The Intrepid Explorer - Summer 2015

www.intrepidexplorer.co.za • Autumn 2015

EAT, PRAY, RUN Lost and found in India

FINDING SKYWALKER

Star Wars in the Sahara

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Taking on Alaska’s crevasses and avalanches

WRECKREATIONAL

The Diamond Coast’s lost ships

MAN VS NATURE

THE VOLVO OCEAN RACE: RETURN TO THE AGE OF SAIL

Win! A trip for 2 to the Kruger’s Imbali Safari Lodge, worth R17 140!

The official Cape Union Mart magazine

• SEAN CONWAY – 2014 Adventurer of the Year hails from Zim • SCAVENGER HUNT – Plight of our vulture population • LAST DEFENCE – Braam Malherbe takes on rhino poachers • MOMENT OF SILENCE – Inside The Killing Fields of Cambodia • EASTERN EDEN – Thailand’s hidden paradise

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Klipdrift along with The Intrepid Explorer magazine are hosting The Golden Awards on 26 February 2015. This is a tribute to the golden moments that entrench the brotherhood of men: an evening of adventure, acknowledging the country’s boldest adventurers as we honour their determination, friendship and incredible spirit.

Explorer The Intrepid

Live the life of Adventure

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Not for Sale to Persons Under the Age of 18. Drink Responsibly.

CONTENTS 04

07

10

FOREWORD Andre Labuschaigne, Cape Union Mart CEO

EDITOR’S NOTE Goodbye to the Grandfather of Conservation, Dr Ian Player

18

08

COMPETITION

24

10

18

JUST A LITTLE KID

Win a two-night stay for two at Imbali Safari Lodge, worth R17 140!

MAN VS NATURE

The Volvo Ocean Race: Return to the Age of Sail

36

FROM ZIM

He may be a small guy with a big red beard—but the harder the physical challenge, the more Sean Conway enjoys it

24

TO THE EDGE

AND BACK

Chancing crevasses, avalanches and icy bivouacs, Matthew Holt takes on Alaska’s Mount Blackburn

30

STAR WARS IN THE

SAHARA

The force was with Graham Howe in Tunisia

36

THE FRENCH

CONNECTION

It’s all about adventure for Kate Els on the friendly island of Réunion

42

WRECKREATIONAL

Alison Budge experiences the magic and mystery of the Diamond Coast’s shipwrecks

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C on ten ts

54 64

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A MOMENT OF SILENCE

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EASTERN EDEN

LIFE THROUGH

Shan Routledge mourns the lives lost in The Killing Fields of Cambodia

Jo Kromberg finds a hidden paradise deep in the tropical jungle of southern Thailand

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LOST AND FOUND What made inspirational adventurer David Grier decide to run the length of India?

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IN THE FIELD

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LEGENDS OF THE FALL

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ON THE WILD SIDE

48

SCAVENGER HUNT Vulture populations in Africa have plummeted across the continent.

Miriam Mannak finds out why

52

GET THE SHOT Photography pointers from Jacques Marais

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THE LENS

We showcase some of the winners of the 2014 Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition

90

HIT THE ROAD, JACK The Big 5—catch a sighting of the latest motor vehicles

90

According to Braam Malherbe, the minimum-force Rules of Engagement need to change in order to deal more effectively with poaching incursions and to protect game rangers

Nick Dall shares the latest gadgets, gear and garb to ensure a stress-free and comfortable autumn escapade

News from the outdoors

96

84 94 95

CAPE UNION MART

STORE LISTINGS

THE LAST LAUGH On a trip to Kraków, Graham Howe learns how to spot vampires

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THE LAST WORD We get the news from Morning Live presenter, Leanne Manas

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The Intrepid Explorer issue 9

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Explorer The Intrepid

Live the life of Adventure

Publishing Editor ROBBIE STAMMERS robbie@intrepidexplorer.co.za Art Director STACEY STORBECK NEL stacey@insightspublishing.co.za Chief Sub-Editor TANIA GRIFFIN tania@insightspublishing.co.za Advertising Sales Director KEITH HILL keith@intrepidexplorer.co.za Advertising Manager KYLE VILLET kyle@intrepidexplorer.co.za Office Manager TARYN KERSHAW taryn@insightspublishing.co.za Staff Writer and Social Media Liaison SHAN ROUTLEDGE shan@insightspublishing.co.za

FOREWORD

Andre Labuschaigne

Greetings, outdoor friends!

I

trust you had a blessed and relaxing year-end holiday spent with special family and friends. Although 2015 is already flying past, I also wish you a prosperous year ahead and hope you’re sticking to those New Year’s Resolutions!

I must say, South Africans can really boast about having one of the best summer seasons. Unlike some tropical countries with unbearable heat and monsoons, I often revel in the fact that international and local tourists flock to our shores to frolic on our pristine beaches and explore our beautiful mountains and trails. We are so lucky to have Nature’s playground in our own backyard to explore!

Why not grab a backpack, a tent and a pair of trail shoes and head off to enjoy the last few days of summer? Before we know it, the electric blankets will be out and insulating fleeces, waterproof rain jackets and versatile 3-in-1s will become staple items in your wardrobe. And even though rain, light snow, sleet and mist will come, we always encourage our customers to explore the great South African outdoors. As American mountaineer Finis Mitchell said, “We don’t stop hiking because we grow old—we grow old because we stop hiking.”

2015 is a year of new beginnings for everyone: Little ones are enjoying their first year at ‘big school’; some have started high school; others are beginning their academic journey at university or college; while still others may be embarking on a new career path or adventure. Here at Cape Union Mart, we are opening a slew of new stores, in essence creating new jobs and careers—and we have a surprise coming later in the year! You’ll have to watch this space to find out more…

Editorial Contributors Alison Budge, Patrick Cruywagen, Kate Els, Matthew Holt, Nick Dall, Graham Howe, Jo Kromberg, Miriam Mannak, Jacques Marais, Shan Routledge, Braam Malherbe, Leanne Manas Photography Cover: Yann Riou Dollar Photo Club, Studio Lumière, Serge Gélabert, Anakao Press, Emmanuel Virin, Frog 974 Photographies, Matthew Holt, Fiona McIntosh, Jacques Marais, Shan Routledge, Graham Howe, Matthew Smith, Greg du Toit, Alex Mustard, Christian Vizl, Geo Cloete, Lukasz Bozycki, Miriam Mannak, Alison Budge, Jo Kromberg, Izak van Zyl, Patrick Cruywagen, Volvo Ocean Race Back Office Support and Accounts Solutions BOSS (PTY) Ltd Managing Director: Rita Sookdeo Account Manager: Zena Samson Cape Union Mart www.capeunionmart.co.za Group Marketing Manager: Evan Torrence Marketing Manager: Odile Hufkie Printer Creda Communications Distribution Cape Union Mart stores and On The Dot Distribution PUBLISHED BY

Managing Director: Robbie Stammers Physical address: 174A Main Road, Claremont, 7700, Cape Town Postal address: PO Box 23692, Claremont, 7735 Telephone: +27 (0) 21 683 0005 Websites: www.intrepidexplorer.co.za www.insightspublishing.co.za

Yours in adventure,

Andre Labuschaigne Chief Executive Officer Cape Union Mart

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No article or any part of any article may be reproduced without the prior written consent of the publisher. The information provided and opinions expressed in this publication are provided in good faith, but do not necessarily represent the opinions of Cape Union Mart (PTY) Ltd, Insights Publishing or the editor. Neither this magazine, the publisher or Cape Union Mart can be held legally liable in any way for damages of any kind whatsoever arising directly or indirectly from any facts or information provided or omitted in these pages, or from any statements made or withheld by this publication.

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Our Intrepid Explorer

CONTRIBUTORS Growing up in South Africa, Kate Els fell in love with exploring her own country— and when she was old enough to travel the world by herself, she made sure to grab any chance she could to be somewhere else. She has worked as the content editor at South African Tourism and written for, and edited, various travel trade publications. Els has a keen interest in arrivals statistics and the economics of the tourism sector, and once sprinted out of an exhibition centre in Bulawayo to avoid a speech by Robert Mugabe.

Alison Budge is a freelance writer and editor based in Somerset West. As an energetic ‘mumpreneur’, she juggles a busy schedule of clients, school runs and family fun. She is passionate about going on holiday—and as the editor of Family Holiday & Leisure magazine, she is able to make this dream a reality. Budge enjoys the great outdoors with her husband and two teenaged children, and is equally comfortable in far-flung places (such as camping in the Richtersveld wilderness) as she is in luxury suites on Mozambican islands.

“Where to next?” is a common question in her household.

Patrick Cruywagen is currently the features editor of Land Rover Monthly magazine in the United Kingdom. Prior to that, he was the bush editor of SA4x4 magazine. He recently published a book titled, Your Bucket List: 150 Must-Do Experiences in Southern Africa.

Graham Howe is one of South Africa’s most experienced lifestyle journalists; he has contributed hundreds of food, wine and travel features to South African and British publications over the last 25 years. When not exploring the Cape Winelands, this adventurous globetrotter reports on exotic destinations around the world as a travel correspondent, and for the weekly travel show on SAfm. Miriam Mannak is a journalist and photographer​based in Cape Town. She c​ overs a range of​topics including travel and tourism in southern Africa and related issues such as the environment and sustainable social development. Follow her on Twitter: @miriammannak​ or visit her website at www.miriammannak.com.

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Braam Malherbe is an extreme adventurer, conservationist, youth developer, motivational speaker, television presenter and author of the bestseller, The Great Run. He has been involved in counter-poaching operations as an honorary ranger for SANParks, co-founded the Table Mountain National Park’s Volunteer Firefighting Unit, and is actively involved in numerous non-governmental organisations and conservation groups. Malherbe has run the length of the Great Wall of China as well as the entire coastline of South Africa, and has taken part in an unassisted ski race to the South Pole.

Jacques Marais is a pro photographer/author who regularly contributes to a wide selection of premium adventure, travel and outdoor magazines, both in SA and abroad. He has shot and authored numerous outdoor titles and is currently working on An Adrenalin Guide to Southern Africa. His short stories feature in an adventure anthology—and during the acclaimed Red Bull Illume Image Quest sports photography awards, Jacques was honoured as a Top 50 finalist from a field of well over 20 000 international shooters. Most recent honours include both a Gold and Silver Award in the respected SONY Profoto Awards.

Shan Routledge was born into wanderlust, so it’s hardly surprising that she found her way into the travel and adventure industry, getting a writing job at The Intrepid Explorer. She has worked on the snowy slopes of Aspen, sat on the edge of the world somewhere in Utah, gone diving in Borneo, hiked volcanos in Indonesia and watched the sunrise from Borobudur. As if that weren’t enough, she also survived the infamous Laos river-tubing in Vang Vieng, swam with elephants, cried in The Killing Fields of Cambodia, island-hopped through Thailand and couch-surfed Europe. Shan is always looking for the next exciting, heart-racing experience—so watch this space.

Nick Dall is a freelance writer who has lived and fished all over the world.

Recent postings include Italy, Argentina, Bolivia and Vietnam but he is currently back in Cape Town rediscovering the trout streams and dams of his youth. His two-yearold daughter and his mortgage also suggest that he is finally settling down.

Jo Kromberg has no time for objectives or goals— she’s too busy living. As travel editor and writer, she can usually be found talking to a Himba tribe, swinging from a trapeze in a Malaysian jungle or whiteknuckling it on a ‘Dinky Toy’ plane somewhere in Africa. She worked as editor for African Safaris magazine and now edits and writes for Chinese travellers to Africa in the form of www.chinafricatravel.com.cn; she also freelances for Condé Nast Traveller China.

Jo likes long walks on a beach, drinking piña coladas… oh yeah, and travelling.

Matthew Holt is a selfconfessed list-ticker. He’s climbed the seven continental summits, skied the last degree to both Poles and, so far, climbed more than 30 of the world’s 50 most prominent peaks.

He’s also chanced his luck at bog snorkelling, cheese rolling, wife carrying and bull running.

A freelance writer based in Cape Town, Matthew is the author of two books: The Miles High Club and Life’s Rich Tapestry.

Leanne Manas is a multipleaward winning South African television presenter who has graced our screens for over a decade. She is currently the anchor of SABC2’s flagship breakfast programme, Morning Live. She is also one of the country’s top MCs and guest speakers.

Tony Diekmann has always had a love for water and boats. He joined the navy communications branch after finishing school and spent the next four years at sea and at various shore establishments.

He then joined the Cape Town City Council’s disaster management branch, putting his communications skills to good use. After some 14 years with the Council, he grew bored and decided to pursue different avenues. He has subsequently been involved in restaurant management, the tourism industry and sales representing. Tony recently joined the Alvimedica team on the last Volvo Ocean Race as correspondent for The Intrepid Explorer, which was right up his alley.

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EDITOR’S NOTE

Goodbye to the Grandfather of Conservation

W

e were saddened to learn of the passing of legendary conservationist Dr Ian Player at the end of last year, aged 87, after suffering a serious stroke. Dr Player had written for The Intrepid Explorer on a number of occasions and we were very proud to have his contributions published.

He was well known as the initiator and team leader of Operation Rhino, which helped bring back the southern white rhino from the brink of extinction in South Africa’s Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park. With his team, he spearheaded the successful initiative that saw excess rhinos in the iMfolozi Reserve being captured and sent to restock reserves throughout the country; most went to Kruger National Park to create what is currently the largest wild rhino population in the world. Rhinos were also sent to other African countries, as well as many zoos across the world, in order to assure their survival as a species. The actions taken by Dr Player and his team back then have led to white rhino numbers increasing to more than 20 000 today.

Ian started his career under Colonel Jack Vincent with the Natal Parks, Game and Fish Preservation Board in 1952. By 1954, he was promoted to senior ranger and, in 1962, senior warden of iMfolozi Game Reserve. It was while he was warden of this reserve that he spearheaded Operation Rhino as well as the key initiative of zoning the wilderness areas of iMfolozi and St Lucia, which were the first such areas to be zoned in South Africa and on the African continent. In 1964, he became chief conservator for Zululand. His final promotion was chief nature conservator for Natal and Zululand.

During most of this journey, he was accompanied by his mentor and friend, Zulu game guard Magqubu Ntombela. Ian Player was not just a rhino hero; he had a vast list of achievements including being the founder and inaugural winner of the Dusi Canoe Marathon in 1951. Another prime example was his work to save the crocodiles of Lake St Lucia. He conducted Operation Crocodile, which saw the first helicopter airlift of crocodiles from the high-salinity area of the Mkuze River, to the fresher regions of the southern part of the lake.

After leaving the government service, he founded the Wilderness Leadership School—the first organisation in Africa dedicated to providing a pure wilderness experience for people of all backgrounds, races and nationalities. With a group of American colleagues, he established The WILD Foundation in 1974, and also created or inspired other organisations in The Wilderness Network.

With rhino poaching currently reaching record levels in South Africa, we must ensure Dr Ian Player’s incredible efforts in rescuing the southern white rhino are not undone.

The Intrepid Explorer and Klipdrift are hosting the GOLDEN Awards at the end of February and we had been in contact since mid-2014 with Dr Player, regarding our intention of honouring him and Ntombela with lifetime achievement awards.

We are sad that he will not be with us to receive the award himself, but we are deeply touched that a number of his family members will be attending the event and accepting the award on his behalf.

The Intrepid Explorer salutes you, Madolo.

Robbie Stammers Publishing Editor

PS: Don’t forget to LIKE our Facebook page, The Intrepid Explorer, and visit www.intrepidexplorer.co.za to download the free digital version of this magazine with loads of extras.

Follow Robbie on Twitter: @daStamman

“A new generation of people who care for rhinos, wildlife and wilderness are now taking over the baton.”—Dr Ian Player, 1927–2014

Congratulations to the winners of our Summer issue’s Weber competition!

Bradley Seaton-Smith and Gerhard van Zyl each win a Weber braai grill worth R2 400. Enjoy your prize!

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The Intrepid Explorer issue 9

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Out a n d a bout

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Each chalet offers a private Jacuzzi or plunge pool, and spacious areas of glass and wooden decks for a memorable game-viewing experience. From the decks, scenic views over the riverbed and the savannah plains can be enjoyed. The king-size or twin beds are equipped with only the finest furniture plus air conditioning and en-suite bathroom with antique bath.

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Visitors have a wide choice of activities: game drives; bush walks; bird watching; swimming; and self-drive safaris in the world-famous Kruger National Park.

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Competition closes on 31 March 2015. Winner will be notified via telephone or email.

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LAST YEAR, NASHUA HELPED GIVE IAN WALKER SOMETHING THAT EVERY COMPANY NEEDS.

SMOOTH SAILING. As the proud supplier of office machinery and 24/7 tech support to ‘Worldsport,’ organizer of the Cape Town stop over of the Volvo Ocean Race, the world media, operations staff and teams got all the accurate and timely race information that they needed. If the ups and downs of your print processes and document workflow systems are slowing your company down, visit Nashua.co.za.

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“Everything went smoothly, and I’ve been told that this was the best-run media centre the race has had in Cape Town over the years.”

Chantel Rall, commercial & client service manager, Worldsport

NO SECOND TAKES.

Leading event communications company, Worldsport, last month confirmed it had picked Nashua for multi-function printers and on-site support for the successful Cape Town leg of the prestigious Volvo Ocean Race.

No stranger to high-profile events, Cape Town-based Worldsport’s previous endevours have included the Stellenbosch Wine Festival, the ITU World Triathlon and the Pick n Pay Women’s Walk.

Tasked with the organisation of this important stopover of the Volvo Ocean Race—also the world’s leading ocean race competition— the event communications company had their work cut out.

“Typically, teams spend nine gruelling months racing more than 44,000 miles around the globe,” said Chantel Rall, Commercial & Client Service Manager at Worldsport, “so when they arrived at Cape Town, we knew there would be no room for failure.”

As expected, for a period of approximately one month last November/December, the world’s media, race operation staff, as well as the individual teams themselves, all descended on Cape Town’s Waterfront. Worldsport’s charge was to provide reliable and timely information to all these people – so it was imperative that the printers would not let them down.

“When the world’s watching,” continued Rall, “it’s critical that we work with top-class companies, and that we have the kind of supplier who we know and that we can rely on.” But it doesn’t stop there, “We had to be sure that the printers were efficient, and that the technical support was available 24/7. In this business, there are no second takes. Everything has to work first time.”

services, with printing and copying both available in colour and monochrome. Furthermore, in the media centre, the devices were also used to print out information for journalists on the race and its progress—and for the journalists to print their own documents.

“We looked at all the top suppliers in South Africa, and chose to go with Nashua because I’ve had good experiences working with them in the past,” said Rall, “also because of their proven experience with sporting events.”

THE PERFECT ANSWER To ensure everything went smoothly, Nashua also supplied two staff members who were on-site throughout the race’s month-long visit to Cape Town, as well as an engineer who visited at least once every two days.

“The Nashua team were always visible, plus they were friendly, helpful and easy to work with,” said Tanya Odendaal, Worldsport’s Marketing & Communications Manager. “For an event like this, there is a massive group of users who all come and go at different times, so it’s not possible to train them formally—instead, having Nashua people on-site to help was the perfect answer.”

PROVEN EXPERIENCE

“Nashua was one of the few suppliers that was on time, every time.

In fact, they arrived a day early, which we didn’t complain about,” Odendaal went on. “We had no negative feedback, and the devices were able to meet all our requirements.”

