Table of contents for December - January 2021 in go!

Mountains, forests, deserts, bushveld – and a coastline without equal that smiles for 2 800 km from the mouth of the Orange River to Kosi Bay… South Africa certainly has its challenges (mostly us, the people), but as far as natural splendour goes, we were at the front of the queue when favours were dished out. As we gingerly shed our coat of lockdown, it seems like we’ve found a renewed appreciation for the beauty within our borders. Just in my small circle of friends, there have been some classic road trips already. Many were nostalgic trips to places that held treasured memories; others were journeys of discovery to points on a map once only dreamt about. The cover feature this issue (p 30) details some of our readers’ favourite…

If your home office needs a little “something”to inspire you to get behind the desk, look no further than a Wild Africa poster print, the latest in a series of designs by Hermanus-based illustrator Duncan Butchart. Using data from the United Nations’World Conservation Monitoring Centre, this vintage-style poster shows all the protected wildlife areas on our continent, from big and famous parks like the Kruger to smaller reserves like Luando Nature Reserve in Angola. It’s beautiful to look at and it gives you reason to be proud of what conservation organisations are doing on the continent. All those green sections show that our wilderness areas are being looked after, and they encourage us to continue protecting them for future generations. I want one! Order online at dbnatureworks.com (R195 for an…

Where? The High Five Trail is south-east of eNtokozweni (Machadodorp). Pongola Express is the only camp right next to the R541 – it’s 22 km from town. The three other camps are accessible via dirt roads – Escarp Hiking Trails will send you directions. If you choose the slackpacking option, you have to drop off your luggage at Pongola. Distance: We hiked about 30 km in four days. You can start your hike at any camp and combine the overnight trails (two to four nights) with trails on the neighbouring farms. Escarp Hiking Trails want hikers to take initiative and plan their own routes. You can also book a base camp for a weekend (not a long weekend) and only do day hikes. Best time to hike? Winter offers mild…

We celebrate reader photographs in “Take Your Pic” every issue, but page space is obviously limited. That’s where Instagram comes in – the platform offers everyone the chance, every day, to share their wildlife and travel shots with our fast-growing community of photographers. It’s easy to be a part of the action – simply follow @gomagsa or @menseselense, or both because we share different photos. Most are taken by you guys – magazine readers and online fans – but we also occasionally post photos taken by our journalists on assignment. Tag @gomagsa when you post a wildlife or travel photo, or use the hashtag #gomagsa. That way we’ll see your photo, and we might choose to share it with our followers. It’s a great way to get some recognition for…

WHY? We publish a selection of reader pictures every month. Don’t be shy, haul out those shots you’ve been hoarding on your computer and send them to us! We like just about anything: wildlife, landscapes, portraits, holiday snaps or bugs in your garden. HOW? Send your best photos to takeyourpic@gomag.co.za Don’t send files bigger than 4 MB – if we need a bigger version, we’ll ask for it. Give the name, surname, home town and contact number of the photographer. Also include info about where and how the shot was taken, and what equipment was used. If you manipulated your photo in any way, tell us what you did. THE FINE PRINT We reserve the right to use your photos elsewhere in the magazine, on our digital platforms and marketing…

1 EcoNation car bin The inside of your vehicle tends to get messy on a road trip. Keep things tidy and save on the use of plastic with this bin. It’s locally made from upcycled and re-covered advertising billboards and comes in a variety of colourful prints like shweshwe, as well as plain leatherette. Each bin has an adjustable strap and buckle clip so you can attach it to a headrest or gear lever. It’s 22 cm high with a circumference of 47 cm. When you stop to refuel at a filling station, simply empty your car bin and give it a wipe with a damp cloth, if necessary. R150 econation.co.za 2 Bird Nerd notebook and pencils This softcover notebook set is just the thing for the twitcher in your…

Half a century ago in the Overberg, farmer Jannie Willemse would pack his scissors and combs into a small bag every Saturday morning. He’d say goodbye to his family and walk from the farm Hartebeesrivier in the village of Tesselaarsdal, over the Klein River Mountains to Stanford – a distance of 25 miles there and back – where, according to an article published in Die Transvaler in March 1950, he cut Stanfordians’ hair for one shilling per head. After a day of hairdressing, he’d return home, walking about 40 km in total. At the time, he had been following this ritual for 24 years and had walked about 30 000 miles – that’s 48 000 km! It’s a cool Saturday morning when we sign the register for the Haarkapper Hiking…

EAT HERE René Bosch runs Café René at Kaijaiki Country Inn – he’s a hospitable Dutchman and loves to chat. Have a pancake or try the bitterballen. I enjoyed my berry pancake (R55). Contact: 022 451 2858; kaijaiki.co.za Rosemead Artisan in Park Street is a restaurant and bakery. Have a cortado coffee (R24) and a fresh baguette with jam and gouda cheese (R45) while you watch the bakers pull hot goods from the oven. Contact: 066 222 5076 At Beaches Restaurant, you’re also paying for the view of the main beach. Try the seafood curry (R179). Contact: 022 451 2200 Get your cuppa at Boeretroos in Lutie Katz Road. They have vetkoek – try the vetkoek burger (R57) – on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. If your vetkoek timing is off,…

