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Long Live The Karoo
KAABI'S KRAAL TO GRAAFF-REINET 330 KM BURCHELL 18 DAYS | WILLEM 3 DAYS The remains of Kaabi's kraal, the Bushman settlement where William Burchell camped from 5 to 9 March in 1812, are next to the N12 between Britstown and Strydenburg. Burchell watch
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A Spark To Light The Fire
This issue is for the birds. Or rather, for the birders. Our feathered friends weave a golden thread through many of our stories, from Verlorenvlei on the West Coast, through De Hoop in the Overberg, all along the Garden Route and into the Little Kar
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Letters
WINNING LETTER Rudolph wins a set of Zartek ZA-725 two-way radios, GE-295 car antenna kits and GE-259 speaker microphones, worth R4750 in total. Zartek'stop radio model is perfect for outdoor and indoor communications. It offers crystal clear audio,
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Palapye
A cool breeze stirs from the east – it must have rained somewhere over there during the night. It almost rained here as well, but the few drops that fell left no trace in the sand. Yesterday was a scorcher – close to 40°C – and today might be the sam
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In Brief
Critically endangered. That's the new conservation status of the African penguin, as declared by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in October 2024. What does “critically endangered” mean? It means that this iconic bird is only
go6 min read
Take Your Pic
WINNING PHOTO Canon EOS R7 Canon 100–500 mm lens BASILIKI WRITES: Not all lions are created equal; and some sightings are definitely more special than others. In September 2024, we spent a few weeks in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park. Early one morn
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Africa At Its Best
Have you been to the Chobe River? Did you know you can drive there in a normal car – no 4x4 required? Yup, it's a tar road all the way from Joburg to Kasane, the main tourism town on the banks of the river, from where you access Chobe National Park.
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Take Five!
Serves 4–6 as a side dish Preparation time 20 minutes Baking time 1 hour • ¼ cup butter • 1 onion, halved and thinly sliced • 1kg medium-sized potatoes, washed • 12 sage leaves, half of them chopped • ½ cup finely grated mature cheddar 1 Melt most of
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Treasures Of The Sea
It's the skeleton of a mollusc, a kind of sea animal that doesn't have a skeleton inside its body. The shell forms a protective layer around the animal – it's called an exoskeleton; “exo”means outside. There are two types of molluscs. Gastropods look
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Don't Blink
Wildlife Photographer of the Year (WPY) is the most prestigious competition of its kind – an annual celebration of creativity that honours the men and women who spend countless hours in the field to freeze split-second moments that tell the stories o
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Take A Hike
“The doctor can't write a prescription for this,” the fisherman said, flashing a smile. It was just the pick-up we needed. We were tired, having laboured for 4 km along a cambered, soft-sand beach. We put down our heavy overnight packs and looked bac
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Mud, Roadblocks And Dodgy Chicken
Our experience at a filling station in Cabinda in Angola made us think… We'd arrived in the city looking for petrol, but all the pumps were dry. Then, suddenly, we found a station with a long line of motorcycles and old cars. A guard waved us forward
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Birds
What's the rarest bird in South Africa? There are a few contenders for this not-so-coveted title. African penguin and Botha's lark are declining alarmingly fast, and vultures are slowly losing the war against the myriad threats they face. But if you'
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Q&A
ROELIEN CORNFORTH from Krugersdorp writes: There are hundreds of these insects on the gardenias in my garden, but they don't seem to eat the leaves and flowers. They lay their eggs on the stems, hatch and live there for years. Can you identify the in
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Go!
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF (WEG & GO): PIERRE STEYN editor@gomag.co.za DEPUTY EDITOR: ESMA MARNEWICK TRAVEL EDITOR: TOAST COETZER FOOD EDITOR: JOHANÉ NEILSON COPY EDITORS: MARIJCKE DODDS, MARTINETTE LOUW CONTRIBUTING EDITOR: JON MINSTER JOURNALIST: SOPHIA VAN T
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Crossword Puzzle
SOLUTION ON PAGE 103 SOPHIA VAN TAAK; ESMA MARNEWICK; ALAMY.COM/ZA; TOAST COETZER■
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Send Us Your Best Travel And Nature Photos!
WHY? We publish a selection of reader pictures in every issue. Don't be shy, haul out those shots you've been hoarding on your computer and send them to us! We like just about anything: wildlife, landscapes, portraits, holiday snaps or bugs in your g
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Bird Brain
Do you also find it difficult to identify raptors? They always have me scratching my head! One of the reasons they're hard to identify is that it takes a raptor many years to reach maturity. And during this time the bird's brown plumage goes through
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Great Gifts For Outdoorsy Types
After a long day on a hiking trail, the first thing you want to do when you reach camp is take off your boots. But then you have to put them back on again when you want to walk around… An extra pair of shoes is a luxury when you have to carry everyth
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A Twitcher's Guide To The Garden Route
The Garden Route National Park consist of three sections: Wilderness, Knysna and Tsitsikamma. Day visitors pay R49–R78 per person; free with a Wild card. 012 428 9111 (bookings); sanparks.org Going on holiday with a birder requires great diplomatic s
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Night Watch
The Star of Bethlehem is synonymous with Christmas. It's the star described in the Gospel of Matthew in the Bible, where it attracted stargazers from the east to Bethlehem and led them to the stable where Jesus was born. Something about the star was
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Leopard Lounge
Working in leopard research and conservation sounds like an exciting career. Surely you get to see leopards all the time? If you're in the Bushveld, yes, but in the Western Cape even the researchers hardly ever see leopards – almost all of our data c
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Win!
Send your series of photos and a short description of the sighting to toast@gomag.co.za. You could win a Thule Subterra PowerShuttle bag! The Thule Subterra PowerShuttle bag is ideal for people who travel with a lot of tech. It's a sturdy carrier mad
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With My Own Eyes
In May 2023, I spent a week in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park with my parents, André and Adanda. We arrived soon after veld fires had ravaged the area and we didn't see many animals. Most of the big herbivores had migrated to the Mabuasehube area o
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Meet The Author
In the foreword you ask: “How can one capture the spirit of a boundless, threedimensional landscape with a tiny twodimensional camera sensor?” So, how do you go about trying to distil your experiences into something as beautiful and poignant as Spiri
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When Things Go Wrong
Friday afternoon, time to hit the road. Our destination was Wilderness on the Garden Route. My wife and I were in the front seats of the Rav4, with my mother-in-law and our six-year-old godson Krisjan in the back. The boot was filled to the brim with
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The Return Of The Vlei
The bay stretches out like a friendly smile, widening as it curls to the north, eventually disappearing in a haze of sea spray and soft sunset light. I'm on top of Bobbejaansberg, overlooking Elands Bay, with Chantal Isaac, owner of the Wit Mossel Po
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Do This
You're suspended in the ocean above an underwater mountain range, but instead of trees, coral grows from the rocks, sheltering brightly coloured fish. You don't know where to look! Shoals of stumpnose and bannerfish swim around, and the ghostly shape
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Middle Of Nowhere, Botswana
A pit stop in northern Botswana requires a certain level of caution. There are no fences around the national parks and other reserves, which means that lions, elephants and other dangerous animals roam wherever they want. It's best not to sit next to
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Behind The Scenes
How did you get into underwater photography? I started photographing wildlife in high school to help with bird identification and to record the animals I'd seen. This evolved into more artistic work. In 2019, a friend convinced me to sign up for a sc
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