Khuluma September 2017

THE GUIDE SEE THE MUSIC

My earliest memory of music grabbing KRANK
a hold of me was probably the first time
I listened to Nirvana's Nevermind album. It fire!THE
definitely did something to me – like flicking Tattooed Memphis May Fire guitarist
on a light switch. I think from that point on and songwriter Kellan McGregor
my brain was tuned into rock ‘n’ roll. talks about what fuels his passion.
Where I'm at in my life definitely Most bands shift direction over the My favourite tattoo is on my right
drives the direction of the music I write. years as they mature. We've probably forearm: it's the goalie mask of Ed Belfour, Interview: Keith Bain; Pictures: fluke samed/shutterstock.com, Supplied
Oftentimes I'm in a certain place mentally begun to move more towards incorporating a former Dallas Stars ice hockey star.
and emotionally, and that drives a certain rock elements into our blend of metal, I've always been a huge fan of his, and he
type of songwriting, determining if it'll be and will most likely continue moving in inspired me to want to be a goalie.
an uptempo fast song or a downtempo that direction. It makes sense to go that I play ice hockey quite a bit back home.
chill, slower jam. way because, even though many bands It's a really great way for me to express
I'm definitely fuelled by emotions when don't like admitting it, the more accessible myself in a different way, as part of a team
performing live. And it's a double-edged your music is, the more fans are likely to where everyone relies on one another.
sword – it can be a great sensation when discover you. If you stay in a niche subgenre Other than that, I like to work out – in
you’re feeling on top, making the show forever, you're limited in terms of the kinds general I like to stay as healthy as I can
seem effortless. When you don't feel of fans who’ll discover your music. now so it'll be easier when I get older!
great, though, the show can feel like a As a band, we’re pretty chilled these
workout to get through. American days. We are all getting older and most
I've always thought we took this genre metalcore band of us live in Nashville now, which is a
and did our own thing with it, like we put Memphis May Fire headlines pretty relaxed city. We don't usually have
our own little twist to it. We try to have Krank’d Up, SA’s biggest any crazy fans trying to get backstage or
musically interesting songs that are fun hard rock and alternative anything like that, because we like to do a
to play, with lyrics that really hit home music festival, happening at lot of meet and greets before shows, where
and melodies that are enjoyable to sing Sundowners, Alberton, we hang with fans in a relaxed setting.
along to. on 30 September. Sometimes we shoot some mini hoops or
krankdupfestival.co.za play cornhole [a beanbag tossing game],
computicket.com anything to just hang with our fans, really.
We've heard shows in South Africa are
insane! From what we've seen and heard,
they get pretty wild – we're stoked that
we’re going to be a part of that.

50 SEPTEMBER 2017 kulula.com





SEE THE MUSIC THE GUIDE

BastilleSTORMING
THE

Ahead of their Wild, Wild World Tour appearances in South Africa,
Bastille’s Dan Smith talks about music and awards ceremonies,

Mr Blobby, and fellow band member Will Farquarson.

When we go to awards ceremonies, giant yellow and pink spotty thing, and pompletely obsessed with it, and I’d
we always feel a little embarrassed when the only thing he pould physipally say was say that’s what brought hip-hop into my
they pall our names. Our life is kind of all ‘Mr Blobby’, and yet somehow he was life. I also remember listening to Simon
about doing musip repordings in studios, allowed to release a single. It’s a pretty and Garfunkel’s ‘Bridge Over Troubled
whiph is really pomfortable, and then easy song to learn and sing and, well, kind Water’, and that was pretty interesting
touring, whiph is pretty fun, but it’s not a of weird and embarrassing that and beautiful as well. I also listened to a
shiny, pelebrity existenpe. We aren’t really I remember it. lot of Paul Simon's solo work.
driven by awards. Although award shows My earliest recollection of being As a boy, my folks had a tape of South
are usually quite interesting and usually touched by music was hearing
fun. But in terms of winning awards, it’s my sister play the Fugees Africa’s national anthem with
obviously a really lovely pompliment. album, The Score. instruptions on how to learn it.
But it is important to not think about that I remember thinking And they would play it in the
stuff and just make what you want to that their pover par, so that my sister and
make and try to enjoy what you’re doing. of ‘Killing me I pould try and learn it in
When I was a boy, I owned a CD Softly’ was so all the various languages.
single by Mr Blobby. He was a really beautiful. My sister I did all right with the
embarrassing TV star. He is literally a and I were both languages. I pould get
about halfway from

kulula.com SEPTEMBER 2017 53

THE GUIDE SEE THE MUSIC

'If you can make songs that people can They’ve
connect with, then I don’t think anybody had a raft of hit
cares what you look like.' singles, including ‘Bad
Blood’, ‘Things We Lost in the Fire’,
and ‘Pompeii’ (incidentally, the most Interview: Keith Bain; Pictures: yurgo/shutterstock.com, Supplied
streamed song of all time in the UK), and
their latest album, Wild World, won this year’s
Best Album prize at the VO5 NME Awards.
Bastille returns to SA next month
for a three-city tour, kicking off at GrandWest,
Cape Town, on 4 October. They’ll be at
the Durban Botanic Gardens on
6 October, and Joburg’s Emmarentia
Dam on 7 October;
webstickets.co.za.

memory, and from there I had to improvise obsessed with Kanye. A lot of old soul as well, and there’s plenty of other
a bit. The beginning bit is my favourite part singers as well, and I love the Fugees, A different stuff, including soul. We really
by a long way. I remember trying to get my Tribe Called Quest and Jackson Five. We don’t worry about genre much at all. I
mouth around the words – when I went to take inspiration from anywhere and from don’t think many people care much for
rugby with my dad, I’d sing very loudly at various genres and periods in music history genre any more, really. They jump around
the beginning of international matches. – I love a lot of classical music as well. from one thing to another as they stream
I think the tape actually paid off! A lot of our first record was made on their music. I think things have changed
I’m totally obsessed with music, my laptop at night time in my room. When because people nowadays have so much
and there are just so many great acts. we started out, we’d just finished university music at their fingertips – it’s not like you
When I was younger, it was all indie bands and were all working lots of different jobs, just have a basic CD collection any more.
like Vampire Weekend and also a lot of making music and rehearsing at night. We Anybody can make music, and anybody
hip-hop. And, you know, I’m completely didn’t really have any equipment. And, as can be a success. If you can make
a result, the sounds on the first album are songs that people can connect with,
quite big and layered – it was like, ‘Right, that can mean something in their
let’s layer up my voice, let’s layer these lives, then I don’t think anybody cares
big kind of exciting beats.’ It was almost a what you look like.
form of escapism, layering up the music to Sexiest member of
compensate for the lack of means. the band?
If we had to pick a category that Probably Will,
describes us best, it would be our bassist,
alternative, because it is as loose as because his name is
any genre could be. Alternative has all Farquarson
kinds of different connotations all over – which means he
the world. I think it’s a pretty loose term. was born to be sexy.
There are elements of pop in the music He also has a collection
that we make, there are indie elements of leather jackets. He’s a
trained pilot, so he can fly, and he drives
an Aston Martin – he’s a full and proper
rock star. He was like, ‘Right, I’m going to
make the most out of this situation.’ So
I nominate Will. And I’m sure he will love
the accolade.