Worldsport turned to Nashua, who provided ten multi-function devices and printers across five waterfront locations, including the media centre and logistics office.

After the successful experience at the Volvo Ocean Race, Worldsport is now also planning to work with Nashua for the ITU World Triathlon Series next year.

The machines provided printing, scanning, copying and email

“It was a no-brainer, Nashua’s solution was efficient and reliable,” concludes Odendaal. “I’ve managed different media centres with large numbers of international travelling journalists, and in the eight years that I’ve done this job, Nashua has provided the slickest solution by far.”

“It wasn’t just Worldsport’s reputation on the line – any problems would have reflected badly on Cape Town as a city.”

Chantel Rall, commercial & client service manager, Worldsport

Volvo Oc ea n R a c e

THE VOLVO OCEAN RACE: RETURN TO THE AGE OF SAIL

MAN VS NATURE The Volvo Ocean Race set sail on 4 October 2014 from Alicante in Spain. The race will take place between

11 ports, over more than 38 739 nautical miles—or 75 000 kilometres—in nine months and finish in Gothenburg,

©BRIAN CARLIN/TEAM VESTAS WIND

Sweden. It is the greatest spectacle in world sailing.

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©MARC BOW/VOLVO OCEAN RACE TEAM ALVIMEDICA

of $100 million (more than R1.1 billion) per team—the decision to move to the less expensive, one-design Volvo Ocean 65 boat is a move toward the race’s roots when the emphasis was more on survival than competition, and relied on sailing nous and experience rather than technology.

Legend goes that the idea for the round-the-world event was drummed up by a group of friends over beers in a pub in southern England in the early 1970s. It’s fitting, perhaps, that local brewery Whitbread agreed to sponsor the first race in 1973–74, while the Royal Naval Sailing Association oversaw the proceedings. The Whitbread Roundthe-World Race was born.

In those early days, when the world was a much smaller place indeed, racing took second fiddle to the adventure of it all and the stories of sailing around the world that came with it. Teams loaded up their boats with food, drink, beer—even musical instruments. It was an adventure born of a passion for sailing and a love of adventure, more in common with the great explorers such as Christopher Columbus and Ferdinand Magellan.

©AMORY ROSS/TEAM ALVIMEDICA/VOLVO OCEAN RACE

T

he Volvo Ocean Race (formerly the Whitbread Round-the-World Race) in its 12th edition saw seven teams take to the seas for the perilous nine-month journey to circumnavigate the globe, including—for the first time in a decade—an all-female team, Team SCA from Sweden. Joining them are the other teams comprising a mix of hardened veterans and relative novices: Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing, Dongfeng Race Team (China), Team Brunel (The Netherlands), Team Alvimedica (USA/ Turkey), Team España and Team Vestas Wind (Norway).

This year’s race is the first ever contested in a one-design boat: fashioned, constructed and built by the same consortium of companies for all competitors. The one-design boat is built around media, with five fixed camera positions and two microphones. They are stronger, sturdier vessels that reduce costs and level the playing field.

As the costs of high-tech competitive sailing have skyrocketed—last year’s America’s Cup campaigns cost upward

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Volvo Oc ea n R a c e ©MARÍA MUIÑA/MAPFRE

Stats & facts The boats would stop in just three ports along the route to replenish with food and water: usually in Cape Town, then somewhere in Australia or New Zealand before the treacherous sail around Cape Horn to a port in South America. The teams would return to southern England with one final push back across the Atlantic.

Often times, the teams arrived days—even weeks—apart from each other. Sailors still used traditional, common tools at their disposal:

PREVIOUS SPREAD: Twenty-five knots of pure thrill-seeking in the Bay of Biscay with Team Vestas Wind before the race OPPOSITE: Team Alvimedica and Team SCA at the start of Leg 2 from Cape Town to Abu Dhabi ABOVE: MAPFRE arrives in Sanya in fourth position, after 23 days of sailing LEFT: Dave Swete of Team Alvimedica checks for debris on the keel after sailing through a current line full of trash and rope on Leg 3 to Sanya

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• No fresh water is used to shower.

Sailors use only wipes, or the rain.

• The teams sleep in four-hour cycles: four hours on duty; four hours on standby; and four hours of sleep.

• Daily production of drinking water from the desalinator = 50 litres.

• There are only two changes of clothing per offshore leg: one warm-weather and one coldweather outfit.

• Sailors eat only freeze-dried meals, which are light to pack and are rehydrated with desalinated seawater.

• Weight loss is up to 11kg in one leg only.

• The crew eat 500 calories per day—the equivalent of 12 steaks— and take up to 20 vitamin pills per day.

• Each boat is 20m in length (about the size of five cars) and weighs 12 500kg (12 great white sharks).

• The maximum speed of the yacht is 40 knots, or 74km/h.

• All the boats receive the exact same weather data every day, which totals more than 20MB of info per day.

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I didn’t have to journey around the world to get first-hand experience of sailing on a Volvo Ocean 65 Racer. As part of the in-port regatta held in Cape Town in November, I was among those invited to come aboard Alvimedica.

A selected few get to experience the thrill of sailing a Volvo 65 Ocean Racer during the regattas scheduled in each port. It was my lucky day when I was chosen to go out on Alvimedica.

Volvo Ocean Race chief executive Knut Frostad, a former Olympic sailor and Volvo skipper, debriefed us on what to expect.

Kitted out in full Musto sailing gear, we were ferried out to Alvimedica, which was waiting for us at the harbour entrance.

Once on board, we were quickly introduced to the crew, and skipper Charlie Enright gave a quick safety brief.

Each Volvo 65 has a crew of eight people, except the all-female Team SCA, who has 11. All the boats also have an on-board reporter to record and bring the stories to the public instantly via modern communications technology. On Alvimedica we had Amory Ross, a charming young American who has done this race before. He was also our guide to what happens below deck.

The first thing you notice when you go below is how dark and hot it is. Everything is basically raw carbon-fibre black; you can actually smell the resin. There are obviously no windows, so ventilation is minimal.

Besides the electric fans, the only airflow is from the two entry hatches on either side. Inside is a small galley in the centre, designed only to heat up prepackaged, freeze-dried food. The only means of getting fresh water is via the desalination plant. This machine can turn 42 litres of seawater into fresh water in about one hour. On each side of the boat are simply slung bunks for sleeping. Aft and below the cockpit is the navigation station, which is full of high-tech computers and screens. Everything on board is powered by the single Volvo Penta diesel engine.

We took turns in steering and grinding, and tried to get the boat going at full speed. Even with the wind so strong we could sheet in the sails to the maximum, thanks to the 4.7m canting keel below the boat. In the cockpit, all the sails are winched in or out by one of three grinding pedestals. These are interchangeable and are handled by foot-controlled buttons on the deck. Most times it takes two people to operate these grinders—and I can tell you, it’s not easy.

After our sail, all the teams enjoyed the great hospitality and prizegiving at the Volvo Ocean Race Village.

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©MATT KNIGHTON/ABU DHABI OCEAN RACING/VOLVO OCEAN RACE

Gone sailing

©CORINNA HALLORAN/TEAM SCA/VOLVO OCEAN RACE

Volvo Oc ea n R a c e

TONY DIEKMANN FROM THE INTREPID EXPLORER HAD HIS DREAM COME TRUE AT THE VOLVO OCEAN RACE OFFICIAL STOPOVER IN CAPE TOWN

sextants, chart maps and position reports via radio.

Team names had heroic overtones, such as Endeavour, Flyer, Adventure, and L’Esprit d’Equipe.

The Whitbread slowly morphed over its first three decades into a fully professional race featuring sailors and shore crew who competed year-round at the pinnacle of their sport and boats that were state-of-the art with little cruising comforts. More sponsors were brought on. Port stopovers were added as boat designs were streamlined to focus more on speed and less on the ability to get a group of a dozen sailors comfortably around the world. The boats were now capable of going faster than the wind and needed additional pit stops to maintain the carbon-fibre hulls and working parts.

Teams started taking the names of their corporate sponsors in the 1990s and, by the turn of the millennium, Volvo had jumped on board as a new global sponsor for the renamed Volvo Ocean Race.

In the last few editions, the route of the race has expanded even further to new countries. While this was done mostly to take the race to new parts of the

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Volvo Oc ea n R a c e

©BRIAN CARLIN/TEAM VESTAS WIND/VOLVO OCEAN RACE ©MATT KNIGHTON/ABU DHABI OCEAN RACING/VOLVO OCEAN RACE

Log standings

THIS PAGE, TOP: Team Vestas Wind’s boat grounded on the Cargados Carajos Shoals

edition came just over a century after thousands of Irish took that route in reverse, fleeing the potato famine and leaving home in search of a new life in North America in the late 19th century.

Indeed, for all the commercial and technological changes to the Volvo Ocean Race, there is still something very romantic and very simple about catching the trade winds and letting nature propel you eastward in a circle around the globe. This Volvo Ocean Race 2014–15 takes a small step back in that direction. Each team will be on board the exact same type of boat.

It’s no longer a race for technology, research and development, or groundbreaking composite materials.

THIS PAGE, BOTTOM: On Leg 3, Luke Parkinson from Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing at the helm, speeding away from the Singapore Strait as night approaches

Hugo McCafferty Sports editor: Swide Magazine Online (www.swide.com)

world for commercial reasons, the new courses also opened up some traditional sea trade routes: into the Persian Gulf, the Strait of Malacca in Asia. The historic Boston-to-Ireland leg in the 2008–09

OPPOSITE, TOP: Adil Khalid squeezes in a nap on the rail as Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing prepares to round the bottom of India on Leg 3 OPPOSITE, BOTTOM: Team SCA’s Stacey Jackson gets hoisted up onto the padeye to make changes to the clew on Leg 3

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Each team gets the same points as its finishing position in each of the legs, e.g. first place gets 1 point. Each leg counts, and the team with the lowest score at the end wins. In-port race results are used only in the event of a tie in the overall race; however, the teams have been closer than ever before in this year’s Volvo Ocean Race, so it may count for everything at the end.

Team Vestas Wind sadly ran aground onto a reef in the Indian Ocean. The crew was rescued and the stricken vessel retrieved, grounded on the Cargados Carajos Shoals (Saint Brandon), some 400km northeast of Mauritius. It is not sure whether the team will return to the race, but they are hoping to rebuild a boat and join in the last leg or two.

The current log standings are (as at 10 February 2015): 1 Dongfeng Race Team 2 Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing 3 Team Brunel 4 Team Alvimedica 5 MAPFRE 6 Team SCA 7 Team Vestas Wind Be sure to download the incredible Volvo Ocean Race 2014–15 app from Google Play or iTunes App Store: Watch in-port races and leg starts live; track the boats; check out the sailors’ profiles; and explore the route, the ports and all the stories behind this extraordinary adventure.

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Pa tr ic k C r uywa gen

JUST A

little kid FROM ZIM HE MAY BE A SMALL GUY WITH A BIG RED BEARD—BUT THE HARDER THE PHYSICAL CHALLENGE, THE MORE SEAN CONWAY ENJOYS IT, WRITES PATRICK CRUYWAGEN

In recognition of his many recent extraordinary feats of endurance, Sean Conway was voted the 2014 Adventurer of the Year by the United Kingdom’s National Adventure Awards.

And it’s a most fitting accolade.

Photographs: Patrick Cruywagen, and supplied

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A

llow me to demonstrate the type of person he is is by means of an example. Though he resides in Cheltenham in England, Conway thought nothing of walking to London to meet up with friends for a New Year’s Eve party.

(For those who suck at geography, that’s roughly a 185-kilometre walk.) His main

phone, decided to take me out.

I’ve also done a few smaller, fun and silly things. I once climbed Kilimanjaro in a penguin suit—you should’ve seen the surprise on the German and American tourists’ faces when I went past them!

They had all the fancy gear, and then this penguin just waddled past them.

objective was to spend less money than the £48.50 (around R845) it would’ve cost for a train ticket. He only just succeeded by a few pennies.

I met up with Conway in the picturesque Cotswolds, where we had a chat while exploring the countryside.

life. I grew up in the middle of the Zimbabwean bush; my dad served as a game ranger in a few of the national parks there. Things were pretty rough back then and I remember how, when driving around Mana Pools National Park, Mum would carry a machine gun. They had military roadblocks everywhere.

Tourists’ cars were blown up by landmines and Dad built a bomb shelter underneath the house—hardly ideal.

When Bob Mugabe came into power, we moved to KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa and Dad worked in the national parks there. He could still follow his passion, which is saving rhinos.

Who is Sean Conway?

I’m an endurance adventurer, probably best known for being the first person to swim the length of Great Britain.

I basically went from Land’s End to John o’ Groats—but along the coastline, of course.

Then I attempted to break the world record for a round-the-world cycle; everything was on track until a Ford F-150 truck driver, who was on the

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Tell us about your childhood in Africa.

Africa certainly fuelled my adventurous

It seems as a kid, you loved a physical challenge.

I was—and still am—quite a small oke and so, while at school, I had to look for alternatives to rugby. Throughout my teens, I paddled several river marathons including the Dusi. I never did amazingly well in any of them. I think my best finish was 150th out of 2 000 paddlers.

When I was 15, I did the Midmar Mile swim, which took me just over half an hour. I didn’t like the cold water of the dam.

If you had to do a month-long adventure in your Land Rover Defender 110, who would you take along?

Hard question, that. I’d have to go with Martin Strel. He is one of the world’s best open-water swimmers and is a bit mad.

If you’ve watched Big River Man, his documentary on swimming the Amazon River, you’ll see what I mean. He famously drank two bottles of wine every day while on the swim. I tried drinking wine while in the water during my length-of-Britain swim and it didn’t go down well. In fact, it came up again. Not a pretty sight.

I read somewhere that you like being cold, hungry and tired. Why? Maybe it’s because I’m a ginger and I’ve been abused my whole life. It’s just that

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“

I once climbed Kilimanjaro in a penguin suit—you should’ve seen the surprise on the German and American tourists’ faces

OPPOSITE: Getting lost on a long training ride ABOVE, MIDDLE: Conway finishes the length of his cycle ride through Britain ABOVE, RIGHT: Midmar Dam selfie

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when I went past

them!”

I handle it better than most, and the only way you’ll ever find this out is if you push yourself. As a human being, I’m lucky enough to be able to operate at a high level, despite the fact that I may be cold, wet and hungry. I don’t know why this is. I’m pretty small, so it may be a combination of luck and genetics.

Thanks very much, Mum and Dad.

One day you were running a successful photography business in London—and the next day you woke up unemployed.

What happened?

When I turned 30, I was miserable.

Nothing challenged me; I was running on autopilot. I was unhappy, so I sold my photography business for £1. I wanted something more from my life.

Why would anyone want to swim from Land’s End to John o’ Groats?

I felt that I hadn’t proven myself with the round-the-world cycle because I got knocked over and couldn’t break the world record as a result. So I was looking for the next big thing and that’s how the swim idea came about. No one had done it before.

So you decided to cycle around the world as fast as you could?

I wanted to travel, but couldn’t afford to.

I figured that if I were to attempt to break some sort of world record, someone would pay me to do it. Who, though, would sponsor little Sean from Zimbabwe? I worked hard on a proposal, and a month later I had a sponsor. I then

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Pa tr ic k C r uywa gen

CLOCKWISE, FROM TOP LEFT: In the middle of the Atacama Desert; Press shot for Cycling The World; The roof of his Land Rover, ready for the next adventure; At a loch in Scotland, near the end of the swim; Press shot for Swimming Britain; At the start of his length-of-Britain swim

trained 40 hours a week—six months later I was on the starting line at Greenwich. I had to average 270-odd kilometres a day. Sadly, I got run over at around 6 400km in, which effectively ended my record attempt, as I was badly injured. I took a month to recover before going on to finish the cycle.

How does one become a professional adventurer?

Today it’s possible to make a career out

of it. You can write books and do public speaking while companies sponsor your adventures. The market for adventure books in the UK is massive. I love going to schools and telling the kids to think big, because initially I didn’t. I was miserable with where my life was at and so I just pushed myself and tried these things.

Maybe it’s part of my upbringing or the fact that I was sick of being part of the rat race.

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When you recently attempted the run across Britain, a knee injury forced you to stop. How do you handle setbacks?

It was difficult, as I had never had an overuse injury before. That was hard to deal with. Cycling is very different, as you can get on your bike and ride for 12 hours, provided you hydrate and don’t get taken out by a truck. Running with any sort of leg injury is not on, as you are just going to make it worse. I didn’t do myself any favours by tripping on a stone when I

if you manage your sleep deprivation.

I have to do it because then I will be the first person to have run, cycled and swum the length of Britain.

was taking a selfie on my run across Britain. I’m definitely much better at reading my body now.

to complete; the record before that was around 78 days of swimming. Then I want to become the fastest person to run the length of Africa. That’s all the ego side of me.

The real side of me just wants to help people realise that they, too, can do it all. I don’t have bones made from titanium—I’m just a little kid from Zimbabwe.

Will you try the run across Britain again?

The knee is fine now, thanks, and I’m definitely going to do it again. Part of me wants to break the record, but you have to average 150km of running per day over a period of nine days. It can be done

How would you like to be remembered?

The ego side wants to be remembered as the world’s best ultra-endurance, multidisciplined athlete in the world.

When I did my sea swim, it was the longest swimming adventure from a time point of view. It took me 135 days

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CHANCING CREVASSES, AVALANCHES AND ICY BIVOUACS, MATTHEW HOLT TAKES ON THE RARELY VISITED HIGHPOINT IN ALASKA’S WRANGELL MOUNTAINS

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M a tth ew Holt

TO THE

EDGE AND BACK When I proposed climbing Mount Blackburn, my wife noted I’d spent my last Alaskan expedition vowing never to return. Conceding she was right, I nonetheless decided to go—and Fiona came along too, presumably to remind me. She didn’t have to wait long for that.

Photographs: Matthew Holt and Fiona McIntosh

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I

lay in my sleeping bag, trying to ignore the maelstrom outside. Caught in a storm while descending, we’d been forced to camp on a slender ridge between a precarious cornice and plunging abyss. That was two days ago, and we were now out of food. Worse still, I’d punctured my pee bottle with my crampons and only discovered this during the night.

Just shy of 5 000 metres, Blackburn is the highpoint in Alaska’s Wrangell Mountains and the fifth highest peak in the United States. Basking in some of the worst weather nature can conjure up, its summit has been visited by less than 50 parties.

We drove south from Anchorage to McCarthy, an old mining town with a permanent population of 28 and more rusting vehicles than residents. That evening, we wandered into The Golden Saloon, mingling cautiously with the locals. With home-cut hair, knotted beards and wild smiles, they personified the frontier spirit, and several had featured in the reality TV show, Edge of Alaska.

We dined with the rest of our team.

The leader, Dave, was a veteran Alaskan mountain guide, long on Denali summits and short on fingers and toes; Scott was also a mountain guide, with a marmalade beard down to his sternum; Ben divided his time between mountain guiding and installing fairy lights; Adam was an instructor in wilderness survival; and Alex was six-foot-five and worked in rope safety. It was an accomplished, all-American team. And then there was Fiona and me.

Having overextended the team bonding, we woke late to dazzling sunshine, bleary heads and an urgent

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M a tth ew Holt 26

call to be ready at the airstrip in an hour.

McCarthy Airport comprised a couple of fuel tanks and a gravel runway, across which a moose and calf were ambling.

