Table of contents for May 2019 in go!

I never went to the Caprivi, but when I imagined it, I pictured an exciting, mysterious and dangerous place. It’s Rocco de Wet’s fault. If you grew up like I did: a white, Afrikaans laaitie in the suburbs in South Africa in the 1970s, the chances were good that you had a stack of Grensvegter photo story magazines on your bedside table. Even my English friends read them; we’d trade copies during lunch break at school. Rocco had a mean moustache and longish hair, and he wore tight trousers. The Caprivi was his backyard: a place where he’d made the communists rue the day they ever set foot in Africa. Fidel Castro’s boys were his arch enemies. Major Cuba (who surprisingly spoke perfect Afrikaans) thought he had the upper hand,…

Is pollen an aphrodisiac? Q ANNATJIE BRUYNS from Odendaalsrus writes: This flower – on a farm near Warden in the Free State – was covered in beetles and they were all mating. There was another flower nearby, also with pollen, but with no beetles on it. Does the pollen influence mating behaviour? A Entomologist DUNCAN MACFADYEN says: This is a spotted maize beetle, belonging to the family Melyridae. They are largely pollen feeders and may congregate at a suitable food source in large numbers. Pollen would attract the bugs to the flower head of this spear thistle, which results in more individuals on the plant and hence more opportunities to mate, but the pollen itself has no physical effect on the bugs’ behaviour. Leopard for lunch? Q GERRIE VAN DER…

One of the best-known and most evocative sounds of the African bush is the “Good-Lord-Deliver-Us” call of the fiery-necked nightjar. Unfortunately, these small birds get little more than a curious glance. Of all the nightjar species that occur in South Africa, only the pennant-winged nightjar, with its glorious wing streamers, can be considered “striking”. All the other nightjars have drab and uninspiring plumage – a fact that many birdwatchers will attest to, considering the difficulty distinguishing one species from another! Yet, despite their dull appearance, nightjars are fascinating and they have a host of notable features that aid them in their nocturnal lifestyle. For example, they have a special membrane in the back of their eyes called the tapetum, which reflects light back onto the retina and enhances their nocturnal…

It’s January 2015 and we’re on our way from Port Elizabeth to Plettenberg Bay. The rental car is packed with nice goodies to eat; a Nikon camera; the latest Anne Tyler novel (for me, the eldest); my dad taking in the new world around him; mum the babysitter, amusing her grandson; my brother (the youngest) smoking a cigarette; my posh sister (the middle child) at the wheel; and a small child (my nephew, my brother’s son) going on his first seaside holiday. I’m already dreading the trip back home! Mum and dad – both teachers – would never have splurged like this in their working lives. This holiday is my sister’s gift to them for all the sacrifices they made to provide her with a tertiary education. At a filling…

ARLENE RIES Canon EOS 7D Mark II Canon 100 – 400 mm lens ARLENE WRITES: I took this photo early one morning between Satara and Tshokwane in the Kruger Park. I’ve learnt so much from Take Better Photos – not only technical  things like shutter speed, aperture, ISO and white balance, but also composition, which I think is the most important aspect of photography. I applied the Rule of Thirds when I took this photo. The dead tree also made a perfect frame for the rising sun. I can definitely recommend the course. It was invaluable. Thank you! TOAST SAYS: We’re glad you enjoyed the course, Arlene. It’s rewarding when you try something and it works! Besides teaching you about all the buttons and dials on your camera, the course…

If someone asked you about a Renault Koleos and you knew absolutely nothing about cars, you’d be excused for thinking it was that Greek crooner who once sang “My Friend the Wind” with Demis Roussos. If you know it’s a car, you might remember that Renault used to sell a souped-up 4x4 Scenic years ago, which it called the Koleos. Now the name – and the car – is back in South Africa, bigger and more luxurious than ever. The new Koleos is basically Renault’s version of the hugely popular Volkswagen Tiguan, and the Moët & Chandon corks are going to be popping if the French company achieves even a tenth of the Tiguan’s sales. But before the champagne starts flowing, the Koleos has a Sani Pass to climb: It…