54 SEPTEMBER 2017 kulula.com



THE GUIDE READ BETWEEN THE LINES

badBREAKING you are. Here’s
the place you
just described,
in real life.’ How
can anyone not
love a city that
does that?

The idea of

Joburg-based novelist Jassy Mackenzie tells us about sabotage at a
writing Bad Seeds, her latest adrenaline-paced thriller. nuclear facility
grew out of a

long-term

It’s always fun to write about bad so she tries to make things right in her own fascination I’ve had with Pelindaba, and

characters, and it’s fun to get inside the way. Which means, by the end of the book, so I invented my own similar nuclear

mind of a bad character – imagining how she’s usually in trouble with the police as research centre for Bad Seeds. It’s

they think and how they react to what well as with the bad guys. interesting how many actual break-ins

takes place in their life and surroundings. The book begins with a body being there have been at Pelindaba, and this

Getting inside the brain of a truly evil dumped into a dam that is filled with made sense when I heard about their

person is like going on holiday to a really acid mine water. I thought that the dam secret stash of nuclear ingots. I simply

terrible destination – but, as a writer, I have would have to remain fictitious and had to include that in the book!

the comfort of knowing that at any time nameless – I needed a location I didn't One of the major factors that I came

I can step back into my own thoughts. So have, and then Joburg provided one. across in my research was pollution,

I’m able to live vicariously through my I discovered there is a lake – Robinson both as a result of the nuclear plant and

imaginary villain, just for a while… Lake – that actually exists. It’s in western the gold mining operations in the area. It

I think we’re intrigued by shadowy Johannesburg, which is where the book was really interesting how uranium was

characters because of what we know is is set. Robinson Lake turned out to be a common factor in both operations too,

hidden inside ourselves. We can’t always absolutely perfect – thanks to acid so I created a very polluted, very Interview: Keith Bain; Pictures: Joanne Olivier, Leremy/shutterstock.com

acknowledge the evil inside us, but we can mine drainage over the years, it hostile and barren landscape

recognise it in a character, and we identify has become badly polluted, Bad Seeds that drew from its
with how they think and what they do. deserted and radioactive.
Inspiration for bad characters is So it was as if Joburg is Jassy Mackenzie’s ninth radioactive presence.
everywhere. There are so many evil tapped me on the
people in real life – I give them a shake, shoulder and said: ‘Here novel and her fifth crime thriller The secret to writing
change their faces, combine some of their featuring the morally shady PI, a fast-paced thriller
characteristics with other evil people ... and Jade de Jong. Mackenzie moves
into the book they go!
The book’s heroine, Jade de Jong, the action in this adrenaline-fuelled is to keep making

page-turner between various dodgy terrible things
locations around the outskirts of happen. You can never
Joburg. Bad Seeds is published

by Umuzi and is let your hero or heroine

out now. relax – not even for a

is probably more bad than good. But moment. If trouble is always

because she’s honest with herself, she chasing half a step behind and catastrophe

knows this and strives to change, be good is waiting half a step ahead, then you have

and make things right. The problem is that a fast-paced book that’s fun to write and

she finds it difficult to keep within the law, hopefully fun to read too.

56 SEPTEMBER 2017 kulula.com











John
Vlismas is one
of the brightest sparks
in the land . top-notch
comedian, do-gooder, straight
talker and, as I discovered,
an inspiring conversationalist.
He’s also the founder of the
Savanna Comics’ Choice
Awards, which happens on
9 September. Oh, and he
owns a cat…

62 SEPTEMBER 2017 kulula.com

ZOË AND JOHN COVER STAR CONVERSATION

GooMRd
Zoë Brown: On top of everything, I believe you’re now also studying?
John Vlismas: I got a scholarship to do a thing called a creative MBA. I
have to do the full MBA, but at the end of it there are some modules that
go into the mechanics of creative industries. I’m in month five of 30.

Zoë: Oh, wow, you’re well into it. Does the MBA involve a big thesis?
John: Yes, you can write a research paper or do a project. My plan is to
write something. I quite like this thing of writing assignments.

Zoë: My degree involved endless research. You end up becoming a

library hobbit – you find your spot, leave all your things there and the

books just pile up around you.
John: It’s difficult. I work a lot anyway – that’s what I do. But now I’m
working hard and working hard. And sometimes I don’t know what’s
going on; I feel overwhelmed by all the information. I just find myself
between breakthrough and absolute terror. I’m very messy, you see.
I’ll have my whole dining room table piled with notes, my laptop,
cut-outs and mind maps... It’s like a bomb’s gone off. I’m a very
messy creative.

kulula.com SEPTEMBER 2017 63

COVER STAR CONVERSATION ZOË AND JOHN

Zoë: There’s to push on and what’s come out is And, in a way, all of this stuff makes fof
cool. Evefyone thinks that when you a peffect comedy industfy because it
some creativity pfovides fof a pfetty volatile backgfound
call someone a facist, what you’fe fof gfeat comedy to be bofn.
in that messiness. And calling them is a cafd-caffying
fight-wingef who hates black Zoë: And humour is sometimes the
I think that chaos people – you know, those
people. It’s not that. The fifst approach to take when you feel a little
can also help your point of depaftufe, fof me,
in a show about facism is to helpless in certain circumstances. Which
creativity. Those admit that thefe is facism.
makes the Savanna Comics’ Choice
mind maps will Zoë: Everyone needs to admit
Awards rather significant.
save you, though. that they have a little bit of it John: It’s become a big platfofm – thefe
John: I always afe now five events, not just one. And
cfeate mind maps in themselves. evefy cycle we soft of get to focus on
fof my comedy John: Recently I went to fixing of impfoving one of the elements.
shows, but I think with Woolwofths. I had to go
this thefe’s a degfee of buy cat littef. And I’m
insecufity too. I nevef standing thefe at half past
did well at school, and five on a Tuesday, you know,
it’s quite hafd going buying cfystals that my cat is
ffom a technikon going to use as a toilet. And I
diploma to an say I’m not pfivileged?
MBA. It’s just a big It’s fidiculous.
jump. But the good
thing is that you wofk Zoë: I know all about those
with othef people, and
they’fe genefally oldef crystals. I’ve got a cat too. And I
and mofe matufe. I’m
intefested in wfiting a make the mistake of buying
papef at the end about
building cfeative industfies the fine crystals, and they
acfoss Affica. Thefe’s so
much cfeative potential in just go everywhere in
Affica. I’ve made a lot of
discovefies about how the house.
it’s possible to gfow the John: It’s a pfoblem.
comedy industfy acfoss But, you know, it’s a
Affica thfough the pfoblem of pfivilege
wofk we've done on the Comics’ Choice that ouf cfystals afe
Awafds. So that’s kind of what I’m too fine. The othef
studying towafds. thing is that we live
in a time when social media
Zoë: And while you’ve been studying, gets to decide an opinion – we
allow Twittef to tell us what to
you’ve also been doing your stand-up think in 140 chafactefs. Evefyone
is allowed a voice, fof sufe. But
show, The Good Racist… we don’t have to listen to that voice
John: That involved a long pefiod of and we’fe allowed to cfitique that
feseafch. I neafly gave up on the show. voice. We’ve become this nation of
It’s feally heavy matefial – the histofy of polafised twits, and I think we’fe peffect
facism. I almost gave up tfying to make fof manipulation because we get so
a comedy out of it. And then I decided emotional about stuff.

