The new immigration regulations concerning travelling with children in and out of South Africa, implemented on 1 June 2015, have caused some confusion and a flood of questions. Here’s a guide that should make it simple and hassle-free so that you can focus on having a holiday while the SA government can focus on ensuring […]

There is a name on the American website GhostTowns.com that looks very familiar: Randsburg, California. Not far away is – you guessed it – Johannesburg! There’s also CapeTown…and over the Atlantic, in France, is a town called Durban. Randsburg, California The small town of Randsburg is nearly a ghost town today (although one reference puts the population at […]

It’s official. The rest of the world has finally woken up to what Durbanites knew all along – Durban is cool. Earlier this year the New York Times featured Durban as 7th on its 52 places to go in 2015 list. A little bit Rio, a little bit Miami, eThekwini in South Africa is in a class of […]

Along with the recently announced Health Surcharge, the United Kingdom has announced a series of amendments to its immigration rules, many of which will impact South Africans and most of which will begin to come into effect as soon as April 2015. The UK Government says most of these visa application changes are aimed at ensuring the […]

Cape Town has been ranked by National Geographic as the world’s second-best beach city in their latest Top 10 list. The international magazine places Cape Town’s beaches behind Barcelona’s “eight white-sand beaches that rim its Mediterranean coastline”. But the South African “capital of cool” pips Hawai’s Honolulu, Nice in France, Miami in the US, Rio […]

Most of us in South Africa are aware that as cute as it sounds, cuddling a lion cub is a no no. It just feeds the ‘Canned Hunting’ industry (where lions that are no longer cute are turned in to soft targets for wealthy hunters to kill). But did you know that taking part in […]

The Drostdy has always been one of the select few grand old hotels of the Karoo. As the prime accommodation in Graaff-Reinet, it began its “hotel life” as Kromm’s Drostdy Hotel back in 1876. The Drostdy had many re-models and facelifts over the century to come, the latest being an intensive upgrade that has taken […]

That South Africa punches well above its weight in the global luxury travel market was again confirmed with the release of this year’s prestigious Condé Nast Traveler Reader’s Choice Awards.The country garnered the top spot in the best 100 hotels and resorts, and Cape Town was voted fourth out of the world’s 25 must-see cities. […]

So this is a true Karoo Moment… Jules and I are sitting on the front stoep of the Karroo Theatrical Hotel. We’re spending the entire afternoon on this stoep, drinking much wine and shooting the breeze with the innovative hotel owners, Mark Hinds and Jacques Rabie. But lest you think we’re a bunch of old […]

Karoo towns are never the first choice for those seeking the bright lights. Prince Albert, though, is an exception. It’s worth waiting until dark to drive down the main road and wait until the magic moment just after dusk, when the neon outside the Showroom Theatre flickers to life, highlighting its distinctive Art Deco lines. […]

Looking out at the vast and sunny Karoo Heartland today, you’d never think that less than two weeks ago we were all snow-stormed in. Which takes me back exactly 33 years to the day, when I was sitting at a bar in Montana, USA, called The Cherokee Strip. The locals who drank at The Strip, […]

If you’re warm and you’re safe, it’s such a jol to be in the Karoo when it snows… This weekend the forecasters predicted a serious cold front and there was a ripple of expectation as soon as Snow Report posted their map of likely snowfalls. Everyone close to high-lying ground took note and precautions. This […]

The fabulous South African rusk has been a staple of Karoo travel, going back to the 1700s. Here’s the story of SA’s famous Ouma Rusks… If you were an explorer, a hunter, a prospector, a trekboer or simply a wandering remittance man crossing the great Thirstland, you always carried a bag of rusks in your […]

By Chris Marais & Julienne du Toit  In the big desert spaces of the world, an overland driver often encounters interesting objects along the road. Sometimes it’s a novelty object, a ‘world’s largest’ something or other. Other times, it’s a road sign full of bullet hotels. And you park next to it and wonder: what […]

As a travel journalist, you can wander the world, see all its peoples, taste 105 different kinds of ice cream and stomp through a thousand museums – but you know you’re always skating on the surface of experience. You’ve only had one layer of Life’s Onion. What a privilege it was then, for my wife […]

My girlfriend and I were born about 20 minutes apart.

The next best thing to actually being in the Karoo, South Africa’s semi-desert Heartland, is to have access to the just-launched Karoo Space eBookstore. Download the Karoo Collection Sampler on your tablet or smartphone, find a shady spot somewhere and settle in for a tour of the most phenomenal people-friendly desert in the world. Travel […]

Yzerfontein’s shoreline is wild and wonderful. Nestled in the Western Cape, this small harbour town – also spelt Ysterfontein – is a photographer’s paradise. Kajsa Deadrick and Helena Lorimer (whose parents rent out a beachside house in Yzerfontein) sent us these photos after their recent holidays to to the town, which is just 90 km north of […]