A couple of weeks ago Desmond, Piccolo (our sweet Italian Greyhound) and I went on holiday on the Garden Route, visited a couple of friends and traveled through the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal. What a trip. Exhausting, beautiful, frustrating, Africa, beautiful. A few pix I shot with my phone.
If you have family overseas, like me, and live in South Africa, this might be a nice Christmas present.
As the cultural and social hubs of South Africa’s townships, barbershops and salons serve not only as places to get your hair styled but as places to gather, gossip and come together as a community. They also happen to showcase sharp and snappy vernacular designs: renditions of the haircuts on offer as well as typographic demonstrations of each shop’s name. In South African Township Barbershops and Salons, Simon Weller presents his vivid photographs of these shops, their signage and their patrons alongside interviews with the proprietors, customers and the sign makers.
Internationally acclaimed South African designer Garth Walker contextualizes these homemade signs and together with Weller’s atmospheric images of the townships across South Africa where these barbershops and salons are found, the case is made that these establishments reveal a great deal about South Africa today and the people who live in the townships.
You can buy the book here.
(pix via brainpickings)
I have to share these paradise-like pix with you. I worked on a great project with SANParks (South African National Parks) and fell in love with the West Coast National Park in Langebaan, South Africa. Have a look at the pictures and read what you can do there (chill, sleep in a houseboat, braai, beach, kitesurf etc. :)).
Enjoy natural beauty, stunning views, a lagoon, tortoises aplenty and great accommodation
The thought of the west coast in the USA conjures up images of sun, surfers, busy cities and a summer lifestyle. South Africa’s West Coast is the opposite of busy. All it takes is an hour’s drive (120km) from Cape Town to Langebaan. The 40,000 ha West Coast National Park provides a safe haven for thousands of seabirds, who roost on the sheltered islands and pristine golden beaches. It’s a place to rest, to be with friends and family and enjoy the good things in life.
The West Coast National Park was established in 1985 with the aim of conserving the Langebaan Lagoon and surrounding landscapes, also including the islands in Saldanha Bay, and stretches from Yzerfontein to Langebaan. The habitats in the park are varied, and it is of international and national importance in respect of both terrestrial and marine life. The unique and diverse habitats of the Langebaan Lagoon and its salt marshes and wetlands, the granitic islands of Saldanha Bay with its large breeding populations of seabirds, the varied rocky and sandy shores of the coastal strip, the parabolic coastal dune fields and the terrestrial lowland fynbos communities on calcareous soils form the current extent.
The area is also extremely rich in fossils and reported remains of human occupation in the park date back to the Holocene Age. It is recommended to spend a weekend or a couple of days in the West Coast National Park, it offers great accommodation and there is plenty to do to keep you busy.
Things to do
• Enjoy a relaxing day at the beach in Kraalbaai with family and friends. It provides a peaceful setting for a picnic or braai.
• Water sports, for example, waterskiing, snorkeling, diving, swimming, fishing, angling, and boating.
• Kayaking – enjoy the scenery from a different view.
• Kitesurfing – Langebaan offers perfect conditions for the avid kiteboarder.
• Visit the Postberg section during the spring flowering season (only open to the public from August to September). During spring the strandveld is embroidered with a tapestry of multi-hued flowers, while in the Postberg section antelope can be seen in a setting that is as unique as it is idyllic.
• Game viewing – In the park you will see many tortoises (we counted 200 in October), ostriches, dung beetles, Eland, bontebok, springbok, hartebeest, wiledebeest, Cape mountain zebras, scorpions, and if you’re lucky even snakes.
• Whale watching.The southern right whale can be viewed at Tsaarsbank from August to November.
• Birdwatching. The West Coast National Park offers birders a diversity of habitats; see below for more information.
• Visit the view points Seeberg and Atlantic and combine the Kodak moments with a picnic.
• The Geelbek visitor’s centre is conveniently located at the southern end of the lagoon offering visitors refreshments, curios and information on cultural history and all things to do in the West Coast National Park.
• The Geelbek Restaurant, situated in a Cape Dutch building dating back to 1744, prepares traditional food. Try the trio consisting of malay chicken curry, bobotie and denningvleis. Dishes portray a local history enriched by Portugese, Dutch, Norwegian, Italian and Malay influences. The award-winning wine menu offers the best local wines. Geelbek Restaurant is also a conference and wedding venue. (Opening hours 9am -5pm, 7 days a week; +27 (0)22 772 2134).