When you look at a world map, Vietnam is an S-shaped land mass next to the South China Sea, bordered by China to the north and Cambodia and Laos to the west. We flew from Denpasar in Bali (see go! #172) to Ho Chi Minh City. The humidity smacked us in the face when we stepped out of the air-conditioned Tan Son Nhat International Airport – it felt like walking into a sauna. It was late September, the wettest month in Ho Chi Minh. We took a bus from the airport to the city centre and the first thing we noticed was how many motorbikes and scooters there were – apparently, upward of eight million on the streets of Ho Chi Minh City alone. You can imagine the chaos! Motorbikes…

When you sit on the big cement stoep at my brother’s farmhouse, Windhoek is directly behind you. My brother and I can disagree about this for hours. He’ll say it’s more to the right, to that side of the mountain, and I’ll say no, it’s more to the left. Neuras is one of Namibia’s handful of wine farms. When you’re there, you have a hard time determining direction, mainly because the farm is in a valley. It’s also so scenic and relaxing that you don’t really care where you are. “You’re pointing towards the sea,” my brother said one morning as we savoured our first cup of coffee. “Walvis Bay is that way.” “No ways, man, Walvis is behind those mountains,” I said, pointing to the Naukluft Mountains in the…

The Num-Num Trail, a five-day hike across three farms in the Skurweberg – the north-eastern extension of the Drakensberg – opened in 2010. As time went by, the hiking huts required more and more maintenance and hikers sometimes got lost on the trail. In August 2018, Pieta Wessels and his family bought one of the farms, spruced up the trail, established Escarp Hiking Trails and created the High Five Trail. Two of the camps on the Num-Num, Wathaba and Bermanzi, are now run separately as base camps. There are overnight trails between these two camps and between some of the High Five camps. Aloe Kaya (originally God’s Window), Candlewood and Pongola Express are still part of High Five. Mount Komati was added as the fourth overnight camp. Some of these…

MOUNT KOMATI BASE CAMP Sleeps 20 people Stone units with thatched roofs. There’s a swimming pool. Two of the huts sleep four people each and are quite luxurious for a hike: Mojaji Hut has two bunk beds and a private bathroom; Tarentaal Chalet has a double bed, two single beds, a bathroom, kitchen, living area and a deck. Wildebees and Idube sleep six people each on bunk beds – they share a communal bathroom. Mojaji, Wildebees and Idube share a kitchen. There are tractor tubes available if you want to float on the Komati River. Trails • Rondom-klip (12,7 km): You hike along rock ledges and a cliff and beneath a Cape vulture breeding colony. From the plateau, there are great views of the Komati Valley. • Klein Parradys (4,5 km): The…

ONE MORNING IN MOZAMBIQUE Landmines are at the forefront of my mind as I take my first steps off the track. It has only been a few years since the peace declaration between RENAMO and FRELIMO, and many parts of Mozambique are still decorated with signs warning,“Perigo minas!” I doubt whether this remote floodplain north of Beira would have been a strategic target for landmining, and a few cows chomping on the grass lessen my fears… a bit. But with every step further into the waterlogged grass, dopamine is overtaking adrenaline in my bloodstream. The shallow water is around that temperature when you start to wonder if you should drag yourself out of the bath, or top up the hot water. Small silvery fish dart away just as you’re about…

The Garden Route has added a new attraction to its already adventurous repertoire in the form of a 2,2 km zipline over the Kranshoek Gorge in Knysna. Construction started in 2017 but came to a halt when the Knysna fire tore through in June that year. It picked up again in 2018, but the Covid-19 pandemic meant it was only safe to open the zipline in mid-September 2020. Despite the construction setbacks, the zipline has created 15 new jobs, boosting the socioeconomic benefits to the area. While zooming over the gorge, zipliners can enjoy a unique view of the Indian Ocean, plus views of indigenous forest and fynbos below. There are four ziplines currently, but there are plans for two more to be added by the end of 2020. Where?…

Keeping snakes is a popular hobby in South Africa. All across the country, thousands of people keep a variety of snake species in their homes, from harmless to highly venomous. Some enthusiasts build extravagant enclosures that are beautifully decorated with plants and water features, complete with heating and special lighting, while breeders usually keep snakes in simple but functional and hygienic enclosures. Most provinces require permits to keep local snakes, except for KwaZulu-Natal where most snakes can be kept without a permit, even those caught in the wild. In other provinces, only captive-bred snakes may be kept as pets. (You can get a permit from your provincial nature conservation office, or e-mail Johan for details johan@asiorg.co.za – Ed.) Most provinces also permit the keeping of exotic snakes. Thus, several breeders…

