I ♥ Hurlingham Because ...

I ♥ Hurlingham

Hi, I’m Trish from Hurlingham House in Hurlingham.

Hurlingham IS BEST KNOWN FOR being a peace­ful and safe sub­urb, yet it's only 3km from the heart of Sandton.

GET YOUR PICTURE TAKEN AT the statue of Nelson Mandela in Mandela Square.

THE BEST archi­tec­tural PICTURES CAN BE TAKEN AT the Sandton CBD.

OTHER HAPPY SNAPS AT Zoo Lake.

WHEN THE WEATHER'S GOOD, I LIKE TO sit at our swim­ming pool or in a side­walk cafe.

WHEN THE WEATHER'S BAD, I LIKE TO go to Sandton City Mall.

I THINK THE BEST TIME OF YEAR TO VISIT IS spring or sum­mer, BECAUSE the trees in Hurlingham are beau­ti­ful and the weather is good. Continued

I ♥ Menlo Park Because ...

I ♥ Menlo Park

Hi, I’m Anna Marie Pienaar from Cottage Guest House in Menlo Park, Pretoria.

Menlo Park IS BEST KNOWN FOR being very cent­rally loc­ated to Shopping Centres and the University of Pretoria and the Pretoria Country Golf Club.

GET YOUR PICTURE TAKEN AT the Pretoria Country club, because of the beau­ti­ful gar­dens.
THE BEST PICTURES CAN BE TAKEN AT dur­ing October when the Jakarandas are blooming.

WHEN THE WEATHER'S GOOD, I LIKE TO go swim­ming, play ten­nis or play golf.
WHEN THE WEATHER'S BAD, I LIKE TO visit the nice shop­ping Centres like Menlyn and Brooklyn. Continued

I ♥ Chartwell Because ...

I ♥ Chartwell

Hi, I’m Alan from Hoopoe Haven Guest House in Chartwell, in Sandton.

Chartwell IS BEST KNOWN FOR its coun­try atmo­sphere and liv­ing. All plots are from 2.5 to 10 acres in size, so it is very peace­ful. The Lion Park is on the bor­der of Chartwell West 1 km away as the crow flies and just 5 km south is the busy met­ro­polis of four­ways with lots of malls and shops, MonteCasino and plenty of activ­ity like live theatre, ice rink, extra­vag­an­zas, bird park etc. Chartwell is a place where you can relax and just enjoy yourself.

GET YOUR PICTURE TAKEN AT Lion park where you are allowed to touch and play with the lion cubs.
THE BEST hol­i­day PICTURES CAN BE TAKEN AT bird­park in MonteCasino.
OTHER HAPPY SNAPS AT any of the rid­ing stables in Chartwell or even going for a horse ride at the Rhino and Lion park. Continued

I ♥ Edenvale Because ...

I ♥ Edenvale

Hi, I’m Bianca Hersov from Glendower View Guest House in Edenvale on the East Rand, Gauteng.

Edenvale IS BEST KNOWN FOR being really close to Africa’s largest air­port, OR Tambo International Airport.

GET YOUR PICTURE TAKEN AT Hunyani Reptile Educational and Breeding Centre with one of South Africa’s Deathly Dozen and listen to Clive’s anim­ated and super inter­est­ing present­a­tion on the edu­ca­tion and con­ser­va­tion of South African reptiles.

THE BEST bird PICTURES CAN BE TAKEN AT the Glendower Golf Course, which was pro­claimed a Nature Reserve in 1973 in order to pre­serve the excel­lent bird-life that is to be found on the course. Obviously, you could also aim for a dif­fer­ent type of “birdie” and go and play a round at golf at Glendower Golf Course or one of the many other golf courses nearby. Continued

I ♥ Inanda Because ...

I ♥ Inanda

Hi, I’m Paul Oosthuizen from Inanda Club in Inanda, a stone’s throw away from the fin­an­cial busi­ness hub of Sandton, Johannesburg. Inanda, mean­ing ‘beau­ti­ful’ in Zulu, is the only remain­ing green lung in Sandton.

Inanda IS BEST KNOWN FOR beau­ti­ful, up mar­ket res­id­en­tial prop­er­ties and tree-lined streets, the sub­urb is also home to St David’s Marist Inanda, one of hun­dreds of Marist schools, youth insti­tu­tions and uni­ver­sit­ies around the world, which also cel­eb­rates its 70^th Anniversary this year (2011). Being so cent­rally loc­ated, Inanda is in close prox­im­ity to the Sandton Convention Centre, Melrose Arch, Hilton Hotel, Village Walk Shopping Centre, Wanderers Cricket Grounds and Golf Course, SA Tourism’s offices, the Rosebank CBD, Morningside and Rosebank Clinics, Hyde Park Shopping Centre and Killarney Mall Shopping Centre. Continued

I ♥ Jukskei Park Because ...

