Innholdsfortegnelse for Feb/Mar 2026 i go!

DON'T MISS OUR NEXT ISSUE! The April/May magazine will be on sale at retailers from 20 March 2026. As a young journalist who loathed thinking too far into the future, I loved working as a hard news reporter for a daily newspaper. I'd bang out three or four stories a shift on a variety of topics, governed by a 24-hour news cycle with relentless deadlines set in stone. Every day was an exciting fresh start, with little – if any – carry-over from the day before. If you'd asked me what I'd be doing two days from now, I wouldn't have been able to tell you. I didn't need to plan anything – news happened and I would cover it. Simple as that. Fast forward almost 40 years and –…

The B8 is the only tar road that transects Namibia's Kavango East and Zambezi regions (previously the Caprivi Strip) from Divundu in the west to Katima Mulilo in the east. These towns are an intimidating 310km apart, which is why it's a great idea to take a breather around the 200km mark at the small town of Kongola. Besides a couple of shops and a petrol station, Kongola's main attraction is Mashi Crafts. Mashi Crafts occupies a prominent building across the road from the Shell service station. It is one of my favourite curio shops in Namibia because it almost exclusively stocks items made in the surrounding rural areas, where houses are still built the traditional way with reed and thatch, or with mopane stumps and mud bricks. A tag…

“You don't come to ‘Boven for coffee and curio shops,” says Gustav Janse van Rensburg of Waterval Boven, now called Emgwenya. With its empty shopfronts and crumbling main street, ‘Boven as the locals call it, is a far cry from the bustling hub it once was. About 11 km further along the N4, Waterval Onder – a handful of houses and a single gravel road – is easily overlooked as you make your way through the Elands Valley. But don't judge a book by its cover. But don't judge a book by its cover. “What you will find here is unspoiled nature and extraordinary views,” says Gustav, who first visited the valley three decades ago and never really left. In 1999, he moved here permanently and opened his business, Roc‘n…

Hillerstorp is a small town in the forests of southern Sweden, about 250 km north of Malmö, the city where the Thule Group has its global headquarters. But Hillerstorp is where the company was founded in 1942; it's where the Thule factory is located; and it's quite literally where you can hear the brand's heartbeat. The steady “thump, thump, thump” that vibrates through the building every second is the sound of a huge, 400-tonne stamping press turning sheet metal into roof racks – 3000 parts per hour, 55 million parts per year. “It does sound like a heartbeat, doesn't it?” says Daniel Larson, Thule's senior vice president of commercial sales. Then he laughs. “As we say here, this is also the sound of money being made!” For a gear geek…

It's summer in the Karoo and the air is filled with the intoxicating smell of sweet thorn flowers. The sky is deep blue – for now. With a bit of luck, thunder clouds will start stacking up around midday. Should those clouds become heavy enough and burst, releasing fat raindrops that splat into the dust, the best place to watch the spectacle is from a sheltered farm stoep, with a cup of coffee in hand. For many South Africans, the Karoo is just a place to rush through on the way to the coast. But in recent years, more discerning travellers have come to appreciate it as a summer destination, far from the madding crowds. Louwrence and Jeanette Lombard live on the farm Waterval, south of Cradock (new name: Nxuba).…

Is octopus the same as calamari? Not quite. Calamari – the food – is usually squid. The octopus is from the same family as these creatures, but there are some differences: Cuttlefish The cuttlefish is a slow swimmer. It has one spongy bone or shell inside its body – called a cuttlebone. Maybe you've picked up a cuttlebone on the beach before: It looks like a small, white surfboard. Squid The squid is a great swimmer. It propels itself forward by sucking water into its body cavity and forcing it out again in a strong stream – like a water gun! Octopus The octopus has no bones in its body, so it can flatten itself to wriggle through tight spaces. It tastes like… Imagine you could taste your sandwich or…

 LORDS OF THE RING There are two stressful parts to giving a birding talk (or any public speaking for that matter): the first three minutes, when you're still finding your voice; and the Q&A afterwards. At the end, if people start fidgeting and glancing at the exit, I know the talk was too long or too boring; but if a forest of hands springs into the air, I know the audience loved the talk – they want to engage and know more. After speaking in dozens of lecture halls, conference rooms, university classes, church auditoriums and even the occasional living room, I can anticipate and answer most questions easily enough. But there's one subset of audience members that always throws a spanner in the works: kids. Because children view the…