Some 40 kilometres northeast stood Mt Blackburn. It wasn’t an aesthetic peak, but it dominated the skyline in a muscular way: a twin-humped massif bulging with flanks, ridges and cornices.

It was sufficiently compelling to attract the attention of a 40-year-old spinster from Philadelphia, Dora Keen, who resolved to climb it—recruiting seven miners to assist her, including a German-born cowboy-turned-prospector, George Handy.

Leaving McCarthy in April 1912, they spent a month dodging avalanches, sleeping in snow caves and cooking over candles, their team diminishing as they ran out of food—until only Keen and Handy emerged on Blackburn’s east summit. The pair subsequently got married in McCarthy, in sight of the mountain.

While Keen’s party took a week just to reach Blackburn, crossing the Kennicott Glacier on sleds, we arranged to get dropped off almost halfway up it by plane.

We flew in with Paul Claus, one of Alaska’s legendary bush pilots, who could put people on mountains—and, better still, pull them off—on days when most people wouldn’t venture outside. He’d even landed on Blackburn’s summit, which sounded the ideal option to me, but the rest of my team thought I was joking.

As his customised Twin Otter pulled steeply out of McCarthy, the green spruce forests turned to glaciers below. Peeling clockwise round Mt Blackburn, we scoped our planned route up the northwest ridge: a snaking obstacle course of yawning crevasses and tottering seracs. We exchanged weak smiles and kept our thoughts to ourselves. Then, the plane swooped down and we were bumping across the Nabesna Glacier to the spot we’d chosen for base camp.

After unloading our gear, we dug deep pits for our tents, sawing ice blocks to build high walls. There’s no such thing as fly-camping out here. Even if you’re planning on staying only one night, you must be prepared for a lengthy storm.

Sure enough, we’d no sooner made camp than clouds cascaded over the saddle and we spent several days stuck in our tents.

It took a week to move up the glacier and establish our next camp, at 2 900m on the saddle. From here, we planned to follow the northwest ridge up to the west peak, some 5km away and over 2 000m higher. It was first climbed in May 1958 by

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OPPOSITE PAGE, TOP: Unloading at base camp OPPOSITE PAGE, BOTTOM: Heading toward high camp

M a tth ew Holt

PREVIOUS PAGE: Starting up the northwest ridge

THIS PAGE, TOP: And the band played on (at high camp) THIS PAGE, BOTTOM: The crevasse provided a spectacular if uncomfortable abode

a five-man team including the celebrated Canadian mountaineer, Hans Gmoser.

Considered the safest route up Blackburn, it still intimidated me, with an initial steep ice cliff to ascend, several sharp pinnacles to surmount, gaping lateral crevasses to skirt and vertiginous drop-offs either side. There were also limited accommodation options along the way, with few spots flat or wide enough to camp.

We spent one night deep inside a crevasse, sleeping in a grotto decorated with ice stalactites. It was a spectacular abode, but as comfortable as a deep freezer.

We made our high camp at 3 600m, on a small platform beneath an overhanging serac. After a hard day ferrying gear up a steep slope, it was midnight by the time we finished fortifying our tents. “We are immortal!” bellowed Dave to the endless expanse of glaciers and peaks. And in the lingering golden sunlight, I almost believed him.

After waiting a day for the weather to settle, we made our summit bid. Traversing out of camp, we bludgeoned up a 100m pitch of 80-degree snow with the consistency of porridge. Above this was a broad, rolling shoulder leading to the summit dome. Technically, it was now just a plod, though we still had to make over 1 000m in height and 4km in distance.

At 5 p.m., nine hours after leaving camp, we reached the top. After all our trials and tribulations, it was a disappointingly indistinct summit and we had to stomp around the gentle dome to be satisfied we were on the highest point.

We didn’t bother going over to the east peak, 4km across the plateau, where Keen and Handy had stood over a century

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M a tth ew Holt

The clouds closed in and we couldn’t tell where the mountain ended and space began. After almost twice walking over the edge, we reluctantly called a halt.

ABOVE: At long last... Blackburn’s summit

earlier. In the 1960s, a topographical survey calculated the west peak to be 32m higher, and Gmoser’s party was retrospectively credited with Mt. Blackburn’s first ascent.

It took six hours back to high camp, to find our tents flattened by spindrift. The next morning, we packed up and started down, buoyed by the prospect of reaching base camp and celebratory beers. But if the mountain had only grudgingly let us summit, it was even more reluctant to let us leave. As we picked our way down the ridge, the clouds closed in and we couldn’t tell where the mountain ended and space began. After almost twice walking over the edge, we reluctantly called a halt. Between an overhanging cornice and alarming drop, we scraped narrow platforms for our tents and crawled inside, hoping for better weather in the morning. Instead, we woke to find it worse.

We spent the next day listening to the wind rattle the tent and snowflakes drum the flysheet. The wind came in like sets of waves, six or seven separate tugs and then a big gust trying to rip out the moorings.

And the snow fell incessantly, so every few hours someone had to crawl out and shovel the tent free. We discovered this the hard way, waking gasping as if drowning, with the inner sheet pressed to our faces. In the afternoon, Scott and Ben ventured out to find the route, only

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to return baffled and shaken, having set off an avalanche. It had reached the stage where I promised to say my prayers and visit my mother more often.

On the third day it stopped snowing, but the visibility remained poor and the whole ridge was now a slab avalanche waiting to rip. Nevertheless, out of fuel and food, we decided to make a break for it. With all seven of us roped together, Scott gamely led, tasked with finding a route and triggering avalanches. He waded through the knee-deep snow like a sacrificial lamb headed for the altar, while the rest of us followed in crouched poises, ice axes ready to self-arrest. (Back home, after a few beers, I’ve always championed the relative merits of a quick death in the mountains over a dread disease. But up there, it didn’t seem so appealing.)

Despite being on guard, the first avalanche was a shock: a sudden crack, and the slope went sliding from all around Scott off into the abyss. Somehow, the ground directly underneath him stayed put and, after a few choice expletives, we continued.

We tripped two more avalanches in the next 100m, before locating our route and abseiling to the saddle.

Retrieving snowshoes and sleds, we set off down the glacier for base camp. While the worst was behind us, we weren’t out of it yet. Swirling clouds pursued us down the mountain and there were just a few

half-buried wands to guide us. Halfway down, Scott disappeared as if by magic, plunging several metres into a concealed crevasse. Fortunately, the rope was taut, his sled stayed on the surface and he was able to stem out.

It was late afternoon when we finally reached our cache at base camp, collapsing relieved on our sleds. Despite updating Paul of our progress, there seemed little prospect in this weather of him picking us up. But then, from above the clouds, came the whine of his Twin Otter approaching. Whooping with laughter, we raced out to line a runway on the glacier and provide some contrast in the flat light. But, after circling twice, he flew off and we despondently trudged back to our sleds.

As we contemplated the dreary prospect of making camp, we again heard the whine of an engine and his Twin Otter came scudding in low toward us. Paul had landed on the glacier around the corner, waiting for a break in the clouds. It’s a provocative question as to who’s the best bush pilot in Alaska, but that day it was definitely Paul Claus.

As the glaciers turned to forests and McCarthy came into view, I couldn’t stop grinning. It wasn’t just the thought of burgers and beers in The Golden Saloon; I’d been to the edge of Alaska and had no plans to return anytime soon.

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Star Wars THE FORCE WAS WITH GRAHAM HOWE IN TUNISIA

IN THE SAHARA

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shimmering in the midday haze. The long strip of blistered tarmac stretched to the

T

desolate dunes of the great Sahara Desert on the horizon—the imaginary home planet of Luke Skywalker in Star Wars, shot by George Lucas on location in Tunisia.

he barren landscape of the Chott el Djerid feels like another planet, and may as well be Mars or Tatooine (Luke’s imagined home in Tunisia). Pulling off the spectacular road, we looked out at the vast salt flat where Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia contemplated the two moons in Star Wars. Blown by the desert winds, the salt had piled up in huge drifts alongside the causeway—sculptured like snowmen by travellers into fantastic creatures in a scene straight out of a science-fiction movie.

A row of dead palm stumps marks the only 4x4 trail across the

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G r a h a m Howe

We headed out on a raised causeway over one of the largest salt lakes in the world,

salt pan. Salt was once traded ounce for ounce for gold and slaves brought by caravans from the south. We bought a desert rose— a stone flower made when sand dissolves into crystallised gypsum—from a lonely souvenir seller running a stall on the roadside. A rebel alliance of easy riders on Harley-Davidsons materialised like a mirage, but the throaty roar of their gleaming chrome steeds was swallowed by the immense silence of the desert.

A chain of chott (salt lakes) covers an area of 5 000 square kilometres, straddling Algeria and Tunisia deep into the Sahara.

That morning, we had left the temptations of the balmy shores

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PREVIOUS SPREAD: Sunrise over salt lake at Chott el Djerid THIS PAGE, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Desert rose on salt mound at Chott el Djerid; Oasis of Zaafrane, gateway to the Sahara; Camel sculpture on causeway across the salt flats OPPOSITE PAGE, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Barrel-vaulted storerooms (ghorfas) hewn out of stone; Luke Skywalker’s home, now Hotel Sidi Driss, in Matmata; Tea with Berbers, outside a troglodyte cave; Sweet pastries and dates in the market at Tozeur

of the Mediterranean, reluctantly leaving our sanctuary on the island of Djerba in the Gulf of Gabès. Known as the Land of the Lotus-eaters—where Ulysses and his crew were seduced by flowering fruits in The Odyssey—Djerba is as enchanting as it ever was with beguiling beaches, ancient souqs (open-air marketplaces) and the macabre tower of skulls left by the legendary corsairs who preyed on passing ships.

Heading inland, the contrast between sea and desert was dramatic. On the other side of the salt lake lay Tozeur, the gateway to the oases of Tunisia. Driving along the green fringe of a vast palmeraie—the second largest palm plantation in the country—we reached the old desert town which is the departure point for expeditions into the Grand Erg Oriental, the sand sea and dramatic dune country of southern Tunisia. On the outskirts of

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town, a row of roadside barbecue shacks tempt travellers by hanging up a bloody sheep carcass or gruesome camel’s head for méchoui (spit roast). Charming.

A Star Wars pod race was out of the question. If you have to see a man about a camel, the small oasis of Zaafrane near Douz is the camel-trek capital of Tunisia.

Every taxi driver, waiter and receptionist has a cousin with a scruffy camel. The hotel barman (the desert may be dry and thirsty, but Tunisia is not) advised us to use a registered operator if we wanted to do an overnight camel trek or longer expedition, and to start with a sundowner trek to see if we enjoyed the ride.

A thigh-chafing, swaying ride in a high saddle in the heat is not everyone’s cup of mint tea (a local speciality), and the fine Saharan sand gets into every crack and crevice. I write from painful experience.

That’s how we ended up swopping

our Land Cruiser for a camel ride in the dunes at sunset. We were soon sitting, drinking cold beer in the warm sands at a picturesque spot called Ong Jemal (‘the neck of the camel’), named after a rocky landmark that resembles this reluctant beast of burden. Looking up at a night sky filled with stars, we speculated on the whereabouts of the planet Naboo—home to Queen Amidala, the peacemaker—and tried to spot the mythical Death Star of the Galactic Empire.

Darth Vader’s lookout lay over the next hill at Mos Espa, depicted in The Phantom Menace. The set, which took months to build (for 12 minutes of footage), was destroyed by a sandstorm during filming— while the radio-controlled R2-D2 robots mysteriously ran amok in the sands, taking on a life of their own. Shooting in the desert was tough. Even the actor wearing the C-3PO robot costume couldn’t see out

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A thigh-chafing, swaying camel ride in a high saddle in the heat is not everyone’s cup of mint tea, and the fine Saharan sand gets into every crack and crevice.

of his mask in the sand—and was stabbed in the foot by mistake.

We came back to Earth and found a room for the night in one of the old funduqs (caravanserais) in the maze of covered alleys in Ouled el-Hadef, the old quarter of Tozeur, which grew rich on the old salt, slave and gold caravan trade.

The medina (town wall) is renowned for its intricate ochre brick architecture decorated with intricate geometric designs. After a nightcap of sarabi (a sweet date liqueur), we fell asleep to the fragrant apple scent of sheeshas (hookahs) drifting up from the courtyard where traders and travellers once rode in on camel-back after a long journey through the Sahara.

Set in a green oasis between the two dry salt lakes, the three desert towns of Degache, Tozeur and Nefta are known as Bled el Djerid, the land of the palm fronds.

We had a date for a ride on a calèche—an

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open horse-drawn carriage—through a vast palm grove planted with 200 000 trees. Two boys in straw hats and riding a rustic donkey cart raced us, our driver Tariq ben Salim and his horse Emir through the cool, shady palmeraie watered by over 60 springs and ancient irrigation canals. We waved at young boys shimmying up the tall palm trunks like high-wire trapeze artists.

Stopping under a giant palm tree at the marabout (tomb) of a holy man, Tariq told us an old Arab saying: “The date palm lies its feet in heaven (water) and its head in hell (the high summer temperatures)”.

These ancient trees, up to one hundred years old, produce the finest dates in the land, called deglet nour (‘date/finger of light’)—among more than 100 varieties.

The palm tree is an essential resource in the desert: the fibrous fronds are woven into mats, ropes and walls; the trunks

hollowed out to channel water; the branches used for roofing; and the woody stems made into brooms. Even the palm sap is fermented into laghmi, a powerful home brew for the brave.

On the way out, we visited the marketplace of Tozeur to buy a bag of sweet dates and haggle over fabulous desert tunics: a casual kaftan in turquoise blue, and a formal black tunic with tapered pants stitched in silver thread. You never know when you’ll be asked to a black-tie dinner in the desert. Be prepared is my boy scout’s motto. Going local like Lawrence of Arabia, I slipped into costume and headed south to meet up with the nomadic Berbers of Matmata, who now live underground like troglodytes.

We were back on the Star Wars trail. A spectacular gravel mountain road took us from Kebili on the shores of the salt pan up to the remote village of Matmata. This

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G r a h a m Howe ABOVE LEFT: Washing off the heat and dust in springs near oasis at Mides ABOVE RIGHT: Beast of burden—water carrier on Berber trail

weird, eroded moonscape of crevices, craters and caves was the home planet of Luke Skywalker, used as a location in three Star Wars films: A New Hope, The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones. Fans come from all over the world to see remnants of the original sets and movie memorabilia, and to stay at the Hotel Sidi Driss—Luke Skywalker’s mythical underground homestead.

The awe-inspiring landscape of Tunisia has been used as a backdrop in many major films. We had earlier visited the fortress of Monastir on the coast where Biggus Dickus lisps to the crowds in Monty Python’s Life of Brian; and passed through Haddej, a village near Matmata where the movie’s crucifixion scene was filmed. I found myself whistling along to the tune, “Always look on the bright side of life…”

And on the road to Mides, a village on the Algerian border near Tozeur, our guide pointed out places where those romantic desert scenes from The English Patient were filmed.

Matmata is not inside or on top; it’s underground. Centuries ago, the wandering Berbers of North Africa went underground to find refuge from their enemies and escape the extreme heat— burrowing out homes in hundreds of caves and circular pits, and carving living rooms, kitchens and bedrooms out of the soft limestone labyrinths.

We sat down to a typical Tunisian meal in the underground restaurant of the Hotel Sidi Driss, spread over five circular pits connected by a series of underground tunnels and ladders. We enjoyed kemia (vegetarian meze) with tabouna, Berber

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aniseed bread baked in a clay-domed oven. The spicy tagine—with aromatic couscous and harissa (a chilli paste of crushed dried red peppers, garlic, salt and caraway seeds)—is as hot as the desert sands. According to an old Berber legend, a man can judge his wife’s love by the quantity of spice she puts in his food. In the Sahara, heat is associated with passion.

“The living live under the dead,” goes a local saying. Outside the village (population 100), we passed bizarre signs to underground guesthouses called Troglodyte Maison. A young girl, leading a donkey heavily laden with water bottles, pointed out the way to an old Berber cave dwelling in Qasr ibn Issa. Kilani and Hlima ben Slimane invited us into their subterranean home where they live with four children: a five-room cave with wrought-iron beds, a pantry of old clay amphorae with water and olive oil, as well as a kitchen, living room and courtyard.

Now that’s Berber real estate. The family makes a living by charging passing tourists a few dinars for tea and biscuits.

While exploring the warren of caves, I half expected to encounter the Jedi Knights or find the missing droids for the Death Star. Colourful posters of Algerian pop stars decorated the walls alongside a print showing the flight of the Berbers from the plains to the hills when Tunisia was the southernmost Roman province called Ifriqiyya (Africa). Instead of an air conditioner, there hung in the living room a tapestry of reindeers in a snowy Scandinavian scene—as out of place imaginable in this hot, dusty Saharan village. “I bought it in Tripoli in 1971,” said

the proud Berber.

We headed along the old salt and spice route through the rugged hills of the Jebel Dahar down to Medenine and Tataouine in the deep south, the stronghold of the Berbers. The Ksour district is named after the amazing fortified granaries built by the Berbers—landmarks in hilltop villages, visible for miles. The courtyard of one of the ksour led us into a series of long barrel-vaulted storerooms (called ghorfas) hewn out of stone by individual families.

They are still used to stockpile barley, wheat and olive oil in good harvests for the bad years, in cool conditions safe from heat, thieves and insects.

The owner, who spoke Shilha (or Chelha), the original Berber dialect, was impressed by my Berber tunic. “Now you need a magnificent horse to go with your riding pants,” he said.

He told us the local legend of the seven sleepers: Centuries ago, seven Berber Christians and a dog went into hiding in a nearby cave to escape persecution by the Romans. They slept for 400 years and awoke to find they had grown into four-metre tall giants—but fell over and died almost immediately. I guess the moral of the story is that if you go underground, make sure you take an alarm clock and a lightsaber in case you run into the villainous Darth Vader in Tunisia’s nether regions.

Graham Howe was a guest of Qatar Air and Egypt & Beyond. Contact Cecelia Amory on telephone 011 678 6165, email: cecelia@championtours.co.za, or visit www.egyptandbeyond.co.za.

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Ka te Els

French

THE

KATE ELS PLOTS ADVENTURE ON THE FRIENDLY ISLAND OF RÉUNION

CONNECTION

Beyond the food markets, vanilla plantations and urbane of Réunion Island’s small cities lies an adventure playground forged from the Piton de la Fournaise volcano that formed this Indian Ocean island.

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S PREVIOUS SPREAD: A hiking trail descends from Le Maïdo into the Cirque de Mafate ABOVE: Intrepid visitors can take a helicopter flight up to the rim of the ‘Furnace’— Réunion’s active volcano OPPOSITE: Hiking on the martian landscapes of the Piton de la Fournaise lava fields

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tepping out of Roland Garros Airport, tropical humidity assaulting me in the way it always does on an island, I couldn’t help but think that while an island getaway wins first prize over sitting at a desk, Réunion would likely be akin to Mauritius and I shouldn’t expect too many surprises.

Nico, our guide, greets us in excellent Franglish (a mix of French and English, for the linguistic purists among us), while doling out coconuts emasculated by twirly straws. A group of men in bright-

I had to deciding what to pack, I would’ve landed with a much more enthusiastic outlook on my week in this adventurer’s playground.

The first full day of my trip here put a firm end to any belief that Réunion may be similar to its Indian Ocean counterparts.

