De Hoop Nature Reserve, east of Cape Town
Known more for some of the best land-based whale watching than food, this weekend of indulgent Culinary Creativity at De Hoop Nature Reserve (22-24 July 2011) seemed tempting. When a food expert declares that “Chocolate and wine are essential in all food plans”, can anybody resist? The De Hoop collection has taken Chef Tracey Younghusband at her...
Blue Gum Country Estate
………aka Fawlty Towers. You may wonder where does a spoilt Safari Tart go for her Christmas holidays 2010? I needed a place to veg out, do absolutely nothing, get up late, read a lot and turn up for breakfast at 10.30am. I also wanted to feel like I belonged and be entertained a little. Sounds...
Garden Route Game Lodge
I was really impressed with Garden Route Game Lodge. It is of course ‘soft safari’, as are all the game reserves in the Western Cape. It is because this populated region doesn’t have tracts of spare land the size of small European countries - like Kruger Park - in which the largest African animals can roam in...
Bushman’s Kloof Wilderness Reserve
Visitors often ‘do‘ Cape Town in three days as part of a South African holiday, which is of course impossible. It also means you don’t get to venture into the further reaches of the Western Province and find special places like Bushman’s Kloof. In the Cederberg Mountains, 4 hours (168 miles) north of Cape Town,...
Aquila Game Reserve nr Cape Town
Aquila Private Game Reserve is just under two hours drive north-east of Cape Town and is probably the most visited safari destination within reach of the city. The terrain is completely different from the coast, because once you have passed over or through the mountains, you enter the Great Karoo. It’s dry and dusty with...
Buffelsfontein, Cape West Coast
There I was driving up the West Coast road one hour out of Cape Town, and I saw a sign ‘Buffelsfontein Game & Nature Reserve’. Now I’m not one to let a game reserve pass me by without knowing who they are and what they offer, so I pulled in. The gates opened as if...