Khuluma January 2018

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UNDERSTANDING ALLERGIC
SYMPTOMS AND IgE

Celebrating the 50 year anniversary of the discovery of Immunoglobulin E

Most people are aware that allergic symptoms are caused by the Research in the 80’s
release of powerful signal substances such as histamine that can demonstrated exactly
cause everything from mild reactions such as a runny nose or how IgE binds to other
skin rash to severe symptoms such as asthma, eczema and even compounds, based on a
systemic shock. But it wasn’t until the 1980s that scientists understood how deeper insight into IgE-
these symptoms came about – or the central part that IgE antibodies played receptors, which opened
in the process. the door to a better
understanding of the origin
In principle, allergic reactions are misguided inflammatory reactions of allergic symptoms.
triggered by normally harmless substances from our day-to-day environment –
allergens. An allergen is typically a protein found in for example plant pollens,
animal dander and foods such as peanut, egg and milk.

In allergic individuals, one or more of these allergens may be recognised
as potentially dangerous. On first exposure, their immune system starts to
produce antibodies that can bind to that antigen to protect the individual in
the future. In atopic allergy (the most common type of allergy), the antibody
formed is IgE.

It was discovered that an allergic individual’s ‘memory’ of having first
been exposed to an allergen is stored as IgE antibodies attached side-by-
side on a special type of white blood cell. These blood cells, known as
mast cells, contain the powerful signal substances that on their release
create the inflammatory response we call allergy. On second exposure,
sensitized individuals may suffer a reaction if the allergen cross-links
adjacent IgE antibodies, triggering the release of the inflammatory
chemicals from inside the mast cell.

This is why measuring levels of IgE antibodies in blood is a good way
of determining the risk of allergic reaction, and why IgE-testing is still a
leader in allergy diagnostics.

The rest is history. IgE history.

Visit www.isitallergy.co.za to
download your free Allergy Guide e-book





TIME FLIES TRAVEL

fugit*TEMPUS
A journey through time and
space with Alan Committie.
kulula.com JANUARY 2018 53

In my day, this is how
a gentleman dressed
for the tropics

54 JANUARY 2018 kulula.com

TIME FLIES TRAVEL

ISLAND DAZE humidity so common to tropical islands,
so you can breathe into it.
I’ve done quite a lot of islands – the
Seychelles, the Maldives, Hawaii, Mauritius My girlfriend at the time was living in
– but the holiday that stands out, the one LA and we just decided to go there, in part
nothing else can touch, was to Bora Bora. because it felt like a bit of a mad thing to
do. And it was. We weren’t in one of the
My mythical memories of Bora Bora fancy places, but we had a chalet on stilts
come from the early-1980s TV series, above the water so we could climb straight
Tales of the Gold Monkey. It was about into the ocean.
this ex-fighter pilot who, in the 1930s,
has an air cargo delivery service on the There’s no mainland, but you can hop
made-up South Seas island of Bora Gora. around between islands – everyone you
I remember as a kid thinking it must be meet is unbelievably friendly, totally
just off the American coast. It’s not! It’s relaxed, and very tourist savvy. I presume
an eight-and-a-half hour flight from Los they know you’ve covered a lot of distance
Angeles – halfway to New Zealand, and to get there so they show you a good
diametrically on the other side of the time. You can go and sit in a beautiful
planet from where we are in South Africa. little beer shack on a dusty road and have
conversations with friendly locals and
For me, it’s the Seychelles times ten then go and lie on the beach or spend your
– an extraordinarily beautiful cluster of life savings on seafood at a fancy resort.
French Polynesian islands in the midst of
water that’s as blue as you can possibly It’s an extraordinary place. Perhaps it
imagine and clearer than you could ever plays a mind trick on you because you have
think possible. Because it’s so far away to travel so far to get there that you simply
from everything, they have to import believe it to be out of this world. I think
everything making it hellishly expensive. that's part of the reason we decided to
But you experience such incredible go – it sounded fun and exotic and came
isolation and the weather is perfect – as from this magical long-ago TV world.
hot as it is, it lacks that unbelievable

