Getaway June 2019

We set sail from Cape Town, bound for the island of St Helena. It was sunset and Table Mountain was disappearing over the horizon. I stood on the aft deck of RMS St Helena, witnessing the most curious of modern phenomena. Passengers lined the guardrail, holding their phones aloft, desperately eking the last reception from the Mother City. The terror of the coming days at sea with no connectivity had gripped them. I returned to my cabin and laid out my own devices on the bunk. I was shocked at the number of screens, batteries and chords. I tallied how many ‘portals’ of connectivity I engaged with on a daily basis, from Facebook and Twitter to LinkedIn and WhatsApp. The number was 17. Bloody madness, I thought. Modern life is…

Elise Kirsten Sardine Run, page 86 Whether it’s in the air, on land or underwater Getaway’s online editor is always up for an adventure. In June last year, she found herself in Port St Johns on one of her favourite escapades yet. In the deep, where whales plunge and marine predators thrive on the bounty of sardines heading up our east coast, Elise fell in love with the ocean for the umpteenth time. Matthew Sterne Rim of Africa, page 78 Zanzibar, page 92 The secret to being clumsy, Matthew says, is knowing how to recover gracefully and pretend that nothing has happened. He used this hard-learnt knowledge on his latest assignments, slipping down mountains on the Rim of Africa and tumbling out of kayaks in Zanzibar. At one point he…

I always start so hopeful that surely this time I’ll be able to cross an item off my List of Things To Do Before I Am Too Old. It’s a long list but never seems to get shorter. I’ve written about the time I tried to cross off item No. 43: ‘See the Ganges by moonlight’, and somehow wandered ankle-deep into a field doubling as the outdoor neighbourhood toilet. Last year I tried item No. 27: ‘Spend a night in Dracula’s castle at Poenari in the Carpathian mountains’, and was chased away by wild bears before the sun could even set. This time I tried one of the easier items on the list. I’ve always loved Vincent van Gogh’s painting of the café on Place du Forum in Arles. Look…

You excelled yourselves with your 30th birthday issue (April 2019). I couldn’t put it down and was so sorry when I’d finished it! I’m 75 now and some of the articles brought back so many memories, especially of my childhood in Kenya in the late 1940s. Gedi, for instance, had not long been ‘discovered’ when I was a child. It was as its occupiers had left it, with superb coastal forest having taken over. In the ruined wall of a house were two exquisite blue-and-white plates from China, transported, no doubt, by Arab dhows. There was also a very deep well, the bottom of which could not be seen, and a marvellous atmosphere of mystery. Sadly, when I went back to Gedi about 15 years later, the mystery had vanished,…

The Treeferns Trout Lodge in Dullstroom. – @lynnett9051 Champagne Sports Resort in Central Drakensberg is one of the most awesome places. – @MarkNaidoo1 When the last firewood burns out in Mapungubwe, with a cup of tea in my hand, time stands still. – @pmabuza1 Paternoster in winter – crashing waves, grey skies and glühwein by a roaring fire. – @jackace101 Verlatenkloof, near Sutherland. – @fynbosch There’s nothing better than the Drakensberg, where the days are crisp and clear, the nights fresh, sitting under a blanket around a roaring fire … my happy place! – @wiehekim I go up to Lund in British Columbia, Canada, for cosy fires and red wine. – @lisa.nuttall.509 Ski cabins in the Alps, especially in Austria. We go almost every European winter. – @yugeshreen…

Two nights at Mhondoro Safari Lodge & Villa in the Waterberg, worth R22 700 Winner 1 I have always wanted to stay in a lodge in Big Five country, so this is a dream come true. Thank you! – Loes Alexander Winner 2 Not in a million years did I think I’d win such a stunning prize. I am so excited about this. Thank you, Getaway – you are a stunning magazine too. – Valeska Spies A copy of Secret Johannesburg , worth R299 Winner 1 I’m excited about the armchair travel in store for me, and looking forward to plotting some adventures when I visit my friends in Joburg. – Marcus Collins Winner 2 It’s great to discover Joburg’s secrets, as I have overseas visitors and…