Innholdsfortegnelse for May 2019 i Getaway

The Kruger National Park is a part of the South African psyche. It’s a space that defines our country – a national treasure. Established in 1898 to protect the wildlife of the Lowveld, today Kruger is a world leader in advanced environmental management. Occupying two climactic zones and 16 distinct eco-zones, the park is home to an unrivalled abundance of life forms: 336 tree species, 49 fish, 34 amphibians, 114 reptiles, 507 birds and 147 mammals. The size of Belgium, it’s a place in which to lose yourself, driving for days through an African Eden. This is the realm of baobabs, leadwoods and fever trees; a land patrolled by the Big Five, the Little Five (buffalo weaver, elephant shrew, leopard tortoise, ant lion and rhino beetle) and the birding Big…

The travel bug bit at a most inopportune time, but just before the school holidays, and I realised that I desperately needed to visit Vietnam. It was only as I stood before the curtains in my Hanoi hotel room having flown across three times zones, picking up an eye infection and breaking my perfume bottle on the bathroom floor, that I wondered if I’d forced a path where none was meant to be. In the end, it turned out to be one of the best family holidays. My children loved the trip as it was completely different from anything they had previously experienced. In the Old Quarter of Hanoi they watched a traditional water puppet theatre at night, and pedalled back to our hotel on cyclos, passing a four-kilometre mosaic…

No one had ever told me that Maputo has a sort-of Cuban feel… It’s humid and tropical; filled with interesting, often crumbling, old buildings; and, for locals, music makes everything all right. Many streets are named after political figures (Marx, Lenin, Nyerere, Ho Chi Minh, Mao Tse Tung, Kim Il Sung and, yes, Fidel Castro). All that’s missing is the retro cars. On arriving in a new city, I like to take a tour (the hop-on, hop-off bus kind) to get my bearings and a glimpse of areas that appeal most. Maputo has no such tourist bus service, but I had a great half-day out with Dana Tours. While getting interesting nuggets of info about the history and current lifestyle (and tip-offs about what I was not allowed to photograph),…

WHAT Vineyard E-Bike Meander WHERE Durbanville, Cape Town WHO Caroline Webb I have it on good authority that the guy riding behind me was rather amazed at the varied and creative ways I found to come off a bicycle. The best was riding calmly off the side of a low log bridge and tipping sideways into a bed of long grass, as if I’d decided I just had to stop and have a snooze right then. A ride through the vineyards on an electric mountain bike sounded easy enough, delightful even, so I signed up. I’m a total beginner as far as mountain biking goes, and this seemed like a good way to try it out. It is, but don’t think it will be easy. We met at ride-leader Grant…

Fixed focal-length (prime) lenses render greater image clarity and allow you to shoot at a higher shutter speed, with wider apertures in lower light. If you’re loaded with a prime lens for a wildlife adventure, take two to three additional lenses of varying focal lengths. Try a teleconverter. These increase your lens’s reach, are lightweight and come in different degrees of magnification (1.4x or 2x). But they do reduce image clarity slightly and you will lose a stop or more of light. Zoom lenses, such as a 70-300mm, have slightly less clarity and require more light, but enable you to shoot wildlife at various distances without changing lenses. Camera shake The longer (and heavier) your lens, the more you will be affected by camera shake, resulting in a blurred and…

The first prize for 2019’s Getaway Gallery competition is a luxury tropical-island stay in Mozambique. The winner and a partner will fly from Joburg to Vilanculos, courtesy of Airlink. From there they’ll be transferred by boat to Bazaruto Island for four days. The winner also bags two specialist lenses sponsored by Singer Photographic. SECOND PRIZE worth R22 000 From Singer Photographic • A Tamron 100-400mm zoom lens • A Tamron 70-210mm zoom lens THIRD PRIZE worth R15 000 From Singer Photographic A Parrot Anafi drone (extended version) HOW TO ENTER Email your entries (about 1MB in size, max five a month) with your name and contact details to gallery@getaway.co.za. Include a title for the image, info on where you took it and the camera used. See getaway.co.za/competition for full rules.…

