If you’re looking for fresh, juicy fruit this summer, it won’t get any better than picking it yourself. Put on a hat, slather on some sunscreen, and spend a day among the plants on one of these farms across South Africa. Prepare to get your hands (and face) stained with sweet, sticky juice as you fill up on the ripe fruits in season.

Western Cape

Hoogwater Fresh Fig Picking

Spend a morning wandering between the trees in the orchard, filling up on as many figs as your heart desires (or your tummy can hold). Take whatever you can’t manage to eat home. There will be a pop-up deli, homemade croissants for early pickers and cheese boards. Wine tasting and sales are also on offer at the farm.

Add beautiful fresh figs to your festive dinner menu. Photo courtesy of Kristin Brenemen

What to pick: Fresh figs (white flesh and Mediterranean) directly from the tree.
When to go:  Saturday 08:00 to 13:00, from 13 January until 3 February (four Saturdays).
Location: Hoogwater Farm, R43 road towards Ceres, Wolseley.
Cost: R45 per adult and R20 per child. R5 per punnet that you take home. There are no credit card facilities so bring cash.
Contact: Madri Ochse on 0837622803 or visit Hoogwater’s Facebook page for updates.

Klondyke Cherry Farm

Enjoy a fun day picking cherries with the whole family, or stay a little longer in one of the three cottages on the farm for a mini break from the city.

What to pick: Cherries
When to go: Cherry-picking season starts from 23 November. Open daily from 08:30 to 16:00.
Location:  Klondyke Farm, Ceres.
Cost: R30 per adult and R15 for children under 10. R5 for children under five. The farm has credit card facilities.
Contact: 0233121521, cherryfarm.co.za

Mooiberg Farm Stall

Don’t be scared away by the gigantic scarecrows that populate the farm, they’re really quite friendly on closer inspection. Bask in the sunshine while picking your own strawberries to take home. Stop off at the farm stall on your way out for some delectable treats to take home.

What to pick: Strawberries
When to go: Saturday and Sunday 09:00 to 17:00 between November and January
Location:  Mooiberg Farm, between Stellenbosch and Somerset West on the R44
Cost:  Charged per kilogram that you pick
Contact: 0218813222

Wildebraam Berry Estate

Wildebraam’s berry picking season has already begun, but it’s never too late to join the fun. Follow a morning of berry picking with a trip to the tasting room to sample the range of liqueurs produced in the private cellar and learn about the liqueur making process. Take home a delicious array of liqueured fruits, jams, dessert syrups, chutneys, relishes and pickles produced by the farm kitchen.

The Wildebraam Berry Festival is a three-day event from 1 to 3 December 2017. There will be Carols by Candelight and performances by Watershed and Manouche Gypsy Jazz Band on consecutive days. Visit Facebook for more information.

Fill your hands with strawberries and dreams at these beautiful farms across South Africa . Photo courtesy of adwriter.

What to pick: Blackberry and youngberry
When to go: 13 November to 22 December.
Location: Wildebraam, S4 Hermitage South Lane, Hermitage Valley, Swellendam, 6740
Cost: R10 per person. If you buy your own bucket it’s R12 for a medium and R17 for a  large. Blackberries are charged at R25 per kilogram and youngberries at R30 per kilogram.
Contact: 0285143132, wildebraam.co.za

Garden Route

Redberry Farm

Fill a small or large bucket with delicious strawberries while taking a carefree walk through the farm with the majestic Outeniqua mountains in the background. The friendly staff are always on hand to share their strawberry knowledge.

Photo courtesy of USDAgov

What to pick: Various types of strawberries.
When to go: Monday to Saturday 09:00 to 16:00, all year round.
Location: Redberry Farm, Geelhoutboom Road, off R404, Blanco, George.
Cost: a small bucket is R20 per person and a large bucket is R30 per person.
Contact: redberryfarm.co.za

Gauteng

Tangaroa

Situated at the foot of the Magaliesberg mountains near Hartbeespoort Dam. Eat as many strawberries as you like (or can, if you’re up for a challenge) while in the fields and fill a bucket to take home. Have lunch at Fraise or buy a picnic hamper to enjoy under the trees. They sometimes have to close at 14:00 if there are too many people, but announcements are posted on their social media pages.

What to pick: Strawberries
When to go: Saturdays and Sundays from 07:30 to 16:00 until the first week of December.
Location: Tangaroa Strawberry Farm, Hartbeespoort
Cost: R50 for under 10 and R70 for over 10.
Contact: 0825035996, thestrawberryfarm.co.za

Free State

Berry Picking at Bon-Af Berry Farm

Take a guided tour through the orchard and fill up on the wide variety of berries available. The exciting annual Bon-Af Berry Festival is scheduled to take place on 8 December 2012.  Containers are provided for taking berries home and you can also purchase frozen berries out of season.

When it’s not berry season, the farm also offers coffee roasting and butter-making tours. Photo from the Berry Farm.

What to pick: Blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, strawberries and gooseberries.
When to go: open daily from 08:00 to 17:00. Picking is from end of November until the end of March.
Location: Bon-Af Berry Farm, next to the N1 on R59/R42 to Parys.
Cost: R40 per person for picking and R20 per person if you have just come to taste.
Contact: 0568113966, berry-farm.co.za 

KwaZulu-Natal

Litchi Farm, Salt Rock

Climb aboard a trailer pulled by the farm’s tractor for a trip to the orchard. While there, pick your own litchis and fill up on as many as you like. Make sure to sample one of the farm’s famous litchi shots.

The dropping red rubies beg to be picked! Find them at this year’s Litchi Festival.

What to pick: litchis
When to go: 10 December to 5 January, 09:00 until 15:00 daily.
Location:  Litchi Farm, Umhlali, Salt Rock
Cost: R130 per person covers entrance and picking or eating. Buckets are 1,6 kilograms and included in entrance fee.
Contact: 0824175962, Facebook for more information.

Also read: 10 of our favourite Dolphin Coast stays

Limpopo

Blueberry Heights

Treat yourself and the family to these certified organic blueberries on this Limpopo farm and enjoy lunch afterwards at Mountain Cafe. On 3 and 4 February 2018, the Magoebaskloof Berry Festival will be taking place. For updated information on this upcoming event, follow the Facebook page or visit berryfestival.co.za.

Young blueberries wait to ripen in the orchards at Blueberry Heights Farm in Magoebaskloof. Photo by Melanie van Zyl.

What to pick: blueberries
When to go: Wednesday to Sunday, beginning of December until the end of February, 09.00 to 17.00
Location: R71 about seven kilometres from Haenertsburg on the way to Tzaneen.
Cost: R60 per adult and R40 per child entrance fee, punnet included.
Contact: jon@blueberryheights.co.za or 0838808787

These 11 beautiful beach cottages and houses are perfect for chilling with – and are all less than 90 minutes from the nearest airport.

Also read: In photos, 11 amazing beach cottages around SA

1. Shack on Supers

Jeffrey’s Bay, Eastern Cape
Travel time: 58mins from Port Elizabeth Airport

Jeffreys Bay is all flip-flops and surf culture. When I arrived, the Shack had been booked for three months by a remote-working couple. Lucky them – three months of lying in bed with the windows open to the rush of surf and a glorious view; of stepping off the veranda and onto the short, aloe-lined path through the dunes to Supertubes beach below… I could think of nothing better. This double-level, ramshackle, timber house is a mix between ship’s cabin and treehouse, with a cosy wooden interior and two verandas that peer over the milkwoods to the sea. There is only one bedroom, en suite, with a single bed off the side of it and another off the lounge (best for kids). I stayed in the smaller Stone Cottage next door, which shares beach access. I fell asleep to moonlight pouring through the large, triangular windows of my bedroom – very romantic! Reviewed by Teagan Cunniffe.

Do it: Shack from R1500 (sleeps four), cottage from R800 (sleeps two). 0828764340, stayinjbay.co.za/shack-on-supers

2. The Shepherds Hut

Kommetjie, Western Cape
Travel time: 1hr 15mins from Cape Town International Airport

In a quiet lane in Kommetjie there’s the cutest hideaway I’ve stayed at in a long time. It’s a traditional English shepherd’s hut. They’re dinky little ‘caravans’, around since the 1800s, and used by shepherds to overnight when they moved their flock from pasture to pasture (google ‘shepherd’s hut’ to see some amazing examples). Mary Duncan, a writer and editor and all-round creative, decided to make one herself, and did so with the help of her brother and her friends. It’s made from wood and corrugated iron (delightful when it rains), and is remarkably well insulated. It’s so tiny that it just fits a queen-size bed (basically built into the one side), but the space is an inspiration for compact living. It’s all white inside and beautifully fitted out, with a hot plate, kettle and anything else you might need (there’s even Wi-Fi). The toilet/shower is two steps away in another small hut, and is open to the elements, looking out into a stand of 200-year-old white milkwood trees. (The stand is protected, which deserves a special mention as there aren’t many left.) Tucked into Mary’s bird-filled garden, her house is close by but the hut’s positioned in such a way as to offer privacy. I loved the semi-outdoor shower and the cocoon-like aspect of this space, both inside the caravan and under the trees. We stayed in winter and it was perfectly warm. And the beach? It’s about a minute’s walk away – just down a path, about 100 steps, and the bay opens up like a motion picture in front of you. Reviewed by Sonya Schoeman.

Do it: R850 (sleeps two). 0730944804, airbnb.com/rooms/15870423

Also read: 10 of the coolest beach cottages in South Africa

3. Cocotree Beach House

Ezembeni, South Coast, Kwazulu-Natal
Travel time: 1hr from King Shaka International Airport

When jeweller Tommy Dannhauser began renovating this original beach cottage, he first completed the outside entertainment area. It’s made for a gathering of friends and good wine: a glittering pool, seating area, replace and boma take full advantage of the view over Greenpoint beach. This section is one of the best surf spots on the coast, according to local surfers. The large, light-filled main bedroom opens up to the sea view and is completed by an expansive shower area and small side courtyard. The other bedrooms are smaller but perfectly functional with tasteful decor (natural materials, plants and modern furnishings) throughout the house. It’s relaxed and dog-friendly, too. You’ll be inclined to kick off your shoes, light the braai and settle in for the sunset. Reviewed by Teagan Cunniffe.

Do it: From R4000 (sleeps 10). 0826127474, airbnb.com/rooms/16197586

4. The Barnacle

Pringle Bay, Western Cape
Travel time: 1hr 8mins from Cape Town International Airport

You won’t get a better beach view in Pringle Bay than at this little treasure. Set on the banks of the Buffels River, The Barnacle makes the most of two raised decks and upstairs living to elevate guests above the gorgeous (but dense) fynbos belt that lines the beach. The cottage has three independent units – Otter’s Lair, Mongoose, and Milkwood – that sleep from two to four each and can be taken separately or together. Otter’s Lair was my favourite. It has a large open-plan upstairs kitchen, dining area, lounge and private deck with a braai that’s just begging to be the scene of a grand get-together. Decor throughout is beach chic, with clean whites, classic ocean blues and wood finishings. The units share a garden and there is direct access to the beach, and kayaks for guests who want to paddle on the river. It’s also prime otter- spotting territory. I spied one ducking behind a rock while enjoying my morning coffee as the sun crept over the Kogelberg behind me. Reviewed by Tyson Jopson.

Do it: Mongoose is from R1200 for two adults and R250 per child (sleeps four). Milkwood is R490 per person sharing (sleeps two). Otter’s Lair, the one to bag if you want a private upstairs area, is R1500 (sleeps two). 0845249706, thebarnaclepringlebay.com

5. Lavender Beach

Vermont, Western Cape
Travel time: 1hr 18mins from Cape Town International Airport

Between the seaside villages of Onrus and Vermont, just outside Hermanus, is a tranquil four-kilometre coastal pathway known as the Vermont Trail. And roughly in its middle, directly opposite the rocks, you’ll find Lavender Beach, a quaint face among modern neighbours. The main cottage offers two double rooms and kids will quickly turn the dorm-style accommodation on the top floor into one long sleepover. On the same level is an alcove with wicker chairs overlooking the sea – a reading spot, or card-games area. Behind the house is a sheltered place to braai, and a one-roomed flat for overflow guests. (It’s private, and has views down the driveway to the sea.) Vermont is peaceful; bordering on a number of green belts, it’s rich in endemic fynbos and bird life. Walking on the trail, you’ll pass milkwoods, tidal pools and quiet beaches, and might spot a few whales along the way. Reviewed by Teagan Cunniffe.

Do it: Cottage from R2000 (sleeps eight); flat from R1250 (sleeps three); rented together from R2500. 0826512837, airbnb.com

6. Little White Beach Cottage

Ballito, Kwazulu-Natal
Travel time: 25mins from King Shaka International Airport

‘Our name says it all,’ laughs Aleksandra Durrheim, enigmatic owner and decorator. ‘I wanted everything to be perfect but “white” has taught me that that can’t always be so!’ Yet the cottage lives up to its moniker: white decor and light spaces prevail. Set 200 metres from Willard Beach, it’s gorgeous. The wooden veranda looks out at the sea and vervet monkeys play in the palms above. You can while away your days here, hammock swaying in the shade. The house itself is old, at least from the 1950s, says Aleks. Originally it had low-slung ceilings. These were raised, flooring painstakingly done by hand, sofas wheeled in and magazine-cutout pictures hung in frames on the walls. Soft children’s toys and splashes of pink give a whimsical touch. There’s a strong sense of love and peace here. Reviewed by Teagan Cunniffe.

Do it: From R1650 (sleeps four). 0834409505, littlewhitebeachcottage.co.za 

Also read: 10 of our favourite Dolphin Coast stays

7. Mostertshoek

Cape St Francis, Eastern Cape
Travel time: 1hr 23mins from Port Elizabeth Airport

Thick fog settled in as I drove towards the Du Toits’ family home, just five kilometres from the Cape St Francis lighthouse on largely undeveloped coastline. Forefather Hermanus ‘Manie’ du Toit erected a small shack here in 1874 and, in a trade that has since become family legend, exchanged the land from there up to the lighthouse for an ox wagon. Manie later regained the sea shack, which can also be rented. The modern addition, Mostertshoek, is 30 metres away. It has the comfortable atmosphere of a house filled with holiday memories, and family photographs adorn the walls. The Du Toit children have grown up on these rocks, catching fish and jumping into the deep coves revealed by low tide. The four-bedroomed, double-storey house is spacious with high ceilings. The main bedroom, kitchen and dining area (with fireplace) all have ocean views, and in good weather the outdoor braai, which overlooks the calm, blue bay a few metres away, sizzles with freshly caught shad. Reviewed by Teagan Cunniffe.

Do it: From R3565 (sleeps 10), airbnb.co.uk/rooms/535891

8. Sea Cotttage

Sheffield Beach, North Coast, Kwazulu-Natal
Travel time: 24mins from King Shaka International Airport

If you are looking for a cottage right on the beach, then this one is pretty much it. Well, actually, there are two of them, literally 10 metres from the sea. Sheffield Beach is quiet, frequented mainly by fishermen and couples with dogs. The two cottages overlook the beach and, sitting on the veranda, it’s easy to immerse yourself in the ever-changing sea or keep an eye on the kids. The bottom unit is closer to the sea and the immediate choice, but the higher unit is just as enjoyable. The cottages are open-plan with simple, good-quality furniture made for coastal conditions. There’s a kitchenette, dining table, lounge and a TV for rainy days. The lounge sliding doors pull back completely, creating a seamless transition between the cottage and the view. Dogs are welcome (small ones, that is) and a fence keeps them from gallivanting off to the beach. Reviewed by Teagan Cunniffe.

Do it: From R1300 per couple, R500 per additional person (both cottages sleep five). 0832970590, sea-cottage.co.za

9. Dune Rose

Yzerfontein, Western Cape
Travel time: 1hr 15mins from Cape Town International Airport

Yzerfontein on the West Coast is a town torn between the aesthetics of face-brick duplexes and blinding white clapboard cottages, but happily Dune Rose is neither. It’s a dusky stone colour, and is perched right on the dunes – so close to the sea you could skip stones from the veranda at high tide. The upstairs master bedroom is the one to arm-wrestle for – it’s massive, has its own gas fireplace and balcony with wraparound views – but you’ll probably be spending most of your time in the lovely open-plan living area. It’s light and luxurious, with gleaming wooden floors and a fireplace, and spills out of two sliding doors onto a wide wooden stoep and outside braai area. It’s a big space – airy even with its maximum of eight people – but it feels lived in and welcoming. There’s a fair bit of construction going on in the immediate surrounds, though, so stays during the week might be less than idyllic. Reviewed by Kati Auld.

Do it: From R5500 for eight people. 0837385976, dunerose.co.za

10. Olifantsbos Cottage

Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve, Western Cape
Travel time: 1hr 29 mins from Cape Town International Airport

This is an experience to truly treasure: eland walking along the beach at sunset; a wild, empty shore in front of you; pristine fynbos at your back – and only you and your company to enjoy it. Well, that’s not entirely true. You share the space with a troupe of baboons, who live in the craggy cliffs behind the house. Situated deep in the north-western part of the reserve and right on an isolated beach, gas and solar-powered Olifantsbos is accessed via a private road and is perfectly secluded. The main house sleeps six, with an additional six in the annex. Both units are neat and well kept, with white linen throughout. Olifantsbos has an indoor fireplace, a large undercover braai on the generous patio (which opens onto a wooden walkway leading directly to the beach), and to the side there’s a screened lapa surrounded by thick vegetation. It’s ideal for a special occasion with friends and family.

Do it: From R3885 for four people; R580 per additional adult and R290 per child (sleeps 12). Conservation/entry fees excluded. 0124289111, sanparks.org

11. Blue Waters

Simon’s Town, Western Cape
Travel time: 1hr 7mins from Cape Town International Airport

Set on an incline overlooking the road to Cape Point, this glorious house has an uninterrupted view of False Bay. And immediately at its feet, one of the coastline’s best treasures: a marine reserve with its jumble of magnificent boulders on which many seabirds roost. It’s also a fabulous spot to snorkel – here I saw sand sharks, octopuses and a host of fish it was fun to try identify. Blue Waters is owned by the family of architect Michele Sandilands. Dating back to the 1920s, it’s been wonderfully renovated to create a space that allows communal gathering – mainly in the well-equipped kitchen, which has concertina doors that open up onto the stoep – as well as privacy, in the rooms and little nooks here and there for reading or dreaming. My favourite place was the wooden deck out back (at the time I stayed the garden still needed to be completed), furnished with cushions and carpets. It’s set higher up on the slope so it overlooks the roof of the house and out over the glittering bay. Inside, the house is beautifully put together without feeling stuck-up. I especially loved the art, which was hung on picture rails rather than on the walls – in particular two paintings, gorgeous dreamy underwater depictions by Cha Davenport, as well as an original watercolour by Robert Burridge and prints by Bowen Boshier. All of the three rooms are lovely but my favourite is the one tucked upstairs. The one off the kitchen is best for those who go to bed last; it has an en-suite with an outdoor shower (one of three). Reviewed by Sonya Schoeman.

Do it: From R2900 (sleeps six, plus two extra mattresses for kids if needed), perfecthideaways.co.za 

Also read: 7 tips for novice sea swimmers

This awesome list of beautiful beach cottages first appeared in the September Getaway issue.

