Mzanzi Travel - Local Travel Inspiration (Issue 5)

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Explore will have to travel a short distance away for some trout fly fishing as the district has no rivers. However, you could always try your hand at some bass and carp fishing in the deeper lakes and pans of the district itself. While Chrissiesmeer is the focal point of Mpumalanga’s lakes and wetlands district, there are a number of other delightful towns quite close by, all with much to offer. Among them are the small farming town of Amersfoort named after a city in Holland; Amsterdam, which was named by McCorkindale in honour of Holland’s support for the Boers during the First Anglo-Boer War (1880-1881); Badplaas with its hot mineral waters; Breyten, an area rich in San history; Carolina, known for its Highveld grassland biome and a bird watchers’ favourite; the sleepy little farming town of Morgenzon; Volksrust, where Mahatma Gandhi was briefly imprisoned; the larger farming and commercial centre of Ermelo; and Perdekop where Oom Gert Van Der Westhuizen’s private Roodedraai Museum houses one of the largest collections of Anglo-Boer War memorabilia in the country. Garden Route Lakes Garden Route water wonderland. Seen from the air, the five lakes form a dramatic picture of dark, glistening bodies of water surrounded by forests, reeds and grassland, and interconnected by snaking rivers that meet up with the sea through large, blue lagoons and estuaries. All of this is locked in between the towering and beautiful Outeniqua mountain range on one side, and the sand dunes, beaches and river estuaries along the Indian Ocean coastline on the other side. The lakes are about 20,000 years old, but the two dune ridges that originally shaped and dammed them, are 300,000 and 6,000 years old respectively. Much of the Wilderness–Sedgefield lakes area forms part of the Wilderness Section of the Garden Route National Park and the CapeNature Goukamma Nature Reserve. The Wilderness lakes were designated a Ramsar Site in 1991, to be protected under the Ramsar Convention Treaty. The lakes here are among only a few warm temperate coastal lake systems in Africa, and the only one in South Africa. They are fringed by grass, reeds, coastal fynbos and evergreen forests. Our next stop is George, at the start of the Garden Route in the southern Western Cape. This bustling capital of the Southern Cape is easily accessible by air or excellent highways connecting it to Cape Town, Johannesburg or Port Elizabeth. George also once briefly hosted a serial killer, Gert Swanepoel, or better known as Bluebeard of the Karoo, who was hanged from a tree at the end of York Street. The same tree was also the site of slave auctions. The tree, with part of the chain used for the slaves embedded in it, are still there. From George it is a short hop across the Kaaiman’s River to the hamlet of Wilderness, and the first water body of this region’s lake district. The lakes wetlands system here is comprised of four distinct systems: the Wilderness system, which includes the Wilderness Lagoon, the Touws River, the Serpentine, Elandsvlei, Langvlei, and Rondervlei; the central system consisting of Swartvlei, the largest of these lakes, and the Swartvlei estuary at the town of Sedgefield; the landlocked single lake of Groenvlei, which has no connection to the sea; and finally the Knysna Lagoon and the estuary of the Knysna River. Most scientific descriptions of the wetlands system talk of only three systems and exclude the Knysna Lagoon, but in sheer size, beauty and proximity travellers will most certainly view it as an integral part of the overall The lakes, beaches and mountains together form one of South Africa’s most popular holiday regions, filling up with thousands of holidaymakers each year during December and January. For those seeking quiet tranquillity in the bosom of nature, away from so many people, most of the rest of the year offers just that. On the way to Wilderness one passes the spectacular train bridge over the mouth of the Kaaimans River across which the famous Outeniqua Choo-Tjoe Train ran daily between George and Knysna until flooding destroyed part of the railway line in 2006, thus ending the last remaining continually-operated passenger steam train service in Africa. There have been attempts to revive this train service so popular with tourists, but its fate remains uncertain. Along the way you may also pass some of the numerous world-renowned golf courses of the area, some designed by famous golf players like Gary Player and Ernie Els. When entering the village of Wilderness you may be deceived into thinking it is a real little sleepy hollow. Yet it is everything but. The village bristles with eateries, pubs, and interesting little shops. Standing guard over the lagoon formed by the Touws River estuary where it flows under the national road into the sea, is the Wilderness Hotel, one of the oldest and grandest hotels of the The Garden Route Lakes system/Google Earth 44 |ISSUE 5|www.mzanzitravel.co.za | MZANZI TRAVEL
