Experiences
Hendrik’s velletjies
!Xaus Lodge
My love for the Kgalagadi Desert runs deep. Its wide-open spaces, the big skies, the endless rolling red sand dunes, and its plants and animals evolved with the most incredible adaptations to this harsh, arid environment. .Read more.
Conquering the chain ladders
Northern Drakensberg, near Witsieshoek Mountain Lodge
The Sentinel Peak Chain Ladder hike in the Drakensberg is probably one of the most renowned and popular walks. Read more
Cape Point
Cape Town, near Moonglow Guest House
Every single day, hundreds of tour buses stream down the Cape Peninsula and into Cape Point National Park. Read more
Twananani Textiles
Ribola Art Route, near Nahakwe Lodge
While the sun is streaming through the windows, Florence Ngovheni and her co-worker sit quietly on the floor working on a colourful batik-style zebra design. Read more
Crooks’ Corner
Awelani
Standing on the confluence of the Luvuvhu and Limpopo Rivers, looking across to Mozambique and Zimbabwe, I try to conjure up an image of the lawless and fugitives of the early 1900s.Read more.
Bearded Vultures
Drakensberg Mountains
I gaze at a defrosting bone from the hide, camera ready and patiently waiting in the VERY fresh morning air at 2,285 m altitude. Read more
The Man who Listens to Wood
Nahakwe Lodge
“I collect all the dead wood for my carvings locally and for the bigger pieces I get help from a friend with a bakkie to get it back to my studio”, tells Patrick Manyike. Read more
Come Closer!
Nahakwe Lodge
“High up in the Magoebaskloof Mountains”, we are told. Driving down a long grit road and one or two more dirt roads through the dark pine plantations, we question the directions once or twice. Read more
Returning to Thirstland
!Xaus Lodge, Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park
Driving through the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park gate after a three-year absence, feels like returning to my happy space. Read more
Sagole Baobab
Thohoyandou, near Awelani Lodge
The Sagole Baobab (or Big Tree near Thohoyandou) stands proud with its fat and sturdy trunk and its gnarled branches, so intertwined and entangled that they have become one in places. Read more
Get creative – do Venda pottery
Nahakwe Lodge
Awestruck. No potter’s wheels, no fancy tools, no kiln, and no commercially produced clay. With incredible pottery skills, turning clay into beautiful, authentic, honest, hand-built Venda pots. Read more.
Doorstep Safari
!Xaus Lodge
My morning coffee is a sacred ritual and time for contemplation. Sitting with a steaming mug overlooking the large heart-shaped pan in front of !Xaus Lodge is heavenly. I watch this seemingly desolate and empty landscape with its sparsely vegetated red dunes. These arid environments intrigue me. On closer inspection they never are what they seem. Read more.