Singita Ebony Lodge remains one of Africa's most influential pioneers of conservation-led luxury. Positioned along the banks of the Sand River, this lodge sits among enormous trees and provides guests with access to 45,000 acres of private reserve.
The architecture is organized entirely around those two axes, turning the site's constraints into its greatest asset. Rather than fighting the narrow footprint, the design leans into it - producing a continuous, open living space that flows visually from front to back.
This, for me, is the magic of Japandi design. It's low-profile and humble, yet utterly absorbing. I feel faintly meditative each time I return to the apartment, which, after a day immersed in the melting pot of Cape Tonian nature, sport and hospitality, becomes a welcome, sanctuary-like moment of recuperation.
Africa is home to 39 countries that claim a coastline, giving travelers plenty of beaches to choose from. You'll find everything from palm-studded postcard perfection in Mozambique to rugged cliffs that sank many a ship attempting to cross South African seas during early colonization expeditions.
Whether it's day or whether it's night, they're shooting somewhere on the Cape Flats. Around him, residents made their way to a home-grown tuck shop, known as a spaza, or sat on street corners while toddlers ran about. How is this conducive to raising children? he asked, recounting the horrors of life in Mitchells Plain.
In the 1980s he was known for his defense of apartheid and his criticism of the African National Congress (ANC), the ruling party in Pretoria, which he accused of terrorism. In 2013, five days after the death of Nelson Mandela, the great South African anti-apartheid leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, he said that the media idealized his figure.
The collection of buildings and rooms feel like they have been there forever. Each space and room is unique, and not in a cloying way. It's as if the hotel organically grew over time with a storied history to accompany it-inhabited by convivial ghosts you'd want to meet. Surprisingly, the Dorp was built from the ground up less than a decade ago, opening its doors in 2019.
Like it's the case with the other parts of the world; in South Africa too, teardrop campers are becoming adventurous but with a very contemporary approach and a high-ticket price. TrailPod, an outdoor adventure brand in Cape Town, is doing things differently to keep their generation of teardrop rigs closer to the good old past, while integrating features that make it completely modern and dependable.
Players of Relooted become South African sports scientist and parkour expert Nomali, as she leaps and dives through museums to retrieve 70 real objects. They include an Asante gold mask that was taken by the British army when it destroyed the Asante empire's capital, Kumasi, and is now in the Wallace Collection in London. Another object is the skull of the Tanzanian king Mangi Meli, which was taken to Germany after its colonial regime executed him in 1900.
Cape Town tourism is a booming industry, and the Mother City needs foreign cash to operate as one of the planet's elite destinations. However, some locals are getting a little annoyed by the oversupply of digital nomads. European tourists are loving Cape Town, and why wouldn't they? When one single Euro gets you R19, an Uber to Boulders Beach to check out the penguins isn't all that pricy.
Rachel John, the 25-year-old influencer rumoured to be dating Springboks captain Siya Kolisi, visited the Empire State Building in New York. Is the pair still on "baecation?" SIYA KOLISI AND RACHEL JOHN IN NEW YORK? Rachel John and Siya Kolisi are both in New York, following their visit to Los Angeles, where they attended the NBA All Star weekend. Taking to TikTok, Rachel shared a video of her, from the top of the Empire State Building in New York, hinting she was there with Siya.
My wife Claire and I had arrived in Cape Town exactly one month before, and these days at Gary Freeman Safaris had been circled on our calendar for a long time. Many of Claire's core childhood memories were spent here in the Greater Kruger, a huge swath of protected land to the west of Kruger National Park. She first told me about her Uncle Gary's camp on our first date.
On a cool, rainy afternoon in the wilds of Laikipia, Kenya, I am lying in savasana, or corpse pose, beside a log fire in the pool house of Enasoit Camp. The teacher, Laura Bunting, gently intones a yoga nidra to our small, all-female group, during which I slip in and out of a hypnotic half-light state, only vaguely aware of the sound of rain on the thatched roof and the percussive efforts of a nearby woodpecker.