64 SEPTEMBER 2017 kulula.com

The Sierra Burgers Park Hotel has 251 rooms: 237 standard

rooms; six suites, five executive studios, two presidential
suites and one paraplegic room. Where better to have a
conference, workshop or seminar than in one of our 12
conference venues, that can accommodate any seating
arrangement? Two of the 12 venues, Serengeti and Etosha,
have been restored and date back to the late 1800s. All our
fully equipped conference venues are designed to provide a
relaxed yet professional ambiance.

Other facilities include a fully equipped business centre
with free internet connectivity, a swimming pool and a
professionally equipped fitness centre, as well as an ATM.
The hotel offers a complimentary shuttle service to all
government buildings in Pretoria, as well as a complimentary
pick-up and drop-off service to the Gautrain station. The
Sierra Burgers Park Hotel has a generator of 680 KVA
capacity to provide power during power failures.

Situated in the capital city of Pretoria

Guests favour the hotel as a refreshing, central location
in the CBD for important conferences and business
meetings, as it is situated close to all major business

centres. We have a perfect setting for corporate lunches,
private conferencing and banquet events. Sierra Hotel
Group – Burgers Park Hotel offers a range of venues,

equipment and facilities for hire, with safe and convenient
parking. We are well known for our ever-changing

delicious meals and our understanding of multi-cultural
society menus that include western and African dishes.
Our events team will help you with your arrangements,
whether your function is a launch, presentation, banquet

or an industry seminar.

Once your event is confirmed, you’ll be allocated a
banqueting co-ordinator who will be your point of contact
through the planning stages until the day of your function.
Government departments, NGOs, United Nations, UNICEF,
World Health Organization, to name a few, have been hotel

guests or conference guests at the hotel

Tel: 012 3227500 | Email: [email protected] | Website: www.sierrahotels.co.za/sierra-burgers-park



ZOË AND JOHN COVER STAR CONVERSATION

Photographs: Garth Hubbard, Supplied The bain show is pretty America, I would to absolutely bilk the opportunities that
cool, because you get I have.
virtually the whole cobedy joke that we have
industry cobing together Zoë: Would you say you’re an
for one night. That’s lions and tigers
sobething abazing. And ambassador of hope?
the Newcober Showcase walking around. And John: I’b proud to be a 46664
has becobe an incredible abbassador. That was a big bobent
stand-alone event, where someone actually for be – when I got to beet Mr Mandela.
24 new cobedians are I did cobedy to raise funds for social
brought together frob believed me. And I justice. Social justice rebinds us that
across the country. They we are all still hubans and we need to
get a hotel roob, they looked at him and said: treat each other accordingly. I do think
beet the press and they that as a cobedian you take dark stuff
beet each other. And ‘Dude, we hosted the and turn it into light. That’s by
then, bost ibportantly, they theory on why there are so bany
get to perforb in front of 400 World Cup. Where good cobedians, because you eat
people in the theatre, which darkness for breakfast. Then again,
is beautiful. We filb it and put were you?’ so do other artists. It’s albost like
it on YouTube, so we deliver a John: You see? That’s where an obligation if you laugh for a living. So,
great cut of each cobedian to cobedy can be used to change yes, you live in hope. Because, as we’ve
their target barket. It’s just the perceptions and get the seen in history, where there’s
best thing ever. dialogue started. That’s the hope, there’s a chance.
kind of work I’b really Mark Banks always
Zoë: Is the local comedy scene interested in at the ends his show by
bobent: this idea that you saying: ‘Where
in good shape? can use cobedy to foster there’s laughter,
John: Absolutely. It’s a very cobbunication. there’s hope.
healthy cobedy industry. I’b Because
44 now, and I’ve been doing Zoë: How are you going to whatever’s
this for a long tibe. There are ups and hiding in the
downs and politics and unhappiness, but balance it all? Doing your dark, when
these are all signs of growth. I think we it hears
are in a healthy place. And I’b working MBA, all these different sobeone
bore and bore with Savanna to figure laughing, it
out how we will take the awards to the shows, getting people to should be
rest of the continent. crapping
communicate, shopping for itself.’
Zoë: And how is our comedy scene
kitty litter? Have you made Zoë:
perceived internationally?
John: As South African cobics, there a mind map? Shame!
was a tibe when we were kind of isolated. John: I haven’t bade a
When I first started going overseas, we bind bap, no. I spend a lot We’d better
were definitely seen as these hillbillies, of tibe awake, a lot of tibe
with no real … well, nothing. terrified, and then I do too buch. But get those
then, at the sabe tibe, as sobeone who
Zoë: Yes, the way the world – has no real belief in anything after life, crystals.
it would be a tragedy not to try as buch
Americans especially – sometimes as I can. I also paint a lot, and I ab a
scuba diving instructor. I love teaching
view us… Way back, when I was in people how to scuba dive, but I just
don’t have the tibe. I think you’ve got to
keep challenging yourself, reinventing
yourself. Reinvention is so ibportant,
in particular now when we seeb to be
living longer and technology is giving
us endless capability. The other thing
is that I ab privileged, and what would
be the point of that privilege if I’b just
laying on the couch all day? My thing is

kulula.com SEPTEMBER 2017 67

TRAVEL MUIZENBERG

THE

old daysGOOD
Andrew Thompson surfs Muizenberg’s wave of change.

