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

When in Jo'burg ...

The Jo'burg Skyline

Johannesburg is not a wee city by any stretch of the ima­gin­a­tion. It's an eco­nomic power­house , the pro­vin­cial cap­ital of Gauteng, has the largest eco­nomy in Sub-Saharan Africa, and is the world's largest city that is not built on a river, lake or coast­line, accord­ing to Wiki.

It is often per­ceived by those who do not live there to be some­thing of a con­crete jungle in which crime of every form and descrip­tion is rife. Some of this must be true as it fea­tures in the Real Clear World's top ten most dan­ger­ous cit­ies in the world not at war (quite a mouth­ful and not neces­sar­ily a cred­it­able list of dan­ger­ous cit­ies), but con­sid­er­ing that London makes it to the list as well, it is obvi­ously a rel­at­ive exper­i­ence and depends very much on how much of a vic­tim you make your­self — strolling around with your pocket bul­ging with a wal­let and your cam­era slung around your neck in the middle of down­time Jo'burg prob­ably qual­i­fies as such. Continued

Liliesleaf Farm — Photographs

On a recent visit to Johannesburg my mom and I decided to spend a morn­ing tak­ing a tour at the Liliesleaf farm in the leafy sub­urb of Rivonia. I had heard of Liliesleaf before but this was a learn­ing and his­tor­ical exper­i­ence unlike any­thing I have exper­i­enced in a while.

Liliesleaf farm was key to the polit­ical and mil­it­ary policies and strategies of the ANC dur­ing Apartheid and the farm has been restored and turned into an inter­act­ive exhibit which has been open to the pub­lic since 2008. We were taken on a tour by an exper­i­enced guide who was both know­ledge­able and happy to answer our bar­rage of ques­tions. She also showed us the places we could come back to visit should we want to find out more — or has she told us this is where you teach your­self. So you are able to take in as little or as much as you would like to from this visit. I strongly urge any­one who is in Rivonia to go and visit this spe­cial place. Learn more about our country's his­tory and exper­i­ence a fant­astic exhibit... Continued

A Pocket Oliver Twist at the National Children's Theatre

A Pocket Oliver Twist at the National Children's Theatre from 6 June to 23 July: “Please Sir, I want some more!” These immor­tal words will be trans­formed and given a new lease of life onstage at the National Children’s Theatre (NCT) dur­ing the winter school hol­i­days from 6 June 2011. This pro­duc­tion will trans­port audi­ences of all ages into the vibrant, visual heart of Victorian England.

Multi-award win­ning Artistic Director Joyce Levinsohn, adap­ted this Charles Dickens time­less tale of the orphan boy who dared to ask for more, into a fun, pro­fes­sional piece of enter­tain­ment. She cre­ates a story telling space that engages audi­ences from the open­ing scene. Great care has been taken to high­light the mes­sages from the Dickens’ clas­sic. Both young and old will be enthralled by this new musical ver­sion ... Continued

I ♥ Melville Because ...

I ♥ Melville

Hi, I’m Andrew Cleland from The Hillside House in Melville, Johannesburg.

Melville IS BEST KNOWN FOR its vibrant night life, trendy cof­fee shops and vari­ety of eat­ing joints.

GET YOUR PICTURE TAKEN AT 4^th Ave, between 7^th & 8^th Street, because there is a great view of the Joburg sky­line in the background.

THE BEST day­time PICTURES CAN BE TAKEN AT any­one of the fol­low­ing spots — the  Johannesburg Botanical Gardens, the Johannesburg Zoo, Melville Koppies, or why not stop at The Westcliff Hotel for a High Tea.

OTHER HAPPY SNAPS AT The Hillside House, in our lovely indi­gen­ous garden. Continued

I ♥ Benoni Because ...

I ♥ Benoni

Hi, I’m Michelle Smith from Avoca Lodge in Benoni on Gauteng's East Rand.

Benoni IS BEST KNOWN FOR being the City of Lakes.

GET YOUR PICTURE TAKEN AT Ebotse Golf and Country Estate, which is a pic­tur­esque golf estate around the Rynfield Lake. The estate makes the most of its nat­ural envir­on­ment and includes boat­ing, fish­ing, cyc­ling, jog­ging and walk­ing trails.

THE BEST nature PICTURES CAN BE TAKEN in the fields at Bullfrog Pan when the cos­mos flowers are in full bloom. The pan is a won­der­ful spot to escape city life and it boasts over 150 spe­cies of bird includ­ing the African purple swamp hen, marsh owl and in winter flocks of spur-winged geese. Flamingos are often seen in the open water dur­ing the colder months. Continued

Top things to do in Jo'burg — residents give insider tips

Mandela Bridge

Whether you call it Jozie, Jo'burg, or just plain Johannesburg, if you live here you love it, whilst the rest of the coun­try talks about it in hushed tones as a place riddled with crime and best avoided, espe­cially at peak hour, which is most of the day. A visit to Jo'burg is a crash course in stay­ing aware, all the time. But if you want to exper­i­ence a real met­ro­pol­itan buzz then you can't beat it. Time speeds up. So does the traffic, the num­ber of advert­ising bill­boards, the speed at which traffic does (and some­times doesn't) get around. Continued

Joburg Theatre line-up

This year the line up at the Joburg Theatre is cer­tainly some­thing, it is going to provide enter­tain­ment from every angle and will get even the most timid of theatre goers excited. This is just a taste of what you get to look for­ward to in the begin­ning of this year ... Continued

The cutest little Indie Coffee Shop in Africa — Wolves

Wolves Café

Wolves Café in Illovo, Johannesburg, is the brainchild of three friends and cre­at­ives, and is undoubtedly one of the hippest hangouts in the city. One of the tal­en­ted own­ers, Angie Batis, is not only the stel­lar cre­at­ive force behind a pop­u­lar blog as well as the Creative Head of a well-known ad agency; she also bakes the coolest cup­cakes and delect­ables for Wolves. Co-owner and hus­band, Shane Durrant, is the lead singer of pop­u­lar local band, ‘Desmond and the Tutus,’ and together with a friend, they cre­ate the magic that Wolves is known for. Continued

Pippi Longstocking — the Musical at the National Children's Theatre in March

Back by pop­u­lar demand,The National Children’s Theatre (NCT) in Parktown, Johannesburg, is proud to announce the second sta­ging sea­son of Pippi Longstocking a clas­sic children’s comic tale of Astrid Lindgren’s, (adap­ted by Thomas W Olson, with music by Roberta Carlson). This pro­duc­tion will run dur­ing the Easter School Holiday, from 7 March 2011. Continued

State Theatre in Pretoria line-up

The State Theatre in Pretoria always has a fant­astic line-up of qual­ity enter­tain­ment.  Keep read­ing for a short syn­op­sis on some of the shows tak­ing centre stage dur­ing the months of February to May ... Continued