Get this issue →

Our September issue features 11 amazing beach cottages, two ways to see the Klein Karoo, a windswept 4X4 drive in Namibia, our guide to swimming in Greece and much more!

A country’s ‘second city’ might only be its second largest, but this doesn’t make it second best. Some lure tourists from near and far and others are slightly under-the-radar. Whatever the status, these second cities have a character of their own.

1. Porto, Portugal

Portugal is named after Porto and the Latin name for it was Portus Cale. Photo by snielsen412

The home ground of port wine, Porto just can’t seem to escape the title of ‘Best European Destination’, which it’s received in 2012, 2014 and 2017.

The River Douro waters the Douro Valley where there have been vineyards for generations. Across the river from Porto is Vila Nova de Gaia where the port wine is aged. You can visit the cellars in Gaia for wine tastings.

Another attraction in Porto is the Sao Bento Railway Station, where the glazed coloured tiles or azulejos depict Portugal’s history. For an extra dose of culture, Serralves is comprised of a contemporary art museum, mansion and exquisite gardens (Parque de Serralves) where there are attractions such as a rose garden, the Sun Dial Garden and a Camellia garden. Porto is almost three hours from Lisbon.

Also read: Lisbon: a budget-friendly guide to the good life

There are 20000 ceramic tiles inside the Sao Bento Railway Station. Photo by Vinicius de Oliveira.

2. George Town, Malaysia

George Town is the capital city of the state of Penang and was named after King George III. Photo by Getting Stamped Blog

Almost four hours from Kuala Lumpur is Malaysia’s gastronomic capital. George Town is a colourful smorgasbord of cultures with Chinese, Indian and British influences. One attraction is the Cheong Fatt Tze or the Blue Mansion, a heritage boutique hotel that’s celebrated as an architectural masterpiece. It has distinct indigo lime-washed walls, art nouveau stained glass and Chinese styles that show the cultural blend.

Cheong Fatt Tze (1840-1916) is the namesake of a politician and entrepreneur who wanted to preserve his Chinese heritage instead of living in an Anglo-Indian home, the popular style of the time. Photo by Lisa DiMaggio

George Town is peppered with old buildings, like churches, mosques, temples and British colonial offices and monuments.

The coffee shops, street food and street art scene pour modernity into the city. Other places to go include the Clan Jetties, six jetties named after Chinese clans that built stilt houses. They are part of the Penang Heritage Trail. George Town also has an eco-friendly theme park called Escape Adventure Play.

3. Antwerp, Belgium

The MAS Museum is made from Indian red sandstone and has curved glass panels. It is on the river Scheldt. Photo by antwerpen

Sister city to Brussels, Antwerp is said to be one of the lesser known cities in Europe. It’s listed on Lonely Planet’s ‘Top 10 cities to visit in 2018’ so all of that could change. Antwerp was a thriving and influential trading centre in the sixteenth century and in the twenty-first century, is a diamond, architecture, fashion and food capital. It’s just an hour from Belgium’s capital, Brussels.

Het Eilandje (‘the little island’) is a  neighbourhood north of Antwerp that has metamorphosed into a coffee hub since the opening of the MAS Museum (Museum aan de Stroom). It honours Antwerp’s history as a port city. Another museum in Het Eilandje is Red Star Line, a homage to migrants from Belgium to New York during the late nineteenth century.

An interesting way to see Antwerp is to hop on board the Pancake boat that takes you through the harbour while pancakes are served.

Another Belgian city is that of Ghent which Getaway’s Melanie van Zyl described as ‘…under-the-radar, interesting, trendy and beautiful! Same old-city vibes as Bruges, but with modern character!’ Ghent has a hop-on-hop-off water tram-way where the city can be seen in six stops.

A cobbled street in Ghent. In the 11th century, Ghent was the second biggest city in Northern Europe after Paris. Photo by Silke Lenaerts.

4. Busan, South Korea

The Oryukdo Skywalk is 15 metres long and made up of 24 plates in a horseshoe formation. Photo by Noor Ahmad Khalid

From Seoul, Busan is about two hours and 40 minutes by train and about an hour by plane, but the cheapest option is the bus. The coastal city is said to be a contrast to Seoul with its beaches and mountains.

It looks like there’s lots of fun to be had in Busan. The Taejongdae Resort Park is a very popular tourist spot with its rocky oceanside cliffs and thick forests. The park can be explored on foot or the Danubi train that stops at different locations. There’s an observatory, lighthouse, Buddhist temple and clam tents selling a variety of shellfish.

The renewal of Gamcheon Culture Village was a 2009 government initiative. Gamcheon began as a refugee settlement during the Korean War. Photo by aro.lo

Gamcheon Culture Village is a former slum that because of its transformation is now thought of as a cross between Santorini and Machu Picchu. The village lies on a coastal mountain with pastel-coloured houses and alleys adorned with murals and sculptures. You can spend the day winding through the alleys, admire the street art, tuck into Busan’s famous street foods and pop into the Gamcheon’s Little Museum.

Other Busan attractions are the Jagalchi Fish Market , Gwangalli Beach and Gukje Market for street food and electronics galore.

5. Rotterdam, Netherlands

After Shanghai, Rotterdam’s is the second largest port in the world. Photo by Paul Arps

Getaway’s Ondela Mlandu says that ‘Rotterdam is incredibly modern and has a Jozi or New York feel’. Just an hour from Amsterdam, Rotterdam is a city that survived German air attacks in 1940 and has emerged from the shadows of Amsterdam due to the new architecture and crowd-funding efforts.

De Rotterdam is an example of the port city’s futuristic architecture with three linked towers that are 150 metres high. Markthal Rotterdam is the largest fresh food and hardware market with more than 90 stalls.

Rotterdam’s Museumpark is named because of the numerous museums surrounding it such as the Boijmans Van Beuningen (art museum), the Chabot Museum and the Natural History Museum. There are also installations, outdoor sculptures and street art in Rotterdam.

The cube homes tilt at a 45-degree angle. The Show Cube (Kijk-Kubus) belongs to a resident who allows people to tour their cube house. Photo by Erik Jacobs

The Kubuswoningen or Cube Houses are fascinating architectural creations conceptualised by architect Piet Blom in the 1970s. They’re in Oude Haven (Old Harbour), one of Rotterdam’s oldest ports and are supposed to represent an abstract forest. Oude Haven is the oldest harbour, built in the fourteenth century. There are many restaurants and bars with views of historic ships. The Witte Huis is also situated here and it was one of the few buildings to survive the German Bombings. The Witte Huis was Europe’s first high-rise building (43 metres), built in 1898.

6. Mwanza, Tanzania

Mwanza was featured in a controversial documentary film, Darwin’s Nightmare, which is about the fishing industry around Lake Victoria. Photo by Jonathan Stonehouse

Northwest of Tanzania is Mwanza, located on the shores of Lake Victoria. In Mwanza, you’ll find it’s icon: the Bismarck Rock. This granite rock sits upon other large rocks that rise almost 10 metres above the surface of Lake Victoria. It gets its name from the German Chancellor, Otto von Bismarck (1815-1898). Mwanza is known as ‘Rock City’ because of the rocky hills that surround the city.

Rubondo Island National Park is about 150 kilometres west of Mwanza and teems with wild- and birdlife (over 300 bird species). There are hippos, crocodiles, otters, giraffe, elephant, chimpanzees and the semi-aquatic sitatunga antelope. Two kilometres from the city is Saanane Island National Park, a small, rocky island where you can experience Lake Victoria’s wildlife. Multi-coloured agama lizards, rock hyraxes, grey kestrels and yellow-throated leafloves live on Saanane among other creatures.

The Bismarck Rock is the one that appears to be balancing atop the other rock. The rock is granite rock. Photo by Jonathan Stonehouse

Mwanza also has culture-lovers covered with the Sukuma Museum which preserves the history and artefacts of the Sukuma people, Tanzania’s largest ethnic group. Mwaloni Market, just three kilometres from Mwanza is a fresh fish, fruit and vegetable market that often grabs the attention of tourists.

7. Cordoba, Argentina

The highest point of the Sierras de Cordoba is Cerro Champaqui which is 2770 metres high. Photo by The Bubble (website)

The city of Cordoba in Cordoba Province used to be the capital of Argentina until 1776 and is called the ‘Heartland of Argentina’. There is a thriving student population because of the presence of seven major universities. The past mingles with the present in Cordoba and its been described as having a different personality to Buenos Aires.

The Jesuit Block is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the centre of Cordoba. Among these historical buildings is one of Argentina’s first university and the Cathedral of Cordoba. There are also schools and residences dating back to the seventeenth century and eighteenth century.

Construction of Iglesia Catedral started in 1883 and was completed in 1944. Photo by Miguel

Paseo del Buen Pastor or ‘The Good Shepherd’s Promenade’ used to be women’s prison, but is now a cultural and recreational complex where there are art exhibitions, galleries, cinemas, theatres and dancing water fountains.  Guemes is a Bohemian neighbourhood that has eighteenth and nineteenth-century houses that were turned into restaurants, bars, art galleries, antique shops and boutiques.

Cordoba is flanked by the Sierras de Cordoba mountain range, which is older than the Andes. There are rivers, lakes and valleys with charming villages and towns that tourists usually head to. It’s also a destination for adventurous activities like rock climbing, scrambling and hiking.

This two-day road trip into the eastern Free State is a perfect weekend break for Joburgers. And it’s full of very big things.

Also read: why Clarens is the perfect weekend escape

Our road trip companion meant we could explore a couple of 4X4 routes along the way. Photo by Tyson Jopson

The only thing small about the Free State is what people know about it. Determined to change that, I took the N3 out of Joburg on a late Friday morning to explore a part of it that I hadn’t ever visited before. The Eastern Highlands extend along the lower reaches of the Maloti Mountains and three of its towns – Clarens, Fouriesburg and Ficksburg – had been on my radar for some time.

For company, I had wrangled the services of my mother as navigator, deputy note-taker and primary stand-there-please photo assistant. We round Gilloolys, noodle through traffic and head for Villiers, a place that, regrettably, I still know only for its Engen garage and cluster of grain silos visible from the highway.

Loaded up on padkos at Die Padstal, we head for Harrismith where we get off the N3 and take the road east toward the Malotis. We pass a few more farms, their houses surrounded by copses of trees providing respite from the Free State sun.

This trail in Clarens tracks around a small lake. Photo by Tyson Jopson

They’re mostly willows, as far as we can see from the road, and Mom points out that they would have been planted many years ago with the intention of providing shade for generations to come. There’s just enough time to debate the paucity of altruism in ‘today’s generation’ before the road curves and sweeps towards Golden Gate National Park, where large sandstone cliffs stand sentinel on the Lesotho border.

We wind our way along Lichens Pass, named because of the lichens that grow on these mountains, and stop at a viewpoint to watch the sun illuminate their ochre chests.

We reach Clarens in the late afternoon, check in at Aspen Guesthouse and then head into the Clarens Village Conservancy for a short walk. From the top of a ridge, I look down at Clarens below. It’s boomed, I’m told, now home to a profusion of artisanal restaurants, a craft brewery, boutiques and adventure centres that whisk visitors over the border to ski or ride mountain bikes. But the gravel roads and grassy town square still make it feel like a village. So, too, we discover that evening in town, do the people.

Clarens was established in 1912, the same year the Titanic sunk – ask a local about that. Photo by Tyson Jopson

The following morning we head for Fouriesburg, in search of nothing in particular and with no accommodation booked at all. It’s risky, but it’s early April, we’re between school holidays and I’m feeling whimsical. So whimsical, in fact, that we take the wrong road out of Clarens…

It’s not long before the navigator notices the blip on the radar is moving towards Bethlehem. We look for a place to turn around. A sign ahead comes into focus: ‘Lesotho Highlands Water Project Ash River Outfall’. We take the exit and are soon standing inside the cross-section of a gigantic pipeline. ‘This,’ says deputy note-taker reading a plaque, ‘looks like the place where water from Lesotho flows underneath the Malotis and into South Africa.’

‘That’s a big pipe,’ I say. ‘It could swallow our car.’ We head back through Clarens, musing on the bigness of things out here in the Free State. Little do we know, we’re about to stumble onto the biggest of them all…

In Fouriesburg we stop at Jenlee’s Country Shop and Bistro for a snack and get chatting to one of its owners while a plucky Angora goat tries to steal confectionery from a potjie pot. ‘Are you here for the Stars of Sandstone Festival?’ asks owner Jen Lee. If I didn’t know any better, I’d have guessed it was a talent show held atop one of the surrounding cliffs with contestants earning a 300-style Spartan kick off the edge if they failed to amuse the judges.

Ever wanted to ride an old narrow-gauge locomotive? You’ll find more than one on this farm in the Free State. Photo by Tyson Jopson

Rather, Stars of Sandstone is a gathering of the colossal – a place where trains, planes, army tanks and cranks gather every two years to celebrate engineering feats of days of yore. And we’re just in time. We turn left at Fouriesburg and surf the black wave beside the Witteberge to Sandstone Estates.

Cosmos and sunflowers are in bloom and pinks, whites and yellows colour the edges of the gravel road into the estate. It’s an irony, I suppose, that such beauty should line the path to machines that were once used for a thing so ugly as war. Still, the vehicles are impressive and firepower makes up just one part of this historical hurrah.

By far the most impressive are the trains. Over the festival period, Sandstone is home to the largest collection of working two-foot, narrow-gauge locomotives in the world.

‘We have 25 on site, all running on a railway through the estate to the Lesotho border. There’s more than 25 kilometres of it,’ says the estate’s owner, Michael Myers. And so, with that and a shrill whistle, we take the No. 16 train to the border, departing from Hoekfontein Station in a cloud of soot. Overhead, a button-yellow de Havilland Tiger Moth wings its way over the Malotis and in the distance a VW Kübelwagen bumbles alongside a maize field.

Moolmanshoek is a South African Natural Heritage Site especially because of the Berg bamboo, which is the only bamboo native to South Africa. Photo by Tyson Jopson

Back in the present day, we continue towards Ficksburg in search of cherries and get the lowdown on the best place to go when it’s harvest time, before doubling back onto an alluring dirt road I’d seen along the way. We head north along the western side of the Witteberge this time, which get more beautiful with each passing kilometre. And then stumble upon Moolmanshoek Private Game Reserve.

It’s a stud farm and grand country house with sprawling lawns and opulent rooms that open onto Serengeti-like plains where hulking eland, wildebeest and oryx move in the shadow of the mountains. It’s magnificent.

So we stay the night and, over dinner, share our thoughts. ‘They don’t do small out here, hey,’ Mom says. She’s right. Whether it’s mountains or manufacture, the Free State does it big. And that makes this part of the world no small wonder.

Our Eastern Free State loop

Jenlee’s Country Shop and Bistro is awash with trinkets, fowl and other farm animals. Photo by Tyson Jopson.

Day 1: Joburg to Clarens

Distance: 375 kilometres
Allow: four hours.
Take the N3 out of Joburg. After about 90 minutes you’ll get to the Engen at Villiers and Die Padstal (1). Continue to Harrismith and take the N5 west out of town and then immediately right onto the R74. This road becomes the R712 through Golden Gate National Park to Clarens. You’ll find the Clarens Village Conservancy (2) directly behind Aspen Guesthouse (3) at the end of Van Zyl Street and the Clarens Brewery (4) in town on Market Street East.

Day 2: Clarens to Moolmanshoek Private Game Reserve

Distances: 80 kilometres
Allow: five hours.
Take the R712 to Bethlehem for about 10 kilometres and turn left at the sign that reads ‘Ash River Outfall’ (5). Double back through Clarens and out on the R711 to Fouriesburg. Jenlee’s Country Shop (6) is at the turn-off for Fouriesburg town. A short stretch further down the R711, take a left at the T-junction onto the R26 to Ficksburg. About 35 kilometres down this road, you’ll find Ionia Cherry Farm and, a little way further, Sandstone Estates. From there you can either head towards Ficksburg and take the next gravel road right, or double back and take the gravel S385 left at Generaalsnek. Both will take you to the same junction. Follow the signs north for Moolmanshoek Private Nature Reserve (9).

Day 3: Moolmanshoesk Private Game Reserve

Distances: 80 kilometres
Allow: 5 hours
Take the gravel road north from Moolmanshoek until you get to the tar R70. Turn right onto it, drive past Rosendal and into Senekal. Take the R70 out of Senekal and then turn right onto the R720 towards Steynsrus. At Steynsrus take the R76 to Kroonstad, where you can hop onto the N1 and shoot back to Joburg.

Your Eastern Free State directory

1. Die Padstal. This shop behind the N3 Engen outside Villiers is worth a stop for the biltong alone. It’s still a long way to Clarens and you’ll want some high-quality padkos to see you through. R290 per kg. Tel 0828593117.
2. Clarens Village Conservancy. Stroll beside a babbling brook or head up the sandstone formation for a view of Clarens below. Permits for mountain biking and fishing are R40 per person and available from the Protea Hotel in town. Tel 0603071489.
3. Clarens Brewery. Order the free tasting tray (six beers, two ciders and a gin), then pick a pint of your favourite, sit outside and watch the town go by. Lunch from R40. Tel 0829014700.
4. Aspen Guesthouse. This magic find is on the edge of the Conservancy and an easy stroll from town. Rooms are beautifully themed and there’s a self-catering family cottage. From R450 per person sharing B&B. Cottage from R350 per person sharing (sleeps three). Tel 0582561192.
5. Ash River Outfall. A short detour gets you to the spot where water gushes into South Africa from Lesotho via the epic Trans Caledon Tunnel.
6. Jenlee’s Country Shop and Bistro. There’s probably more goeters crammed into this farmstall than in the rest of the Free State’s combined. There’s also a petting zoo (free). Tel 0845125030.
7. Ionia Cherry Farm. We were out of season but if you visit in October and November you can take a cherry tour (R185, booking essential). We contented ourselves with tasting cherry jams and liqueurs. Don’t miss Ionia’s Crop Celebration Festival (16 – 19 November 2017). Tel 0725853684.
8. Sandstone Estates. You’ll want to earmark the next Stars of Sandstone Festival (April 2019) to see the classic cars, armoured vehicles and narrow-gauge locomotives rumble around the estate. Until then, its heritage site is open to the public and boasts a stellar collection of bygone machinery, albeit stationary. A tour is from R228 per person for four people or more (bookings essential). Tel 0716586970.
9. Moolmanshoek Private Game Reserve. Surely the jewel of the Witteberge; we fell in love with everything about this reserve. There’s a spectacular 4X4 trail through game-rich foothills (self-drive on request only), mountain biking, horse riding, hiking and meals to di(n)e for. The setting, big-stone architecture, farm-style hospitality and umpteen distractions (billiards, anyone?) complete a standout experience. From R1764 for two sharing DBB. Tel 0519332220.

This epic road trip first appeared in the September Getaway issue.

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Our September issue features 11 amazing beach cottages, two ways to see the Klein Karoo, a windswept 4X4 drive in Namibia, our guide to swimming in Greece and much more!

For wildlife and open spaces, Chris Davies, Tyson Jopson and Scott Ramsay detour off the N2 to visit five SANParks that join Cape Town and PE the wild way.

