75< Make jolly in WIN /,)(Luxury Port Nolly Kruger safari worth Join the R35 000 NIEU-BETHESDA GARLIC PARTY Take home a piece of Kruger Feast at Ciao Stanford Valley’s Bela-Bela! farm table Whydah Quirky wagtails wax 5 Stays lyrical in the GESS WATERBERG who found DIY the fossils? 2-IN-1 Into TRESTLE KOWIE TABLE ALE theWild TRAIL Hike Explore Survive R38-50 (incl VAT) Other countries R33-48 (excl tax) Karkloof Sanbona the Fish In This Issue 34 78 58 EDITOR’S CHOICE We’ve put our best foot forward to bring you some some of the Klein Karoo’s vast open spaces off Route 62. And then comes the spectacular hikes in this issue, and they’re as diverse as can be. Like a pretty mother of all hikes in Southern Africa, the gruelling five-day Fish River Canyon strenuous three-day slackpack through rolling forest and grassland in the trail in Namibia. Almost 100 kilometres of grappling with sand or playing KwaZulu-Natal Midlands, or two days of walking in Big Five territory, in hellish hopscotch on boulders, but in the most splendid and mighty isolation. Travel 26 Diamonds and Dust 73 Marataba’s Magic Mix 20 Splendid Isolation Port Nolloth is certainly no ordinary Abundant birding in the Waterberg The builder of Rietbron turns on town COVER STORY hits the bliss spot COVER STORY the charm 30 In the Land of Sand and Soul 78 The Agony and the Ecstasy 40 Garlic by Boetie Bester Van Zylsrus might be a one-donkey You’ll find both on the Karkloof hiking Why a Nieu-Bethesda pub is the seat Kalahari town but it’s full of heart trail COVER STORY of the town’s Garlic Party COVER STORY 54 The Pot that Boils There’s so much more to Bela-Bela Wild Earth than a hot bath COVER STORY 68 Take Home a Piece of Kruger It’s in the indigenous nursery tucked 82 Country Escapes behind Skukuza COVER STORY So you want something quirky and unusual? Here’s our pick COVER STORY Heritage 64 Old Fourlegs and Other Fossils Leisure Meet the palaeontologist from 34 Go Fish Grahamstown whose discoveries are A five-day hike through the Fish River startling the world COVER STORY Canyon that’s a monster COVER STORY ON THE COVER 58 Softly, in Sanbona Country Living Our cover photograph by Andrea Abbott was taken in uMngeni Valley Nature Reserve in the Easy walking in Big Five countryside 14 Country Kit KwaZulu-Natal Midlands. Read about Andrea’s off Route 62 COVER STORY Gadgets you just gotta get three-day Karkloof Falls2Falls hike in The Agony and the Ecstasy on page 78. November 2018 www.countrylife.co.za NOVEMBER 2018 CONTENTS 98 40 68 Garlic by Boetie Bester: In Nieu-Bethesda the Loving it Local: At Stanford Valley estate, food, Take Home a Piece of Kruger: Look no further garlic’s been harvested and the party’s on. decor, setting are a perfect mix of old and new. than Skukuza’s splendid indigenous nursery. Classifeds 42 My Kingdom for a Horse 98 Country Chef 106 Property Barter markets are booming At Manor House restaurant outside 108 Accommodation in the KZN Midlands Stanford, chef Jonathan Davies is 110 Restaurants inspired by local produce COVER STORY 111 Marketplace 46 The Cooks are in the Kitchen How Graaff-Reinet’s tourism college 112 Parting Shot is giving back to the community Obie Oberholzer calls flat cans art. But Competitions do you? O Image Club Page 16 Hop Along the Kowie 50 O WinaluxurystayatJock Have an ale of a time on the Kowie Safari Lodge in Kruger, River craft-beer route COVER STORY Regulars worth R35 000 Page 72 86 DIY Trestle Table 2 Editorial And when it’s done it doubles as 4 Contributors SUBSCRIPTIONS wall art COVER STORY Try our fantastic Magazing 6 Your Letters Click & Collect service Page 3 90 Wheels 8 Diary The BMW X3 puts safety first – inside and out 92 Books Big Data 93 Author Interview is heading 96 Country Restaurants Face to face with Imraan Coovadia foryourfarm A taste of Kommetjie and Scarborough 94 Future Watch Read our series With Colin Cullis Future Watch 97 Fine Wines by Colin Cullis Winemaker Johan Reyneke of on page 94 Reyneke Wines www.countrylife.co.za 001 November 2018 Editor’s Note List, list, O, list! y wish list of things to the nursery supplies indigenous plants and pieces of the Midlands and spent many do and places to go to to all the Kruger camps, but visitors can a Saturday morning at one of the farmers just seems to get also buy most of the 170 plant species. markets, but that was before the days longer and longer. Welgevonden Game Reserve in the of barter markets (page 42). Karkloof I would have thought magnificent Waterberg I have ticked off (page 78) I got to know fairly well, and Mthat ticking off a few places each year but, sadly, I’ve never been to the Marakele I think my screams on the Canopy Tour would reduce it considerably, but the National Park in that area (page 73), still reverberate through