Innehållsförteckning för February 2018 från go!

This issue of go! (#140) is a milestone for a number of reasons. It even got an office name while we were planning it: the “Erns Edition”. Not only did Erns Grundling write two of the main stories (the Khomas Hochland hike and our guide to Windhoek), he also profiled the writer Elsa Joubert, compiled the books page and wrote about the Swartberg Country Manor for our weekend section. Everything had to happen chop-chop in late 2017, at the time of year when our deadlines were at their craziest. You know what they say about hindsight? Well, it might not have been the best idea to load all of this on Erns. As you’ll read on the following page (and as he admits himself), Erns and deadlines aren’t cuddly bedfellows.…

Quick as a crab Q ZELDA BOSCH from Vanderbijlpark writes: My daughter Nerike (14) was picking lavender flowers in our garden when she found this pink spider that had just caught a bee, even though the spider was smaller than the bee. What kind of spider is it, and are those flies sitting on the bee? A Entomologist DUNCAN MACFADYEN says: This is a flower crab spider. Its first two pairs of legs are characteristically longer and stronger than the last two. The spider’s name is derived from its crab-like motion and the way it holds its front legs – reminiscent of a crab spreading its claws when threatened. This species is often strikingly coloured. It can be white, yellow or shades of pink as Nerike discovered. Like a chameleon,…

“Hallo my kerkkjind,” says tannie Emma Seas when I approach her braai drum next to the Spar in Port Nolloth. She has been making and selling roosterkoek here for the past 12 years. A plain roosterkoek goes for R5; for R50 you can get a roosterkoek, a piece of sausage and a pork chop. If you’re here on the right day you’ll also get “extra fieterjasies” – like salad. But tannie Emma is more than the reigning roosterkoek queen of the Northern Cape: She’s a friend to many, a pillar of the community and the oracle of the Diamond Coast where travellers can find council. And she’s happiest next to her braai drum: “I grew up next to a fire,” she says. “It’s where I hung out with boys and…

Bush-shrikes are my favourite bird family. Except for the more conspicuous bokmakierie, they are skulkers extraordinaire and are seldom seen, despite being some of the most beautiful birds around. Their calls often give them away. The ghostly call of the grey-headed bush-shrike – aptly named a “spookvoël” in Afrikaans – is a common bushveld sound. It’s a low whoooooo, like someone blowing across a bottle neck, often heard while the bird remains frustratingly out of sight. If you do manage to find one, a closer inspection will reveal a well-developed hooked beak, which should give you some idea of its carnivorous nature. They’re not picky eaters – I’ve observed them eating everything from insects to a venomous twig snake and even a flap-necked chameleon (pictured). A pair of shrikes had…

SOUTHERN CARMINE BEE-EATER Mubala Lodge, about 40 km east of Katima Mulilo in the Zambezi Region of Namibia, is an entomologist’s dream. It’s also an ornithologist’s dream because all those insects bring plenty of birds, including the world’s biggest colony of southern carmine bee-eaters – about 3 000 breeding pairs! Every year in late August, the bee-eaters arrive in Namibia from central African countries like Gabon, Tanzania and the Congo. Once they’ve settled in, the males and females try to impress each other with aerial displays. This is how they select a mate for the next four months, during which time the pair will raise a single chick. When the chicks are ready to leave the nest, the colony disperses to the mopane forests of the northern Kalahari and the…

A dust cloud settles on my bakkie as I roll onto the tar. There’s a small building on my left with the word “Broedersput” painted on a wall, next to a faded Coca-Cola sign. It could be a shop. I check Google Maps to find out where on earth I am. It turns out that the dirt road has spat me out on the N14, somewhere between Vryburg and Delareyville. I’m on my way somewhere even more remote: the village of Kameel. Have you ever heard of the place? Neither had I until a few days ago, when I started planning this route. I noticed a tiny dot on the map named after a camel and I decided I had to go there. The north-west of the North West juts…

READER STORY SHIRLEY KOKOT Home town: Hermanus Occupation: Psychologist ‘We’ve just had the best of both worlds,” said my husband Mike, his face aglow with contentment and lots of clean air. This comment followed a three-day slackpacking trail that began in Hermanus and ended at Stony Point near Betty’s Bay. What’s so special about that, you might ask? It’s the details of the experience that lent credence to Mike’s words… The trail is called the Biosphere Breaker Way and it was far more than a walk in nature. Sure, our days were filled with breathtaking views as we strolled along fynbos-clad mountain slopes and down to the shoreline, but they were also filled with fascinating snippets of information about the history, flora and fauna of the region, from a trio…

Bread rolls with garlic butter Makes 8 Preparation time 20 minutes plus resting time Baking time 40 minutes Serve these rolls with flavoured garlic butter: Add chilli for the adventurous palates and feta and capers for the others. You need For the garlic butter Here’s how 1 Mix the flour, yeast, salt and sugar together. Stir in ¾ of the water and the olive oil. Add more water until a sticky dough forms. Knead the dough for 10 minutes. 2 Cover the dough with cling wrap and set aside for 90 minutes to rise and double in size. 3 Take egg-sized pieces of dough, roll them into balls and put them in a single layer in a greased cast…