You were a regular contributor to go! in the early days. What have you been up to since then? At home, mostly – raising four kids to adulthood and (hopefully) self-sufficiency. I recently retired from the newsroom at the University of Cape Town, where I worked for 25 years mining stories of the people there and their extraordinary research and contributions to society. You hint at it in the column, but what makes you want to visit the Karoo again and again? The Karoo is a place that invites reflection. I never tire of listening to the wind from across far, ancient plains. The community we visit in Prince Albert is like a cupped hand: small and warm in its offering gesture. Riding around on my bike invites connection: “Hallo…

Go for a walk in Franschhoek Franschhoek is famous for its fine dining and historical wine estates. One of those estates – La Motte – also offers another way to experience the valley: a 5km circular hiking trail. The hike starts and ends at the tasting room, where you'll be given a detailed map of the area, including check lists of the local fauna and flora. The trail begins gently along sandy vineyard paths before ascending the rocky slopes of the Franschhoek Mountain that frames the estate. Following the contour of the mountain, you'll have expansive views over the Franschhoek Valley while hiking through fynbos, aloes and trees – some labelled with stone markers. Expect a bit of climbing and scrambling; there are chains to help you. Pause at the…

CapeNature has declared a new reserve in the Little Karoo: Lettas Kraal, about 30km from Touws River and bordering on Anysberg Nature Reserve. Lettas Kraal covers about 7km² in the Succulent Karoo biome, which is internationally recognised as a biodiversity hotspot. Camera traps have shown that several shy and nocturnal species are found here: brown hyena, leopard, honey badger and the critically endangered riverine rabbit. Other research has recorded nine butterfly species, seven moth species, 97 bird species, 11 lizard and skink species, one tortoise species, one terrapin species, 11 snake species, four frog species and two scorpion species. Not to mention the 814 plant species… The reserve is named after the farm on which it is located. Lettas Kraal is not yet open to the public. Watch this space.…

Off to the market(s) No weekend visit to Joburg is complete without a stop at the Rosebank Sunday Market (rosebanksundaymarket.co.za), a sprawling affair on the top level of the Rosebank Mall parking garage. The market has dozens of stalls selling food, thrifted clothes and houseware, books, and a dizzying array of high-quality African crafts, some of which are made on site. The Pretoria Boeremark (pretoria boeremark.co.za) is a great excuse to get out of the city on a Saturday morning. Formerly a traditional farmers' market, the Boeremark has expanded to include row upon row of mostly Afrikaans foods, like pampoenkoekies (pumpkin fritters), moerkoffie served from piping hot iron kettles, and more adventurous dishes like skilpadjies (sheep's liver) and pap and kaiings (deep-fried pork fat). You can also buy fresh flowers…

Aroad to nowhere. Tell me those four words don't elicit a rush of giddy joy. On a road to nowhere, I would ramble or ride; alone, unfettered and with no destination, shedding my burdens like a snake sloughs its skin. My favourite such stretch is a corrugated dirt road threading out from Prince Albert, pitched on the vast Karoo plain and sternly watched over by the Swartberg. My husband Hamish and I visit Prince Albert annually, renting a cottage on an olive farm. Initially, I ventured out on foot. Later, I took my sturdy all-road bike, named Cleo, along that road. Fitted with a bell and a side mirror, Cleo is a suburban aunty, like me. I remember the first time I set out. The wideness of land and sky…

“It took me 10 years to finally get this one single image of a brown hyena, in the most perfect frame imaginable,” says South African photographer Wim van den Heever, about this ghostly Kolmanskop shot. “I knew there were brown hyenas in that area; I could see the droppings and every now and again I could see their tracks coming through. It always stuck in the back of my mind: ‘You've got to try and photograph this.’” He pulled it off, and in October last year he was announced as the Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2025. Wim's image – and the other overall and category winners – were selected from a record-breaking 60636 entries from 113 countries and territories around the world. The competition is run by the Natural…