I came to understand that it’s essentially made up of three calderas or ‘cirques’, essentially the collapsed structures made by the hardened lava of the still-veryactive volcano on the island. These have not only formed the rifts that make Réunion a topographical maze, but have

coloured shirts, suitably charmed by our arrival from South Africa, summon the sounds of the island from panpipes and other rudimentary instruments—and all I can think about is the opportunity to sneak in an afternoon nap.

I’ve had the chance before to visit Réunion’s neighbour Mauritius, and while it’s as beautiful as it can be pricey, I had a feeling the former was also likely to have been overrun by family-style resorts.

Admittedly, if I had committed half as much time to researching the island as

created natural plateaus that fall steeply off into valleys that can be reached only by flying in via helicopter.

Hiking into the Cirque de Mafate caldera on the first day was relatively easy-going. The trails are well-marked and locals flow past briskly on their way to other local villages or toward the outskirts of the island. Réunion has over 1 000 kilometres of hiking, walking and trekking trails—most leading to remote and rather inaccessible villages where, for just a few euro, you can spend the night at a local

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hostel and appreciate the Creole fare.

Many French students spend their summer bisecting the island, carrying nothing more than light backpacks, revelling in the isolation of the island and cooling off in the deep streams that flow through the volcanic rock formations here.

Opting for the alternative, I chose to explore the island’s rivers and ravines on what is termed an ‘Aquatic Hike’: essentially the same concept as kloofing, but with much more gear. I jerked myself into a very thick wetsuit complete with canvas diaper and began the sweaty trek

cold waters of the river, taking the turns as if we were liquid ourselves, ending up over a kilometre away from our starting point.

Every activity here is punctuated by the saccharine taste of local rum and artificial fruit juice, the signature drink of the island and a welcome sugar-rush interlude between the escapades of Réunion. It sits on your table at meals, it’s served in the morning and, obviously, as is the norm in island life, it’s perfectly acceptable to enjoy at any moment of the day.

Rock climbing is as central an activity

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Locals spend their weekends trekking up massive stone cliffs, sometimes for over five hours, just to whip back down and start again. change around every corner. Heading up to the Fournaise volcano in a very bumpy and somewhat nauseating 4x4 ride, with a man named Dominic (who spoke no English whatsoever), was a telling cue into the levels of society in Réunion. Translated through tears of laughter, Dominic detailed how the “people of the mountain” never head down to the coast an hour away, simply because “it’s too warm”. Laughing this off, we hopped out the 4x4 to overlook the Martian landscape through the mist disguising the volcano that lay ahead.

Getting there to a six-metre cliff, the start of the aquatic part of this hike. Facing the river from the cliff above, donning all that heavy neoprene was an unusual experience.

It felt more dangerous in some ways than just jumping into a clear pool of water—and truthfully, that made it all the more thrilling.

Making our way down the river, jumping the gorges where we could and gliding over the natural slides of rock where we couldn’t, Réunion showed off her best side. We were melded into the

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in Réunion as the drinking of rum. Locals spend their weekends trekking up massive stone cliffs, sometimes for over five hours, just to whip back down and start again.

The Cirque de Cilaos caldera is known for its steep climbs, but I don’t believe I could personally work up the courage to climb some of these after the narrow tunnels through which we barely made it by bus to get up into these mountains.

That’s the thing about Réunion: The roads and the landscape—and sometimes even the people—seem to

Réunion is a stress-free daytime four-hour flight from Johannesburg on Air Austral, with bookable connecting flights from Cape Town, Durban and East London as well as George and Port Elizabeth through its website. Flights out of South Africa depart only twice per week on Thursdays and Sundays—the perfect excuse not to rush back from this island escape! Although Réunion is a Department of France, South African passport holders do not require a visa to visit the island.

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Ka te Els CLOCKWISE, FROM TOP LEFT: An aerial view of Boucan Canot—one of the island’s premier seaside towns; Via ferrata climbing via steel cables at Réunion’s own Niagara Falls; Mist over the Enclos Fouqué caldera of the Piton de la Fournaise; Rock climbing up massive stone cliffs is a popular activity

Almost immediately, we turned back to retrieve our jackets. We had ascended just a few hundred metres, but the air temperature had dropped from the high twenties to a measly six degrees. Looking out over the red and black sand, guide Nico once again made his appearance to point out the tiny white boulders marking out a path on an otherwise strikingly plain landscape. “People get lost out there, as they would on Mars… because when you’re down there, the lack of any markers makes it too confusing to escape,” he says in a voice that seems to be sauced with the same experience.

Piton de la Fournaise, the volcano that is overlooked by a visitor’s perch a kilometre away, is one of the most active volcanoes in the world. The literal translation of its name is ‘peak of the furnace’, but locals know it better as the ‘angry mountain’. Signs of eruption as

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recently as June 2014 make this the prime attraction for travellers to what looks like an otherwise forsaken place.

When the volcano begins to churn its innards, with the potential of spewing lava onto the surrounds, Réunionese helicopter companies don’t think twice about organising flights over the rim for the curious few who wish to see the inside of the ‘furnace’. While I wasn’t propitious enough to see the molten rocks of Fournaise, I would undoubtedly go back for that promise alone.

The adventures of Réunion are so easy to access out of South Africa: a convenient flight, campsites, hotels and guesthouses nearby, and some of the friendliest people I’ve ever had the chance of meeting. While the island transacts in euro, everything is reasonable and you can plan a fantastic trip that would suit mild adventurers to even the

Getting around

The entire island can be traversed by vehicle in a couple of hours, so car hire is an excellent option for those who don’t mind driving on the opposite side of the road to South Africa. Guided tours by bus and in 4x4s are available, as well as helicopter flights into and over the three cirques of the island.

most adept explorer in your group.

I fell in lust with the mountain people and the French cafés that line the marinas simultaneously, enough to be planning my own return to Réunion soon. There are no overrun resorts here—and, as experience has proved, all I needed to pack was an intrepid spirit and a well-worn pair of trekking shoes.

Useful links

blog.welcometoreunionisland.com www.welcometoreunionisland.com www.reunion.fr

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Alis on B udge

Lined up as we were along the gravel track, the car doors opened and drivers and passengers jumped out, set to deflate tyres.

We were about to start the Shipwreck 4x4 Trail: a 37-kilometre one-way route, taking us past seven wrecks of vessels that were sent to their watery graves over the years.

D

udley Wessels was our guide for the day and we quickly saw the passion this man has for the area. Incredibly knowledgeable of the local history and current activities, he shared many stories and folklore legends, about how and when the ships were wrecked, the diamond mining in the area, and local fauna and flora. It’s his personal stomping ground, and he’s happy to share it—provided you remain respectful of the magic and mystery of this stormy coastline.

The Shipwreck Trail is an easy-tomoderate 4x4 route, graded 2 out of 5 on the 4x4 scale of ‘roughness’. Which means it’s easy to be a passenger in the vehicle, with still a few exhilarating challenges thrown in. Like climbing a sandy rise with a 90-degree bend in the run-up, and a rather strategically positioned boulder preventing much speed… It’s the kind of 4x4-ing I enjoy: a test of mettle and technical expertise, rather than just flooring it and sending up clouds of dust behind you.

Wessels has driven this route countless times, so could give advice to each driver in the group if needed; he knows how the

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Wreckreational ALISON BUDGE EXPERIENCES THE MAGIC AND MYSTERY OF THE DIAMOND COAST’S BEACHED RUINS

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Alis on B udge It’s the kind of 4x4-ing I enjoy: a test of mettle and technical expertise, rather than just flooring it and sending up clouds of dust behind you. different cars can manage driving in the sand, and was always patient and helpful.

Even when the rest of the group was taking bets on whether the automatic Fortuner would make it on the first attempt, or if the Disco’ driver had the cojones to use the power of his car!

Situated between Koingnaas and Kleinzee, the guided trail showcases the awesome sights of the shipwrecks, the beautiful unspoilt beaches, historical spots—and, if you’re interested, some fascinating plants in the area. Three of the wrecks are now above the waterline and we could explore the ruins of these vessels.

The Piratiny was the first ship at which we stopped; a Brazilian cargo carrier loaded with clothes, shoes and tinned food. She ran aground in June 1943 on her final voyage from Brazil to Cape Town due to stormy seas (although local legend of being the target of a German torpedo makes the story far more exciting).

Fortunately, no one lost their lives and the wooden decks of this ship, built in

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1921, are still surviving. Bad weather hampered salvage operations, and when a heavy storm a few weeks later caused the ship to break up, the beach was littered with dress materials and tinned food.

The bay subsequently became known as Sole Bay, and being war time—with clothes and food in short supply—the local community enjoyed the windfall.

Tinned sardines were on the dinner menu

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PREVIOUS PAGE: The 4x4 Shipwreck Trail showcases three particularly spectacular wrecks OPPOSITE, TOP: The trip takes most of the day, allowing time to explore the beautiful beaches and interesting coastline OPPOSITE, BOTTOM: The wreck of the Piratiny, a Brazilian cargo carrier that ran aground in 1943 THIS PAGE, TOP: The Border was another victim of the infamous West Coast fog THIS PAGE, BOTTOM: The hardwood decks of the Piratiny are still intact today

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for months and, apparently, in the following Communion service, the congregation looked like een ma se kind, with all the churchgoers decked out in new clothes of the same fabrics.

At the site of the Arosa, we could walk around the twisted and torn metal, and admire the size of the skeleton—40 years after the misty coastline claimed yet another victim. At 10 000 tonnes, this is the biggest ship to be wrecked in the area

and, appropriately enough, the grounded freighter was spotted by school children on 16 June 1976, now known as Youth Day. No lives were lost in the shipwreck, though, and today it has been severely broken and battered by the heavy storms and strong waves that typify this area.

The Border was the last ship we investigated, a British motor coaster that ran aground on 1 April 1947 due to poor visibility in thick fog. She was carrying fuel and explosives but, fortunately, everything was salvaged, and again no one died: a lifeline to the beach ensured that all reached safety. It took many teams of donkey carts to transport her cargo across the dunes to the nearest road so that it could continue to the final destination of the Namaqualand copper mines.

An exciting part of the trip was the extra stops along the way. We explored a very remote house, Die Kliphuis, built in 1926 by a sheep farmer who clearly enjoyed solitude. ‘Miles and miles of nothing’ is a popular saying in our house, and it sprang to mind here. The same farmer, Jan Kotze, noticed signs of subterranean water on his land and, upon digging, found an underground stream that was part of a larger freshwater aquifer.

He built two wells, which we could peer down to spot the water that is still

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Alis on B udge

Situated between Koingnaas and Kleinzee, the guided trail showcases the awesome sights of the shipwrecks, the beautiful unspoilt beaches, historical spots and some fascinating plants in the area.

Where to stay ABOVE: It’s a privilege and a pleasure to explore the stunning Diamond Coast—to learn about the history of the area as well as the local fauna and flora

part of the supply to Koingnaas and Hondeklip Bay today.

What was fantastic for us was that, without the information supplied by our guide, we would never have known the details and history of this seemingly barren stretch of coastline. And when it came to plants, we were shown a hidden gem: The Fenestraria rhopalophylla— window plant or babies’ toes to the rest of us—is a plant that grows under the sand, and is one of only a few that can photosynthesise underground. Part of the succulent Karoo biome, it’s a privilege to see it, and it needs someone in the know to show you how to find it. We all crowded round to watch Wessels blow the sand away and reveal the magic— only to have some members of our group dance away suddenly as a young snake escaped out of the nearby bush, not enjoying the presence of all of us in his usually tranquil habitat.

On this trip, we were lucky to have the bank of fog stay out over the horizon.

And while the morning weather was

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sunshiny and warm, within an hour or two the chilly wind lowered the temperature—so we were cold and still being sunburnt. Sunblock is a must!

The cost of the trail is R175 per person, with a minimum of eight people required.

Eight to 10 vehicles at a time are the maximum preferred, and the trip can be tailored to your group.

The route takes most of the day, so participants often stay in the area before and after the trip. My husband and I were touring with a 4x4 group from Cape Town, and we all stayed at the

Contact Diamond Coast – Forever Namaqualand for bookings at the following accommodation options: Noup Diamond Divers’ Cottages Koingnaas guesthouses including Lorelei, The Boathouse and Somnaas Farm Koingnaas Caravan Park Kleinzee Caravan Park Joanne’s Guesthouses, Kleinzee Back to Basics Backpackers Die Houthoop Guest Farm

nearby Koingnaas Caravan Park campsite, situated right on the beach. It’s a real treat to watch the sun set over the ocean on the west coast, and from a comfy perch on the rocks with a glass of wine in hand, we watched as the golden orb sizzled into the sea—signalling the end of yet another magical day in Africa.

Who to contact

Diamond Coast – Forever Namaqualand As the trail falls within a high-security mining area, it is advisable to book ahead and make arrangements for security clearance.

Tel: 027 877 0028 • Email: coast.of.diamonds@gmail.com Dudley Wessels Independent tour guide Tel: 083 305 2569 • Email: peebs@kingsley.co.za

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Thali Thali is also home to many different bird species and guests are welcome to enjoy a walk in the fynbos to view these creatures.

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Game drives, Archery… and all the activities that Langebaan has to offer (casino, beach, water-sport, restaurants, golf, shopping mall, etc)

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Scavenger VULTURE POPULATIONS IN AFRICA HAVE PLUMMETED ACROSS THE CONTINENT. MIRIAM MANNAK FINDS OUT WHY

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HUNT

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Poisoning, livestock drugs, traditional healers who are after their bones: African vultures are getting it from all sides.

Over the past decades, their populations have decreased across the continent. Even Botswana, globally renowned for its nature conservation successes, is affected.

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t’s blistering hot in Thakadu Bush Camp, situated in western Botswana—leaving even the normally eardrum-shattering cricket orchestra struggling with the swelter. The Land Cruiser, however, doesn’t seem fazed by soaring mercury levels, and effortlessly ploughs its way over the sand path, with overhanging camel thorn branches leaving the occasional grasshopper behind on the bonnet. A red-billed hornbill flies up from the ground and into a tree, mocking us for disturbing its rendezvous with a companion.

Suddenly, the air starts to fill itself with the pungent stench of rotting flesh, a foulness that becomes more and more pronounced as we go along. Then the car stops. On the right side, scattered amid the trees, lie dozens of livestock carcasses in various stages of decomposition. Some are bloated, which indicates a relative freshness, while others are nothing but a messy, dried out heap of leathery skin, hooves and bones.

In the not so far distance, in between shrubbery so typical of this region, half a dozen white-backed vultures are ferociously feasting on the remains of a brown cow. As the birds bury their razor-sharp beaks into the decomposing flesh, pulling it out from underneath the hide, others are watching closely from the treetops. The vultures abruptly abort their luncheon when one of them spots the vehicle. One by one, they spread their enormous wings and join their mates in the trees.

“Welcome to our vulture restaurant,” says Hanri Ehlers, co-founder of Kanabo Conservation Link (KCL). Born and bred in South Africa, she heads the organisation’s research camp at Thakadu. For the past few years, KCL has supported various conservation projects in South Africa, Namibia and Botswana. Other activities include finding ways to involve local communities in nature conservation initiatives, and raising awareness around the plight of various threatened and vulnerable species—vultures included.

The research camp at Thakadu and the vulture restaurant form part of that.

“This is not for everyone,” says Ehlers with a smirk. “It looks a bit like a war zone at the moment. However, one must remember that vulture restaurants play

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Why save vultures?

Protecting vultures is important—for the birds, people and even the economy. Take the Indian vulture crisis: As the vulture population in India was wiped out, the prevalence of human and animal rabies and other diseases increased.

Researcher Anil Markandya estimates the costs of the Indian vulture crisis at about R396 billion as a result of up to 48 800 additional rabies deaths.

a crucial role in vulture conservation.”

Over the past years, various studies have shown that African vulture populations have plummeted across the continent, particularly since the 1980s.

While the figures vary, the overall message is clear: Vultures in Africa, like they are elsewhere, are under threat. According to a coalition of nature conservation organisations, including Raptors Botswana and the Endangered Wildlife Trust, the number of western African vulture species has dropped by as much as 97% over the past three decades. Their southern African counterparts have shown a decline of 50% to 60% in that very same period.

One of the culprits is diclofenac, an anti-inflammatory often used in the livestock sector to treat lameness and fever. The drug causes acute kidney failure in vultures, which they ingest after feeding on deceased cattle. Says Ehlers, “While these birds are incredibly strong and are able to break down diseases, rabies and

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anthrax in their gut, they are also highly sensitive to, for instance, diclofenac.”

A prime example of the drug’s destructive impact on the well-being of these carrion-loving raptors is India, which saw its vulture population drop from some 60 million to an estimated 40 000 within a decade. “In south Asia, the populations of the endemic Oriental white-backed, slender-billed and long-billed vultures have declined by more than 95% since the early 1990s,” states a 2008 paper by the World Organisation for Animal Health.

While the Indian government and farmers were aware of the problem, no one realised what the reason was. In 2003, an international team of scientists came with a conclusive answer: diclofenac. Since then, India and various neighbouring countries including Nepal and Pakistan have banned the local manufacturing of the substance in livestock.

BirdLife International’s African branch estimates that diclofenac is used in over

a dozen African countries. It is, however, uncertain to what extent. This is where the KCL vulture restaurant comes in, Ehlers explains: “The carcasses we give them are donated by local farmers from the Ghanzi region and Kentrek Feedlot. These are free from diclofenac and other substances that are lethal to vultures.”

She adds that the initiative has another benefit: “It enables scientists and nature conservationists to study vultures in their natural habitat. We need to know more about vultures in order to be able to protect them.”

Some 270 kilometres southeast from Thakadu, near the dusty Kalahari town of Kang, Beckie Garbett from Raptors Botswana has her eyes firmly locked on a handful of circling vulture silhouettes. Using the thermals, the birds effortlessly hover through the sky, their wings outstretched and their heads aimed at the ground.

Garbett has been studying Botswana’s vultures for the past year, with a strong focus on the lappet-faced species. With a wingspan of up to 3m, it’s one of the largest vultures in southern Africa. It is also one of the most vulnerable: BirdLife International estimates the population of the lappet-faced vulture at 5 700 mature adults. This is the lowest out of all southern African vulture species.

Focusing on the birds’ conservation status, flight patterns and nesting behaviours as well as threats and survival rates, Garbett hopes to get better insight into the animals’ general ecology. This data is crucial to the development of muchneeded protection strategies.

THIS PAGE: Hanri Ehlers holding a white-backed vulture that was captured, tagged and released after some blood and a feather were taken OPPOSITE: Vultures perched in the trees surrounding the vulture restaurant at Thakadu Bush Camp

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M ir ia m M a n n a k

Feathery facts

Of the total 23 vulture species in the world, 11 are endemic to Africa and 14 are considered vulnerable, threatened or endangered. Of the nine species in South Africa, seven are facing a certain degree of threat of extinction.

The Egyptian vulture is one of two bird species in South Africa listed as ‘regionally extinct’. A group of vultures is called a ‘kettle’ when in flight; a ‘wake’ when feeding on a carcass; and ‘committee’, ‘volt’ or ‘venue’ when resting in trees. Many vultures have bare necks and heads, preventing the bacteria of rotting flesh to stick to their feathers and cause infections. The highest vulture flight recorded was by a Rüppell’s vulture in 1973. The bird was allegedly spotted from a plane at about 11 200m above sea level— higher than Mount Everest (8 848m).