HOW HE GOT THE SHOTS Every few years Justin joined the ‘Drive the Silk Road’ tour to do one of its legs, and has now covered the entire route: Turkey, Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and China. ‘Photographically, it has been a remarkable experience. Where my photography in Africa usually features wildlife, landscapes and seascapes, on the Silk Road I found myself focusing on architecture and people. As tourists are a rarity along much of the route, locals are only too happy to have their picture taken.’ TRAVEL PLANNER Each year AAST Inc (Asia Adventures & Study Tours) offers a unique package: Drive the Silk Road. The tours are run by dynamic husband-and-wife team Yue Chi and David Visagie, who hail from KwaZulu-Natal. This guided, fully catered, self-drive journey…

Kruger’s two guided trails are a wonderful way to experience the wilder side. You drive the trail in your own 4x4 and bring along all your own provisions, tents, camping gear, water and firewood. Nights are spent at designated, basic campsites (just a firepit and long-drop toilet). During the day your guide will suggest places to take a break, stretch your legs and point out interesting features along the way. Mafunyane is a four-day, three-night route in northwestern Kruger, between the Olifants and Luvuvhu rivers. It departs every Thursday afternoon from Phalaborwa Gate and finishes at Punda Maria. Lebombo takes five days and four nights. It departs from Crocodile Bridge every Sunday and ends at Pafuri. One of the attractions of this route is that you travel the whole length…

Sharing an unfenced boundary with the Kruger National Park, the pristine Manyeleti Game Reserve is home to Tintswalo Safari Lodge. Located on a river bank overlooking the wilderness, it offers a ‘safari with soul’ and uninterrupted Big Five game-viewing in a private reserve. Known for its warm hospitality, Tintswalo Safari Lodge has just six luxurious Explorer Suites and the two-bedroom Grant Family Suite, all themed after 19th-century African explorers. Each air-conditioned suite has a private deck with plunge pool, four-poster king-sized bed and an opulent bathroom. Guests are further spoilt with meals in a variety of locations, from the boma to the bush. For more exclusivity and privacy, with your own chef, guide and safari vehicle at your disposal, there is also the Baines Presidential Suite and standalone, five-bedroom The…

Let’s face it, Mozambique is not renowned as a wildlife destination. For many South African travellers, the country is the nearest ‘international’ holiday for lazy days at the beach sucking on fat juicy prawns and sipping ‘Dosh Ms’. But, I was on safari in the extreme south-west of the country at Sábiè Game Park, gnawing on buffalo shin prepared expertly by head chef Tapiwa ‘Taps’ Mahachi. That day, it had been a crack-of-dawn start in Cape Town to catch my 6.30am flight via Joburg to Nelspruit airport. By 11am, I was on the road with Sábiè’s marketing director, Peter Ruddle, who would be my guide and drive us into Mozambique. Mpumalanga sure is magnificent farming country. The landscape was filled with sugarcane fields, orange groves and banana plantations, and I…

Keri Harvey Mozambique, page 88 For Keri, the more remote and off the radar she can be, the better. Add heat, dust and some wildlife and it’s her nirvana – especially when there’s also pioneering conservation work happening. Zinave National Park in Mozambique perfectly fits the bill as an inspiring place, where Africa is getting it right. Keri’s nickname is ‘Double Rugged’, even though she’s usually in a skirt and sandals. Allison Foat Netherlands, page 96 Before this trip, ballerina-turned-travel writer Allison Foat had never heard of Friesland or its Eleven Cities and Fountains, and the quirky province in northern Holland turned out to be a revelation. After boating through canals in France and Italy, Allison has become a huge fan of this mode of slow travel. Drifting along the…

I had flown from Switzerland to join my husband on an overland trip, starting at the southern point of Africa, passing through Victoria Falls and ending in Joburg. It was a hot December day when we arrived at one of the most beautiful sites: the Fish River Canyon in Namibia. Between stark landscapes, breathtaking views and a profound sense of peace, it felt like we were on a different planet. – Sanja Rice, @afriventure, Johannesburg WIN! Tag us in your images on Instagram @GetawayMagazine and stand a chance of winning a R400 Outdoor Warehouse gift voucher. outdoorwarehouse.co.za…

