Filander se Werf • Middelberg • Grootlandskop • Uilsgat • Die Gat • Crystal Pools • Engelsmanskloof • Sneeukop • Sleeppad • Welbedacht • Tafelberg • De Rif • Gabriël’s Pass • Agter-Tafelberg…

Cream cheese lasagne Serves 6 Preparation time 10 minutes Cooking time 40 minutes It can be time-consuming to make lasagne, but this recipe is quick and easy – you won’t even have to make a white sauce! You need • 30 ml oil • 500 g beef mince • 400 g jar Napolitana sauce • 250 g plain cream cheese • 250 ml sour cream • 375 ml grated mozzarella • 250 ml grated parmesan • 6 – 9 lasagne sheets, cooked beforehand if needed Here’s how 1 Preheat the oven to 180° C. 2 Heat the oil and fry the mince until brown and cooked. Remove from the heat and add the pasta sauce. 3 Mix the cream cheese, sour cream, half of the mozzarella and half of the parmesan together. 4 Spoon some of the mince…

Karusaf sells everything from deboned lamb shoulder to sosaties, neck, ribs, schnitzel, biltong and rump steak. They have a distribution point in Somerset West and a courier service that covers the Western Cape as far as Still Bay. 053 391 3156; karusaf.co.za Okki Deli: Place your order about a week before you pass through Williston. Everything is fresh and prepared especially for you. Try the sosaties – they’re made using a family recipe. The deli also has a courier service. Free delivery for orders over R1 200. 084 905 1036; ojmeat.co.za…

A special visit to St Helena My mother-in-law Smé van Zyl has always wanted to visit St Helena island. Over the years, she and her late husband read almost every book about the Anglo-Boer War and the prisoners kept on St Helena, but they never got the opportunity to sail there aboard the Royal Mail ship. So, as a special treat for her 90th birthday, we booked a flight for Smé and 20 of her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Here we are at Jacob’s Ladder in Jamestown. Our group caused quite a stir on the island! South Africans could learn a lot about hospitality from the Saints, as the residents of the island call themselves. It was an unforgettable experience. We snorkelled, scuba-dived, fished, climbed Diana’s Peak and visited Longwood…

• Stop at the various tourism offices in the towns you visit. You’ll be able to get the latest flower news and a map of the routes you can drive. You can also call beforehand to find out where the flowers are. • Check the weather forecast using a reliable source like yr.no. If it’s overcast, the flowers won’t open fully. • Flowers always turn towards the sun. For spectacular vistas, try to approach your chosen destination from the north, with the sun behind you. POSTBERG IS OPEN This section of the West Coast National Park is only open during August and September and it’s known for its fields of white, yellow and orange daisies. Postberg gets super busy over weekends, so try to go during the week. Cost: R77 per adult; R39…

You might not have noticed, but over the course of July, four of the five planets visible in the night sky will have formed themselves into an arc. How to identify them? Keep an eye on the moon, which will pass each of the planets during August. The moon will be near Venus on 14 August, near Jupiter on the 17th, near Saturn on the 21st and near Mars on the 23rd. (Uranus and Neptune are never visible with the naked eye.) Watch Venus specifically. Early in 2018, Venus became the evening star and has since been climbing steadily. On 17 August at sunset, Venus will reach its highest point above the western horizon (46 degrees). Two days before then – on 15 August – it will also be in…

Where does your love of travel come from? I grew up in Shayandima near Thohoyandou in Limpopo and I got the travel bug from my grandparents. They always travelled with us as a family on our annual festive season trips in and around Limpopo and Mpumalanga. I never imagined that travel would turn into my escape and my career, though. That said, most of my family members work in travel and tourism so I guess the bug bit all of us! How did you become a travel blogger? I spent six months on the Internet reading other travel blogs – what they do and how they do it. Then I had to choose my niche, which is affordable travel in Africa. Travelling the continent was always my childhood dream, and…

