Table of contents for December 2019 in go!

On the catwalk Of all the special moments that the Kruger Park has treated me to, this is the highlight. I was driving on the S112 south of Skukuza when I turned a corner and came face to face with this pride of lions. My heart was beating like a drum! A big male was tailing them from a distance – he was too slow for the family portrait. JP VAN ZYL, Brits Crouch, stalk, engage During a visit to Pilanesberg Game Reserve, I heard that a cheetah and her three cubs had made a kill in a specific area the day before, so I went to check it out. When I saw the traffic jam in the road ahead, I knew something was up. The cheetah was busy teaching…

Stock up on your way to Etosha You’re on your way to Etosha National Park in Namibia when you realise that your fuel is low. Now you don’t have to bother reaching for the jerry cans on the roof rack any more. A few kilometres before you enter the park’s Andersson gate, you’ll find the new Etosha Trading Post. It serves the nearby communities and farmers, and visitors can also stock up on groceries, basic necessities and fuel. There’s a tyre workshop on site, a curio deck, and a stall that sells cooldrinks and snacks like giant koeksisters (R15), fresh bread (R20) and quiche (R35). You can also buy ready-made meals to take away, like lasagne, bobotie and cottage pie (R45 each). If Etosha is your end destination and you’re…

Once a year, before the onslaught of the frigid Siberian winter, the common greenshank flaps its miniscule wings and sets course for Mtunzini on the coast of Zululand. When it arrives on the other side of the world, it gets to extend its summer as it joins a cacophony of other birds – including palm nut vulture and African finfoot – that have chosen to take it easy in Mtunzini’s forests. After all, hiding out in a forest is what you’re supposed to do here: The town’s name is derived from emthunzini, which means “a place in the shade” in isiZulu. Explore the Umlalazi Nature Reserve, which borders the town and offers peace and quiet away from the industrial hullabaloo of nearby Richards Bay, and it’s easy to see why…

The festive season calls for a little indulgence – either to thank friends, family and colleagues for their help and support over the past year, or just to pat yourself on the back for making it through another calendar cycle. Everyone deserves a bit of pampering, so here are some special wines either to give as a gift or to sip in style. I love the packaging of the Waterkloof Circle of Life White Blend 2016 (R160). It’s so stylish, yet still rooted (excuse the pun) to the good-practice philosophies of this organic, biodynamic estate. The blend is mainly sauvignon blanc, with some chenin and a touch of semillon, naturally fermented in tanks and huge concrete “eggs”, which allows for fabulous integration of flavours and gives the wine a beautiful…

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THE ADVENTURES OF THE BLUE LADY REY JANSE VAN RENSBURG from Springbok writes: A man called Willie Howe used to work as a salesman at Jowell’s Garage in Springbok. Early in 1969, Willie told my father, Christie, that it was time to buy a new vehicle. My dad wasn’t really in the market and said, as a joke, that the only vehicle he’d consider buying was a bus with a sunroof – he wanted to put a ladder through the sunroof and climb up to take better photos of the wildflowers. (My father was a photographer and owner of Van’s Photos, a photography and printing shop in town.) A year later, Willie walked into my dad’s shop and said: “I couldn’t find one in South Africa, so I imported one…

The Swahili word safari simply means “journey”. Ours had been an epic one so far, and now we were in Tanzania, which occupied a prime spot on the itinerary. Like most nature lovers, we’ve always drooled over the amazing wildlife photographs in all the glossy travel magazines. We needed to decide what we really wanted to see, and how to plan our route. Tanzania isn’t small. We couldn’t manage all of it, so we aimed for the big-ticket parks in the north of the country: Lake Manyara, Ngorongoro Conservancy, Tarangire and Serengeti, with a short stopover at Lake Natron. Africa’s “Garden of Eden” promised a busy schedule of scenery and animals – we were ready! Troopy tracks The Namaga border post between Kenya and Tanzania was a breeze – customs…

Itchy and scratchy Q RIKA VAN VUUREN from Sasolburg writes: This bug bit me during a holiday in the Lowveld. The bite burnt for about three hours and started to itch weeks afterwards. Is it a centipede? A Entomologist DUNCAN MACFADYEN says: This is a red-legged centipede. Our knowledge of South African centipedes is very poor since we haven’t had a specialist in the country for about 40 years. I’d have to look closely at the hind legs and teeth to identify the exact species. A centipede “bites” with its forcipules – stinger-like appendages that pierce the skin and inject venom into the wound. The centipede’s venom causes pain and swelling, but it’s usually not life-threatening to humans. Some people may develop an allergic reaction – I suspect the itching…