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TRAVEL TIME FLIES

THE DRONE OF realised, was so much better than TV. Newlands is how well it’s supported. It
EXPECTATION Because you get to choose what you speaks to the Capetonian spirit. There’s
want to focus on – even while the game always been a special atmosphere. In
My obsession with cricket has dissipated is happening, there might be a drama the old days, the crowds would heckle
as I’ve gotten older, which kind of playing out elsewhere on the field. the players and there’d be this back and
makes me sad. Perhaps we feel less forth and jokes thrown and maybe a few
passionately about things when we age? The great players are the ones who insults and middle fingers, too. It was
Anyway, the pop psychologists would have a persona. Whether it’s wild and all in good spirit – Clive Rice used to say
say my passion for cricket comes from naughty or sweet and lovely. Jimmy how he loved that interaction. These
trying to please my dad. He was in the Cook used to be my hero. I remember days, with television cameras, everyone’s
navy and often away for long stretches. sitting with my dad at Newlands and so properly behaved, though.
He was a big sports fan, though, and Jimmy stepped over the boundary to
when I was younger I was the antithesis catch a ball that went over his head. He One game we would always go to was
of a sports fan. I just didn’t get it. It was took it with one hand literally right in the Newlands New Year’s Test, which
clearly disappointing for my dad. front of me. If you’d asked me who’d be always ends on my birthday, the 6th of
the next president, I’d have said Jimmy January. Two years ago I was doing a
In primary school whatever sport I Cook. When you watch it live, cricket pantomime and couldn’t attend – it was
played, I did so half-heartedly or not at becomes theatre. the first time I missed those tests in 22
all if I could get out of it. Then, in high years. Talking about déjà vu, there’s a
school, I grew irritated at being the And nowhere is more iconic than beautiful feeling that happens when you
uncoordinated, reedy guy. So I became Newlands Cricket Ground. I’ve been to sit there on that first morning before
obsessed. And I fell in love with cricket a number of lovely grounds around the the game. We always arrive at 9am,
and started watching the game with world. But the Newlands
my dad and getting intrigued by the setting is hard to beat although the game only starts at 10 or
drama of it. I realised that it wasn’t just – the sight of the 10:30. And at 9am, it’s still very quiet.
a game. Those who love cricket say it’s a smoke By 9:30 or 9:45, there’s a low
metaphor for life. So I found a common coming out of drone that’s come up, where
ground with my dad and it was the start the chimneys you can’t hear any one piece
of a great relationship with him. He had at the of conversation – it’s like
a 250cc bike and one day he asked me breweries the stadium is talking. Then
to go to Newlands. I agreed because I with the it builds and eventually gets
wanted to spend time with him but I had magnificent quite loud. But that middle
no idea how that game would affect me. mountains beyond drone is an awesome
The ride back was one of the happiest that. What’s also sound to me. It’s the
moments of my childhood. I remember special about sound of expectation.
grinning because our team had won and And a lifetime of
we’d seen it live. Seeing cricket live, I memories.

56 JANUARY 2018 kulula.com





TIME FLIES TRAVEL

LATIN LOVER

I include a lot of Latin in my shows. And knowledgeable people say it’s bad faux Latin, which it is of course.
But I did actually study Latin in high school and was greatly inspired by a great Latin teacher who let us
read Asterix comics – he had the entire series. I think if I could travel back in time, it’d be to witness the
Roman Empire. I realise the whole idea is kind of dangerous, but I’d love to have a look around. They had
aqueducts and sewers, so I think they were fairly sanitary, and then there were a couple of wild parties to
keep you going and lots of crazy entertainment. They had it all, really.

BATTY FOR BARBADOS FAST FORWARD

My bucket list is to travel to all the I would love to live in a time when teleporting is a thing. I spend
great cricket grounds around the so much of my life travelling that the charm of sitting in the airport
world. In 2016, I went on a tour to is gone. We don’t realise how fast things are changing. Futurists say
the West Indies to watch a triangular technology is evolving at such an exponential rate that I think teleportation might be
tournament with Australia and South within reach. Imagine not having to stand in a security queue behind that guy who always
Africa in Barbados. e cricket was forgets to take his cellphone out of his pocket? It would be like Star Trek – you could
really bad – we played shockingly. go anywhere on earth in a moment’s notice. I just don’t know how they’ll differentiate
But the country is amazing. It’s a very between economy and business class. In that future world, would economy passengers
poor country, but so very rich in all only have parts of their bodies arrive at the other side? It might get complicated.
kinds of histories. It’s so absolutely
the cartoon version of island style.

We talk about African Time here,
but Island Time is on another
level. ey will literally
tell you to relax, and they
obviously have that beautiful
Caribbean lilt – ‘Relax
Mon,’ they say before
taking forever to get
your drinks. Even
the way people
walk is laidback
– there’s a lot
of loping
and it’s
beautiful.

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TRAVEL TIME FLIES

TINY TIME WARPS The Cornish Interview: Keith Bain, Pictures: Sven Kristian, emperorcosar/shutterstock.com, SOMMAI,shutterstock.com, Paul J Martin/shutterstock.com,
village of Mousehole Serhii Bobyk/shutterstock.com/ supplied
The further away you are from the major is literally from
cities, the more likely that it will feel as another era - England
though time came to a standstill a few in the 1960s
decades back. Which can be great if you’re
an outsider, popping in for a visit. In the TINSEL TOWN
south of England, I visited a little coastal
village called Mousehole, near Penzance, So many of our notions of America are from TV and lm references encapsulated by
in Cornwall. It is literally like something New York. My very rst experience there was walking around Brooklyn. I’m a huge
from another era – it’s England in the Martin Scorsese fan, and I felt like I was walking through the heart of Mean Streets
1960s. All the roads are single lanes. If and Taxi Driver – all of those great 70s New York lms seemed to be playing out
two cars need to pass, you each push your around me. Everyone looked like Tony Danza from Who’s the Boss. It’s the energy of
vehicle up against the hedge and squeeze the place. Brooklyn is very Alpha male, very ‘construction worker’, so it was like being
through. But, of course, there are so in Saturday Night Fever, everyone strutting their stu . You can walk in four di erent
few cars in Mousehole, that hardly directions and nd four di erent movie feels in the Big Apple. Whether it’s the
ever happens. Greenwich Village of Woody Allen, where it’s all so hipster and so clever and
you feel that if you open your mouth someone’s going to call you out for not being
In South Africa, the Cape West Coast is bright enough, or the romantic comedy vibe of Central Park, everywhere you go,
strung with quaint, old-fashioned towns it’s another movie.
and villages. There are so many places
on that R27 where you just take a left,
and you’ll find a very sweet little coastal
village where you can escape – whether
for a day or a week. There are some
wonderfully obscure little spots and
they’re perfect if you’re looking for quiet. I
go to Paternoster quite a lot. I love it there,
and not merely because its name is Latin
for ‘Our Father’.