Explore View across Wilderness village and lake area/Grobler du Preez / Shutterstock Garden Route. Today it combines old-style charm with modern facilities. Looking across the placid lagoon waters one can spot the erstwhile holiday and retirement home of the former State President of South Africa, P.W. Botha. Looking at the house one wonders how many top state secrets and historymaking decisions were once discussed in that very house in the days when a single policeman and a flagpole still guarded its entrance. From Wilderness kayakers can paddle across the lagoon, up the Touws River and through the snaking Serpentine channel to the Elandsvlei, Langvlei and Rondevlei lakes. Along the way you will pass millionaires’ mansions intermingled with holiday homes, parts of the Wilderness National Park, caravan and camping sites, and beautiful, forested environs. Hotels, B&Bs, self-catering lodges and backpackers are in abundance here, some overlooking the sea perched high atop sand dunes, others facing the inland lakes and mountains, or hidden away inside the surroundings forests. Kayaking in Goukamma Nature Reserve…the best way to get around/ Wandel Guides / Shutterstock Swartvlei is the largest of the Wilderness lakes, its water running into the sea through the Swartveli estuary at the town of Sedgefield. In contrast to the other lakes, Swartvlei embraces a lake, lagoon and an estuary and is divided into the upper region fresh water section and a salt water section in the estuarine area. The town of Sedgefield is situated on what was once the historic Ruigtevlei farm, originally granted to the widow Maria Meeding (née Terblanche) by Lord Charles Somerset, governor of the Cape Colony. Today it is a bustling little centre with restaurants, pubs, arts and crafts shops, B&Bs and very content locals who enjoy living in their own bit of paradise. As the town is almost entirely surrounded by water, boating is popular – motor boats are restricted to certain areas, so kayaks are the best way to get around. Groenvlei, which covers and an area of just over 3km2, is the most unique of the Garden Route Lakes, being the only of these lakes with no recognisable inlet or Water channels linking Wilderness lakes/ Marisa Estivill / Shutterstock
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Page 7: 18 30 40 07 EDITOR’S NOTE 10 TRAV
Page 10 and 11: RICHARDS BAY A unique and inviting
Page 12 and 13: News & Information TravelBites 6. S
Page 14 and 15: News & Information According to the
Page 16: News & Information SA Tourism Minis
Page 19 and 20: I’m your SOMMELIER, Sir….French
Page 21 and 22: Discover South Africa “No other p
Page 23 and 24: Discover South Africa Much to Do Te
Page 25 and 26: Discover South Africa Kalahari sand
Page 27 and 28: Discover South Africa A corbelled h
Page 30: Rooibos - Nature’s Nectar from th
Page 33 and 34: Explore Africa MALAWI THE WARM HEAR
Page 35 and 36: Explore Africa Sabino Parente / Shu
Page 37 and 38: Explore Africa Dedza-Salima Forest
Page 39 and 40: Help ensure their tomorrow VISIT US
Page 42 and 43: Explore South Africa’s beautiful
Page 44 and 45: ExploreAfrica Flamingos on Lake Chr
Page 48 and 49: Explore outlet. Its water seeps up
Page 50 and 51: The Moruleng Cultural Precinct is a
Page 52 and 53: Discover Church in centre of Philip
Page 54 and 55: Discover war, established a spinnin
Page 56 and 57: Explore Discover Africa Superb eco-
Page 58 and 59: Discover It may not be South Africa
Page 60 and 61: Discover Mission churches of the No
Page 62 and 63: Explore Africa The iconic Orlando T
Page 65 and 66: FAMILY RESTAURANT • GARDEN WITH C
Page 67 and 68: Cultural Travel Over the years the
Page 69 and 70: Cultural Travel Farm boy style with
Page 71: architecture, hospitable people and
Page 75 and 76: Situtated 140km from Cape Town, on
Page 77 and 78: Escape At the same time you can sta
Page 79 and 80: Escape MZANZI TRAVEL| www.mzanzitra
Page 81 and 82: Escape MZANZI TRAVEL| www.mzanzitra
Page 83: Wildlife & Landscape Photography
Page 86 and 87: Exceptional Places KOLMANSKOP A JEW
Page 88 and 89: Exceptional Places Kolmanskop is th
Page 90 and 91: Exceptional Places A sandy bath aft
Page 92: Le Franschhoek Hotel & Spa, situate
Page 95 and 96: WELCOME TO... www.zktours.co.za sal
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Albert Luthuli International Conven
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PREMIUM DIAMONDS & TANZANITE • AR
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Mzanzi Travel - Local Travel Inspiration (Issue 5)

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