I ♥ Jukskei Park

Hi, I’m Ros Warren from Pepperwood Lodge in Jukskei Park.

Jukskei Park IS BEST KNOWN FOR loc­a­tion, loc­a­tion, loc­a­tion ... so well posi­tioned for great ven­ues like the Dome, Northlands Deco Park and MonteCasino yet a quiet leafy sub­urb where you can get a good nights sleep.

GET YOUR PICTURE TAKEN AT the Lion Park just 10 minutes away. These beau­ti­ful creatures are always such a treat and for a spe­cial memory have your pic­ture taken with a lion cub in your arms.

THE BEST scenic PICTURES CAN BE TAKEN along the Jukskei River that falls and runs through the suburb.

OTHER HAPPY SNAPS AT MonteCasino Bird Park or in the hot air bal­loon that gives a won­der­ful view of the whole area. Continued

I ♥ Sandhurst Because ...

I ♥ Sandhurst

Hi, I’m Cheryl from Mustard Seed Guest House in Sandhurst.

Sandhurst IS BEST KNOWN FOR its stun­ning homes and beau­ti­ful gardens.

GET YOUR PICTURE TAKEN AT The Mandela Statue. This statue of a 21^st cen­tury icon will tower above you.

THE BEST scenic PICTURES CAN BE TAKEN FROM the top of the Radisson Blu Hotel.

OTHER HAPPY SNAPS AT Mandela Square.

WHEN THE WEATHER'S GOOD, I LIKE TO go for walks through the sub­urb or lie under a tree in the garden with a book.

WHEN THE WEATHER'S BAD, I LIKE TO visit the Sandton Library or have a cof­fee at the Book Shop. Continued

I ♥ Lanseria Because

I ♥ Lanseria

Hi, I’m Lise from Lethabo Estate in Lanseria.

Lanseria IS BEST KNOWN FOR is best known for its air­port which takes you afford­ably to local des­tin­a­tions but also into Wildest Africa. We are in The Cradle Of Humankind and a stone’s throw from the Magaliesberg and are sur­roun­ded by a wide vari­ety of game view­ing and out­door adven­ture activ­ity oppor­tun­it­ies. We are also in a very import­ant geo­graph­ical and his­tor­ical area. Lethabo is situ­ated in the fam­ous Rhenosterspruit Conservancy which is one of the most scen­ic­ally beau­ti­ful areas in South Africa.

In ancient times the area was an inland sea and when it dried it turned into savan­nah grass­lands and dolo­mitic rock areas. The savan­nah grass­lands and three major African rivers, The Jukskei, Hennops con­ver­ging into The Crocodile River, meant huge volumes of ele­phant and sable not to men­tion teem­ing game of all spe­cies were to be found in these val­leys. Continued

A Noteworthy Sunday at Budmarsh Country Lodge — with Adrian Galliard

Adrian Galliard

On Sunday 2 October 2011 join in the fest­iv­it­ies of spring with a pic­nic and won­der­ful music from Adrian Galliard at the Noteworth Sunday at Budmarsh Country Lodge in Magaliesberg, Gauteng. Bring along your pic­nic blanket and order your pic­nic box filled with deli­cious good­ies and sit back, relax and enjoy the music.

Gilliard is a clas­sic­ally trained lyr­ical tenor with lilt­ing lyr­i­cism and offers and endear­ing per­form­ance of a Celtic troubadour. He is stead­ily gain­ing a strong fol­low­ing in the Johannesburg music scene.

Born in Joburg, Gilliard was awar­ded a bursary to attend St John's College — which has strong musical tra­di­tions. His fam­ily also has a spe­cial bond with music as is father is still a mem­ber of the South African Welsh Male Voice Choir. Continued

I ♥ Muldersdrift Because ...

I ♥ Muldersdrift

Hi, I’m Salomé Odendaal from KoelenRust Estate in Muldersdrift.

Muldersdrift IS BEST KNOWN FOR the Cradle of Humankind, a world her­it­age, ven­ues with con­fer­ence facil­it­ies of inter­na­tional stand­ard and is known as the “wed­ding cap­ital” of Gauteng, with more than 40 wed­ding venues.

GET YOUR PICTURE TAKEN AT one of the local game farms as a remem­brance of Africa.

THE BEST South African PICTURES CAN BE TAKEN AT The Rhino & Lion Game Reserve, some­times with baby lion cubs, the Lion Park or at the Maropeng Centre with all its fossils that dates back mil­lions of years.
Continued

I ♥ Colbyn Because ...

I ♥ Colbyn

Hi, I’m Lola Patrick from Moindis Guesthouse in Colbyn.