The diet of bearded vultures (lammergeiers) consists of 70% to 90% bone and marrow. Stomach acid with a pH of 1 allows them to do so. (Human stomach acid has a pH of 1.5 to 3.)

Cycling is for the birds

This year, a kettle of 120 cyclists will ride the Cape Argus race in support of Africa’s vultures. Do you want to get involved from the sidelines? Do you want to sponsor the riders with something extra? Contact Hanri Ehlers at hanri@kclink.co.za.

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Regular vulture captures, aimed at any species, form a central part of Garbett’s research. The birds are caught by using a net and bait. “After drawing some blood, taking a feather and giving them a wing tag, we release them,” she explains. “The procedure takes three minutes and is painless.”

A select few birds are fitted with a GPS transmitter the size of a small mobile phone.

“These devices enable us to monitor the vultures’ movements,” Garbett says. “Over two hours or so, the transmitter gives us the location of the animal. We have, for instance, found out that lappets can cover 800km per day—we didn’t know that before.”

While diclofenac is a key threat to vultures, poisoning is a much bigger concern, she notes. “Some farmers revert to poisoning of deceased livestock to keep large predators, such as cheetah, at bay. In the process, they end up accidentally poisoning vultures because these feed off these carcasses,” Garbett explains, nothing that Botswana’s national parks are not hermetically fenced off as in South Africa. This results in incidental wildlife–human conflict.

“The upside is that farmers are approachable and willing to listen to us, as they tend to like the vultures. The birds, after all, clean up dead animals and prevent the spread of disease. Most farmers don’t realise that what they are doing is hurting the birds.”

Poachers are a much bigger concern, Garbett says. “They poison because they deliberately want to kill vultures, to protect themselves and their illegal activity. Poachers are afraid that the birds’ circling in the sky, after they have killed something, draws the

attention of anti-poaching patrols.

Sometimes there can be 200 vultures in the sky after something has died.”

One of the biggest poisoning episodes ever recorded dates back to July 2013, when elephant poachers deliberately poisoned some hundreds of vultures in the Namibia–Botswana border region north of the Caprivi Strip. An estimated 700 birds died after feeding on one single elephant carcass laced with, most likely, carbofuran. Marketed as Furadan and Curater, this agricultural substance is considered one of the most toxic carbamate pesticides on the market.

Garbett’s own research has been affected by poisoning. “Three of the 14 lappet-faced vultures we fitted with GPS transmitters have died as a result of it,” she says. “Once a transmitter stops moving and gives us the same location day after day, we know we have a problem.”

While poisoning by poachers is a huge problem, it’s difficult to give an idea of the real scope, Garbett says: “The southern African region is so vast. There could be a hundred percent more poisoning episodes than we know about, simply because we can’t get to them.”

A third important threat are the traditional healers. “Vulture bones allegedly give someone clairvoyant powers. In Botswana it is not such a big problem, but it is in South Africa and western Africa,” Garbett says. She stresses that this doesn’t mean Botswanan vultures are safe from sangomas. “Lappets can, after all, fly 800km per day. This makes them vulnerable elsewhere, even if they are safe in Botswana.”

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G et th e s h ot

Life on the line

by Jacques Marais

shot

GET THE THE IMAGE: Slacklining is an edgy new adrenalin craze taking the world by storm, and German Adidas athlete Lukas Irmler (26) is one of the young proponents taking this sport to dizzying heights. I shot this image of him atop Table Mountain, with Irmler performing on a fabric band less than 5cm wide, stretched between two craggy spires over a plunging abyss on the eastern face of the Table Mountain massif.

GETTING THE SHOT: The athlete’s first step will always be excruciatingly difficult; when your back foot leaves Mother Earth, all that remains is absolute and utter focus, and you must not for one moment think of the wind buffeting your body, or the thin air snapping away beneath your feet.

It was the precariousness of this moment that I wanted to capture, and it meant I had to scramble into a rather dodgy position myself. Fortunately, I was able to down-climb to a relatively wide ledge, and from there I could silhouette Irmler against the blue of the sky, while still capturing the breathtaking backdrop of Cape Town languishing upon the edge of Table Bay. After walking ‘The Line’, Irmler decided to play around a bit, hanging upside down and doing a few handstands.

In November, he attempted the seemingly impossible: slacklining across one of Africa’s—and the world’s— greatest natural wonders: Victoria Falls. Irmler and Reinhard Kleindl made the 100m crossing along the face of the waterfall. I was there with my brand-new SONY a7R to capture the drama of this exhilarating attempt.

THE SPECS: Body: Nikon D800 Lens: 15mm fisheye Focal length: 15mm Aperture: f5.6 Shutter: 1/1000sec ISO: 50 Lighting: Natural light only Post-processing: Adobe Lightroom 5 More info: www.sony.co.za or www.jacquesmarais.co.za

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silence

A MOMENT OF SHAN ROUTLEDGE MOURNS THE LIVES LOST IN THE KILLING FIELDS OF CAMBODIA

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Killin g Fields

o After 10 hours in an overnight bus, a layover in Ho Chi Minh City and another three hours on the road, my travel companions and I found ourselves crossing the border into Cambodia. First stop: the capital city, Phnom Penh.

No other part of the country has a more devastating history or has made a more resounding comeback.

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ur bus driver seemed a virtual godsend after our previous experiences in Southeast Asia, and helped us through the visa station and passport control; before we knew it, we were sailing along the roads. With lush green fields stretching into the infinite distance and hills occasionally looming on the horizon, this was a destination for which I had high hopes. Home of Angkor Wat, the Cardamom Mountains and the second largest rainforest in Asia… we were about to embark on an amazing journey!

Even though I had my doubts and was a bit apprehensive about visiting ‘yet another huge city’, it was a pleasant surprise when the tuk-tuk drivers waiting at the bus stop were friendly and helpful.

We were soon settled into a small room with a large double bed and one fan circulating the heavy, hot air.

For those of you who know nothing about Cambodia, here’s a brief history.

Early on in its existence, its neighbours Thailand and Vietnam ruled the country periodically. During the Angkorian period, the ‘boundaries’ of Cambodia were mostly formed and ruled by its first ever monarch before the arrival of the French, who aided Cambodia until it finally declared independence in 1953. After independence, the country boomed and grew, with Phnom Penh becoming an important epicentre of commerce and education. The future was optimistic until the war in Vietnam started sucking in its neighbours; to this day, Cambodia still suffers the aftermath of this battle, with unexploded landmines littering the countryside. But even the war couldn’t scar the nation as badly as the Khmer

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In the middle of all this death and destruction stands a tower: 17 levels of bones; 17 levels to house what’s left of the

17 000 who died here.

Rouge regime did.

The Khmer Rouge, the followers of the Communist Party of Kampuchea, captured and took power of Phnom Penh on 17 April 1975. To date, this is one of the most radical and brutal restructurings of society ever attempted. Within days, the entire population of Phnom Penh was forced to evacuate and move to the countryside to work as slaves—leaving the capital a virtual ghost town.

Intellectuals were considered a threat, and systematically wiped out: a whole country’s worth of doctors, professors and lawyers gone. In the three years,

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eight months and 20 days that the Khmer Rouge ruled Cambodia, more than 2 million people were killed, which is one-quarter of the population; imagine, one out of every four people you know would have been dead.

When the rule was eventually brought to an end by the Vietnamese, Cambodia was left in disarray: widespread famine and a broken population led by several former Khmer Rouge officers. Most disturbing is the fact that the United Nations allowed the Khmer Rouge to occupy the Cambodian seat at the UN General Assembly until 1991—which

effectively meant the murderers had represented their victims for 12 years!

The organisation was largely dissolved by the mid-1990s, and surrendered completely in 1999. Its officials were accused of genocide and their trials concluded in August 2014 in a UN-backed court. Leaders Nuon Chea and Kheiu Samphan were jailed for life. The main leader, Pol Pot, committed suicide in 1998, while other officials died in custody.

One wonders how this beautiful country could ever have recovered—yet, there we stood.

Our first stop on the Phnom Penh tour

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Killin g Fields PREVIOUS SPREAD: Posts on which visitors leave colourful bracelets to honour the dead OPPOSITE PAGE, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Site of storage shed for poisonous substances; One of the many mass graves; Portraits of the prisoners of Tuol Sleng Prison; Bone and teeth fragments are still unearthed here after rain and floods THIS PAGE, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Sign over the mass grave next to The Killing Tree; Remnants of clothing found in the graves at Choeung Ek; Commemorative Buddhist stupa in the middle of Choeung Ek; Skulls inside the stupa

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was Choeung Ek. The Killing Fields of Choeung Ek are the largest and most well-preserved reminder of this country’s dark past.

Green fields, huge trees and the remains of an orchard hide the graves of more than 17 000 prisoners who were brought from S-21 (Security Prison 21) in Phnom Penh to be executed. On arrival, you are handed a headset through which the story of The Killing Fields is narrated as you amble around the complex. It’s a surreal experience: every person in his or her own bubble of silence, each trying to comprehend the atrocities, but failing to reconcile the peaceful scenery with the horror of what happened at Choeung Ek. Possibly one of the most difficult and heartbreaking experiences of my life, The Killing Fields will haunt me forever.

Sitting under the shade of a tree, I stared at a mass grave for 450 people— bludgeoned to death to save precious

bullets. Tears streamed down my face as I wandered past sites where storage sheds for weapons and poisons once stood, while a bodiless voice told me that branches from the palm tree up ahead were used to slit the throats of prisoners.

How could people have been so ruthless? So brutal? So inhumane? It’s impossible to find the words to portray this place adequately: this living, growing tomb; this permanent reminder of a nation’s pain; this place in which I felt I was trespassing, feeling a hurt from an anguish that wasn’t mine, feeling an anger toward those I never knew, feeling a crushing sadness for all the lives lost. Even now as I write, my eyes well up and my chest tightens. If you’ve never been there yourself, you simply cannot comprehend the poignancy of the place.

I meandered from one mass grave to the next, sitting by an emerald lake, listening to the haunting voices of

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Killin g Fields

RIGHT: The Killing Tree (Chankiri) against which children and infants were smashed

survivors as they whispered their stories into my ears. How had there even been any survivors? How does one survive that much pain?

The path led on and the story continued. No sooner had I wiped away the tears than my eyes began overflowing again as I stared at The Killing Tree.

Located next to a mass grave, this innocent-looking tree was the death of thousands of children as Khmer Rouge soldiers smashed their heads against the trunk and threw them into an open grave with their mothers. To add to this image, there were thousands of bracelets placed on the tree and around the grave: a thousand tributes, a thousands prayers, a thousand sorry’s. It was heartbreakingly beautiful in a dark, haunting way; even now, a bronze bangle I had carried all the way from South Africa stands vigil on the grave of a hundred innocent souls.

As one walks the final path of The Killing Fields, one’s blood runs cold as a soundtrack of propaganda songs amid the noise of a generator plays in one’s ears—a soundtrack to mask the screams, to mask the genocide.

We circled silently until we finally reached the commemorative Buddhist stupa. In the middle of all this death and destruction stands a tower: 17 levels of bones; 17 levels to house what’s left of the 17 000 who died here. If you couldn’t picture it before, more than 8 000 skulls—arranged by sex and age—will surely drive the message home, engraving it on your soul.

I walked through the small museum in a daze, and my mind still wandered through The Killing Fields even when we finally climbed back into our tuk-tuk. There weren’t many words between the three of us—what could we say?

Our next destination didn’t do much to lift the sombreness among us as we walked through the cells of what used to be S-21, Tuol Sleng Prison. At the height

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of the gaol’s activity, some 100 prisoners were killed a day. Only seven survivors of S-21 were still alive when Phnom Penh was liberated—seven survivors in a tsunami of death.

Every prisoner who passed through the doors of S-21 was photographed; as you walk through the buildings, there are thousands and thousands of faces of the dead staring unblinkingly back at you; defiant, scared, lost, angry. The young, the old, male, female, poor and rich—no one was spared, not even the Khmer Rouge officers who were tortured into falsely confessing to treason and then murdered.

There were also displays of the convicted Khmer Rouge leaders, and long passages full of single-person cells. And all I could think about was the never-ending tower of skulls.

When the tuk-tuk finally whisked us away from the grey walls and barbed wire, I was relieved—my heart couldn’t handle

any more sadness. My companions’ eyes were red, their cheeks tear-stained, and it took a while before we slipped back into normal conversation. It was warm, but Phnom Penh had chilled me to the bone.

On the short drive back to our accommodation, I watched the city pass by. There’s something intoxicating and beguiling about Phnom Penh. It’s not like Hanoi with its towering buildings and a heavy sense of claustrophobia; it’s welcoming and mysterious, a comeback kid with a smile.

It draws you in, inviting you to explore more. Maybe it’s due to the open faces and the genuine hospitality of the locals, or the mix of stilted river shacks and grand gilded houses; perhaps it’s all that the city has overcome and the hopeful, optimistic atmosphere that surrounds one in spite of its dark history. Whatever it is, Phnom Penh will always hold a special place in my heart.

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conserving a vanishing way of life

Eden

EASTERN JO KROMBERG FINDS A HIDDEN PARADISE DEEP IN THE TROPICAL JUNGLE OF SOUTHERN THAILAND

“Would you like some Champagne, madam?” The soft, beautifully accented voice of the air hostess is accompanied by an equally beautiful smile. I nod

enthusiastically, smiling back like a Cheshire cat, and slump deeper into my huge, plush seat.

W

Photographs Jo Kromberg and Izak van Zyl

e are on a 13-hour Cathay Pacific flight to Thailand via Hong Kong, and I feel like royalty. The seats are very comfortable and wide, with an 8-inch recline, soft cushioning and a

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headrest. I watch my favourite show before an excellent meal is served shortly after take-off.

One of the great advantages of Premium Economy is that you get the choice of three of the four meal options available to Business Class. The service and food on this airline is the best I have

ever experienced, and I have flown on four other Asian airlines. Asian airlines are, of course, the benchmark, since the others just don’t count anymore...

And then there is that little extra secret superior feeling you get when you walk past the long economy-class queues together with first- and business-class passengers.

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J o Kr om ber g I fall asleep in my plush seat and the hours fly by—yes, pun intended.

After spending a lovely three days in Krabi at the Centara Anda Dhevi Resort & Spa (where you pay as little as R600 bed & breakfast in a stunning 4-star hotel) and the Centara Grand Beach Resort and Villas (very highly recommended), respectively, we head into the wild.

OPPOSITE AND TOP RIGHT: Khao Sok National Park in Surat Thani Province, Thailand

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Situated deep in the tropical jungle of southern Thailand, Elephant Hills is in the Khao Sok National Park and an experience so fulfilling and different that I am reluctant to share this secret gem, truth be told.

It is difficult to describe the awe upon discovering the view from the pool of the gargantuan verdant mountains in this jungle of all jungles. The luxury tented accommodation is en-suite and has a fan to relieve the worst heat. (After all, there is no mention of the Garden of Eden being air-conditioned.)

A quick buffet lunch, and it’s time for a kayak trip on the Khao Sok River, snaking its way through the jungle. A river guide rows as you lazily swing downstream, stopping every once in a while to peer at a shy snake or jungle frog. The echoes of Tarzan’s simian cries would have

surprised no one.

Our official guide here at Elephant Hills is an inimitable and never-to-be-forgotten slip of a girl called Tik, who accompanies us to the elephant sanctuary nearby after our boat trip in the late afternoon. At the first sight of these gentle giants, one spots the difference between the African and Asian elephants straight away. Asian elephants are considerably smaller and brownish in colour.

Tik tells us Thailand is the only country in the world still allowed to trade legally in ivory, harvested only from elephants that have died of natural causes—but we all know how that goes... In other words, the Asian elephant is greatly endangered. She adds, however, that new laws are in place now to protect elephants in Thailand.

There are 13 pachyderms here, all

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J o Kr om ber g

RIGHT: Elephants bathing at the Elephant Hills sanctuary OPPOSITE PAGE, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Luxury floating tents at Elephant Hills Rainforest Camp; One of the pampered Indian elephants at Elephant Hills; skimming the waters in Khao Sok National Park

female and all rescued from logging camps.

They even have their own dedicated vet.

“Dey ar letaaild,” says Tik. Retired.

We watch them for a while with their handlers (or mamoods), these beautiful, dignified creatures. There is one little one, about two years old, with the imperial name of Haha. Completely adorable, of course, with tiny little hairs on her head.

We then get the opportunity to wash and scrub the elephants as they lie down.

This messy exercise will awaken the playful child in anyone. Jaded, sullen and middle-aged, spoilt tourists transformed into joyful, laughing and happy people in front of mine eyes. Like magic.

We then prepare meals for them as well, chopping bananas and other fruit and feeding it to them. Clever people, these Thai—making tourists pay to do their labour for them and loving every second. I like the fact that there are no elephant-riding excursions here. Instead, this unique elephant interaction I believe makes for a much more lasting impression and helps elephant conservation a whole lot more.

Time apparently flies like Dumbo when you wash and feed elephants because, before we know it, we are back at the lodge, sipping a long cool drink. The rainforest is always hot and humid— which I know—and responsible for one out of every four medicinal products we buy at the pharmacy, we are told at a presentation (which I didn’t know).

We are treated to the beautiful traditional Dance of the Lotus Flower by gorgeous little local girls before dinner is served. It is the night of 6 November and the entire country is celebrating Loi Krathong, an annual festival. The name could be translated as ‘to float a basket’, and comes from the tradition of making krathong or buoyant, decorated baskets. On the night of the full moon, Thais launch their krathong on any body of water, making a wish as they do so. The festival is said to originate from an ancient ritual paying respect to the water spirits.

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We are all given a krathong in which we then place a coin and a lock of hair or nail, and we all go down to the river and one by one launch our floating, candlelit wish basket in the full moon. The ritual, in its honesty and purity, is deeply touching and spiritual.

After a magnificent buffet dinner— Thai cooking lessons are also offered to

Lake. This man-made body of water was created in 1982 by an enormous shaleclay dam known as Ratchaprabha. The limestone outcrops protruding from the lake reach a height of 960 metres—over three times higher than the formations in the Phang Nga area.

The lake covers an area of 185 square kilometres, and was formed by the

I sit on the veranda in front of my tent, immersed and drenched in the jungle night with the strange grunts and squawks of the macaque monkeys and other creatures all around me. guests—I sit on the veranda in front of my tent, immersed and drenched in the jungle night with the strange grunts and squawks of the macaque monkeys and other creatures all around me. The moonlight floods through the tropical jungle and all is right with the world.

There are very few places left on Earth unscathed by the necessary evil of mass tourism, and this is one of them.

We stop in a small town the following morning, perusing the local fish and fresh produce market, en route to Cheow Lan

flooding of a valley of dense rainforest.

Some of the plants and animals resident in the flooded forest still live in the dense jungles and towering mountains that surround the lake, including the world’s largest flower genus, rafflesia, which can measure almost a metre across.

Our next destination, Elephant Hills Rainforest Camp, is situated in the middle of said lake and takes about an hour’s trip on a long tail boat—typically Thai. And then, lo! What is this vision I see before me? All I can advise you to do is imagine

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This trip was sponsored by the Tourism Authority of Thailand and The Holiday Factory, the latter specialising in cost-effective travel to Indian Ocean Islands and the Far East.

