Wanda Hennig » South Africa Travel

The power of poetry and Colombian Fernando Réndon’s pen

editor — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 14:58:36 +0000

Poetry Africa 2011, Durban Colombian poet Fernando Réndon, in Durban this week for the 15th Poetry Africa festival, has helped transform Medellín, Colombia’s second largest city — known as a world capital of drug trafficking, terror and violence — into a world capital of poetry. © Wanda Hennig, 2011 When Fernando Réndon and a few of his friends organized the first International Poetry Festival of Medellín in 1991, the city was known as the epicenter of the cocaine trade and the world capital of drug trafficking. The so-called ‘Medellín cartel’, a multi-billion dollar ...

On the road from Durban: Nambiti and Qambathi escapes

editor — Sun, 19 Sep 2010 05:29:29 +0000

We would set off from Durban and drive about three hours to Nambiti Plains Private Game Lodge. We would go on game drives, hopefully see the Big Five, and food-wise, there was a vegetarian focus. Next day we would drive to Qambathi Mountain Lodge, which also has game and where the food was reputedly excellent.

Story and photos by Wanda Hennig

“Dave says I’m Thelma and you’re Louise,” my food writer friend Anne tells me when she pulls up in her car to fetch me. Dave is her boyfriend. Thelma and Louise is the road trip movie. We are leaving on a road trip. We’ve done road trips before. For example, a memorable one where we visited cooking schools and foodie joints through Napa and Sonoma and wrote about them...

Who put the trash out? Who cares!

editor — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 11:21:18 +0000

In the U.S. they see it as an opportunity, not a problem. So what about us?

Story and pictures by Wanda Hennig

Story first published op-ed page, Sunday Tribune, Durban, South Africa, on August 29, 2010

It’s Sunday morning at North Beach in Durban. The sun is shining. Somewhere the sardines are still running. The new, improved beachfront promenade is alive with foot traffic. People cycling, strolling, jogging, walking their dogs, walking their kids. The surfers are out; the fishermen are complaining to anyone who’ll listen about their ban from the piers; the skateboarders and BMX-ers are shooting the ramps at their graffitied concrete park ...

Silencing the vuvuzela one plug at a time

editor — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 18:07:21 +0000

Blow them? Ban them? Love them? Loath them? On and off the field and across the world the hammering drone of the vuvuzela is raising more intense emotions — and a greater range of them — than when ones favorite team gets knocked out of the FIFA 2010 World Cup. Now Durban interior designer Liesl Heath is doing something about it. Since last week she has been taking the guts out of the vuvuzela’s discordance and turning it into a whisper with her cleverly branded ‘Shu-Shu Zela’ earplugs. The idea for the earplugs ...

Woza eNanda heritage site hails South African heroes

editor — Thu, 20 May 2010 21:45:41 +0000

Experiencing the political change of South Africa rates as the second preference of most foreign visitors after a visit to a game park. Until recently, there was a lack of tourism facilities in KwaZulu-Natal with a strong liberation theme. By Wanda Hennig

The heart of Inanda, the sprawling township that is part of the greater Durban municipality, known as eThekweni (Zulu for “where the earth and the ocean meet”), is called Freedom Valley for good reason. It is a fountainhead of South Africa’s rich liberation history; a source of legendary — and contemporary — people, places and events that have shaped and continue to shape the “new” South Africa.

Let Football Nights plan your World Cup South Africa travel

editor — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 23:17:02 +0000

Are you going to South Africa for the 2010 world cup soccer tournament. If not, why not? The good news is, if you haven’t made your travel plans, it’s not too late. If you’re not sure where to start, help is at hand. By Wanda Hennig South Africa right now is a great big fabulous party waiting to happen. No, I’m not blind to some of the more controversial news stories of the past weeks. But for heavens sake, look at the news from the rest of the world (including the United ...

RSA-USA and Invictus beyond the Oscars

editor — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 23:59:21 +0000

What South Africa, Clint Eastward’s movie and Morgan Freeman’s Mandela moment can teach the USA. Ten reasons to see the Oscar-nominated film (with Freeman nominated for Best Actor and Matt Damon for Best Supporting Actor).

By Wanda Hennig

Invictus is the story of the 1995 Rugby World Cup, hosted and won by South Africa. The movie is a tribute to Nelson Mandela’s vision and leadership — and a lot more. Go see it and be inspired. Perhaps it will give you new thoughts and insights on Washington politics and the US health care debate. The Top 10 list starts with rugby

Every year is Year of the Tiger at South Africa’s Tiger Canyons

editor — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 19:23:57 +0000

Acclaimed wildlife author and photographer Daryl Balfour was in the tiger’s den at South Africa’s famed JV Tiger Canyons five hours after tiger Julie gave birth to her five cubs, including a white cub.

Story by Daryl Balfour Guest Contributor Photos by Daryl and Sharna Balfour

I spent two hours in a tiger’s den this week, watching her nurse five hours-old newborn cubs — including the first white cub born in the wild in more than 50 years.

Tembe has Africa’s biggest tusker and web-spinning spider plus tiny suni

editor — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 03:03:11 +0000

Isilo could be the world's largest elephant; the suni is one of Africa’s smallest antelope; and scientists thought until recently that nephila komaci — the female spider has a leg-span of five inches — was extinct.

By guest Africa correspondent Graham Linscott Photos by Wayne Matthews

TEMBE Elephant Park, a wilderness in the remote north-east of the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal, offers visitors the opportunity to step back 200 years into unspoiled pre-colonial Africa.

It also offers the opportunity to spot southern Africa’s largest tusker, a giant bull elephant named Isilo who is about 65 years old ...

Oakland and South Africa connect. So what does Cheetah Outreach have to do with it?

editor — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 06:58:02 +0000

Vicki Gutgesell loves animals and she loves to travel. She goes to see wildlife, birdlife and marine life au natural wherever she can. On a recent trip she went to cuddle cheetah cubs. Sweet, yes. But it was also about species survival. Story Wanda Hennig Photos Vicki Gutgesell Vicki Gutgesell was doing a volunteer shift at the Oakland Zoo in California when a notice pinned to the info board caught her attention. On it she read that someone near Cape Town, South Africa, was looking for volunteers to help hand-raise cheetah cubs. ...