February 2012
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BBC Travel, Spending 24 Hours In Cape Town! →
Having beaten Dublin and Bilbao to the title of World Design Capital 2014, South Africa’s “Mother City” also bagged a place on the 2011 list of the Seven New Wonders of Nature with its iconic Table Mountain. A day is not nearly enough to enjoy everything that beautiful, creative Cape Town has to offer, but the following itinerary will help you make the most of those 24 hours. By Simon Richmond,...
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The Grape Pickers Visited!
Just after dawn a truck load of casual grape pickers arrived to help harvest the small patch of chenin blanc on the farm. The first sign of their arrival was the warm chit chat, that of a group of friends setting out for the day. They grabbed crates and scattered their bright colours among the vines. Returning to stack once they were full. Mostly men and women from Zimbabwe, casual laborers, they...
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A Wrong Turn Found Me Wind Turbines!
I took a wrong turn in my Monday morning haze and found myself at the Eskom pilot wind-farm facility at Klipheuwel. These wind turbines delight me, towering as they do, today moving slowly in the gentle wind, quietly generating power. There should be more of them scattered across the land supplying alternate energy. Soon I’m sure.
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Bloubergstrand This Morning!
I drove out to Bloubergstrand this morning with my camera. Located 20 km North of Cape Town, this area never gained the acclaim or investment that the city’s Atlantic Seaboard did, despite its incredible natural beauty and unsurpassed view of Table Mountain.
Whilst taking in the beautiful misted views of ships on the ocean, wind in my hair, sand on my feet, cyclists and runners...
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Pongola Game Reserve's Rhino De-Horned In A Bid To...
This is one of the four white rhino resident at Pongola Game Reserve in KwaZulu Natal, I used to part own them until recently.
They have just been de-horned at great expense to their owner in a bid to protect them from poachers. This has become necessary as the country loses more than one rhino a day.
Yet so sad to see them stripped of their iconic identity, in a way diminished. What has the...
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“If all the beasts were gone man would die from great loneliness of spirit, for...”
– Chief Seattle in a letter to US President Franklin Pierce, 1855 (via needcaffeine)
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Wild Flowers On Valentine's Day!
I walked the land this morning and delighted in the mass of wild flowers that shone in the morning light, wishing you, me and all a Happy Valentine’s Day! Mother Nature you’re amazing!
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Cape Town From Above, NAC Makana Aviation and...
On Thursday afternoon I joined a group of travel industry professionals for a helicopter flip over Cape Town, some networking and a whole lot of generously served snacks, drinks and entertainment.
Our hosts were NAC Makana Aviation and Signature Life Hotels and when the invitation arrived in my mailbox a few weeks back, it took me about 5 seconds to process the idea of a “helicopter...
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Photos Of Dogs Underwater! →
Lifestyle pet photographer, Seth Casteel, captured these amazing images of dogs fetching their toys underwater. I can’t get over how the water transforms, what is probably a sweet pooch’s face, into something so ferocious and shark-like.
As a water baby, I love them.
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“Life Is Either A Daring Adventure, Or Nothing.”
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Conserving Africa's Wildlife Through Photography! →
Photographer Nick Brandt has documented the extraordinary wildlife of Africa and its unfortunate decimation. His latest set of images include portraits of poachers, hauling their inventory of giant ivory tusks, as well as decomposing carcasses of wildlife, including those of flamingos, bats, giraffes, and varied beasts.
It isn’t all gut-wrenching photography, though. Brandt manages to...
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Top 8 Most Extreme Tourist Attractions! →
If you’re feeling adventurous, here is a list of the eight most extreme Tourist Attractions to add to your Bucket List. That said, it may just give you exactly the reason you’ll need one. I could do five of these, but say no thanks to crocs, rock clinging and base jump.
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January 2012
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Diomande's Leather Crafted Shoes, When One Pair...
Like most girls and many boys I love shoes and late last year I bought a pair of amazing hand-made black leather brogues that put a bounce in my step and a rather silly grin on my face. I’d seen them in the window of MeMeMe in Long Street, and ordered a pair to fit. They delight me. But were they enough, could I stop there? Of course not.
I found out that their creator was in Long Street,...
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Time To Unleash The Dragons, It's Their Year!
At midnight on January 23, 2012, Chinese people around the world will welcome the new year, ushering in the Year of the Dragon with the traditional Chinese New Year greeting of Gong Xi Fa Ca! which means “wishing you prosperity” in Mandarin.
The first day of the Chinese New Year is the most important of Chinese holidays, celebrated by billions in China, and by millions of ethnic Chinese around...
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Khaytelitsha Remembrance Square!
Khayelitsha is the second largest township in South Africa, located on the Cape Flats outside Cape Town, the name means “New Home” in Xhosa. I visited the Khayelitsha Remembrance Square, a memorial to the turbulent and rich History of Khayelitsha; established when the 1980’s Apartheid government decided to move black people from existing townships to a new township. Today...
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Attending The Court Case Of A Rhino Poacher...
As any of you who follow me will know, my heart and hope lies in conservation, with the plight of the Rhino a key focal point. To date though it feels like all I’ve done is read, research, tweet, blog, spread the word and pray that the Rhino be Saved. This year however has to be the year of action.
Therefore when I learnt from Saving Private Rhino about a Court Hearing in Khayelitscha of Xiong...
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“”Like winds and sunsets, wild things were taken for granted…..now...”
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Africa, Chickens Sold Direct!
The delightful Nekkies of Knysna Tripe Sellers of my previous post also sell and trade in chicken and eggs. The chickens are kept in these tiny cages whilst at the market, which is difficult for this free-range loving would be vegetarian girl to accept. But they assure me that when not at the market the chickens run wild and free around their house, and I’m sure that’s true, given that...
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Knysna's Tripe Sellers, Wellington & Veronica...
Knysna is a favorite destination of mine. It’s been 8 months since my last visit and I miss it. The tranquility of the lagoon, wanderings through forested areas, giant trees reaching up to the sky, elusive elephants and lingering on Noetzie’s beach being key attractions. It’s time for a return.
On my last visit I spent a Saturday morning in Nekkies, which offers a rather...