Visit www.theholidayfactory.co.za and www.tourismthailand.org for more information. all the most exotic getaway fantasies you have ever had. Then multiply this by ten.

And still then I see you and raise you Elephant Hills Rainforest Camp. It is a floating bungalow paradise, unassumingly and calmly buoyant on the emerald-green water surrounded by tropical rainforests in the mountainous jungle.

Like a chameleon, the camp resembles the colour of its surrounds and is completely solar- and wind-powered, boasting a unique and eco-friendly waste management system as well. There are only 10 tents accommodating two people each. The entire camp is set on a flotilla, secured to land by four underwater cables.

The closest shore is at least 20m away. The cicadas’ distinctive, eerie sounds ring out and echo across the lake and the cloudy, hot sky; we feel like we are the only people on Earth.

After lunch, about five people— including my intrepid partner—go on a walk to explore the caves in the hills. I stay behind alone and revel in the silence, only broken by the invisible inhabitants of the

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rainforest. I feel that familiar Stendhal syndrome creeping up on me. You know the one: being stunned by overwhelming beauty in nature. I go for a long, languid swim in the tepid green, pristine water.

There is also the option of meandering on the lake in your own kayak, moored to your tent (which we later do, of course).

The only reminder of any ‘civilisation’ is the very faint sound of a twin-engine plane, a mere dot very far above in the hot sky. Every now and again, a soft ‘plop’ indicates a fish looking for a bite. The highly endangered Indochinese tiger can still be found here, but numbers are very low. It is said by the locals that the tiger’s lone mating call can still be heard around May. There are less than 2 500 in the world, of which 200 can be found here.

The cicadas start up again in the growing dusk, ringing across the vast body of water. Dinner and high jinks follow into the night as we compare stories with other guests.

A soft, penetrating rain greets my sleepy gaze the next morning as I peer out over paradise. I make myself comfortable with my book in bed after breakfast. The rain does actually subside later and we go for a long kayak ride, just the two of us, speculating what may lie in wait behind the dense trees in the mountains as we float by. We say our

fond farewells to the incredible Wari and her team, with mournful promises to return soon. The boat ride back takes half an hour at full speed, and parting with dear Tik really saddens me. She is one of the nicest, most knowledgeable guides I have ever had anywhere, and her warmth and love for the environment will always stay with me.

I used to think the phrase ‘one with nature’ very trite, but all at once I know exactly what it means. The impenetrable rainforest here holds its own mysteries: pristine, and most of it never penetrated

by Man. In a place like Elephant Hills, God cannot be very far away.

Jo Kromberg thanks the Tourism Authority of Thailand for co-ordinating her and Izak’s entire trip, by including all the different partner hosts such as Elephant Hills. See www.elephant-hills.com for further details.

Getting there

Cathay Pacific flies to Phuket via Hong Kong from South Africa every day of the week. Go to www.cathaypacific.com/cx/en_ZA. html for special offers, information and bookings.

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Lost Found

SHAN ROUTLEDGE FINDS OUT WHAT MADE INSPIRATIONAL ADVENTURER DAVID GRIER DECIDE TO RUN THE LENGTH OF INDIA

AND

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the northernmost Hindu temple, Shankaracharya, in the Himalayan foothills of Kashmir, all the way down to the southernmost Kanyakumari Temple at the tip of India.

“T

Da vid G r ier

Some may think it’s mad to embark on a journey from

here’s no place in the world that has spirituality so deeply entrenched in every form of culture as India,” says Grier. Surely there’s no other explanation for why a human being would push his body to such limits in a faraway country—battling politics, Delhi belly and harsh terrain.

But Grier sets the record straight and explains the challenges and rewards of this 93-day journey and what he and his team found after nearly 4 000 kilometres.

This was not your first expedition.

How did it all start?

No, it’s my sixth! It all started way back when I began looking for certain things in my personal life and trying to find out more about myself and the effect I was having on people. As a South African, I just stood back, reflected and thought: ‘I’m gonna shut up. I’m not gonna moan and complain, I’m gonna put up my hand and I’m gonna do something.’ It’s not a question of saying and moaning; it’s a question of showing and doing.

I use adventure expeditions as a tool.

People are suffering from donor fatigue: Everyone is knocking on doors and wanting this and that, but this is a way of engaging the broader public. Through doing this event, one captures the imagination of the people.

Tell us a bit about the charities you work with, and how running across India helps them.

I work with Cipla’s Miles for Smiles: We do the miles to create the smiles. Through these trips, we create awareness, which leads to fund raising. Through all these journeys and other adventurers who have joined Miles for Smiles, we have helped facilitate close on 2 000 [corrective surgeries for cleft palate and cleft lip].

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Da vid G r ier

More miles for more smiles

Another The Intrepid Explorer contributor, Chris Bertish, is the newest Miles for Smiles ambassador. “I am honoured to represent such a worthy cause… I like to try and inspire people into believing in what’s possible, no matter the adversity or struggle, or obstacles you are up against. If you truly believe it and have the courage to try, anything is possible,” he said as he geared up on 6 January to break the 24-hour stand-up paddleboard world record by attempting to paddle 170km in one day from Cape Point to between Saldanha and Paternoster on the Cape West Coast, in association with Miles for Smiles. (Unfortunately, Mother Nature didn’t play along and the record attempt had to be postponed.)

What inspired the trip to India?

I think, from a Westerner’s perspective, we always go to a place like India to search for that deeply entrenched spirituality, the ancient wisdom, and just to see how people who have nothing cope and how they accept what they have in life. With such a mass of people, they somehow deal with it. The different religions—Muslim, Hindi, Christian—all live in harmony and have this respect for one another. I think I was searching for that as well, that harmony.

Why run?

I love running; it is a form of mental calmness and meditation. From a physiological point of view, you get

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into a zone where the body just floats and it is perfecting the mind and body working in unison—to be calm mentally and physically and achieving that calm motion, just coming in sync and carrying on for however long you are challenged to. It is its own sort of harmony.

off water, go to villages for supplies, but also find the most direct route because on foot you have no obstacles—you can run it, climb it or swim it. Sometimes, getting the car around the country is the hardest part and I won’t see it for a week or two weeks at a time!

How did you choose your route?

On these journeys, you know where you are going to start and you know where you want to finish. On previous journeys,

Ninety-three days is a long time—where do you find provisions and equipment?

We arrive in a country and we buy whatever we need, from cooking and

I have tried to plan what happens in the middle—but you can’t. You have control over the first step and the last step, but everything in between takes its own course and depends on conditions of weather; it depends on route, mountain ranges, lakes and rivers. With all these obstacles, you just have to track the shortest possible way through them.

It’s nice because you don’t know what tomorrow holds.

The crew members who have been with me through most of these journeys understand how I work and are constantly tracking and re-tracking. When we map a day, there are different things we look at: water, terrain, altitude—which we try and sync with roads. We have to try to bounce

camping equipment, food and the vehicle.

We stock up the car when possible and live like locals.

In my rucksack I never carry food, maybe just a tin of sardines. The longest I have been without food is three days, and I just push on. You are running about 50km a day and you just carry on, a bite of banana here and there. There was a stage when Nick [Heygate] and I had one tin of sardines between us per day for a week, and the one tin gave me food poisoning!

It becomes as much a mental game as a physical one when you have to go without food for so long.

India has by far been my greatest mental challenge. I wanted to give up three times; I ended up in hospital after

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“

I have tried to plan what happens in the middle—but you can’t. You have control over the first step and the last step, but everything in between takes its own course

”

my bladder ruptured, then it happened again—and I just wanted to give up.

There were so many things that went wrong, that I really didn’t think I was going to finish this expedition. But luckily, the crew got me through it.

PREVIOUS PAGE: On the mud-brick Han Wall section in the Gobi Desert OPPOSITE PAGE: Crossing a swamp in the Kerala mangrove forest ABOVE, MIDDLE: The end of the run at the southern tip of India, in the state of Tamil Nadu ABOVE, RIGHT: Running with zebu cattle in Port-Bergé, Madagascar

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What is the biggest challenge on a trip like this?

Sickness. We worked out that we functioned at no more than 60% to 65% of our total potential throughout the trip. We had this handicap where 35% of our ability was taken out because of illness. There wasn’t one day that one of us wasn’t sick and vomiting or suffering from a tummy bug; not one day that someone in the crew wasn’t sick. And it came in cycles;

we would laugh, but then a few days later it would be someone else and you weren’t laughing anymore. Even Nick, who claimed he was from Durban [and immune to tummy bugs], eventually fell prey!

But no matter what, you have to keep moving; you cannot stop because then you lose that mental strength. Even if it’s just 3km down the road, you have to keep moving and keep positive because, as soon as you give in, it’s a massive chink in your armour, in your mental game.

What was it about this trip that made it different from your previous journeys?

Seeing the demise of humanity around me and seeing how people cope and come to

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Da vid G r ier ABOVE, LEFT: Deforestation in central north Madagascar ABOVE, RIGHT: David makes his way through traffic in the state of Punjab, India

terms with it, no matter what it is. It had an adverse effect on me, seeing people who were dealing with their difficulties. I felt that, mentally, I wasn’t able to cope with what was going on around me. The combination of this and illness gave rise to a mental fight within myself—until I met people along the way who said certain things to me and gave me back that mental strength and a new self-belief.

I had just come out of hospital and could hardly move, when a guy said to me: “You are suffering.” I started crying and broke down right in front of this old Hindu priest, and he said: “My friend, if you have reason for why you are suffering and what you are going through, then you are no longer suffering because you have reason.” And I remembered the cause and why I was there, and that I chose to be there. That was the difference out in India: There was mental fodder to feed me.

What logistics are involved in going around a country while running 45km a day?

You live, touch, eat, feel, smell the culture every day. You are immersed in the culture and the country. We sleep in the villages, in shacks, in tents along the road. We live like locals, we eat their food, and we learn all the tricks. That is the only way you survive on the road like this, and are able to move those distances like we do—you become a local.

What were the spiritual aspects of this trip?

There is no place in the world that has spirituality so deeply entrenched in every form of culture as India, so it touches

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you all the time. Every day and every hour you pass a mosque or a shrine. There are more than 1 000 gods, and every day you pass people carrying a little tree-god or rock-god; little groups of people and migrations of spirituality. And the cows!

All dressed up. It’s all around you, and you can’t help but be spirituality affected by it all.

You lost 23 kilos! How do you prepare your body for that?

You can’t prepare yourself; you are basically eating your own muscles.

What was your favourite part of India?

I don’t think I really have a favourite part because it is so different. You have Kashmir with the mountains, the snow and the rivers that are a crystal-clear glacial blue; into Rajasthan with the desert and its beautifully dressed people and the forts and castles—so stark and contrasting; then you have Maharashtra and the mountains; and then Goa and the ocean opens up next to you. So it was an amazing, rewarding journey in that sense.

I love the ocean and I love the mountains, but Rajasthan probably stuck with me the most, as it is in beautiful disrepair.

You had quite a few run-ins with local authorities—how did you handle those?

We were picked up eight times by the local authorities—on the first night, and thereafter it just became worse.

We were accused of everything from robbing an accident scene to gunrunning.

The locals would report us and say they saw us stealing stuff or selling guns, because they would get rewards for tipping off the police.

But you just have to deal with it.

One time the team told the authorities I was a famous South African cricketer and that I was running to join up with the Indian Premier League. The next day we were invited to a cricket tournament and I had to hand out the prizes at the end of the day! Andy [Stuart] and I even had to make a speech; he pulled out a speech about Gandhi and Madiba.

From villains to heroes we went!

In your book India: Lost and Found, you write about a lady you met on the street, an “untouchable”. How did she affect you and your journey?

She summed up so much about life for me. She was from a lower seventh caste and I wanted to give her money. She said she didn’t want money or anything—she just wanted my hand. So I gave her my hand and she pulled it against her chest and looked at me with tears in her eyes and said, “At the end of the day, all I want is love, appreciation and acceptance.”

These were all the things she had been denied as part of the seventh caste. That’s what I left India with: this thought that all we need in life is love, acceptance and appreciation. As low down and humble as she was, she gave me the deepest insights. That’s India. It’s the people— the incredible, loving, wise old people —who have such ancient wisdom.

Back to the beginning Grier is now training to run North Korea, South Korea and the Great Wall of China in reverse—ending where he started 10 years ago.

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IN THE FIELD

Game rangers are the last defence against poaching and extinction

In the past, a field ranger was equipped with a .458 rifle and a pair of binoculars. On a field expedition, he might have carried two clips of ammunition, a cooking pot and a stove. Now, he wears full combat chest webbing and a camo net, and carries a semi-automatic with night sight and thermal-imaging equipment.

R

angers sign up to be conservationists, not soldiers. However, poaching has steadily intensified over the past 10 years, and now these conservationists are finding themselves waging war against not only poachers but organised crime as well.

In 2014, 1 215 rhino were killed for their horns by poachers in South Africa, with over 60% killed in the Kruger National Park (KNP). According to Ruben de Kock, manager of the African Field Ranger Training Services division of the Southern African Wildlife College: “Game rangers have become the last line of defence in the bid to protect endangered species from extinction.”

According to him, ranger training includes a six-week basic training course, plus two weeks of advanced training and possibly two weeks of reaction force ranger (RFR) work. After 10 weeks of training, a field ranger has to be ready to operate in extreme conditions against poaching incursions.

Ten years ago, the poaching threat was almost non-existent. According to Major General (Retired) Johan Jooste, who is head of special projects operating in KNP,

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now there are 12 to 15 poaching groups in the park at any one time. “Eighty percent of poaching is by Mozambicans, who enter the park south of the Olifants River. It’s happening all over the park, but mostly in the south, because there are more animals there. Poachers will mostly infiltrate at night, walking up to 25 kilometres into the park to find the rhino,” he says.

Kruger has 400 rangers and 150 men in other roles such as protection services, plus an air wing comprising four helicopters, two fixed-wing aircraft and three microlights. They are supported by a police contingent and an army complement.

However, the KNP rangers have to be deployed over 20 000 square kilometres.

“It’s a daunting task; economical deployment methods have to be practised by the park,” says De Kock. “A two-man observation post is linked to a helicopter or other fast-deployment means, and the rangers proactively watch the common routes into the park, deploying reaction force rangers when suspects are seen.”

Kobus de Wet, SA National Parks environmental crime investigation chief, explains the procedure for rangers in an engagement: “The ranger has to chase

down the criminals using the South African Police Services ‘minimum force’ Rules of Engagement. In terms of Article 49 of the Criminal Procedure Act 51 of 1977, if the ranger’s life or his colleague’s life is in immediate danger, he can use necessary force to overcome the threat.

Minimum force must be used, appropriate to the level of threat. For instance, if the poacher points at the ranger with the firearm or cocks a weapon, that would be considered an immediate threat to the ranger. The ranger may only shoot to neutralise the threat if the situation calls for it—he may not shoot to prevent the suspect getting away.”

According to him, every incident is unique, has its own merits and must be measured as such: “The situation is extremely complex, and advocates are regularly invited to talk to the rangers to educate them on when they can or cannot shoot.”

According to Major General Jooste, regardless of whether there is an arrest or a fatality in an engagement, the area is declared a crime scene. The police are called in and crime scene management takes place. “It’s very important because we need proof in the court. It must be a very meticulous process. Then it’s in the

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“

Criminals are flagrant about their activities and have built entire

communities and economies around poaching operations, without any action being taken against them.

hands of the police, and it goes into the legal system. Our legal system has improved drastically: We have a better conviction rate, the turnaround time is quicker, and the sentences are harsher.”

The process is very stressful for the rangers, even if their actions are justifiable.

But the law must follow its course.

“In terms of the Criminal Procedures Act, all unnatural deaths require a criminal docket to be opened, and based on statements and information in the course of the investigation received, a magistrate will determine whether there was foul

ABOVE: The carefully selected rangers being trained in RFR techniques

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play or not. Of all incidents I know of involving rangers shooting poachers in the past 14 years, none have been found to be foul play,” says De Wet. According to Braam Malherbe, a director at Accountability Now (formerly the Institute For Accountability in Southern Africa), “The Rules of Engagement need to change, both to deal more effectively with poaching incursions and to protect the rangers. I have delivered a letter asking the Minister of Environmental Affairs to expedite these changes to allow our rangers to ‘do whatever is deemed necessary to apprehend poachers in the KNP’. I believe this is vital if we are to save our rhinos from imminent extinction.”

De Kock agrees: “Poachers are criminals, and rangers need to be empowered to use firearms more freely within the law.

In terms of Section 49 of the Criminal Procedure Act, rangers should be able to

”

warn, and then be able to take action accordingly to apprehend the criminal, and there should always be a judicial enquiry before a murder docket is opened.”

Malherbe adds, “Relaxing the Rules of Engagement would enable rangers to act with confidence and security against poachers, who are not only in the KNP illegally but are also in a foreign country illegally—armed with automatic weapons and acting with criminal intent. In most instances, they have snuck across an international boundary with the sole intent of stealing a rhino horn. If you crossed into the US illegally, carrying an automatic weapon, and stole gold from Fort Knox, you would be shot on sight.”

The current memorandum of understanding between South Africa and Mozambique is largely ineffectual, and improved co-operation between the countries is crucial to stop poaching.

If they are to be effective, rangers need

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LEFT: Malherbe (front, left) inspecting the new rifle sling system for rapid response BELOW: Major General (Retired) Johan Jooste explaining to Braam the various protection zones in the Kruger National Park

standard operational procedures for hot pursuits across the border.

Mozambican law does not support the extradition of criminals for trial in South Africa, and the punishment for convicted poachers is a minimal offence.

“As a result, criminals are flagrant about their activities and have built entire communities and economies around poaching operations, without any action being taken against them,” says De Kock.

Poachers are charging the syndicates over R80 000 per kilogramme, which can earn a team up to R800 000 for a set of horns.

The KNP has prioritised the need for more rangers with specialised anti-poaching skills and the ability to track humans. Highly trained RFRs are being placed across KNP in order to be deployed quickly and effectively by motor vehicle or helicopter if poachers are observed in the park.

Major General Jooste says the rangers are doing an excellent job under difficult conditions: “We are working hard to support them physically, materially and mentally—but it is a protracted, tough war.”

Poachers have also upped their game, becoming more proficient and effective in their methods and, according to De Kock, they are now better equipped with heavy-calibre weapons including firearms such as AK-47s. “If they are spotted, the poaching groups ‘bombshell’ away in all directions to evade capture.”

De Wet explains how rangers proactively respond: “The rangers know how poachers come into the park and their exact entry points, so the field rangers practise waylay tactics and other operations such as tracking to

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find the poachers on these routes and to intercept them before they can poach rhino.”

He quotes sobering statistics regarding poaching in 2014: “As at 29 October, 625 rhino had been killed; we recorded 82 contacts with poaching groups, 248 crossings into the park, 71 poacher sightings, 1 188 tracks of individual poachers and 144 arrests.

“We see a conviction rate of 85%, but all of this has zero influence on the number of poachers coming into the KNP because the rewards are so high, and most of the poachers are desperate and

intelligence information.

Dogs play an invaluable role in tracking poachers, especially at night. Some dogs can detect explosives and are able to pick up ammunition or weaponry, while others are natural asset detectors trained to pick up animal products, specifically rhino horn.

Despite the high risks involved, there is no shortage of applications for ranger training. This year there were 480 applications for 30 places in the National Resource Guardianship programme.