Do you want your holiday photos to wow friends and family? Then join us for either a one-day workshop or a weekend workshop of all things camera-related. We’ll show you how to operate your camera so you’ll be inspired to get out there and capture the world around you. Our picture editor Shelley Christians will facilitate the one-day course and professional photographer Sam Reinders will present the weekend workshop. Come armed with your point-and-shoot or D-SLR and we’ll help you improve your photography. ONE-DAY WORKSHOPS 3 February 2018, Evertsdal Guesthouse, Durbanville 24 February 2018, Velmore Hotel, Centurion, Pretoria HOW MUCH? R1750 per person, including lunch WEEKEND WORKSHOP 16 – 18 March 2018, Blesfontein Guest Farm, Sutherland HOW MUCH? R3400 per person for the weekend. Included: Accommodation Friday and Saturday night…

DISA GORGE, HELDERBERG NATURE RESERVE All the trails in Helderberg near Somerset West start with a bit of a climb – that’s what happens when you lay out a reserve against the slopes of a mountain! But as you climb higher, the crowds of people recede and the views over Melkbaai get more scenic. Before you know it, all thoughts of life admin are as far away as your car down below. Disa Gorge is not an official trail. It’s made up of different sections of other trails in the reserve. When people say they’re hiking up to “the gorge”, they’re following an amalgamated route. There are three pathways that start at the entrance to the veld section of the reserve near the parking area. Choose the boardwalk. Turn left…

In February last year, Toast Coetzer and I explored the Karoo for the TV series Weg Agterpaaie. After an action-packed day, which included a mountain-bike ride and a visit to the fossilised dinosaur footprints in Fraserburg, we set off for Merweville. We were in a rush to get there before dark, but when we saw this spectacular sunset we just had to pull over. Director and cameraman Christiaan Kritzinger was also taking photos and his silhouette caught my eye. It was one of those magical Karoo evenings: no breeze, clouds hanging suspended in the sky and the landscape slipping silently into darkness.…

ROAD MUSIC Summer’s Not That Simple by Lucy Kruger & The Lost Boys “Ah, yes,” you’ll say to yourself 30 seconds into the opening track “Empty Hands”, when Lucy Kruger’s melancholic voice rises from the delicate percussion and guitar accompaniment, beckoning you into the 11-track debut album from this Cape Town act. As the album title suggests, frivolity is in short supply. A dark streak runs through the consistently well thought out and evenly paced songs. It’s an album that will shut out the screech of city life when you’re stuck in a web of traffic, but it’s better suited to a long drive through a lonely corner of the country. Better still, at night, with the veld flickering phantom-like on the periphery of your headlights. – Toast Coetzer Download…

In the 1990s, there was a TV show called Reggie’s Rush, where the luckiest child in the world could run amok in a toy shop and take whatever he or she wanted for 60 glorious seconds, without being arrested or getting a hiding from mom. The show warped my ten-year-old mind. I frothed with schadenfreude whenever some undeserving punk couldn’t reach a Test Match cricket board game or remote-control helicopter on the top shelf. Worse, Reggie’s Rush cursed me with the hope that I’d one day be summoned to the all-you-can-steal buffet. Surely I would get my chance… Hope eventually turned into bitterness when I realised that nobody in my primary-school-sized universe had ever appeared on Reggie’s Rush, let alone Simba Surprise. This cynicism for freebies stayed with me as…

February is the month of love, so let’s be a little cheesy and go for something pretty and pink to get us in the mood! Seriously though, rosé is generally a good wine to match with food. The soft, red-fruit flavours go well with Mediterranean cuisine, as well as with spicy dishes. Try these three wines with the one you love. Pinotage pinks are top of my list at the moment and the Backsberg Rosé 2017 (R53) is an absolute cracker. Pinotage responds well to delicate treatment, bringing out a wealth of strawberry notes with hints of pomegranate and watermelon. Made from early-picked grapes, it has a zingy acidity and a lightness in the mouth – perfect for a lazy summer Sunday. Holden Manz Rosé 2017 (R80) is made from…

FOR WOMEN 1 K-Way Exhale These sandals have a classy design for everyday wear, but they’re no mug in the bush either. The sole is made from quality rubber with decent tread for rock scrambling and hill climbing, the footbed has a microfibre lining for extra comfort, and the slim Velcro strap means that you can adjust it for a perfect fit. R500 at Cape Union Mart 2 Havaianas Freedom Slim Print Havaianas are the most popular flip-flops in the world, with about 150 million pairs made each year. How do you keep customers coming back for yet another pair of foam-rubber cut-outs? You keep launching new designs, that’s how. This “freedom print” will trick your feet into thinking they’re hanging out under palm trees on a tropical island. R550…