This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity: Set out on a 20-day voyage from the Falkland Islands to South Georgia Island, on your way to the vast ice continent, Antarctica. This tour is aimed at keen photographers, but birdwatchers, wildlife lovers and fans of polar history will also love it. (You’ll be on Ernest Shackleton’s trail…) The expedition is scheduled for 26 October to 14 November 2020, when spring in Antarctica begins. New life erupts everywhere: The penguin colonies are in full cry, elephant seal bulls battle for supremacy, and albatrosses perform their mating rituals. The expedition crew includes ornithologists, marine biologists and historians. The photo expedition leader is Guts Swanepoel from Pangolin Photo Safaris – a highly regarded wildlife photography guide. Guts has led several tours to Antarctica and he knows…

WHEN? 19 – 21 July 2019 WHERE? DeTuinen, Rosendal HOW MUCH? The weekend workshop costs R3 250 per person, including all meals, hands-on tuition and course notes. Non-participating partners are more than welcome and can join for the meals – R1 200 per person. WHERE TO STAY? Accommodation is not included in the price. Contact Frik de Jager on 084 666 6616 or e-mail detuinenrosendal@ gmail.com to book a place to stay at the workshop venue, or elsewhere in town. I WANT TO SIGN UP! To book, call Donvé Myburgh on 021 406 2387 or e-mail donve.myburgh@ media24.com – be quick, because the last one sold out in the blink of an eye… INDIVIDUAL ATTENTION MEALS INCLUDED COMPREHENSIVE COURSE NOTES…

The musty smell of fermenting grapes in the KWV cellar brings back memories of my youth. It’s harvest season in Paarl and I remember the hive of activity on farms; tractors in Main Road taking grapes to the cellars; our fridge filled with purple barlinka… On my uncle Willie’s farm, Montana, my cousins and I would ride on the conveyor belt in the packing shed. The Paarl of my childhood was a rural town – the hub of a farming community with a history that goes back to 1687, when Simon van der Stel gave land to a group of people called the Vryburgers. On Sundays, we sometimes drove through the newly built Huguenot Tunnel for fun (the toll fee was R4). When we came back from the Worcester side,…

The annual Grain SA Nampo Harvest Day will take place from 14 – 17 May, at Nampo Park near the maize capital of Bothaville in the Free State. The main goal of the show is to bring farmers and the suppliers of agricultural products and services together. According to Wim Venter, Nampo admin officer, last year’s show contributed about R39 million to the economy of the surrounding area, and towns like Bothaville. “Although lots of sales are made at Nampo, it’s hard to put a figure on it because many of the transactions happen after the show. The value of the products on show is around R1,5 billion and exhibitors spend about R94 million on their exhibition spaces,” he says. This year there will be 775 exhibitors, compared to last…

CHEETAH SCUFFLE, KRUGER NATIONAL PARK I visited the Kruger Park with my mother, Anna Kruger (74). On our last day in the park, we were on our way from Mopani to the Phalaborwa gate. The previous day, a young tour guide had told us that he’d seen cheetahs on the H1-6. I decided it was worth taking a drive past to see if the big cats were still there. They were! We saw three juveniles 1 , on the H1-6, exactly halfway to Letaba. I was excited because I hadn’t seen a cheetah in the park in years. We pulled over to watch them and rolled down our windows to listen to the strange sounds they were making. Another big cheetah appeared from the bushes – we assumed it was…

Not many people find a dam wall exciting. But Katse Dam in Lesotho doesn’t have any old wall. The Katse wall is 185 m high and 710 m long; it’s 60 m wide at the bottom and thins out towards the top, where it’s 9 m wide. Lots of cement had to be transported to the highlands of Lesotho in the 1990s: For six whole years, a truck carrying a full load left Ficksburg every 40 minutes! The dam is the heart of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project, which supplies water to Gauteng, generating an income of more than R25 million per month for the Mountain Kingdom.…

Did you know that mussels can live to 50 years old, and that a squid has three separate hearts? These are just two of the facts you can learn using the new WWF SASSI card pack. Parents and teachers can download the cards for free, print them out and use them to teach kids more about fish and the SASSI sustainable seafood guide. There are 15 games you can play using the cards, aimed at children in grades 4 – 10: from simple sorting games to memory games. There are 15 fish species featured, five for each of the SASSI colour categories: green (best choice to buy and eat); orange (fish stocks are under pressure – think twice about buying); and red (don’t buy). Download the cards: bit.ly/2CEVPUB More info:…