On the outskirts of Port Elizabeth, SA’s subordinate artery bends like a hot pipe around the city’s automotive industria. It’s fitting then that here, on the crook of an asphalt dual carriageway, a decision about directions must be made. Head west, along the coast and through the Garden Route? Or go inland and lace five top national parks together on a week-long journey of wildlife viewing and unforgettable views? No points for guessing which way we’d go…

1. Addo Elephant Park

Interesting fact: In 1931, when Addo was proclaimed a national park, Cape elephants were on the brink of extinction with no more than 11 remaining in the area.

Also read: The best elephant-spotting route in Addo.

Addo’s ellies can eat upwards of 250 kilograms of spekboom each a day. Photo by Chris Davies.

Just 30 kilometres outside of PE, in the backwaters of Colchester, is Addo’s Matyholweni Gate, which splits the park into two. The recent addition of The Woody Cape Sections, from the mouth of the Sundays River to Kenton-on-Sea, makes it the only park in the world ‘home’ to the Big 7 (great white sharks and southern right whales have now been added to its complement of wildlife on show – although your chances of spotting a great white are probably just fractionally higher than being eaten by one).

Driving into Addo’s main park is driving into a labyrinth of green swollen spekboom that, incidentally, grows to about the same height as an elephant and can render game imperceptible from as close as 10 metres. It’s nature’s invisibility cloak and for over 600 elephant that roam the park it’s also an equally magical food – it grows the more it’s eaten (a stem left on the ground can sprout an entirely new tree).

Despite the density, this doesn’t diminish the chance of seeing big game. Addo is ellie central and you’re more than likely to spot more than one distinct dust-bedaubed hide ambling down the road. Head to the Mbotyi and Vukani loops where there is a good chance of spotting lion. There’s a natural flow to Addo and driving its loops in search of rhino, hyena and Cape buffalo while making sure you don’t drive over one of its equally important poo rollers the flightless dung beetle will almost always ensure you pop out a little further than where you started, and a little closer to the next destination.

Where to stay in Addo Elephant Park

SANParks has two rest camps in Addo. The Addo Main Rest Camp comprises everything from campsites and tented camps to forest cabins, chalets, rondavels and a guest house. Matyholweni Camp is quieter and has 15 self-catering chalets. Camping in the main camp costs from R280 for two people (maximum four) while other accommodation starts from R670 for two people.

Contact: Tel 0422338600, addoenquiries@sanparks.org, www.sanparks.co.za/parks/addo

2. Mountain Zebra National Park

Interesting fact: At 284 square kilometres, it’s the second smallest SANPark with lions (the first is Mapungubwe) and the chance of spotting them in the short Karoo grassland is good.

Each of the 19 family chalets at Mountain Zebra National Park has a wide stoep, braai place and great views. Photo by Chris Davies.

The road north from Addo breaks through the coastal hills at Olifantskop Pass and in a blink you’re in the Karoo. Tufts of sunbaked grass stretch to the horizon as the N10 snakes towards Cookhouse, where the waters of the Great Fish River feed swathes of green lucerne under scrub-covered ridgelines.

It’s over a three-hour drive from Addo and it’s best to take your time – Mountain Zebra National Park is a place to arrive at late afternoon. Cradock’s True Living restaurant, Lani’s Farm Kitchen, is a great spot to take a break. There’s good coffee, homemade deli food, even Wi-Fi if you want it. Just be sure you arrive at the park gates for that golden afternoon light. The grasses glow. And the otherwise dun-coloured hills turn a luminous bronze as they stretch away to the West.

Look out for lions (introduced to the park in April 2013). They’re ideally camouflaged in the Karoo grassland, but because the park is compact there is still every chance of seeing them on one of the three short loops from the single rest camp. Indeed, its small size is what makes Mountain Zebra National Park so attractive. You won’t find long queues of traffic here.

There’s also cheetah. They were first released into this Park ten years ago and the park is the only one which offers a cheetah tracking activity. Over the years, the Park has also played an integral role in contributing to the cheetah metapopulation of South Africa.

It’s a place to relax and if you are staying overnight it’s hard to imagine that you’re just 10km from Cradock, standing around a braai, when a lion roars somewhere off in the night.

Where to stay in Mountain Zebra National Park

There is one campsite which has 20 powered stands that operate on a first-come first-serve basis. There are 19 family cottages, a restored Victorian farmhouse (check if open), and two cottages tucked away from the main camp and only accessible by 4X4. The latest addition is eight beautiful, new Rock Chalets, which sleep up to four people for R3170. Camping costs from R295 for two people (maximum six) and cottages from R1150 for two people.

Contact: Tel 0488812427 / 0488813434, mountainzebra@sanparks.org, www.sanparks.co.za/parks/mountain_zebra

3. Camdeboo National Park

Interesting fact: A plan is underway to grow a 66-hectare field of indigenous desert plants, succulents and cacti in the colours of SA’s national flag in the Valley of Desolation. It will be visible from space.

In Camdeboo, a short, 1,5-kilometre hiking trail joins the best viewpoints over the Valley of Desolation. Photo by Tyson Jopson.

If the flat-earth society ever felt the need to seek exoneration, they might find it heading west out of Mountain Zebra National Park. Arrow-straight roads charge towards pancake horizons which break only on occasion for solitary butter-block mountains. It’s a three-hour drive to Camdeboo, a park that is more about the panoramas than it is about wildlife. Here, dawn crests with purpose and dusk dwindles like it has nowhere better to go. Big skies silhouette game on the plains such as Cape mountain zebra, hartebeest, springbok and kudu between towering koppies and slender valleys.

You could easily be in and out of the 195 square kilometre park in half a day, but if you hold one thing sacrosanct, make it watching the sun go down over the Valley of Desolation (while certainly a striking name, it is a bit of a misnomer – more than 300 plant species inhabit the valley). The park is open past sunset on weekends for this express purpose and watching the pastel pink light fade as Graaff-Reinet flickers to life in the valley below is enough to rouse an existential stirring no credit card can quell.

Where to stay in Camdeboo National Park

Lakeview Tented Camp has four furnished tents that sleep two people each. There is also the Nqweba Campsite which has 15 sites, each with braai facilities and power outlets. Camping is from R240 for two people (maximum six) and tented camps are from R695 for two people.

Contact: Tel 0498923453, camdeboo@sanparks.org, www.sanparks.co.za/parks/camdeboo

4. Karoo National Park

Interesting fact: More than 250 million years ago (predating dinosaurs) the Karoo was home to what may have been the Earth’s first true mammals, now fossilised in the hard dirt.

One of the Kgalagadi lions that were reintroduced into Karoo National Park, the first to roam the region in almost 200 years. Photo by Scott Ramsay.

From Camdeboo National Park, it’s a long pull west through the Karoo, South Africa’s defining biome, to its eponymous national park.

This seemingly barren and empty expanse is like a long, complicated novel that takes several chapters to get into. But a little perseverance, and the story hooks you till the very end. The national park, which starts just outside Beaufort West, contains the best Karoo scenery of all, dominated by basalt cliffs of the Nuweveld escarpment where Verreaux’s eagles soar. Drive the scenic Klipspringer Pass and the 46-kilometre Nuweveld 4×4 loop which accesses the very heart of the park.

The Karoo’s semi-arid climate supports far less wildlife than, say, Kruger, but because of open terrain and short scrubland (with a surprising 860 plant species), there’s a good chance of seeing springbok, gemsbok, red hartebeest, black wildebeest, eland and the largest population of Cape mountain zebra in the country – about 500. Since the re-introduction of lion in 2010 (the first since 1830), visitors are restricted to their vehicles and may not walk without a guide.

The rare black rhino and the even rarer riverine rabbit (one of South Africa’s most endangered species) are unlikely to be seen, but are integral to this park’s importance. There is a palpable sense of timelessness in the Karoo. Perhaps it is the billions of fossils from some 255 million years ago that lie entombed in the sedimentary rocks, or perhaps it’s the gigantic Karoo night sky and the way it pulls your gaze back billions of years into the known universe.

Where to stay in the Karoo National Park

The main rest camp has 38 cottages and the campsite has 30 stands with communal ablutions. The isolated Embizweni Cottage is situated on the Nuweveld 4×4 loop. Camping is from R295 for two people (maximum six) and cottages from R1250 for two people.

Contact: Tel 0234152828, karooreservations@sanparks.org, www.sanparks.co.za/parks/karoo

5. Bontebok National Park

Interesting fact: With about 200 bird species, Bontebok’s varied landscape is an excellent place to spot the rare quail finch and Stanley’s bustard.

Fishing at Bontebok requires a fishing permit. It costs R45 and can be bought from Cape Nature offices or at the park reception. Photo by Chris Davies.

At just 28 square kilometres, Bontebok is the smallest of all the SANParks – a dainty postage stamp of lethargic Breede River, framed by aloes and the ever-changing hues of the Langeberg mountains. The drive from the north cuts through a succession of passes: first the Meiringspoort Pass to De Rust and from there along the R62 to Barrydale, the Tradouw Pass and Swellendam.

Each passing kilometre brings greener scenery and on reaching Bontebok the contrast is complete. The barren Karoo is a distant memory, and the wide cool waters of the Breede River are perfect for swimming, canoeing and fishing. It’s a great spot to tick off some of the rarer Cape bird species and the best way to end a wild road trip before tackling the short drive to Cape Town the next day.

Where to stay Bontebok National Park

There’s just one rest camp, with 10 one-room chalets (a sleeper couch allows up to four people), and four family bungalows which sleep up to six. There are 41 campsites, some with power. The one-room chalets are from R1135 per night for two people, and the family bungalows are from R1885 per night for four. Camping costs from R225 for two people (maximum six).

Contact: Tel 0285142735, bontebok@sanparks.org, www.sanparks.co.za/parks/bontebok

This article first appeared in the March 2015 issue of Getaway magazine.

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Please note that all prices were correct at time of publication, but are subject to change at each establishment’s discretion. Please check with them before travelling.

We’ve combined our favourite things about summer – from swimming and ice creams to sundowners and outdoor adventures. Here’s how to have the best holiday if you’re staying in the city.

1. Visit the eco-friendly Fourways Farmers Market

Cost: R10 per person
Contact: Fourways Farmers Market, tel 0114650877.

A slice of country bliss in Joburg, the eco-friendly Fourways Farmers Market offers more than 100 great stalls plus lovely environs (ideal for picnics), live music and a kids’ play area. Pets welcome too. Sundays and Friday nights.

Also read: 12 of the best markets in Joburg

2. Make ice cream sandwiches

Cost: R185
Contact: Crumbs and Cream, tel  0813432761.

Delectable ice-cream sandwich combos are the perfect summer treat. Visit Crumbs and Cream in Illovo and get a DIY Crumbs Kit. Choose your ice-cream flavours (you get five in the kit), select your favourite freshly baked cookie and build them however you want. crumbsandcream.co.za
(Soon, you can even get them delivered to your door with UberEats, OrderIn and Mr D)

Also read: 13 unusual ice creams for summer and where to find them.

3. Sleepover at the Pretoria Zoo

Cost: R165 adults, R110 children.
Contact: Book on 0123392844/2728.
Can’t go on safari these holidays? Try an unusual sleepover at Pretoria Zoo. Everyone meets at 6.30pm, just in time to see the animals settling down at twilight, and once you’ve pitched your tent on a grassy spot there’s a short guided tour about the zoo’s clever nocturnal creatures. Back at the camp, braai fires are lit and you can settle in for the night. Bring all your own camping gear – tents, bedding, chairs, food and a kettle, which can be plugged into the electric point (and plan for summer rain). The zoo caters for 120 people per night. The next dates are1, 2, 8, 9 and 15 December.

4. Attend Afropunk Festival

Cost: R900 for a weekend pass and R600 for a day pass, get your tickets pronto before they run out.
Contact: afropunkfest.com/johannesburg
What better way to welcome 2018 than at one of the most anticipated music events in South Africa this year? Afropunk Festival is coming to Joburg for the very first time this year and will be held at the historical Constitution Hill, which used to be a prison during apartheid days and is now a museum and venue for culturally significant events. The Afropunk Festival moves between Brooklyn, Paris, Atlanta, London and will be making it’s way to the continent for the first time this year in an affair you don’t want to miss. Artists on the line-up include Solange Knowles, Thandiswa Mazwai, Nakhane Toure, Laura Mvula, Black Motion and other musical powerhouses as well emerging artists worth looking out for. The festival takes place from 30-31 December 2017.
Don’t forget to grab our December issue out on sale for our Joburg Jazz Guide on page 139 for jazz spots in Joburg.

5. Cycle the CBD

Cost: R150 per person
In Joburg, Maboneng City Riders cycle around the CBD every Thursday night, on their own bikes with the option of bike hire at R150. Find it on Facebook.

6. Watch movies at The Bioscope

Cost: free on Sundays, R135 for a movie, meal and drink ticket
Contact: The Bioscope is in Maboneng,  tel 0110397306
Watch films from the likes of Tarantino at The Bioscope Independent Cinema Get comfy in a recycled car seat and watch movies at The Bioscope cinema. It used to be a panel beaters in the 1970s and clings to its past with an industrial feel enhanced by mechanic’s lighting. Sunday Cinema (a series of free short films, mostly locally made) begins at 11:00 and runs until 14:00, so you can watch as many as you want. Two of them, The Place of Light and Made in Maboneng, document the origin of the precinct and tell the shop owners’ stories. There is a pizzeria/coffee shop on site. In addition to its regular roster of full- length feature films and doccies, look out for the outdoor screenings on a rooftop in Maboneng and witty themed nights (kung-fu, ‘ugly cry’ etc).

Also read: 10 best free things to do in Joburg

7. Show off your moves at the indoor skating rink

Cost: R110 per person with skate hire
Contact: rollegoli.co.za
Fasten the laces and embrace a faster pace at Roll Egoli, an all-weather roller- skating rink in Bryanston. Pop on some old-school skates (the ones with two sets of wheels beside each other) and glide around the smooth concrete floors. Great for all ages, at night the mirror ball and lights at night create a funky ‘disco’ atmosphere. Once you’ve worked up an appetite, order a large wood- red pizza (R110) and finish off with home-made gelato in the garden. Open 09:00 to 18:00, until 21:00 on Fridays and Saturdays. R75 for three hours, R35 skate hire.

8. Eat beer

Cost: from R55 for hot smoked wings, tossed in brew-q sauce,
Contact: Beerhouse Fourways, tel 0114652402 and in Centurion, tel 0126631211.
A dream come true for some: #BrewFood by Beerhouse offers a fusion of beer and braai cuisine. ‘Beer can be used to season, pickle and even ferment food,’ says Ultimate Braai Master winner Piet Marais. Think beer-brined chicken, ribs and brisket, beer-fermented burger buns and flatbreads, ‘beerchos’ (nachos), beer cheese, BrewBQ sauce, ‘beeracha’ (chilli sauce) and ‘beer dust’ for a pop of flavour. And for dessert? A beer oat of milk stout, chocolate ganache, salted caramel and bourbon ice-cream.

9. Indoor climbing

Cost: from R150 per person.
Contact: City Rock in Joburg, tel 0100072732.
Not all summer days are outside days. Indoor climbing is the perfect antidote to bad-weather blues, and also just an exciting way to keep active. The bouldering sections (this is where you’ll want to hang out) of the gyms are covered in thick foam mats and the walls are speckled with multicoloured holds that cater for all different levels of climbing, including kids’ sections.

10. Silent disco sessions

Cost: from R90 per person.
Contact: Sign up at secretsunrise.com.
Secret Sunrise, a growing movement of people of all ages who gather for a wholesome silent- disco session at dawn, combines a guided workout and freestyle dancing to start the day on an upbeat note. Wireless headphones allow you to lose yourself in the same music everyone else is grooving to. Locations change constantly (natural beauty spots or urban landmarks) but there’s always lots of scenic open space to pull your moves.

11. Swim at Zoo Lake

Cost: Entry R9 per person.
Contact: 57 Lower Park Drive, at the northern end of the Zoo Lake Park.

Immaculately clean, with grassy lawns and shaded concrete grandstands, the newly revamped Art Deco-style Zoo Lake swimming pool is the perfect summer sojourn in the city. Bring a picnic to while away an afternoon around the popular pool. Open 10:00 to 17:45. (For bad weather, the Linden pool is indoors and disabled-accessible. Corner 11th Street and 4th Avenue.)

12. Flyover Croc City

Cost: entry is R80 an adult, R60 a child and R100 per person to zipline.
Contact: Croc City, tel 0833211016. Knowing what lurks below, the ‘FlyOver’ at Croc City (home to Nile crocodiles, alligators and caimans) is extra scary. The four-metre zipline passes over two enclosures and the eight-metre zipline goes over three; the ziplines are up to five metres high. There’s also a guided tour (on land) every 30 minutes.

Find more ways to boost your holidays across the country in the December 2017 issue of Getaway magazine.

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Our December issue features the only 4X4 guide to Lesotho you’ll ever need, an incredible slackpacking adventure in Namibia, 50 ways to boost your summer holidays here in SA, 12 stays in Simon’s Town and a Mpumalanga road trip we like better than the Panorama Route. 

Move over gin. Here’s why rum is sure to be your next summer drink of choice.

‘Why does South Africa, historically one of the top sugar-producing nations, not have a single shred of rum culture to boast of?’

This was the question in James Copeland’s mind after visiting a Mauritian rum distillery. He’s not the only one – most of our new batch of rum-makers looked at our rolling sugar-cane fields and said, ‘Why not?’ There are now at least 10 local craft rum brands to try.

A new South African rum on the scene, Tapanga. They are currently experimenting with different kinds of barrels.

Rum can be made in two ways: with freshly crushed sugar-cane juice (the Caribbean style, known as ‘rhum agricole’) or with molasses.

This spirit goes into some of the best cocktails, but our craft distillers say the way to enjoy a good rum is neat or with a dash of lime or ginger ale. Even Savanna has added a new variant to its range of ciders. Following their successful launch of the tequila-flavoured Savanna Loco last year, this year we’ve got Savanna Blackbeard, with a flavour profile of rum as well as hints of raisins, spices and fermented honey.

Look out for these rums

1. James, of Deep South Distillery in Kommetjie, which has just opened its doors (in November), had ‘the idea that rum could have terroir’ and looked into getting fresh cane juice down to the Cape without it spoiling. In the end, he had to go with molasses, but he’s seen ‘the magic potential of what can be unlocked from its deep dark depths. Such fine, noble flavours from what is essentially a by-product of the sugar industry!’

2. ‘Aged rum is inspiring mixologists to create cocktails that are more bitter, with coffee and savoury tastes,’ says Lorna Scott of Inverroche Distillery in Stilbaai, which releases 1500 bottles of its seven-year-old rum just twice a year. Inverroche’s rare 10-year-old rum will be out in early 2018. You can visit this distillery (it has a shop open Monday to Saturday) and tastings tours can be arranged by appointment.

Famous for its fynbos gin, Inverroche also makes a limited-edition aged rum (it takes seven years in the barrels). The next batch of bottles is coming out this summer.

3. Tapanga’s limited-edition ‘smokier, woodier’ dark rum. Greg Hill, a farmer near Gingindlovu, wanted to be ‘more creative than selling sugar cane to the mill’. His single-estate Tapanga Rum (everything is done on site) was the first ‘rhum agricole’ in SA, followed by Mpumalanga’s Mhoba Rum (see below).

4. Copeland Rum (white) is the newest local craft rum and already an award-winner. Also a spiced rum coming soon, based on fynbos. People can also visit the distillery if you book – it’s very popular for book-club nights out, bachelorette parties and so on.