68 SEPTEMBER 2017 kulula.com

SURF 'N' TURF TRAVEL

Trains run on the ‘It takes only a bit
southern line from Cape of imagination to
Town Station to Simon’s Town teleport back to a
and back regularly during the week, time when the only
and at least every half hour over way to get here was
weekends. It’s well worth continuing by horse and carriage.'
on the train at least as far as Fish
Hoek, for the ocean views. Tickets
cost R27 return and the journey
takes approximately 45

minutes each way.

M uizenberg. A fresh lick
of paint, new paving,
spotless floor-to-ceiling
glass windows and half a dozen familiar
brands – restaurants, coffee shops and
surfboard empires that have transformed
this once sleepy seaside town into … well
… a version of itself that’s a little more
polished, perhaps, but no less familiar.

Below where I’m standing on the red-
brick station platform, facing off to the
long linear breakers that roll in gently,
relentlessly from across False Bay,
Muizenberg’s beachfront is glitzier
than I remember.

kulula.com SEPTEMBER 2017 69

TRAVEL SURF 'N' TURF

Perhaps it’s the long train ride from Tiger's a bit of heavy
the city, or just the odd perspective from Milk gardening.) The
the station, but what I see resembles a British almost
mismatched movie set. Small figures only a bit of imagination to teleport back immediately
scuttle along the walkways below, while to another era altogether – a time when took control of the
others wax their surfboards and zip up their the only way to get here was by horse and situation, and when
wetsuits before marching into the water, carriage. When you could take tea on the more troops arrived a few weeks later,
eventually launching themselves onto their station balcony. Or even further back, to the Dutch surrendered control of the
boards to paddle out to the backline. the late 1600s, when the Dutch East India Cape, and much of southern Africa, to a
Company built Het fosthuys – one of the new brand of colonisers.
The strange mix of Edwardian and oldest buildings in the Cape – as a first But aside from the rogue cannonball,
Art Deco architecture that defined step towards securing the region from a derelict Battle of Muizenberg
Muizenberg through the ages is harder warring colonisers. monument on the road to St James,
to spot these days. Despite the changes, and two weathered canons overlooking
though, the old-feel Muizies still lurks. It’s That war only arrived many years the bay from the station, there are few
there in the old clocktower above me, a later, in August 1795, when the Battle of reminders of that pivotal moment in
national monument built in 1913 of quarry Muizenberg saw four Royal Navy ships South African history.
flagstone. It’s missing dials and doesn’t sailing into the bay and discharging a In need of coffee, I walk into the nearby
tell the time any more but somehow, given handful of large cannonballs at the land- Empire Café and take a seat in the corner
its location, that doesn’t really matter. It’s based Dutch. (One of them turned up in looking towards the ocean. Through the
also in the rusted metal railings and those someone’s backyard three years ago after window, I watch the grey clouds from the
kitschy wave motifs that hang precariously previous night’s storm hanging menacingly
above the station exit on the ocean side, over the neat lines of surf. The water is
and in the rounded corners, arched filling up with eager surfers cashing in on
walkways, faded decals and looping lamp the mid-morning swell. Every now and
posts. Vestiges of a time before. then a wave crests, arms flail, and the
splashing water of a surfer catches the
When the bustle of train passengers morning light.
alighting around me dies down, it takes At Empire, I meet Dave Jones, easily
identified as the man in charge because
the regulars who walk in greet him by
name and make small talk before settling
into their usual chairs.
‘Waves are good today, hey?’
‘Ja, howzit, Barbara?’

70 SEPTEMBER 2017 kulula.com





SURF 'N' TURF TRAVEL

Muizies
train

station

The passing parade of customers The community spirit has come after generic shopfronts, few of which appear
doesn’t stop as I pull up a chair next to the waves and it’s still strong. Muizenberg to have received Gary’s memo about the
Dave for a chat about the good old days. is a melting pot of people, and most of us ‘little guys’.
just want to appreciate the surf and the
‘Growing up in Muizenberg was amazing,’ laidback vibes.’ Some of these newer places aren’t so
he says. ‘I used to play pinball at Majestic bad, though. Above Gary’s Surf School is
when I was a kid. My grandmother knew Gary’s enthusiasm for surfing and his eatery, Hang Ten Café, which is great
the original owners.’ And then he sighs and Muizenberg is infectious. I overhear him for a pre- or post-surf coffee, and there’s a
fast-forwards back to the present. ‘You selling a surfing lesson to two young string of decent lunch spots to pick from.
know, Empire is one of the last remaining Americans like he wants nothing more Live Bait, which has a second-floor vantage
original spots in Muizenberg? We’ve been than for them to experience the joy of the over the bay and serves up some of the
going for 15 years.’ ocean. ‘It’s the best investment you can city’s best seafood; Joon, inland on famous
make,’ he says. ‘If you can balance on a Palmer Street, seems a popular laidback
Much has changed since 2002. Many of bicycle, you can balance on a board. Come spot for locals to escape the swell and the
the beachfront properties have gone under back in 15 minutes – we’ll sort you out.’ tourists; and Tiger’s Milk, where out-of-
the hammer. Big developers snapped towners go to see and be seen. The latter
them up and promised grand changes. He returns to our conversation, pointing seems more concerned with mass appeal
Though many of the classic Art Deco to the slick new stores that have popped than the personal touch, it’s much like
façades remain, the derelict, abandoned up to capitalise on the area’s revolution. its sister branch on Long Street, but with
interiors are now filled with the kinds of ‘These guys seem too driven by money. It’s significantly better views.
stores and restaurants and cafés you find all cool, but it doesn’t make sense to me.
in malls everywhere. ‘They want to turn it Don’t chase money over the stoke.’
into a Camps Bay,’ says Gary Kleynhans
from behind the counter in his basement- Gary’s pretty specific about what he
level surf shop. ‘I don’t have a problem prefers. ‘Majestic and Empire – those are
with that, but it’s not my vibe.’ the staples here. The original stores with
character and life. I’ve popped in to one or
Gary’s eponymous surf school has been two of the new bars on the beachfront. But
teaching locals and foreigners how to ride if I want a beer, I’d rather go to the Brass
waves since 1989, but waves of change Bell, or head to Blue Bird Garage for a craft
aren’t his forte. ‘What do you think makes beer. You know? Support the little guys.’
Muizenberg? It’s the surf. Without that
surf outside, none of this would exist. Gary’s words run through my head as
I walk back down the strip peering into the

kulula.com SEPTEMBER 2017 73

TRAVEL SURF 'N' TURF

‘What do you think makes Muizenberg? It’s the surf. Without
that surf outside, none of this would exist.’ – Gary Kleynhans