Hiking trail Place of interest Restaurant/farm stall The Cederberg has a dual appeal. Obviously the mountains are incredibly scenic, and it’s a pleasure to escape into them on foot, but the place also makes you think. The landscape has an ancient sort of gravitas and that timeless feeling is heightened when you come across a rock painting in a wind-sculpted cave, or when you crumble some rooibos leaves between your fingers. Large parts of the southern Cederberg were ravaged by a fire in 2016, including landmarks like the Wolfberg Cracks, Wolfberg Arch, Tafelberg and Welbedacht (see page 34). But don’t delay your trip – there are still lots of awesome places to visit. If you’re not in a 4x4 or on an adventure bike, there are only a few access…

SATURDAY A crowd of people is waiting in the departures hall at OR Tambo airport: Saints (citizens of St Helena), an Englishman, a French couple, a mother and daughter from Pretoria and a quiet Finn who is paging through Lighthouses of Southern Africa by Gerald Hoberman. What a motley crew! St Helena is a small island – I suspect we’ll all run into each other in the coming week… The aircraft touches down in Windhoek to refuel. Apparently the pilot is mandated to carry enough fuel in case he or she can’t land the aeroplane on the island and has to fly to Ascension Island, or turn around. For hours, all I see is a dense fog bank and the endless blue Atlantic. Then, suddenly, St Helena rises from the…

1 SIMIEN MOUNTAINS, ETHIOPIA. The mountains, the geladas, the waterfalls… Amazing. 2 MAASAI MARA, KENYA. We slept alone among the animals without a fence between us – that was the cherry on top! 3 ILHA DE MOZAMBIQUE. We did a boat cruise, saw whales and snorkelled over a shipwreck. 4 GREAT ZIMBABWE. It should be more famous than the pyramids, but we’re glad it’s not. It wouldn’t have been so peaceful there otherwise. 5 BWINDI, UGANDA. We didn’t make a booking to do the mountain gorilla excursion and just showed up at Buhoma in southern Bwindi. We asked a day before whether we could tag along on the next excursion. Initially the park officials said no, but they called us later and gave us the go-ahead.…

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…

Tannin is a naturally occurring compound found in seeds, bark, leaves and fruit skins. It’s what gives certain red wines that grippy, mouth-drying feeling when you take a sip. That doesn’t sound too pleasant, but tannins are necessary if a red wine is to age. Luckily, they’re nearly always softened when you drink a red wine with food. Here are three wines with different levels of tannin – see which one suits you best… If you don’t want anything to do with tannins and you prefer your reds soft, fresh and fruity, then the Stellenbosch Hills Polkadraai Pinotage/Merlot 2017 (R44,50) is up your alley. It’s got a teensy bit of sugar, which makes it fatter and rounder. I love the combination of pinotage and merlot, which delivers a delicious mouthful…

Like a car, a bike loses value the second you roll it out of the shop. If you know what you’re looking for, it makes sense to buy second-hand. The best resource for this is the classifieds section at bikehub.co.za . The community nature of the site means that charlatans are quickly rooted out, and prices are generally fair. If you’d prefer the security of a retail experience, many bike shops also sell second-hand models that have been vetted, or they can point you to a shop that does.…

COST R6 850 per person sharing. The group size is limited to six people (six minimum) and is led by a registered guide. A vehicle will transport your luggage. DATES You can book your tour for any weekend between July and October 2018. Tours run from Friday to Sunday, e.g. 3 – 5 August 2018. ITINERARY DAY 1 – FRIDAY The group meets at Bushveld Terrace Hotel and Guest House, just outside the Phalaborwa gate. We do a 30 – 40 km ride in the direction of Letaba Ranch, stopping for a sundowner on the way. We arrive back at Bushveld Terrace in time to freshen up for a lovely dinner in the restaurant, and a night in the hotel. DAY 2 – SATURDAY The cycle tour starts early, and…