5. Durbanville Distillery Rum. Built by father-and-son duo Robert and Eugene Kleyn, rum was the first spirit they made in ‘Eve’, the still they built themselves. It’s a unique vacuum still that does cold distillation, which saves on electricity. Their white rum was put in barrels and aged at Meerendal Wine Estate, to make the recently launched (in Sept) dark and spiced rums.

6. Zulu Rum. One of the early pioneers of the modern-day craft rum movement (2013), Zulu Rum is a regular award winner overseas too (it got a gold medal at the 2016 Michelangelo International Wine & Spirits Awards). We also love the interesting stories on what inspired the label on the bottle: one of the spoils of war captured by the Zulus after the Battle of Isandlwana in 1879 was the British army’s rum rations!

7. Agua Zulu Cachaça. Distillery 031 is only making the Brazilian-style cachaça (also made from sugar cane), but will launch two long-awaited rums next year. The distillery is a great spot to visit and have a meal (bar and restaurant open Thursday to Sunday). The cachaça is included in tastings and used in cocktails at the rooftop bar. Tours (with tastings) happen on Saturdays over two time slots, but larger groups can book any time of the week.

Rhino Rum came out in March this year and there are plans for a spiced rum to launch in December.

8. Rhino Rum, launched earlier this year, is made by Eugene Coertzen at Port Elizabeth’s first craft distillery, Brickmakers, using his grandfather’s old still. This month he’s launching a spiced rum. ‘South Africans have not truly experienced rum yet,’ he says. ‘It’s not just for sailors anymore!’

9. Mhoba Rum. Up north, this rum is made with cane grown on the farm in Mpumalanga’s Crocodile River Valley and is also a small-batch, single-estate rum. There’s a range of White Rum, Dark Aged Rum, plus new Select Agricole range (made for the recent UK RumFest 2017).

10. Time Anchor Rum. Co-owner Shanna-Rae Wilby makes rum as a homage to her roots – she grew up in Ballito, surrounded by sugar cane and there are plans for a limited-edition aged rum for next winter. Their distillery is open on Saturdays and Sundays for tours and tastings, but you need to book a slot in advance. They make normal White Rum plus flavoured rums, like Cocoa Rum (made with roasted cocoa beans) and Vanilla Rum (double distilled and bottled with Madagascan vanilla pods).

Yuppiechef also has a great selection that you can order online.

Visit these awesome rum bars around SA

1. Brian Lara Rum Eatery, Joburg

Where? Linden
Contact: Find them on Facebook, or call 0763209739.

A tropical, summery escape this eatery is a popular lunch, dinner and drinks hangout. It’s got a good, short menu (you’ll find rum in the food here too – think a rum-basted rack of ribs and rum burger), and pina coladas are served straight from fat pineapples. Booking is essential.

2. Roxanne’s Rum Eatery, Joburg

Where? Pineslopes, Fourways.
Contact: Find them on Facebook, or call 0114670061

Edgy interiors at the new Fourways eatery. Find it close to Beer House.

3. Al Lado, Joburg

Where? Maboneng, next to Che Argentine Grill.
Contact: cheargentinegrill.co.za

A tapas and cocktail bar, this new edition to the Maboneng Precinct is a warm and intimate candlelit bar in the heart of Johannesburg inner city. ‘Honest recipes, amazing flavors, open hearts and authenticity is what we stand for.’ Signature drinks created by Al Lado’s mixologists include the Erleichada, a sweet, sour and bitter mix of gin, sugar syrup, lime wedges, pineapple juice, basil leaves and pepper and the Brazilian caipirinha that combines cachaça with fresh strawberry juice, lime, Chambord, fresh basil and a grind of pepper. Find more info on Facebook.

4. The Litchi Orchard Rum Fest, Salt Rock

Where? Salt Rock
Contact: Find all event info on Facebook.

Find this local KZN rum at the Litchi Orchard Rum Festival this year.

5. Banana Jam Cafe, Cape Town

Where? Kenilworth
Contact: bananajamcafe.co.za, tel 0216740186.

There are no local rums on the menu yet, but their international offering is very impressive and claims ‘the best rum collection this side of Jamaica’ – there are more than 50, from Mexico, Haiti, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Mauritius, USA, France. There’s also a cocktail happy hour from 17:00 to 18:00 daily.

6. Polynesian Pearl Diver Tiki Bar, Cape Town

Where? Shop 222B V&A Waterfront – Outside next to Ocean Basket
Contact: Find them on Facebook, or call 082940194.

This tiki bar pops up at the V&A Waterfront each summer. Says owner Travis: ‘I’m expecting big things from the rum trend: aged rums for sipping, light rums for shooting, new tinctures and essences for bringing out the flavour of rum, and big themed parties.’

7. Sea Breeze Fish & Shell, Cape Town

Where? Bree Street
Contact: seabreezecapetown.co.za, tel 0747939349.

Ask about the Oyster Happy Hour here at Sea Breeze, often you can get fresh fare for just R10 a shuck. Photo by Claire Gunn.

Quitting Christmas cold turkey is preferable to labouring through it with other people, reckons our columnist.

Photo by Jens Schott Knudsen.

‘I don’t mind spending Christmas on my own,’ I said. ‘Honestly, I don’t.’

I wasn’t lying. One of the very reasons I was in Boston over Christmas was that I knew no one there and wouldn’t have to buy anyone presents or make dutiful visits or eat a gloomy lunch while scrutinising distant relatives, fearful of discovering that I resembled them in some way.

I was looking forward to spending the day alone with a pizza and a carton of eggnog, watching the first two Godfather movies. But then, on 23 December, I made the fatal mistake of dropping by to pay my respects to an old school friend of my mother’s. I had never met Sal before but she was a strange, blue-haired old buzzard who wore a knitted multicoloured Peruvian beanie with ear flaps, even indoors.

She wanted to know my Christmas plans and I made the second fatal mistake of telling her the truth.

‘Never!’ she declared. ‘You’ll have Christmas here.’

‘Oh no, please,’ I said, a little desperately. ‘I couldn’t intrude.’

‘No intrusion!’ she bellowed, like a bad-tempered judge overruling an objection. ‘There’ll be plenty of food, lots to go around! You need to experience some Boston hospitality!’

I spent the next day trying to figure out how to get out of it. I could call in sick, but what if she came over with chicken soup and vitamins? Damn the Americans and their hospitality. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad. If there were enough guests (how big was her family? Twenty people? Fifty? A hundred?), I could slink in, hover on the peripheries avoiding chit-chat, have a hearty meal and flee into the snowy night with no harm done.

As I rang the doorbell, I wondered whether I should have brought Christmas presents. No, surely not. I hardly knew these people – they can’t expect gifts, can they? At such late notice? Damn it, I should have bought a box of Quality Street. Do they have Quality Street in Boston, Massachusetts?

The door opened and Sal stood there. She was still wearing her Peruvian beanie, and also some kind of flannel housecoat.

‘Come in, come in,’ she said. The place was very cold and strangely quiet.

‘Oh,’ I said. ‘Am I the first to arrive?’

‘Oh,’ she said, ‘there’s no one else, just the two of us.’

If you’d been present you’d have heard, in the silence that followed those words, the sound of my heart contracting like a ball of tin foil being crushed in a savage hand. Also, if you’d been present, it would have been a lot less awkward because then at least there would have been three strangers in a room, which is better than two. This was my worst nightmare. This could not get any worse.

‘Here’s a gift for you,’ she said, handing me an elaborately wrapped parcel.

‘Oh,’ I said, wishing I would faint, or spontaneously combust. ‘Oh, um … I didn’t bring one…’

‘Hmm,’ she said, looking down at the gift as though considering taking it back.

We sat at opposite ends of the lounge and looked at each other. We had no small talk left. We ate nuts from a bowl and each bite sounded like a gunshot. I think we sat there for three hours without saying a word. I started shrieking inside my head, to try and drown out the embarrassment. I’m not religious but I made a Christmas prayer: please let lunch be nearly ready so that I can eat and then run outside to throw myself in front of a passing car.

‘Well,’ she said at last, ‘I guess I’d better start making lunch.’

I hope your festive season is happy. I will be holed up in an undisclosed location. Please send no invitations.

This story first appeared in the December 2017 issue of Getaway magazine.

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The December issues features the Tok Tokkie Trail in Namibia (perfect if you dream of sleeping under the stars), 50 things to boost your summer holiday and our ultimate gear guide with the best travel gear, and much more!

Namibia’s Skeleton Coast is so desolate, it’ll make the explorer in you giddy with adventure. It’s also a place that will make you want to pack your 4X4 wisely…

The road south from Torra Bay was long and so flat it was hard to imagine that the Earth may be round. Photo by Don Pinnock.

The Skeleton Coast in Namibia is the breeding ground for a really spectacular nightmare. Under the sea it’s burgeoning with life, but on land it’s best described by utter absences. There’s no soil, virtually no life, no mountains, no escape from sun-blackened expanses of flat gravel and sand. And, when the wind’s blowing (as it generally does), no relief from being sandblasted the moment you step out your vehicle.

But the scale of the nothing is thrilling. Our Land Cruiser, just then being de-painted by flying grit, felt like a space buggy bounding across another planet. It was a privileged glimpse of what the world might look like at the end of time.

The journey to this extremely weird piece of African coast began in Kamanjab on an unexpected public holiday. We were low on supplies after wandering around western Etosha and the only thing open was the garage and a quirky forecourt shop.

A sign on the stoep read: ‘Due to economic cutbacks, the light at the end of the tunnel has been turned off.’ On a pillar was ‘Today’s menu: eat it or starve.’ Fuse Tea and Afri-Water (whatever they are) were on offer. A friendly local offered to sell us some gemsbok boerewors and Gordon’s gin. We bought them thankfully and pressed on westwards.

It seemed to take a long time across empty country to get to this turn off the coast – and even longer to actually get there. Photo by Don Pinnock.

For a while the scenery could be described as fairly normal, with rippling hills and Karoo-like vegetation. Over the Grootberg Pass things got odder. The road down the other side, with no obvious nourishing vegetation or water, was dotted with fresh desert-elephant boluses.

For a while we switchbacked from steep rises to dry streambeds that would probably flash-flood if it ever rained. The low trees gave way to tough bushes, which morphed to vast stony plains. These offered an occasional welwitschia that looked, and probably was, a thousand years old. The Skeleton Coast park offices eventually appeared as a blip on a table-flat horizon. After that it was empty plains of stone and sand, sea-flat in every direction.

A T-junction offered two options: north to Torra Bay (permits required) and south to Henties Bay. We turned south into a mighty headwind. Just then the sharp, flinty road claimed a victim: a flat back tyre. When we raised the Cruiser on a high-lift jack, the wind blew it off sideways and the tyres simply slid over the gravelly surface.

The solution was, dare I say, ingenious. We boxed the tail of the stricken car between the bull bars of two other vehicles, jacked it up and changed the wheel.

Tearing up this coast, the Benguela current trade winds batter the shoreline day and night. The San called the area ‘the land God made in anger’. Portuguese mariners simply referred to it as the ‘Gates of Hell’. The name Skeleton Coast was conceived by John Henry Marsh as the title for his book written in 1944, which describes the shipwreck of the Dunedin Star – and it stuck.

Welwitschia plants are almost immortal and survive by divining for desert water. Photo by Don Pinnock.

The elemental beauty of the place is at the same time entrancing and malevolent. I hugged the ribbon of road aware of a land utterly antithetical to human life. If you were stuck on this coast beyond help, the sun and wind would suck you to a husk within days and worry your desiccated bones for a thousand years.

There is life, of course: tenebrionid beetles, chameleons and lichen surviving on water gleaned from sea mist. There are gemsbok, jackals, brown hyenas, desert elephants and even lions in dry riverbeds, and around 75 species of sea birds. And seals.

We smelled them before we saw them at Cape Cross. The sight of around 100000 of these sleek, grumpy creatures all going ‘arf’ up and down the tenor scale was overwhelming. They’re not afraid of humans and showed a fine set of sharp dentures if we approached too close.

The sight of around 100000 seals in one place at Cape Cross is an assault on the ears … and the nose. But their doggy faces are so cute you instantly forgive them. Photo by Don Pinnock.

‘Is there somewhere else around here we can stay?’ one of our party asked, querulously.

‘Ja, sure,’ said Danie. ‘It’s 150 kays down the coast. But the big cottage here has five rooms and is unoccupied right now.’ We had no choice.

Two fishermen offered us some geelbek, which we grilled, and together with the Gordon’s gin from Kamanjab, the evening improved markedly. That night the wind howled round the prefabs and icy Atlantic breakers growled 50 metres away. A warm sleeping bag on a soft mattress felt like heaven. In the morning the gale had stopped, the beach had no footprints and the sky was baby-blue. We were sorry to leave. But another adventure beckoned.

After briefly sampling the urban pleasures of Swakopmund – good coffee and some excellent restaurants – we headed east in search of the Spitzkoppe. Behind us, the desert seemed to hover like an inchoate monster in a half-remembered dream.

On the flat plain near Usakos, the mountain was easy to see: a soaring mound of granite looking like the Matterhorn in the wrong hemisphere. After the unrelieved flatness of everything around for hundreds of kilometres, camping in the embrace of the mountain’s muscular arms was a hug of pure happiness.

Our appointed site at Spitzkoppe was at the base of what must have been a waterfall millions of years ago. Photo by Don Pinnock.

As night fell, the desert unveiled a sky glowing with more stars and galaxies than seemed possible to see – and so clear they twinkled at the very edge of Earth’s rim across the plains. Deep in the night, strange sounds around the camp had me tiptoeing down the rooftop-tent ladder, flashlight and camera in hand. The prowler, so unconcerned that it nearly walked across my feet, turned out to be a large spotted genet. Or was it the shaman in disguise?

There’s a really beautiful lodge at Spitzkoppe, designed by architect Ronnie Barnard and run by his daughter Janine, that seems to add rather than detract from the area’s magic. But that’s another story.

From Spitzkoppe, the highway to Windhoek via Okahandja was pretty monotonous. We’d been on the road camping rough for five weeks by that stage, having started in Botswana, and heading for a city was somehow disconcerting. We’d booked a campsite just outside Windhoek but my wife gave me a long, hard look and said, ‘Keep going.’

By then, I guess, she deserved a hotel room with a hot shower and a comfortable bed with sheets.

Plan your trip to the Skeleton Coast

Getting there

The coastal part of this route involved two parks: Skeleton Coast National Park and Dorob National Park. Arriving from the north, take the C40 from Kamanjab via Palmwag to join the C39 or, from further south, the C39 through Khorixas. Enter the Skeleton Coast Park through the Springbokwasser Gate (it opens at 07:30 and closes at 18:00). A transit permit costs R60 per person and R20 a vehicle. At the T-junction turn left onto the C34 down the coast. It’s a good road, given where it is, but be mindful of unexpected sand flows. At the Ugab River you leave the park through a gate and enter Dorob Park, which has an excellent salt road. The route inland to Spitzkoppe is either along the D1918 dirt road from Henties Bay or the tar B2 from Swakopmund. The turn-off to Spitzkoppe is at Usakos.

When to go

Because of heat, especially inland, it’s advisable to travel in these areas only in winter. The days may be hot but the nights can get pretty cold, so take clothing for both possibilities.

Need to know

Namibian roads are good but make sure you have a reliable vehicle, preferably a 4X4, and drive in convoy. A breakdown on the Skeleton Coast could be life-threatening (there is no cell-phone contact). Wind on the coast is a constant companion and can sometimes whip up sudden sandstorms. The roads are straight, luring you to speed, but they can be corrugated and sand ridges blown across the road can form dangerous ramps. If you hit one at speed do not turn your wheel – keep it straight and hold tight! The final section of road to Spitzkoppe is extremely corrugated and has blind rises, so drive carefully.

Stay here

In the Spitzkoppe one night a sickle moon lit the mountains and the Milky Way lit the sky – all of which excited the camera to no end. Photo by Don Pinnock.

This epic road trip first appeared in the September Getaway issue.

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Our September issue features 11 amazing beach cottages, two ways to see the Klein Karoo, a windswept 4X4 drive in Namibia, our guide to swimming in Greece and much more!

For South African author Mohale Mashigo, Cape Town is not a city, it’s a relationship. It’s effervescent, confusing, and often infuriating. But it has the power to seduce like nowhere else.

The insider: Mohale Mashigo is a storyteller, author, singer and songwriter. Her recent novel The Yearning is set in Cape Town – her adopted, and sometimes vexing, home.

This is Signal Hill, seen from Lion’s Head. It’s popular, but be safety conscious or go in a group. Image by Teagan Cunniffe

I guess I should start off by being honest: I’m a Sowetan living in Cape Town. I didn’t grow up here, there are no sweet memories of discovering the nightlife as a teenager, the language spoken is not my native tongue, and I have no family here. In fact, I’d never even been to Cape Town on holiday before I moved down south.

Though it’s been my home for 12 years, the spaces, people, politics and culture are in many ways still new to me – I still describe myself as a Sowetan in Cape Town (not quite as sexy sounding as Sting’s ‘Englishman in New York’, right?). It is not familia rather; a friend or lover of 12 years. And every now and again I have to keep defending my choice to remain in this relationship.

Cape Town’s Beyonce (the mountain, not the person in the photograph) hugs the City Bowl. Image by Teagan Cunniffe

Our meeting was purely coincidental, and there was no honeymoon phase – my first few years in the Mother City were lonely and confusing. Getting lost was a way of life! I didn’t go to the beach once in the first year (don’t judge me); instead, I chose to get acquainted with the city centre and its dive bars (in my defence, I was a student during the day and a waitress at night).

Once I had graduated from dive bars and living on popcorn and beans on toast, I went in search of Cape Town’s finest culinary offerings. Food first, because that’s how you truly get to know a place. It was probably on these group dates where the city’s charm began to work on me.

Many small clusters of specialist restaurants/bars introduced themselves: You like gin? Come to The Gin Bar. Obsessed with bacon? We’ve got just the place for you. Tea is your thing? There is a woman in a caravan selling all kinds of interesting blends. Love expensive cars? Enjoy your coffee alongside pricey vintage cars. Drinking and eating are an occasion here; Bree Street is a great example of that. All along the street, there are eateries inspired and influenced by cultures from around the world. Every single establishment is proud of its own different (sometimes hipster) twist on enjoying food.

The thing about Cape Town is that it’s definitely not Johannesburg, and it’s not Amsterdam either; it’s somewhere in the middle and something completely unique as well. It’s a place that’s comfortable with duality. One minute you could be walking in the city, surrounded by the hurried brashness of people on their lunch break; the next you’re in the Company’s Garden, a green oasis that slows everyone down.

Movie night surrounded by nature makes Galileo Open Air Cinema a must-do activity.

On nondescript Barrack Street, hiding in plain sight, there’s one of the finest Italian restaurants in the city. The Cousins is owned and run by, you guessed it, two cousins, originally hailing from Romagna on the Adriatic coast of Italy. Every once in a while you’ll look outside just to check if you’re still in Cape Town – because why isn’t this wonderful restaurant in a better location?

Sometimes, though, the longing for something familiar is strong. That’s when I wake up unreasonably early and head to the Neighbourgoods Market at The Old Biscuit Mill in Salt River. Salt River is an area largely changed by gentrification (the jury’s out on whether this is a good or a bad thing), but it’s here where I seek a taste of home.