StayEasy Maputo MOZAMBIQUE First impressions can be deceiving: a six-storey, corporate-looking building attached to a mall – ‘But at least it’s next to the sea,’ I thought to myself on arrival. However, inside it’s pleasant and welcoming; staff always have a smile, there’s an air of efficiency, and the entire place is light, bright and colourful. The lounge area has floor-to-ceiling windows that show off the pool deck and ocean beyond. In my top-floor room, I had a giddying view of that same beachfront, also through a large glass wall. StayEasy is the budget sibling of the Southern Sun hotel (and with the same manager), further down Avenida da Marginal, on the way to Costa do Sol and the fish market. The beach across the road unusually has a stand…

Feel the music There are two festivals this month that offer something unique to our neck of the woods. On the Wild Coast, near Coffee Bay, the Mdumbi Green Fair features two stages and 20 bands, plus Xhosa choirs, circus acts and the chance to learn stick fighting. The entire local community gets involved, offering anything from food and massages to surfing and spray-painting lessons. You’re free to plant a tree, too. From R526 pp. 10–12 May. mdumbigreenfair.com Over in eSwatini, Bushfire features world-music artists: jive to Meute, a German techno marching band; singer Dobet Gnahoré from Côte d’Ivoire; dub/reggae artists Granmah from Mozambique; and Colombian percussionists Alibombo, among others. Tickets from R800 pp. 24–26 May. bush-fire.com A hoard of big toys Bringing together sea, land and air for the…

Take it yourself Time, patience and a telephoto lens is what you’ll need EQUIPMENT Wildlife photography is an expensive hobby – think ultra-zoom and very fast lenses. Entry-level cars cost less! For photographing bigger game, such as elephants that may approach the vehicle quite close, you need a fixed focal-length or zoom lens of at least 200-300mm. Smaller game such as impala and particularly birds require longer lenses (up to 600mm). You also want a DSLR camera that can shoot three to five frames per second (FPS) in continuous mode. SETTINGS Start with shutter speed – to reduce the possibility of a blurred image, shoot at a speed two to three times the focal length. For example, a 300mm lens needs a speed from 1/800 or 1/1000 sec to truly…

HOW TripAdvisor lists accommodation rated by guests, but as much as we love peer reviews, they don’t offer a comparative voice – so how do we know No. 1 is really the best? Pippa de Bruyn, who has reviewed accommodation for 20 years for the likes of Frommer’s and The Telegraph, scours TripAdvisor and other online sites when researching a destination.  For Plettenberg Bay, she created a longlist of 26 to inspect. The following made the cut. • Great stock! With broad expanses of sand riven by the Piesang and Keurboom rivers, lapped by the Indian Ocean and surrounded by pockets of forest and fynbos, the area’s diverse habitats are matched by that of its accommodation. • Plett’s main beaches (Lookout, Central, Robberg, Solar) are some of the best in…

1 The Fig Tree House is a magical hideaway moulded around a giant wild fig. Ample firewood, crockery and drinking water is provided, but there’s no fridge so stop in Nelspruit to get ice. Also bring your own bedding and towels. R950 pp (sleeps six). Minimum two nights over weekends. 072-035-5685, thefigtreehouse.com 2 Skukuza Rest Camp has a range of accommodation, including an 85-stand campsite. Bungalows with private kitchens from R1 504 (sleep two); camping from R359 per stand (maximum six people). 3 Letaba Rest Camp‘s perimeter-view bungalows with private cooking facilities are worth paying a little extra for. The verandas look across lawns to the Letaba River, just visible through the trees. From R1 514 (sleeps two). The 60-stand campsite is away from the river. From R349 per stand…