Namibians know their bakkies, and specifically their Hiluxes. “This is a really good-looking bakkie,” the customs officer says approvingly as he searches my cooler box for beer and biltong. Carrying beer and biltong all the way from Stellenbosch to Namibia is dumber than carrying coals to Newcastle, so there's nothing to worry about there… I'mat the Noordoewer border post and a second officer walks up. “What colour is this Hilux?” he asks. “I've never seen it before.” Indeed, the colour of our double-cab Legend 55 has been a point of contention between my wife, Ronel, and I since we passed Garies hours ago. “She says it's turquoise. I say it's green. She says I'm colour blind. “Toyota says it's dark green mica metallic,” I tell the officer, hoping for some…

There's a turn-off from the R62 onto the R327 dirt road. I've driven past it plenty of times but I've never taken it. Until now. The R327 leads to Vanwyksdorp, which is about 30 km away, between the Swartberg and the Langeberg mountain ranges. Every now and again there's a rumour that the R327 will be tarred, but the residents laugh when I ask, because the local municipality is not exactly known for its efficiency. “That story has been circulating for a long time,” says Nick Koornhof, a former politician who bought a property here three years ago. He was an MP for this constituency in the 1980s and visited Vanwyksdorp twice a year. Even back then, he was always greeted by a delegation of residents who wanted to know…

If you do, then make a note in your calendar on Tuesday 17 February. In the late afternoon, a partial solar eclipse will be visible across large parts of southern Africa. The path of totality of the eclipse will cross Antarctica, but even if you happened to be working at South Africa's research base there, you wouldn't experience a total eclipse. Rather, what will happen in February is called an “annular” eclipse. Whether an eclipse is annular or total depends on where the moon is in its orbit around the earth. Because the orbit is elliptical, the perceived size of the moon changes as it moves closer and further from the earth. Remember, a solar eclipse occurs when the moon moves between the earth and the sun. If this happens…

The name “Waterfall Forest” sounds magical, like something from a fairytale; a place where supernatural things can happen. But right now, I'm not feeling very supernatural. I can't wave a wand and banish the pain shooting through my right knee every time I take step. My backpack feels like a sack of bricks, and the path is only getting steeper. It's not like we weren't warned. When offered a choice of two routes, the one through Waterfall Forest came with a difficulty disclaimer. That's why our hiking group split up earlier: Herman and Kenzo took the easier route through a pine plantation; Maryke, Benedikt and I chose the forest. It's not like we haven't seen enough forests already! After three days on the six-day Amatola Trail, we'd already trekked through…

The octopus is one of the most interesting creatures on earth. There are about 300 different species in the world; the one we most often see in our rock pools is the common octopus. The octopus hunts fish, crabs, crayfish, mussels and jellyfish. It catches its prey with its arms and bites it to death with a hard, sharp beak (almost like a parrot's) on the underside of its head. Its stomach is also inside its head, which means that when an octopus swallows food, it moves straight through its brain! Well, one of its brains. There's also a “brain” in each of its eights arms, which ensures the arm can swim, feel and grip on its own. The octopus has three hearts. One heart circulates blood through the body…

I visited the Kruger Park with my family in July 2024 – we stayed at Letaba. One day, we decided to drive to Satara for lunch. We didn't see many animals on the road there, but on the way back, about 5km from the turn-off to Olifants on the H1-5, we came across a game-viewing vehicle and the guide waved us to a stop. He only had one guest – an American tourist – and asked if we had a pair of binoculars because they'd seen a leopard in the distance. They pointed to a koppie 1 about 400m from the road. We couldn't see anything with the naked eye, but my dad's binos soon revealed a big leopard that had dragged an impala ram into a tree (2 &…

If there's one area in the Kruger Park where you're almost guaranteed a lion sighting, it's around the Crocodile Bridge rest camp. Sometimes, lions surprise everyone with an action-packed hunt, but most times you get lots of lying around and yawning. Two lionesses were lounging next to the S28 dirt road. There were a few vehicles at the scene and we patiently waited our turn. After an hour of creeping closer, the only action we got was this moment, when one of the lionesses looked at us as if to say, “What did you expect? Us supermodels need our beauty sleep!”…