Innholdsfortegnelse for November 2021 i Getaway

The same brute had mugged my wife and sister-in-law when they were weekending in Rooi Els. The sisters were walking back to the holiday house after picking up coffee and pastries from the local cafe. He emerged from the bush about 50 metres ahead and ran straight at them. They had little time to think. Running away was out of the question – he was much faster – best to stand their ground and throw something. A steaming hot latté exploded on his head, but he kept coming without missing a beat. The only thing to do was to hand over the goods. So they threw the bag of pastries down and cowered as he scooped it up, making off with four buttery croissants and a sugar doughnut laced with…

WINNING LETTER Nile monitor rescue mission at the Waterfall Wildlife Estate The Nile monitor (Varanus niloticus) thrives in the Waterfall Wildlife Estate in Midrand. Recently, I photographed one of the monitors on the banks of the river and realised it had a plastic noose around its neck. I alerted the environmental expert in the estate, Kevin Gow, and he and his wife, Sue, agreed to assist me in the capture and release of the monitor (they both have experience in conservation rescue efforts). I staked out the monitor one afternoon and after three hours of observing and photographing it, I called Kevin and Sue as it had moved into a favourable position for capture. Kevin proceeded to stalk the monitor while Sue waited in the background to assist him once…

You think of absolutely nothing when you fall, yet your mind fires a billion sensory details directly into your consciousness. Head over heels you spin, through the sky, with your neocortex computing you have less than two seconds before you shatter onto the rock-scattered impact zone below. Intense disbelief is obliterated by surging adrenal spikes, coercing your lizard brain into snatching at any miniscule options for potential survival. Your amygdala jostles with your rational mind, collaborating in a desperate effort to compute some manner of safety amid near-surreal terror and utterly detached calm. You remember the ledge, just a couple of metres below where you started down-climbing (this was before both your rock holds sheared simultaneously approximately 12 metres up the pinnacle face). And now you twist in a last-ditch…

SURFING AT MUIZENBERG IN WINTER 1|Reef Men’s 4/3 Vault R3 390 wetsuitwarehouse.co.za Surf’s up in Muizies in winter, when the good tubes typically roll in. It can get pretty chilly then so 4/3 wetsuits (4mm of thickness in the torso and 3mm thickness in the arms and legs) are ecommended. The new Reef Men’s 4/3 Vault Wetsuit is lighter, warmer and more flexible than previous versions and is considered an entry-level option. Limestone neoprene is a new technology that is more environmentally friendly than previous petroleum-based technologies, and was used to manufacture this range. The Vault has a good drainage system, if water gets trapped in your suit, and seamless shoulders and underarms, an important feature for surfers to avoid getting a rash. SURFING AT ELANDS BAY IN WINTER 2|Dakine…

THE MAGNIFICENT MCGRATH COLLECTION Each of the three iconic hotels within the Liz McGrath Collection boasts a unique location, mesmerising history, splendid design and amenities, and services second to none. As proud members of Small Luxury Hotels of the World, The Cellars-Hohenort in Cape Town, The Marine in Hermanus and The Plettenberg share the inimitable style of their creator, the late Liz McGrath, and her passion for decor, food and gardening. The three hotels have a proud culture of impeccable hospitality, extending a warm welcome to all, including families with children. MAGICAL MARINE The Marine is an iconic landmark in the charming seaside town of Hermanus. Located on the cliff path, the hotel overlooks Walker Bay, famous for some of the finest land-based whale watching in the world. It has…

Scott Ramsay LESSONS FROM THE WILD (P 72) Scott Ramsay is a photographer and writer focusing on Africaʼs wild places and the conservationists and safari experts working to protect them. While travel outside the country was restricted during Covid, he signed up for a two month guide-training course with EcoTraining in the lowveld. ʻI went to a good school and university in Cape Town, and learnt much, some of it good and useful. But the African wilderness has been my greatest teacher by far. The more I explore Africa, the more I realise how much I have to learn … and how much I have to unlearn.ʼ Justin Fox THIS IS LIFE, A JOURNEY TO THE SERENGETI (P 92) Our former editor, Justin Fox, recently ticked off a bucket-list destination…

TEN REAL-WORLD SURVIVAL TIPS There is no hard-and-fast recipe to negate disaster, but sticking to these guidelines helped me cope. One thing most adventure specialists agree on is that you need to re-evaluate your situation constantly, and then adjust your course of action accordingly. 1. Do Not Panic: evaluate your options and make decisions based on your (and your group’s) physical capabilities. Giving every individual a task to focus on will add to their sense of purpose and focus. 2. ER Course: attend a relevant first aid course and keep your knowledge up to date. You will thank me later. 3. Emergency Communication: carry a Spot Africa or similar satellite communications unit; this will shave precious hours off ER lag time, either via extraction or by connecting you to the…

