Indice dei contenuti per May 2017 in Getaway

I was in Zimbabwe with a girlfriend, visiting her parents, and it wasn’t going well. I didn’t know them and they didn’t know me, and I was shy and hid in the room and read books and they thought I was being stuck-up and superior, and they had long conversations among themselves about how books are for people who don’t know how to do useful things, which is obviously true but didn’t make me feel good. They were all going on some sort of family excursion, and I told them I’d visit my aunt and uncle in Banket. ‘Make sure you’re back by sundown,’ said her father. ‘You don’t want to be on that road after dark.’ I narrowed my eyes and clenched my jaw. How useless do they think…

Overlander trip to Victoria Falls worth R37 600 What a wonderful piece of news! To go to the Okavango Delta these days is so expensive, and then there’s Namibia, Chobe and the Falls to top it off. Can’t wait to experience this. – Kieran McLoughlin Rogue coolers worth R1 299 and R2 499 These new Rogue cooler boxes will be an awesome upgrade for our future travels. I can’t wait to test them out! – Cory Schmitz Thule Covert DSLR Backpack worth R3 999 I’m really looking forward to being able to get the camera out quickly or reach any equipment without taking off the bag, unlike my current backpack. This will be a welcome companion for travel or just being out and about. – Jaques Smith A Garmin VIRB…

1 Know your birds Recommended by Mike Sutherland, a private photographic and safari guide with seven years’ experience. Mike has used this hardcover book for many years and knows it well. The layout and style make it easy to follow and the illustrations are some of the most detailed and best around. The latest edition, the seventh, has seasonal, age and sexual differences depicted in the artwork, which is helpful for identifying tricky birds. It goes a little beyond being an average identification guide because it also gives important in-depth info on migration patterns, breeding and nesting behaviour. It’s a firm favourite for Mike on any trip. Published by Jacana Media. R739, loot.co.za 2 For nature lovers Recommended by Dalfrenzo Laing, head guide at De Hoop Collection and FGASA (Field…

It’s tough to overstate how much a good pair of noise-cancelling headphones can improve travel. Whether you’re on a plane, awaiting another on a layover, standing on a crowded subway train at rush hour or riding a packed ferry, a good pair of cans won’t just accurately reproduce your favourite album or podcast but actively mitigate against the noise around you. How? Built-in microphones have the ability to negate what they pick up. The AKG N60NC headphones are my favourite by a mile (land or nautical). They’re smaller than most rivals’ offerings, weigh a mere 150g, fold flat, and come with an airline adaptor and soft case. Moreover, they’re substantially cheaper than the competition and offer excellent isolation despite being on-ear rather than over. The built-in battery is for noise-cancelling…

An arty day out If your eyes like to feast as much as your belly, head to the Cradle of Humankind for the Nirox Foundation’s Winter Sculpture Fair . Expect larger-than-life, intriguing artworks and performances dotted over 15 hectares of parkland (this year’s theme is ‘Open Laboratory’, curated by six SA universities and employing more than 50 young artist alumni), plus the fine food and winemakers of Franschhoek will be there to help tailor-make your picnic. Tickets online only for R165. 13 – 14 May. tixsa.co.za PLUS: Over in Pretoria, the Wine Art Food Festival is in soul-stirring Freedom Park – think tastings from 30 estates, local restaurant pop-ups and art (including live painting and 3D illusions), not to mention stunning views of the city. Tickets R150. 6 May. waff.co.za…

Night 1 The Roast A one-pan self-basting meal, where roasting juices flavour the veggies. Feeds 4 Rinse the chicken and pat dry with plenty of paper towel. Leave to come to room temperature (it takes about an hour and a half). Truss the chicken if you know how, or simply tie the ankles together. Preheat the oven to 250°C and place the rack in the lower third. Peel the vegetables and cut into 2 x 1cm pieces. Peel and halve the shallots, lengthways. Tip the veg into a cast-iron pan, toss with oil, season and add the rosemary sprigs. Nestle the chicken on top, season generously and roast for 25 minutes. Reduce the heat to 200°C and continue roasting for 45…

I’ve always been put off going to Addo Elephant National Park. I was told the bush is too dense, that all you see is spekboom and no game – especially not predators – but I don’t know which park these naysayers are referring to. Surprising in its diversity, sublime across every single landscape (even the thick, spekboom-filled ones) and gentle with its ambitious future, the Addo I found is a pure delight. Elephants are easily the biggest drawcard, and an exceptionally charming one at that, but this incredible park is a diversity hotspot offering pockets of pristine, wild, gin-coloured mountain streams that you can swim in, vital marine ecosystems, plus popular big mammals that include black-maned Kalahari lions. When nature puts on a show like this, you’ve got to turn…