Pitso’s Kitchen is the only stand at the market where I know I’ll always find maotwana (chicken feet), tripe or trotters served with ledombolo (steamed bread), samp or pap. Finding my old favourites is not a problem in Johannesburg but in Cape Town you need to know someone who knows someone who has the hook up.

Cape Town’s best kept (foodie) secret is The Cousins for Italian food. Image by Teagan Cunniffe

Even now it’s difficult to say why I love this place so much. I want to say it’s because I live in a retirement village, Hout Bay (it’s not really), which smells like the sea and has great views and even better fish and chips – served right at the harbour with a side order of ‘not-for-hipsters’ gritty charm – and the mountains behind, always watching.

In fact, no matter where I am, the mountains always seem to be watching me. And that’s the other thing about Cape Town: it has so much ‘outside stuff’. The city is gorgeous – and I’m not talking about its many old heritage buildings or the people (hello, models). Of course, Table Mountain is the Beyoncé of attractions, but I became a fan of Lion’s Head, the signature peak right next to the mountain, nine years ago when depression and unemployment made me unbearable.

As I said earlier: Cape Town is like a friend or lover (of 12 years). And like any relationship, there are some things that are ‘unbeautiful’ about my ‘new home’. Every once in a while you will hear people say, quite proudly, that it is ‘like Europe in Africa’.

I struggled to find ‘real South Africa’ when I first moved here but I could find flavours of almost anywhere else easily – a result of history and the stubbornness of some who just won’t let go of old ways of thinking. This is not necessarily the ‘best place in the world’ if you’re poor or homeless. It seems Cape Town is hell-bent on denying and/or repeating history – when it comes to housing, spatial planning and evicting poor people to make way for ‘more profitable buildings’. The ugly things are ghastly and the beautiful breathtaking.

‘How do you live here?’ people often ask me. I’ve built real relationships, made memories and written parts of myself into the Cape Town story. All around me are reminders of my own broken history, as well as that of our country.

Running on the promenade in the evenings, meeting friends for sundowners, discovering new hiking trails, waking up early on a Saturday morning to buy trotters, begging friends to take me on another find-the-perfect-gatsby mission, searching for (and creating) ‘South Africa’ in this city, finding myself in its weird parts … that’s where the seduction is.

Ours is not a perfect relationship but those don’t exist, right? Embrace the duality of the city and let its madness and beauty seduce you.

3 ways to earn your Cape Town stripes

Disappear down the stairs for delicious food and a unique wine selection at Ash; a Doughssant from Jason’s Bakery. Image by Teagan Cunniffe

1. Have a doughssant

In case you’re wondering, a doughssant is a fancier, tastier and sexier cousin of the cronut (croissant meets doughnut). Jason Bakery on Bree Street makes a limited number of these treats every Saturday morning and Capetonians wake up super early to discover what the doughssant of the week is. Tel 0214245644

2. Acknowledge a no-so-beautiful past

Nobody will believe you’ve been to Cape Town if you haven’t visited Robben Island. There’s a reason why people come from all over the world to see where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for so many years. 0214134200. There’s also the District Six Museum in Buitenkant Street – a poignant reminder of all that was lost. 0214667200

3. Browse books

If you’re a book lover, The Book Lounge in Roeland Street is a must-visit– it’s the best independent bookstore in the city, and the organisers behind the Open Book Festival 0214622425. If you stand outside the store, look right for Parliament at the end of the street. On Sundays, people spill out of St Mary’s Cathedral opposite.

Where do locals go?

Marcia Shange – Artist Manager
‘Bascule Bar at the V&A Waterfront has the best whisky and wonderful staff.’ Tel 0214107082.

Rupert Koopman – Botanist
‘The Durbanville and Tygerberg nature reserves.’ Tel 0219790060/0214448971.

Nadine Sass – Finance Manager
‘I skip the restaurants and head to Kirstenbosch with a picnic basket and wine.’ Tel 0217998783.

Selaelo Mannya – Social Media Manager
‘Tjing Tjing in Longmarket Street for great cocktails and a fireplace on chilly nights.’ Tel 0214224920.

Telana Halley-Starkey – State Law Advisor
‘Hallelujah on Kloof Nek Road. The food is amazing, the bubbly selection fantastic and the vibe’s relaxed.’ Tel 0798392505.

Plan your trip to Cape Town

Getting there

Cape Town is a quick flight from Joburg and other SA cities. Tickets from R1500 return via Travel Start.

Need to know

‘Cape Town weather’. Summer is balmy (the sun goes down late, too) but it can be very windy. The best time to visit is in March and April – it’s still warm but less gusty.

Stay here

Protea Hotel by Marriott Cape Town Victoria Junction is a great location if you want to be able to walk to and from the CBD, or catch an inexpensive Uber ride (about R30) home after a night out. From R885 per person sharing. Tel 0214181234.

Atlantic Affair Boutique Hotel in Sea Point is a favourite among my visiting friends. It merges hotel elegance with a self- catering price tag. From R445 per person sharing.

Someone’s home on Airbnb is a good way to get to know the neighbourhood, find local dive bars and self- cater. Choose a place with a gorgeous view or near the city’s hottest spots.

Do this

Take a hike up to the top of Lion’s Head on a clear afternoon for sunset views of Camps Bay. Image by Teagan Cunniffe

Experience African cuisine at Pitso’s Kitchen, in the Neighbourgoods Market. The market runs every Saturday from 10am to 2.30pm. It’s a relaxed morning of people eating and sitting in the sun with friends and family. You can also buy clothes from local designers. Meals from R65.

Taste gin at Hope on Hopkins Distillery in Salt River. It’s DIY tasting where four pre-selected gins are described, you are encouraged to taste them before you mix each one with the suggested tonic water, fruits and/or olives. It sounds bizarre until you actually experience it. R110 per person – book in advance. Tel 0214471950.

Watch a movie under the stars. The Galileo Open Air Cinema has various locations around the city – Kirstenbosch is my favourite. It’s open in summer only and you can enjoy some of your favourite classics in this spectacular botanical garden. Go with friends or take someone you want to get close to. Tickets from R100 per person.

Hike up The Mountain. Then take the cable car down. Start walking as early as possible to avoid getting stuck in weird ‘human traffic’ trying to get to the top. The cable car is from R135 for a one-way ticket.

Walk the Boomslang at Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden. For a few moments I felt like I was living my Tarzan fantasies … if Tarzan was from Soweto and afraid of heights. Take a picnic basket too – there are areas where you can eat and relax. Entry from R15 per person.

Go to the beach! There are so many – Clifton is not the only one. Llandudno is close to Hout Bay (where I live). It is small but you’ll never have to worry about overcrowding.

Also read: The best beaches in SA to swim at this summer.

Eat here

Chefs Warehouse & Canteen is famous for its Tapas for 2, consisting of eight flavourful dishes (from cured salmon with fennel and grapefruit to confit chicken wings with pickled pine rings), which are constantly changing. The food is incredible and the atmosphere laid-back. R650 for two – no bookings. 92 Bree Street, tel 0214220128.

Ash Restaurant started out as a hole-in-the-wall wine bar (Publik) and a meat merchant (Frankie Fenner) in the same space. With chef Ash Heeger joining the venture, and an edgy facelift, it’s now a charcoal-cooking- themed eatery. Meals from R65. 81 Church Street, 0214247204

Marco’s African Place has been around for 20 years, and is still going strong. Specialties such as crocodile and impala, and the ‘Pan African Platter’ of kudu,springbok and ostrich, are big hits with international tourists. The food’s authentic and delicious plus there’s always live music. Meals from R50. 15 Rose Lane, Bo-Kaap. Tel 0214235412.

The Cousins pasta is made fresh every morning. Order ‘The Cousins Tagliolini’ with cream, mushrooms and thyme (R130) – the pasta is tossed in front of you in grana padano cheese – thank me later. 3b Barrack Street, tel 0832739604.

Lucky Bao in Hout Bay is tiny – it only serves eight people around a bar. It’s Asian street food with a twist, dedicated to bao (steamed buns with a filling) and yakitori (chicken skewers). Meals from R65. Pam Arlene Place, Main Road, tel 0790674919.

Also read: 13 exciting eating spots for summer in Cape Town.

This guide first appeared in the September Getaway issue.

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Our September issue features 11 amazing beach cottages, two ways to see the Klein Karoo, a windswept 4X4 drive in Namibia, our guide to swimming in Greece and much more!

If you love independence and your own schedule, this budget Karoo escape is an opportunity to get out into nature and soak up the sights and sounds.

This reserve is super-affordable. We went kloofing, hiking, plant spotting and watched the night sky. Take your own identifying books and enjoy DIY exploring.

Also read: 23 of Getaway’s favourite affordable Karoo cottages under R500

The supermoon rises from the Anysberg Mountains in the Klein Karoo. Photo by Teagan Cunniffe.

On the day we arrive at Anysberg Nature Reserve it’s the supermoon. I’m standing alone on a plain a short drive from our accommodation, surrounded by a serration of Cape Fold mountains like giant triangular blocks of cheese, one stacked next to the other. They’re more impressive here.

I have my back to the rising moon, watching the sunset, and when I turn around, there she is: so big and plump and glowing that I gasp. And she’s so house-next-door that for the first time ever, I feel like moon travel is really just a plane ride away.

Jackals call to each other across the veld, but other than that, the night is still. The fact that I can stand here in this field, at dush, quite safely is one of the selling points of this reserve: there is no dangerous game here. There’s a place for reserves in which people can wander at will and get down on their knees to examine a succulent or a bug without having a buffalo snorting up their butt, says reserve manager Marius Brand (not in those words exactly). It allows great freedom to explore as you wish.

Vegetation comprises Cape mountain fynbos and characteristic Klein Karoo veld. Anysberg is also home to many types of buck, and jackals and caracals. Leopards still roam the mountains, but are rarely seen. Photo by Teagan Cunniffe.

Of course, it is the bush and you still have to be careful – there are many types of buck here, baboons, jackals, caracals, snakes and it’s prime leopard country (although they’re hardly ever seen). But it’s a wonderful place to let yourself go feral. Here are some ideas.

1. Stargaze

There are two eight-inch Dobsonian telescopes here, and Marius will set them up in various suitable spots depending on the conditions. On the nights we were there, the supermoon was so bright you couldn’t look at it, and so big it overflowed the frame. On darker nights the sky here is pretty clean of light pollution, which means you’ll be able to see and explore the Milky Way. A session costs R65 per person. You can’t book ahead because it’s weather dependent.

Also read: Go stargazing on this easy Karoo road trip.

2. Swim or go kloofing

If you don’t want to explore the wild rivers and kloofs, there’s always this pool based right at camp, which is an old farm reservoir. Photo by Teagan Cunniffe.

Mostly, and especially now, the riverbed has but a trickle. But further into the kloof you’ll get more water, and here’s where you can swim. The pools get bigger and longer and deeper as you get further into the mountains (about 45 minutes or more). If you were to follow that route, you’d come out at the Prinspoort Dam. There’s quite a lot of boulder-hopping to be done, but it’s great fun and scenery is impressive. Take drinking water (the water is often more stagnant here), your cozzie, a hat, sunscreen etc and the right shoes. (I found my Adidas Terras provided a better grip than my kloofing shoes.)

3. Hike

Fed by three rivers, a diversity of life is supported here amid mountain fynbos and the characteristic veld of the Klein Karoo. It is also a World Heritage Site. Photo by Teagan Cunniffe.

At present, the reserve doesn’t have the staff for guided walks; however, it is hoped this will be offered in the future. Otherwise, experienced hikers can undertake more strenuous treks and even, if suitably assessed by Marius, an overnight hike. (Please note: this is on a case-by-case basis and is entirely at the discretion of the reserve manager, who will lean in favour of safety and not take risks on a hiker.) Take lots of water; it gets dang hot out there. It gets equally cold, so the right gear is essential. Cell-phone reception? Not so much.

4. Explore

Gibbeaum pubescens, just one of the many amazing plants to discover on a walk through the Klein Karoo. Photo by Teagan Cunniffe.

5. Ride

Visitors can rent mountain bikes from the reserve office and follow the jeep tracks that crisscross the reserve. Photo by Teagan Cunniffe.

You can hire bicycles (R30 half day, R50 full day) from the office, and if you’re staying for a few days, it’s advisable to do so because this reserve is pretty big. There are no single tracks as yet, but it’s expected there will be sometime next year; CapeNature is busy considering this for all its reserves. For the moment, Marius – himself a keen cyclist – recommends the circular Tapfontein route along jeep tracks fitter and more experienced cyclists; it’s 24 kilometres. For the less experienced, there are loads of other jeep tracks across the reserve. The office will give solid advice.

A fantastic way to explore the remoter regions of the reserve is by horse. Anysberg offers guided excursions, ranging from two hours to two days. Photo by Teagan Cunniffe.

Plan your trip to Anysberg Nature Reserve

Getting there

Anysberg is just north of Sanbona, but is accessed from Ladismith (142km from Montagu on the R62) or from Laingsburg o the N1. The gate is 50km from either town. A high-clearance vehicle is needed.

Stay here

Cottages. There are five of these of varying size, spaced fairly close together. They have wood stoves so in winter they’re quite cosy. If you’re a couple, the two single cottages are nicest. Not all have their own bathroom; however, the communal showers are good. All have braai facilities, and the cottages run on solar power and gas. From R580 a night for Gecko (sleeps two).

Camping. There are five sites (maximum six people each), really nicely set out, allowing some privacy. All have their own braai spot, plus they share a kitchen. R170 a night per site.

Tapfontein. This bushcamp has four Wendy houses with verandas, set up on a hill, and is charming but very basic. There’s no electricity and the bathroom is communal (but it does have hot water and solar lights). It can only be reached by 4X4, hiking or bicycle. R300 per person (sleeps two each).There is a daily conservation fee of R40 per person for all overnight guests.

This epic road trip first appeared in the September Getaway issue.

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Our September issue features 11 amazing beach cottages, two ways to see the Klein Karoo, a windswept 4X4 drive in Namibia, our guide to swimming in Greece and much more!

There are just two places you can hike in Addo: either the jaw-dropping day trails on the slopes of the fynbos-covered mountains in the Zuurberg Section or, if you’re fit and strong, a two-day trail along the coast in the Woody Cape Section.

There are no guided trails in Addo Main Game Area because the bush is too dense. With the Big Five potentially lurking behind any thicket, it’s not safe.

The endless Alexandria Dunefield. Photo by Melanie van Zyl.

The two-day, 32-kilometre Alexandria Hiking Trail in the Woody Cape Section of the park is the best way to appreciate the immense scale of the Alexandria Dunefield – the largest of its kind in the southern hemisphere, with mountains of sand stretching more than 15800 hectares.

The hike traverses three different environments, starting in forest before shuffling across the sand dunes and ending with easier strolls on coastal shores beside crumbling cliffs. It’s not for the faint-hearted (distances are long, it can get very hot and the sandy terrain in places makes for hard going) but it’s an entirely unique trail in South Africa and great for birders too – more than 250 species have been recorded here. The forest has an ancient, magical feel and the big trees provide good chances of spotting the likes of the Narina trogon, Knysna turaco, trumpeter hornbill and African olive pigeon.

Small forest ferns along the trail in Woody Cape. Photo by Melanie van Zyl.

The Zuurberg hiking trails are easier. They’re close to the Addo Main Game Area (a 20-minute drive) and there are two options: the short, three-kilometre, one-hour Cycad Trail or the longer four-hour, eight-kilometre Doringnek Hike, which was tougher than I anticipated.

The Zuurberg Mountains as seen from the main game section of Addo Elephant National Park. Photo by Melanie van Zyl.

Both traverse a gorgeous valley high up in the Zuurberg mountains where fynbos and proteas dominate. It is believed that one of the largest concentrations of blue duiker in South Africa is in this section of the park.

This camouflaged frog shows exactly how beautifully-clear the mountain pools are in the Zuurberg section. Photo by Melanie van Zyl.

Plan your Alexandria Hike

Day one: Woody Cape

Ease into ‘forest life’ with a leisure day in the Woody Cape Section. There’s a 1,4km Blue Duiker Trail and a longer 7km Tree Dassie Trail. It’s also a 10-minute drive to Woody Cape Backpackers, the easiest place to access the dunes from (10 minutes’ walk). Spend the night in this section to get an early start on the Alexandria Hiking Trail, and to hear the evening cries of tree dassies.

Stay here: Langebos Huts are set in the forest around a central firepit The two huts must be booked together so you’ll have it all to yourself. They are exceptional for ‘hiking’ huts: all self-catering utilities are there, plus mod cons like microwaves and heaters for cold nights. From R1455 for up to four people, R260 for each additional adult (sleeps eight).

Also read: Easy weekend away: a marine adventure in Addo

Day two: Langebos to Dunefield

You’ll have Langebos Huts in the Alexandria Forest all to yourself. Photo by Melanie van Zyl.

Stay here: Woody Cape Hiking Cabin has great views. You can see Bird Island if the weather’s good (look out for dolphins too!). There’s only enough water for drinking and cooking (no showering), but it’s equipped with eating utensils and a gas cooker – a luxury on a hike. You need to bring back all your rubbish. R170 per person (sleeps 12). Book via Matyholweni Camp (in the far south of Addo Main Park). Tel 0414680916.

Day three: Dunefield to Langebos

Day two of the hike is a tough 13,2km trek across the dunes before trailing back into the Alexandria Forest. Look out for tracks left behind by jackals, duikers and hairy-footed gerbil. Signposts are tall to ensure they’ll always be there to guide hikers, even if the dunes move. You’ll likely be bushed after the trail, so book another night at Langebos or Umsintsi Cottage.

Stay here: Umsintsi Cottage is the latest place to stay in the park. It sleeps two and looks over the gorgeous Alexandria forests. It used to be a forestry lookout station. Now, the upper deck now forms the bedroom with an en-suite bathroom, while the kitchen is below. From R965 for two.

This story first appeared in the May 2017 issue of Getaway magazine.

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From our ultimate guide to Addo, free things to do in your city, a photographic getaway to South Luangwa and getting the best of Nepal; our May issue is guaranteed to inspire.

The Test Kitchen has just been awarded the number one position in the Eat Out Top 10 Restaurant Awards. Luke Dale-Roberts tells us how his travels have informed The Test Kitchen menu.

The Test Kitchen Map, which shows where the inspiration for each dish came from.

The Test Kitchen experience starts out in the Dark Room, a ‘soft landing’ as Luke calls it, in a moody, low-lit lounge room where pre-dinner cocktails are served.

Diners are handed a map to trace Luke’s culinary journey, with each ‘snack’ representing a different destination. Although ‘snack’ is an understatement for the thought, skill and labour invested in each tiny package that delivers, as Luke puts it, ‘a power punch of flavour’.

On the map: England

Inspired by England: Pork scratching, pint of Guinness, celeriac salt and vinegar.

Luke: ‘I’m quite influenced by the fact that I grew up in the UK and when visiting I always go back to East Sussex to the same house where I was born. There’s a local pub called The Three Cups where I used to go when I was a youngster – to play pool out the back and try get away with buying a bitter shandy! I wanted to recreate something you’d get in a pub in England. Buying a pint of lager, a bag of pork scratchings and playing darts – it’s so typically English!’