How does it work? This is slackpacking at its best over four days and four nights in the company of expert guides. Group size is restricted to 14 people or fewer. Just bring your hiking shoes, a walking stick, your camera, binoculars and a daypack. Everything else is covered: accommodation, all your meals, entrance fees to the various nature reserves and transport from one trail to the next. We’ll even pick you up and drop you off at the Plettenberg Bay airport if you arrive by plane. CemAir offers daily flights to Plettenberg Bay from Cape Town and Johannesburg. Where do I stay? There are two accommodation options: You can stay in lodges or you can camp with us – for two nights at Diepwalle and two nights next to…

Berseba Cottage If it’s tranquillity you seek, then this two-bedroom cottage in the hills is just what the doctor ordered. The view is hard to beat: You’re surrounded by rosemary, tea tree, lavandin and geranium, and there are no neighbours as far as the eye can see. Berseba is an organic essential oil farm just past Bot River. (Not technically in the Elgin Valley but close enough!) Owner Ian de Kock is happy to take guests on a tour. The farm has been running for three years, after Ian played around with the idea in his head for a quarter of a century. He grows more than 25 hectares of plants on what he calls “the poorest land in the Overberg”. For generations, farmers said the land was useless, but…

Cruise around Kaapsehoop Kaapsehoop in Mpumalanga is known for its wild horses and hiking trails; now you can also explore the village and surrounds on an electric scooter or a kick scooter. For the former you need good balance and a light hand on the throttle, while the latter uses gravity and is great for adventurous tourists who know how to stay upright while zipping down a slope. Along the way, tour guide Rudi du Plessis will tell you more about the history of the area and he’ll point out interesting buildings and landmarks. The scooters have wide tyres and are made for gravel roads. They run quietly, so you can still hear birdcall and the wind rustling through the trees. Cost: From R200 per rider, plus R100 for a…

Look at the moon at the right time and you’ll be able to see an X and an upside-down V on its surface. One of the best things about watching the sunrise here on earth is the way the light alters a landscape, striking mountain peaks first then filtering down into the valleys. The same thing happens on the moon. There are high mountains there, too! The “line” that separates the light and dark sides of the moon is known as the terminator. Over the course of two weeks, as the moon moves from new moon to full moon, this line creeps from one side of the moon to the other. Take a closer look through a telescope or binoculars and watch how the light plays over the lunar landscape.…

Where did you learn to dive? I did my open-water course in Scotland’s Loch Long while I was still at school. A scuba-diving course sounded adventurous, but I was the only girl stupid enough to sign up. We changed in a howling wind at the side of the loch. Then, in my over-sized wetsuit and booties, I was so buoyant that I struggled to even get beneath the surface. The visibility was about a metre. After freezing my butt off for half an hour and seeing nothing but a couple of brown fish, I emerged underwhelmed and unconvinced. When I moved to South Africa in 1996, I redid my dive course at Sodwana Bay with 30 m visibility. After seeing vibrant corals and tropical fish for the first time, I…

Cynthia Mtini, Elsa Joubert’s caregiver, guides the author to a chair at a table next to a big window with a view of Lion’s Head and Signal Hill. “My legs are giving me trouble,” Elsa says. “I struggle to walk. I lose my balance.” She is 95 and has had two hip replacements. Cynthia puts a glass of water down in front of her. It’s just after 3pm on a Friday and I’m sitting with Elsa in her two-bedroom flat in the Berghof retirement village in Gardens, Cape Town. Berghof is home to about 60 other residents – the average age is 88. Elsa published her first book, Water en Woestyn, 60 years ago. With a camera, a typewriter and a few traveller’s cheques, she travelled through Uganda, Sudan and…

Basson van Zyl lives in Vredenburg on the West Coast. When he’s not running the family business, he’s out exploring wild places and photographing landscapes. One of his favourite wild places is the /Ai/Ais-Richtersveld Transfrontier Park, which straddles the Orange River in the far north-west of the country. The Richtersveld is a harsh place: freezing in winter and baking hot in summer; a landscape of naked rock mountains and wide gravel washes. Thanks to moisture from fog that occasionally drifts in from the Atlantic Ocean, it’s also home to some of the most diverse desert flora on earth – everything from miniature succulents to stately quiver and halfmens trees on ridges and mountain slopes. Basson visited the park in August 2017 with his father, MB. “While we were sitting around…

In our family, the decision about which car to buy has never been made on an emotional basis. This probably explains the preponderance of Japanese vehicles in our garage over the years, including quite a few Hondas. A Honda is a car that you buy using your head (left brain), not your heart (right brain). My young friends, petrolheads to the core, would shake their heads. “Come on, a Honda? That’s a car you buy just before you die. It’s for Gramps and Grandma!”they would jeer. But towards the end of the previous century, I sold my Honda Accord (which I had bought secondhand) for more than I paid for it. And my friends? Well, they’re probably still looking for buyers for their sexy Italian cars. Of all Honda’s models,…