Three nights Hippos, open spaces and private mountain pools The Kabouga Section is far bigger than the Addo Main Game Area and, in my opinion, far more beautiful. There are creased valleys and mountain slopes, rugged roads and soft pink clouds that flood over the hilltops during a good sunset. If I were a secretive leopard, this would be the perfect place to take sanctuary. Kabouga Section ranger Nosipho Tyagana reckons the 4x4 route that crosses over to the Darlington Section is ‘out of this world. There’s loads of variety in one drive and you cross four of the five biomes.’ Kabouga is the least-known section of the park. ‘We are not that famous because we don’t offer things like game drives. We get a lot of birders and a…

WORLD’S VIEW One of Maritzburg’s oldest routes is from World’s View, along the old wagon track through a plantation and into Voortrekker Road. Villiers Drive and Roberts Road will bring you into town via leafy Clarendon suburb. It’s best to go in a group. SOBANTU HERITAGE ROUTE The homes of notable activists such as Harry Gwala and Anton Xaba, as well as artists and sporting legends, are in Sobantu. The Mgungundlovu Liberation Heritage Route offers walking tours of the township. 072-933-3757 ALEXANDRA PARK Stroll from Balmoral Drive through Alexandra Park over the cast-iron Macfarlane Bridge at the Msunduzi River. From there the track pops out on Prince Alfred Street in front of the old Grey’s Hospital heading to Chief Albert Luthuli Street.…

WHAT’S FOR FREE? Boy, don’t we need free fare now that our leaders have disrespected our rand? On page 78, you’ll find some things to do this winter in Jozi, Port Elizabeth, Durban and CT for nothing, gratis, mahala. WISH-LIST TRAVEL Turn to page 84 and look at those pictures of South Luangwa National Park in Zambia. Then read that first paragraph and tell me it doesn’t put travel-lust in your heart. Also read Sam Reinders’ story on Kathmandu, which she’s visited 15 times (page 94). ONE DAMN FINE CHICKEN Since we changed our food pages, Food Editor Nikki Werner’s voice has followed us into our kitchens at home and on the road. This lesson on chicken makes three meals of one humanely dispatched bird (page 44). LOOK OUT FOR…

The Leadville Dog Park, now open in the Sunningdale part of Table View, offers ample space to suit dogs with different personalities. The off-leash park – about the size of a soccer field – is subdivided into sections that include an area for small and shy dogs, and a larger range for more social hounds. There’s a play-in fountain (a hit with kids as much as it is with dogs) and a Vetshop stocking anything from food to toys, plus there’s a dog behaviourist on site and a rehab centre for injured pups. That’s Fido taken care of... The real highlight for dog owners is the Reload Espresso Bar – an oak-finished, rustic-chic cafe with a warm interior and even warmer staff. The coffee is from Flatmountain artisan roasters in…

Poke, a Hawaiian surfer/street food made with raw tuna cubes, seaweed, soy sauce and rice, has rapidly spread around the globe, with each culture adding its own tastes to the mix. Now it’s in South Africa. First up was Andrew Flanagan’s The Poké Co, an online-order service with regular pop-ups at events and serving lunch from its Woodstock base (he’s currently looking for restaurant premises). Then came Max Botha’s Hokey Poké, which opened in Church Street in February and has quickly become a nightlife hotspot. A second outlet opened in April at the new Mojo Market in Sea Point Main Road. Both offer a small menu of set dishes, for those who need to get their head around this new taste sensation, but you can also ‘build your own bowl’…

Owner of Tempracha ‘This is my home away from home. I’m here seven days a week and one of the oldest occupiers of space here. I was lucky to hear about The Foundry from a friend. There wasn’t much going on here three years ago but I’ve seen it develop into a gem.’ Sanele grew up helping his policewoman mother source clothing to sell on the side, and started his fashion label from home before setting up shop here. ‘What I love about the 031 [Durban] is that it’s very slow roast on all fronts – due to a lack of outside influence. Everyone trying to make a mark is the most inspiring thing.’ The Foundry, 43 Station Drive, 081-782-0403 GET SOCIAL ‘Going to The Morning Trade on Sundays (8am…

FINALIST Kogel Bay Bioluminescence Photographer Steve Benjamin from Animal Ocean tipped me off about bioluminescent plankton in Western Cape’s Kogel Bay. Arriving at midnight on a pitch-black drizzly night, with a scary walk from the bush to the beach, we were treated to the most magical experience. The sand lit up as we walked across it, fluorescent waves broke on the shore and everything sparkled with movement. This is a four-image, vertically stitched panorama in Photoshop and processed in Lightroom. – By Mark Harley, Kommetjie Canon 6D, Canon 17-40mm f/4L, ISO 3200, f/4, 30 sec FINALIST Wearing Raindrops I took this image early in the morning in the Bvumba Mountains in Zimbabwe’s Eastern Highlands. After a night of gentle rain, droplets had collected on this small caterpillar. – By Michelle…