Paternoster is a great example of
one of those little coastal towns where
you can curate your experience (ah, yes,
‘curate’ – from the Latin curo, curare,
curavi). You can stay in a really upmarket
hotel-style B&B or you can rent a little
fishing cottage on the sea where the wind
blows through the shutters. You can
wear sandals and stay dressed for the
beach all the time and take long
walks on the shore. When you
want a good meal, there’s
everything from cheap sidewalk
cafés to restaurants run by
exquisite world-class chefs.

60 JANUARY 2018 kulula.com

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Flashbacks
Allison Foat travels back and forth through time.

62 JANUARY 2018 kulula.com

TIME TRIPS TRAVEL

Apart from barman Joseph Apollis
Matjiesfontein’s only poured a round of drinks
hotel, the Lord Milner, and told me what life
there’s the Rietfontein Private was like growing up there.
Nature Reserve, which is adjacent
Matjiesfontein and has four,
two-bedroom self-catering
cottages. They’re all over a century
old but quaintly renovated,
if not exactly perfect.
rietfonteinreserve.co.za

‘We played with homemade

stootkarretjies [push carts] and our

cattys [catapults],’ he said, before telling

me about the restless ghost of a one-

legged soldier he’d once encountered on a

moonless night.

The creepy tale was interrupted by the

parp of a trumpet, the signal to board the

Beefeater bus for the shortest sightseeing

tour known to humanity, all of ten minutes

long. We trundled along, G&Ts sloshing

about, taking in landmarks like the pink

ENGLAND IN THE KAROO the 70s was magical. To ten-year-old me church, the courthouse and jail, the dusty

Matjiesfontein, one of South Africa’s it was picture perfect, frozen in time. On old cricket pitch where the first match
cherished National Heritage Sites, sits
at the edge of the Great Karoo. Founded the short High Street stood an ox wagon took place in 1889 and the Transport
in 1884 by Scotsman James Douglas
Logan, it was once a tiny, thriving enclave straight out of my Standard Three history Museum with its impressive display of
of Queen Victoria’s colonial England. Its
primary attraction was the spa Logan book, and next to it a red London bus, just steam trains, antique bicycles, vintage
built where patients with chest ailments
came to convalesce in the dry climate. like the one my little brother used to push cars, and, the pride of the collection, two
The same building, also used as a
command centre during the Anglo Boer around his bedroom floor. A row of quaint Royal Daimlers from King George VI’s
War, is today famously known as the Lord
Milner. The iconic hotel sits on Logan white cottages, each with striped tin roof 1947 tour of South Africa.
Street, a 300-metre main road that ends
as abruptly as it begins. Matjiesfontein’s and a deep stoep framed by broekie-lace, Heritage aside, the hamlet is hemmed
maintenance and restoration is credited to
hotelier David Rawdon who purchased the completed the toy town picture. in by vast textured landscapes, an outdoor
entire hamlet in 1975, reversed its decline,
and put it back on the map. This time round, all grown up and paradise where nature promises to soothe

I remember it from those early days of curious for altogether different reasons city angst. As local cook Eugenie
its rekindling – in snatches at least, since
time adds many layers and filters away the and now familiar with the confusing Theunissen says, ‘It’s rustig here,
details. Yes, the Matjiesfontein I visited in
effects of nostalgia, I took the peaceful and quiet.’

Shosholoza Meyl from Worcester,

following the ‘forgotten route’

forged by Voortrekkers, diamond miners

and explorers.

The town, four decades on, felt more

like an abandoned movie set. But behind

the Victorian façades, people were

browsing at the Old Post Office gift shop,

and sipping cappuccinos at The Coffee

House. At the Laird’s Arms pub, head

kulula.com JANUARY 2018 63

TRAVEL TIME TRIPS

It was fitting to return to the capital and that immense twinkling crystal chandelier
palatial theatre to pay tribute to times gone by hovering above, framed by an exquisite
painting by Marc Chagall in the domed
PIROUETTES IN PARIS and just like that I’m a wide-eyed ceiling. A lyrical hum emanates from the
14-year-old aspiring ballerina on orchestra pit as the musicians tune their
Fifty-something and I’m back in Paris, my first overseas trip in 1978, my instruments, and with bated breath I stare
finally, strolling slowly down the Boulevard first journey so far from home.
Des Capucines towards the magnificent at the stage, heart racing, willing
Opera Garnier. The occasion is the season Accompanied by my bestie the minutes to fly by in anticipation
premiere of a programme of highly from ballet school, I’m about
anticipated neo-classical dance, and I’m to watch the brightest stars of the curtain rising on
reliving countless flashbacks on my way in the universe of tutus and the performance. That
down the avenue as I pass cafés packed tulle. It’s a dream come true. night, Nureyev danced
with Parisians conversing animatedly at Swivelling around in a velvet seat, my Balanchine’s Apollo.
sidewalk tables spilling out of timeless eyes take in the magnificence – tiers It’s a true story, and if then had
bistros. Suddenly, I have a déjà vu moment of balconies and rows of boxes, an been now, my hashtag would have
been #livingthedream.
Fast-forward to 2017 and my most
recent trip to the City of Lights is no less
wondrous. I’m with the same girlfriend
from all those years ago, celebrating 40
years of friendship with a classic trip

