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…
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,…
These black and white, long-exposure captures of the Johannesburg skyline paint it in a different colour, to reveal the relaxed atmosphere that enveloped the cityscape at twilight on New Year’s Eve. Few cars were seen navigating the street grid that stretches below Randlords. One of…
Three thousand artworks hung pegged to twine as hundreds weaved between them, like a needle sewing thread. They stopped. They stared. They smiled. The historic electric workshop in Newtown – which houses the Sci-Bono Discovery Centre – was transformed into a walk-though art gallery for the “Night of…
It’s known as the ‘Supermoon’ to us non-astronomy types, but to those who study the night sky and beyond — as they peer into the past — it’s the Perigee moon. ‘Tis the largest full moon of the year, due to its proximity to the…
There aren’t many more satisfying ways I can think of than to spend a Sunday afternoon on the rooftop of the City of Gold. Randlords, on the 22nd floor of South Point Towers in Braamfontein, offers splendid panoramic views of the Johannesburg skyline. The bustle below…
The end of one day merely ushers in the beginning of another Some find hope in the end; some find hope in the beginning And so one never knows whether it’s the sunrise or the sunset that is more beautiful And perhaps there is no…
To celebrate the Lunar New Year and the start of the year of the dragon, I visited the Nan Hua Buddhist temple in Bronkhorstspruit, which is approximately 100km from Sandton. The stalls which attracted so many hungry customers really did give me the impression that I…