• The stables – a nice venue for school groups (education programmes), community events and team building.
• Cycling/mountain biking – Four different routes are available: 30km trail to Geelbek on tarred road (start at Langebaan gate); 70km return trip from Langebaan gate to Kraalbaai; 13km circular MTB trail around the Seeberg view point; 30km circular MTB trail around Seeberg view point and Mooimak.
• Have a braai/picnic. There are great official braai spots overlooking the lagoon for day visitors at the Preekstoel information area. The rule: first come, first serve. Here you will also find information on what you can see and find in the West Coast National Park.
• Star-gazing
• Sleep over at the West Coast National Park, it offers great and diverse accommodation. Read our overview for more information.
• And hike; see below for more information on hiking routes.
Bird watching
The West Coast National Park offers birders a diversity of habitats. The park is centered around the ecological and aesthetically spectacular Langebaan Lagoon. The bird hides give you the opportunity of viewing some of the many bird species found in this area, such as flamingo, ostrich and black Harrier. Bring your binoculars. There are three bird-hides: Geelbek, Seeberg and Abrahamskraal.
Langebaan wetlands has been allocated Ramsar status, attributed only to sites of international importance. The lagoon attracts hundreds of thousands of waders annually that give the West Coast National Park legendary status on South African bird circles. The terrestrial habitats offered in the park are equally interesting to the birders. Many West Coast specials and South African endemics can be seen with relative ease within the park and 308 bird species have been recorded to date.
It is for the above reasons that the West Coast National Park has the honour of being one of South Africa’s Important Bird Areas (IBA’s). Birders need a full day in order to do justice to all the habitats available. If one is keen to work the waders it is suggested that you plan your day around the times when the bird hides will be most productive. The best times to view birds are during incoming or outcoming tides (ask at the Geelbek visitor’s centre for suggested times).
Hiking trails
Strandveld trail two day hike
Day one takes you along a 14km route through Strandveld. Day two is also 14km long; the trail will take you through Strandveld to Sixteen Mile Beach and back to Geelbek.
The Bakoor trail
This trail is a short walk from Langebaan gate to Seeberg view point, which is 4.6km long.
Steenbok one day trail
The trail can take up to 20 people. The hike is 13.9km long and will take you 5 hours excluding breaks (only during August and September).
Postberg two day hiking trail
The trail can take up to a maximum of 12 people. On day one you walk 15.5km (6 hours), on day two 11.8km (3.5 hours). You will spend the night at Plankiesbaai.
Guided and educational hikes for school kids are available.
Part of the West Coast National Park are islands that are reserved for conservation: Malgas Island, Schaapen Island, Jutten Island, Marcus Island, Vondelling Island and Meeu Island.
Yearly highlights are the marathon (42km full marathon, 21km half marathon and 5km fun run) with over 300 participants and in March the cycle race with a 80km and a 30km route with round about 1000 participants.
If you are lucky, I hope you will meet Eddie Papier. The Kudo award winner for the ‘first ranger on the West coast in 2007′ and his eight brothers were born and brought up in the park by a fisherman family. Back then, Geelbek was a cattle farm and very little was going on on the West Coast. After being away for 25 years working as a whaler, he worked in the park for over 20 years and is a corporal ranger. He knows every rock, he says.
text and photographs by Antonia Heil
West Coast National Park
+27 (0)22 772 2144
Opening times:
September – March (summer) 7am – 7pm; last vehicle entry at 6.30pm
April – August (winter) 7am – 6pm; last vehicle entry at 5.30pm
Postberg opens during August and September (flower season) 9am – 5pm
Conservation fee: Adults, R32; children R16 (age 2-12); free entrance for WILD Card holders
The man behind National Braai Day, the ‘celebration of the nation’, calls all South Africans to action on September 24th
Jan Scannell, born in Stellenbosch, had at least one braai a week when he grew up. He studied accounting and worked in financial services, “but that’s not really what I wanted to do, it wasn’t my passion,” Jan says. He resigned from his job at the end of 2005 to focus on National Braai Day. “In the Netherlands they celebrate Queens Day, the Irish celebrate St. Patricks Day, and the Americans celebrate Thanksgiving, it happens through the government.” Jan Scannell’s aim with celebrating National Braai Day every year on Heritage day, September 24th is to have one day where all South Africans are united around a braai, creating an annual day of celebration in South Africa.
South Africans, join the revolution and braai on the 24th of September every year!