“Field rangers are really the saviours of conservation and they need our country’s full support,” says De Kock. “Without them, we would not have a single animal left in many parts of the world. I’ve seen empty national parks, and it’s a devastating sight.

“For too long, people have taken a soft view of poaching, but a poacher is a criminal; the current poaching situation is an act of war, and we need to respond accordingly,” he concludes.

In an effort to boost morale and show support of the good work these rangers

are recruited out of extreme poverty,” De Wet adds.

In response to the poaching threat, rangers are being taught tactics that involve aggressive offensives and tactical withdrawals. If they catch a poacher, they approach with caution, searching the area for others and looking for concealed weapons and any other

are doing, Malherbe—who is the ambassador of the Endangered Wildlife Trust MyPlanet Rhino Fund—is working to initiate a programme that both recognises and financially rewards rangers who have gone beyond the call of duty.

“They are demoralised and frustrated, and deserve all the encouragement and help they can get.”

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Tr a vel gea r

LEGENDS OF THE

FALL NICK DALL SHARES THE LATEST GADGETS, GEAR AND GARB TO ENSURE A STRESS-FREE AND COMFORTABLE AUTUMN ESCAPADE

A

s we head out of summer, the sun’s rays become a little more forgiving and the plethora of public holidays makes every second weekend a long one. If you ask us, this means one thing and one thing only: Get out and enjoy the outdoors. From gentle car camping to strenuous multi-day hikes, we’ve got your back.

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KEEN Men’s Koven Mid Waterproof Hiking Boots

American brand, KEEN, is fast becoming my footwear provider of choice. Absolutely everything I’ve ever tested of theirs is brilliant, and the lightweight but tough Koven waterproof boots are no exception.

The KEEN.Dry breathable membrane lets no water or mud into your boots, but allows sweat to escape—ensuring all-day comfort.

The mesh and leather uppers are seriously well constructed while the moulded EVA midsole and ‘off-road’ rubber outsole will keep your feet protected. For the ladies, there’s a fetching feminine version at the same price.

from your iPhone on your watch. Still not convinced? You can make ‘videos’ of your activities via Suunto’s free Movescount app, which overlays performance data onto a GPS map of your route. Incredible.

EcoSouLife Biodegradable Camper Set For stylish outdoor dining with a clear conscience, look no further than this

K-Way Men’s Explorer Uvongo Shirt

The shirt you’re wearing can be the difference between a great holiday and a terrible one, and the K-Way Explorer Uvongo is bound to keep you smiling.

Its UPF40+ fabric also has incredible moisture-wicking properties, and mesh ventilation seals the deal. Loads of pockets mean there’s a spot for everything, and it’s so quick-drying that you can wash it in the river every evening. If you don’t want to take it off when the holidays end, you don’t have to: The Uvongo is also a smart city-slicker. Ladies, look out for the equally impressive Rynie at R499.

K-Way Men’s Explorer Uvongo Shirt R499

EcoSouLife Biodegradable Camper Set R175 KEEN Men’s Koven Mid Waterproof Hiking Boots R1 499 Suunto Ambit3 Peak HR GPS Watch R7 999 K-Way Women’s Explorer Ederle Trousers R699

Suunto Ambit3 Peak HR GPS Watch

Suunto has pushed the limits with its all-new Ambit 3 range. The multisport Peak HR model knows its ABCs (Altimeter, Barometer, Compass) and it has an extremely accurate built-in GPS. What’s more, it comes with a snazzy heart-rate monitoring strap. You can access all the data from your hikes, cycles, runs and swims via Bluetooth and you can even receive notifications

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biodegradable set designed for one person.

It’s all made from recycled vegetable matter, which looks like matt plastic and performs in much the same way: It’s completely reusable and is even dishwasher-friendly. The only difference is that if you forget a mug next to the river, it’ll be turned into compost over time.

Leave no trace!

K-Way Women’s Explorer Ederle Trousers If you’re not sure what the weather’s going to throw at you, you need a pair of Ederle Trousers. Its quick-dry nylon—with UPF40+ protection and a water-repellent DWR (durable water repellency) coating— really does cover all the

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Tr a vel gea r bases. Mesh inners at the waist do a great job of moisture management; articulated knees make these pants great for uphill; and zippered ankles allow you to put them on over your boots without having to hop about like an overweight flamingo.

But it gets even better: Zips at the knees allow you to transform them into trendy shorts in a jiffy! Gents, check out the corresponding K-Way Explorer Kloof Trousers, also at R699.

Mobicool P24 AC/DC

If you’re hiking, you’ll have to make do with river water and tinned tuna, but today’s car camper doesn’t need to ditch all the home comforts. This 24L thermo-electric cooler can run from your car’s cigarette lighter, or from 220V mains power—keeping the contents at 18°C below ambient temperature. (For best performance, ensure the nifty lockable lid is opened as seldom as possible.) The P24 is small enough to fit between the kids on the back seat, but its clever design means you can even stand 2L bottles upright. There’s also a built-in compartment for the power cables…

Mobicool really has thought of everything.

K-Way Solitude 2 Person Tent

The K-Way Solitude dome tent is fast becoming a South African classic. You can put it up in under five minutes; it’s strong enough to withstand the Cape Southeaster; and its 1 500mm siliconised flysheet will keep you bone-dry. Like all K-Way tents, it comes in a strong carry bag that really is big enough to hold the tent. It’s tailor-made for car camping, but also works on shortish multi-day hikes—especially if one of you carries the poles and the other takes the rest of the tent. The Solitude is big enough to take two people without luggage; but

K-Way Solitude 2 Person Tent R1 199

Cape Union Commando Chair R699

Cape Union Sapphire Cowl Sleeping Bag R550 Mobicool P24 AC/DC R1 199

Cape Union Commando Chair

Who said camping has to be uncomfortable? The super-sturdy Commando is so good to sit in, you’ll soon be moving one into the lounge at home!

Steel legs and arms mean it really can hold 120kg (good news if you’re a member of the Springbok ‘Tight 5’), while the padded seat and back provide the comfort you deserve after a hard day’s walking, kayaking or braaiing. The side pouch doubles as a drinks holder, and the chair comes in a hard-wearing carry bag.

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Cape Union Tripod Aluminium Chair R150

Your hiking buddies may laugh when you rock up on Day 1 of the Otter Trail with a chair strapped to your pack, but the joke will be on them when they’re all fighting over the only flat rock in camp come nightfall. This tripod chair folds up small, weighs next to nothing, and can easily take the weight of a grown man.

if you want a bit of breathing room, go for the three-person K-Way Panorama (R1 499) or the four-person K-Way Vista (R1 999).

Cape Union Sapphire Cowl Sleeping Bag

If you’re looking for one bag for all conditions, the three-season Cape Union Sapphire Cowl is your guy. Unless you’re a real winter warrior, it’s warm enough for most South African conditions and it packs small enough to be suitable for both hiking and camping. Its Ripstop outer is

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K-Way Evo ‘12 Gearbag R399 (S) / R450 (M) / R499 (L) / R550 (XL)

K-Way Tsitsikamma Daypack R899

durable; it has a roomy cowl to keep your noggin toasty; and the Polycotton lining keeps you warm and sweat-free. If you buy two bags (one right zipper and left zipper), Mom and Dad can double up. Genius.

K-Way Tsitsikamma Daypack

It doesn’t get better than the 30L K-Way Tsitsikamma Daypack. Designed by hikers for hikers, it’s a whole lot more than a pretty face. Made from ‘I mean business’ Ripstop nylon, and featuring a number of nifty pockets and compartments, the Tsitsikamma is hydration-system compatible and comes with a built-in rain cover. Perhaps most importantly, the ventilated back system keeps you dry while the waist and sternum belts ease the load. The Tsitsikamma is looking for a long-term commitment from a dedicated lover of the outdoors…

Leatherman Wave II R1 499

LED Lenser SEO5 Headlamp

LED Lenser SEO5 Headlamp R550

K-Way Evo ‘12 Gearbag

The tough-as-nails Evo may just be the most useful bag you ever buy: It’s perfect for weekends and road trips, and comes in loads of different colours and sizes, so you can get one for every member of the family.

The clever strap system means you can carry it vertically, horizontally or over the shoulder. The YKK zips will never give, and it all folds into a durable pouch for easy storage.

Leatherman Wave II

Tim Leatherman invented the multi-tool in 1984, and the Wave is his biggest seller. The Wave II has drawn on customer feedback to include all of the most requested features: bigger

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knives, stronger pliers and longer wire cutters. What’s more, every single tool on the Wave II is lockable! It’s perfect for mechanics, but is also great for camping, hiking and survival. It has two blades, real screwdrivers and a pair of pliers that can cut through a Karoo fence in a jiffy. If you want one tool to do it all, then catch the Wave and hang ten.

You get headlamps. And then you get LED Lenser headlamps. The SEO5 is bright (180 lumens) and it has an incredible battery life (25 hours on low), but this is just the beginning… Its most amazing feature is the patented Advanced Focusing System, which gives you both an extremely wide angle beam with low intensity and a sharply focused long-range beam. Other cool functions include a lockable power button (so it doesn’t turn itself on in your pack), red-light mode (great for photos around the braai) and two free sets of Duracell AAAs.

Blackfire Clamplight LED Lantern Blackfire Clamplight LED Lantern R599

The all-new Clamplight Lantern clamps to anything (branch, tent pole, wheel arch… you name it) and can also be used as a torch. It uses two CREE LEDs to deliver an incredible 260 lumens of light from three measly AA batteries—and if there really is nothing ‘clampable’, it even stands on its own two feet. Its head swivels to allow you to direct the light where you want it. When dinner’s done, use the low-light setting to pump up the ambience and save on batteries.

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THE DIGITAL VERSION OF

The Intrepid Explorer

IS NOW AVAILABLE ON APPLE IPAD AND ANDROID TABLETS

or visit www.intrepidexplorer.co.za to download the link

Out a n d a bout

On the

WILD SIDE We give you the inside scoop on the outside world. We look at some of the astounding feats that are being

accomplished by intrepid people and places; new developments and books on offer; and a host of events on the calendar to diarise in which you, The Intrepid Explorer reader, can become involved. So what are you waiting for? Get out there and make the most of the outdoors!

Compiled by Robbie Stammers

Circumnavigating the globe

A

n ambitious new expedition is under way which, if successful, will set a new standard for humanpowered journeys around our planet. South African adventurer Angelo Wilkie-Page is attempting a double-circumnavigation of the globe: first going east to west, and then north to south. He has dubbed this amazing endeavour Expedition 720 Degrees, as he’ll not only pass through all lines of longitude in his travels, but latitude as well.

He estimates that he’ll cross through 48 countries on this expedition, covering a total distance of 115 000 kilometres along the way. He’ll row or paddle across four oceans and nine seas, while also crossing six deserts—including the five largest in the world. Along the way, he hopes to set a new record for east-west circumnavigation, and become the first person to complete a Pole to Pole circumnavigation that crosses four antipodal points and four equator crossings. He’s also looking to become the first to complete both circumnavigation attempts on his own power, and set a record for the most distance covered along the way as well.

Angelo kicked off on 20 November 2014 in Los Angeles and has cycled more than 3 500km up the west coast of the United

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States and Canada. He has just taken a two-week recovery period in Squamish, British Columbia due to frostbite in his left foot, caused by equipment failure, and will continue north from Fort St. John on 18 February—making his way to the Alaskan town of Fairbanks in temperatures of minus 30°C to minus 40°C. “Being South African, these extreme conditions are very foreign—and having to adapt and learn fast is crucial, as the margin for error becomes smaller the closer I get to the Arctic Circle,” he told The Intrepid Explorer. “The important thing is to set daily goals and achieve them. Every day creates positive and negative conditions: Some days I’ll have clear skies, warm temperatures and a 50km headwind; other days will be extremely cold, but with smooth roads and no mountain passes.

“I have learnt that it’s vital not to get worked up about the smalls things and to always keep focus on the bigger picture.

Nature provides some spectacular views that keep me motivated on a daily basis.”

You can follow Angelo’s progress at www.expedition720degrees.com or on Facebook and Twitter: Expedition 720 Degrees.

www.intrepidexplorer.co.za

To mark the 60th anniversary of the Relais & Châteaux Association, the Africa Delegation created a very unique rose, simply and aptly called the “60th Anniversary Relais & Châteaux Africa Rose”, which was made available to all member properties worldwide.

Ludwig Taschner, the premier rose grower in South Africa, and Liz McGrath, a passionate rose lover, spent a great deal of time choosing just the right rose to present to the committee, which personifies all the features of the heart and soul of Relais & Châteaux. The floral tribute is a legacy gift for the prestigious association of the “world’s finest hoteliers, chefs and restaurateurs”.

This particular rose was chosen from more than 20 in order to find one that had just the right qualities. With gentle pink outer petals, showing a green tinge, the rose opens to a deeper pink centre and then opens up again to show yellow stamens to the bees. The colour appeals to all tastes and will look beautiful in any environment. Above all, this elegant rose is hardy and shows not only its beauty but also a lovely natural perfume of rose combined with freshly mown grass.

Top: Ludwig Taschner and Liz McGrath with her Director of the African and Indian Ocean Delegation, Annie-Claude eponymous rose Bergonzoli, commented: “This living legacy demonstrates the elegance, Bottom: Veronique Roussouw (sales & marketing manager perfection and uniqueness of that which is Relais & Châteaux. Its for The Collection by Liz McGrath), Anja Taschner colours will beautifully adorn the architecture and décor of the (Ludwig’s daughter and horticulturist) and Annie-Claude establishments of our global family. The rose boasts an earthy fragrance Bergonzoli at the rose launch on 27 November of freshly cut grass, rose and a hint of fruit—this simply exclaims, Photograph by Peter Unsworth Welcome home!”

The rose was officially launched globally at the Relais & Châteaux Rendez-Vous international congress in Paris in November 2014—and for the members in Africa, industry and public, it was launched at The Cellars-Hohenort and is now in selected nurseries to be purchased. The launch of this rose took place at the same time as the new publication, Taste of the World: This beautiful book means leafing through the soul of each territory, its cultural richness, its terroir, its cuisine and its hospitality that represents the taste of the world.

Sadly, Liz McGrath passed away in January, and The Intrepid Explorer salutes this doyenne of the hotel industry. Known fondly as ‘Mrs M’ to the staff at her hotels, Liz ranked with the world’s great hoteliers, and she will be dearly missed. This beautiful and clearly unique rose is a tribute that will last forever to her memory.

Out a n d a bout

Tribute to a Rose

For more information on the incredible hotels in Mrs M’s group, go to www.relaischateaux.com/sa.

A flight of fancy

This summer, The Twelve Apostles Hotel and Spa is offering a unique and glamorous lunch option that includes an exhilarating helicopter flight to the hotel.

The perfect way to celebrate a special occasion, impress a date or to present to someone special as the ultimate gift, the Two Flights Experience lunch package includes a three-course gourmet select menu at Azure Restaurant and a flight of three wines selected by the sommelier for a tasting. The deal includes a one-way helicopter flight from the V&A Waterfront to the hotel, as well as a hotel transfer by vehicle back to the V&A. Be whisked away VIP-style in a private helicopter and arrive in style after a scenic flight, taking in the views of Robben Island, Clifton, Lion’s Head and Camps Bay, before landing at The Twelve Apostles Hotel’s helipad amid the fynbos gardens behind the hotel, with its dramatic location between the Atlantic Ocean and the Twelve Apostles mountain range.

See www.12apostleshotel.com for more details, or to book email: concierge@12apostles.co.za.

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Out a n d a bout

Love on the rocks With a venue like Tintswalo Atlantic, the only rocks any relationship could be in are the ones within a stone’s throw of this incredible haven. Tintswalo means “the intangible feeling of love, gratitude and peace bestowed upon someone offering you a meaningful and worthy gift”—which is the perfect name and perfect location for this place as a wedding venue or any other special occasion.

Tintswalo Atlantic is nestled within the unspoilt wilderness of Table Mountain National Park, at the base of Chapman’s Peak on the water’s edge of the Atlantic Ocean. This Cape luxury hotel destination comprises 10 Luxury Suites and an elegant Presidential Suite, with breathtaking views of both the renowned Sentinel landmark and the Bay. Largely a wood and glass structure, this Cape hotel’s understated elegance blends nicely with the surrounding Cape fynbos environment.

As a wedding venue, Tintswalo Atlantic provides a unique and romantic setting, and offers guests the opportunity to experience absolute tranquillity while enjoying the understated elegance and style. The hotel has won a TripAdvisor Travellers’ Choice Best Service Award as well as the CNBC Africa Property Award for Best Boutique Hotel in South Africa. So rest assured, you really are in for a treat.

The Main Deck, Pool Deck and Lodge are located at the foot of the mountain and have the most exquisite and commanding views of the bay. What’s more, there are no neighbours, which means no cut-off time and your party really can Linger Longer.

For those of you who are not getting married or have done so already, you can still enjoy Tintswalo by booking one of its spectacular breakfasts, for high tea or sundowners to make the most of the golden-hour view.

Visit www.tintswalo.com for further info.

Win! The most unusual playmates

There’s no guarantee that animals will behave in a manner the guide books claim—as the Jock Safari Lodge rangers and guests found out recently while on their Big 5 safari in the Kruger National Park. There are baby impalas everywhere, and predators are having a feast. Ranger Lazarus Mkhonto came across this unusual sighting of a young leopard that seemed confused about what to do with this impala lamb.

They sat and played together for almost an hour, showing affection to each other, then walked away into the thickets like a mother would with her young—making us wonder what the outcome would be!

For more information on Jock Safari Lodge, visit www.jocksafarilodge.com.

Two lucky readers can walk away with the incredible book by adventurer David Grier, India: Lost & Found (published by Quivertree Publications).

Get immersed in the book and live the experience of Grier’s most challenging run to date—93 days and 4 000km through India.

It’s an unusual book: part how-to manual for those dreaming of their own adventures, part travel diary, coffee-table book, culinary exploration (after all, Grier was a chef in a previous life), and a meditation on getting lost and finding oneself.

India: Lost & Found is as varied and surprising as the country through which Grier ran. (Read about his life-changing journey on page 64 in this edition of The Intrepid Explorer.)

To stand a chance of winning a copy of this fantastic book, send your name and contact details to taryn@intrepidexplorer.co.za, with the subject line “India: Lost & Found”. The competition closes on 31 March 2015 and winners will be notified by phone and/or email.

Photograph by Estiaan Houy

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www.intrepidexplorer.co.za

Out a n d a bout

Musical mountain magic Grab your picnic baskets, slather on the sunscreen and throw on those forgotten sandals; it’s time for the 2015 Kirstenbosch Summer Sunset Concert season, and everyone is welcome. Billed to take over Cape Town’s historic and stunning botanical gardens every Sunday until the final show on 5 April 2015 (with Jeremy Loops), the ever popular outdoor live-music series returns with a vast and varied line-up that’s likely to appeal to all music lovers.

This year, the exciting bill includes local acts that have never graced the Kirstenbosch stage before, such as the SA National Youth Orchestra, international muso Passenger as well as some old favourites like Freshlyground, Johnny Clegg and Goldfish.

Plus, certain concerts feature a kids’ zone, so moms and pops can chill out and drink in the music while kiddies can let loose and have fun running around in a designated area.