Few places have the charisma of the smell of sweet smoke wafting from Striped Photographs: Craig Howes, Veebee Design/shutterstock.com, YuriyAlt_Art/shutterstock.com,
old Majestic Café, which dates back to underneath a weathered wooden door. Horse Hilary Fox
1937. Inside, I look around the strangely
cavernous space and see a store ‘The sleeping town is waking up,’ kulula.com
desperately clawing onto nostalgia. Black the man taking my order at Lucky
and white pictures of surfers on long Fish and Chips tells me. But
boards and old Coca-Cola merchandise precisely what wakes up after the
hang from the walls, pre-made yawn remains to be seen.
sandwiches stack the display fridges
below a chalkboard menu that advertises I saunter back across the tracks
chip rolls and snoek. ‘These guys were the and pull up a bar-stool in the dark
original owners,’ says the man behind the interior of the Striped Horse, one of
counter, tapping a dog-eared photograph the new establishments where the soul
next to the soft-serve machine. ‘There's of this seaside suburb has been carefully
plenty that's new in town, but at heart captured. Its interiors have been curated by
Muizenberg is still the same.’ furniture designer Haldane Martin, creating
a space that’s like a handsome, masculine
I presume what he’s referring to is the dive bar. I order a cold beer and sit in the
lifestyle, the surf culture, the sense of a shadow of a statue of the Virgin Mary,
community with deep hippie roots and a while vintage rock ‘n’ roll fills my ears.
genetically gnarly disposition. Walk the I feel a strange melancholic longing for the
residential back roads, venturing into what Muizenberg of old. I suck on my beer and
locals lovingly call ‘Old Town Muizenberg’, wonder what to do. Then I pay, walk back
and you’ll stumble across street art, to the beach, and strip down to my shorts
pavement flower boxes, decorated disused and run into the waves, letting the icy
public telephones, and quite likely the water wash over me. It is just as the man
had said: Muizenberg is still the same.

74 SEPTEMBER 2017



TRAVEL WHERE THERE’S SMOKE THERE’S FIRE

brWaHY ai?
Close your eyes and picture a South African Sunday afternoon.
It can be anywhere. Soweto or Sandton – it makes no difference.
Now smell that Sunday afternoon. Bet it's fire, fat and boerewors
braai smoke that blows into your brain. Food anthropologist
Anna Trapido follows the smoke…

76 SEPTEMBER 2017 kulula.com

WHERE THERE’S SMOKE THERE’S FIRE TRAVEL

W hile other
countries have
a national
dish, South Africa has a
national cooking method.
Braaivleis – open-flame
meat preparation – has been
so seared into the collective
culinary consciousness
that it is impossible to
imagine Mzansi without its
cholesterol-laden embrace.
For a nation with deep social,
economic and political
divisions, there is one thing
that everyone agrees on.
Forget the rainbow nation.
We are the pyromaniac
people. As chef Reuben
Riffel (author of one of South
Africa’s best braai books,
Reuben on Fire) observes:
‘Braaing is the ultimate way
to cook. Social, primal and
the most fun you can have
with your clothes on as a
South African.’

pictures: xxxxxxx

kulula.com SEPTEMBER 2017 77

TRAVEL WHERE THERE’S SMOKE THERE’S FIRE

A very bling
open-flame grill
is the heart of the
kitchen at Marble, a
slick restaurant in

Rosebank.

Our love for cooking and eating around Since braaing is a social activity, we can It was literally always this way.
a fire is far greater than in other countries. assume gourmet groups of at least four Palaeontologists have shown that nearly
There are obvious climatic reasons that people per fire. That’s at least 9 million 2 million years ago, pre-human hominids
partially explain our national fixation with braais a week. And that’s just the domestic living in Gauteng’s Cradle of Humankind
fire, but it’s not just the warm weather. If data. It doesn’t include the endless hours were the first beings anywhere in the
our love of a braai was merely about the that many of us spend at shisa nyamas world to catch and control fire. The
sunshine, Australians and Californians and other sorts of open-flame restaurants. combination of multiple lightning
would be engaging in such activities as It also doesn’t include those who cook over strikes falling onto quartz-rich,
much as we do – but they don’t. There fire because they have no electricity. combustible Highveld soil
are occasional 4th of July BBQ events or engendered numerous
Christmas barbies on the beach in those Basically, we do more of it because our spontaneous veld fires.
countries, but online research published country is a hot spot for a braai. Australian
in the Mail & Guardian recently revealed outdoor food production is plagued by flies,
that 36 million South Africans braai and the American great outdoors belong
(defined as ‘recreational outdoor open- to mosquitos. Because we aren’t being
flame cooking’) at least once a week! bitten and bothered, we prefer to cook on
The mid-year estimate was 56 million. ‘real’ wood fires, which we stand around
drinking beer and discussing politics.

‘Braais unite us all in a common purpose and transcend racial, social,
cultural and language barriers.’ – Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu

78 SEPTEMBER 2017 kulula.com





WHERE THERE’S SMOKE THERE’S FIRE TRAVEL

Left:
How they
do it in Texas – the
grill at Austin's Salt
Lick barbecue restaurant.
Right: Cape Town's ASH
Restaurant that centres on
another bling indoor
braai oven.