GETTING THERE Malelane Gate is 405km (easy five-hours) from Joburg via Nelspruit on the N4. Airlink flies direct from Joburg and Cape Town (and Durban via Joburg) to Skukuza. flyairlink.com WHEN TO GO Kruger is a year-round destination but the dry winter months, from April to end October, are best for game viewing. Mid-summer can be very hot. NEED TO KNOW Plan your route Check the sightings boards in camp and at the entrance gates; on a detailed map (available at all rest camps and gates) plan each drive around what you would like to see and where to stop for breakfast or lunch. Calculate the distance, then divide by 25km/h to get a rough idea of how long your route will take. The main H roads are tarred, secondary…

‘STAND STILL.DO NOT RUN,’ whispered our guide. Below us, on the riverbank, loomed a large bull elephant. He raised his head and took a few steps towards us. We were now eye to eye. On foot you realise just how enormous these beasts are. The elephant gave a quick shake of his giant head, flapped his ears to show us he knew we were there, and then went back to mooching in the mud. With adrenaline coursing through our bodies, we let out a hiss of relief and started giggling. It was one of my most thrilling experiences ever. I was on the Bushmans Wilderness Trail, one of the lesser-known ways to see the Kruger Park. Of the two-million hectares that make up Kruger, just under half is zoned for wilderness…

This Big Five transfrontier park, bordering Kruger’s Lower Sabie section (forming part of the Greater Kruger National Park), has arguably the best game viewing in Mozambique. It’s a classic wilderness experience, with stunning lakeshore viewing at the 7 100-hectare Corumana Dam, plus adventure and authentic cultural experiences. The park offers game drives and walks, wilderness trails and tiger fishing, along with hearty Mozambican cuisine and warm hospitality at the safari-style tented camp. It’s also just 140 kilometres from Maputo and the ocean, allowing guests to book a classic Beach & Bush Safari. sabieparkmoz.com The prize • Five nights for two people sharing at Bhejane Luxury Tented Camp. • All meals, beverages and game activities. • Return road transfers from Maputo or Nelspruit airports. How to Enter Fill in the entry form for Sábiè…

There was a faint whiff of aviation fuel in the cockpit, but pilot Hannes van Wyk seemed unperturbed as he methodically penned his paperwork. We were 30 minutes into the flight, heading due west from Vilanculos on the coast into the interior in a Peace Parks Foundation (PPF) plane, which is used primarily for aerial surveys in Zinave. Tall and slim, Hannes had virtually slithered into the pilot’s seat of this tiny plane. I sat next to him and the rest of the space was taken up with my tog bag and a few oddments in the stowage area – there’d be no snacks and drinks on this flight. I was on my way to Zinave to join PPF staff doing wildlife translocations. The park is being restocked after years…

GETTING THERE I flew from Cape Town to Nelspruit on SAA (from R5 000 return,travelstart.co.za). It’s 105km from Nelspruit to the Komatipoort border post, and then another 127km to Sábiè. NEED TO KNOW The road from the Mozambican border post to Moambo is newly tarred and good. From Moambo to Sábiè there’s tar and gravel, with corrugated bits. If you don’t want to drive this section, you can be collected and transferred to the park. Your vehicle will be left in a safe place in Moambo. The camp has Wi-Fi. Malaria is present so take prophylactics. WHEN TO GO The best time is from April to October STAY HERE Bhejane Luxury Tented Camp has six en-suites, all in a tranquil private setting, and within a few metres of the waterhole…

From the mountainous Underberg region to the summit of Sani Pass, and along the coast to Kosi Bay, my wife and I recently experienced the outdoors and natural wonders of KwaZulu-Natal like never before. Keen to fully utilise our Jeep’s 4x4 capabilities en route to Sani Pass from Pretoria, my wife, Aziza, and I ventured 40 kilometres off-road through a very remote part of the Underberg. Throughout this challenging trail, we were treated to the backdrop of the Drakensberg. We checked in at the cosy, yet pristine, Premier Resort Sani Pass. During our stay, we made a shift from 4x4 to four-legged horsepower. This was known as the ‘two-hour adventure trip’, trotting and galloping through lush fields and fresh water streams. It was soon time to conquer Sani Pass in…