Africa’s Wild Dogs – A Survival Story Jocelin Kagan, Merlin Unwin Books Wild dogs are curious, intelligent creatures: They like to tease other animals and play games. But they are also efficient hunters, a skill that is not appreciated by livestock farmers. Wild dogs were declared an endangered species in 2016 and there are fewer than 6 600 of them left in the wild. They face many challenges: They’re killed when they prey on livestock, they get caught in poachers’ snares, and their shrinking habitat is becoming ever-more fragmented. In an effort to help protect wild dogs, photographer Jocelin Kagan compiled this coffee table book of images taken in places like Mana Pools National Park in Zimbabwe, Timbavati Game Reserve in South Africa and Selous Game Reserve in Tanzania. Her…

Marle Coertzen, psychologist “The trail requires moderate effort. You don’t hike further than 8km per day, although it is up and down. Kids 10 years and older should manage. “Aloe Kaya is my favourite camp because of its location. Candlewood has a great view.” Philip Simpson, farmer “Whether you bring your kids or not, I’d recommend the slackpacking option. It’s affordable and because you’re not carrying everything on your back, you don’t have to skimp on meals. “My favourite parts of the hike are where the trail runs along streams and rivers. The waterfalls at Candlewood and Pongola Express are beautiful, and I enjoyed the swim in the dam at Aloe Kaya.” Albert Bossert, trail builder “The landscape offers so much variety. You’ll see the Uitkomst Waterfall – the second…

The movers would arrive on Monday to pack up. They’d load the truck on Tuesday and depart on Wednesday. The curtains had been taken down and the windows stared at me like the milky eyes of the blind. The ornaments were wrapped up and the furniture was ready to go. Rina had worked so hard to make our house a home. Now it felt as if someone had defaced her beautiful artwork with wide strokes of black paint. Her artwork had been destroyed in a single morning, and it would never be restored. I cried. I didn’t sob, but my eyes brimmed with tears that spilled and rolled down my cheeks. I took my kierie and walked out the front door, for the last time. The neighbours The only other…

SOFIA GOOSEN IG: @sofia_goosen13 Canon EOS 200D Canon 55 – 250 mm lens SOFIA WRITES: I’m 13 years old and I photographed this Cape sugarbird in Harold Porter National Botanical Garden near Betty’s Bay, about an hour from my home in Cape Town. I waited patiently on a patch of grass next to this pincushion, keeping quiet as a mouse, until the perfect moment presented itself. TOAST SAYS: Brilliant stalking, Sofia! Birds can be skittish – any sudden movement can undo half an hour of patient waiting. You did well to get your shot before the bird got suspicious. (Luckily Cape sugarbirds are quite bold and are not shy to sit in prominent places, unlike the similar-sized Cape grassbird, for example, which shares a habitat with the sugarbird yet is…

Savoury bread wreath Serves 8 Preparation time 45 minutes Baking time 40 minutes You need • 2 tablespoons olive oil • 2 red peppers, in strips • 200 g mushrooms, chopped • 100 g green olives, pitted and chopped • salt and pepper, to taste • 200 g feta, in cubes or chunks • 1 kg bread dough (home-made or store-bought) • 2 tablespoons red pepper pesto (optional) Here’s how 1 Heat the oil and fry the red pepper strips and mushrooms until cooked. Add the olives and season to taste with salt and pepper. (Remember the olives and feta are also salty.) Set aside to cool down slightly before adding the feta. 2 Roll out the dough into a big circle of about 1 cm thick. (If you work on baking paper it’s easier to transfer the…

MOLE SNACK, LAKE ST LUCIA I live in Richards Bay and decided to drive to the Lake St Lucia section of iSimangaliso Wetland Park for the day, in the hopes of tracking down a lifer. (I’m a serious birdwatcher.) Instead, I found something even more unique! I’ve seen the Big Five and many other animals during my visits to different reserves over the years, but I’ve never been fortunate enough to see a kill. (Although I’m also the kind of person who will cover his eyes!) I was on the Grassland Loop on the eastern bank of Lake St Lucia, about 5 km from the Catalina Bay viewpoint, when I noticed movement in the tall grass. I was very surprised when a serval emerged about 20 m away. It was…

VISAS We went to vietnam-visa.com and arranged beforehand so that we would pick up our visas when we arrived at the airport in Ho Chi Minh City. This can only be done at certain airports. It cost about R300 per person, plus about R415 per person to get your visa stamped at the customs office. The visa is valid for 30 days. You can also get a visa from the Vietnamese embassy in Pretoria. TRANSPORT  Flights. We took a Jetstar flight from Bali to Vietnam via Singapore – one-way about R2 683 per person. There are also direct flights from Bali to Vietnam, but it was cheaper to fly via Singapore. In Vietnam, we flew with VietJet Air from Ho Chi Minh City to Da Nang – about R660 per…