WHAT WINE? Chooks are such easy dinner dates, as comfortable roasting in a pan as they are simmering in green curry. So finding a wine companion can be tricky unless you follow the golden rule: focus on matching with the sauce or seasoning, not the meat. As a result, plenty of chicken recipes go brilliantly with red. But for delicious roasts like this month’s opening act, or anything vaguely creamy, look no further than the Chardonnay shelf. From grilled, lemony-herb fowls to voluptuous, buttery birds, the ‘queen of grapes’ delivers in abundance. WHAT LABEL? The crazy-good-value wine Somewhere between the Huguenot Tunnel and Worcester, you’ll find a co-op winery and its category winner in this year’s Best Value Wines competition. Slanghoek Private Selection Chardonnay 2016 is a four-star wine for…

Best for budget car camping Comfort is the most important factor here, and the following items tend to be bulkier as a result. Total weight 4,3kg 1. THE SLEEPING BAG TRAIL +5 DEG ENVELOPE SLEEPING BAG – SENIOR R299,99, mrpsport.com WHY CHOOSE THIS? It’s ideal for family camping. The comfort rating makes it warm enough for sleeping outside most of the year. The envelope shape is great for comfort, and there’s space to move your legs. I also really like the versatility of this bag. It zips open at both ends to become a blanket, and two of the same bags can be zipped together to make one big double bag. OPEN SIZE 200cm x 85cm PACKED SIZE 40cm x 20cm WEIGHT 1,3kg COMFORT RATING 5 °C…

Three nights Kalahari black-maned lions, naturally tusk-less elephants, Addo flightless dung beetles and caracals Addo’s Main Game Area and Colchester Section are the regions that most people think about when envisioning the park. Together they are roughly 24 000 hectares and are where you’ll see the elephant hoards (in future, some of the ellies will also be moved to other sections of the park). You’ll see kudu in numbers as large as the herds of impala in Kruger, and an abundance of warthog snuffling on their knees. It’s also home to handsome lions that were introduced more than 10 years ago from the Kalahari, as well as impressive herds of Burchell’s zebra, buffalo, spotted hyena, red hartebeest and eland. Most life is found around the waterholes because this section of…

Three nights Tree dassies and trumpeter hornbills There are just two places you can hike in Addo: either the jaw-dropping day trails on the slopes of the fynboscovered 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 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,…

SIMPLE CARRYALL R799, duesouth.co.za The compact back-to-basics Duesouth Heritage Backpack 30L has essential features – padded straps, a front organiser pocket with two mesh storage pouches and a yellow rain cover. There are sternum straps to better secure the bag to your chest for short walks, but I reckon a hip belt would make it a little more ideal for longer hikes. PROTECTION PACK R2 150, outdoorwarehouse.co.za Lugging around tech stuff such as a laptop and cables? You need a bag that doesn’t add to the load. Made to carry gadgets, Lowepro’s new 25L RidgeLine Pro BP 300 AW weighs 1,1kg and has three large sections to keep your equipment organised, plus a compartment for sunnies. The built-in rain cover with heat-sealed seams protects against…

Muhammed Moosa, chef at Mo-G’s ‘Albert Falls Dam, just outside town, is only 20 minutes from my home and the perfect place to relax with the family surrounded by nature.’ Viranna Frank, PRO ‘My two boys never tire of the botanical gardens or Queen Elizabeth Park, both great for nature hikes or just to relax in the tranquil surroundings.’ Oscar Dhlomo, publisher ‘Broadway Lifestyle in Imbali is close to a big academic precinct, as well as where ordinary people live, so it’s great to go there for traditional food and a vibrant reflection of the community.’ Shelagh McLoughlin, writer ‘The plantations around Hilton are my favourite place to escape, for walking, running or mountain biking. Talk to a local about safe places to go.’…

No one single favourite. Tchaikovsky, Beethoven, Mozart, Verdi ... anything classical played allegro vivace helps to while away the trip, and keep me awake. – Patricia Anne Greening ‘Rock the Casbah’ by The Clash and ‘Another Universe’ by Arno Carstens. – Claire Everatt Anything 60s, 70s and 80s turns any trip into an instant karaoke bar in the car! – Adele Rhodes ‘Don’t Stop Believin’ ‘ by Journey. – Landie Fourie Bob Marley’s Exodus album! – Srrbs Olivia Jeremy Loops and Matthew Mole. – Delyse Fell Any Cesária Évora album... – Heimari Lombaard…

Dragon Peaks CENTRAL DRAKENSBERG Set in the Champagne Valley, also home to the famous Drakensberg Boys’ Choir School, this family-owned mountain resort exudes a relaxed holiday atmosphere – it’s the kind of place regulars come back to every year to unwind. The 400-hectare resort has just completed 16 new self-catering units and invested in solar panels to supplement electricity on fair-weather days. Simple and modern, with slick finishes (very different to the older, more rustic thatched accommodation), the new one-bedroomed apartments are spacious with an open-plan living area and kitchen. All the units have a balcony with great views overlooking the dam – number 132 has the very best, though, with an unobstructed outlook on dramatic Cathkin Peak and Champagne Castle. All come with a built-in braai and patio seating…

