She’s a seasoned traveller, writer and editor in search of that magical ‘something’ that makes the journey part of the destination; where success is measured by the enchantment of finding new places and faces and experiences to remember forever. Destinations that contribute directly to either the immediate community or actively preserve the environment – of concern to all travellers worried about the impact on the people and habitats they visit – have a special place in her rankings. 

While Kathy’s personal ‘bests’ usually involve hiking – like completing the Otter Trail, making it up (or down) a mountain pass – she’s also blown away by star-smudged sky canopies over mountain plateaus, desert sleep-overs and coastal camp-sites, or pretty much anywhere far from intruding electric lights. Sleeping within earshot of waves pounding ancient cliff-faces, getting up close to all the creatures that share our planet and the sound of rain on a (waterproof) tent. Acoustic guitars and bonfires on the beach, the smell of the bush and the sounds of its nocturnal creatures, a full moon suspended in an inky sky, the dramatic palettes of African sunsets and sunrises – all stir something sublime in her soul.
But she also appreciates a good red wine, a superlative meal, heated towel rails and the occasional rose-strewn comforter. For exclusive destinations are what keep South Africa climbing the international travel rankings – and it’s those euros, yen, pounds and dollars that can offset the poverty that, nearly 15 years later, still dogs South Africa – and all the nations of Africa, including our incomparable Indian Ocean islands.

Just nine kilometres from the village of Umzinto and a short drive from the seaside resort and residential area of Park Rynie, Vernon Crookes Nature Reserve is home to a rare species of giant earthworm, endangered beetles – there’s even an ancient gold mine hidden in the hills. Its real treasure is what it offers walkers, hikers and nature lovers.

Pack a light daypack, pull on your hiking boots and grab a hiking pole to explore the trails marked out over a portion of this jewel of a reserve’s 2 189 hectares. Four trails, from an easy 1km stroll to the longest, at 4km, provide routes through coastal forest and flower-filled veld as you skirt vleis where crested cranes nest. Caretakers Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife [http://www.kznwildlife.com/site/ecotourism/accommodation/allaccommodation/VernonCrooks]
are planning to include a more strenuous 14km hike – currently available by special arrangement only – to the workings of what was, in 1889, the Happy Thoughts Gold Mine, the site of gold yielded by the 1000- million-year-old rock underlying the loamy soil.

Flowerhike 4186:
Wildflower splendour

Flower1717: Freesia laxa

Wildlife
As you wander the trails in the company of blesbuck, impala and zebra you might also see the more elusive reedbuck, tiny oribi and blue and grey duiker that have been introduced among the reserve’s 56 mammal species.

But it is a delight to visit in spring and early summer, when bees, ladybugs and other pollen-seekers are busy harvesting the botanical treasure chest. A secret glen of arum lilies beside a wetland was disturbed only by the flash of butterflies. Purple-blue water lilies on two dams buzzed with iridescent dragon- and damselflies. Each bend and turn of the trail revealed a new landscape of shifting shades of pinks, magentas, lilacs and blues and, on one memorable hillock, a blazing field of yellow everlastings.

Accommodation
Accommodation at the Nyengelezi hutted camp is in five two-bedded rondavels, with communal kitchen and toilet facilities. A large lounge doubles as a conference centre, or laboratory for educational groups. There’s also a 10-bedded ‘treehouse’, built around a giant wild fig whose massive trunk reaches through a deck surround, while its canopy towers over the braai area. The treehouse, equipped with a freezer/fridge and microwave, has sliding doors and plenty of beds to allow for conversion into a dormitory arrangement for large groups.

There’s a picnic site for day visitors among coral trees near the entrance. Braai areas, complete with tables and benches, are deeper in the reserve. These are discreetly tucked into a copse of trees, each with its own path to a central ablution block. A 12km gravel road criss-crosses the reserve, some for 4x4s only, for those who prefer to enjoy the views and wildlife from a distance.

Flowerbuck4185:
A sleek blesbuck feasts on
the new herbs and grasses
of the season.

Flower1722:
Cyanotis speciosa

Flower1771:
Gerbera ambigua

A tree frog

The Cape Garden Route attracts national and international tourists to the well-marketed towns of Knysna, Wilderness and Plettenburg Bay, its attraction resting largely in its ‘garden of Eden’ appeal to, especially, the well-heeled.
But there are simpler pleasures for families and those who prefer tree-filtered light to neon and the chatter of birds and baboons rather than bustling hotels and malls.

The region’s indigenous forests claim some 82 tree species, representing nearly three times the number found in the United Kingdom. This, despite the great fire of 1869 that annihilated the ancient forests of the coastal area from Swellendam to Uithenhage and devoured the heart of South Africa’s indigenous timberland along 70 kilometres of coastline.

The resulting devastation revealed to road-builder extraordinaire Thomas Bain routes east through the previously impenetrable giants of the Tsitsikamma. The engineering legend, whose ingenuity opened the way through much of South Africa’s untamed wilderness, explored the forests that were then the domain of leopard, wild boar, elephant, buffalo and a myriad buck species.

The mighty forests lay up to and continued east of the Keurbooms. The river’s aeons-old path to the coast Langkloof had carved a wild gorge, and natural frontier, through the landscape from some 60 kms north of the Tsitsikamma Mountains.

Today where the Keurbooms River feeds into the ocean, it is considered the 16th most important conservation estuary in South Africa. It is one of only three in which the fabled Knysna seahorse is found. It is also ideal for tree-spotters, geologists, birders and those who like to mess about in boats.

The estuary is bisected by the busy N2. Cars, caravans, trucks and trailers head south to Plettenburg Bay and beyond, usually bypassing the little glide-off that takes those in the know to a hidden piece of natural paradise, the 2 500-hectare Keurbooms River Nature Reserve.

