Graaff-Reinet, gem of the Karoo

Graaff-Reinet

Stargazing, like whisky, is an acquired taste. It takes patience, an appre­ci­ation of subtle nuances and enough time to fully become involved in either activ­ity. Stargazing while drink­ing whisky? Well, that might just be the path to travel enlightenment.

Graaff-Reinet, the Gem of the Karoo, offers some of the best star gaz­ing in the world with enough space and an atmo­sphere con­du­cive soak­ing up some of the radi­ant cos­mo­lo­gical won­ders that the Southern Hemisphere’s heav­ens have to offer. Continued

The Kowie Canoe Trail

Kowie Canoe Trail

Have you decided to have a week­end away and want to com­bine activ­ity and adven­ture?  Canoe trails make for an ideal hol­i­day.  The Kowie Canoe Trail will lead you approx­im­ately 21kms up the Kowie River past attrac­tions such as The Old Wreck, Windy Beach, Rabbit Rocks, Cob Hole, Black Rock, The old Mill, The Reef, Ferry Glen, White Rock and on to the Camp at Horseshoe Bend.

If you are the adven­tur­ous kind con­tinue a short way past Ebb and Flow where fresh water flows down the Kowie River and into the sea.  Look out for sight­ings of game on the east bank of the river ... Continued

Fugard Festival in Nieu-Bethesda this Weekend

Fugard Festival

If you are lost for some­thing to do over the Heritage Day long week­end why not book last minute accom­mod­a­tion in the Eastern Cape town of Nieu-Bethesda and attend the Fugard Festival?  Athol Fugard was born in 1932 in the town of Middelburg and went on to become South Africa’s most import­ant play­wright and cer­tainly the first to gain an inter­na­tional repu­ta­tion, and is now renowned as one of the worlds greatest playwrights.

The 2010 ABSA Fugard Festival will keep you enter­tained with a num­ber of plays (includ­ing four Fugard plays).  The fest­ival is the only place in the world where you will be able to see so many Fugard plays in one fest­ival – right here in the Eastern Cape!  Apart from the Fugard plays there is also the loc­ally pro­duced Hotel Paradiso ... Continued

Picadillis in Middelburg, Karoo

Picadilli's in Middelburg

I recently bought the sweetest little scarf.  My brother and I were en route to Ficksburg from Graaff-Reinet and stopped in Middelburg for a) Karoo biltong and b) pet­rol (in that order of import­ance).  To be hon­est, Middelburg is not much to look at but our biltong search was prov­ing futile (I know, you wouldn't think so, it was the Karoo after all!) so we drove around the town a bit try­ing to find a butchery.  Right at the end of a road I spot­ted a mus­tardy col­oured shop called Piccadilli's.  ‘Let’s try down there’ I said to Gareth and he duly turned left and steered us towards the shop in ques­tion ... Continued

Win 2 Nights for 8 People at the Luxurious 5-Star Graded Addo Afrique Estate (closed)

WIN a 2 night stay for up to 8 people at Addo Afrique Estate private game reserve, loc­ated in the malaria-free Greater Addo area of the Eastern Cape, over­look­ing Addo Elephant National Park.

Addo Afrique offers two 5 star graded lodges — Addo Afrique Giraffe Lodge and Addo Afrique Elephant Lodge — each designed for optimum game view­ing. Vast pic­ture win­dows lead­ing on to spa­cious wooden decks afford breath­tak­ing pan­or­amic views of the Addo plains – ideal for watch­ing herds of anim­als, includ­ing buck, ele­phant and buf­falo as they come to graze at sun­rise. Continued

Wash day in the Transkei (photographs)

In the lush hills of the Transkei, these women sway to an African rhythm in a burst of col­our as they return from a day at the stream where they share stor­ies and song mak­ing the chore of laun­dry more pleas­ur­able as well as pleas­ing to the eye of the onlooker. The brightly dressed women leave the river, bal­an­cing wash bas­kets on their heads in the tra­di­tional man­ner. Big smiles belie the dif­fi­culty of accom­plish­ing this fre­quent errand and con­trib­ute to the wel­com­ing nature of the Xhosa home­lands ... Continued

Explore the Makana Heritage Route — The umgwashu tree, hidden churches, Mlanjeni cave & long-drop lavs

Makana Route

Up until recently, I had no idea that there is a sprink­ling of little vil­lages in the Eastern Cape called Potsdam, Berlin, Breidbach, Braunchsweig, Frankfort, Hanover and Marienthal. Named after the German towns and cit­ies with the same names, obvi­ously, but on a much smal­ler scale; some of them on such a small scale that they barely exist, so that even tour­ist mar­ket­ing mater­ial is given to refer­ring to them as 'not in very good con­di­tion', which must surely be a euphem­ism for 'on their last legs' ...