A striking picture plays out on the western horizon this December, as Jupiter and Saturn gradually disappear into the hazy glow of the sun. Some of this happens towards the end of November, so I hope you’ve bought your magazine early enough to catch it! On the night of 24 November, the two brightest planets, Venus and Jupiter, pass by each other only one and a half degrees apart, with Saturn diagonally above them. You’ll see this if you watch the western horizon from dusk. Keep tracking them night after night and you’ll notice how Jupiter and Saturn are consistently moving lower towards the horizon, while Venus moves upwards and away from the horizon. On the nights of 28 and 29 November, the crescent moon will pass right between these…

‘Okay, don’t panic. Just like we practised. Slowly release the clutch.’ The calm words of the driving school instructor are still echoing in my mind, somewhere in the murky depths of my subconscious where one buries traumatic memories. I can recall the details of every agonising moment, like a scene from a horror movie: the searing heat of a summer day in Stellenbosch; the snaking queue of cars slowly fighting through rush-hour traffic; the sick, swooping sensation in my stomach when the engine spluttered, jerked and died; and the furious people behind me who all hooted simultaneously when I failed to move. I forgot everything I had been taught in the past two lessons about the accelerator pedal, the gears and the clutch – and how they all work together…

Which hikes have you done? The first three hikes I did spanned a 20-year period in my life, but since 2017 I’ve gone back every year. My first trek was the Annapurna Circuit in 1998 (260 km, 18 days); a decade later I trekked to Gokyo Ri, also known as Gokyo Peak, in Everest National Park (150 km, 10 days) and in 2017 I did the Lower Mustang region and sections of the Annapurna Circuit again (170 km, 10 days). In 2018, I went back to Gokyo Ri, but on a different route to my previous trek (200 km, 12 days); and this year I did the Langtang Trek and sections of the Tamang Heritage Trek (200 km, 12 days). My day usually looks like this: Get up at 6…

The Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition, which is developed and produced by the Natural History Museum in London, attracts inspirational images from photographers around the world. This year was no different: WPY 2019 had more than 48 000 entries from 100 countries. Yongqing Bao from China walked away with the overall prize for his comical shot of a Tibetan fox and a marmot, frozen in the middle of an altercation. On the South African front, Cape Town resident Thomas Peschak did well with three photographs in the top 100 (his shot of a curious grey whale is featured in this portfolio) and young Branson Meaker from Durban North received a Highly Commended award in the 11 – 14 age category for his photo of a lechwe titled, “The Aquabatic…

“Your fourth Camino?” an incredulous hiker asked me at the airport. “Why?” “Let’s speak again at the end of this trip,” I replied. “Then we’ll see whether you still think once is enough.” The Camino is like a box of Eet-sum-mor biscuits – one is never enough. I want to walk the route at least once a year for the rest of my life. I came to this realisation after an afternoon nap in a hotel next to a lake near the town of Redondela in Spain. It had been a rough year and I was feeling burnt-out and exhausted. A pilgrimage is the perfect way to scale down and recharge. It’s like a retreat, but with more exercise and better food. For those of you who have no idea…

HANGKLIP HOUSE, PRINGLE BAY What do you want from a weekend-away house? You want a braai, a fireplace, a stoep and – most importantly – a view, because you want to sit and stare at something beautiful while you think about life. Hangklip House offers plenty of views. This self-catering unit, which used to be a radar station, clings to the slopes of Hangklip Mountain near Pringle Bay. When you sit around the braai behind the house, cliffs tower over you. From the front stoep you can see Moonlight Bay and Mast Bay, big and blue. The narrow peninsula, with the Cape Hangklip Lighthouse at the end, neatly divides the scene in two. Watch the sunset from here and look to your right – you’ll see the flickering eye of…