And if you don’t already know, Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden has a wide array of open spaces that make it the perfect picnic ground. Thus, concert goers are encouraged to bring along blankets and picnic baskets filled with eats and drinks, including alcohol.

For more information, check out www.sanbi.org/events/kirstenbosch.

Tickets can be purchased online at www.webtickets.co.za.

A bucket-list must!

Kilimanjaro, the highest free-standing mountain in the world, lies 3 degrees below the equator, is contained entirely within Tanzania and is one of Africa’s youngest volcanoes. It peers down to Kenya on its northern border, and covers an area of over 5 100 square kilometres—thrusting more than 5km into the sky. Its top is permanently ice-capped and offers both the hiker and mountaineer a rare challenge.

At 5 895m, it’s Africa’s highest mountain and one of the legendary Seven Summits.

Although not to be taken lightly, any reasonably fit person can reach the summit of Kilimanjaro, and there are several routes available. You will need a minimum of five days (but preferably six or more) for the hike, and you ascend from the steaming tropical rainforests, through heathland, to alpine desert—finally reaching the permanent glaciers and the summit, Uhuru Peak.

Wild Frontiers offers regular departures for individuals or groups. We will discuss, in detail, the different routes available, as well as the preparation required for such a trip.

Join one of the complimentary talk evenings held by Wild Frontiers around South Africa. Its experts will give you more insight into the destination, what to pack, and how best to prepare. Be inspired with great images and delightful travel stories!

RSVP: linda@wildfrontiers.com

INCA TRAIL – KILIMANJARO – EAST AFRICA – HIMALAYA February 2015 Wed, 18 Feb 2015 Kilimanjaro Talk

Johannesburg

Cape Union Mart Store, Eastgate Shopping Centre

18h30

Thu, 19 Feb 2015

Himalaya Talk

Johannesburg

Cape Union Mart Store, Eastgate Shopping Centre

18h30

Wed, 4 Mar 2015

Kilimanjaro Talk

Johannesburg

Wild Frontiers Office

18h00

Thu, 5 Mar 2015

Inca Trail Talk

Johannesburg

Cape Union Mart Store, Eastgate Shopping Centre

18h30

Wed, 11 Mar 2015 Kilimanjaro Talk

Pretoria

Cape Union Mart Store, Centurion Mall Shopping Centre

18h30

Wed, 11 Mar 2015 Inca Trail Talk

Cape Town

Cape Union Mart Store, Canal Walk Shopping Centre

18h00

Thu, 12 Mar 2015 East Africa Talk

Cape Town

Cape Union Mart Store, Canal Walk Shopping Centre

18h30

Thu, 12 Mar 2015 Himalaya Talk

Pretoria

Cape Union Mart Store, Centurion Mall Shopping Centre

18h30

March 2015

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Ph oto es s a y IN THIS EDITION OF THE INTREPID EXPLORER, WE SHOWCASE THE WORKS OF SOME OF THE WINNERS OF THE 2014 WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR EXHIBITION

lens

LIFE THROUGH THE

The Natural History Unit Africa (NHU Africa) recently opened the 50th annual edition of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition at the Iziko South African Museum in Cape Town, which runs until 5 March.

The exhibition is owned by the Natural History Museum of London and BBC Worldwide, and is sponsored in South Africa by National Geographic Channels.

It features 100 breathtaking images of nature in its most astonishing forms.

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From humble beginnings in 1965 with just 361 entries, the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition has grown into a global phenomenon with almost 42 000 entries from 96 countries around the world. The grainy analogue film photos of yesteryear have transformed into incredible high-resolution digital colour images, and technological advancement has allowed wildlife photographers to explore further, higher and deeper than ever before into the natural world.

Dr Hamish Robertson, director of Natural History at the museum, says: “The Wildlife Photographer of the Year has become a very popular exhibition in the Iziko South African Museum calendar. The wildlife photographs on display are the world’s best and they have the power to change the way we see our world through evoking wonder, respect and concern.

This special 50th anniversary exhibition promises to be the best ever.”

The 50th anniversary of the exhibition

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SAILING BY Matthew Smith (Australia)

is a visual feast of epic proportions, with 17 categories including an exciting new category: the Special Award for Best Time-Lapse. This category is represented in the exhibition as a video, as time-lapse photography is a combination of many consecutive still images taken over the course of a specific time frame and ‘sewn’ together for viewing. The photographer requires much skill to artfully extract the best time-lapse sequence, as the light and conditions change over time.

“Each year we wait excitedly for the images to arrive,” says Donfrey Meyer of NHU Africa. “Wildlife photography techniques simply get better each year; the access and perspectives more daring and astonishing… what can be done with digital camera is infinite. This exhibition really demonstrates that.”

Other categories in the exhibition include: Mammals, Birds, Amphibians and Reptiles, Plants and Fungi, Underwater Species, Earth’s Environments, Black and

White, Natural Design, World in Our Hands, Wildlife Photojournalist, Rising Star Portfolio Award, Portfolio Award, Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year, and the Overall Winner—Wildlife Photographer of the Year. These categories include 100 images in total displayed on specialised transparency prints that are backlit, making them even more striking.

For further information, visit www.nhuafrica.com or www.iziko.org.za.

NIGHT OF THE PELICANS Greg du Toit (South Africa)

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED Alex Mustard (United Kingdom)

GLIMPSE OF THE UNDERWORLD Christian Vizl (Mexico)

JELLY FIREWORKS Geo Cloete (South Africa)

WINTER HANG-OUT Lukasz Bozycki (Poland)

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STORE LISTING WESTERN CAPE STORES Bayside Mall (021) 556-3861 bayside@capeunionmart.co.za Blue Route Mall (021) 712-5979 blueroute@capeunionmart.co.za

EASTERN CAPE STORES Riverside Mall, Nelspruit Fountains Mall (013) 757-0338 (042) 293-0005 nelspruit@capeunionmart.co.za fountainsmall@capeunionmart.co.za NORTH WEST STORES Greenacres Shopping Centre Brits Mall (041) 363-1504 (012) 250-1909 greenacres@capeunionmart.co.za brits@capeunionmart.co.za

Canal Walk (021) 555-2846 canalwalk@capeunionmart.co.za

Hemingways Shopping Centre (043) 726-0908 hemmingways@capeunionmart.co.za

Matlosana Mall (018) 462-0711 matlosanamall@capeunionmart.co.za

Canal Walk Adventure Centre (021) 555-4629 cwac@capeunionmart.co.za

Walmer Park (041) 368-7442 walmer@capeunionmart.co.za

Mooiriver Mall (018) 293-1788 mooiriver@capeunionmart.co.za

Cape Gate Shopping Centre (021) 982-2000 capegate@capeunionmart.co.za

Vincent Park (043) 726-2900 vincentpark@capeunionmart.co.za

Waterfall Mall (014) 537-3651 waterfall@capeunionmart.co.za

Cavendish Square (021) 674-2148 cavendish@capeunionmart.co.za Constantia Village (021) 794-0632 constantia@capeunionmart.co.za Gardens Centre (021) 461-9678 gardens@capeunionmart.co.za Mill Square (021) 886-4645 stellenbosch@capeunionmart.co.za Mountain Mill Mall (023) 347-1484 worcester@capeunionmart.co.za Paarl Mall (021) 863-4138 paarl@capeunionmart.co.za Somerset Mall (021) 852-7120 somersetwest@capeunionmart.co.za Tygervalley Shopping Centre (021) 914-1441 tygervalley@capeunionmart.co.za V&A Waterfront Quay Four (021) 425-4559 quayfour@capeunionmart.co.za V&A Waterfront Travel & Safari (021) 419-0020 waterfront@capeunionmart.co.za West Coast Mall, Vredenburg (022) 713-4113 weskus@capeunionmart.co.za GARDEN ROUTE Garden Route Mall (044) 887-0048 gardenroute@capeunionmart.co.za Knysna Mall (044) 382-4653 knysna@capeunionmart.co.za Langeberg Mall (044) 695-2486 mosselbay@capeunionmart.co.za The Market Square (044) 533-4030 marketsquare@capeunionmart.co.za

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Killarney Mall (011) 646-7745 killarney@capeunionmart.co.za Kolonnade Shopping Centre (012) 548-9811 kolonnade@capeunionmaart.co.za Mall@Reds (012) 656-0182 redsmall@capeunionmart.co.za Menlyn Park (012) 368-1015 menlyn@capeunionmart.co.za Nicolway Mall (011) 706-7573 nicolway@capeunionmart.co.za

Northgate Shopping Centre KWAZULU-NATAL STORES LIMPOPO STORE (011) 794-1022 Boardwalk Shopping Centre Mall of the North northgate@capeunionmart.co.za (035) 789-0321 (015) 265-1067 OR Tambo International Airport boardwalk@capeunionmart.co.za mallofthenorth@capeunionmart.co.za (011) 390-3245 Galleria Mall GAUTENG STORES ortambo@capeunionmart.co.za (031) 904-2318 Atterbury Value Mart, Pretoria Rosebank Mall galleria@capeunionmart.co.za (012) 991-3171 (011) 442-1959 atterbury@capeunionmart.co.za Gateway World rosebank@capeunionmart.co.za (031) 566-5111 Brooklyn Mall Sandton City gateway@capeunionmart.co.za (012) 460-5511 (011) 884-9771 brooklyn@capeunionmart.co.za La Lucia Mall sandton@capeunionmart.co.za (031) 562-0523 Carnival Mall The Glen Shopping Centre LaLucia@capeunionmart.co.za (011) 915-0470 (011) 436-1300 carnivalmall@capeunionmart.co.za Midlands Mall theglen@capeunionmart.co.za (033) 342-0152 Centurion Shopping Centre The Grove midlands@capeunionmart.co.za (012) 663-4111 (012) 807-0642 centurion@capeunionmart.co.za Pavillion Shopping Centre thegrove@capeunionmart.co.za (031) 265-1666 Clearwaters Mall Vaal Mall pavillion@capeunionmart.co.za (011) 675-0036 (016) 981-5186 clearwaters@capeunionmart.co.za Westville Mall vaalmall@capeunionmart.co.za (031) 266-6049 Cresta Centre Woodlands Boulevard westwood@capeunionmart.co.za (011) 478-1913 (012) 997-6960 cresta@capeunionmart.co.za woodlands@capeunionmart.co.za NORTHERN CAPE STORE Eastgate Adventure Centre Diamond Pavillion Centre BOTSWANA STORES (011) 622-8788 (053) 832-3846 Francistown, Pick n Pay Centre egac@capeunionmart.co.za diamondpavillion@capeunionmart.co.za 00267-241-0398 francistown@capeunionmart.co.za East Rand Mall Kathu Village Mall (011) 826-2408 (053) 723-2736 Game City, Gaborone eastrandmall@capeunionmart.co.za kathu@capeunionmart.co.za 00267-391-0948 gamecity@capeunionmart.co.za Forest Hill City FREE STATE STORES (012) 668-1030 Riverwalk Mall, Gaborone Loch Logan Waterfront, Bloemfontein foresthill@capeunionmart.co.za 00267-370-0040 (051) 430-0230 riverwalk@capeunionmart.co.za lochlogan@capeunionmart.co.za Fourways Mall (011) 465-9824 NAMIBIA STORE Mimosa Mall, Bloemfontein fourways@capeunionmart.co.za Maerua Mall, Windhoek (051) 444-6060 00264-612-20424 mimosa@capeunionmart.co.za Greenstone Mall windhoek@capeunionmart.co.za (011) 609-0002 MPUMALANGA STORES greenstone@capeunionmart.co.za The Grove Mall of Namibia Highveld Mall thegrove@capeunionmart.co.za Heidelberg (013) 692-4018 00264-612-53161 (016) 341-2031 highveld@capeunionmart.co.za heidelberg@capeunionmart.co.za OUTLET STORES Ilanga Mall Access Park, Cape Town Hyde Park Corner (013) 742-2281 (021) 674-6398 (011) 325-5038 ilanga@capeunionmart.co.za accesspark@capeunionmart.co.za hydepark@capeunionmart.co.za Middelburg Mall Woodmead Value Mart, Irene Village (013) 244-1040 Johannesburg (012) 662-1133 middelburg@capeunionmart.co.za (011) 656-0750 irene@capeunionmart.co.za woodmead@capeunionmart.co.za

www.intrepidexplorer.co.za

THE

Howe to tr a vel

The last laugh

VAMPIRE DIARIES

w

e stumbled upon a ghoulish sight on an underground tour of the magnificent old town of Kraków. Deep beneath one of the grandest medieval squares in all of Europe, I espied a vampire grave among the ruins of the subterranean vaults. Our guide pointed it out as casually as if vampires are an everyday call on any tourist itinerary.

Talk of vampires woke me up from a trance, hypnotised by a guide who was droning on about the 37 unpronounceable Polish kings crowned in Kraków. I only recall King Krak, the great ruler of the Vistulan tribes, who slew the mean dragon that terrorised the good folk of Kraków.

One of the highlights of the tour was the bronze dragon of Wawel Castle, which belches out fire every few minutes—and still terrorises the kids.

The strange epitaph on a plaque read, “Vampire prevention burials”. I stared down at the mortal remains of a suspected vampire with her hands and feet bound with rope, buried in a pit one thousand years ago. The guide said she was one of six women uncovered in vampire graves by archaeologists who excavated the entire square.

Vampires! Our guide had my full, undivided attention. Fascinated by her gnarly old skeleton, I learnt the corpses of suspected vampires were bound with rope, buried in a foetal position (or face down on their stomachs) and often decapitated—with their heads placed on the coffin lid. Apparently, these unusual burial methods were meant to prevent vampires rising from the dead and tormenting the living.

I had goosebumps all over. Which

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ON A TRIP TO KRAKÓW, GRAHAM HOWE LEARNS HOW TO SPOT THE BLOODSUCKING UNDEAD

schoolboy didn’t read Bram Stoker’s Dracula and fall asleep in terror?

I waited for more with bated breath.

We learnt that according to pagan folklore, there were seven ways to spot a vampire in the Dark Ages. The suspicious villagers believed you were a vampire if you were left-handed, had joined eyebrows, overgrown or extra teeth, a ruddy complexion (too much blood or alcohol in the diet), took your own life, died suddenly of mysterious causes—or were simply visited by a stranger after dark. (Another dead giveaway was if your grave was found empty.)

No one was above suspicion when it came to being cast out as a vampire—or a witch. In a superstitious medieval world, practically any outsider set apart by a strange birthmark or unusual habits could be denounced as a vampire and burnt at the stake. If the newly departed were not given full funeral rites, they were dug up for a vampire reburial, and even visits to graves by the bereaved were regarded as suspect.

The poet Lord Byron wrote, “But first, on earth as vampire sent, Thy corpse shall from its tomb be rent: Then ghastly haunt thy native place, and suck the blood of all thy race”.

I suggested to the tour guide she should lead vampire tours of Kraków by night.

We stumbled back into the daylight and headed across the market square. I wondered if I should buy a head of garlic and a wooden stake to ward off vampires at night when those little bloodsucking bats come out to play in the green park in the old moat. I kept a sharp lookout for anyone with all seven vampire traits— but spotted only the village idiot.

We heard many vampire stories while barging up the River Danube through Eastern Europe, the home of bloodsucking bats and werewolves. The legend of Count Dracula in Transylvania is linked to Vlad the Impaler, a Romanian prince in the 15th century who used to drive a stake through his foe—the only way to kill a vampire, according to Slavic legend. The name dracul in Rumanian means ‘the devil’.

Sadly, I found no telltale vampire love bites on my neck when I woke up the next morning.

Besides vampires, dragons and dragonslayers, Kraków is full of weird and wonderful traditions. We had to get to St Mary’s Basilica on time at midday, when a bugler (hejnat, pronounced ‘hey-now’!) blows an alarum from the top of the 80-metre high watchtower. It ends dramatically halfway through the tune to commemorate the town watchman killed in 1292 by attacking tartars who shot an arrow through his throat, mid-melody, to shut him up. Today the local firemen, who are used to climbing the 239 stairs to watch out for fires (and tipping tourists), blow the bugle by tradition.

We climbed up the hill to Wawel, the castle where a long line of kings ruled Poland for six centuries from 1038 when Kraków was capital of Poland. The city grew rich on the ancient salt, spice and silk corridors, as it was located bang in the middle of Europe on the major trade routes between west and east.

In the spooky crypt, we saw the tombs of all the kings crowned in the gothic cathedral with its gilded chapels—but heard no more talk of those headless bloodsucking vampires who come out after dark…

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The Intrepid Explorer gets the news from SABC’s Morning Live presenter, Leanne Manas

THE LAST WORD What are the top destinations on your ‘bucket list’ of places to which you’d like to travel?

I really am a travelholic and love discovering new places. The next places I would love to visit are South America (Chile, Brazil and Peru) and Cambodia.

Which favourite places have you already ticked off your bucket list?

Last year, for my 40th birthday, I went to the glaciers in Alaska, and that was absolutely breathtaking.

What is the weirdest food or drink you have ever tried?

I’m really not the most experimental person when it comes to food. But being of Lebanese heritage, perhaps our national dish called kibbeh, which is basically raw lamb mixed with spices, is rather daring for some.

Are you an adrenaline junkie?

In a strange way, I am an adrenaline junkie—but I enjoy doing something once and then bragging I survived and vowing never to do it again! The most recent daring thing I did was skydiving. It was incredible, and I was on an adrenaline high of note.

Next on the agenda is shark-cage diving; I promised I would take my godson for his 13th birthday in December.

If you consider your upbringing, were/are you a bush baby or a city slicker?

One-hundred percent city slicker—born,

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raised, educated and working, all in Joburg.

Beer or wine?

Neither, I’m a whisky girl.

Braai or sushi?

Braai any day!

Camping or luxury lodge?

Luxury lodge, definitely.

What is the most memorable experience you have had with wildlife?

Witnessing a kill while out on a game drive was the most exhilarating experience ever. A cheetah was stalking a buck from a distance. It was watching for some time and then it attacked at the speed only a cheetah can achieve. I have never seen so much dust and such great pace, and I almost felt like shouting out to save that poor buck—but nature took its course. It was an incredible sight.

You have been on television five days a week for over a decade. When do you and your family find the time to travel, and where do you like to go?

I’m very strict when it comes to family getaways. It’s something I insist on and will not sacrifice. Our best family getaway was into the bush last year at Madikwe.

My kids saw the Big 5 out in the wild for the first time and it was amazing!

If you were stuck on a desert island, would you know how to make a fire without matches, and how to catch dinner?

Ha, that’s funny! I would die a slow, cold and painful death. I am clueless!

What is your tried-and-tested signature dish you serve your friends?

Crab curry in the shell. It’s an absolute hit!

Also makes for an entertainingly messy evening—loads of fun, and delicious.

If it were up to you, what should be done to the people running the rhino horn trade?

Cut off their private parts and claim it cures all sorts of deadly diseases! Poaching infuriates me to no end.

What are your pet hates/dislikes in people?

Dishonesty, violence and corruption.

As a role model yourself, who was your inspiration while growing up?

I’ve always admired Oprah Winfrey for what she has achieved and really do see her as a role model in my field of work.

Do you still get a thrill out of going live on TV every day?

Yes and no. It depends on what type of broadcast we’re having that morning.

During the normal day-to-day show, the nerves aren’t there. As soon as there’s a breaking news story, my body kicks into gear and the nerves start the adrenaline going. That’s the biggest thrill and the reason I’ve lasted this long in the industry.

I crave it!

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