Apart from providing a retreat for the Knysna seahorse – the world’s only known estuarine seahorse species and the most threatened – the estuary also has the largest colony of kelp gull in the region and is home to the protected pansy shell as well as pink and mud prawns.

[Keurbooms9]
Ancient forest draped in old
man’s beard edges the tannin-
rich waters of the Keurbooms River

The trees, after pine and wattle plantations, are a dream. There an ironwood, a giant stinkwood, Cape beech … here an Outenique yellowwood – at least 500 years old, Russell points out – knobwoods and Real yellowwoods, all bedecked with Old Man’s Beard, “a key indicator of the health of the environment”.
From Russell we learn that the name ‘Real’ yellowwood is a perfect example of the absorption of different languages in the South African lexicon. From the Cape Dutch term indicating the tree’s close-to-perfect slender uprightness, “Opreg”, the name changed to “Regop”, before being translated to the English, ‘real’ – with nothing to do with genuine versus fake.

We learn, too, that to distinguish one yellowwood from another one should examine the bark, with that of the Outeniqua being rough, and the leaves of the Real are broad-based and those of the Outeniqua sickle-shaped. It’s easy to distinguish male from female among the Outeniqua yellowwoods – the male has small cones and none of the yellow berries found on the female of the species.

[Keurbooms5]
The remains of a road dating to
the 1800s built by the Stanley
brothers and using Thomas Bain’s methods, is used by hikers now

So it’s not surprising that it’s a favourite spot for locals to pack a picnic and head upriver for a day’s fishing or a wander under a vast, ancient canopy. A barge trip with a knowledgeable guide makes the difference for visitors to the area – but to explore any deeper, you need a canoe and that paddle to get to the overnight cabin. And that’s next on the agenda.

If you go:
For daily ferry trips and charters: Russell Katzenberger +27 (0)83 254 3551, +27 (0)44 532 7876 or email ferry@ferry.co.za
For information on the overnight canoe trail and cabin (under repair during 2008): +27 (0)44 383 0042 (Karen Becker) or +27 (0)44 533 2125 (Cape Nature Conservation).
Canoes and powered boats can be hired at the estuary by day visitors.

Getting there:
Travel 6km from Plettenberg Bay towards Port Elizabeth on the N2. Turn left into the Keurbooms Nature Reserve immediately after crossing the Keurbooms Bridge. The road takes you under the bridge to the parking area adjacent to the estuary.
Entry to the Western Cape Nature Reserve is included in the cost of the ferry trip (R120 adults, R50 children).
Sundowner, breakfast, picnic, beach braai and gourmet seafood cruises, with an emphasis on Knysna oysters, can be arranged for charter groups.
Scheduled trips leave at 11am and 2pm every day including public holidays.

Russell Katzenberger
is an informed narrator of
the history, geology,
fauna and flora of the
Keurbooms River and reserve.

White Backed Vulture

A lack of bone is a key threat to vultures, along with electrocution on the pylons where they nest, drowning in above-ground reservoirs, poisoning by ignorant farmers who consider birds of prey a threat to livestock – or as secondary consumers of poisoned jackals – and destruction of their natural habitat. Many eagles and vultures are killed and maimed in gin traps.

South Africa, and specifically KwaZulu-Natal, has been a world-leader in creating vulture restaurants, the first of which is still operating in the uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park. Today there are many more across the country as the toll and its effect on the environment becomes better understood. Carcasses that cannot harm aerial birds of prey are provided in places safe from other threats. The Raptor Centre has one that meets both this need and allows rehabilitating birds to interact with wild birds, with whom they usually fly off once they are healthy.

This was what became of Vinnie the Cape vulture, who one day simply ‘flew the nest’. He had been tagged and has since been monitored in Botswana.

Tawny Eagle

A Tawny eagle, lanner falcons, kestrels and a pale chanting goshawk were among the patients at the Centre during a recent visit. Two martial eagles occupy another enclosure. In South Africa the population is believed to comprise fewer than 600 breeding pairs, mostly confined to conservation areas in the Lowveld and Kalahari regions, chiefly because it is a prime candidate for persecution since it has a reputation as a predator of domestic livestock. Maturing at seven years, it produces just one egg a year. Like the ‘lammergeier’ – the politically incorrect name for Bearded vultures as it also perpetuates the malignant stereotype of their being ‘thieves of lambs’ – the species is fast disappearing from South Africa’s skies.

Many owl species, too, are rapidly joining the ranks of the threatened, endangered or rare. The self-funded Raptor Centre has provided sanctuary to many over the years, often the result of road injuries or near-drownings. At present there are spotted eagle owls and Mathilda, a giant eagle owl in residence.

Eighteen years old, or 100 long years in human terms, this elderly lady likes nothing better than a doze in the sun, her bright cerise eyelids drooping even as she lets you know you’re welcome.
“She’s on hundreds of children’s computers as a screensaver, she’s so accommodating for photographers,” says Sue. Mathilda was “at death’s door, covered in feather mites” a year ago but with careful nursing has recovered.

If you’re going there:
The Raptor Centre welcomes day visitors by appointment, at a charge of R25 an adult and
R12 for children for a guided tour. There is an information centre, complete with a model that demonstrates what Eskom is doing to reduce powerline mortality, information boards outlining the major threats to birds of prey, and books and cool drinks for sale. Adjacent to the Finlay home is a luxuriously appointed, self-contained rondavel sleeping two. There are walks and hikes on the 600-hectare reserve. The reserve is also home to a variety of antelope and small mammals. Guests have access to a raised deck, ideal for sundowners and from which to enjoy the magic that is a Kalahari sunset over the Korranneberg, and star-studded skies untainted by city lights.

Giant Eagle Owl