Table of contents for January 2018 in Getaway

A few years ago I travelled to Thailand in search of the ultimate beach. I needed turquoise water, lots of it, to float and swim and snorkel in. I had considered other options but Thailand’s prices are hard to beat. I loved it: the lush foliage, a culture foreign to me, thunderstorms, bucket cocktails. But the sea and snorkelling was a disappointment – the ultimate beach ultimately eluded me. The following year I went to Mauritius and realised I’d been looking in the wrong place. Here, beautiful beaches were around every corner, plus they had more natural life. Why hadn’t I thought of it before? The reason was threefold. Mauritius is known for package trips and for being pricey. Plus, I didn’t think it was exotic enough – something I…

I was on a cruise ship in the Mediterranean, having dinner at a table of strangers in the blue dusk of the Riviera, and I was telling an extremely uninteresting story when I noticed that one of my fellow diners, a young woman from New York, was listening with surprising attentiveness. Her eyes sparkled rapturously, her lips parted in purest ecstasy. This was flattering but also distracting. What was she finding so compelling in my account of the time my friend Daryl and I pretended to be library prefects to get out of cadets? Did she think this was building to a dramatic finale? It wasn’t! I had no big finish! I started stumbling over my words, losing my train of thought. ‘Anyway, so I can’t even look at the…

Two-night stay at Golden Gate worth R2 200 I am so excited to have won this prize to Golden Gate Highlands National Park. I enjoy exploring different parts of South Africa – there is so much beauty to be seen in this awesome country, and I‘m sure I will leave my heart in the depths of the mountains. Free State here I come! – Chevaughn Nagiah Raylite Battery worth R2 500 Thank you so much. I am very grateful to Getaway and Raylite. I can’t wait to claim my prize. It’s going to be a great summer! – Adam Bowen Three-night stay for eight in De Hoop Nature Reserve worth R33 600 I am absolutely grateful for this prize! It will definitely be a great break, after an incredibly long…

Not since Alexander the Great tucked into honey-and-nectar-flavoured snow has there been quite so much ice cream-centred innovation. In Japan, scientists have even come up with a way to make ice cream that doesn’t melt – not for ages, anyway (thanks to an ingredient extracted from strawberries). While we wait for ever-frozen ice cream to hit Mzansi, there has been a spike in artisanal ice-cream makers and parlours creating sinful (or super health-conscious) concoctions combining previously undreamt of flavours or using new-fangled edible containers. Here is a selection around SA: BEER ICE CREAM Kristen’s Kick-Ass porter and dark chocolate-pretzel flavour is made with beer from local craft brewery Aegir. The salted caramel ice cream has real sea-salt flakes and the mint choc-chip is made with a herbal infusion of actual…

Irenaeus says… This shot was taken outside the city of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. Wandering sands and sandstorms are a pretty well-known phenomenon in the Middle East, but you’ll only find roads covered with sand such as this a little way outside of the cities. The roads inside UAE cities are maintained regularly, very clean and safe to drive. When heading out of the city on a road trip in the UAE, make sure to take plenty of water and an extra memory card! iherok.com Equipment Settings DJI Phantom 4, ISO 240, f/2.8, 1/30 sec IRENAEUS’ TIP If you’re going somewhere with a lot of glare (such as a desert or beach), take a large, dark towel along. Cover yourself and your drone controller to…

The biggest grouse travellers have with smartphone photography? Most of your holiday snaps never see the light of day. The HP Sprocket is one of the latest mobile printers that seeks to solve that problem by giving you the power to snap, edit and print immediately. The printer is about the size of an external hard drive (115mm x 75mm) and fits snugly into the pocket of a pair of jeans. It charges via USB and, thanks to an adjustable Auto Off function, has a remarkably long battery life. On a full charge the Getaway team used it over a period of three days (printing about five images per day) and found the battery still had 65% of its charge at the end, which makes it great for long road…

Holiday Salad A salad that’s substantial enough to stand in as lunch on a weekend away. Serves 4 Add the cream to the jar of dressing and shake until well combined. Wash and dry the lettuce, slice it thinly, toss with the dressing and season well. On a plate, arrange the lettuce down the centre and the other ingredients in rows down either side. Sprinkle the lettuce with chives, and season the eggs and chicken. Serve the salad by gathering ingredients across the rows. Honey-roasted cherry tomatoes A good way to boost tomatoes that are not sweet or ripe enough. • Preheat the oven to 150˚C. • Whisk 2T honey and 2T extra-virgin olive oil together. • Halve 30 cherry tomatoes…

