Category: Conservation

Game drive at Desert Rhino Camp in Damaraland, Namibia

30/5/2024

Gemsbok at sunset on game drive at Desert Rhino Camp, Damaraland, Namibia

By Roxanne Reid
Safari guides are cool people, their brains ripe with knowledge they’re happy to share. The best ones are charismatic and make your days so much fun you never want them to end. But it’s not often you see one of them yoyo with excitement at something he’s just seen for the first time. Yet that’s what happened on a game drive at Desert Rhino Camp in Damaraland, Namibia.

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White Lion Lodge at Sanbona Wildlife Reserve, Little Karoo

18/10/2023

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White Lion Lodge, Sanbona Wildlife Reserve, Little Karoo

By Roxanne Reid
We timed our visit to White Lion Lodge at Sanbona Wildlife Reserve perfectly. Although some years this Karoo reserve in South Africa has little rain, by the end of September this year it had had lots, spawning a fiesta of colourful flowers among the green bushes. Small wonder, then, that one of our nature drives from the lodge focused on plants and flowers, while the second showed us some of the reserve’s big game.

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Fast Cats on Red Sands: a must-read for Kalahari lovers

19/4/2023

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By Roxanne Reid
If you love wildlife and the Kalahari in general and the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park in particular, you’ll really love reading the recently published book Fast Cats on Red Sands: The lives of Kalahari Cheetahs and their researchers by Gus and Margie Mills. Read on to find out why.

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Rhino War: anti-poaching in Kruger National Park

17/8/2022

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By Roxanne Reid
If you care about wild animals and conservation in South Africa, you’ll want to read the book Rhino War: A General’s Bold Strategy in the Kruger National Park (Pan Macmillan 2022). It gives an insider’s view of what the struggle to prevent poaching of rhinos in Kruger has been like. Regular visitors to Kruger will recognise many of the places referred to, to add to their sense of ‘being there’.

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World Heritage Sites in South Africa and why to visit them

8/6/2022

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By Roxanne Reid
[Updated July 2024]
Some places have exceptional universal value, whether in terms of their cultural or natural significance. Giving them protection status is a way to foster their preservation for generations to come. On the tip of Africa is a country rich in places that deserve such safeguards. Here are 12 sites that have been inscribed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites in South Africa.

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Ndumo Game Reserve: everything you need to know

23/3/2022

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By Roxanne Reid
If you’re a nature lover and seeker of birds, you simply must visit Ndumo Game Reserve in Maputaland on the border between South Africa and Mozambique. Find out everything you need to know about things to do in Ndumo, its roads, landscapes, animals, trees and conservation challenges, as well as its accommodation and campsite.

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21 things to do in Kleinmond in the Cape Overberg

22/4/2020

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Things to do in Kleinmond: visit the Stony Point penguin colony

By Roxanne Reid
This patch of unspoilt Cape coastline draws lovers of the outdoors from all over South Africa, looking to get close to nature and enjoy activities like hiking, birding, whalewatching and river-rafting. Here’s my pick of some of the best things to do in Kleinmond in the Overberg.

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Eastern Cape safari at Samara Game Reserve in the Karoo

11/9/2019

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Aardvark at Samara Private Game Reserve, South Africa

By Roxanne Reid
The Karoo in South Africa’s interior is well known as a place of wide spaces and opportunities to regenerate your mind and soul. You get all that as well as something even more special when you go on an Eastern Cape safari at Samara Game Reserve in the Karoo.

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Anderssons at Ongava Game Reserve bordering Etosha

3/7/2019

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Lions at Ongava Game Reserve bordering Etosha National Park

By Roxanne Reid
Life should be made of moments like these. We’re on the deck overlooking the natural bush of northern Namibia at dawn. A pink sunrise unravels through the clouds as a jackal yelps in the distance and a spurfowl chuck-chucks nearby. We’re at Anderssons at Ongava Game Reserve bordering Etosha; our day of wild immersion has just begun.

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Cape Nature reserves: Cederberg to Kogelberg and more

12/6/2019

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Cape Nature reserves and Cape Nature accommodation

By Roxanne Reid
What I love about Cape Nature reserves are their principles of conservation and ecotourism. Conservation comes first, but they recognise that ecotourism is an excellent way to introduce visitors to the amazement of nature that deserves to be conserved, and to bring in much-needed funds. Here are some of my favourites, from Cederberg to Kogelberg and more.

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