On the plate: Pork scratchings

Guiness foam is poured into a silver tankard and served with a huge swathe of puffed-up crackling.

On the map: South Africa

The Test Kitchen Chef and Proprietor Luke Dale Roberts.

Luke: ‘Obviously home now is South Africa. I go to Fargo trading quite regularly and I like all the different ingredients they’ve got there, especially the salty, savoury slangetjies. I also like biltong and I love liquorice – liquorice root, which is very different to the molasses-based candy. For me it’s a very clever thing to use because it elongates flavour. If you eat liquorice and have a sip of red wine, the red wine resonates for longer on your palate. The liquorice sticks are from my childhood. You could buy them in health food shops in England and my mum used to give us liquorice sticks to chew when we were kids.’

On the plate: Bo-Kaap Slangetjies, Wagyu Biltong

The biltong is Wagyu beef cured with liquorice and dried for a month. Diners pick up slices of biltong with liquorice sticks. The same batter as is used to make ‘slangetjies’ (shevra) is baked, deep-fried and dotted crème fraiche, an emulsion of locally sourced lime atchar and fried curry leaves.

On the map: Korea

Mason farm baby vegetables with Ssamjang dip, marmite on toast.

On the plate: Ssam Jang Veg

Miniature vegetables (radish, carrot) with a Ssam Jang dip which gets Marmite toast crumbs crushed and crumbled over the top just before eating – creamy, crunchy, fresh with seriously beefed up umami.

Luke’s tip on what to eat in Korea

‘We regularly went for Korean Barbecue called Samgyeopsal, which is pork belly barbecue. There was one place that did a white wine marinaded Samgyeopsal with fresh (unfermented) kimchi, which made it quite light and refreshing. The whole experience was very clean; it wasn’t overly fermented. We loved that.’

Luke’s 2018 Travel Wishlist

Tokyo

‘I want to go back to Tokyo. I worked in a cool restaurant called Shin Ju in Tokyo and it really changed the direction of my food. It’s organic modern Japanese cuisine with an Italian slant to it. It’s designed by this amazing designer called Takashi Sugimoto and being exposed to his restaurants also gave me a real sense of like what I wanted The Test Kitchen to be like – the open kitchen concept.’

San Sebastian

‘I was invited to Gastronomica in San Sebastian and would like to return and take Sandalene. If everything goes well we’ll be there for the World’s 50 Best Restaurant awards in 2018 because they are holding it in Bilbao, so that’s on the wishlist, definitely. While we’re in Spain I would also like to eat at Asador Etxebarri, I’ve heard it’s really cool and feel like it would strike a chord.’

The price of the full Test Kitchen menu without the wine pairing is R1800. All other prices are listed online at thetestkitchen.co.za

A holiday where you learn a skill can leave you feeling like a whole new person. It’s all about breaking routines, socialising and being safe. Here are four educational holidays we recommend.

1. Look for your food before you eat it

Sandveld reds are the main breeding pigs. They have superior quality meat. The males are Iberian cross wild boar. Photo by Dani Bischoff

What: Graze Self-sufficiency & Sustainable Lifestyle Workshop
Where: Goodluck Cottage, Walshacres Farm, Stanford
How long: One to four days (each day is optional)
Cost: R1000 for a day or R3750 for the whole course
Contact: workshop@grazecafe.co.za

Photographer Dani Bischoff decided to learn how to slaughter chicken and rabbit. Her husband, comedian Rob van Vuuren, bore witness.

My wife, Dani, burst into the room with a look on her face that was both inspiring and a little terrifying.

‘I’ve signed up for a self-sufficiency course!’ she proclaimed joyfully, as if she could already feel the earth between her toes and see her carbon footprint dissipating into specks in the sky around her like bees questing for pollen on the breeze.

‘Okay,’ I said cautiously, before adding, ‘What does that mean exactly?’ ‘I’m going to Stanford where I’ll learn how to harvest honey, slaughter animals, make preserves, forage along the coast and loads of other awesome stuff.’

‘Okay,’ I said. ‘I’ll come with and look after Bijou [their six-year-old daughter] while you get your hands dirty. Just don’t come crying to me when you have to chop some poor bunny’s head off.’

We’re animal lovers, you see, and I couldn’t see my wife doing it. We even have pet rabbits. I had visions of her resplendent in camo face-paint and a Rambo sweatband around her head while shooting a flaming arrow through a bloodied crossbow.

In the end it turned out way better than I could ever have imagined. We stayed at White Water Farm, run by Rob Bell and Alex Johnstone who have cast a magical spell over this beautiful property. So while Bijou and I were luxuriating by the pool watching frolicking horses, Dani was labouring under the tutelage of Graze Slow Food Cafe’s self-sufficiency ninjas, Alex Chouler and Tabby Robertshaw. And while we were jumping on the trampoline and strolling through the bountiful garden, Dani was learning what to plant where, which bees to coax with what and when, and how to preserve this and that.

Cutting the wild honeycomb. Photo by Dani Bischoff

Then came the day that the animals were slaughtered. Tabby showed her students the most efficient and humane way to kill and prepare the rabbit – Dani wept through the whole demonstration. She did not wail. She simply leaked through her eyes in a silent tableau of meat-eater’s remorse. Through her veil of tears, she was acutely aware of her own hypocrisy. Why was she so heartbroken about the rabbit but hardly bothered by the decapitation of the chicken?

The reason she was doing the course was because she totally buys into Graze’s philosophy, and Tabby and Alex’s farm as a working model of the kind of self-sufficiency the planet so desperately needs.

Nothing goes to waste here. The pigs, the bees, the rabbits, the chickens, the veggie garden, the herbs, the fruit – they all connect into a wondrous life force that ultimately feeds the ecosystem.

In the end we conceded that it’s just harder to watch something cute die for your plate than the kinds of animals we have grown accustomed to eating. We endeavoured to overcome this moral dilemma in the name of gastronomy at dinner. As part of the course, Friday saw participants (and those non-participants lucky enough to book a seat) partake in a feast of indescribable culinary delight at Graze restaurant on Stanford’s quaint main drag. The experience was a revelation to me. I felt like I was living in an episode of Netflix’s brilliant foodie series Chef’s Table.

I could also wax lyrical about the coastal forage that was the conclusion to the course, on a beautiful clear Sunday morning next to the impressive Klipgat Caves in Walker Bay Nature Reserve. I could go on and on about the joy of clambering from rock to rock under the expert guidance of Roushanna Gray of Veld and Sea, as she unearthed all manner of seafood treasures before our hungry eyes. I could sing endless praises about the sprawling seafood sonata that Tabby so expertly conducted back at Graze that afternoon with all our foraged treasures. I won’t, though. We don’t have all year and some things you need to discover yourself.

Sea urchins collected on the coastal forage. Photo by Dani Bischoff

I will say, however, that instead of heading home that afternoon we gladly extended our stay by one more night at White Water Farm and let the rest of the day seep through us in a haze of sated serenity.

Why it’s worth it: Dani found the sustainability course to be extremely empowering and eye-opening. Being involved with the slaughtering process has also made her more grateful for the gifts animals give us daily. She had found it easy to unplug herself from how some food ends up on the table, but by making time to prepare it herself she was forced to slow down and become more aware of the sacrifice. It became meditative, and she felt more connection and appreciation for the food in front of her. We now eat less meat, and when we do we waste less of it and appreciate it 10 times more.
Best skill learnt: Dani has been interested in bee keeping for many years. The course gave her a good introduction.

2. Stretch the stress away

Meditation in the bush – field guides are on guard so you can close your eyes and relax. Photo by Melanie van Zyl

Sonya Schoeman was an overworked wreck. She decided to reboot her nervous system and calm the heck down.

What: Mhondoro Yoga and Detox Retreat
Where: Mhondoro Game Lodge, Welgevonden Game Reserve, Limpopo
How long: Five nights
Cost: From R39555, all inclusive
Contact: mhondoro.com

I’ve learnt something useful: according to Ayurvedic principles, my metabolism is of the Pitta, or fire, category. ‘When Pitta is thrown off balance,’ goes the printed explanation I get from yoga teacher and head of this detox programme, Monique Christiaans, ‘they [sic] are prone to perfectionism, outbursts of anger, irritability, skin rashes and inflammation.’ Also, ‘If they have to postpone a meal, they become easily upset.’ Pittas sound painful, I think ruefully. Perhaps it’s time to dampen down.

Sunrise on the deck at Mhondoro Lodge’s Villa; hearty, nutritional food eases you into the detox. Photo by Melanie van Zyl

Turns out all the things Pittas adore – coffee (yes), cheese (love), spicy foods (adore), alcohol (adore squared) – are only making me more fiery. I should be eating cold, raw or steamed foods (big eyes), drinking lovely calming ginger and fennel teas, showing the palm to dairy. I’m unhappy about this, but I also learn my digestive system is strong, that I should have a lot of sleep – that’s a silver lining – though I become upset when I learn I should forego tomato, which I’m passionate about. Nonetheless, it inspires me to give a Pitta diet a try for two weeks.

I learnt all this at Mhondoro Game Lodge, on a shortened version of a five-night detox and yoga safari the lodge is launching. Ours was the two-night trial. Add travel in there and it’s essentially a single full day away. What good can happen in that time, I thought? But I hadn’t factored in the power of environment. Remove yourself from the noise of the city, surround yourself with the toasty wheat colours of the bushveld, the sound of birds and wildlife, and big blue skies, plus healthy fresh food – it’s mainlining detox of the body and mind.

Mhondoro’s kitchen garden. Photo by Melanie van Zyl

We went on game drives, and got off the vehicle to meditate. At one delightful green pond that came with nature’s own soundtrack – a cacophony of frogs and birds (a highlight) – we did a yoga session. We wandered through wispy waist-high grasses and sat on rocks and meditated some more, while a game ranger stood guard over us with a gun because lions and buffalo and elephants wandered there too. We got massages – one body, one Indian head massage – which helped the body unwind further. Alcohol was verboten and, in fact, on the second night when we snuck a glass of red, even after only two days of juicing and healthy eating, I felt quite ill.

Monique herself is the perfect person to head up this safari. She found her path to this way of life after being diagnosed with cancer five years ago, and testifies to its restorative and health benefits – she lives the principles, and is gentle and calm and delightfully nice. Resident on the north coast of Holland, she runs her own yoga studio, ZenZo Yoga. She has also trained in nutrition (with Ralph Moorman from DeHormoonFactor, and detox coach Jacqueline van Lieshout), focusing on nature-based approaches.

Early morning sun salutation at Mhondoro’s yoga retreat in Limpopo. Photo by Melanie van Zyl

Why it’s worth it: As journalists, we did the ‘lite’ trial version, but even after two days I was able to break my work- besieged ‘monkey mind’. The full five-day course alternates meditation, yoga, juice detoxing, nutritional advice and massages at a more serene pace, and that, combined with the environment and game viewing, I imagine would boost that reboot factor by 10. The food is super-healthy and good – Mhondoro has recently seconded Zinobia Martin, formerly of Babylonstoren, who served us up plate upon plate of delicious, fresh far (Mhondoro has its own organic garden). I’ve done a similar detox course a few years ago, and found there’s something very nurturing about getting into a rhythm of activity, meditation and healthy eating – and it completely helped me ‘rewire’ my stressed mind and body. I personally found the juicing a challenge, but Monique is always on hand so personal concerns or needs can be addressed.
Best skill learnt: I found the combo of yoga and environment very effective, but the nutritional aspect was really beneficial. I continued the Pitta-recommended diet for three weeks and, besides losing some weight, felt more calm and balanced.

3. Learn to hunt for mushrooms

Glistening shaggy ink caps, edible before the gills blacken. Photo by Boschendal

Pippa de Bruyn took her two girls off to learn to identify the difference between a delicious and a deadly mushroom.

What: Mushroom Foraging Experience (in season, usually June)
Where: Boschendal, Franschhoek, Western Cape
How long: One day
Cost: R600 per person (includes a three-course lunch)
Contact: boschendal.com

They accepted with alacrity. Perhaps I shouldn’t have been so surprised. My 19-year-old has started going to trance parties, after all. The 15-year-old, a born foodie, literally licked her lips: after a couple of hours hunting shrooms (snigger from daughter Number One), we would sit down to a three-course mushroom-themed meal prepared by the talented Christiaan Campbell. And I guess there’s a certain zeitgeist to this idea that one can go tromping around, picking up free food like Elysian peasants or survivors of some dystopian apocalypse.

So off we set one glorious morning in May to meet mycophile Justin Williams in the shadow of Boschendal’s 18th-century manor house. Boschendal has always been an extraordinary farm, but since Sam and Rob Lundie took it in hand in 2013 it has become more so – ducks waddle past punters sipping bubbly in the dappled shade; a row of horses head single-file into the vines, tails swishing like schoolgirls. It’s all perfect Instagram fodder, but it’s 10am and Justin has unfurled his sickle-bladed Opinel knife.

Poplar boletus tastes very similar to porcini – delicious. Photo by Boschendal

Mushrooms, Justin explains, are essentially the fruit of a mass of branching, thread-like rizomorphs collectively known as mycelium, so it’s important not to damage the mycelium when picking. Mycelia can get pretty big, he continues. The largest measured to date stretched across 3,8 kilometres. That’s a pretty big plant, daughter Number Two mutters. Mushroom are not plants, Justin continues. Most are saprophytes: decomposers that feed off dead or living plants. No one even knows for sure how many species there are – possibly as many as 5,1 billion. Most are inedible, less than 10 per cent are poisonous – as a general rule mushrooms with white gills are to be avoided; those with spongy undersides are safer. Usually.

We fan out then, 18 of us on the carpet-like lawns, before heading into the copse behind the kitchen garden. We’re hoping for porcini but these first-prize finds prove elusive. We find plenty of poplar boletus, as well as pine rings (edible, as its Potter-like scientific name, Lactarius deliciosus, would suggest), puffballs (edible), shaggy ink caps (edible only when young), red cracking bolete (edible but not tasty), destroying angel (poisonous), reishi (medicinal), and a delicate-looking death cap (certainly fatal).

Lunch is a triumph – a poached free- range egg on an assortment of foraged creamy mushrooms, followed by slow-roast rib-eye (free range and grass fed) covered in mushrooms, and the pièce de résistance: chicken-of-the-woods crème brûlée served with a barley-malt ice cream. Afterwards the foragers divide the spoils.

Frying up our haul of poplar boletus and Lactarius deliciosus, we agree that mushrooms remain pretty scary. Without an experienced mycophile on hand, we’ll stick to those identified by a barcode.

Why it’s worth it: Foraging for mushrooms with your children is a bit like going on an Easter egg hunt, only this time you’re participating too and only Nature knows where the treasures are hidden.
Best skill learnt: Relearning the wise old adage: ‘A little learning is a dangerous thing.’

4. Track wildlife like a pro

The tracking and sign course at Thanda Game Reserve in KwaZulu-Natal will teach you that scattered dung belongs to giraffes, as it drops from a height. Photo supplied

Melanie van Zyl can tell the difference between the tracks of a lion and a leopard, a skill that’ll improve any bushveld trip.

What: Africa Nature Training Track and Sign Course
Where: Thanda Safari Private Game Reserve, KwaZulu-Natal
How long: Three nights
Cost: From R4500 per person (includes electronic course notes, practical tuition and activities, accommodation and meals at Intibane Camp, ANT Track and Sign practical evaluation and certification)
Contact: africanaturetraining.co.za

Did you know that kudus walk in their own tracks to better muffle the sound of their steps? The front hoof might snap a twig or crunch a bed of leaves and the back hoof is placed in exactly the same spot, preventing any more unnecessary noise. It’s called ‘registering’ and is one of the clever ways this beautiful animal survives in the thick bush. Look closer the next time you see its spoor and you’ll notice there are two edges to the track.

Time on this course is usually split between walks and game drives to try and cover a good variety of animal tracks. Photo by Melanie van Zyl

Last year I became a field guide with Africa Nature Training and although I loved every aspect of learning about the bush, I found its Track and Sign course to be the one truly significant way to enhance any nature experience. I was taught how to distinguish between the spoor of a lion and leopard, a monkey and baboon, a porcupine and honey badger, even between a francolin and hornbill (the latter has a more curved foot), and I also learnt a lot about animal behaviour. The course is relatively short but you leave able to identify a good variety of spoor left by mammals, birds, arthropods, reptiles and amphibians, plus the differences in their dung. For example, black rhino chew off the branches of a bush or tree at a 45-degree angle and you can clearly see this evidence in their dung piles.

I also picked up tips on how to tell the age of an animal’s tracks and determine whether it was running or walking.

The course is held on the 14000-hectare Thanda Safari Private Game Reserve where there’s a diversity of wildlife including cheetah, hyena, warthog and even the occasional wild dog. Bird and plant life is also abundant. Participants don’t need prior training to attend the course – you just need to be over 16, enthusiastic and have sufficient fitness to go on guided walks, which are led by Jaco Buys. Jaco was voted South Africa’s best Safari Guide of 2016, has 22 years of working experience as a guide and currently conducts walking trails in the Kruger National Park.

Students stay at Thanda’s Intibane Camp. Each air-conditioned thatched unit has an en-suite bathroom and balcony, plus there’s a pool with views over the Intibane mountains. Need any more reasons to sign up?

Why it’s worth it: The most affordable on-the-ground experience one can have in the bush – plus you’ll leave with superior tracking skills.
Best skill learnt: How to tell which direction an elephant is moving in. I learnt to notice the tell-tale details, such as where the ellie’s toenail had dug into the sand.

 

This story first appeared in the August 2017 issue of Getaway magazine.

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Our August issue features 14 Northern Cape treasures, a trip along Mozambique’s pristine beaches on a fat-bike, holidays to take if you want to learn a new skill and so much more. 

Not just for their annual visit to our shores, but in worldwide numbers.

The happiest news to come out of the recent World Whale Conference in Durban was from ocean expert Prof Ken Findlay of the Centre for Sustainable Oceans at CPUT: after being hunted to the brink of extinction, certain species of the world’s whale population are bouncing back. The number of southern rights, for example, has doubled in just over a decade. He attributes this to the ‘rare paradigm shift in human thinking and behaviour’ achieved by Greenpeace’s anti-whaling campaigns of the 1970s.

Also read: The best whale-watching route to Cape Agulhas

This shift in thinking is also impacting tourism. Last year, some 13 million people worldwide wanted to see marine mammals in the wild instead of at aquariums or theme parks. That’s good news – as long as it’s done responsibly. This was the main topic on the table at the conference, with the aim of creating a set of global standards that protect cetaceans in tourism.

A training course for marine naturalist guides is being designed for worldwide rollout, a WCA Responsible Whale Watching app is now available, and the concept of Whale Heritage Sites around the world is being pursued – places where ‘communities respect and celebrate cetaceans and marine biodiversity through conservation action and cultural activities’.

Durban, which has seen an increase in migratory humpback whale numbers, is positioning itself for whale tourism and plans to have an annual Welcoming of the Whales festival. Humpbacks (pictured) and southern rights are now of ‘least concern’ on the IUCN Red List, but blue whales remain ‘endangered’ – as do several other kinds of cetaceans.