It’s Africa Month in May (commemorating the founding of the Organisation of African Unity, in 1963, later replaced by the African Union in 2002) and a good time to celebrate the fascinating corners of our continent. One such place is Guelta d’Archei, where every day hundreds of camels come to drink and bathe in the waters of the canyon – an oasis in the middle of the Sahara Desert. Over the centuries, the camel dung has turned the water black. Lurking in this dark water is a small relic population of West African crocodiles. Smaller than their Nile counterparts, they feed on fish that survive on the algae formed by the camel droppings. This unique ecosystem owes its existence to the oasis, which springs from underground water and is found…

After a year’s hiatus due to water restrictions, the Riebeek Valley Olive Festival is back this month. South Africa’s unofficial ‘Golden Olive Triangle’ lies in the grooves and shadows of the Swartland’s Kasteelberg. The twin towns of Riebeek Kasteel and Riebeek West planted their first olive groves in the 1970s, and the valley has been celebrating its olive festival for almost two decades now. Local olive businesses have stretched their imagination beyond the familiar table olives and oils with some new twists to try this year. There’s olive sprinkle (good on just about anything, from baked potatoes to braai meat) and sweet-and-salty dried olives (with pomegranates, figs or oranges) at Het Vlock Casteel, as well as olive butter that’s spreadable straight out of the fridge. Olive Boutique has roasted olives…

FINALIST The Peeper Kahuzi-Biega National Park in DRC is the last stronghold of the Grauer’s or eastern lowland gorilla. Numbers have dwindled to less than 4 000. The park warden, with his armed guards, took me to a specific group of gorillas. I took many shots of this particular young male where he was feeding on a wild banana tree. I could see how he relaxed when the dominant male moved away from his prime feeding spot. – By Hesté de Beer, Kroonstad FINALIST Exquisite Beauty On a late-afternoon walk in the Pat Busch Nature Reserve near Robertson, I decided to concentrate on birds near the reeds where there was a little water. I saw quite a few but they were flittering around too quickly to photograph. So I sat…

Sometimes I come to love a place so much that when I leave it’s inconceivable that I’ll never be back. But then time passes and life goes on, and the return journey gets indefinitely delayed. After years of this, I finally realised that actual trips down memory lane don’t just happen. And so, after much planning, and nearly three decades, I finally returned to Kruger National Park with my family. It was a fine winter’s morning as we left Joburg, driving into the sunrise towards the Crocodile River. My brother and his Italian girlfriend had flown in from Perugia, my aunt from the UK and the rest of us from Cape Town. It’s near impossible to get everyone together these days, and my mom was all smiles as I glanced…

‘There’s nothing – absolutely nothing – half so much worth doing as messing about in boats,’ said Rat to Mole in The Wind in the Willows, and he was on the money. Boating is at once a motif of journeying and of adventure, and there’s not much to beat a barging vacation on the Continent. Think balmy days, wide-open spaces and picture-perfection. No meetings, no calls, no stress and minimal online interference, where the disconnect is real and decisions come down to which wine to drink, where to go next and where to find the cheese. Over the years much has been written about self-drive barging and, as options go, France’s popular Canal du Midi usually hogs the limelight. The French offering is charming, but there’s a new option on…

GETTING THERE From Durban, head north on the N2 past Richards Bay. Take the first Mtubatuba/ St Lucia exit; at the T-junction, turn left and then take the second right on the R618 into town. STAY HERE Lodge Afrique has delightful Afro-chic touches and feels very tropical, with eight thatched suites laid out along a boardwalk. From R900 pp sharing B&B. 035-590-1696, lodgeafrique.com St Lucia Ecolodge has apartment-style rooms with kitchenettes and patios. Some have sea views – unusual in St Lucia. The ‘feast & beast’ combo rate includes dining and park activities. From R650 pp sharing B&B. 035-590-1082, stlucia-ecolodge.co.za Enduduzweni Tree House is a sweet stay in the back garden of Elfie Camp’s home. Set high amid branches and birds, the chalet comes with a bicycle to explore town.…