Spending time in the bush teaches you what you can do without, says Toast Coetzer. And it teaches you about what you really need to be happy.
I’m in the departure lounge of Kasane International Airport in the north of Botswana. Soon I’ll fly to Joburg and from there I’ll connect to Cape Town. But besides looking forward to seeing my girlfriend Alice later tonight, there’s very little else in the city that I’ve missed.
A TV is blaring and the noise is getting to me. Maybe I’m getting old. During the past few weeks camping in Botswana and the adjacent Zambezi Region of Namibia, I hardly saw a TV. Television tells you what to think; it feeds you advertisements. You just sit there, passive. I haven’t missed TV. If you’re huddled around a fire at sunset and you’re thinking about Game of Thrones, then you’re probably not a camping person to begin with. I like watching TV, don’t get me wrong, but I could easily live without it. If you told me tomorrow that I’d never be able to watch TV again, I wouldn’t cry myself blind.
Time spent around a crackling campfire, with the chirring of nightjars and fruit bats around you, is precious, private time. Thinking time. Without the distraction of a TV, you can let your mind take each little footpath of thought, strolling along until the path disappears into tall grass. You decide when it’s time for an ad break, whether that means getting up to add another mopane log to the fire, or topping up your glass of Amarula.
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة November 2017 من go! - South Africa.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة November 2017 من go! - South Africa.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
Rolling out the big guns
If you're still scanning the horizon for a Chinese automotive invasion you're looking the wrong way. It's already happening, and the new GWM Tank is the off-road spearhead into the highly lucrative and hotly contested lifestyle market.
TAKE A HIKE
The beautiful agony of Tienuurkop
Time out in Dullies
A long weekend in Dullstroom is just long enough to make you realise you need to spend several more weekends here! There's food, drink, art and action in abundance. Here's your guide.
Gallivanting in the Galápagos!
The Galápagos Islands are on many a traveller's wish list. They were on Hanlie and Vivian Gericke's too, even though the price of visiting made their eyes water. Was it worth it? Read on...
BURCHELL AND THE COUNTRY OF THE BUSHMEN
How many times have you driven through a landscape and wished you could have seen it centuries ago? In 1811, the English artist and explorer, William John Burchell, travelled through South Africa. Join us as we follow in his footsteps.
Long live the Hibiscus Coast
The KZN South Coast is a national treasure. It's still the place to go if you want a classic seaside holiday complete with warm waves, cold beer, soft serve and good vibes. Here's your guide.
The island at the end of the earth
Imagine adlace-with the cleanest air arid:the clearest seawater, where_no human.oranimabwants to:harm you: A placewhere the climates balmy. year-round:-with a sekrhistory ahd wwild scenery. A place like this:exist8” and it’s called St Helena.
A day on the road
You never know what the road will bring. Toast Coetzer heads south on the N1 and discovers South Africa.
The wilder shore
The final leg of a 30-day trek across East Africa sees lan Tyrer and the Africa - Wild & Untamed crew explore both shores of Lake Malawi. Get ready for an overloaded ferry, a croc attack and being surrounded by elephants...
A river runs through it
Sabie is onthe Drakensberg escaromentialongMpumalanga’s famous Panorama Route. Want a weekend away surrounded by forests and waterfalls? Here's wnat you need to know.