Current whale count

Southern right females left in the world (1930s): less than 500
Southern right whales at the end of the 1990s: about 7500
Number today: almost 15000

Southern hemisphere humpback whales (1970s): less than 2000
Humpback whales today: 50000 – 60000

Blue whales in mid-20th century: almost extinct
Blue whales today: around 10000

Also read

• Marine conservation: how you can get involved
• Get fish smart and eat better for the ocean
• Visit Hope Spots and enjoy the ocean responsibly
• 7 sustainable practices to protect our oceans

Arguably the highlight of a visit to Lesotho, the Katse Dam is an engineering spectacle. It’s the highest dam in Africa and its unusual shape, twisting like a serpent along the Maloti valleys, mean there is a lot of it to explore.

The easiest way to get there from South Africa is from Fouriesburg to Ha Lejone – it’s tar the entire way, the road is in good condition and it should take you about two and a half hours (depending on how busy things are at the Caledonspoort border post).

The most exciting way to get to Katse, though, is on a seven-hour tar, gravel and 4X4 route that starts on Lesotho’s A1 in the north.

We tackled these snowy routes with Toyota Fortuner.

New Oxbow Lodge to Sani Mountain Lodge

Grade: 3/5
Days: 2

Africa’s highest dam, beautiful Katse. Photo by Evan Haussman

From New Oxbow Lodge, a good tar road takes you along the spectacular Tlaeng Pass (take care in winter, it can be icy – see driving tips on the next page) towards the Letseng Diamond Mine, there’s a gravel turn-off (S28° 56.924’ E28° 49.966’) that heads west to Kao Mine for roughly 32 kilometres. After the mine, however, the road becomes increasingly challenging: stony descents in places and some slick surfaces. But there are superb mountain views, sweeping switchbacks and sections of fast, clean gravel.

Motebong village (S29° 6.267’, E28° 30.197’), in Ha Lejone, is a good place to stop, stretch your legs, eat and refuel if necessary (fuel is only available in 20-litre containers at the roadside). From Ha Lejone travel on the twisty A8 tar to the Malibamatso bridge. Turn onto a gravel road that heads west just before the bridge (S29° 10.769, E28° 28.622).

Continue on the western side of the dam on the gravel road to Makhangoa Community Camp (S29° 16.921’, E28° 23.072’). This final section, punctuated by stops for livestock, should take you less than three hours and you’ll end up on the banks of the Bokong River, where you can fish for trout (bring your own rod) or train your binoculars on birds.

Lesotho is beautiful throughout the year but your best chance of finding snow is in July and August. Photo on the left by Evan Haussman; and photo on the right by Tyson Jopson

The next day, take the gravel road to Katse Village and stop off at Orion Katse Lodge for a bite. At the time of writing, authorities at the Lesotho Highlands Water Project indicated that this lodge has been earmarked for exclusive use by the organisation for the next phase of the project (the plan is to build another dam where the Senqu joins the Khubelu River to the east). This is set to take place from March 2018 until the project is complete (reportedly 2019).

From there take the tar road over the Katse Dam wall and then the A8 up to Ha Makopela where you’ll need to get onto a dirt road that heads north-east out of town (S29° 13.467’, E28° 33.332’) along the Matsoku River. This track crosses the Matsoku River (S29° 10.631’, E28° 38.177’) and then winds back and forth across the mountainsides. At an intersection (S29°15.171’, E28° 51.183’), take a left towards Mokhotlong. Of all the drives around Katse, this is the most beautiful, largely devoid of people.

As the topography flattens, you’ll join up with the tar A1, which takes you to Mokhotlong, before heading down the A14 along the Kotisepholo Pass. Look out for Thabana Ntlenyane on your left – the highest mountain in Southern Africa – before pulling in at Sani Mountain Lodge. It takes about seven hours to do this section from Makhangoa, which includes stopping for a dam-wall tour.

Road conditions

Go prepared to be self-sufficient for a few days. Fuel up wherever possible, including at your last stop in South Africa. Photo by Evan Haussman

Driving tips

Black ice is a regular feature on Lesotho’s roads. It’s most likely to occur on high mountain passes such as Tlaeng and Kotisepholo. Consider using snow chains if travelling in peak winter. Drive in 4L and engage DAC (downhill assist control) to avoid braking, which can send you into a slide.

Katse Dam Loop map

Click on the map for an enlarged version

Stay here

Katse Dam as seen from the sky. Photo by Levon Rivers

Activities

Take a community-run boat trip on the Katse Dam, which gets you close to the massive dam wall and offers a great perspective. R660 for the boat, for 45 minutes (takes 28 people). Book at Orion Katse Lodge. Tel +26622910202
Walk the Katse Dam wall, where a short presentation before the tour gives insight into the scale of the project and throws up some mind-blowing facts. R30 per person. +26622910202
Visit the Katse Alpine Botanical Garden in Katse Village, with the most incredible collection of succulents, including the spiral aloe, Lesotho’s national plant. R30 per person. Tel +26622910315

 
This Lesotho 4X4 route was researched and travelled to in association with Toyota

Find our free 4×4 Guide to Lesotho, in association with Toyota, with the December 2017 issue of Getaway magazine.

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Our December issue features the only 4X4 guide to Lesotho you’ll ever need, an incredible slackpacking adventure in Namibia, 50 ways to boost your summer holidays here in SA, 12 stays in Simon’s Town and a Mpumalanga road trip we like better than the Panorama Route. 

The summer holidays are here and we want you to do it right. Here’s our guide to having the best summer in South Africa.

1. Ice cream just got even more exciting

Ice cream tastes amazingly good, but it can also be imaginative, artisanal and even healthy too. The egg waffle is an Instagram sensation, dessert tacos can be filled with double caramel ice cream, candied nuts, caramel sauce and toasted marshmallow meringue or theres the Thai handcrafted rolled ice cream.

How to do it: 13 unusual ice creams for summer and where to find them

2. Rum is the next big thing

Move over gin. Here’s why rum is sure to be your next summer drink of choice. ‘Why does South Africa, historically one of the top sugar-producing nations, not have a single shred of rum culture to boast of?’ This was the question in James Copeland’s mind after visiting a Mauritian rum distillery. He’s not the only one – most of our new batch of rum-makers looked at our rolling sugar-cane fields and said, ‘Why not?’

How to do it: 10 South African craft rums to drink

3. But we still like craft beers too

Attending the Thousand Sensations Craft Beer and Food Festival gave us some great insight. These are our top suggestions for both novice and advanced beer drinkers looking for that perfect easy-drinking beer.

How to do it: 10 craft beers in the Cape you have to try

4. Catch some waves

A Blue Flag assures you that the beach is clean, safe and environmentally friendly. We roped in an expert to curate the best possible list of South African beaches to visit this summer and have some great tips for novice swimmers too.

How to do it: The best SA beaches to swim at this summer

5. Save your skin

Exceptional sun protection, made from natural fibre and spot washable this is the only hat you need to go outside.

How to do it: The best thing under the sun

6. Stay at the seaside

These 11 beautiful beach cottages and houses are perfect for chilling with – and are all less than 90 minutes from the nearest airport.

How to do it: 11 beautiful beach cottages for a superb summer escape

7. Forage for your food

If you’re looking for fresh, juicy fruit this summer, it won’t get any better than picking it yourself. Put on a hat, slather on some sunscreen, and spend a day among the plants on one of these farms across South Africa.

How to do it: Our top places to pick your own fruit this summer

8. Climb a mountain

Llandudno Ravine is one of the many recognised routes up to Table Mountain. In the background is Llandudno, Sandy Bay and Klein Leeukoppie. Photo by Matthew Sterne.

Longer days and epic swimming spots makes summer perfect for hiking. So here’s a complete list of all the South African hikes we have written about in the last year or two, as well as the ones we’re dreaming of doing soon. We figure it’s a pretty good indication of what every hiker should aim to do in South Africa.

How to do it: The South African hiking bucketlist

9. But don’t die while hiking

Most of us will never find ourselves in a life or death survival situation, let alone two months of total isolation, but if the worst does happen, it’ll probably be while hiking. Photo by Chris Davies.

Raised in Kruger National Park, Hunt Cheney began learning his craft at the age of five and once spent two months alone in the Kruger bush (deliberately), surviving with nothing but his shorts and T-Shirt.
Now an outdoor and survival expert Hunt leads intensive survival training courses across South Africa. Here are some of his tips to stay safe in the wild.

How to do it: Survival tips from a pro

10. Spend time around the campfire

Gooey and delicious slow-cooked oxtail: just three main ingredients and a bunch of flavourings. Photo by Brandon de Kock.If you’re spending a lot of time outdoors, might as well take the time to learn a thing or two. Long, slow cooking works wonders on less expensive cuts of meat, which makes potjiekos an economical, one-pot way of feeding the gang in the great outdoors. Our food editor shares two great recipes and a bunch of brilliant tips.

How to do it: How to master the perfect potjie

11. Or make these simple, yet fancy hot dogs

German-style sausages are brilliant convenience food. They travel well and cook in no time at all. Serve them as hot dogs or turn them into supper.

How to do it: Make the tastiest gourmet hotdogs on holiday

12. Enjoy the best staycation ever

We’ve combined our favourite things about summer – from swimming and ice creams to sundowners and outdoor adventures. Here’s how to have the best holiday if you’re staying in the city.

How to do it: 12 ways to boost your holiday in Joburg this summer

13. Seize the night

Evenings aren’t just for winding down. They’re for adventures too. These activities will have you racing around your city, boogying in an ice rink and climbing walls that move. Here are 14 activities you can extend into the evening in Joburg, Cape Town, Durban and Port Elizabeth.

How to do it: 15 night-time adventures for thrill seekers

14. Bring home the best memories

Igniting the winter winds. By Marlon du Toit. Check out more of his photos on Instagram.

Heading to the bush these holidays? Our photographer gives some tips on how to capture images of the Big Five that are original and striking.

How to do it: Get your best Big Five photos ever

15. Save money

The 031 is South Africa’s playground thanks to her lovely beaches, but there’s more that you can dive into – and it’s for free! History buffs can spend hours at any one of the museums and art lovers will easily embrace Durban’s thriving creative scene. There’s also plenty on offer for outdoor and nature enthusiasts, and even classes for avid yoga devotees.

How to do it: 7 free things to do in Durban

16. Explore new routes from Cape Town

We know the Cape can get crowded in summer. We challenged our staff to find the three best one-day road trips out of Cape Town. They each got R500 spending money (way too much, it turns out). Here’s where they went.

How to do it: 3 day trips from Cape Town under R500

17. Try something exciting

A Face Adrenalin crew member shows how it’s done as rain pours down into the Bloukrans valley.

The Bloukrans Bungy is awesome – really you have to do it at least once – but it isn’t the only adventurous, outdoor activity on the Garden Route. ‘Adventure’ doesn’t have to mean throwing yourself off a bridge or out of a plane either (although definitely do the skydiving too). You can also hike, raft, track lions, or just sit with a sandwich and watch a great white shark go hunting.

How to do it: Top 10 adventure activities on the Garden Route

Grotto Bay is a small speck on the West Coast. Not many know about this coastal town, so I took a drive to see what treasures it has to share.

The quaint town has incredible coastlines, with beautiful hues of green formed by the variety of plants growing at the Grotto Bay Private Nature Reserve.

Also read: The energetic way to an unforgettable West Coast road trip

The Grotto Bay Nature Reserve was proclaimed a Nature Reserve in 2002.

One thing I know for sure in South Africa, we live in changing times. I’m reminded of this as I sit around a table discussing the concept of ‘lobola’. Around the table is (one half) champion of Ultimate Braai Master, John Grundlingh and his beautiful wife with our delightful hosts, Lisle and Anja. John has prepared the most succulent steak and we dig right in with no hesitation. The patio is filled with laughter, the wine is flowing and the mosquitoes seem to be having an equally wonderful time as they nibble on us.

We navigated around the Nature Reserve in a 4×4 Land Rover (1994 model).

Lisle, a former marine engineer and his wife Anja (originally from Germany) moved to Grotto Bay to start Samhadi Retreats. They tell us more about the reserve and we learn about the species roaming the estate, such as the African wild cat, duikers, rock dassies and honey badgers.

Sundowners were enjoyed with this remarkable view.

The estate is made up of beautiful modern houses that surround the Private Nature Reserve and the lovely beach stretches into the horizon. I can tell by being here that the locals have established a good balance between developing the estate and protecting the environment.

My morning alarm is the sound of crashing waves and birds chirping. The weather is exceptionally warm and we jump into Lisle’s Land Rover Defender for a drive into the Grotto Bay Private Nature Reserve, which is a kilometre from the house. The Land Rover glides through the sand and Lisle is kind enough to give me a 4X4 lesson. Access to the reserve is available to people living on estate as there is only one entrance. Visitors are also welcome to explore the reserve, but need to report to security at the gate first.

The Private Nature Reserve is 378000 hectares and forms part of the Cape West Coast Biosphere Reserve. The air is fresh and a feeling of tranquillity washes over me as we make our way towards the walking trails. There’s nobody on the reserve except us and we find out about the many plants that can be used for cooking or medicinal purposes.

Grotto Bay is also a wonderful destination for spotting whales during whale season. At the starting point of the walking trail, Lisle tells me about the great birding life on the Nature Reserve. The locals have started an African Black Oystercatcher Conservation and Breeding Programme, to protect the vulnerable birds and other beautiful species to see include the Cape sugarbird, the Namaqua dove, Crowned plover, Cape turtle-doves and the Orange-breasted sunbird.

Also read: The whales are back!

This is the Spekboom plant. It’s an edible plant with a sour taste to it.

A kilometre drive from the reserve is Pebble Beach. The rocks and pebbles here are different colours, shapes and sizes. My friend Lebo has the artistic vision to collect a few pebbles to decorate her apartment and I can’t wait to see them stacked together in a vase. I simply have the urge to lay directly on the rocks and pebbles. Beneath me, I hear every crash and shuffle of the pebbles as the water brushes against them. The highlight of my weekend is the silence and serenity that this majestic place has to offer.

Grotto Bay is a wonderful getaway for two that won’t break your budget. Whether or not you decide to continue further and head to Langebaan, Philadelphia or Melkbos… well that will be up to you!

Plan your trip to Grotto Bay

Getting there

From Cape Town, take the N1 to connect to the N7. From the N7, take exit 31 on the left to follow into Melkbosstrand. Follow Melkbosstrand Road for eight kilometres before turning right onto the R27 West Coast. From there, it’s an easy 30 kilometre drive into Grotto Drive. Allow an hour (without traffic) from Cape Town.

Roll down the windows to get views of the R27 from the car window.

Need to know

If you plan on spending a weekend in an establishment that offers a self-catering option, stock up on food and drink items in the city, as the shops in Grotto Bay are a few kilometres away from each other.

Stay here

My friend Lebogang soaking up some sunshine at Samadhi Retreats

Samahadi Retreat Getaway has four separate rooms with en-suite bathrooms. The rooms upstairs have magnificent sea views. There is also a small spa pool, braai facilities and a garden for relaxation available for you to use. Meals are charged additionally. From R 448 per unit per night, tel 0224922146.

Veni Vidi Amavi  is situated 300 metres away from the beach. This loft is suitable for two who want to escape the city or go for a romantic break. Here you are guaranteed complete privacy. The space is open plan and you go for an adventure on the Private Nature Reserve. From R 1005 per night.

Do this

Go hiking or walking. There are four hiking trails, free of charge on the Grotto Bay Private Nature Reserve. Best way to explore area is on foot and it is incredibly safe. The trails vary from 3 kilometre short walks to 15-kilometre distances. The walks/hikes range from easy to moderate.

Spot a variety birdlife at the Nature Reserve. The Grotto Bay Private Nature Reserve was declared in 2002. There are over 150 bird species to see.

Pick some pebbles at Pebble BeachI will go back to Grotto Bay specifically for Pebble Beach. This is absolutely free.

Purchase beautifully crafted arts and crafts at Artisan.

Shop at ArtisanThe local community of the West Coast believe in supporting one another. The arts and crafts from Artisan are all created locally by the locals. There is a wide variety of beadwork, art pieces made of wire and the best part of it all is the materials used to produce these products are all recycled goods.Tel 0712005172

Eat here

Roosterkoek is a new edition to the R27. The staff and service are impeccable

Roosterkoek R27. Drive along the R27 to the Puma Petrol Station, a popular pitstop, and you will find a bright blue container. A firm favourite with many locals and holiday goers  Roosterkoek.   Roosterkoek serves the most delicious waffles, breakfasts, biltong and fresh roosterkoek. Roosterkoek employs the locals in and around the West Coast to give them skills and to allow them to earn an income. Tel 0724479344.

John Grundlingh’s Pop Up DinnersThe 2014/2015 Ultimate Braai Master SA winner for two years straight cooks from the heart and believes in bringing people together. That’s why he hosts pop up dinners in his home. John explores the ocean every day and forages the shores. These meals all come from Mother Nature. The meals usually combine fresh seafood from the ocean that he has caught himself and herbs planted in the Nature Reserve. He prepares fresh three-course meals on the braai and is fully booked until March next year. The cost for a six-course meal is R500 per head. You can also expect a full foraging experience where you forage, clean and prepare seafood and kelp yourself. Tel 0722925991

The Bloukrans Bungy is awesome – really you have to do it at least once – but it isn’t the only adventurous, outdoor activity on the Garden Route. ‘Adventure’ doesn’t have to mean throwing yourself off a bridge or out of a plane either (although definitely do the skydiving too).

You can also hike, raft, track lions, or just sit with a sandwich and watch a great white shark go hunting. There are loads of adventure activities to do on the Garden Route, but these 10 are my favourite.

Setting camera traps and tracking lions with radio-collar telemetry at Gondwana Game Reserve.

1. Spend five nights as a game ranger at Gondwana Nature Reserve

Cost: From R11550 per person for five nights, including all activities, meals and accommodation.
More info: gondwanagr.co.za

I’ve always wanted to be a game ranger, but I never thought I’d get my first taste of it on the Garden Route. Gondwana Nature Reserve is an 11000ha game park north of Mossel Bay, which as recently as 2003 was 100 percent commercial farmland. They park is new, and committed to rehabilitating the vegetation and wildlife that once occurred naturally in the area. Key to this is their public conservation programme, centred around a Tented Eco Camp in the north west corner of the reserve. Here, husband and wife team Brendan and Stevie Strydom, host guests in beautiful luxury tents and lead a variety of hands-on conservation activities: setting camera traps, clearing alien vegetation, recording game numbers and distribution, and keeping an eye on where the newly-introduced lions might be hiding.

Key to the conservation process is determining how many animals the reserve can support. There are currently 13 elephants, including this little guy, in Gondwana.

This is true immersion in day-to-day wildlife conservation, coupled with great cooking (Stevie’s malva pudding is amazing), five-star treatment and luxurious tented accommodation. Don’t expect a lie-in – the breakfast call is before dawn – but you’ll have time for a splash in the plunge pool over lunch and ample opportunity to kick back and relax at the end of each activity-packed day with a beer or glass of wine under the stars.

The communal area and luxury tents at Gondwana Eco Camp.

2. Jump out of a plane over Mossel Bay

Cost: From R2800 for a 10000-foot tandem jump.
More info: skydivemosselbay.com

The most comforting thing about my first tandem skydive was that presumably the guy strapped behind me also didn’t want to die. It’s something to think about as you sit with your feet dangling over three kilometres of fresh air, but happily not a thought you have to dwell on too long before you’re propelled out into the abyss, stomach in knots as you accelerate towards the distant coastline. And then you’re flying. 30 to 40 seconds of free fall doesn’t seem much from the ground, but adrenaline, apparently, has an elastic effect on time and the fall seems to last for minutes. If you’ve never done it before and have even the vaguest inkling to do so, then make a plan and make it happen. A skydive over one of the most beautiful coastlines in the world should be on any adventure seeker’s bucket list.