Bulbous baobabs break the monotony of sprawling mopane veld along the magical northern fringe of Limpopo Province. In a stretch from Mapungubwe National Park to Pafuri in Kruger, you’ll find bird, tree and even scorpion species not commonly found in the rest of South Africa. Twitchers flock up here to tick off the elusive Pel’s fishing owl and narina trogon (two of over 400 bird species in the area). Personally, I love the Tarzan-like call of the lime-coloured green pigeon as it picks juicy figs off yellow sycamore branches that dot the river banks. The area is also famous for its anthropological ruins, with mighty Mapungubwe in the west and the crumbling rock walls of the ancient city of Thulamela in the east. Mapungubwe is now thought to be the…

19 EXPLORE THE RAINFOREST Loango National Park, Gabon It seemed undignified for an elephant to look like Mickey Mouse. Its big round ears looming above the grass pointed to another oddity – it was small, a fact emphasised by the curtain of huge trees swooping up behind it. But this was a full-grown forest elephant and we were being revved. We reversed the boat, and he returned to ripping out tufts of grass and stuffing them in his mouth. Loango National Park is an area so pristine and pulsing with life, it’s almost sacred. Earlier that day we’d left the lodge in a fast boat, skimming across lagoons that looked like polished ebony. The park has around 100 kilometres of beach without human footprints, backed by mangrove-lined lagoons and huge…

NOW WE’RE COOKIN’ R495, rammountain.co.za For those who need to feed an army, the GSI Outdoors Glacier Camp Stove is designed to rapidly and evenly heat larger pots and pans thanks to its serrated 12,5cm-diameter pot support arms. It’s reliable too – the canister mount has a micro control valve that provides precise tuning and output. Weighing just 167g, and packed in its own bag, it will be easy to take along wherever you go. SHOCK STOPPER R75 (for one), tauro.co.za Your campsite will stand up to a storm with this Camping Shock Absorber Bungee. It offers added protection for your tent, caravan or gazebo by absorbing the force of powerful winds. The bungee is 300mm long and is attached to two carabiner hooks,…

Julia Young-Pugh, lifelong holidaymaker ‘If you want to walk dogs on the mountain, Rod’s Trail is your best bet.’ Valnay Smith, waitress ‘To clear my head I like to sit on the bench next to the slipway and stare at the sea.’ Raoul van den Berg, guest-house owner ‘The Palmiet River Trail in the Kogelberg Nature Reserve is gorgeous and easier on old knees than some of the other hikes in the area.’ John Ferreira, estate agent ‘The lamb burger and the seafood bisque at Jack’s (083-554-7789) are both delicious, and the views are great too.’ Ebraime Hull, nursery propagator ‘Visit Harold Porter garden in August and September when proteas, ericas and mimetes are in flower.’…

SPEAKING OF INVESTMENTS Eight adventurers reveal the gear they‘d never leave home without, plus we test the latest version of it (page 64). THE BEST BEDS IN SA There’s no chance of guest’s regret when you stay at one of these places – the best of the top spots chosen by our expert reviewer over the last three years (page 46). A VERY SPECIAL PLACE On a private farm in the Cederberg is a 2,5-kilometre stretch of river. It takes a day and a half to explore. Read why on page 84. THE GOOD-VALUE STAR Each issue of Getaway has several inexpensive accommodation options for under R550 pp (some for less) that we think offer good value. This issue we included some experiences too. Look out for the star.…

Up to 24 hours of ice in a flask? That’s Hydro Flask’s almost unbelievable claim. So I put it to the test and filled it with ice and left it on my office desk for a full day and night. The following morning the ice cubes were sitting there, still crisp and in shape, as if I had recently added them. Next, I took it outside to test in an extreme environment: the dashboard of Ruth, my Citi Golf, aka ‘The Mobile Oven’ (it has no aircon). I added six blocks of ice (the broad mouth makes filling it with standard-size ice cubes easy) to some tap water and left it on Ruth’s blazing dash on a hot Cape Town day. Four hours later the flask was as hot as…

‘There are few moments in life when you realise, “This is perfect. This is as good as it gets” ‘ In Cape Town today, at the end of a hard day’s work, we stand over buckets of water in the bath. Twenty litres or so to wash off the day’s desk grime. This water must then be collected and poured into the cistern that’s to be flushed for only the most piquant of ablutions. ‘Apparently there’s a drought in the Western Cape,’ says Coll Macdonald dryly. He’s entitled to his irony because right in front of his family holiday cottage in that very same province flows the Olifants River, and it appears to know nothing of this drought. It’s so abundant that you can hear its soft rush during…

12... That’s the number of people who can call Shayamanzi home as they cruise across Lake Jozini in northern KwaZulu-Natal. Writer Jess Nicholson and Getaway’s Teagan Cunniffe spent two nights on the double pontoon boat. With hippos, rhinos and crocodiles as their neighbours, and rebellious ‘striped water dogs’ to contend with, their adventure on the 30-kilometre lake yielded quite a few surprises. Pick up the next issue of Getaway to read all about it – and Kosi Bay, another northern KZN dreamland of wild waterways.…

