CATEGORIES

Seeds of success

A champion at the indigenous nursery at Skukuza, Meurel Baloyi is on a mission to make all the rest camp gardens in Kruger water-wise.

Six of the best

|Ai-|Ais/Richtersveld Transfrontier Park guarantees visitors a solid serving of adventure, often with a dash of adrenalin on the side. The rugged mountain desert now boasts even more outdoor activities.

Marvellous meerkats of Mata-Mata

Brace yourself to be welcomed suricate-style the next time you pitch camp at this ever-popular spot in Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park.

Who's who?

Even regular park-goers struggle to distinguish a rhebok from a reedbuck. The differences are subtle but significant.

Friends of the fluffball

White-fronted plovers breed in summer – the same time many people take their seaside holiday. A significant decline in their numbers means life is hardly ‘a day at the beach’ for these birds

Festive Karoo

On a Christmas holiday in the Karoo, a keen birder and his family soak up the heat in four Wild Card parks. Their reward included special sightings, endless views and a wilderness feeling.

Love struck

A leopard mating ritual is a rare and thrilling sight. Even more extraordinary to witness an amorous affair involving three members of this elusive Big Five species in Kruger.

Challenge the clock

For centuries Table Mountain National Park has inspired exploration, from hardcore climbing to gentle walks. Now runners and hikers can set a record or push boundaries for a personal best on an epic adventure to the top of 13 peaks.

Loud and clear

Woodland kingfishers are common in most rest camps in the Kruger National Park. Enjoy their evocative call during the summer months.

BEACH MODELS

Rocky shores and sandy beaches are where you’ll find the African black oystercatcher. Summer is breeding season, so look out for nest scrapes close to rocks and kelp.

Golden Delicious

With tall, slender silhouettes, yellow-green trunks and an eerie aura, fever trees impart ghostliness to a forest. Once upon a time they were thought to cause malaria.

Salt Of The Earth

One of summer’s blessings is a swim in the ocean and salt on your skin. This strange mineral which can cure or kill has captivated humans since ancient times.

Dirty Weekend

Looking for a last-minute adventure that will satisfy your hunger for wander? This story takes in one national park, two nature reserves and a wilderness area — all in two days of travel on gravel from Cape Town.

Short And Sweet

Splash in golden river pools on the Waterfall Trail, starting at Tweede Tol in the wild and wonderful Limietberg Nature Reserve near Wellington.

Triple Play

On a long weekend escape to Africa’s southernmost tip, stay in a heritage cottage to explore the fynbos and coastline. Three different trails, all within a 45-minute radius of your base at Rhenosterkop, beg to be hiked.

Meet The Gangsters

For suricate and banded mongoose, life is one big social get-together. While snooping on clans in the Kgalagadi and Kruger, we discovered they count among Africa’s most complex mammals.

Eyes Wide Open

Imagine a safari where you witness the fascinating behaviour of creatures you’ve never seen before. As a bonus, you can go any time of day and you don’t have to race to the next sighting. Expect all this and more on a micro safari.

Right Of Way

Every animal killed on our highways and by-ways is tragic. But surely creatures don’t end up as roadkill in protected areas? Sadly, they do.

Room To Roam

The ‘elephant problem’ in some protected areas is controversial, but numbers are no longer the focus of elephant management.

Top Notch

Nyathi rest camp addo elephant national park

Endless Summer

Come spring, West Coast National Park is a safe haven for many migratory birds that chase the sun.

Great Cedars From Little Seeds Grow

The community of Heuningvlei takes pride in an annual conservation event, which has seen some 2 000 Clanwilliam cedar trees planted over the past 15 years.

A Surf & Turf Adventure

How much action can one adventurer fit into a weekend in the Wilderness Section of Garden Route National Park? Wild joins the ride as Letshego Zulu zips and zooms through fynbos and forest to follow her passion.

Friends In High Places

The challenging Swellendam Hiking Trail, one of South Africa’s top 10 hikes, has recently reopened. It’s a festival of flora all year round as you explore the fynbos treasures of Marloth Nature Reserve.

Hoop-Hoop, It's A Hoopoe

With its striking plumage and spectacular crown of feathers, the African hoopoe is an unmistakable sighting.