Innehållsförteckning för May 2024 från Getaway

WHERE ON EARTH? AT THE FOOT OF MINGSHA MOUNTAIN IN DUNHUANG, CHINA, THE CRESCENT SPRING SPANS 200 M LONG AND 50 M WIDE. DESPITE ITS DESERT SURROUNDINGS, THE WATER IS CLEAR AND SWEET, REACHING A DEPTH OF 5 M AT ITS DEEPEST POINT. WHEN VIEWED FROM AFAR, THE SPRING RESEMBLES THE SHAPE OF A CRESCENT MOON. SEE IT FOR YOURSELF FROM THE BEST POSSIBLE VANTAGE POINT ON THE PEAK OF THE SURROUNDING DUNES AT SUNSET, WHEN THE BLUE NEON LIGHTS AROUND IT LIGHT UP UNDER THE NIGHT SKY. Fountain of Youth The grass surrounding the spring is said to have wondrous medicinal properties to help cure numerous ailments, thus, the spring is also known by many as Medicinal Spring.…

Along drive along a bumpy gravel road brings you to De Hoop Nature Reserve on the Cape south coast – don't be put off; the destination is a spectacular reward. And you can even do the trip in a sedan, if you drive carefully. For me, it was a sturdy Ford Ranger Wildtrak 3.9 V6, which made light work of the bumps, with me in the driver's seat as cool as a cucumber. The 36 000 ha reserve is a World Heritage Site rich in biodiversity, with more than 70 km of pristine coastline. Its 19 km vlei is Ramsar listed. If you want more, every year, about 40% of the world's southern right whales turn up to breed and De Hoop is one of the world's best land-based whale-watching…

There are just two northern white rhinos left on Earth, both females and both getting on in years. The subspecies is, in fact, functionally extinct. Into the breach has stepped BioRescue, a multinational project with a mission to save the northern white rhino through in vitro fertilisation (IVF). Earlier this year, there was much rejoicing when BioRescue's scientists announced an extraordinary milestone: it had accomplished the first-ever rhino pregnancy using IVF. They had implanted a southern white rhino embryo in a surrogate mother named Curra. And it was successful, until a few months into the pregnancy, when Curra died of an unrelated bacterial infection (a rhino pregnancy is a 16-month affair). The team confirmed a pregnancy of 70 days with a welldeveloped, 6.4 cm-long male embryo. It was the latest…

TRAVEL Adventure I plunge backwards off the side of a boat into the midnight-blue South Atlantic Ocean near Jamestown, the capital city of the British Overseas Territory, St Helena, a remote volcanic tropical island 1 950 km west of the coast of south-western Africa. I'm briefly disoriented as seawater churns around me, and then Dive St Helena's Craig Yon and I resurface to adjust our scubadiving gear. We begin our controlled descent, and the bottom of the boat, bobbing on the surface, becomes more distant. Once we've reached 13 m, Craig calmly places his hands at chest height, and the whooshing sound of air bubbles resulting from our breathing is deafening yet meditative. He will later tell me he feels most relaxed underwater – the deeper, the better. It's otherworldly…

TRAVEL Into Africa While sailing in Madagascar 20 years ago, our family met a real-life smuggler. He arrived bare-chested on the beach with a large tooth around his neck. It was his grandmother's, he told our children, who believed he was a pirate come to life. He fascinated us with stories of diving shipwrecks and finding treasure, mostly true, we later found out, and we were later told he was a smuggler. One night, as we sat on our yacht in the quiet calm of Russian Bay on the west coast, the stars seemed to blank out for a moment, and we realised it was our smuggler leaving quietly on his black yacht, probably with a load of rum. That trip was the start of my fascination with Madagascar. The…

As far as areas of outstanding beauty go, you don't get much better than the Elgin Valley, a hop, skip and jump over the Hottentots Holland Mountains from Cape Town. The Elgin Valley is one of the more intensively farmed areas of the country and produces nearly two-thirds of the national apple crop. That's a startling fact for an area so small but less surprising when you enter the area and the gorgeous weather greets you. Of course, as South Africans, we know we're unlikely to get a sniff of it, with most of our best fruit exported to Britain. Mutter, mutter, mutter. Surrounded by mountains and with cool temperatures, an ocean breeze and plentiful winter rainfall, the Elgin basin has conditions for wine growing that are markedly different from…

Do This You're at the De Hoop Collection for the exhibition, but while you're here, take advantage of what else is on offer. A bird walk with a qualified guide – it's an early start though: 6 am in summer and 8 am in winter. A guided eco boat cruise on the vlei – daily at 11 am and 3 pm in summer. MTB trail with a qualified guide cycle among the wildlife. Interpretive merine walk with a qualified guide – explore coastal rock pools and sandy beaches. Vulture experience – Potberg Mountain is the Western Cape's last surviving colony of endangered Cape vultures (it's about an hour's hike). Nature drive with a qualified guide – in an open safari vehicle. You can also play tennis or a game of…