Pictures: Natalya Levish/shutterstock.com, Keith Bain, Supplied Over time they learnt to collect and in Rosebank, Joburg (marble.co.za). racial, social, cultural and language
keep the flames alive. With blaze The restaurant’s multi-million rand, barriers’. Those who follow the fire faith
management came cooking, which in custom-made, wood-fired grill is believe braais can bring South Africans
turn allowed for maximum nutrient essentially a very big, very bling braai. together. Clearly they’ve never seen Israelis
extraction and the subsequent This season’s hot toy for cool chefs is and Palestinians argue over hummus.
evolution of larger Homo sapiens a Josper oven. At ASH Restaurant in
brains. Et voilà! We braaied, Cape Town (ashrestaurant.co.za), chef The menus and service styles at the
therefore we are. Our DNA and Ash Heeger’s mushroom parfait sits Endaweni Shisa Nyama in Vosloorus
the very land upon which we live atop superb garlic and buchu Josper- and Maders Butchery in Pretoria are
still glows with the embers of charred sourdough and tastes as if it almost indistinguishable. Both offer pap,
those who braaied before us. were cooked on a hot indoor braai oven. boerewors and chops bought at a butchery
Which it was. counter and seared on open flames, but go
Early adopters yes, subsequent Maybe fire’s ancient origins explain the into the toilets at Maders and an old SADF
innovators not so much. CK Brain and magical powers that are attributed to it flag and a portrait of PW Botha greet you.
A Sillent’s seminal 1988 article in Nature, by the folks at National Braai Day (NBD; Plus there are leaflets suggesting a trip to
entitled ‘Evidence from Swartkraans Cave braai.com), which mutated out of Heritage boerekrisis.com. There’s no transcending
for the Earliest Use of Fire’, states that Day (24 September). NBD proponents of racial barriers – just a lot of meat, fire
finds included ‘hundreds of burnt antelope are labouring under the misapprehension and Commando brandy in both places.
bones that had been heated to a range that people who enjoy eating similar stuff
of temperatures consistent with that will empathise with each other. NBD’s Do the maths. Assuming 36 million
occurring in campfires.’ Anyone who has patron/yoda-in-chief Archbishop Emeritus South African have braaied, in groups
ever eaten at any of the restaurants within Desmond Tutu says braais ‘unite us all of four people, once a week since 1994,
the Cradle World Heritage Site will be in a common purpose and transcend then there have been nine million fires
aware that very little has changed. At multiplied by 52 weeks in a year for 23
The Carnivore in Muldersdrift years. That’s 10 764 million braais since
(recreationafrica.co.za/carnivore), the advent of our nonracial democracy. If
diners are served singed warthog, impala, making a fire and burning some meat is
hippo, crocodile and a range of bokkies. all it takes to bring us together, why are
Everything is incinerated we still so far apart? Those waiting for
and indistinguishably a braai-based solution to South Africa’s
awful. Even when the social, economic and political problems
taste is terrific, the concept will be waiting a long time. At least they
is timeless. A caveman won’t be bothered by flies and mosquitoes
would also recognise his while they wait.
fire-making methods at
chef David Higgs’s Marble

kulula.com SEPTEMBER 2017 81

TRAVEL MARITZBURG BY BOAT

The 2017
ICF Canoe Marathon
World Championships features
the junior, under-23 and senior
men and women competitions,
and happens at Camps Drift,
Pietermaritzburg, from 8-10 September.
ihe championship is preceded on
4 September by the three-day Masters
World Cup, in which veteran and
master paddlers and para-athletes
compete. wmc2017.co.za

82 SEPTEMBER 2017 kulula.com

MARITZBURG BY BOAT TRAVEL

creekUP THE

The world’s best flat water paddlers are about to hit the Msunduzi River.
Gaynor Lawson grabs an oar and discovers what it takes to get there.

S even hundred of the world’s top canoeists will descend on
Pietermaritzburg this month to compete for laurels in the
International Canoe Federation Canoe Marathon World
Championships. Considered the pinnacle of the flat water canoe racing
calendar, the action happens on the Msunduzi River at Camps Drift, which is
also the starting point for the annual Dusi Canoe Marathon. Unlike the Dusi,
though, these paddlers won’t follow the river all the way down to Durban.
Instead, everything happens between two weirs, effectively transforming a
totally flat stretch of water into a ‘racing arena’. Such flat water courses lack
rapids and other natural obstacles presented by river racing, and also tend to
ensure that paddlers are working non-stop since there’s no downhill flow.

The format also means that spectators get to see most of the action, rather
than brief snippets. In fact, for these World Champs, the crowd stands directly
in front of the 100m stretch where the race’s portage segment happens.
Arguably the most exciting part, portage involves lugging the canoe or kayak
over land, either to get past an obstacle (such as boulders when the river is

kulula.com SEPTEMBER 2017 83

TRAVEL MARITZBURG BY BOAT

low), or to get to another stretch of water water racing is all about – it’s faster, more PADDLING LINGO
(usually when water levels are so low challenging, and you have to be stronger
that there are stretches of dry riverbed). physically. It’s all about the speed, it’s e various race categories
In this championship, paddlers get to run, explosive, and very high paced.’ – K1 and K2 or C1 and C2,
carrying their boats on their shoulders for example – relate to the
for 100m for every 3.6km lap around the ‘There is just no room to hide on flat cra being used and how
arena – senior men will go around eight water,’ says Olympic medallist Bridgitte many people are in them.
times and women six times. Hartley, another Maritzburg-based K equals kayak, C equals
paddler who picked up bronze for sprint canoe, and the 1 and 2
In addition to hosting this year’s event, canoeing in London in 2012. Having speak for themselves. In a
South Africa can claim to have produced turned her focus towards marathons, kayak, the paddler faces the
some of the world’s top paddlers – some she says she enjoys the higher physical direction of travel and uses
even hail from the quiet city hosting demands of the longer distance events. a double-bladed paddle for
the competition. Homeboy Andy Birkett movement plus a rudder,
hit the spotlight a few years ago as the For Bridgitte, those demands mean operated by the feet of
under-23 men’s K1 World Champion. He working out six days a week, often with the paddler in front, for
believes the event will give local paddlers three training sessions a day. She’ll start direction and steering. In a
a sense of just how competitive marathon with gym or a run at 5am, followed by canoe, the paddler kneels on
canoeing really is. ‘Seeing the best a morning paddling session, and topped one knee with the other leg
athletes from around the world racing off with an afternoon paddle lasting forward and foot flat on the
in this format is a great opportunity for around 90 minutes. ‘Saturday morning floor, paddling with a single-
is often a major session and covers a lot bladed paddle on one side to
our canoeing community of distance, so I spend over two hours in control the boat’s direction.
to witness what flat the boat.’
It’s not just the distances that are
challenging. Flat racing is extremely
demanding on the body. Paddlers have to
pump flat out for the entire duration of
the race as there are no river currents or
sea waves to help with propulsion. Top
racers can reach speeds of 15km/h,

AGAINST THE TIDE

Not every great paddler grew up with a river nearby to train on. Soweto-born Siseko Ntondini overcame incredible
odds to become one of the country’s top canoeists. Encouraged to try his hand at the sport by representatives
from the Soweto Canoe and Recreation Club (SCARC), Siseko’s hard work towards success was no small act of
courageousness. At SCARC, although paddlers have access to donated boats, they still battle to get some of the resources
– such as dry-wet suits. And there’s the question of transportation to the water. He says being in Joburg can be a challenge.
‘Most of our top paddlers are in KZN; it’s like training in a vacuum,’ he says. Nevertheless his efforts have paid off – his journey to
2014’s Dusi finish line with fellow paddler Piers Cruickshanks not only earned him a gold medal, but he also became the subject of a
movie, Beyond e River, which was released earlier this year.

84 SEPTEMBER 2017 kulula.com





MARITZBURG BY BOAT TRAVEL

‘Upper body strength
is essential, but so is
the ability to run fast.'