Colbyn IS BEST KNOWN FOR being the quietest, safest, most well-treed old Eastern sub­urb of Pretoria, minutes from the main routes.
GET YOUR PICTURE TAKEN AT the Union Buildings around the corner from us, a Sir Herbert Baker mas­ter­piece.
THE BEST city PICTURES CAN BE TAKEN AT the Union Buildings over­look­ing the city basin — espe­cially in spring when the Jacarandas are in full bloom.
OTHER HAPPY SNAPS AT the Voortrekker Monument or the new Freedom Park would be quite memorable.

WHEN THE WEATHER'S GOOD, I LIKE TO hike the Moreletta Spruit and sit on top of the Lynnwood Ridge look­ing over the sub­urbs crack­ing a chilled bottle of sparkles.
WHEN THE WEATHER'S BAD, I LIKE TO stay home at Moindis curl­ing up with a book in front of the crack­ling fire with a Moroccan tagine or cin­na­mon pan­cake.
I THINK THE BEST TIME OF YEAR TO VISIT IS all year long, BECAUSE Pretoria has the most tem­per­ate cli­mate in the coun­try.  Winters are fairly mild here. Continued

I ♥ Rivonia Because ...

I ♥ Rivonia

Hi, I’m Jill Marais from Rivonia Bed & Breakfast in Rivonia.

Rivonia IS BEST KNOWN FOR its res­taur­ants and IT industry.
GET YOUR PICTURE TAKEN AT Lilliesleaf Farm in Rivonia, where Nelson Mandela and ANC mem­bers used to meet and hide out in the apartheid era.
THE BEST spring PICTURES CAN BE TAKEN when our jacaran­das are in bloom.
OTHER HAPPY SNAPS AT Mandela Square in Sandton City. Continued

Fresh Earth Food Store — soul food comes to Jo'burg

Fresh Earth Food Store

I'm sit­ting at a wooden table in an alcove amidst the buzz of the café that lies to one side of the food store cum health shop that is the Fresh Earth Food Store, exclaim­ing over my break­fast. I can count on one hand the num­ber of eat­er­ies* where I can hope to find some­thing on the menu, like my choice of French Toast on wheat-free bread, with 'real' free-range eggs and real maple syrup (the Canadian kind not cheap, fla­voured syrup).

This par­tic­u­lar dish also comes with huge slices of haloumi cheese. You have no idea how good it was. Heart-warming stuff. Add to that the African-brewed organic  and Fair Trade decaf cof­fee (Bean There Coffee) that I'm enjoy­ing with, I have no doubt, 'real' milk (not the kind full of hor­mones and other stuff, because the cows are fed so badly) with a choice of rice or soy milk if you do not do dairy, or are vegan. Continued

I ♥ Kyalami Because ...

I ♥ Kyalami

Hi, we're Sandy and Peter from Soul Fusion Guest House in Kyalami.

Kyalami IS BEST KNOWN FOR it’s Motor Racing Circuit that used to be home to the South African Formula 1 Grand Prix, as well as being the ‘Horse Capital’ of the world with a vibrant horse industry and approx­im­ately 5500 horses within the Greater Kyalami Conservancy of 42km². The con­servancy is host to 360 events each year with five major inter­na­tional com­pet­i­tions, as well as the world fam­ous SA Lipizzaners.

GET YOUR PICTURE TAKEN AT at the Kyalami Castle that offers 360° views of Sandton and Joburg’s sky­line with the Magalisberg in the distance.

THE BEST wed­ding PICTURES CAN BE TAKEN in Soul Fusion's beau­ti­ful garden.

OTHER HAPPY SNAPS AT many loc­a­tions through­out the coun­tryside that offer fant­astic fauna and flora, wet­lands and bird sanc­tu­ar­ies. Continued

When in Jo'burg: great spots at which to eat

Where shall we dine?

I feel the need to qual­ify right away that I am not a res­id­ent of Jozi. I used to be. Jo'burg was where I met and lived with my now hus­band. Those were the ini­tial heady days of our rela­tion­ship, and I loved the vibey, fast-paced, hec­tic, bright and overly focused envir­on­ment that was the major city of South Africa. Its hustle and sharp-edged tone suited us.

Each time we return it is some­thing of a cul­ture shock for me. Cape Town, where I now live, may as well be another coun­try the two cit­ies are so dis­sim­ilar. Johannesburg surges on a tide, where Cape Town gently melts into your psyche; Jo'burg jars, con­stantly moves in a sea of activ­ity and when you don't know the city, appears aggress­ive, whereas Cape Town lies in the shadow of a moun­tain that seems con­stantly there, no mat­ter where you are, its beau­ti­ful gar­dens and con­ten­ted life­style almost sooth­ing by comparison.

Besides hav­ing the rather cum­ber­some drive of 2000 odd kilo­metres between them, give or take a couple of miles, there is also the obvi­ous rich/poor divide that, whilst obvi­ous in both cit­ies, is far more so in Cape Town where the way things were has only mar­gin­ally changed for those who live there in a 'con­ten­ted bubble'. Continued