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South Africa’s number one travel and outdoor lifestyle magazine. We pay our own way and tell it like it is. We drive back roads and speak to real people, giving you practical information about affordable destinations in southern Africa. Each issue is crammed with excellent photography, honest gear reviews and delicious recipes to make at home or in the bundu. Whether you’re looking to escape for a weekend or a month, your journey starts here.

Vacation nation

BEHIND THE SCENES • Over the course of five articles, photojournalist Willem van der Berg followed the route that English explorer William Burchell took in the early 1800s, travelling from Cape Town to the Kalahari (issues #194 – 198). Read the last instalment on page 56.

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LETTERS • Where have you been? What have you seen? Write to editor@gomag.co.za

Q & A • Every month our experts answer your questions about birds, bugs and beasts. Send your photos and queries to editor@gomag.co.za

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IN BRIEF

NIGHT WATCH

LEOPARD LOUNGE

SKRIK VAN RONDOM FARM STALL, REDELINGHUYS

BOOKS AND MUSIC

MEET THE AUTHOR • In his new book The Ways and Wonders of South African Trees, the author celebrates some of our most beautiful species and explores their remarkable physiology.

A farm stall? Here? • The Tankwa Karoo usually looks like Mars. It's an empty landscape where you can sometimes see the outline of a springbok shimmering in a distant mirage. It's remote. The main road, the R355, cuts a lonely 250 km slice from Ceres to Calvinia. The last thing you expect to see is a farm stall…

The day I almost became a Himba bride • Why do we travel, asks Sophia van Taak? One reason is to see how other people's lives differ from our own. But sometimes it's what we have in common that's most surprising.

My best holiday ever • Most holidays are enjoyable, but some stand out for different reasons. Something on that trip – be it a destination or an experience – stays with you. Seven writers tell us about the getaways they'll never forget.

Choose a wild life • Africa is the home of the safari, and who unlocks this experience for tourists? An experienced, knowledgeable field guide, that's who. But how does it feel to sit behind the wheel of a Land Cruiser twice a day, answering the same questions over and over?

In a holy land • English explorer William Burchell stopped recording his southern African exploration at a Tswana settlement called Litakun, in the koppies north-west of modern-day Kuruman. As we make our way there, it becomes clear: South Africa is a sacred place.

TAKE YOUR PIC • Nothing ventured, nothing gained! Send your best travel, landscape and nature photos to Toast Coetzer - turn to page 69 to see how.

SEND US YOUR BEST TRAVEL AND NATURE PHOTOS!

NEW GEAR

Fire, ice and rainbows

Say cheese! • All these melt-in-your-mouth recipes contain everyone's favourite ingredient: cheese.

Two's company • If you could park two Fords in your dream garage, which would they be? Most of us would pick the mighty Mustang and an apex bakkie like the Raptor, but there's also an awesome new Tourneo minibus that throws a spanner in the works…

Sweet dreams • Travelling long distances in a car or on an aeroplane can be a pain in the neck. Literally. Thank goodness for the modern travel pillow! There are plenty of designs to choose from, some more whacky than others… We snoozed best on these.

TAKE A HIKE • MORGAN BAY TO DOUBLE MOUTH

STAY HERE • ARENDSRUS COUNTRY LODGE, GEORGE

There's something about White River • White River is on a hill between Mbombela and Hazyview. You're a bateleur swoop from the Kruger Park, the Panorama Route and the Sudwala Caves, but why rush through?...