Roxanne Reid's Blog, page 37

6 reasons to love the Darling Voorkamerfest

By Roxanne Reid
From ethnic music to Hip Hop dancing, from singing to one-actplays, even a spring parade, there are lots of reasons tolove about the DarlingVoorkamerfest at the beginning of September each year. After visiting the10th Voorkamerfest this year, here are my top 6reasons. 1.Its uniqueness. People open their homes tothe public and various artists perform in their voorkamer (living room). I don’tthink this occurs anywhere else in the country.

2.Strollingaround the food stalls befo...

Rhino poaching crisis: raising awareness in Vietnam

‘Thecarcass of the poached rhino was about a week old when the Vietnamese delegationsaw it in a South African wildlife park. There was a strong smell of rot, andanimals had scavenged most of the meat. Rangers found the bullet that killed itby scouring the ground with a metal detector. The rhino horn was gone, hackedoff its snout.’ So begins a 17 September account by Christopher Torchia of Associated Press. This, he reports,is what happened when a Vietnamesepolice constable, acelebrity, a...

Darling Voorkamerfest: all about community spirit

Marji Geldenhuys ‘I’m Marj, large and in charge; born, bred and overfed in the Cape,’ Marji Geldenhuys quipped to agroup of about 24 peoplesqueezed into the living room of a tiny RDP house inDarling East. A musician and story teller, she wastaking part in theDarlingVoorkamerfest. The Voorkamerfest is unique in South Africa. People open theirhomes to the public and various artists perform in their voorkamer (livingroom). A ticket buys you three 30-minute ‘shows’ and local taxis ferry you to...

Sho't Left: How to be a tourist in your own country

The new Sho't Left local tourism campaign – now showing on a TV near you – hopes to encourage you to leave the high-rises or suburbs and take a short break, to be a tourist in your own country.This one focuses on getaways fromJozi and Gauteng. Escape to the mountains, see a waterfall, go quad biking or rafting, enjoy good food – all the imagesevoke a sense of exuberance and fun, motivating you to get off your butt to enjoy a weekend away in the company of good friends. ‘Nothing’s more fun...

The Etosha lions that no one saw

By Roxanne Reid
Lionsmunching on a zebra they had killed in Etosha National Park, Namibia. Spotted hyenas pacing up and down infrustration at not getting a piece of the action. Jackals patrolling theperimeter. It has all the elements of a blockbuster sighting. Yet no one saw them but us. How is that possible? Wewere staying at Halali camp in Etosha. Early one morning wedrove to the Charitsaub waterhole, where we watched a spotted hyena drinking. Itkept looking up as if spooked by something...

Baby elephant rescue in Amboseli National Park, Kenya

Humans working together to rescue a baby elephant in Amboseli National Park, Kenya. This is what I like to see: a positive interactioninstead of the ghastly poaching statistics coming out of Africa in recent years. Around 7–10 millionelephantsroamed Africain the 1930s. Today CITES estimates the numberat just 400000 to 650000– and it's declining rapidly thanks to demand for ivory, combined with habitat loss from human settlement.More than 25000elephants are being poachedin Africa for their...

Richtersveld: a day in the life of a Nama shepherd

By Roxanne Reid
The Richtersveld,in the far north-west of the Northern Cape, is the only true mountain desert insouthern Africa. It’s remote and inhospitable, so when a Namashepherd you’ve stopped to talk to asks for some water, you can’t sayno. We were on our way to the Tatasberg wilderness campwhen we met Matthew Joseph and his six dogs, two of them stillpups. He was roasting the whole carcass of a goat, hair and all, in a makeshiftfire built among the stones.

The goat had died of krimps...

Potholes: where are the worst ones in South Africa?

By Roxanne Reid
Potholes in the road are things that can get people pretty riled up. Sometimes they even withhold their taxes until something is done about them. So which is the worst-potholed stretch of road in South Africa? A while back I wrote a blog post about where to find the worst national highway, theworst drivers, and the worst main road through a town.And it had much to do with potholes.

I'm not talking about namby-pamby English potholes, but those worthy of the much more descriptiv...

Why everyone should visit Okaukuejo, Etosha

By Roxanne Reid
Namibia Wildlife Resorts upped its prices by monstrousamounts in 2007. Since then we’ve avoided Etosha’s Okaukuejo camp. At around N$2000-3000 per nightfor the two of us in a waterfront chalet, it’s way beyond our budget. Campingcosts N$420 a night for two, but we’ve never liked Okaukuejo’s campsite. Untilnow. The luxury waterfront chalets give the best views of the waterhole, but you need deep pockets For years before 2007 we stayed in what were then simplewaterfront...

Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park: a beginner's guide

By Roxanne Reid Anyone who knows me – or has read my book Travels in the Kalahari – can tell you that I'm always chuntering on about how special the KgalagadiTransfrontier Park is.If you've been there yourself, you'll understand why. But what if you've never had the pleasure? I decided to fix that. So I compiled a 'first timer's guide to the Kgalagadi', a handy short list of the most important things a newbie might want to know – from how to get there, how to get around (yikes, do I...