I sat spellbound under a clear black sky lit up only by the stars and the magnificent Milky Way.  It was only hours before that I had been ‘all shook up’ in The Milkshake, a hair-raising 4X4 obstacle course that lived up to its name and reputation.  I was in the Bergrivier region, known as the Adventure Capital of the WestCoast, to embrace the local hospitality and experience a few of the local adventure offerings. It’s mind-blowing that such a small area is a paradise for water, cultural/art, outdoor and culinary adventures.  The Bergrivier region is just o ..read more

The characteristic white thatch buildings were the first thing I noticed when we drove into Wupperthal, a stark contrast against the dusty red wilderness of the Cederberg. Wupperthal, about 70km southeast of Clanwilliam and 250km from Cape Town, is only accessible via a dusty gravel road winding through steep mountains after two German missionaries, Theobald von Wurmb and Johan Gottlieb Leipoldt (grandfather of renowned writer C Louis Leipoldt) settled among the native Khoikhoi families in the valley in 1830. The population of the village expanded when slavery was abolished in 1838 and many f ..read more

The rolling red sand dunes and endless silence are what reached into my soul and took root. If you’ve been to the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park once, believe me, it won’t be your last time. You become addicted to this ancient land, once home of the Bushmen, and now a national park of 3,8 million hectares of arid savannah, dunes and grasslands straddling SA and Botswana. What it lacks in roads, it more than makes up for with the herds of giraffe, gemsbok, wildebeest and springbok that inhabit the dry river beds snacking on the sparse green grass. The beautiful camelthorn trees that are ablaze in ..read more

Taking a walk in the Helderberg Nature Reserve is a breath of fresh air – quite literally! This is not me being overdramatic. The air in the reserve really is pristine, the clarity of light is intense and the fauna and flora vie for photographic beauty. Fynbos and flowers make for a heady combination of sweet pure air. And don’t get me started on the blanket of bright blue sky with the occasional white clouds or the sheer vibrant greenness of the lush country vegetation. I thought it couldn’t get much better until I did one of the organized walks in the reserve. It’s hard not to want to stop ..read more

I’ve had a desire to visit the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park (KTP) for over 15 years. My friends eulogize about it often, which only increased my determination to eventually get there and see for myself what the damn attraction was! So when the opportunity arose, we booked a year in advance for 9 nights in this special park and before I knew it, I was on the dusty road to the park with a carload of groceries to last us 10 days, a tow rope, a spade (in case I had to dig my car out of sand) and a tyre compressor on loan! Plus I’d had a driving lesson on the Atlantis dunes so I was pretty certain ..read more

Words fail me as I recall my recent Cederberg experience…  To say I didn’t know much about its majestic splendour is embarrassing, so I am going to paint a colourful picture which I hope will do it justice and create a desire to visit this magnificent part of our country! It all started after my last trip ended…. We had done an educational called Cradle of Human Culture Artists Journey, which touched on some of the rock art in the Cederberg, as we skirted the edges of the Cederberg Wildness area, flirting briefly with the red rocks and San art on the Sevilla Trail near Clanwilliam, but no ..read more

If you’ve ever watched the weather on TV, haven’t you had thoughts about visiting faraway places like Springbok and Pofadder? I have and so I was determined to stop in on these little towns en route from Namaqualand national park to Kgalagadi via Augrabies… And by stop in I mean drive through or by… lol. If you blinked while driving through, you may miss them. We set off early that morning, which meant we had to let ourselves out of the few gates leaving the park. I was so intent on stopping in Springbok that morning, primarily because I needed gas, that I almost missed the offramp and landed ..read more

Stunning stretches of bleached blonde sand edging into the cold Atlantic Ocean, fringed by sleepy fishing villages ….. that’s always been my limited impression of the Western Cape’s West Coast. In a toss between the Garden Route and the West Coast, the Garden Route has always won … Until now! I was invited on a five day Cape Tourist Guides Association (CTGA) educational trip up the West Coast, generously sponsored by Wesgro. It was an amazing opportunity for local guides to find out more about the hidden gems of the West Coast, so I jumped at the chance to join what turned out to be a real eye ..read more

I read somewhere that the land of the Nama is a land of contrasts and blistering extremes, where indescribable beauty has been moulded by an unforgiving climate. Into this setting each Spring the dormant arid winter lands come alive with a flamboyant spread of wildflowers, including many rare and unique species. This is where we were headed, to the succulent Karoo area know as Namaqualand, to see the brimming array of flowers that transform the lifeless area into an exquisite floral display of unsurpassed colourful beauty at this exact time of the year! But wait, this is also the land of the ..read more

Riel Dancing in the Cederberg, Western Cape ..read more