Time passes quickly when you’re in Maputo, especially on a first visit. One moment you’re eating a pastel de nata for breakfast and the next you’re having flame-grilled crayfish for dinner. Here’s my advice about what to do during a two-day visit to Mozambique‘s capital…
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…
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 was originally published in 2015 and has been fully updated in 2026 with new travel tips, directions and accommodation info. Until my recent visit to Val, I hadn’t even heard of it. My excuse? Its size: it is the smallest hamlet in South…
It’s really hard not to fall in love with Croatia at first sight, even more so if you spend more time along the stretching coastline exploring her seaside towns and islands. Read about our sailing trip about Croatia for more inspiration. 1. With clear, warm waters…
Many Croats will tell you that it was in 14th century Croatia that poet Dante was inspired to pen Inferno and after a visit you’ll understand why: the pride of the people for their culture, the sloth that overcomes you on the beaches of its…
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…
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…
Victoria Falls The Zambezi River, which straddles the border between Zimbabwe and Zambia, is the lifeline of the Victoria Falls and all the tourism it attracts and opportunity it creates for both countries. Even along the main road into town from the Victoria Falls International…
Victoria Falls Safari Lodge I celebrated the Victoria Falls Safari Lodge’s (VFSL) coming of age – its twentieth birthday celebration – in the company of the honourable Walter Mzembi, the Zimbabwean Minister of Tourism and Hospitality, and key players in the local and international travel…
I was last in Zimbabwe in 1994, as a wide-eyed seven-year-old, who had just entered the first grade; therefore I think it appropriate that I return two decades later, in the week of my Master’s graduation. I am staying in Victoria Falls – which the…
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…