64 JANUARY 2018 kulula.com





TIME TRIPS TRAVEL

When in Paris, ornamentation of the interior are as we did once before, cooing as the
stay at the gorgeous 23- attributed to teams of craftsmen and stylish crowd drifts up the double marble
room Jules et Jim Hotel in the artisans that included 14 painters and staircase, another design masterpiece.
historic Le Marais district. 75 sculptors under the watchful eye
Named after the beloved 1963 of architect Charles Garnier who built As we settle into our seats in the
François Truffaut movie, it’s a slick the structure in the Beaux Arts style auditorium, still the largest of its kind in
amalgam of three townhouses, of the Second Empire, inspired by the Europe, the maestro takes his place on the
designed with flair and brimming Renaissance era. He successfully created podium, pricks the air with his baton and
a lavish monument to the performing arts, the magic unfolds. It’s true that Nureyev,
with style, personality dripping in drama and spectacle. that great Russian, is no more, but in his
and artworks. The Opera Garnier atriums are made place, an equally riveting danseur noble
for mingling. The Grand Foyer, the delivers perfection. Decades may have
hoteljulesetjim.com most spectacular of those spaces, passed, but the thrill is undiminished.
is a shimmering reception hall and
down memory lane. Our entanglement the jewel of the theatre, as opulent Later, we find ourselves sitting at the
with France is wrapped up in ballet tours as the Palais de Versailles, with legendary Harry’s Bar on Rue Daunou,
that took us from Monaco to Paris in gold finishes, ornate detailing and
the late seventies and so it was fitting elaborate Paul Baudry murals. nursing Bloody Marys as
to return to the capital and that palatial Over the rims of our champagne we reminisce as only old
theatre to pay tribute to times gone by. flutes, we people-watch friends can. We dredge up
The Paris Opera in the 9th arrondissement
is, like the Louvre and Notre-Dame, a the past, toast the present,
reflection of French architectural glory. and put Paris into our
It is hailed by many as one of the most 2018 calendars.
exquisite theatres ever built, a neo-
Baroque showstopper inside and out. The
decorations on the façade and dazzling

kulula.com JANUARY 2018 67

TRAVEL TIME TRIPS Pictures: Allison Foat, Grobler du Preez/shutterstock.com, Thomas Bethge/shutterstock.com, HUANG Zheng/shutterstock.com, TTstudio/shuttersstock.com, Luciano Mortula - LGM/shutterstock.com, Gilmanshin/
shutterstock.com, Valery Egorov/shutterstock.com, Kiev.Victor/shutterstock.com, Vladlen Abdullin/shutterstock.com, Catarina Belova/shutterstock.com, 2630ben/shutterstock.com, Anton_Ivanov/shutterstock.
As the precious stone deposits dwindled, the area com, Kanuman/shutterstock.com, Chris Jenner/shutterstock.com, LMspencer/shutterstock.com, Mascha Tace/shutterstock.com, LynxVector/shutterstock.com, KateChe/shutterstock.com, supplied
declined and people abandoned their homes

DESERT GHOST TOWN

Haunted by the wind and knee deep in Namib desert sand, Kolmanskop is a kooky
ghost town steadily being reclaimed by encroaching dunes. Abandoned in 1956, less
than 50 years a er a diamond rush brought a slew of fortune seekers, it was – during its
brief heyday – a small Germanic village with an infrastructure far beyond its needs. e
locals, with newfound wealth at their disposal, built a wünderbar Germanic haven with a
ballroom, school, hospital and post o ce, and a theatre for their beloved opera recitals.

Besides Africa’s rst tram, it boasted a casino, public swimming pool, and a skittle-
alley. Fresh water, brought in by rail, irrigated lush lawns and rose gardens. By 1912
business was booming and in that year the mine produced 12 per cent of the world’s
diamonds, but as the precious stone deposits dwindled, the area declined and people

abandoned their homes. Now it’s among Namibia’s oddest tourist attractions, and
occasionally used as a backdrop for horror movies. Fine sand gusts relentlessly
against the derelict pre-WWI structures, pouring through paneless windows and

lling the vacant rooms. Kolmanskop is intriguing and has a wonderful museum
and gi shop, and a restaurant serving a ne apfelstrudel. Kolmanskop is 10km
from the southern coastal town of Lüderitz, on the edge of the restricted diamond-
mining Sperrgebiet (forbidden zone); kolmanskop.net

68 JANUARY 2018 kulula.com









pictures: 31moonlight31/shutterstock.com, supplied UNPLANNED HOLIDAYS TRAVEL

I t’s a sunny winter’s day in Istanbul;
our first day of the trip. Like Friday
afternoon in every city around the
world, the roads are busy. Galata Bridge
is a stream of pedestrians, crossing the
Bosphorus for last-minute shopping or
heading home for the weekend.

A small crowd on the quay catches
my attention, quickly followed by the
most glorious smell of fresh, grilled fish.
I jostle in with the tide of bodies to the
centre where a man is braaing palm-size
fillets on a grid over red-hot coals. He
flips each piece of fish onto a bun with
raw onions before wrapping it in paper
and handing it to a customer. His business
partner handles the money, taking cash
from a mass of eager hands demanding
interaction.

The sandwich is delicious. The memory

lostGET

More than anything, Clifford Roberts
loves that travel is a state of mind.

kulula.com JANUARY 2018 73

Travel is our evolutionary heritage; The sandwich is delicious. The memory of
we've been venturing into the it now, years later, is still clear. So too is
unknown for 100 000 years the surprise when I settle down to (finally)
read the guide book and see its ominous
warning: don’t buy fish along the banks of
the pollution-riddled channel. Touch wood,
no side-effects yet.

