About 220km from Cape Town, the Cederberg Wilderness Area makes a great weekend getaway. Whether you’re all about hiking and mountain biking or more of a heritage and culture buff, there’s something for everyone. And if you just want to kick back with a glass of wine and soak in the view of the mountains as the clouds drift by, that’s fine too. Here’s my pick of things to do in the Cederberg.
By Roxanne Reid
About 220km from Cape Town, the Cederberg Wilderness Area makes a great weekend getaway. Whether you’re all about hiking and mountain biking or more of a heritage and culture buff, there’s something for everyone. And if you just want to kick back with a glass of wine and soak in the view of the mountains as the clouds drift by, that’s fine too. Here’s my pick of things to do in the Cederberg.
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By Roxanne Reid Untamed and craggy, the Cederberg Wilderness Area is about 220km north of Cape Town – a perfect short break that feels a million miles from city life. Here mountains dominate the horizons and you can let your imagination run riot among the jagged sandstone formations. We visited to explore and to stay in CapeNature’s cottages at Algeria. By Roxanne Reid
Addo Elephant National Park, about 70km from Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth) in South Africa’s Eastern Cape, is a feast of wildlife, including the Big Seven: elephant, lion, buffalo, leopard and rhino in the main game area, plus sharks and whales in the Marine Protected Area. And don’t forget history and hiking. There’s so much to do in this amazingly diverse park that it’s hard to choose. Here’s my pick of the best 10 things to do at Addo. By Roxanne Reid
If you love history and old buildings, you’ll love Graaff-Reinet in South Africa’s Eastern Cape. The town has more than 220 listed heritage sites, so there’s lots of history to be explored. If you love nature, you’re in luck too, given that the town is surrounded by 195 square kilometres of national park. Here’s my pick of things to do in Graaff-Reinet in the Karoo. By Roxanne Reid The Cederberg Wilderness Area just 220km north of Cape Town is a place to feel the fresh mountain air on your face, hear the call of birds and enjoy views of mountains and intriguing rock formations. Don’t miss the Stadsaal Caves and San rock paintings of elephants that were painted at least 1000 years ago. 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. By Roxanne Reid
‘There!’ His voice is a loud whisper intense with excitement. We follow his pointed finger, peering intently through the tree branches. Nothing. He starts to explain and we trace the trunk of the tree, the branch jutting out ... and then suddenly there’s a flash of brown wings and it’s gone again. We’re birding in the Okavango Delta, Botswana, and this is something special. By Roxanne Reid
I’ve heard it described as a fusion of the Sani and Bloukrans passes, with a smidge of Tsitsikamma beauty thrown in for good measure. I’m talking about the Baviaanskloof Wilderness Area, which is tucked away in the southwestern corner of South Africa’s Eastern Cape, somewhere between the Karoo midlands and the Gamtoos Valley. By Roxanne Reid
On our first afternoon game drive from DumaTau Camp in the Linyanti, Botswana, we saw wild dogs and a leopard. We were beyond chuffed. We teased our guide that he’d never equal or better that on our next drive. But nature had other ideas, showing us the raw power of lions. 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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AboutI'm an independent travel writer and book editor with a passion for Africa - anything from African travel, people, safari and wildlife to adventure, heritage, road-tripping and slow travel. Categories
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