This is two activities for the price of one: a flight over the beautiful Garden Route coastline, and an adrenaline rush like never before as you plummet down towards it.

3. Stay at Ebb and Flow Campsite and canoe to the waterfall

Cost: Camping from R200 per stand (2 people), two-sleeper rondavels from R220 and four-sleeper cottages from R380 per person, plus a daily conservation fee of R40 per adult and R20 per child per day (Wildcard holders free). Canoe hire at the campsite is R140 for three hours or R200 for the day
More info: sanparks.org

Up the coast in Wilderness, SANParks’ Ebb and Flow Campsite is the base for a more relaxed adventure. The camp is divided in two, along the banks of the Touws River, which winds north through indigenous coastal forest and is ideal for canoeing. Crystal-clear water glides under the boat as you paddle easily upstream until, after 3km (about 45 minutes) a rocky beach marks the limit of navigable river. From there you can join the Giant Kingfisher Trail, which follows the eastern bank of the river to a beautiful waterfall and deep swimming pools.

After 3km of tranquil paddling, leave your canoe and take to the trail for a 3.5km hike to the waterfall.

The 3.5km hike is not strenuous, but give yourself 45 minutes to an hour for a leisurely stroll. Canoes can be hired from Ebb and Flow Campsite for three hours or the whole day, and although you can make it to the waterfall and back inside three hours if you push hard, it’s better to take your time and make a day of it.

The waterfall hike passes through beautiful indigenous forest and the pools at the end are great for a refreshing dip.

Also read: The South African hiking bucketlist

4. Go paragliding over Wilderness beach

Cost: R750 for a 10-minute flight.
More info: cloudbase-paragliding.co.za

If a headlong plummet from 10000 feet seems a little too intense, the more tranquil joys of paragliding might be for you. You don’t need any experience to take a tandem flight with Cloudbase Paragliding, but conditions do have to be just right so you will need good luck with the weather. From high above the waves you can spot whales and sometimes even the dark shadow of a patrolling shark. Paragliding is the closest humankind has managed to get to the eagles – not jumping out of planes or speeding past cliffs on wingsuits, but floating high on thermals, an effortless soaring that I didn’t want to stop.

Soaring over the Wilderness coastline with Cloudbase Paragliding. Photo credit: Scott Ramsay.

5. Hike Robberg Nature Reserve and spot a great white shark

Cost: The Fountain Shack is R920 for four, then R320 for each additional person (sleeps up to eight). There’s also a daily conservation fee of R40 per adult and R20 per child (Wildcard members free).
More info: capenature.co.za

We weren’t lucky with the weather for our overnight hike to Fountain Shack on Plettenberg Bay’s Robberg Nature Reserve. The rain started 10 minutes in so instead of the usual two-hour loop around the north of Robberg peninsular, we cut directly to the south-side exit trail and made it to the shack in about 30 minutes. We had a 3kg bag of compressed braai fuel given to us at reception, but sadly the outdoor braai is not protected from the elements and starting a fire was impossible. The shack itself is a basic hiking cabin, but decently equipped with mattresses, solar lighting and crockery. We soon had the gas stove going and were warming up with a good meal as the storm howled and waves thundered into the rocks just outside.

A late spring storm only served to make Robberg that much more wild and beautiful.

The next morning seemed brighter so we cut back around the northern side – a route I’d not recommend at high tide as the trail runs close to the sea and the rocky sections become very slippery when wet. Taking a break on the cliff edge, just above the seal breeding colony, we got a beautiful sighting of a great white shark stalking a small group of seals in the water below. By then the rain had started again and my camera was safely packed away, but shark spotting from Robberg is not uncommon as you can see from this video by William Ashurst below.

6. Commit to the void at Bloukrans Bungy

Cost: R990 for online bookings.
More info: faceadrenalin.com

I’ll admit I was scared for this one. More scared than skydiving even: probably because at 216 metres you can quite clearly see the rocks and trees in the valley below. Also, with a tandem skydive, there’s that sense of comfort from the experienced instructor strapped securely to your back. When I booked Bloukrans Bungy I swore I’d do a swallow-dive, but when the time came I’m afraid I looked more like a Lindt Bunny falling off a shelf. It wasn’t flattering, but it was mind-blowing. Maybe one day I’ll even do it again.

A Face Adrenalin crew member shows how it’s done as rain pours down into the Bloukrans valley.

7. Tsitsikamma Canopy Tours

Cost: R650 per person, including a light meal and soft drink at the end.
More info: canopytour.co.za
New: If you’re heading to the Cango Caves in Oudtshoorn, then check out the Cango Caves Zipline’s 500-metre line in the mountains just south of the caves. (R295 per person, cangocavesestate.co.za)

From the intense to the far more relaxed, Tsitsikamma Canopy Tours offers a beautiful and exhilarating alternative for those not keen on leaping off bridges.

Zipping through the trees with Tsitsikamma Canopy Tours.

Based out of Storms River village this friendly local crew will lead you through the beautiful Tsitsikamma treetops, securely strapped to steel cables strung high between the trees. There are 10 connected platforms and the tour takes two to three hours depending on the size of the group.

There are 10 platforms, connected by steel zip lines up to 100m long, suspended 30m above the forest floor.

8. Gorge yourself on Blackwater Tubing

Cost: Full day R995 and half day (3.5 hours) R595 per person, plus SANPark conservations fees of R40 (half day) and R60 (full day).
More info: blackwatertubing.net

You need to be reasonably fit to go tubing on Storms River, and although these aren’t serious rapids, you definitely have to be comfortable spending time in the water. There’s a half and full day outing, but only the full day gets you down into the gorge itself, with jumps and rapids depending on the water level. If it’s too high then the gorge section is completely off limits so best to pick a clear day, after just a little bit of rain, when medium to low water levels provide good flow and the most fun. This is medium adrenaline, but maximum beauty – especially the exit at Storms River Mouth, one of my favourite places in South Africa.

Black Water Tubing with Tube and Axe in Storms River. Photo credit: Teagan Cunniffe.

9. See the most beautiful stretches of Garden Route coastline on the five-day Otter Trail

Cost: R1220 per person, plus a daily conservation fee of R49 per adult and R24 per child per day (Wildcard holders free)
More info: sanparks.org

Hiking the Otter Trail is not really a spontaneous trip. Bookings must be made about a year in advance, although if you’re just one or two people you may be able to tag onto an existing reservation. It’s worth the wait though. There’s just no other way to get access to this incredible, unspoilt coastline. The four-night trail crosses beautiful rivers (get the tides right or you’ll have to swim!) and climbs up and down and up again through vine-laden forest and across wind-swept cliffs. You’ll need to be moderately fit – there are a couple of pretty steep ascents – but the maximum elevation is only 156m and the distances per day are easily manageable, with plenty of time to swim and picnic and catch your breath. Book today. It’ll be the highlight of next year!
Also see: Photoblog: hiking the Otter Trail

The Andre Huts, on day 4 of the Otter Trail.

10. Learn to surf at Jeffreys Bay

Cost: R240 for a group lesson and R340 for a 90-minute private lesson, board and wetsuit included
More info: learn2surf.co.za

An uncontrollable shark phobia means I’ll never be the surf legend I dreamed of as a kid, but that doesn’t mean I can’t pretend for a day. And what better place to do it than South Africa’s premier surf destination, J-Bay? You won’t be out on the famous ‘Supertubes’ on day one though. There’s a more placid beach a bit further down from the tubes, so you won’t get run over by a pro. There’s a special kind of joy when you stand up on a surfboard for the first time and actually I think the fear of sharks was an incentive. It certainly focusses the mind on getting up and out of the water. Be aware that conditions vary and if deemed not suitable for beginners, you’ll need to be flexible to reschedule.

Well you won’t be doing this on your first day, but it’s the dream right?

This Free State town offers city-slickers sophistication and natural splendour. And when a place is this popular, it’s best to book ahead and get these top-notch spots to stay.

TripAdvisor lists accommodation rated by guests, but as much as we love peer reviews, they don’t offer a comparative voice so how do we know Number 1 is really the best? Pippa de Bruyn, who has reviewed accommodation for 18 years for the likes of Frommer’s and The Telegraph, scours TripAdvisor and other online sites when researching a destination. For Clarens, she created a longlist of 30 to inspect. The following made the cut.

What we found about accommodation in Clarens.
• Winter and summer, this is one busy town, not suitable for last-minute plans. As one guesthouse owner said, ‘If you’re thinking of visiting Clarens, book when the thought occurs.’
• Most places discount Monday to Thursday. But in Clarens that just means midweek is soon snapped up too. There is often a two-night minimum stay required on weekends.
• Thankfully there is a lot of stock, and a lot of it is good. I thought self-catering trumped as a category, though there were a number of good B&Bs, many with self-catering facilities too. No great hotels – only two on offer, and neither made my final list.
• I focused mostly on options walking distance to the town square where all the action is (but the out-of-town options selected are well worth the drive). Those south of Main Road have the beautiful views of the distant Malotis, but the north side – towards the Clarens Village Conservancy and Rooiberge – is more peaceful.
• Most roads are still untarred, some have potholes, so take care if you’re not in a 4×4.
• Mountain Odyssey is a great local booking agency, with around 140 properties listed, with prices ranging from R350 to R500 per person a night. Give Gavin Schoeman a call on 0826549989, infoclarens.com.

Also read: Why Clarens is the perfect weekend escape

Best for a large group

1. Ridge Road Estate

Unlisted

This Provence-style country house enjoys a gorgeous setting on a sandstone ridge on a 28-hectare tract of land nine kilometres from Clarens. The star of the show is the natural rock swimming pool – crystal-clear river water pours in and drops off the ledge down into the gulley below. A shaded terrace next to the pool houses a large dining table that has surely seen some epic gatherings. Designed by artists Simon Addy and Lyn Hoyle (their work on the walls is fabulous), the layout is rather higgledy-piggledy and organic, with multiple levels: the Aga stove, underfloor heating and long table make the kitchen the heart of the home, but there are also two open-plan lounges on separate levels. Four of the six bedrooms are en-suite – some have cupboard-tiny showers, others are roomy walk-ins. There is also a lovely three-bedroom Karoo-style cottage on the estate, with a small dam-style pool and fabulous outside lounge.
Room tip: Not an easy house to share if you’re splitting the bill equitably – best draw lots. Room 1 downstairs has the best shower and underfloor heating. Room 6 upstairs has the largest bathroom, a fireplace and separate entrance. It’s not suitable for toddlers.
Cost: House R6000 (sleeps 12). Cottage R3300 (sleeps six). Weekday rates negotiable.
Contact: 0846561832, ridgeroad.co.za

Best all-rounder

2. The French Cottage

Unlisted

This double-storey stone cottage is on the five-hectare remains of one of the original three farms that pre-dated the development of the village. It feels rural – sprawling grounds are dotted with established trees; a river path meanders to a large overhang; the striated cliffs of the Rooiberge and a natural waterfall are literally in your backyard – yet it’s a 15-minute walk to the village square. The open-plan kitchen/dining/living area and main en-suite bedroom are upstairs, with cute cottage-pane windows filled with views of your rural idyll. This upstairs level is reached via an external staircase, while the two downstairs bedrooms each have their own entrance directly from the garden, and share a bathroom. Like the ideal life partner, it’s gorgeous both inside and out – the original owner was an interior decorator – and affordable. Lovely Julia Brownlee believes in keeping the cottage occupied, so it’s one of the cheapest stays in Clarens.
Room tip: It’s possible for a couple to rent out only the upstairs level, and Monday to Thursday Julia charges R1000 a night for this, making it the most affordable romantic pied-à-terre in Clarens. Maybe even the country!
Cost: From R1560 a night for four, R390 per person extra (sleeps six).
Contact: 0722910685, wheretostay.co.za

Best-value large family house

3. Chanticleer

Unlisted

Karen and Richard James fell in love with Clarens 18 years ago and decided to build a weekend getaway that they would one day retire to. ‘Lucky’ is how they describe themselves, and they sure found the perfect spot: adjoining the Clarens Village Conservancy, your hiking trail starts when you step off the veranda. The house is geared for nature lovers – there is no TV, and the atmosphere utterly tranquil, yet the bustling town centre is a four-minute walk away. The barn-style design with sandstone detailing is attractive; there’s a double volume open-plan lounge warmed by an eye-level fireplace, which is open to the dining-kitchen space. Two bathrooms service the three bedrooms and loft space (which has two single beds, good for children or teens).
Room tip: All the bedrooms have double beds; the main bedroom is en suite and has a fireplace.
Cost: From R1200 a night (sleeps eight).
Contact: 0582561173, infoclarens.com

Best overall B&B

4. Periwinkle Grove Cottages

Tripadvisor No. 10 OF 33 Speciality lodgings

Not to be confused with Periwinkle Blue Guesthouse, these three cottages – recently built but in traditional Clarens sandstone – are located in a rose-filled garden, with mountain and garden views through pretty red-edged cottage-pane windows and the tinkling sound of water next to each one’s outdoor patio. Less than 15 minutes’ stroll from the village square, the Periwinkle cottages combine proximity with tranquillity, and offer much more privacy than the average B&B. Each cottage has a Weber and a kitchenette, giving you more flexibility too. They are serviced daily and wood for the fireplace is replenished on demand. Best of all, you enjoy the decadence of breakfast in your PJs – hosts Chris Green and Andrew Flitton make a wonderful hot meal and it’s delivered to your cottage on a portable bain-marie at whatever time you specify.
Room tip: I liked the room arrangement and views from Grove Cottage, but if you are more than two people then Bella Rosa is the one to book.
Cost: From R1384 for two sharing B&B, from R2305 for four sharing B&B.
Contact: 0582561000, periwinklecottages.co.za

Best small cottage

5. JessHil

Unlisted

Situated on the corner of quiet Lake Clarens Drive, this cute two-bedroom sandstone cottage is a village option that doesn’t feel hemmed in by a suburban streetscape. The little raised stoep is where you’ll want to spend your days: sitting on your bench, with a fire blazing in the built-in braai, your view is of cypresses and mountains, a pond and bird-filled dam on the other side of the track – hard to believe the bustle of the village is just a five-minute walk away. Interior finishes are rustic (unplastered brick walls), the decor is basic (if this is important, French Cottage is a better bet) and the design is compact: two en-suite bedrooms on either side of a smallish lounge/dining/kitchen area, easily warmed by a central Jetmaster.
Room tip: Both bedrooms are en suite and have queen-size beds, so suitable for two couples or a small family with kids young enough to share a bed.
Cost: From R900 for two or R1400 for four.
Contact: 0582561173, infoclarens.com

Best on the square

6. Highland Quarters

Tripadvisor No. 14 of 33 speciality lodgings

It’s rather wonderful to be just a few steps from your front door after dinner/drinks, and wander into the bustle of the weekend without having to find parking. It’s partly why Clarens is so popular, as the village square and main road are lined with good lodgings. For a B&B, my top choice is Highland Quarters (pictured below) – I liked the uncluttered, tasteful decor, and that it has a great on-site whisky lounge and restaurant (The Highlander).
Room tip: Room 1 has the best view; room 9 is the most spacious.
Cost: From R550 per person sharing B&B.
Contact: 0744737565, wheretostayinclarens.co.za

7. La Poste

Unlisted
If you prefer self-catering then this is the most delightful little loft apartment for two. It has a small balcony with a table and Weber braai overlooking a courtyard and the main street, and is well decorated by its artist owners. Super romantic and great value.
Cost: R1070 a night.
Contact: 0846561832, ridgeroad.co.za

Best-value B&B

8. Millpond House

Tripadvisor No. 4 if 38 B&BS / Inns

I liked Millpond for its gorgeous garden, tasteful albeit slightly old-fashioned decor, quiet location and generous touches like the underfloor heating – given that there is the option of a room-only rate, the level of luxury here is a bargain. There is a choice of five rooms: three B&B rooms in the Millpond House, and two adjoining studios in Mill Creek Cottage that also offer the flexibility of self-catering, each with a fireplace and French doors opening onto a private patio and Merri Mills’ wonderful garden. The two downstairs Millpond House B&B rooms also offer direct garden access with seating, but the plum is upstairs in the aptly named Room with a View, which has a small balcony and chairs from which to enjoy the garden and mountain views. No children under 12.
Room tip: Rose and Walnut in Mill Creek Cottage are worth the extra R50 per person a night for the space and self-catering facilities.
Cost: From R450 per person sharing (B&B R550 per person sharing).
Contact: 0828510131, millpondhouse.net

Best for romance

9. Omega Luxury Mountain Retreat

Tripadvisor No. 4 of 33 speciality lodgings
There are only four of these open-plan studio-style timber cabins, each with the same magnificent view of the Malotis unmarred by signs of human cultivation or habitation (it’s 17 kilometres from Clarens), and a choice of spots – deck, Jacuzzi or king-size bed – from which to drink it all in. The two luxury cabins are smaller than the deluxe ones and have an outdoor Jacuzzi on the deck; the latter have indoor Jacuzzis and double showers with slide-and-fold doors. Every cabin has a fireplace and a well-equipped kitchenette. There is a sleeper couch for one extra adult or two young children, but this really is a place for romance, so book that babysitter and ditch the third wheel.
Room tip: ‘All weekends are fully booked for 2017’ reads the banner across the home page of the Omega website, and that kind of says it all. Take whatever you can get.
Cost: From R650 per person sharing (deluxe cabin from R850 per person).
Contact: 0720577167, omegaclarens.co.za

Worth a look

10. Sunnyside Guest Farm

You’ll find 80-something Mrs Boland still helping to prepare the meals and daily tea ritual that are part of the excellent-value package here. Not much has changed since she and her husband took over the farm 60 years ago – furnishings, fittings and atmosphere of the sandstone cottages and homestead fill one with nostalgia.
Cost: R650 per person sharing full board.
Contact: 0582561099, clarens.co.za

11. Red Mountain House

Just six rooms in this small, comfortable B&B on the village square, each with a fireplace and four-poster bed, plus there’s a self-catering apartment with mountain views – small wonder this spot is often fully booked despite the somewhat fuddy-duddy decor.
Cost: Room R655 pp sharing (R830 single) B&B, apartment from R1100 for two (sleeps four).
Contact: redmountainhouse.co.za

12. Clarens Manor

This is the best option for a large group wanting to be in town. Architecturally unprepossessing but the interiors are lovely, with five virtually identical en-suite bedrooms (that is, easy to share) and great open-plan living spaces, including a really well-equipped kitchen and a veranda and deck with mountain views.
Cost: From R3000 a night.
Contact: 0828597915, wheretostay.co.za

13. Clarens Country House

Located on the golf estate opposite town, this old sandstone sheep shed has been cleverly converted into four small ‘apartments’ with glass-enclosed patios – great for sunset drinks as the lights flicker on in Clarens. One of the units is a family suite (sleeps four). Breakfast is served in your room.
Cost: From R650 per person sharing B&B.
Contact: theclarenscountryhouse.com

This mountain adventure first appeared in the October issue of Getaway magazine.

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