I’d love to take part in a Madswimmer open-water swim. – Robyn Richter Hiking the Fish River Canyon. – Relebogile Malatswane An ice hotel in Scandinavia. – Roy Brueton I would love to visit Kasanka National Park in Zambia during bat season. – Ann Amos Gorillas in Uganda! – Andrea Christin See a budget-friendlier alternative on page 80 Reaching the top of Table Mountain, by foot. – Amanda Ramaesela Thulisile I have so many fighting for top position: the Otter Trail Run, the 9 Peaks Challenge, the Seven Summits and visiting Patagonia and the Galápagos Islands. – Rhyan Rudman I would love to do the African Big Five Horse Safari (in Mpumalanga, near the Kruger Park). – Jana van Breda Travelling around the coast of Europe on a Vespa scooter.…

The past is another country, they say. Yet for many South Africans, the Anglo-Boer War (1899–1902) is still woven into family stories. A new book reminds us of the real people caught up in the conflict, by picturing some of the things they left behind. Bloemfontein’s long-standing War Museum of the Boer Republics has over 50 000 objects in its archives and collections – but not all are on display. This book zones in on 100 of the most remarkable, and describes over 200 more for depth. Some are wonderfully unexpected, like the carved cedarwood bugle (1) made by a prisoner-of-war in Bermuda, or the rather stylish braai grill (2) used by Lord Kitchener in the field. Kitchener was likely better fed than most – also pictured is a century-old…

It finally happened. They finally landed a planeful of tourists on St Helena’s beleaguered runway. Now the island is officially just a six-hour flight away (read why you should go, on page 80). It got me thinking about the RMS St Helena. Until now it was the only way anyone could get to the island. As more planes land, the world’s last-remaining mail ship will surely enter its twilight years, serving an ever-shrinking crowd of octogenarian Napoleophiles, gear-laden naturalists and wistful romantics who dream of sailing to the end of the Earth on a historical voyager. I have never dreamed of sailing to the end of the Earth on anything. But being a travel journalist means that sometimes you get to do things other people dream of doing even though…

WHAT WINE? This month presents a real challenge: the ‘vin’ in vinaigrette hates wine. The former, you see, is simply a relative of the latter that’s had its alcohol converted into acetic acid through bacterial colonisation. Combine the two and you’re promoting a Mixed Martial Arts tournament on your tongue. Ouch. The only thing that might work is a wine that’s typically high in acidity, and in that race there’s little to beat SA’s favourite white: the commercial crowd-pleaser called Sauvignon Blanc. Careful, though: there are barrel-loads of average ‘Savvie’ around, so I suggest (a) trying to find wines that have been in the bottle for a year or two – they tend to mellow, and (b) spending a few rands more and you’ll be smiling. With that said, you’ll…

The Eastern Cape’s Wild Coast may hold the province’s bounty for beachcombers, but its Highlands have the hold on my heart. For one, many of its towns are the definition of charming. The landscapes are criss-crossed by rivers born from snowmelts on its highest peaks, and you can fly fish, ski, ride horses or mountain bike until you’re quite literally blue in the face. But, for me, the real highlight is the rough-cut gravel passes that link up this part of the world. They are, to put it bluntly, the best in the country. And the highest... On a recent trip I had the privilege of driving some of them, one of which was the remarkably long Naude’s Nek Pass. At just under 33 kilometres it is a wunderwerk of…

Fiona McIntosh Olympian, long-distance hiker, author ‘I like to go fast and light and that’s why I love my Osprey Hornet 46 backpack. I flogged it to death completing the Drakensberg Grand Traverse (about 230km) and numerous other trails. Best of all it came with Osprey’s All Mighty Guarantee – the makers will repair or replace your damaged pack, no questions asked.’ OSPREY EXOS 48L R2 599, adventureinc.co.za Osprey’s new lightweight, multi-day backpack is made from the latest high-tenacity nylon which makes it even hardier than Fiona’s tough Hornet 46. At 1,05kg, it’s slightly heavier than the Hornet but still almost half the weight of most other large-capacity packs. Plus there’s the extra two litres of storage space. Like the Hornet, the Exos has been created with the…

THE INSIDER Nick Dall has been going to Betty’s Bay since before he was born. About 15 years ago he even wrote a novel set there. On a windless day Betty’s Bay is perfect. The beach is white and the sea is blue. If you go out beyond the breakers and float on your back, you can see only the variegated tweed of the fynbos on the Kogelberg. But there aren’t that many windless days in Betty’s. In summer the Southeaster turns the ocean icy for weeks on end and in winter the Northwester funnels through the kloof, bringing with it rain, warmer water and galjoen. To love Betty’s Bay is to accept the elements. My parents met in Betty’s Bay in 1960, when they were both six. My dad…