Sometimes known as the continent’s “Last Eden”, the Okavango Delta is a sparkling jewel in the middle of the parched Kalahari Desert. Maun, Botswana, is your gateway to the Delta and the perfect launch pad for travellers who want to explore this oasis. This is as close to the African Dream as you can get: The Okavango Delta’s maze of channels meander around lush grasslands, groves and mopane forests. Explore the Delta in a mokoro (a type of canoe popular in the Delta), on foot, or in a game-viewing vehicle. This natural phenomenon is home to thriving populations of some of Africa’s most beautiful wildlife. The Delta is said to support 164 mammal species, 157 reptile species, and 540 bird species, promising visitors a safari experience they will battle to…

1 Water makes all the difference It’s a long drive, and you want some kind of guarantee before you pack the car. Will it be worth your while? The answer is YES! Why? In one word: water. Four of Namibia’s (scarce) perennial rivers run through the Kavango East and Zambezi regions: the Kavango, Kwando, Zambezi and Chobe. Where there’s water, there’s game, big trees, lovely campsites, birds by the hundreds – and tranquillity. Water is what sets this region apart. Even in South Africa, we have nothing that compares. The rivers and their floodplains offer scenes that you usually associate with the Okavango in Botswana: papyrus islands, tall jackal-berry trees, a man on a mokoro at sunset… 2 Value for money In this region, you can paddle a mokoro like…

SHAMVURA CAMP Camping, self-catering safari tents, one self-catering cottage. The camp is high on a vegetated dune and you can see Angola in the distance. 00 264 81 241 7473 (Mark); shamvura@iway.na CAMP NDURUKORO No frills, good value for money – camping and self-catering units with a spacious communal kitchen area. 00 264 81 124 1051 (Leon); ndurukoro@namibnet.com MOBOLA LODGE Campsites on the river, and self-catering bungalows. Make sure to have a sundowner at the island bar. mobola-lodge.com RIVERDANCE LODGE The lodge has new owners. It’s neat and modern and on a hill next to the riverbank. Camping stands with private ablutions, and lodge rooms. 00 264 66 258 401; riverdance.com.na SHAMETU RIVER LODGE Downstream from Popa Falls. There are new safari tents next to the river, and a striking…

The R700 between Bloemfontein and Bultfontein is not a road that many tourists will ever drive. It’s a straight Free State road, mostly driven by local farmers on their way to the city to buy tractor parts, to take their kids to school, to attend an auction, or to visit Kloppers. Kloppers is a big department store that stocks everything under the sun. It’s a Free State institution, like the red-soil fields along the R700, and the Modder River. After I’ve crossed the river, about 10km towards Bultfontein, a sign on the left points to Soutpan. The corrugated dirt road takes me past a red-brick Dutch Reformed church on a low hill. Then there’s a stop sign, the only one around. No one stops here. I can tell by how…

Wow, I am very far from home! That’s what I was thinking as I stood in front of the famous stone archway at the Amicalola Falls State Park, Georgia, that marks the start of (arguably) the most famous hiking trail in the world. I had dreamt of this moment for so long, but now it seemed almost anti-climactic: just the quiet forest and a small footpath leading into the unknown. I took a deep breath and stepped through the archway, as excited as I was anxious. The Appalachian Trail is a 2 200-mile hiking path (about 3 500 km) in the US that leads from Springer Mountain in Georgia to Mount Katahdin in northern Maine, passing through 14 different states. Since coming into being in the 1930s, thousands of so-called…

Dates: 26 October – 14 November 2020 (20 days, 19 nights) Day 1: Fly from Punta Arenas (Chile) to the Falkland Islands Day 2: Sail from Sea Lion Island to Bleaker Island Day 3 – 4: At sea, to South Georgia Day 5 – 9: Explore South Georgia Day 10 – 12: At sea, to Antarctica Day 13 – 17: Sail to South Shetland Islands and the Antarctic Peninsula Day 18 – 19: At sea, back to South America Day 20: Arrival in Ushuaia (Argentina)…

Whether you are looking to upskill yourself and take your hobby to the next level or are interested in a career as a field guide, this course will give you the practical and theoretical training to become a recognised professional field guide. Volunteer World International has partnered with Shamwari Private Game Reserve and FGASA to reinstate South Africa’s leading Field Guide Training Academy in 2019. This Big Five game reserve offers participants a fantastic opportunity to focus their passion for wildlife, nature and conservation – all under the guidance of our highly qualified and skilled training team. THE DETAILS Where? The course is based at Shamwari, a malaria-free private game reserve, in the Eastern Cape. Duration: 9 weeks/63 days Start dates: Selected Mondays throughout the year. (Please visit the website…

