48 hours in Dullstroom: what weekends are made of

Dullstroom

Each weekend Mpumalanga’s highlands welcome visitors, with fresh trout, macademia nuts and whiskey, plus some boozy cake on the side. Dullstroom is what weekends are made of. Like a curled up cat rising from a nap, the morning mist gently lifts from the dams, dances with…

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Panorama Route: A self-drive guide

Panorama Route

I followed in the ox-wagon tracks of the Great Trek through Jock of the Bushveld country along the Panorama Route three times in the last year. I wrote about my highlights for Travel Ideas magazine. Before you head out on a road trip along the…

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Kaapsehoop: The South African town you MUST visit in 2017

Kaapsehoop

“Magical!” That’s the one word Vincenzia Diedericks uses to describe Kaapsehoop (or Kaapschehoop, according to the Dutch spelling). After a day trip to this small town in Mpumalanga’s highlands they bought a holiday home. “There’s something here, it earths you. When I put my feet…

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Chrissiesmeer: South Africa’s Lake District

Chrissiesmeer

I’m sitting on the verandah of Just Country Cottage, with my legs propped up on a wooden chair, looking out onto Lake Chrissie, as I eat breakfast, when a quacking duck waddles past. Two more follow suit. I don’t think much of it as I…

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Wakkerstroom: The Country Life

Wakkerstroom

Wakkerstroom is Mpumalanga’s internationally-renowned wetland and birding destination that many South Africans don’t even know about. This article featured in the January 2016 issue of FlySafair’s Inflight magazine. If you give 83-year-old Oom Chris Smit enough time, he’ll talk you through Wakkerstroom’s history, from the time…

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Amsterdam: The one in South Africa

Amsterdam

I enjoy telling people that I’m going to Amsterdam, before adding “but not the one in the Netherlands”. Questioning and puzzled looks are often cast in my direction. And I don’t blame them as Amsterdam, in Mpumalanga – near the border with Swaziland, isn’t particularly well…

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Why To Take The Dirt Road

The Dirt Road

While we have been driving to my aunt and uncle in Mpumalanga for around two decades, this time we decided to take the picturesque route. It is probably more communally referred to as the dirt road – yes, it’s that road that everyone bypasses because…

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