What’s a braai in one sentence? I ask the braai-master. “A sociable gathering of people around a fire cooking food in the healthiest way possible,” says Jan while telling me of his five year braai-journey. He approached big companies to help him implement the National Braai day on Heritage Day, every year on September 24th. “I want to feel good about South Africa, and National Braai Day is clearly good for the country.” The companies Jan approached didn’t get his point back then, up until now, most of the money he works with comes from private donations. Jan wants his children and grandchilden to live in a united South Africa. In 2010 Jan Braai had great media coverage when he achieved the world record for braaing for 28.5 hours!
Jan Braai about braais
I think Jan Braai is right. There are certain facts one can’t get around. “All South Africans love a braai. A braai is common among us. People in Constantia love to braai, people in Gugulethu and also people in the middle of the Transkei. A braai is unique. A braai is a very suburban thing to do and very African,” says passionate Jan.
Jan Braai did a tour “like the president does before elections” and travelled through South Africa, braaing with local meat and wood. “I took a map and decided on 40 days and 40 places to visit, including all eight heritage sites of the country.” The braai-journey was documented and you can watch a 30-minute TV show on kykNET until 30th Spetember 2011 every Friday at 5.30pm with reruns on Saturdays at 1pm, Sundays 8am and Mondays at 3am. The highlight was a braai at a Venda village where people braaied without grids, put the meat on the coal and surprisingly the meat was not full of ash.
Braai tips
Jan Braai thinks the TV-cooking shows encourage people to be more creative with their three meals a day. “This also has a spill-over-effect on braaing.” Important for a good braai is first of all good meat. Jan shared his favourite butcheries in Cape Town with us. “Anything you will braai tastes better, braaing is more fun, you’re outside and it’s healthier and often fat free. You can put anything on a braai.” Another tip is about the wood. “Get a bakkie full of wood, store it outside on your stoep, the rain doesn’t matter to the wood, don’t cover it since this will have greenhouse effect.” Jan shares some more braai advise with us.
The best braais you usually have at home in your backyard, but there are also great public braai-spots in Cape Town and surrounds.
You will find interesting facts on www.braai.com
Jan’s braai-website www.braai.com has many interesting braai-facts as well as amusing things waiting for you. For instance ‘When you enjoy the meat prepared by the braaier, use as a word of praise. “Wow, this steak is good, braailient!”‘ or people asking for advice: “I’m single and recently moved down to Cape Town from the Free State. I haven’t really made friends here that do the braai-thing. I miss braaivleis so much! But I’m definitely not going to start a braai on my own. Lol. Braaivleis is truly awesome. by Arleen”. Jan’s response: “You really should try to do a braai on your own. It is not that difficult. The smell will attract your neighbours and in no time you’ll have many new friends in Cape Town!”
“… what Jan Scannell had in mind with the Braai Day initiative… is nurturing and embracing a common South African culture, which is shared across all races and genders. Not one South African person can tell you that they have never witnessed a braai. Even in rural areas they light a fire and put their meat on it to cook. As a meat lover, I urge that on Heritage Day people Braai4Heritage and share their meat with those who do not have,” said archbishop Desmond Tutu in The Times in September 2008.
Jan had a great idea to bring South Africans together, once a year around a braai-fire to celebrate a country that’s worth to celebrating.
By Antonia Heil
P.S. Until September 24th 2011, Jan Braai has a daily lamb-giveaway on his Facebook-page.
Jan Braai
www.braai.com | www.facebook.com/nationalbraaiday | www.twitter.com/janbraai
written for www.capetownmagazine.com
I found this cool video on 10and5.
“I saw this ad for the first time last night and really liked the idea. South African Tourism’s Sho’t Left campaign promotes local travel through providing special holiday deals in South Africa – Affordable Mzansi Holidays. This longer than usual TV ad aims to encourage a younger generation to explore our country. Sho’t Left sent a number of young trendsetters to explore different parts of SA and filmed them on holiday for the ad.” Awesome.
The Mail & Guardian did this cool project… find it all here.
“For the third year, we publish our feature of young South Africans you should take to lunch. These are young people who will shape our country in the decades to come, in the sporting arena, in public life and in business. There is, sadly, a yawning gap in leadership in South Africa right now.
…..
You will not find conventional celebrities in here. Sorry. Our criterion is wide and somewhat subjective — these are people who have featured in the Mail & Guardian or who have been noticed by our team of writers for their excellence at their craft or their ability to lead. Our rule of thumb is that this is the generation that will define and lead the country in the future.”
pic found here