“Quirky, unusual, fresh, and like nothing we’ve seen before…” – i-escape.com
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New to Explorers Club – Step back in time at Daniels Kraal Farm on Route 62
Hidden away in a valley in the Klein Karoo lies a luxurious homestead overlooking rolling green lawns, a large swimming pool and surrounded by mountains. Wind your way out of the little town of Calitzdorp for 9km past vineyards, orchards and ostriches and discover the Daniels Kraal Farm, encased by rambling vineyards, olive trees and…
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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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Fantastic Launch Offer at La Cotte House, Franschhoek, for Easter, Sleeps 12
Easter is available at La Cotte…. in 22 out 31 March (dates 12-19 March are also available) There won’t be any arguments about who should get the room with the view at La Cotte. Wherever you choose to lay your suitcase, you’ll enjoy its 360-degree views of Franschhoek’s vineyard-studded valley and mountains. But it’s not…
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The Selinda Reserve: Two weeks in a rich wildlife territory, on the fringes of one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World
The Dogcatcher was sitting idle, in Kasane on the northern Botswana border with Zimbabwe and Zambia, and it needed to return to roost in Franschhoek, some 2,400 kilometres across the central Kalahari. A very generous extended pink ticket was granted to me, so I asked my nine-fingered friend, Dorian Hoy, who runs Great Plains Conservation in…
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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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The first beach house to join forces with The Explorers Club collection…
We have been striving to find somewhere on the coast we can send our guests from Franschhoek, for an escape like nowhere else, where you can feel part of the ocean. La Gratitude, in Hermanus, delivers this in spades. It is an historic family holiday home, retaining it’s old fashioned charm, in an unbeatable position…
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Walking with Camels in Laikipia, Kenya
We spotted Gabriel from across the swollen river, in his striking red shukka, standing aside a large dome-shaped back of a camel. Steve Carey ferried us across the chocolate waters and we slipped into walking boots. We had a hike ahead lead by Gabriel though the Tumaren Ranch to rendezvous with Kerry Glen in the…
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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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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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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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Canoeing and walking through Mana Pools National Park in Zimbabwe
It would be hard to find a better place to drift down a wild river dodging pods of hippo and skirting submerged elephants crossing channels. Or walking freely through the bush stumbling across a pride of lion, and a leopard in the fork of a tangled wild fig tree. Mana Pools is unique and offers…
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Jacob's Creek Retreat, Barossa Valley, Australia
A small collection of old rustic Australian bluestone buildings, tucked down a dirt track, by the side of a creek in a dell surrounded by old redgum trees. A quintessentially and romantic Aussie setting with some accommodation set in the old settlement. The owner, Wyndham, is at work in the kitchen putting out some exceedingly…