MORNING 7am: Wake up at Sophia Dale Base Camp, about 11 km from Swakopmund on the banks of the dry Swakop River. There might not be a lot of grass to camp on – you’re in the middle of the desert after all – but there’s good shade and clean ablution facilities. Have a cup of coffee, buy some of the salami made by owners Michaela and Manfred Lütz and head into town. 8.30 am: Sit down at Die Muschel Books & Fine Art in the Brauhaus Arcade between Hendrik Witbooi and Tobias Hainyeko streets, and order a fresh bread roll with smoked salmon, sour cream and horseradish. Also order coffee – or ice coffee if the day is already heating up. The bookshop has been in business for 33…

As a youngster, photographer Luke Patterson would often travel past the mouth of the Kaaimans River on the N2, on his way to Victoria Bay near George to compete in surfing competitions. “I was always fascinated by the contrast of colours, where the rich, cola-toned freshwater met the clear Indian Ocean,” he says. Having envisioned a photo capturing this contrast for years, he finally managed to make it happen from a seagull’s perspective, with the old Outeniqua Choo Tjoe railway bridge forming a neat dividing line.…

If you’re driving on the N3 between Pietermaritzburg and Harrismith, you’ll pass the town of Howick, close to Midmar Dam. A 10-minute detour off the highway will lead you to where Howick’s Main Road meets the Karkloof Road, and this is where you’ll find The Farmer’s Daughter – a coffee shop, not a person, for the sake of clarity. Overlooking the lush Umngeni Valley, it’s the perfect place to enjoy brunch or an afternoon tea to shake off your driving fatigue. Families often spread out on the lawn next to the building, which is rather like an upmarket barn. There are also swings and a jungle gym for the kids to play on while you absorb the view. The coffee shop is owned by Jen Pretorius and it started out…

LINDA MARAIS Canon PowerShot SX120IS LINDA WRITES: I live in the village of Kleinemonde in the Eastern Cape, just up the coast from Port Alfred. My neighbour has beautiful roses in her garden, and that’s where I saw this eyed-flower mantid. I saw it again in the rose bushes every day for about 10 days, and then it disappeared. This is a nymph. The adults are more green and have fake “eye” markings on their wings to frighten any potential threats. SHELLEY SAYS: What an interesting creature! It’s perfectly camouflaged on the pink rose – most of us would have walked past oblivious. Luckily Linda is so observant. This photo is all about contrast: The hot pink rose contrasts beautifully with the soft green background, and the prickly texture of…

Suzuki’s previous go-to engine was the bulletproof M16A – a normally aspirated 1,6 L petrol that was used in models across the range for more than a decade, including in the venerable Vitara and the previous-generation Swift Sport. That engine is being replaced, and Suzuki couldn’t have chosen a better time to launch their new K14C power plant. The world is demanding more from internal combustion – every major automaker is on the downsizing, forced-induction bandwagon: smaller, turbo-charged engines, in other words, that deliver the same power and torque with far fewer emissions. There’s consternation at the bigger end of the market – the bakkies and SUVs – where haters joke that only milk comes in 2 L. The smaller end of the market is more forgiving, and it’s here…

MAGOEBASKLOOF FARMSTALL AND CAFÉ, LIMPOPO The Magoebaskloof Pass on the R71 between Haenertsburg and Tzaneen is hair-raising, with a stack of sharp switchbacks and an endless stream of impatient cars and trucks eager to scoot past as I white-knuckle my steering wheel. Fortunately, the Magoebaskloof Farmstall and Café awaits on a wide bend, beckoning with the promise of coffee and a break from the traffic. Canadian Angie Paterson and her South African husband Harry van den Heever opened their business in December 2018, on the same site where another farm stall had lain abandoned for more than a decade. The couple poured their energy into rejuvenating the place, which has smart wooden shelving, a huge fireplace and the nicest looking farm stall loos in Limpopo. Picnic tables perch on the…

I encountered these curious wild horses at the Garub waterhole near Aus when I visited southern Namibia in 2018. Dozens of horses were crowded around the waterhole – a privilege to see since it’s estimated that fewer than 100 remain in the vicinity. I lay down on my stomach to get an interesting angle on some horses in the distance. All three promptly ambled over! Closer and closer, until I had to stay motionless to avoid a hoof to the head. (I did dare to press the shutter button.) The Garub horses are a bit of a mystery – no one is entirely sure how the herd came to exist. According to one popular theory, a German aircraft bombed an encampment of Union soldiers near Lüderitz during World War I…