Once you get a traveller reminiscing,
the stories unravel like the multi-coloured
ribbon from a magician’s sleeve. For me,
there’s the tale from a visit to rural France,
of suddenly realising with my rusty French
halfway through a meaty, home-made
baguette, that âne – the tag on the salami
– means donkey. Then, there was that time
in an Amsterdam youth hostel when my
wife stumbled over in midnight darkness
to where I was supposed to be bunked,
and violently roused the blanket-shrouded
snorer only to discover that I’d switched
beds a few hours earlier.

‘O Public Road,’ declared American poet
Walt Whitman in his ‘Song of the Open
Road’, ‘You express me better than I can
express myself / You shall be more to me
than my poem.’ So true.

Travel is our evolutionary heritage as a
species, picking up and venturing out into
the unknown since around 100 000 years
ago. Maybe the first traveller developed
wanderlust by merely getting lost, ambling
thoughtlessly after prey. Maybe it was a
family issue, like the body odour of fellow
cave-dwellers finally becoming too much
to deal with. Or perhaps the answer lies in
that oft-quoted response by mountaineer
George Mallory when, in 1923, a New York
Times reporter asked him why he pursued
the summit of Mount Everest: ‘Because
it’s there.’

Whatever caused early hominids to
go beyond the comfort of their cave,
the travel bug stuck. Now almost every
corner of the globe, and even a few places
beyond it, bears traces of us. Remote-

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UNPLANNED HOLIDAYS TRAVEL

There is something exhilarating JANUARY 2018 75
about navigating on intuition,
going with the flow, taking a chance
on the open road

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UNPLANNED HOLIDAYS TRAVEL

control rovers explore Mars on our TRAVEL TIMES way across country … The man who went
behalf, satellites post selfies from the “Walkabout” was making a ritual journey.’
furthest corners of the galaxy, and crazy To be fair, our obsession
film directors (I’m looking at you, James with organised travel schedules has It’s hard to see how the act of travel
Cameron) plumb the depths of the ocean been a long time coming. In his can exist beyond purely material
in their own private submarines. 2014 book Sapiens – a brief history occupation, especially in this infernal age
of humankind, Israeli historian Yuval of convergence. Every aspect of our lives
We might think of travel as the pursuit Noah Harari describes the birth of is mapped online, by our own hand; travel
of adventure, or as being about finding the timetable: ‘Traditional agriculture is purposefully designed so you can’t get
new things, personal growth, making depended on cycles of natural time lost anymore. Chance encounters have
discoveries, expanding our world view and and organic growth. Most societies become rarer than ever. No matter your
even survival – ultimately, it’s an echo of a were unable to make precise time budget, by the time you leave your home
very human instinct. measurements, nor were they terribly you already know where you’re going,
interested in doing so.’ what the conditions will be, where you’ll
As a theme even of mystic culture, the With the coming of the Industrial stay and how you’ll get there. Thanks to
journey is captured by Bruce Chatwin in Revolution standardised time became Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, you’ll
his exploration of Australia’s Aboriginal a necessity. ‘In 1748 a carriage service even know what your host looks like, and
culture, The Songlines (1987). In it, one with a published schedule began TripAdvisor will keep you up-to-date on the
of Chatwin’s hosts operating in Britain. Its timetable condition of the linen in your hotel room.
explains: ‘Each speci ed only the hour of departure, On top of it all, you’ll have in your hands an
totemic ancestor, not arrival. Back then, each British armada of apps telling you how not to lose
while travelling city and town had its own local time.’ touch with what’s happening back home
through the But as soon as faster trains emerged on a daily basis.
country, was and the world had moved on, the
casual arrangement became a
nuisance. In 1847, writes Harari,
the rail authorities agreed that all
timetables would be calibrated to
Greenwich Observatory time.
It seemed so innocent, but ultimately
travel itself nudged us towards
standardised times and this need to
have schedules and itineraries and
dastardly plans.

thought to have scattered a trail of words
and musical notes along the line of his
footprints ... these Dreaming tracks lay
over the land as “ways” of communication

between the most far-flung tribes.
A song was both map and
direction-finder. Providing
you knew the song, you
could always find your

