“Quirky, unusual, fresh, and like nothing we’ve seen before…” – i-escape.com
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Explorers Club brings you…A Walk in the Wild 2017
Explorers Club launches its first mini-Expedition..
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New Romantic Getaway on La Cotte Farm, in Franschhoek
In mid November we are launching a tiny cottage, sleeping two, with a special view. Lots of availability for season so get booking!!! Some more info on the link below.. Rates from R2,350.00 per night. CLICK HERE to make a booking
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Local break at the hottest new hotel in Franschhoek
Having seen close to fifteen years of innovation in our valley it is surprising we see the bar still being lifted each year. A few years ago, during the World Cup hosted in South Africa, a new visitor fell in love with Franschhoek. Since then he has been busy, quietly amassing a hospitality portfolio that…
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Scorpions, Spiders and Lighting Fires with the Bushmen of Tsumkwe
A boy scout trip with a couple of bushmen at Meno a kwena is always going to throw up some surprises. Fire was always on the cards but it was the hunt for the small things that was particularly interesting. Matchbox size entrances, on the harder parts of the ground, were indicating the presence of…
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A memorable night on the Makgadikgadi Pans
Should a bit of bush fatigue set in the perfect antidote is a night under the stars on the Makgadikgadi pans. The contrast to the bush is thoroughly refreshing, particularly if you have been tossed about in the sandy mires of the Kalahari and taken in the somewhat cluttered areas of Chobe where the elephants have…
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Entering a Time Warp – The Kariba Ferry across Lake Kariba in Zimbabwe
The choice of dribbling along for twenty-two hours across an expanse of water or battling for forty-eight hours across corrugated roads and bottomless potholes was an easy one. It was an especially easy decision as it was like entering a time capsule – The Kariba Ferry. We squeezed onto one of the three available berths…
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A nostalgic & homely seaside escape, above Boulders Beach, joins Explorers club
We have discovered another twinkling moon called Little Hampton and it sits above Boulders Beach, a sheltered cove made up of inlets between gigantic granite boulders on the Cape Peninsula. The beach also happens to be a permanent nesting colony of African Penguins and is a perfect beach for children to play hooky. Colleen Nugent, its…
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One extraordinary flight – Ol Malo to South Island, Lake Turkana
Andrew, at the end of the night, suggested an adventure at dawn the next day. “Let’s fly to South Island on Turkana, see if we can catch a Nile Perch, and if we can’t we can have some breakfast anyway, and take in some views.” Chiyulu added “We can break the doors off to get…
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Oddysey into Laikipia, Kenya
On a dusty bend in the road north between Nairobi and Nanyuki, Gordie Church lurked in ambush sporting flat cap and razor sharp side burns. A long awaited re-union with a gangly old friend and Felicia on their shamba, resting in between safaris. A fitting start, over a few Tuskers, to 5 weeks in Kenya,…
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The Library Lecture: Isandlwana, 22 January 1879 – British Defeat or Zulu Victory? A date for the diary: Wednesday 28th November
Andrew Rattray will talk to us about that fateful day, the 22nd of January 1879, when the British Army invaded Zululand and found themselves up against the might of the Zulu Army, which prompted Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli, later that year, upon the death of the Prince Imperial of France to say ‘A very remarkable people…
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Piscatorial Research off Linene Island, Mozambique
In between injections of gin and quinine we went to test the health of gill-bearing aquatic vertebrae off Linene Island, on the southern tip of the Bazaruto Archipelago in Mozambique. On the surface there were plenty of healthy signs; breaching whales, popping heads of loggerhead turtles and pods of spinning dolphins. Below the surface too…
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'Chasing The Devil' – In Search of Africa’s Fighting Spirit. Tim Butcher lectures at The Library, Franschhoek
Best-selling author (Blood River) and adventure-traveller Tim Butcher lost friends in Sierra Leone during its civil war and was threatened with death by the Liberian warlord Charles Taylor, but he faced down these demons by trekking 350 miles through the jungle on an epic journey to one of Africa’s most overlooked regions. He wanted to…
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Baltic Oddballs
A voyage is not complete without a degree of bizarreness. I knew this passage would be a little out of the ordinary and had put some effort into research. A former military prison where you can stay – they treat you as a prisoner; a restaurant resembling a hospital where you eat with surgical instruments,…
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Where the Bison Roam…and other beasts
Apart from startling a buck in Mavrovo National Park, in Macedonia, and encountering at least half a dozen vipers on paths and roads, we fell short on encountering some big game. The signs were there but guides were slim on the ground. Enter general oracle Laco Molnar, primarily wildlife vet but also part-time hunter, on…
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National Parks of Montenegro, Albania, Macedonia and Kosovo
One of the purposes of coming to this region is to uncover some of the lesser known backroads and wilder areas. Although the larger wildlife has remained elusive it has not in the least detracted from the mountains, lakes and rivers of that we have encountered. Snakes, on the other hand, have been much more…
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The Accursed Mountains of Theth, Albania
For seven months Theth is isolated, cut off by the winter snows. The rocky track to get there is arduous, with slippery hairpin bends, even when the snows have melted in May. As we climbed the narrow pass and entered the clouds, the weather closed in, and the temperature slumped. Tea was taken on top,…
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Gravediggers; Sweaty Twins; the Harushas of Theth; a bizarre serenading boatman and multiple shots at dawn – some of the characters so far….