VAN BRAKEL STOOR, OVERBERG Van Brakel Stoor is a popular pit stop for travellers on their way to L’Agulhas or Pearly Beach, and it’s a good place for lunch if you’re taking a road trip through the Overberg. The big, yellow building on Lizette and Jan van Brakel’s farm Springerskuil has been a landmark in the area for three generations. “This was a general dealer when I was a child,” says manager Ounooi van Straaten. “We waited here for the school bus to Jongensklip in the mornings. You could buy anything: flour, sugar, socks and shirts, bales of wire, tarred poles… There was a workshop at the back where farmers could have their bakkies serviced. Jan also had a butchery. There was even a table where the men could play…

• The Paarl Parkrun takes place every Saturday at 8 am, in the Arboretum. You run along the Berg River through this lush park, which has about 650 tree species from around the world. Leave your vehicle at the Rugby Club. • Watch the start of the annual Berg River Canoe Marathon at the Market Street Bridge on 3 July at 9 am. This tough race has been going for nearly 60 years. Paddlers tackle a distance of 240 km over four days to the finishing line in Velddrif, where the river flows into the sea. • On the first weekend in August, Paarl comes to a standstill for the annual inter-school sports derby between Paarl Gimnasium and Paarl Boys’ High and Girls’ High. • The end of August means…

HARTENBOS, ABOUT 70 YEARS AGO WESSEL OOSTHUIZEN from Pretoria writes: My father, also Wessel, worked for South African Railways. One of the perks of his job was that our family could travel for free during the December holidays, all the way from Pretoria to Hartenbos. I was eight years old when we first visited Hartenbos. The train ride itself was wonderful. We shared the train with other railway officials and their families. Many people travelled to Hartenbos this way because owning a car wasn’t as common back then as it is now. We travelled for two days and slept on the train for two nights. I really enjoyed the scenery when we reached the mountains near George – a powerful Garratt locomotive pulled the train up the steep inclines. As…

Visit the beautiful Berg! We recently visited Clarens, the Golden Gate Highlands National Park, Witsieshoek Mountain Lodge and Thendele camp in the Royal Natal National Park. I took this photo from our chalet in Thendele. The scenery and scale of the landscape took my breath away. I was impressed by the good condition of the roads. Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife also deserve a mention: The accommodation was great, and they gave us professional service. I felt so proud of our beautiful country. CHARL HEUNIS, Cape Town Tsitsikamma craziness In February, we drove to Storms River Village early one morning to have a meal with family. On the way back to Mossel Bay, just as we made it through the Tsitsikamma toll gate, a bomb went off in one of our five-month-old…

Can you tell the difference between a zebra and a baboon? Then you can be a citizen scientist! For the Snapshot Safari Project, researchers at Nelson Mandela University have asked the public to help them sort through camera trap photos of wild animals. All you have to do is identify the animal, and all you need is a computer and an Internet connection. The project is based on the highly successful Snapshot Serengeti Project, where 130 000 people from around the world helped to classify millions of photos taken by 225 camera traps in Serengeti National Park, Tanzania. Mika Vermeulen is currently working on a doctorate in conservation. She and her team will use the camera trap data to determine the distribution of mammals in conservation areas in South Africa,…

How did the travel bug bite? Louis: I used to travel around South Africa with my parents in their Valiant. By the time I married Kareen in 2003, I was already partially paralysed after an accident during which I fell through a ceiling. Since then, we’ve travelled to South America and experienced the solar eclipse in Australia and Japan. We’ve been sharing our travels on YouTube and Facebook since 2013. Kareen: I’m actually more cautious than Louis. When it comes to deciding on a trip or a route, he believes there’s no fear too big to overcome. In July 2018, we embarked on our biggest and scariest adventure yet: We both resigned from our jobs in financial companies and decided to travel. I’ve eaten a fly hamburger in Malawi, we’ve…

MUKOLO CAMP Big camping stands and well-equipped self-catering tented units. Close to Divundu. 00 264 81 124 0403 (Hennie); mukolocamp.com MAVUNJE CAMP Dan Stephens’s camp; book a river tour with him even if you’re not staying at Mavunje. Camping only. 00 264 81 461 9608; mashiriversafaris.com NAMBWA CAMPSITE This iconic Kwando camp might move to a new location soon, but for now you can still stay among the hippos and elephants. You won’t get closer to nature. 00 264 61 400 510; africanmonarchlodges.com SHARWIMBO RIVER CAMP A brand-new place with a few camping stands. The focus is on the self-catering safari tents overlooking the river. 00 264 81 124 0489 (Ben); kwikben@mweb.com.na MALYO WILDERNESS Wild and remote. You need a 4x4 to tackle the stretch of thick sand to the…