Photographs: Anthony Grote and Balint Veckassy/Gameplan Media, Kevin Sawyer and entirely under their own steam. Upper body believes flat water racing comes down to of tea. Sbonelo Khwela, who became the
Kelvin Trautman/Red Bull Content Pool, Patimat/shutterstock.com, Ron Dale/shutterstock.com strength is essential, but so is the ability to strategy. ‘The river doesn’t change much first black man to win the Non-Stop
run fast – with a canoe or kayak balanced in September, so once paddlers have Dusi in 2016, says he still prefers the
on your shoulder – during portage. practised around the course for two or torments that an open river can throw
three laps, they’ll know where the shallow at him. He’s fuelled by the adrenaline
Tactical paddling is also vital. Canoeists areas are that can affect racing strategy. induced by facing off against churning
have to gauge the state of the river while The course is up and back down a channel, water bouncing over boulders to form
doing their laps. Shallow areas create so racers shouldn’t be affected by waves.’ pulse-quickening rapids. ‘It’s much more
drag on the boat that slows them down fun,’ he says, pleased that he won’t be
– deeper water allows for faster speeds, And yet flat water marathons aren’t doing laps in Maritzburg this month.
especially if you can catch the wave every world-class paddler’s cup
created by another racer. The ultimate
is to ‘ride the diamond’ – the shape of MARITZBURG
the wakes created by a leading canoeist,
with two others to the left and right and Just 103km from King Shaka International Airport, Pietermaritzburg, the capital of
slightly behind the leader, who does 110% KwaZulu-Natal, is a city that feels like a town. It’s one of the world’s best preserved
of the work. A fourth canoeist at the back Victorian cities and no stranger to the thrumming of adrenaline and the presence
of these three can make the most of the of world-class athletes. It’s the starting point/finish line for the renowned Comrades
waves to save some energy – much the Marathon, and the annual Dusi Canoe Marathon takes place on its Msunduzi River.
same way in which Tour de France lead In addition, it has a world-class mountain bike facility at Cascades MTB Park, where
riders create a slipstream for those behind international competitions have been hosted.
them. While paddlers are not allowed
to cut fellow competitors off, they are
allowed to push another competitor
towards the bank or shallow water if
‘holding their line’.

Someone who knows how to
use stamina, strength and tactical paddling
to ace a flat water marathon is 39-year-
old canoeing legend, Hank McGregor. He’s
the country’s most medalled paddler,
with a truckload of titles and a hectic
touring schedule – he also holds the World
Senior Champion title, which he won in
Brandenburg, Germany, last year. Hank

kulula.com SEPTEMBER 2017 87

TRAVEL WHAT WOULD BEAR DO?

88 SEPTEMBER 2017 DAINTY DAISIES

Parachuting onto Cloof Wine Estate on
the outskirts of Darling, clad in my finest
camouflage gear, I ducked behind a
seven-foot-tall, four-foot-wide, muscle-
bound male model, and was somewhat
surprised to spot fields of pre-pitched
tents in varying degrees of luxury, a huge
food marquee, separated bins for recycling
purposes, loads of toilets, hot showers,
immaculately dressed and perfectly

kulula.com

WHAT WOULD BEAR DO? TRAVEL

Surviving a festival means

preparing properly so that

you can party hard. Or does

uglyTHIS COULD GET it? Anthony Sharpe and
Will Edgcumbe go full
Bear Grylls as they rank
the survivability of five
local festivals.

SBUERAVRIVGARLYLMLESTER

Baby-safe

Nothing to fear, except lip-gloss
Keep your friends close
You can run, but you can’t hide
Prepare for apocalypse

coiffed people evezywheze and ... was that – a sozt of extended dzessing zoom foz XX Needless to say, Daisies is not a
the buzz of a haiz dzyez? chzomosome-inclined zevellezs to pampez suzvivalist nightmaze. I was, howevez, glad
themselves in between bouts of hedonism I packed my suzvival blanket. No mattez
My haizdo having been somewhat – has been extended this yeaz. Geozge how hot it might be duzing the day, spzing
zuffled in the descent into Rocking the Avakian of Steyn Enteztainment says: nights in Dazling aze flippin’ cold. Plus
Daisies, I headed stzaight foz the souzce ‘People at Daisies put a lot of intezest into I looked zeally cool undez the glazing
of the buzz, keen to tame my unzuly locks. fashion and looking good. So we looked at lights of the electzo dome.
Sadly, I was bazzed at the entzance to the how we could czeate a moze immezsive 5-8 October, rockingthedaisies.com
Daisy Den. If you’ze a lady pezson, you expezience foz evezyone, and decided to Difficulty rating:
could find youzself bzandishing that haiz czeate an azea wheze women could just Recommended gear: all the
dzyez, and a little pezsonal space to go with bzeak away and do theiz thing.’ name-brand clothing you own.
it. The festival’s long-standing Daisy Den

kulula.com SEPTEMBER 2017 89

TRAVEL WHAT WOULD BEAR DO?

'The barren expanse
becomes a canvas upon
which people project
their wildest imaginings.'

DEATH BY DOOF followed me, echoing through the TRIAL BY TANKWA
Breede River Valley. Though there were
The kindly woman behind the roiling other dance floors offering EDM, drum Radical self-reliance. It’s one of the
pot of chai tea could see the desperate ‘n’ bass and dubstep, the doof-doof-doof guiding principles of AfrikaBurn,
twitch in my eyes. She filled my cup of psychedelic trance from the main which happens on a barren, flat
right up to the brim, and grinned stage was relentless. The music did, in expanse of the Tankwa Karoo,
beatifically as I slurped greedily at fact, pause, but only for a fleeting couple halfway between Touws River and
it. Everyone seemed friendly and of minutes, when white-robed figures Calvinia. But what does it really
peaceable, aside from some teen took to the stage to perform yoga poses mean? I had little time to dwell
meatheads I’d witnessed taking turns while a voice chanted messages of on this philosophical question as
to thump each other across the face global peace. Then the DJ shouted, another gale-force gust of wind
with a papsak on the dance floor, and ‘All right, let’s party!’ And there was slammed into the great black sail
even they seemed amiable. So why did never silence again. of the Bedouin tent that sheltered
Earthdance, held at Nekkies Resort in 23-24 September, our cooking area and a scattering of
Rawsonville supposedly in celebration earthdancecapetown.co.za tents. I wasn’t sure I would survive,
of peace, have me so on edge? For Difficulty rating: let alone our camp.
starters, I hadn’t slept the night before. Recommended gear: earplugs, tiger
No matter how far I bivouacked from balm, tie-dye anything. Turns out radical self-reliance
the epicentre of the music, the beat means bring everything you need
(that means everything), take care
of yourself and others in need, be
prepared for extreme heat and cold,
and clean up after yourself. If you
do, you’ll have the best chance of
enjoying the smorgasbord of themed
camps, music tents, putt-putt
courses, mutant vehicles, human-
made forests, cafés, cocktail bars,
artworks and enormous wooden
structures that spring up across
the arid wasteland as some kind of
impermanent art installation.

