Greenwood Guides

19/02/2024

The Thrill of Two Wheels: Gravel vs. Road Cycling in South Africa: South Africa, a land of breathtaking landscapes and diverse terrains, offers a unique playground for cyclists of all stripes. Whether you're a fan of the smooth, fast rides afforded by road cycling or the adventurous, off-the-beaten-path experience of gravel biking, the Rainbow Nation has something to entice every cyclist. In this blog, we delve...

South Africa, a land of breathtaking landscapes and diverse terrains, offers a unique playground for cyclists of all stripes. Whether you're a fan of the smooth, fast rides afforded by road cycling or the adventurous, off-the-beaten-path experience of gravel biking, the Rainbow Nation has something ...

15/02/2024

Exploring KwaZulu-Natal on a Budget: KwaZulu-Natal, a province in South Africa, boasts a plethora of attractions catering to various interests and budgets. From pristine beaches to historical landmarks, there's something for everyone. In this guide, we'll explore a mix of free and affordable activities that showcase the beauty and diversity of KwaZulu-Natal. Travel is never a matter of money, but of courage....

KwaZulu-Natal, a province in South Africa, boasts a plethora of attractions catering to various interests and budgets. From pristine beaches to historical landmarks, there's something for everyone. In this guide, we'll explore a mix of free and affordable activities that showcase the beauty and dive...

28/11/2023

Being a company that's fully focused on sustainability in all that we do, we were fascinated by the following interview with Professor Tim Palmer, a leading scientist in all issues related to climate, and what we need to be doing about it right now. The interview is part of YouTube start-up sensation Tori Story which happens to be based right here in Cape Town. Check it out!

I had the absolute honour of hosting the esteemed mathematical physicist Dr Tim Palmer, Royal Society Research Professor of Climate Physics at Oxford Univers...

30/10/2023

We went off to the Cape Peninsula last week to Simonstown, visiting the team at A Boat House. Looking splendid after a new lick of paint!

17/10/2023

Blackheath Lodge in Seapoint, Cape Town was a delight to visit: every surface of this quirky heritage guesthouse was beautiful and eclectic. Thanks to Karin for the welcome!

13/10/2023

Had lunch at the diminutive Stellenbosch Botanical Garden yesterday. So worth a visit! The ferns were incredible as were the bonsais (some over 60 years old). Some superb artwork on display also.

09/10/2023

We stopped for a far too brief overnight at Gonjah Camping and Chalet near Patensie, Eastern Cape. The hiking and forest here was simply spectacular with views across the valley folds.

06/10/2023

Lovely stay at Bonniedale Farm with Danette, Nico, Leon and the animals! A proper escape into a beautiful wilderness.

05/10/2023

Stopped off at the wonderful Padlangs in Patensie, Eastern Cape today. Biggest smiles and fondest welcome. Loving my fruit smoothie!

27/10/2022

Whilst browsing today for the Kirstenbosch Summer Concert listings, we came across this video from last year's concert series - the video is shot across a colletion of Cape Town's better (and lesser) known places. Can you list all the locations? No? Time you came home then!

Stream/Download ‘Til I Found You' here: https://jeremyloops.lnk.to/TilIFoundYouIDFollow Jeremy Loops Here:Insta - https://instagram.com/jeremyloopsFacebook -...

14/10/2022

Here's some amazing drone footage released this week of a pod of dolphins in Plettenberg Bay seemingly manoeuvering a great white shark away from shore.

Marine biologists have been struggling to explain the behaviour but think it may be to get the shark away from dolphin fishing grounds.

07/10/2022

We're very excited today to have found out about a new slackpacking hike in Kwa Zulu Natal, South Africa.

The Giants Castle Slack packing trail is a luxury hike offering comfortable and varied accommodation for each night including luggage transfers, guide, conservation fees and delectable catering. Trails consist of small intimate groups of max 6 persons. This is a three-day hike through the Lowlands Conservancy and the Zulu Waters Private Game Reserve, famous particularly for its Afro-montane forest. The hike is gentle in distance making this hike perfect for beginners and families. The lodges offer three course dinners from locally grown ingredients with hearty breakfasts and picnic lunches are supplied.

You'll stay at Antbear Lodge, Leopard's Lair and Zulu Waters Game Reserve, which are three, four and five-star standard.

Rates start at R9 500 per person, fully inclusive of all meals - contact us for more details!

06/10/2022

We were so honoured this week to be invited to !Khwa ttu, the self-proclaimed 'embassy' of the original, indigenous inhabitants of Southern Africa, the San people.