Rounding a bend on Rongai Hill we come upon the herd, the endless herd. A million wildebeest and zebra heading west towards Grumeti in this, the main body of the Great Migration. We are barely able to compute what our eyes are taking in: an ocean of mammals, a vast, seething, living, breathing leviathan. I find myself overwhelmed, struggling to think straight, unable to decide which lens to use, whether to photograph, film or jot notes. Instead, I put my camera down – recording can wait – and drink in the spectacle. Itʼs a moving landscape of sound and wonder, of pronking, leaping, cantering, grazing, snorting, moseying. Everywhere and everything so alive! ʻYes, this is Life,ʼ I think. The Serengeti had always sat high on my safari wish list but,…

My Oupa Toy is a low-key green fig bottler extraordinaire. Ouma does the cooking and recipe stuff, but every year towards the end of October, itʼs Oupaʼs hands that are scalded by the fig treesʼ sap. Heʼs the picker. As well as the patient sous chef who sands down each individual figʼs skin and presses a tiny cross on the bottom-end of the fruit with a sharp knife. ʻSo the syrup can soak up through the entire fig,ʼ heʼll tell you. Itʼs a sight to behold: my Oupa Toy in his La-Z-Boy watching the rugby with a mountain of figs to one side, and a bowl of blouvitterjoel-spiked water to the other. The prepped figs are doused in this mixture, to keep their bright green colour intact when bottled. Oupa…

An extraordinary Giant Kite Festival takes place every year on The Day of the Dead in a cemetery in Sumpango, Guatemala. It’s believed the kites create a connection between the spirits of the dead and their families here on Earth, with messages attached to the kites for the deceased. Taking 40 days to build, the kites are made of bamboo and colourful paper depicting everything from folkloric owls to motifs urging suicide prevention.…

What can we do to help combat overfishing? Sustainable fishing For centuries, indigenous cultures have fished sustainably, understanding that for humans who depend on fish to survive, the fish must thrive. The more forward thinking fisheries of today are taking a leaf out of the books of centuries-old fishing practices. These include fishing by hand (rod and reel) or spear, so targeted species may be caught and others left alone, as well as fishing certain species seasonally so different fish are given time to breed and replenish the population. For instance, bluefin tuna fishing in the US is highly regulated and a quota is set every year. Once that quota is filled, the fishery is closed for the season. Bluefin tuna must be a certain size, and must be caught…

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patreon.com/hanneslochner, hannes_lochner DEADVLEI Deadvlei is probably the most visited place in Namibia, apart from Etosha. On this adventure, there was no-one except a few friends and I. What a privilege. It is always a challenge to frame something different at Deadvlei, thanks to the mass of photographs taken there over the last few decades. You have to get creative and when you have the place to yourself, it is a little easier. ETOSHA LION You can't finish a Namibian safari without going to the world-famous Etosha National Park. It’s well known for elephants and rhino, among the bigger game, and also for most of the cat species. Photographing a big-pride male lion in good light overlooking the pans at Okondeka waterhole… always a bonus. PALMATOGECKO NO 3 Also called the…

FINALIST Tankwa Karoo cloudstack As I love “wild camping” I usually prefer to book where there is very little or no infrastructure or facilities, just a road that leads there is good enough. Steenkampshoek in the Tankwa Karoo National Park is exactly such a spot. After the first coffee early in the morning, I grabbed my camera and took a few shots of the clouds that lit up in the rising sun. I used the little ruin with the yellow flowers as a foreground and the mountains as a backdrop. The clouds were moving away from me and towards the sun. I took 105 images with the rising sun behind them. I had to use a 6-stop medium graduated ND filter to help darken the top half of the image,…

There are some who need more than just an annual holiday in the bush. On Eco-Trainingʼs guiding course in Selati and Karongwe game reserves and the Makuleke concession in northern Kruger, students of any age and stage can immerse themselves for 55 days in the Lowveld wilderness, learning from expert instructors. Hereʼs (some of) what youʼll learn… 1. IT’S A STEEP LEARNING CURVE – BUT WORTH IT There is a lot to learn in the bushveld, with several thousand species of mammals, birds, trees and insects. The diversity of life is mind blowing, even intimidating. Where do you start? ʻWe know less than one percent of one percent,ʼ said Brian Rode, our instructor at Karongwe Game Reserve. ʻIʼve never stopped learning, and thatʼs what makes living and working in the…

Subscribe to 12 months of Getaway magazine for a limited time and save 40% off the shelf price, paying only R323. To subscribe call 021 530 3300 or email subscriptions@hsm.co.za GRAND PRIZE MAGNIFICENT VIC FALLS Four readers could be flying to Victoria Falls courtesy of British Airways (operated by Comair) from Joburg, to stay at the legendary Victoria Falls Safari Lodge. The lodge is an easy five-minute drive from the Falls and is ideally placed for lazy sundowner cruises on the Zambezi River. ba.com victoria-falls-safari-lodge.com WILD IN THE PILANESBERG Stay at Bakubung Bush Lodge, care of Legacy Hotels and Resorts on a two-night, weekend break for four. The lodge, within the Pilanesberg National Park, offers down-time by the pool or in the Legacy Spa as well as game drives, game…