kulula.com JANUARY 2018 77

TRAVEL UNPLANNED HOLIDAYS

Like life, travel will prove itself time infuriating Frenchman selling us the train
and again to be more about what happens ticket. Plus, you have to be a real genius
in the spaces between destinations to understand that map of the metro…’.
That’s an honest account of Paris that
Maybe it’s my age, but sometimes I stay positive, but secretly longed for the goes behind the scenes, beyond the guide Pictures: Galyna Andrushko/shutterstock.com, kovop58/shutterstock.com, Denizc/shutterstock.com, everst/shutterstock.com,
can’t help feeling that the important path warmth contained behind the lit windows books, and into the heart of real life. Premier Photo,shutterstock.com/ AKaiser,shutterstock.com
that we’ve always trusted to take us into of homes we passed.
ourselves, the path to reflection, and which Like life, travel will time and again prove
normally required physically leaving The snow-dusted camp was empty, but to be more about what happens in the
our comfort zone is itself at risk of it was fenceless so we started pitching spaces between the destinations rather
being lost. our tent. I’d barely spread the tarp when than the destinations themselves. It’s
a gentle cough made me turn. A man about time on the road, disconnected from
Long before the internet, my wife and I wrapped up so heavily all we could the obvious points of contact, cut off from
hitchhiked – hitchhiked – around Western see were his eyes and the vapour from the comfort of knowing precisely where
Europe for a year; Ostend, Belgium was his breath asked what we were up to. you are. It’s about experiencing the world
our first continental stop. Fresh off the Thankfully, he owned a caravan, which he as it reveals itself, rather than knowing
ferry, our excitement quickly faded when offered the two crazy Africans. precisely what to expect. Travelling in this
we found that the youth hostel we had way might sound daunting to those of us
planned to stay at was firmly shuttered Two days later, our mood was darkened now so dependent on at-our-fingertips
for winter. We quickly located the local again when we spent five hours alongside technology, but there is something
campsite on our map and walked there for a misty highway trying to get a lift. It wonderful and exhilarating about
what felt like forever. I remember trying to wasn’t pleasant at the time, but we think navigating on intuition, going with the flow,
something worthwhile came of it, because taking a chance on what the open road
a lot of philosophy plays out in those might have in store for us.
unexpected gaps in time. And we talked
to each other because there were no Because travel has always been
cellphones. about something that’s innately human:
Exploration.
If you really want to know about
someone’s trip, listen to the way the As much as there’s frustration (and fun)
story is told, along with all the to be had getting lost on your travels, it’s a
personal details. The recounting fabulous irony that the more you do so, the
might go along the more you end up discovering yourself.
lines of: ‘The Eiffel
Tower was great, but ‘I love the people we are when we
boy did we struggle travel,’ my wife once told a friend who
to understand the asked why we hit the road. It sums
it up for me.
Ultimately, you’re an
explorer. That’s your
nature. Now, go on.
Get lost.

78 JANUARY 2018 kulula.com



Magical
South Africa may not HISTORY TOUR
be the oldest country
on the planet, but
there are countless
ways to connect with
the past and let your
imagination wonder.

80 JANUARY 2018 kulula.com

YESTERDAY TODAY TRAVEL

BO-KAAP, CAPE TOWN

Take a trip back in time on the cobbled
streets of South Africa’s original Cape
Malay quarter, where the muezzin
calls resound from the country’s
oldest mosques, and Afrikaans was
first written down – in the Arabic
script. The steep rows of candy-
coloured Georgian houses on the
slopes of Signal Hill are where the
Cape’s emancipated Muslim slaves
lived when they were liberated in
1834. Descendants of those original
residents still live here today in the
houses recognisable for their elevated
stoeps and photogenic exteriors. Cape
Town’s Muslims traditionally gather
in nearby Green Point on the evening
of the last day of Ramadan. The
sighting of the moon marks the end
of the holy month. While dressing in
bright colours is customary, Bo-Kaap
residents also developed the tradition
of repainting their houses as part of
the Ramadan celebrations.

kulula.com JANUARY 2018 81

TRAVEL YAELSLTTEHRIDNAGYS TWOEDIRADY & WONDERFUL PHILIPPOLIS, FREE STATE Pictures: LMspencer/shutterstock.com, Grobler du Preez/shutterstock.com,
Eyeonlocation/shutterstock.com, Rob Mousley/shutterstock.com
KASSIESBAAI, Until 1972, the main road between
WESTERN CAPE Cape Town and Joburg passed through
Philippolis, the oldest settlement north
Arniston is the name given to of the Orange River, founded in 1823
the village formerly known as as a mission station for the local Khoi.
Waenhuiskrans – it was re-christened But when the Gariep Dam was built, the
in honour of a ship that was wrecked highway was diverted, and the town all
off its coast in 1815. Kassiesbaai is a but disappeared from the map. Best-
distinct historical quarter of Arniston, known as the childhood home of writer
and residents claim it is South Africa’s and naturalist Sir Laurens van der Post,
only surviving truly traditional fishing locals will happily tell you that Philippolis
village. It’s a national monument is stuck in a marvellous time-warp, replete
comprising 10 morgen of community- with preserved historic architecture,
owned land. Its residents’ ancestors old school hospitality, and genuinely
built wooden homes, hence the fascinating characters.
name ‘Kassiesbaai’ – because
the cottages looked like kassies, kulula.com
wooden crates washed ashore from
wrecked ships. Now the village is
known for its thatched whitewashed
cottages which are still home to
the community’s fishermen who
work without nets or rods, instead
wrapping the line around their fingers.

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YESTERDAY TODAY TRAVEL

TULBAGH, CRADOCK, EASTERN CAPE
WESTERN CAPE
This quiet agricultural town was established in 1814 as a frontier outpost –
Adjacent to the De Oude its most famous resident was the author and activist, Olive Schreiner, who
Herberg, this is the country’s only wrote Story of an African Farm, considered SA’s first serious work of English
earthquake museum, situated in the literature. For 100 years, Market Street was the hub of the oxwagon industry
town that took the brunt of South – saddle-makers, harness-makers and blacksmiths lived in its Karoo-style
Africa’s most devastating earthquake. cottages. Around 30 of these have now been restored and turned into guest
When it hit in 1969, some 70 per cent accommodations – visitors say it’s like staying in Downton Abbey.
of Tulbagh’s town buildings were
destroyed, while nearly all of its farm
buildings succumbed. On Church
Street, most houses had been built
of burnt mud bricks so they weren’t
totally destroyed and could be restored.
The entire street was renovated and
declared a monument.

