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10 WAYS TO SAVE MONEY ON YOUR NEXT TRIP

I am quite sure everyone can do with some extra cash when on holiday for the simple reason that you can experience more at your destination and take more memories home to feed the soul until the next trip. The key issue for me is that saving starts the moment you start planning your trip while still at home. Setting up a budget For me this is the number one in the planning process. This normally determines where I can go in the world, what to do, what to see, etcetera. For me as a South African certain countries are just too expensive to visit due to the FX rates and travel times, visas, etcetera. Setting the budget eliminates those countries immediately, although it is on my wish list and I religiously check them out every single time in the hope that something changed from the previous planning session. 2. … Read more >

TOURING ONE OF THE BIGGEST PROTEA FARMS

by Inge Triegaardt In July 2018 I managed to grab a few friends and sort of forced them to be my team for an Amazing Race to raise funds for a 13-year old girl who is attending the South African Indoor Cricket Championships later this year. We managed to win the Amazing Race and our first prize was a breakfast at Oudebosch Farmstall and a Protea Tour at one of the largest Protea farms in the world. Now, being South African and loving the outdoors, I have a natural love for our national flower and always believed that it is one of the prettiest flowers I have ever seen. I am still convinced that it is the case, but let me share my experience of going on a Protea Tour and learning all about the harvesting and caring of this beautiful flower. I have a new appreciation for all the… Read more >

HOW TO ACT AROUND WILD ANIMALS

Your trip is planned and you are about to set off on your overland trip! Excitement is big and contagious, but on the other end of the scale you are also a bit nervous as you are unsure how to act around wild animals. Let me, as an experienced and seasoned African traveller, give some basic do’s and don’ts when you are out there: Zip up your tent – no matter how hot it is in side, zip up for various reasons. It keeps out bugs, mosquitoes and slithering things like snakes. A lion will not bother you in your tent. They do not realise that they can rip open the canvas with a quick stroke of the paw and no, an elephant will not trip over your tent. Elephants are amazingly gracious when they walk. When you go to bed stow all food (and garbage) either in your tent… Read more >

FULL THROTTLE

Knysna was and is one of South Africa’s favourite holiday destinations and these days another different attraction is added to the scene where you can go full throttle. At first you will think this is all about bikes, but while browsing through the display you will notice there is much more than wheels to this living museum (if you want to call it that). You will notice the passion, the history and a story behind each bike on display. The Motorcycle Room is Colin Studen’s happy place. He takes old and new bikes which were heading for the dumpster, regardless make and model, and turn it into a memory (like the one of a kind model, Copper). It is his happy place and not only filled with his happy memories, but also happy memories of every boy, no matter the age, that visits the room. When we visited on hubby’s… Read more >

THE OLD TOLL HOUSE, GEORGE

Are you wondering what to do in George on a wet or beautiful sunny Saturday morning? We took the gravel road up the historic Montagu Pass. – It is one of the four passes that traverse the Outeniqua mountains. You will stumble upon the old Toll House. The gravel road leads up the 8km long pass and is signposted from the N12 towards Oudtshoorn. Starting from the George side and travelling up the incline, it is the first and only building that you come across. Until the building of the Outeniqua pass as we know it today, the Montagu pass was the main route between Cape Town and Grahamstown. The Toll House dates back to the year 1855. According to old records the toll was as follow: a whopping two pennies per wheel a penny per draft animal two pennies for losloop animals and half a penny for each sheep,… Read more >

MEET WALLACE

Wallace is our newly acquired, but already loved 2003 Td5 Land Rover. Not so young in years, but still going strong! Since Wallace arrived in our family there was some minor changes to it. First of all we had to change the number plates that it does not read “GP” anymore. Second major thing that needed to be done was to fix the oil leak (of course!). Then we started to fit some smaller things from our previous vehicles – an awning to one side for some protection against the harsh African sun and the unpredictable rain when we travel. Wallace’s story starts under the post: The Life of a Landy Wife First things first. A list of “essentials” was drawn up versus a list of “nice to haves” as our budget is not unlimited at the moment. Now everyone has a different “essentials” list and a different “nice to… Read more >

HOW CAN I HELP?

HOW CAN I HELP YOU? Any fellow traveller or travel blogger that needs some assistance on the planning side for an upcoming trip and you do not know where to start? My specialty (and I love doing it) is the pre-planning of a trip, which includes: work out do-able travel distances for a day, fuel needs, find nice camping spots (on the tourist strip as well as off the grid), what to see and do, do some food planning for easy camp meals packing lists Not only have we travelled alone in desolate and remote places in Africa but I can say that I know my own country and parts of Africa pretty well. Do you have questions like: what do I need to pack for your trip?, what are the distances? is there fuel available? where can I get a packing list Please do not feel that you will… Read more >