Although South Africa is renown for its warm hospitality, there is little to beat the hearty welcome you’ll get at Ganora Guest Farm, a remote working sheep farm situated in the triangle between Graaf Reinet, Cradock and Middleburg just seven kilometres from Nieu Bethesda in the Eastern Cape’s Karoo.

It is a tranquil setting with woolly sheep and bleating lambs in a string of lush green pastures situated along a willow-lined river in a sheltered valley, unexpectedly protected from the harsh Karoo climate. It is a paradisiacal oasis where time seems to stand still.
Hester and JP Steynberg sold their original sheep farm and moved to Ganora (which means GARDEN WITH LIGHT in Hebrew) about 10 years ago, and they offer the warmest of South African welcomes, complete with a roaring fire in a rustic farm style dining room, delicious home cooked meals of sweet and tender Karoo lamb and the most delicious biltong soup. 

There's an unspoken tradition followed by all visitors to Kruger National Park (KNP), South Africa's oldest and largest game park situated in the north-east of the country, near the border with Mozambique and Zimbabwe. An integral part of the excitement of this modern form of hunting - better known as game viewing - is the custom of sharing information about animals and their locations with other visitors to the park.

Without this courtesy, two adults and two lithe teenage boys would not be trying to cram their inelegant bodies like sardines into the confines of the driver's side of the car … prodding with elbows for the best view, straining eyes (and other body parts), to be the first to sight the pair of pythons we had reliably been assured were up ahead. "They're up in the trees - you can't miss them," the friendly driver of a passing car had just told us.

For an unrivalled elephant experience, and a growing number of additional natural attractions, Addo Elephant National Park plans to take on the Kruger National Park as South Africa's ultimate tourist destination.

Imagine relinquishing your accumulated stress in the remote and dense bushveld of the Sundays River, deep within the Eastern Cape's Addo Elephant National Park. Imagine sundowners on your bungalow verandah, sharing the last bright orange-red glow of a glorious day with family and friends … and a procession of stately passing pachyderms, ear-swishing and tail-twitching.

Relax and rediscover an alternative way of being at the BRC 

Sitting quietly, in full lotus position, in the midst of a small copse of trees on a 125 hectare country estate near Ixopo in KwaZulu-Natal, you will find a nine by four metre, larger-than-life image of Buddha gazing serenely out over the valley below into indigenous grasslands and misty wattle plantations.

Should you be awake around sunrise you will see a straggling and motley group of up to thirty bleary-eyed and generally work-stressed visitors make their way quietly past the impressive, large white Buddha.

They will be quiet, observing noble silence (often with great difficulty), as they head in the direction of the thatched studio for a morning yoga stretch or a chi kung energising session to start the day.