I had images in my mind of awful 'cultural villages', not all of which are bad but can be an embarrassment both to visitors and the people they claim to represent. Not so at !Khwa ttu.

You'll be greeted by huge flocks of weaver birds as you enter and a friendly tortoise too who lives just outside the restaurant. The farm buildings have been converted to house various different aspects of San history but there is also an ultra modern shell-shaped, green-roofed building which houses a living museum complete with a nine-projector surround cinema experience about San traditional life.

The entire place is run by well trained San people who guide, cook, host and sell with style and panache and with huge smiles on their faces.

There's a huge variety of things to do, including walks and bike rides but we loved the short 45 minute tours of which there are five to choose from.

At only 60 minutes from Cape Town, !Khwa ttu is really a must.

03/10/2022

It'll come as no surprise to anyone who's been living or having visited South Africa in the last few months: loadshedding (managed power outages) is real and a huge drain on the economy.

But there is light on the horizon - recently the City of Cape Town has commissioned a 7MW solar photovoltaic (PV) plant that will be connected directly to the City’s electrical network. The power plant would start generating electricity as soon as 2024.

It's also particularly good news for struggling Atlantis, a dumping ground during apartheid for a failed rail frieght investment scheme. The plant is going to be built within the Atlantis municipal area, famous for its vast sand dunes.

19/07/2022

Often not even mentioned, despite being a town of some size, Mossel Bay on the Garden Route, South Africa just doesn't seem to get the column inches it deserves.

The N2 highway cuts through the middle of the town, but a long way from the beach, and the town does also play host to small oil refinery. But neither of these factors affect ifs offerings, as well the locals know! There's excellent food here to rival anything you'll find closer to Cape Town and the Winelands, a fascinating coastline housing caves where some of mankind's most ancient remains have been found and lots of adventure-focused activities like ziplining across the Indan Ocean. Culturally, the town offers its once-a-year Garden Route International Film Festival.

https://www.humanorigin.co.za/

https://www.tripadvisor.co.za/Restaurant_Review-g317080-d8710057-Reviews-Carola_Ann_s-Mossel_Bay_Western_Cape.html

https://www.mosselbayzipline.co.za/

30/06/2022

About four hours' drive north of Windhoek, Namibia, you'll find just off the spectacular Namibian coast the Torra Conservancy. The conservancy seeks to keep human impact to an absolute minimum whilst supporting and sustaining human activity within it: in this way, it's less of a game or wildlife reserve and more of an area where humans are permitted to flourish but not at the expense of nature.

The landscape as you head to the coast is littered with large reddish rocks, basalt, that have come to be there from thousands of volcanic eruptions from nearby (extinct) volcanoes. The Conservancy is proud to be able to say that it hosts the second largest population of black rhinos in the world and has increasing numbers of large mammals like lions too.

​For more information on this spectacular place, visit https://www.nacso.org.na/conservancies/torra

20/06/2022

If you've ever wanted to do something really important for conservation whilst visiting a conservation area, take a look at this offer from The Khoisan Karoo Conservancy almost in the middle of South Africa's Great Karoo Desert.

Experience South Africa's Birdlife Up Close

Our bird ringing expeditions provide wonderful opportunities to ring African birds, to interact with local ornithologists and conservationists, to contribute to important long-term citizen-science projects, and to experience delightful accommodations in spectacular landscapes.

The courses will be led by Dieter Oschadleus, Bird Ringing Coordinator at SAFRING and held at New Holme Guest Farm inside the Khoisan Karoo Conservancy, near Hanover in the Northern Cape - a carefully selected site to maximise the number of species that can be netted and ringed. Fantastic opportunity for trainers, as well as registered ringers.

DATES: 1 to 7 September 2022 and 31 October to 6 November 2022

27/05/2022

Very exciting to see that South African budget airline Kulula.com is now offering direct flights to Zanzibar off Tanzania's coast! Previously, one had to fly via Dar es Salaam and so this has drastically reduced travel time.

They currently only operate on Tuesdays and Saturdays (strange timing!) but it's 3h35mins flight time.

MN8301 departs JNB at 8am and arrives in ZNZ at 12:35pm (local time)
MN8302 departs ZNZ at 13:25pm and arrives in JNB at 4:10pm (local time)

You can book direct at https://holidays.africastay.com/zanzibar-flights/.