BARRYDALE,
WESTERN CAPE

Barrydale is arguably the most
happening town on the R62, a stretch
of road often likened to the USA’s
Route 66. In recent years, Barrydale’s
become increasingly laden with
galleries, restaurants, and boutiques.
One such addition is Diesel & Crème,
a diner decorated with antique petrol
pumps, vintage advertising hoardings,
and old car parts. Its triple-thick
milkshakes, served in 500 ml
Consol jars, are reason
enough to settle into the
town for a while. You can
walk off the cream and
sugar by hiking to nearby
waterfalls and rock pools
or bliss out on the town’s
11-circuit labyrinth.

kulula.com JANUARY 2018 85

TRAVEL YESTERDAY TODAY

CALITZDORP,
WESTERN CAPE

The Port Wine Guesthouse occupies
a handsome 1830s homestead in
the heart of South Africa’s so-called
‘port capital’. The Karoo-Victorian
architecture – with thatched roof
and large vine-covered patios –
provides an idyllic base from which
to take in the surrounding vineyards,
dip into the town’s cellars, and slip
down sidestreets to discover historic
buildings and quirky eateries like Die
Handelshuis, which is done out like
the Karoo version of a roadside
diner crammed with kitsch
vintage bric-a-brac and
nostalgic memorabilia.

GROOT CONSTANTIA, CAPE TOWN

A century after Simon van der Stel of phylloxera in the 1860s bankrupted

established this estate and planted the the family, however, and the land lay

Cape’s first vines, the Cloete family put fallow until 1975, when replanting got

Constantia on the international map underway. Today, the beautiful Cape

with a dessert wine that became the Dutch manor is considered a tourist

favoured tipple of the likes of Napoleon, must-see, with a wine museum in the

Bismarck, King Louis Philippe of cellars designed by French architect

France, and Jane Austen. An outbreak Louis Thibault.

86 JANUARY 2018 NIEU BETHESDA,
EASTERN CAPE

Home to the Owl House where Helen
Martins created a fantastical sculpture
garden, this time-warp hamlet is a
quintessential Karoo dorp where life
continues much as it did many moons ago.
It’s still a place of slow walks, donkey cart
rides and passing time on the veranda,
watching the world go by.

kulula.com







BergBACK TO THE Retracing childhood
memories, Justin Fox
goes walkabout in the
Drakensberg.

90 JANUARY 2018 kulula.com

ROCKY MOUNTAIN HIGH TRAVEL

Pictures: Ugu South Coast Tourism, Supplied. V isits to the Drakensberg began for
me as a child with my parents,
mostly to the Cathedral Peak JANUARY 2018 91
and Cavern areas, and I soon fell in love
with these captivating mountains. Every
Christmas I return with family to old
haunts, usually staying at the Cavern
Resort in the northern Berg, where
I rekindle memories of a lifetime of
mountain meandering.

There’s always a quickening of the
heart as we turn off the N3 at Harrismith
and head towards viridian hills where
civilisation thins and nature thickens on a
narrow road that winds up a creek to the
Cavern. The chalets sit snug under duvet
thatch with terraces and lawns for croquet
and cricket, badminton and bowls. It’s a
paradise for children.

The days are filled with hiking,
swimming in rock pools or birdwatching in
verdant kloofs filled with the song of robin-
chats, white-eyes and mountain wagtails.
If we’re lucky, there’ll be a glimpse of a
lammergeier, or bearded vulture, soaring
on the thermals.

There are high teas, long family lunches
and evenings rosied with wine from the
cave-like cellar. Dinners are traditionally
English with roast beef, crackling,
Yorkshire pudding and spotted dick. After
supper, there are games of pool, beetle
drive, frog derby and the ever-popular
Bingo. Just like it’s always been.

On our most recent trip, my partner
and I extended our stay and drove south
through the Berg, visiting old haunts.
First, we headed for Thendele in Royal
Natal National Park. This camp has
perhaps the loveliest setting of any park
accommodation in South Africa. Its chalets
all face the Amphitheatre, an iconic

kulula.com

TRAVEL ROCKY MOUNTAIN HIGH

The days are filled with hiking, wall of basalt more than four
swimming in rock pools or birdwatching kilometres long and a kilometre
in verdant kloofs high. In my more energetic past,
I’d scale the summit on the chain
KEEP BUSY IN THE BERG ladders. This time we chose the
valley below.
Walking and mountaineering are We set off early on a five-hour hike
the main activities in the Berg. Each up the Tugela Gorge, one of the most
region has a must-do hike. Many popular trails in the Berg. The air
camps, lodges and hotels o er horse was crisp and shrill with the sound of
riding, while a few o er helicopter chirruping sunbirds. Our path led across
ips. e trout shing is excellent protea grasslands then dipped into
(enquire about permits) and camps clefts of Afromontane forest thick with
such as Lotheni, Kamberg and yellowwood, mountain hard pear and
Highmoor are particularly popular ironwood trees. Baboons barked at our
with anglers. Birding is good, but approach; grey rhebok bounded up the
requires harder work than the lowlands. slopes flashing their white tails.
After a section of boulder hopping, the
e lammergeier hide (winter only, gorge narrowed to a corridor of sandstone
036 353 3718) near Giant’s Castle is a whose walls stretched to the heavens.
photographer’s delight. e rock art Entering a cleft, we waded along a stream
is exceptional and there are hundreds before emerging into a bowl of rock where
of known sites. Didima and Kamberg the view opened up. Perfectly framed in
have exhibition and interpretation the gap, the Amphitheatre loomed above
centres, while the nest accessible sites us like a giant altar. It’s one of the great
are at Giant’s Castle and Kamberg. Drakensberg vistas.
Heading south from Royal Natal, the
drakensberg.org next large valley has an establishment
offering fine accommodation in an
unparalleled setting: Cathedral Peak.
The 78-year-old hotel has become
synonymous with traditional Berg
hospitality. I remember bouncing

