I pull the Polo up at the boom-gate beside tool-laden four-wheel-drives and battered campervans. My sister, Ro, and I step into the heat and scout our surroundings for the legendary sand dunes of Sossusvlai, but all we can see are the drab grey brown hills and specks of angry vegetation that we have already come … Continued
Walking safaris in Africa are good for the soul, it’s a fact – getting back to basics with a private safari guide, exploring some of Africa’s most unique and game rich areas, all on foot. It feels natural and authentic and never will you get a better view of the bush than when on foot. … Continued
Picture a country overwhelmed with a desperate sort of poverty and an even more desperate beauty filled with longing and humming with the undercurrent of a people trying to survive. It’s a country that challenges one’s emotional stability, meaning that every intense emotion known to man will be felt there, sometimes all within the space … Continued
My legs burn like ovens, and I sit, drinking in the view, ignoring the pain. Two hours of plodding up Table Mountain, up the stone stairway for giants, my knees rising to my chin, my hands scrambling; fit, young fathers with babies in backpacks striding past me; me striding past chubby teenagers and middle-aged hippies … Continued
The driver, a wiry balding middle-aged man, whistled to a tune from “sweet mother”, a popular high life music playing on the stereo of the Toyota Sienna mini-van. He seemed unperturbed by the screams and rants of the passengers, most of whom like me were making their first-ever visit to the hilltop, as the car … Continued
In Namibia’s Etosha National Park, the Okaukeujo camp boasts a flood-lit waterhole where animals can be viewed at any time of the day or night. Ro and I visited the attraction on the first night of our stay at the camp and waited with the other tourists for lions to drop by, or a herd … Continued
Hours after a dim light from an East African moon graced the barren landscape, our ever smiling guides began their all too familiar task of rousing weary trekkers from their slumber. Illumination from headlamps began to fill the cramped sleeping quarters that defined Kibo Huts. The would be mountaineers layered themselves in an impressive spectrum … Continued
The mobile safari is becoming more and more popular and we are not surprised. A mobile safari can offer any standard of tent for any budget with the main emphasis being on the fact you have a private guide, and will stay at private campsites set up just for you. This is of course impossible … Continued
Reaching for the sky Caroline unraveled from a tangle of ragamuffin children onto the compound of caked earth and crumbling concrete. She was an explosive meteor shower in her thin psychedelic planet-themed pajamas: zigzagging across the yard, shooting a ragged football and darting through the ‘don’t-mess-with-me’ older boys. She was there, then gone, before reappearing … Continued
“It’s not just a pretty island; it’s a profound experience. I can’t explain it, but go, you’ll see.” Umm yeah, maybe, for dreamers, followers of fairies and wearers of crystals. I sceptically boarded “our” private boat from Inhassoro on mainland Mozambique, to this “profound experience” on Santa Carolina otherwise known by the whimsical as “Paradise … Continued