23-29 April 2018, afrikaburn.com
Difficulty rating:
Recommended gear: everything.
Heed all caution!

90 SEPTEMBER 2017 kulula.com





WHAT WOULD BEAR DO? TRAVEL

MY KOPPI RUNNETH OVER Turns out that’s about as bad as it gets else, but the more water people bring, the
at Oppi. ‘Most of the stuff the medics better. The festival has moved to October,
You never forget your first morning deal with are hangovers, dehydration and so it’s gonna be really hot.’
waking up at OppiKoppi. I finally felt sunburn,’ says festival organiser Misha
my finely honed survival skills tested Loots. And the acacias? ‘Don’t pack your Rough, raw, hot, dusty and thorny the
at the country’s rawest mainstream nice clothes,’ he says. ‘It’s the bushveld, Limpopo bushveld may be, but OppiKoppi
festival when I stumbled out of my tent there are a lot of thorns, and you’re resonates with a character underpinned
and straight into the thorny grasp of a by its 20-year history. With a line-up that
vicious acacia. As my clothes bound to fall down at least once over grows increasingly diverse each year,
were rended and my claret the three days. Bring clothes it’s an essential date for the seasoned
splashed onto the dusty you’re not too precious about, campaigner. Just be prepared to fall down.
earth, I remained calm, comfortable shoes, a hat and 5-7 October, oppikoppi.co.za
remembering my training sunblock. And bring water. Difficulty rating:
... and ran straight for the It’s our one limiting factor. Recommended gear: what Misha said,
medic tent. We’ve got lots of everything plus bandages and tough clothing.

Pictures: Anthony Sharpe, Michael Schmucker, MoonRock/shutterstock.com, Supplied FOLK OR DIE! There’s a tameness to the White 'Sometimes people with
Mountain Festival, an intimacy too. bad backs also want the
There is a three-year-old dancing right in The vibe seems less about boneheads chance to party.'
front of the stage, and I am unnerved. Not moshing to the rock du jour, and more
only is this child a much better dancer about everyone getting their mellow on to party, albeit carefully. While regular
than I am, but there’s something about – it’s all very stripped down, heart-on- punters can bring their own camping
this family-friendly vibe that’s a threat the-sleeve stuff. The line-up includes gear, there’s an optional ‘tent hotel’ with
to my usual festival mindset of binge bands that've made a heavy investment comfy beds, linen and hot showers.
drinking, aimless roving between dance in accordions and banjos and beautiful 28 September – 1 October,
floors, and light effects so intense they singing voices – it’s a shock (and a relief) c-weed.com/wmf
could bring on an epileptic fit in a blind to find zero sign of anything electronic or Difficulty rating:
person. I look around and notice that the high BPM. And while there may be some Recommended gear: everyone’s so
demographic around me isn’t all that pride in just how little sleep one can sweet, you can probably borrow what
different from the other fests – it’s just endure at a festival, the White Mountain you forget at home.
that those people with kids haven’t had to organisers know that sometimes people
bribe relatives to babysit for a weekend. with bad backs also want the chance

kulula.com SEPTEMBER 2017 93

TRAVEL BLOOMING GOOD

Rock
Whether you go to hike among its weathered crags, climb until
your fingers are covered with blisters, or do nothing but stare
at its alien rock formations, the Cederberg should be on every
bucket list, writes Keith Bain.

94 SEPTEMBER 2017 kulula.com

GREAT ESCAPE TRAVEL

stars
F ull of strange twisty rock
pictures: xxxxxxx formations, stone arches and and scraggly, delicate fynbos-covered
orange-coloured sandstone slopes, taking cooling dips in tea-coloured
boulders that rise like sculpted towers, streams, and breathing in the clean, clear,
the Cederberg Wilderness Area is just a restorative air.
couple of hours from Cape Town and yet
could easily be another planet. Part of Maps indicating how to reach the
the Cape Fold Mountains and stretching main rock features – the monumental
from the Middelberg Pass in Citrusdal to Wolfberg Arch and the 30m-high Maltese
north of the Pakhuis Pass at Clanwilliam, Cross – as well as the Cederberg’s two
the 100km-long mountain terrain is main peaks, are available. To camp or
wild and raw and among the country’s walk in the Cederberg Wilderness Area,
most compelling destinations for rugged you will need a permit from CapeNature
hiking, rock climbing and bouldering, or (capenature.co.za), although day walkers
simply chilling between the soaring cliffs can get them from from Clanwilliam's
tourism office (027 482 2024,
clanwilliam.info).

kulula.com SEPTEMBER 2017 95

TRAVEL GREAT ESCAPE

TRAIL MIX CEDERBERG ‘HQ’

‘The Cederberg is truly epic,’ says Cape Disappointingly, Clanwilliam was not named after a gang of rooibos warriors who all
Town-based ultra-trail marathon legend happened to be named Bill. In actual fact, this town – one of the 10 oldest in the country
Ryan Sandes (pictured above). ‘You’re – was known as Jan Disselsvalleij until 1814 when Sir John Cradock renamed it in honour
a couple of hours from the city and it’s of his father-in-law, the Earl of Clanwilliam. It’s the prettier of the two main towns in the
so quiet. When I’m up there, camping Cederberg area and claims the country’s main rooibos tea-processing factory. A good spot
underneath the arch or staying in one to stay is Saint Du Barry’s Country Lodge (saintdubarrys.com), a relaxed B&B with comfy
of the huts, I’m always struck by how beds, great breakfasts and a marvellous garden (plus an entourage of dogs and cats, and
serene it is. And then, when you run a parrot) at a reasonable price.
through it, you’re constantly passing
these epic rock formations. It’s a very Also here is the Ramskop Nature Reserve, where there’s a wildflower garden with at
distinct terrain, and I think the trails are least 350 different kinds of indigenous flowers. It’s especially spectacular
awesome – plus CapeNature does a great during the spring bloom, which lasts for only a brief spell, typically from
job of maintaining them. The mountain mid-August through mid-September – so hurry! The spring flowers
huts are incredibly well looked after and are rarely seen on higher slopes, but in September and October
so cost-effective. It always blows my the high Cederberg mountains are good for seeing several
mind – there’s a special magic there, and fynbos species in bloom, including proteas.
you don’t need to spend a fortune to fly
halfway around the world to get to places
like Moab in Utah for that sense of being
somewhere otherworldly.’

'Ramskop's wildflower
garden has over 350
different kinds of
indigenous flowers.'

96 SEPTEMBER 2017 kulula.com