It’s just after 8 am and the Renault Duster is crunching its way along the Potlekkertjie Loop. The reading on the temperature gauge in the cabin is already 32° C. It’s November, early summer, and the Karoo National Park is parched: a hard-baked crust of stone and bitter bush. Heat radiates from the ground all the way to the Nuweveld Mountains, with a thorn tree or two to punctuate the mirage. Dolerite koppies – some eaten away to stone fingers by the elements – offer a little shade. Yet there are animals here. I’ve only done half the loop and already I’ve seen kudu, hartebeest and eland. I hope to come across some of the park’s 23 lions, but you shouldn’t be too greedy so early in the morning. The…

Plastic pollution is killing the sea. Stories of animals being found tangled in nets or plastic are becoming a daily occurrence. Fish, turtles, whales, dolphins and seabirds consume plastic because it imitates the movement of jellyfish or other fish in the water. Billions of toxic nurdles – small plastic particles used to manufacture large-scale plastics – are spilt into the ocean from transporter ships. It’s a disaster unfolding before our eyes. The Underwater Photographer of the Year competition exists to celebrate the wonders of the ocean, and also to highlight the conservation challenges facing our marine ecosystems. The 2019 edition attracted more than 5 000 entries from 65 countries and the overall title went to British photographer Richard Barnden for his haunting image of sharks hunting at night in French…

MOUNT HOREB MANOR, CLARENS You won’t struggle to find accommodation in and around Clarens. This town in the Eastern Free State is as ready for tourists as Loftus is for guys in light-blue jerseys. At Mount Horeb Manor, three things are guaranteed: Someone friendly will welcome you (like owner Ursula Marx, or one of her team); you’ll be served delicious meals; and you’ll have a view of the mountains, especially Mount Horeb and the Malutis in the distance, shielding Lesotho from view. The manor is far enough from the town centre to be quiet at night, but close enough to walk to a restaurant or coffee shop on the town square. There are six rooms and each sleeps two people. All the rooms are luxurious and have big double beds,…

THE WASP THIEF Most bird populations are decreasing, including iconic species like penguins, vultures and southern ground-hornbills. But there are a handful of species whose numbers in South Africa are increasing, and the European honey-buzzard is one of them. I saw my first honey-buzzard on 11 January 1998 – it was perched in a bluegum tree in the Rietvlei Nature Reserve near Pretoria. Raptors are hard to identify and honey-buzzards are no exception. A juvenile looks very different to an adult. Adults vary in colour, from dark brown to white, with bands across the chest, and with a small, almost pigeon-like head. Young birds have dark eyes; adults stare straight into your soul with big, yellow eyes. My sighting in Rietvlei was so special that I had to fill in…

LOWEST ELEVATION SOUTH AFRICA The sea 0m SEA LEVEL The lowest point in South Africa is the sea! AFRICA Lake Assal, Djibouti 155m BELOW SEA LEVEL This lake (pictured below) is also one of the most saline on earth. The people who live on its banks have been trading salt for centuries. HIGHEST PEAK SOUTH AFRICA Mafadi Peak, Drakensberg 3450m Getting to the top of this mountain is a tough hike of about four days, starting in the Injisuthi rest camp in the Central Drakensberg. AFRICA Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania 5895m South African Bernard Goosen has made it to the top of Kili (below) twice in a modified wheelchair. HOTTEST PLACE SOUTH AFRICA Dunbrody, Eastern Cape 50°C This small settlement next to the Sundays River recorded the highest temperature in South…

Serengeti National Park in Tanzania can be a daunting destination: It’s difficult to get to, especially if you drive (as I did in 2016) and it’s expensive once you arrive, even if you’re just camping and eating two-minute noodles. Also, because the Serengeti comes with such a legendary reputation, the pressure is on from the start. Will you see massive herds of wildebeest? Will there be a lion in the shade of every thorn tree? Will the savannah be as pleasing to the eye as all the postcard images you’ve seen? The short answer is, yes: The Serengeti will deliver. We camped for a couple of days at Seronera and we saw about 30 lions every day – probably the same 30 lions each time, but still. We also saw…