SHELTER ROCK TRAIL, MAGALIESBERG While the Magaliesberg can’t really hold a candle to the mighty Drakensberg, it’s only a 90-minute drive from Joburg. That must count for something! The Shelter Rock Trail also gives you the chance to climb to the top of a mountain – and it’s only 8 km long. It’s a nice outing if you live in Gauteng and you want something to do on a sunny Saturday morning. The trail starts at the reception office and parking area at Shelter Rock farm, west of Hartbeespoort Dam. The path is well marked and the lower slopes are covered in karee and thorn trees. It’s cool under the canopy and ferns spring up all over during the rainy season. Just after you pass a car wreck, you leave…

Stuurmansfontein  This is a restored corbelled house on Piet and Charmaine Botha’s farm Bethlehem in the Carnarvon district. The house doesn’t have power, but it’s equipped with a coal stove, a gas stove and a gas fridge. It’s out in the veld, beautifully decorated and sleeps six people. Where? About 100 km along the R63 to Carnarvon. GPS: S31.06294 E21.83990 (turn-off ) Rates: R950 per night for two people; R1 350 for four; R1 650 for six. Contact: 053 382 6097; stuurmansfontein@lantic.net Osfontein  This corbelled house in the Carnarvon district sleeps five (one double bed; three single beds). The stove and fridge run on electricity, but at night you can light a candle and watch the flames dance on the rugged stone walls. Where? About 40 km south…

• You don’t need a licence if you’re just taking photos and videos to show to your friends or family. You don’t have to register your drone either. If you earn money with the photo material, you need a licence from the South African Civil Aviation Authority. • The drone may never be more than 500 m from the pilot or higher than 300 m from the ground. The pilot has to be able to see the drone at all times. • Your drone may weigh up to 7 kg. (Most drones with cameras weigh less than 1,5 kg.) The drone may not be fitted with any other accessories. • You may only fly the drone during the day, and preferably not in poor weather conditions. • The drone should always be at least 50…

NAMIBIA & ANGOLA, 1955 Elsa van Zyl (73) from Kokanje, Modimolle writes: My story goes back many years, to 1955. Back then, Namibia was known as South West Africa and it was a distant, strange country to many of us living in the Union of South Africa. It was a land of sand and gravel roads – a dream for hunters, who were also allowed to hunt in Angola and along the Caprivi Strip. My father Hendrik Nel was a farmer from Bronkhorstspruit and he loved to hunt. So he planned a tour with two friends who were both doctors: Bert Bodenstap from Pretoria and Werner Kuschke from Rundu. Kuschke was the district physician in the Okavango area, on the South West Africa side of the border. The preparations took…

WELWITSCHIA BEING WATER-WISE Although it looks like the welwitschia has many leaves, there are in fact only two, which split and fray as the plant gets older. Each leaf has thousands of tiny pores to absorb moisture when fog rolls in over the desert from the Atlantic Ocean. The leaves can grow up to 6 m long! SHOVSEL SNOUTED LIZARD BEING WATER-WISE The shovel-snouted lizard has twobladders – one for urine and one for water. It can store up to 12 % of its own weight in water. They can survive for up to two weeks without water if the second bladder is full. HALFFMENS A HARD EXTERIOR The halfmens – a special kind of plant that grows in the Richtersveld – stores water in its thick trunk. The trunk…

I like my food. (Hey, I didn’t get this physique from running marathons!) Chops, potato salad and braaibroodjies are my staples, but from time to time I yearn for something more exotic. Even watermelon and feta salad has reached a peak. Bobotie and yellow rice is nice, but rather surprise me with something out of the ordinary. I’m not talking about weird flavour combinations like mince and naartjie salad, or banana and pea tart – that’s for when you’re trying to impress your neighbour or your mother-in-law. No, I’m talking about real experimentation, getting off our continent and exploring flavours from further afield. I love it when my taste buds go ballistic, as if an entire Kaapse Klopse troupe is jolling on my tongue. Once, in a side street in…