19/05/2022

We just loved this story: five elephant bulls walked 700km from Mozambique to Kruger National Park in South Africa this week. When they arrived, they couldn't get in as the park is fenced so they were taken in by truck to their new home.

It's known that eleven bulls appear to have left where they started life in Mozambique where they were collared and tagged - but it's not known what prompted Trailblazer, as he's now been dubbed, to start the huge trek to Kruger, which may in fact be where he was originally from as he appears remarkably used to tourists!

11/05/2022

A farm stay like no other, Oakhurst Farm just north of Wilderness on the Garden Route, South Africa, offers a full range of accommodation (glamping, cottages and luxurious self catering) combined with a vast range of activities all on site. Add into that lots of attention to detail, a superb farm shop selling fresh, locally made meals and you've really got a perfect recipe for total family relaxation.

04/05/2022

Strolling along the Zandvlei estuary banks in Muizenberg this month, we came across this amazing sculpture attached to a telephone pylon - it's a 50x lifesize rendition of a rare and endangered butterfly called a Barber Cape Flats Ranger.

She was named Tubatuba by the artists who created her (there were eight in total), the sculpture having been commissioned by FynbosLIFE to draw attention to this beautiful and rare creature.

'Tubatuba' is the Kora word for butterfly and Kora is one of the languages spoken by the Khoi people, the first people's of the Cape

28/04/2022

So very proud to have been part of the Reforest Fest 2022 earlier this month at Bodhi Khaya in the Overberg. Greenpop are the organisation behind the festival in which over 5064 indigenous trees were planted by the 700 activists, team, facilitators, musicians, partners and guest speakers who came together to get active for the planet.

Greenwood Guides now uses Greenpop to help our travellers offset their carbon emissions for their trips as well.

27/04/2022

Whilst driving down the R300 in the Western Cape recently, we found this very South African approach to furniture removal taking place! Not even ten seconds later, a police car overtook us and the 'sofa-on-wheels', seemingly perfectly satisfied with this arrangement...

07/04/2022

On a recent trip to Sutherland, Northern Cape, we were taken by the rangers at Rogge Cloof to the extinct volcano on the farm (yes, the farm is so big that it has an extinct volcano on it!)

We climbed to the top of what was essentially the 'plug' that was blasted out of the top of the volcano 250 million years ago - we expected literally just a large rock and a good view but were amazed by the plant life and bird life to be found here.

Of course the 360 view at the top of the Karoo, which would have been entirely underwater at the time of the explosion, was spectacular. Enjoy!

14/03/2022

Just had to stop off at Betty's Bay yesterday evening to see the penguins. Wonderful.

13/02/2022

Rushing down the N2 between Cape Town and the Garden Route, it's rare for visitors to take the back rounds at the base of the Riversonderend Mountains - but we strongly encourage you to do so!

Set at the confluence of the Riversonderend and Meul Rivers, Champagne Campsite and Cottage isn't easy to find but offers a delightful riverfront location set with weeping willows and apple orchards that gives way to superb country road hiking or biking for many kilometers east and west.

07/02/2022

It was our absolute pleasure last week to spend some time at MooiBly, a beautiful working farm with self catering cottages between Wellington and Paarl and near the Du Toitskloof Pass.

Liebeth and team have created a superb garden oasis to surround the cottages, which vary in size from one to three bedrooms - it's no wonder guests come back year after year and stay for months!

28/01/2022

We spent a vert pleasant afternoon looking around the beautiful farmstay that is MooiBly, just below the Du Toitskloof Pass.

Liesbeth offers a wonderful selection of six self catering cottages, all with whitewashed walls and reed thatched roofs. They are set in the most idyllic and shady mature gardens, through which roam chickens, dogs and cats.

Add in a large and deep pool plus a dam to cool off in and you can see why Liesbeth's guests stay not just for days but weeks and months at a time.

26/01/2022

If you're stuck in a northern hemisphere winter right now, this will inspire you!

We're staying at Tweede Tol in the Bainskloof this week. The kloof (the Afrikaans word for 'valley') houses a 500m high pass and the road up and down it is very popular with cyclists, runners and motorsports enthusiasts as the views all the way up and down are scintillating.

For us, the real gem is to head down to the river bed below and hike up the pass through the river itself, which we did yesterday. The water was never below 28°C.

24/01/2022

In the seering heat of this weekend (Cape Town was briefly the hottest place on the planet), we escaped to the cool waters of Bergenwater Campsite near Rawsonville.

It was so hot that the only way to keep cool was to bathe in the cool trout filled river.