#Gauteng52, Week 1: Hiking the Hennops Trail
Welcome to the #Gauteng52 challenge, for which I will visit and blog about a new place in Gauteng Province every week for 52 straight weeks. On Week 1, Ray and I went for a [...]
A Dog-Friendly Getaway for a Dog-less Couple
I recently received an assignment to book a stay on Accommodation Direct, go stay at that place, and write a review of the experience. Accommodation Direct is a new accommodation booking tool and has listings [...]
The Quest for Pretoria’s White Jacarandas
I'm in America right now and I had really been looking forward to seeing the fall leaves here. I came home at exactly this time last year and the leaves were spectacular. Alas, it's [...]
Chasing the Sunrise in Limpopo
Beautiful sunsets are easy to come by in South Africa. The light fades slowly through the afternoon, giving us plenty of time to prepare. The clouds are usually spectacular (except during the highveld winter, when [...]
Magoebaskloof: 13 Pictures of a Beautiful, Misty Morning
Magoebaskloof, a mountainous region in South Africa's Limpopo Province between Polokwane and Tzaneen, is referred to on its tourism website as "the Land of the Silver Mist". It didn't take me long to figure [...]
The Astonishing, Confounding Story of South Africa’s White Lions
Last weekend I visited the Global White Lion Protection Trust, a private reserve devoted to protecting white lions and returning them to the wild in South Africa's Timbavati region. Almost from the moment I [...]
The Land of Elephants and Baobabs
The Pafuri Triangle -- a piece of wilderness in the very northern corner of South Africa's Kruger National Park -- is a land of giants. The trees are huge. The animals are huge. The [...]
Quick Photoshoot on the Melville Koppies
Last week Wendy Carstens, the chairperson of the Friends of the Melville Koppies, asked me to take a portrait of her and her husband, David, at the top of the Koppies. The portrait is a [...]
The Wilds: Joburg’s Controversial Garden of Eden
There is a big park in Johannesburg, very near to the city center, called the Wilds. For many years I didn't go there because everyone said it was dangerous. Even the name -- the [...]
That Day When I Flew Over an Erupting Volcano
I've just returned from a weeklong trip to Reunion Island with six other blogger/writer/photographers, as part of a camapign called #GoToReunion. We experienced so many amazing things during those seven days; by the end of the week I [...]
South Africa’s Wild, Wild Coast: Part 2
Read Part 1. After 12 hours of driving, a flat tire, and a minor head injury, Ray and I pass through the gate of the Dwesa Nature Reserve. We would weep for joy if we [...]
South Africa’s Wild, Wild Coast: Part 1
We round a bend and there it is: a metal gate with a sign for Dwesa/Cwebe Nature Reserve. Finally! I was starting to feel like we'd never make it. Now we'll have just enough [...]