For holidays I prefer cities but not too far from the sea. I try to taste as much local food as I can so, no, I don’t cook on holiday. Our best family holiday was in Spain – Marbella on the Costa del Sol – because we had the sea, food, wine, culture and golf. In South Africa I like Zimbali in KZN and Franschhoek. I also love Pilanesberg Game Reserve – it’s so big, every time I go I have the impression of being somewhere else. I often go to Dubai. You will find the best of all worlds there – you can have a French breakfast, an Indian lunch and an Arabic dinner. No wonder I always come back with an extra 5kg around my belly! My most…

I have a confession. As a youngster, I hated going to the bushveld. I found it boring and monotonous and never understood why we’d have to stop the car every five minutes to watch lugubrious beasts eat grass. What more was there to see once you’d spotted them? Family trips to the Kruger felt like punishment; like being made to stand in the corner of a classroom. Except the classroom was an endless veld where nothing ever happened and the corner was a car window, with Billy Joel’s ‘We Didn’t Start the Fire’ blaring from the speakers because my dad thought it made ruminating giraffes look like they were lip-synching. It made me wonder who did start that fire and if I could persuade them to start one where I…

’The view of the magnificent mountain scenery is breathtaking... then I hear the sound of the waterfall’ The smell of freshly cut grass hangs in the air as we drive along the N4 past Emalahleni. My colleague, Tyson, and I are on a road trip to Swaziland and I’m in awe of the scale of cultivated land and its different shades of green. Above it, I watch the clouds form different shapes. A six- to seven-hour drive from Pretoria, with a good playlist and winding passes, leads us into Mpumalanga. With a reputation for being one of the most breathtaking drives, we head along the Genesis Route from Carolina. The potholes are minor and the scenery is spectacular as we cross over the Nelshoogte Pass and into Barberton. After a…

In the Namib Desert, water is the essence of life. But adaptation is the master of fate. Photographs by Anna-Mart Kruger and Helene Wiggett A Peringuey's adder grows its eyes out the top of its head. It stays buried, peepers exposed, to ambush anything that moves near its bed. Quick as lightning, the Namib sand snake moves between burrows and scrub, finding respite wherever it can. Like a solar panel, the Namaqua chameleon lies flat to absorb the heat, kick starting its metabolism so that it can eat. ABOUT THE PHOTOGRAPHERS Anna-Mart Kruger and Helene Wiggett are the two halves of award-winning photo team HAWK Photography. They are based in Walvis Bay, Namibia, and are specialists in capturing the wonders of Southern Africa’s arid regions. hawkphotography.org…

Two nights African penguins, bottlenose dolphins, whales, and for divers hammerhead sharks Addo Elephant National Park extends right down to the ocean and currently protects some important islands in Algoa Bay, namely St Croix and Bird Island. The latter has one of the largest colonies of Cape gannets in the world, and St Croix is home to the largest breeding colony of the precious African penguin (6500 breeding pairs, at last count). A charter boat trip gets you close to these comical creatures and there’s also a good chance of seeing dolphins in the protected waters around St Croix (on my trip I saw a megapod of nearly 400). I ask Lloyd Edwards, the owner of Raggy Charters about his clients. ‘Locals don’t even know that we have the largest…

THE INSIDER Steven Kotze was born in Maritzburg, went to school and varsity there, visits frequently and still thinks fondly of his hometown. A history expert who has worked as a guide and authored two books, he is now a researcher for Durban’s Local History Museum. During the 1980s, when I was growing up in Pietermaritzburg, a stunningly misguided branding campaign for the city came up with the payoff line ‘Last Outpost of the British Empire’, which was printed on stickers emblazoned with the red, white and blue stripes of the Union Flag. The exact intention of the stickers remains unclear, but it was probably a celebration of red-brick, broekie-lace colonial architectural heritage and some undefined cultural legacy of a long-ago era wrapped up in the supposed Englishness of Maritzburg.…

170... That’s how many litres of fuel you need to camp for five days in the enormous Namib Desert. Roughly. Sometimes the dunes won’t let you pass, so you need to find another route. Or you get stuck in the sand. Or your friend gets stuck in the sand and you’ve got the recovery kit. The Namib Desert is surprising in its variety – from rough mountain peaks and vegetated red sand hills to 30-storey-high white sand dunes – and it’s protected. Senior Travel Journalist Melanie van Zyl crossed it to get to Namibia’s southern coast. Find out how she did this once-in-a–lifetime adventure in the next issue.…