Travel writing
I have written feature articles for magazines such as Getaway, Country Life, Sawubona, Wild, SA4x4, AA Traveller, Equinox and Icon. Here is a small selection of published travel articles as a taster...
Luxury on rails
A train trip with Rovos Rail is a self-indulgence not to be missed.
The bumper sticker on a minibus taxi weaving through Durban's morning traffic announced, '4DA swankers'. An hour later, cocooned in elegance on Rovos Rail's Pride of Africa, billed as 'the world's most luxurious train', we knew the sticker was on the wrong vehicle.
Our Great Safari Adventure kicked off with sparkling wine on a red-carpeted platform in downtown Durban and continued in the same vein for three days as we ventured through Swaziland to the Kruger National Park and on to Pretoria.
A train trip with Rovos Rail is a self-indulgence not to be missed.
The bumper sticker on a minibus taxi weaving through Durban's morning traffic announced, '4DA swankers'. An hour later, cocooned in elegance on Rovos Rail's Pride of Africa, billed as 'the world's most luxurious train', we knew the sticker was on the wrong vehicle.
Our Great Safari Adventure kicked off with sparkling wine on a red-carpeted platform in downtown Durban and continued in the same vein for three days as we ventured through Swaziland to the Kruger National Park and on to Pretoria.
| rovos_countrylife_p1-2.jpg |
A green oasis
On a sweeping river bend slap bang in the middle of Kruger National Park, Letaba rest camp is much loved by laid-back game viewers.
Strange as it sounds, Letaba is a splendid place to be even for those who don't want to go game viewing from sunrise to sunset. It's cool and calm, with green grass and shady trees, and there's lots to do; you don't even have to leave camp to enjoy great sightings.
| letaba_getaway_nov_2010.pdf |
Place of trees
Visiting Elim in the Southern Cape is like walking back in time.
It's blazing hot outside but cool and serene inside the thatched and gabled church of Elim, a tiny Moravian mission village about halfway between Gansbaai and Bredasdorp in the Southern Cape. All is white and sparse, plain and pure. Even the pews are made of simple wooden planks painted white. Organist Andree Joorst tells us that backs weren't added to them until 1935. 'In the old days you couldn't fall asleep in church but now you can,' she laughs.
| elim_country_life_february_2010.pdf |
Kogelberg: botanical wonderland
Kogelberg Biosphere Reserve is more than a biodiversity hotspot, it's also a fun place to work up a sweat.
It's a thrill to stand surrounded by more plant species than you'll find in any similar-sized area on the planet. Remarkably, I'm only about 90 minutes from Cape Town, in an unspoilt reserve of steep kloofs, pristine rivers and a rocky coastline interspersed with sandy beaches and estuaries. This is Kogelberg, the heart of the Cape Floral Kingdom, a mind-blowing treasure trove of fynbos.
| kogelberg_article_from_wild_magazine_2009.pdf |
Tracking with the San
How to enrich your perception of the Kalahari by focusing on the small things, the secrets in the sand.
Andrew Kruiper is a tracker supreme; nothing escapes his keen eye. He learned from his late cousin Vet Piet, legendary San master tracker. Now this son of a San mother and Owambo father is the Hercule Poirot of the desert, searching for signs of scorpions or snakes, reading the winds and clouds and looking for other clues to what's been going on around him minutes or even days before.
| aa_traveller_san_tracker_2008.pdf |