the forest. older I get the longer the list becomes. which our inveterate birder Peter To Grahamstown (now called Makhanda) Paging through the factory file of the Chadwick so highly recommends. and Bathurst I have been. Port Alfred not, November issue one last time before sending When I lived in Durban, I did bits but the Kowie craft-beer route (page 50) it off to the printers, I realised I hadn’t been is a good enough reason to take a detour to half the places featured in this issue. the next time I’m in the Eastern Cape. Let’s see. Bela-Bela (page 54) gets A tick each for Stanford (page 98), a tick, and takes me back to my high school Graaff-Reinet (page 46) and Nieu-Bethesda days and an outing to the hot springs of (page 40). Nieu-Bethesda’s annual garlic the then Warmbaths. Rietbron (page 20) harvest festival sounds like a party not and Van Zylsrus (page 30) I had to find on to be missed. A celebration of all things the map, and even Port Nolloth (page 26) garlic – even sushi – and good old country up on the West Coast I have yet to visit. hospitality, so back on the list Nieu-Bethesda I have kayaked down parts of Namibia’s goes. And Stanford. Graaff-Reinet too. majestic Fish River Canyon (page 34), And that, dear friends, is the long and but the gruelling five-day hike Gerhard the short of why wish lists never get any Uys survived doesn’t feature on my list. shorter. Perhaps the Dalai Lama has good I love the Kruger (was actually conceived advice on this score, ‘Once a year go there) and thought I knew just about every somewhere you’ve never been before’. loop, bird hide and picnic spot, but was delighted to learn about the indigenous nursery (page 68) tucked away on the outskirts of Skukuza camp and the staff Nita Hazell village. Stretching over five hectares, Editor ADVERTISING EDITORIAL & ADVERTISING HEAD OFFICE SUBSCRIPTIONS & BACK ISSUES Mags at Home COMMERCIAL MANAGER 368 Jan Smuts Avenue, Craighall, 2196, P O Box 1610, Parklands, 2121 087 405 2003, [email protected], www.magsathome.co.za Eugene Marais 031 716 4503, [email protected] 011 889 0600 JOHANNESBURG Sales Office 010 492 8356 EDITORIAL CONTRIBUTIONS CAPE TOWN Sales Office 021 001 2401 CONTACT US These are welcome but MUST include relevant, DURBAN Sales Office 031 716 4444 READERS’ QUERIES 011 889 0726 or email [email protected] top-quality pictures. Send your contributions to the editor BOOKINGS AND MATERIAL Heather Daniels 011 889 0643 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR [email protected] [email protected] CLASSIFIEDS & PROPERTY Sales Representative DIARY CONTRIBUTIONS [email protected] Shantal Pillay 011 293 6104, [email protected] PRINTING CTP Printers, Cape Town LAYOUT ARTIST Chadré Oosthuizen EDITORIAL ACCOUNTS Sibongile Mbonami 011 889 0882, [email protected] EDITOR Nita Hazell DISTRIBUTION RNA SUB-EDITOR Julia Lloyd MANAGEMENT 8 Ruben Kaya Road, Parow Industrial, Cape Town, 7493, ART DIRECTOR Mario Ferlito GENERAL MANAGER Anton Botes P O Box 101, Maraisburg 1700 MANAGING EDITOR Zanél Jordaan FINANCIAL MANAGER Rohan French 011 248 3500, email [email protected] DIGITAL EDITOR Leigh Hermon CAMPAIGN DEVELOPMENT MANAGER Claudette de Chermont OFFICE MANAGER Carlyn Wallace 011 889 0726 HEAD OF RETAIL MARKETING & INNOVATION Dejane Poil PUBLISHER Caxton Magazines MARKETING MANAGER Reinhard Lotz Reg. No: 68/12588/06 368 Jan Smuts Avenue, Craighall. Box 1610, Parkands CONTRIBUTORS PRODUCTION MANAGER Sada Reddhi 2121. All material published is copyright and may not be reproduced. Andrea Abbott, Ann Gadd, Chris Marais, Colin Cullis, Daniela Zondagh, Dale DIGITAL MEDIA STRATEGIST Aqsa Qureshi Morris, Fiona McIntosch, Fiona Zerbst, Gerhard Uys, Greg Landman, Julienne du WEBMASTER Jenny Waters Toit, Mariana Esterhuizen, Marion Whitehead, Nancy Richards, Obie Oberholzer, REPRO AND RETOUCHING 011 449 1050 [email protected] Peter Chadwick, Ron Swilling, Shaen Adey, Stephen Smith, Sue Adams November 2018 002 www.countrylife.co.za EXCLUSIVE TO WOOLWORTHS MAGAZING! CLICK & COLLECT SOUTH 5< 75< E87COUNTRYSIDE Make jolly in WIN HEA ,)(Luxury Where’s the / ,)( Port Nolly Kruger safari otherNkandla? worth / Join the R35 000 NIEU-BETHESDA Best ExoticMenu The GARLIC PARTY Take home Marigold a piece of SUPER Kruger 8SPAS ZEN SPOTS Feast at Follow in the Ciao FOOTSTEPS Stanford Valley’s OF BIKO Bela-Bela! farm table Behind the at MA Whydah Quirky GAME RE wagtails wax 5 Stays lyrical in the Looking for TractracKaroo WATERBERG GESS Chats who found Korhaans in Tankwa Coast the fossils? M West DIY Cycling the M KZN flowe 2-IN-1 Into KOWIE MATOBOS M Quiver tre TRESTLE TABLE ALE Walking on TRAIL Have a jol with theWild OUR MUSEUM Hike Explore Survive Inside R38-50 (incl VAT) Sunshine JUNKIE Other countries R33-48 (excl tax) Karkloof Sanbona the Fish Oupa’s