The first foray into the unknown has taken in Montenegro, Albania, Macedonia and Kosovo. Not your a-list destinations, but the so called underbelly of the Balkans. These are some of the characters that opened our eyes to the local hospitality, filled with generosity, usually flushed down with some home made rakija, no matter what time…
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An expedition sailing down the Irrawaddy, through the James Bond islands and onto Langkawi
In 2002 I organised a sailing escapade in the Far East. It was four months long and it started 1,000 miles up the Irrawaddy River in Burma, close to the Chinese border, and ended at Langkawi in Malaysia. Recently a sailing magazine in the US asked a few questions about the voyage and the article,…
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Iona National Park, Angola 3rd & 4th July
We drove through the southern edge of the Iona National Park in Angola to make tracks back to the Namibian border. We passed through some remote areas, with very slow progress across river beds and rocky passes and through Himba territory. A very weary group pushed through the border back into Namibia on the 4th…
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Virgin Kunene Camp 2nd July
We left Foz and discovered an untouched camp on the banks of the Cunene where we unwound for two nights after the crossing, before the long trek to the border.
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The infamous Killing Zone – battle to the mouth of the Kunene
It all started so well. In high spirits, after saying our goodbyes to those returning to the Cape, we took off with excitement and some trepidation to tackle the infamous stretch of coast from Flamingo to the Kunene River. Rico Sakko pioneered the beach run some ten years ago for adventure. The two vehicles narrowly…
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Angola – Update and Binga Bay to Flamingo Bay 26th to 29th June 2010
We took off northwards rolling between two walls of mopani bush along a dusty single lane track towards a destination unknown to any of us. The grand Angolan Adventure has begun. We have covered some four and a half thousand kilometres since leaving home and in Angola we have taken a route from Ruacana to…
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Venture into Angola – the introduction
We have decided to leave the lager louts swimming in their bibs of beer in Cape Town, during the World Cup, and venture north into uncharted territory for all of us. Although partly regretting we are not to be caught up in the fervor of World Cup mania, an altogether new and intriguing adventure awaits…
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Fishing report from Kenya's north coast
The East African dung beetle, Gordie Owles has filed a recent fishing report. The exceptional fishing along Kenya’s north coast has continued into February. This has generated huge enthusiasm amongst keen fishermen and women, of all ages, and has drawn them from all over the globe to the small hotel in Malindi called Driftwood. The…
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Fancy a stroll?
Jeanine Barone went for many strolls in the search for some unusual ambles. I concur to two, having cut my teeth for three years in the Croatian backwaters. There are plenty of gems in Croatia, off the beaten track. Two more worthwhile are crossing the Massif de la Selle in Haiti (although sadly now might…
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Ripley attacks Tibet and Mount Everest
Ripley returns with his next installment from peaks on the top of the world. This time circling, like a three-legged mountain goat in the Himalayas, around Chomolungma, Goddess Mother of the Earth. We were standing there scratching our heads again. The road was so bad that we were starting to wonder if we were even…