These vil­lages form a mix­ture of what once were mil­it­ary posts and little domestic set­tle­ments that are today part of the Makana Heritage Route, one of four routes that make up the Amathole District's cel­eb­ra­tion of the vivid his­tory of the area. Continued

Lady Grey – secret of the Eastern Cape, and best kept that way

Lady Grey

Lady Grey, the cutest little ham­let just inside the bor­der of the Eastern Cape when com­ing at it from the Free State side, is one of those insider secrets about which I'm going to tell you, but about which you will say noth­ing. Let me assure you that when you finally travel there, you will appre­ci­ate why. Lady Grey is not a vil­lage that deserves the 'crowd-pull' appeal of places like Clarens!

Lady Grey is described as a rural vil­lage, which is a pretty apt account, although don't expect to see cows and sheep chew­ing the cud in breeze swept mead­ows. You might see the odd alpaca if you hap­pen to pass within the vicin­ity of Comfrey Cottage, one of a few accom­mod­a­tion options, where they grace the lawns, but this is a little Victorian-era town and fairly soph­ist­ic­ated if you com­pare it with its nearest neigh­bours — Continued

Focus on Hogsback — a magical town ideal for weekends away and extended stays

Magical Hogsback

This month we focus our atten­tion on the magical little town of Hogsback in the Eastern Cape, home to numer­ous accom­mplished artists — pot­ters, paint­ers, musi­cians and poets — who have chosen the beauty of Hogsback over the rush of city life. Hogsback offers so much as a week­end des­tin­a­tion or exten­ded hol­i­day stay — think explor­ing the vil­lage, fab­ulous hik­ing trails, moun­tain bik­ing, horse rid­ing, bird watch­ing, and moun­tain climb­ing — these are only a few of the things that draw people to Hogsback time and again. Magical views, peace and tran­quil­ity add to the mix of what makes Hogsback such an appealling getaway ...

View our col­lec­tion of art­icles and fea­tures, view the pho­to­graphs of Hogsback and decide for your­self ... Continued

Mbotyi, Wild Coast — photographs one of the best hidden secrets in the Eastern Cape

If you're after des­ol­ate beaches, rolling hills, the odd appear­ance of oxen pulling carts, and not much else, then Mbotyi is pos­sibly one of the best hid­den secrets in the Eastern Cape's Pondoland. The coast south of Port Edward is wild, and life here has not yet caught up with the west­ern world's clam­our for devel­op­ment and the acquir­ing of things ... Isn't it beau­ti­ful? Continued

A Gonubie affair — Stories from the road by Ruan Smit

Honestly, before I ended up in Gonubie dur­ing this cycle tour I was never aware of its exist­ence… let alone that I would be forever smil­ing after this extraordin­ary visit.  The first of the three whoop whoop girls I meet is Maureen, I’m stay­ing over at her B&B called Porkys. Funny how I ended up here, Michelle who I wrote about in my pre­vi­ous art­icle referred me and from there another story starts.

Porky was Maureen’s nick­name since school because she used to be chubby, she smiles. And every­one still knows her by this name so it was the obvi­ous choice. No pretences…

Her energy is con­ta­gious as she helps me get my cycle into her car. And from here on in she never stops bub­bling. She is abso­lutely proud of the fact that she’s the first cyc­list I’m stay­ing with. Continued

Nieu Bethesda – why it's worth a visit

Nieu Bethesda

These days, Nieu Bethesda is described as a charm­ing altern­at­ive to Graaff-Reinet. But back when I first paid the little town a visit, it was still 'in the middle of nowhere', rather off the beaten track. You went there primar­ily to visit Helen Martin's Owl House.

In fair­ness, things were start­ing to hap­pen even then. There was a little res­taur­ant I remem­ber, called some­thing like the 'wild fig' or 'burn­ing brin­jal', or an equally cre­at­ive name, on the sleepy main road in town (there are but two, main roads that is), the pretty Village Inn was already serving as an inform­a­tion / accom­mod­a­tion / cof­fee shop / tea garden as it con­tin­ues to do today, and Egbert's Coffee shop next to the Ibis Gallery (which I believe has also since closed) func­tioned as the town's water­ing hole of the non­al­co­holic kind ... Continued

I ♥ Barkly East because ...

I ♥ Barkly East

Hi, I’m Kate Nelson from Rosstrevor Guest Farm in Barkly East in the Eastern Cape.

BARKLY EAST IS BEST KNOW FOR tran­quil guest farms, spec­tac­u­lar moun­tain scenery, snow in the winter and fly-fishing in the sum­mer.
GET YOUR PICTURE TAKEN hav­ing a snow­ball fight dur­ing winter, or bathing in a moun­tain jac­uzzi in the sum­mer.
THE BEST SCENERY PICTURES CAN BE TAKEN AT the top of any of our 8 moun­tain passes, espe­cially Lundean’s Nek, Joubert’s Pass, Bastervoetpad and Naudés Nek.
OTHER HAPPY SNAPS AT at Rhodes Village and Lady Grey. Continued