92 JANUARY 2018 kulula.com





ROCKY MOUNTAIN HIGH TRAVEL

OLD-SCHOOL Paths lead across protea grasslands then
DRAKENSBERG DIGS dip into clefts of Afromontane forest

e Cavern Resort has been in boisterously on the back of one of
the Carte family for more than the hotel’s longsuffering
70 years. It’s set in a secluded ponies as we clopped through
valley beneath sandstone cli s in these beautiful valleys.
the Northern Drakensberg. e
thatched accommodation and The head of the valley is dominated by
facilities blend perfectly into the a line of imposing peaks: the Inner and
natural surroundings. It o ers Outer Horns, the Bell, and Cathedral peak
numerous activities, including itself. For hikers and climbers staying at
guided hikes, horse riding, various the hotel, these are obvious targets, but for
games, trout shing, mountain lazier guests, there’s a helicopter to whisk
biking and a spa. cavern.co.za you to the Cathedral’s highest buttresses
Since Cathedral Peak Hotel rst and spires.
opened to guests in 1939, the Van
der Riet family has o ered warm The next major valley takes its name
hospitality, good service and value from another peak: Champagne Castle.
for money. It’s the perfect place to We chose The Nest as it is, like Cathedral
bring the family, with a range of Peak, one of the grand old mountain
activities on o er, including horse establishments that has become famous
riding, trout shing, bowls, a games for its hospitality over the decades. It was
room, mini-golf, proper golf and a started in 1943 by David Gray, grandson
gym. cathedralpeak.co.za of the original David Gray, a Scottish
settler who founded the first permanent
e Nest in Champagne Valley colonial farm in the region in 1855 when
is a ne family hotel with the Voortrekkers were flushed out of
a ordable prices. ere’s hearty Natal by the British. He called the spot
food, pretty gardens, comfortable Cathkin, after his home town of Cathkin
accommodation and a number of Braes: it now gives its name to a nearby
leisure activities, including bowls, Berg peak.
tennis, volleyball and croquet.

thenest.co.za
Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife o ers
a wide range of a ordable
accommodation options in the
uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park.

e self-catering chalets and
campsites are well appointed
and some are in splendid
locations (such as endele
and Giant’s Castle). Caves and
mountain huts provide more
rustic accommodation for hikers.

kznwildlife.com

kulula.com JANUARY 2018 95

TRAVEL ROCKY MOUNTAIN HIGH next cave. Running figures hunt eland and Pictures: Justin Fox
grey rhebok across a wall of sandstone, a
The Nest specialises in bowls and there leopard prowls along a fissure. The focal
was a tournament on the go while we point is a procession of therianthropes
were there, a very soporific antidote to – half-man, half-animal figures – that
the thrills of climbing. After dinner that represent a mediation between this world
night, we found ourselves in a tense pool and that of the spirit.
competition with the over-75s. No quarter
was asked or given. Looking at the ghostly figures, you
feel the acute power of the site. It’s easy
Next up, we drove to Giant’s Castle, to see how these mountains have had
a camp that rivals Thendele for its such a strong spiritual tug for hundreds
spectacular location above the Bushman’s of generations of humans. The religious
River and hemmed in by daunting crags. world of the San fills that cave, even
Try to catch the sleeping valley at dawn. centuries after the paintings were made.
Find a rocky perch and watch the tide line
of shadow descend as sunlight fills the Standing in the mouth of the cave, I
kloofs and crevices. Cisticolas begin their thought about modern humans’ need for a
twitter, a breeze strokes the long grass spiritual dimension to life. Our connection
in waves while the river, far below, offers to something greater than ourselves is
a gurgling monologue. All the while the often found in nature. It could hardly get
Castle towers overhead (3 314 metres), more affecting than the view from Main
brooding ethereally in golden light, lord of Caves on a sparkling summer morning
all it surveys. with the air pure and everything before you
on a godly scale.
For the San, this valley was a last refuge
before white settlers violently expelled I thought too about how I’ve been
them from the region. A short walk from drawn back each year since childhood by
Giant’s Castle Camp you’ll find evidence the Berg’s colours, its light, its spiritual
of their presence. Main Caves is one of connection. There’s certainly an abiding
the artistic treasures of the Berg. There’s nostalgia for all my previous trips, but also
a life-size display featuring a domestic a hunger to find new trails, hidden rock
scene of San figures. Behind them stands pools or rock art that make the heart sing.
Come Christmas, I’ll be back for sure.
a shaman painting an eland on
the rock. kulula.com
It’s a window to
their way of life, but
the real drama is in
the rock art in the

96 JANUARY 2018



Memento
Whether you’re curating memories of special moments, or simply
collecting good old-fashioned keepsakes from your travels, make
sure your souvenirs add value and meaning to your life, writes
Clifford Roberts.

98 JANUARY 2018 kulula.com