Africa

There’s nowhere like it on the planet for wildlife, wild lands and rich traditions that endure. Prepare to fall in love.

MASERU BORDER

We arrived at the Maseru Bridge Border Post in the late afternoon, a major 24-hour land crossing connecting Maseru, Lesotho’s capital, with Ladybrand in South Africa’s Free State province. After our recent quick, easy border crossings, we assumed this one would be just as...

SANDSTONE HERITAGE

We finally received approval to visit Sandstone Estates, a working commercial farm in South Africa’s Eastern Free State and home to one of the world’s largest private collections of vintage agricultural machinery, railways, military vehicles, and transport history. Upon our...

CLARENS

We had a lovely day in Clarens, a picturesque mountain village in the Free State province, nestled at the foothills of the Maluti Mountains near Golden Gate Highlands National Park. Known as the “Jewel of the Free State,” the town features sandstone architecture, numerous art...

DRIVE TO CLARENS

Today we drove from Champagne Valley to Clarens via Sterkfontein Dam and Golden Gate Highlands National Park. It was a scenic 204-kilometre journey that took about half a day, with plenty of stops to enjoy the views and take photographs. We left the Central Drakensberg foothills and...

BASOTHO VILLAGE

Since we were already driving through the area, we stopped briefly at the Basotho Cultural Village, a living museum nestled beneath the spectacular sandstone mountains of Golden Gate Highlands National Park in South Africa’s Free State province. The village features an 18th-century-style...

DRAKENSBERG CHOCOLATE

On our way out of Monks Cowl, we made a delicious stop at Drakensberg Chocolate, also known as Drakensberg Chocolate Memories, an artisanal chocolate factory, shop, and café nestled in the Champagne Valley of the Central Drakensberg. Founded in 2009 by Edi and Tammy Ernst, the chocolate...