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…
This post is inspired by Gary Arndt of Everything Everywhere Travel Blog and his 2015: A Year in Photography post. I travelled around South Africa quite a bit in 2015, more so than I have in previous years, both for work and leisure – I’m a strong supporter of…
Until my recent visit to Val, I hadn’t even heard of it. My excuse? Its size: it is the smallest hamlet in South Africa with only 12 permanent residents. And it’s probably the safest too, as there are 28 policemen based at the regional police…
O Nieu Bethesda, thou breath of the Great Karoo nourishment in this desert land that lieth not far from Camdeboo with roads made of endless sand that leadth visitors along the compass– cardinal points: four to this, the place where owls kiss leaving everyone wanting…
After two sweaty weeks in humid Tanzania – which I loved, don’t get me wrong, most of all because I am now bronze – I was looking forward to getting back to Johannesburg’s milder summer. Yet, I returned to a sweltering heatwave caused by a strong high-pressure system with…
Hundreds of South African Instagrammers and photographers packed their tripods, memory cards, and battery banks ahead of a cross-country road trip to Graaff-Reinet in the Eastern Cape Province. They drove from Cape Town, the Garden Route, Port Elizabeth, Durban, Johannesburg and elsewhere. The reason was…
In South Africa, September is both Tourism and Heritage Month, so no there’s no excuse needed to justify a road trip through the country. And here’s a mathematical equation that proves it beyond doubt: Tourism Month = 9 days + 7 South African provinces + 3000-odd kilometres &…
If you love Instagram as much as I do, then you have to go to the first South African National Instameet. It’s happening in Graaff-Reinet from 24 – 27 September 2015 and everyone is invited! Here’s your chance to explore the little town in the…
Two hours from Johannesburg, on the rim of an extinct volcano, lies Kwa Maritane – a four-star bush lodge in the malaria-free Pilanesberg National Park, where elephant footprints are tracked by day and lion calls are heard at dusk. A young wildebeest springs across the…
Updated January 2018 It’s the best time of year along South African shores: whale watching season! I observed more whales than I could count along the 70km coastline at De Hoop Nature Reserve, in the Western Cape. This UNESCO Natural World Heritage Site is also…
It was only after I returned to South Africa in early 2012 – after living abroad and travelling for two years – that I truly began to explore Johannesburg as a tourist would. And that’s when my love affair with this city began. Here are 11 things…
This year I was hoping to participate in the fifth Put Foot Rally, perhaps I’ll go next year. My cousin, Pawel Motylski, and his team, The Polar Bear Express, won ‘Best Crew 2014’ and they told me all about their adventures. As seen in the…
Inner-city Johannesburg is an open-air gallery and international street-art destination – and it’s right here in our backyard. Graffiti writers work by the light of streetlamps and conceal their identities because of strict by-laws that govern vandalism to private and public property. Yet the walls…
I recently spent a few days in Durban – named the most underrated South African city by CNN in 2014, which saw numerous publications and news agencies follow suit. And in case you didn’t know, it’s also been rated as the South African city with the…
Welcome to the new home of my blog Eager Journeys. That’s right it’s a pun on my name Iga, how could you not love it? ;) Now that it’s finally launched I want to celebrate, besides it’s my blog so I can do whatever I want,…
There are few reasons why anyone would agree to wake hours before the sun. A sunrise hot air balloon flight over the Magalies River Valley in the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site, well, that’s reason enough. Silence. This is the place of morning calm,…