Roxanne Reid's Blog, page 14

Why you should visit the West Coast Fossil Park

By Roxanne Reid
Drive about 90 minutes north of Cape Town and you’ll find a strange place where giant creatures roamed long before the appearance of man on Earth. Here at this heritage site a fascinating journey has been quietly waiting more than five million years for you. Find out why you should visit the West Coast Fossil Park. Step back in time. This is the West Coast, but not as we know it. Gone are the Sandveld and the Mediterranean climate. In their place are lush sub-tropical fores...

Safari for two at Ngoma Lodge in Chobe, Botswana

By Roxanne Reid
Getting a safari guide to ourselves means we can indulge our interest in plants and stop to watch small creatures like lizards and birds. So we punched the air in triumph when we learnt our early morning drive was going to be asafari for two at Ngoma Lodge in Chobe, Botswana. Ngoma Safari Lodge lies just a couple of kilometres from the Ngoma Gate into the western part of Chobe National Park. Even before we entered the park, we saw two elephants drinking from a leak in a wat...

10 things you may not know about Yzerfontein

By Roxanne Reid
The seaside town of Yzerfontein on the West Coast Way is about an hour’s drive north of Cape Town along the R27. Nature is a strong draw card, from bird life and indigenous plants to 16 Mile Beach which stretches to the West Coast National Park. The town is also a hub for fishermen and sporty types going surfing, mountain biking or kite-surfing. But here are 10 things you may not know about Yzerfontein. 1. Spring flowers Namaqualand and the Postberg Section of the Wes...

Voices of Botswana: the cub whisperer

By Roxanne Reid
Every safari lover worth her salt wants to spend time in Botswana’s Okavango Delta. The landscape is beautiful, with water channels, floodplains and mokolane palms. The wildlife is superb, from elephants, big cats and wild dogs to giraffe and red lechwe. And the professional guides are clued-up and enthusiastic to share the wonders of their environment.

When we visited Chitabe Lediba Camp on the border of the Moremi Game Reserve our guide was Phinley Sankwasa Mwampole, a qu...

Two ways to game drive in Chobe, Botswana

By Roxanne Reid
Six o’clock, still dark on a chilly morning. We were setting out from Chobe Game Lodge for the first game drive of the day. ‘The bush can be very quiet on early morning drives, especially when it’s windy like this,’ our guide warned. So our hopes weren’t high, but we were on a mission to experience two ways to game drive in Chobe, Botswana. This was our standard diesel-powered drive. We’d be experiencing a drive in one of the lodge’s electric safari vehicles later that afte...

Meet Hout Bay’s Zimbabwean artists

By Roxanne Reid
Think Hout Bay is about horses, mansions and seafood? It is, but there’s an edgier creative side too. Venture all the way along Harbour Road to the Harvest Centre and a different world will open up when you meet Hout Bay’s Zimbabwean artists. Go down past the harbour, past Mariners Wharf with its mussels and crayfish, its chi-chi beach clothing, sea-art gifts and curios. Go down to the grittier, less picturesque end of Harbour Road with its grungy red-brick buildings, barbe...

An explosion of wild dogs at Selinda, Botswana

By Roxanne Reid
We’re flying, bouncing off-road over grass, avoiding aardvark holes and driving over a small mopane bush here or round a Kalahari apple-leaf there. We’re at Selinda in the Linyanti, Botswana, and we’re following an explosion of wild dogs. The Selinda Spillway area in northern Botswana is home to some of southern Africa’s biggest elephant and buffalo herds. It’s also a stronghold of the endangered wild dog. We were staying at Great Plains Conservation’s remote and beautiful...

Houseboat life on the Chobe River, Botswana

By Roxanne Reid
We’re puttering past a patch of water lilies, water splashing on the sides of the boat, mist spray on our arms. From a small jetty in Kasane, Botswana, we’d sped downstream to Impalila Island for immigration formalities. Now we’re going back upstream to join the Pangolin Voyager for a taste of houseboat life on the Chobe River, photography on our minds. This border kerfuffle doesn’t take more than 30 or 40 minutes and you get a free boat ride down towards the rapids where I...

Kenya’s wildebeest migration to be live streamed

Always wanted to see the wildebeest migration in East Africa but can’t afford to go? Now you don’t have to. Simply watch it live streaming via Facebook and YouTube and get all the action from Kenya’s Masai Mara National Reserve. You might even decide you have to see it for yourself in Kenya next year. From 20 to 25 September 2016 live broadcasts will be hosted each day on HerdTracker’s Facebook page and WildEarth’s safariLIVE YouTube channel between 16:00 to 23:30 East Africa Time (that's...

Voices of Botswana: the dancing queen

By Roxanne Reid
The night is dark, the stars and moon reflected in the Chobe River behind us. We’re in a boma overlooking the water and the smell of good food mixes with the swirl of smoke from the braai and the sound of marimba music. Food, dust, music and smiling faces – this is the meat and marrow of Botswana. It was our first evening at Chobe Game Lodge and we were enjoying a traditional supper in the dust-floored boma (outdoor entertainment area). A marimba quartet had been organised...