Roxanne Reid's Blog, page 22

Sunset drive at Pretoriuskop, Kruger Park

Hubby and I can drive around game reserves all day and not get tired of watching the animals and their interactions. By dusk, though, the rules say we have to be back in camp. Yet our best chance of seeing creatures of the night like genet, serval, civet and porcupine is after gate-closing time. That’s why we signed up for a sunset drive at Pretoriuskop, Kruger Park. With head guide Pat at the wheel, it started well with a lone bull ellie on some rocks. He came up really close to the vehi...

Sunset views in the Namib Desert

Sesriem is the gateway to the wondrous red dunes of Sossusvlei in southwestern Namibia. From there it’s just 60km to Namib Desert Lodge, a drive that’s a scenic fusion of dusty road and pinkish mountains, with a desert oasis at the end. But the sunset views in the Namib Desert were the unrivalled champions of our stay. Namib Desert Lodgeused to be a small guest farm with only a few rooms. Bought by the Gondwana Collectionin the mid-2000s, it now has 76 rooms but the old-fashioned desert s...

Sunset drive from Little Kulala, Sossusvlei

By Roxanne Reid
Sunrises and sunsets in Namibia are pretty special. Anyone who has seen a few will agree. But when they top off a perfect day they – and the people you share them with – live on in your heart. That’s what happened to us on a sunset drive from Little Kulala, Sossusvlei. We arrived at Wilderness Safaris' lodge,Little Kulala,hot and tired. And, if truth be told, a little grumpy. The silly woman who lives inside our GPS had sent us on an unnecessary detour along a dusty and cor...

Canyon Lodge: rock formations and old bachelors

By Roxanne Reid
If you’ve seen my post about the Canyon Roadhouseyou’ll know that this is a hard act to follow. Leaving it is what I imagine it must be like to come down off a heroin high; everything else would pale by comparison. But at its sister,Canyon Lodge, we discovered a completely different world of rock formations and old bachelors.

As we took the turnoff towards Canyon Lodge,the scenery changed so dramatically it was like someone had flipped the TV channel. Gone were the dark...

8 things to do in and around Hopefield

Visit the small town of Hopefield on the West Coast during the week and you might not notice much going on, but pop in on a Saturday morning and you’ll see it buzzing with activity. Find it about 120km from Cape Town along the R45, close enough for a quick weekend away. Here are 8 things to do in and around Hopefield. 1.Die Plaasmol farm stall On the way from Langebaan, about 5 or 6km from Hopefield on the R45, we stopped at Die Plaasmol farm stall, lured in by the funky flowers on...

Namibia’s Desert Rhino Camp isn’t all about rhinos

By Roxanne Reid
When we visited Namibia’s Desert Rhino Camp in Damaraland (now part of Kunene), we naturally thought desert rhino would be the unmatched stars of the show. And I’m not saying that watching a free-roaming desert rhino browsing quietly wasn’t special. It was – big time. It’s just that something else unexpectedly outshone the rhino experience.

Desert Rhino Camp is set in a valley of volcanic rock. From our wooden deck we looked out on the red-rocked landscape dotted with e...

Damaraland’s Desert Rhino Camp isn’t all about rhinos

By Roxanne Reid
When we visited Damaraland’s Desert Rhino Camp in Namibia, we naturally thought desert rhino would be the unmatched stars of the show. And I’m not saying that watching a free-roaming desert rhino browsing quietly wasn’t special. It was – big time. It’s just that something else unexpectedly outshone the rhino experience.

Desert Rhino Camp is set in a valley of volcanic rock. From our wooden deck we looked out on the red-rocked landscape dotted with euphorbia bushes and a...

Fish River Canyon in southwestern Namibia

By Roxanne Reid
The Fish River Canyon isn’t, as tourism marketers would have you believe, the second largest in the world after the Grand Canyon in Arizona. There are many in the Himalayas alone that are longer, wider, deeper than both of these. But the Fish River Canyon in southwestern Namibia is still one of the country’s most visited attractions – and rightly so. Starting in the Naukluft mountains and ending at Ai-Ais, it’s an impressive 160km long, 27km across at its widest point and...

Spring flowers at Postberg on the West Coast

By Roxanne Reid
Once the spring flower season on the Cape’s West Coast starts to warm up, it’s time to think of visiting the Postberg Nature Reserve for a riot of colour and wonderful sea views. Here are some photos of spring flowers at Postberg to inspire you to make this the year you see them for yourself. The Postberg Nature Reserve lies in the West Coast National Parknear Langebaan, about an hour and a half’s drive from Cape Town. Closed for most of the year, the reserve opens to the p...

River highlights of northeastern Namibia

Hakusembe River Lodge's boats on the Kwando River By Roxanne Reid
Once you get to Rundu in the north of Namibia, the deserts are far behind you and the Kavango, Kwando, Zambezi and Chobe rivers present a different landscape.The rivers and their floodplains are the centre of life in this Kavango and Zambezi region, where the sunsets will take your breath away. Here are someriver highlights of northeastern Namibia, between Rundu and Kongola.

Hakusembe River Lodge We stayed a night a...