“Quirky, unusual, fresh, and like nothing we’ve seen before…” – i-escape.com
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New Romantic Getaway on La Cotte Farm, in Franschhoek
In mid November we are launching a tiny cottage, sleeping two, with a special view. Lots of availability for season so get booking!!! Some more info on the link below.. Rates from R2,350.00 per night. CLICK HERE to make a booking
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Local break at the hottest new hotel in Franschhoek
Having seen close to fifteen years of innovation in our valley it is surprising we see the bar still being lifted each year. A few years ago, during the World Cup hosted in South Africa, a new visitor fell in love with Franschhoek. Since then he has been busy, quietly amassing a hospitality portfolio that…
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'Going South with Scott': Rob Caskie talks at The Library, in Franschhoek, on 12 August
For details on obtaining tickets please click on the link below: Rob Caskie talk Aug 12, 2014
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Library Lecture – Patricia Glyn on two months in the Kalahari with a family of Khomani Bushmen
Patricia Glyn returns to Franschhoek to give a more in-depth insight into the plight of a family of Khomani Bushmen when they returned, for two months, to their ancestral hunting grounds of the southern Kalahari, in the Kgalagadi National Park, from which they had been evicted. It was a moving and memorable expedition during which…
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Scorpions, Spiders and Lighting Fires with the Bushmen of Tsumkwe
A boy scout trip with a couple of bushmen at Meno a kwena is always going to throw up some surprises. Fire was always on the cards but it was the hunt for the small things that was particularly interesting. Matchbox size entrances, on the harder parts of the ground, were indicating the presence of…
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A memorable night on the Makgadikgadi Pans
Should a bit of bush fatigue set in the perfect antidote is a night under the stars on the Makgadikgadi pans. The contrast to the bush is thoroughly refreshing, particularly if you have been tossed about in the sandy mires of the Kalahari and taken in the somewhat cluttered areas of Chobe where the elephants have…
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The Library Lecture: Isandlwana, 22 January 1879 – British Defeat or Zulu Victory? A date for the diary: Wednesday 28th November
Andrew Rattray will talk to us about that fateful day, the 22nd of January 1879, when the British Army invaded Zululand and found themselves up against the might of the Zulu Army, which prompted Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli, later that year, upon the death of the Prince Imperial of France to say ‘A very remarkable people…
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Rupert FitzMaurice and Justin Matterson descend the length of the Zambezi, dodging hippos and fending off crocs
By chance, some friends staying in The Explorers Club and I got chatting of adventures over some Chamonix Sauvignon Blanc Reserve at New Year. Kiki told me of two intrepid explorers she knew who descended the Zambezi River – source to sea – and I mentioned I had been to a lecture at the Royal…
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Ripley attacks Tibet and Mount Everest
Ripley returns with his next installment from peaks on the top of the world. This time circling, like a three-legged mountain goat in the Himalayas, around Chomolungma, Goddess Mother of the Earth. We were standing there scratching our heads again. The road was so bad that we were starting to wonder if we were even…
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Ripley attempts the Matterhorn….
Esteemed Hugo Ripley, a regular doyen of Explorers Club Franschhoek, has climbed out of journalistic retirement to contribute some words of wisdom to the ECB… of a past expedition, when he was a few kilos lighter. The great heyday of Alpine mountaineering in the 1850s completely passed the Matterhorn by. It was considered unclimeable. If…
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Huzzaaahh!! It's the Franschhoek Champers Festival!!!
Franschhoek’s ‘Magic of Bubbles’ Cap Classique and Champagne Festival, kicks off this weekend. The largest of its kind in the country allowing visitors the opportunity to sample both Champagne and Cap Classique wines. The centrepiece of the festival is a grand marquee on the sprawling lawns surrounding Franschhoek’s famous Huguenot Monument, where bubbly stalls will be…