TRAVEL Samara Karoo Reserve It's late afternoon, and I've just arrived at Samara Karoo Reserve. We're in an open-top safari vehicle driving towards Plains Camp. The light has softened, and the koppies are shades of gold. Suddenly, the vehicle halts and my guide points to the left. I can make out three yellow dots among the Karoo bossies one hundred metres away. ‘Come, let's walk,’ he says. We get out and approach on foot. Slowly, the dots take shape: cheetahs! ‘Two males and a female,’ says my guide. ‘They're helluva relaxed.’ We get within 20 metres, then stop to watch and photograph. I'm mesmerised by their playfulness and surprised by their lack of interest in us. A herd of springbok trots into view, and the cats are suddenly all attention,…

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IN-DEPTH Food Whichever route you take to get to Veld & Sea, you're guaranteed great scenery. I drove from the Southern Suburbs via Kommetjie. Imhoff Farm was my last familiar landmark before relying entirely on GPS. As I traversed what I now know to be Slangkop Road, I wasn't prepared for the impact of the view that pummelled me after weaving around a few corners. It was late afternoon, and the light was warm. Surfers parked along the roadside, gearing up for their afternoon fix. The narrow thoroughfare is sandwiched between mountains and the sea, which seems more untamed in Scarborough than at other more familiar beaches. The waves spat and sprayed, forming an ethereal mist that stretched along the coast I rolled down the windows to feel closer to…

PHOTOGRAPHY Portfolio For over two decades, South African-born Greg du Toit has been solely devoted to photographing Africa's wildlife. His fine art collections have been exhibited from New York to Singapore, and his work has hung in natural history museums from Canada to Australia. His solo exhibition, ‘Authentic Africa’, hosted by the National Geographic gallery on London's Regent Street, was a sell-out. The BBC Wildlife magazine featured the article ‘A Waiting Game’, detailing his 270 hours spent sitting inside a Kenyan waterhole. He's the author of three books: African Wildlife Exposed, a coffee-table book containing a decade's worth of imagery and getting it right in camera, a how-to book for wildlife photographers. Wilderness Dreaming is the title of his African memoir, filled with wild bush adventures in his search of…

GETTING THERE Samara is 270 km from Gqeberha and 53 km from Graaff-Reinet (I flew to Gqeberha and hired a car). Self-drive guests leave their vehicles under shaded parking at Samara Karoo Lodge, where tea and coffee facilities, a small gift shop and guest loos are available. Check-in time at SAMARA KAROO LODGE is 1 pm. The transfer to Plains Camp departs at 1.15 pm and takes approximately 40 minutes. There is only one daily transfer to and from Plains Camp. Late arrivals will need to book a second transfer (departing Samara Karoo Lodge at 5 pm) at an extra cost. THE EXPERIENCE Samara has three lodges; on this trip, we chose Plains Camp. It offers numerous activities, including daily game drives, safari walks, tracking on foot and wilderness picnics.…

TRAVEL Motoring Late in 2023, Isuzu announced the re-introduction of the D-Max X-Rider, a double-cab bakkie introduced to the South African market in 2016. Given the immediate success of the model back then (which in 2017 accounted for 23% of Isuzu's passenger vehicle sales), the Japanese manufacturers decided to give it a fresh update for 2024 to join the family of seventh-generation D-Max bakkies available on the South African market. Isuzu invited the media and their partners to a launch on the Garden Route to test the new bakkies while enjoying the natural beauty of the beloved stretch between the Western and Eastern Cape and participating in the area's diverse activities. The X-Rider is different primarily in style to the rest of the D-Max family; no engine tweaks, system upgrades,…

VISA REQUIREMENTS FOR SOUTH AFRICANS South African citizens must get a Schengen Visa before touching down in the land of the Greeks. This multi-entry visa allows you to stay for a maximum of 90 days within a 180-day time frame. Securing it is relatively straightforward, and the best way to go about it is by booking an appointment at the VFS Global application centre in your city. Naturally, you must stay updated with the latest visa requirements and prepare the required documents before your interview. It's highly advisable to apply at least 15 days in advance but no more than three months before your trip to prevent any last-minute issues. CURRENCY AND PRICING The currency used in Greece is the Euro, and at the time of writing, 1 Euro is…

And Here's What You Said… Philip Bateman It's probably not the first time this has happened. Karin Swanepoel What happened to autopilot? Where Did You Camp Last Night Well, that is freaking frighting! Becks J MacFarlane Pilots are overworked. Caught in the Web All Aboard! Ever since Buster Keaton starred in The General in 1926, runaway trains have been a recurring theme in Hollywood movies, whether comedy, action or thriller. It covers most genres. Earlier this year, a freight train in India had its own runaway moment, or its own runaway 90 minutes. The driverless train rolled for nearly 76 km reaching speeds of nearly 75 km/h, from Kathua station in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Inexplicably, the driver and the assistant driver had disembarked at the same time.…