Makweti Crunchies – a Decadent Daybreak
If there’s one thing that we do particularly well in South Africa, it’s creating “padkos” which, literally translated from Afrikaans, means “way food”, or “food for the road”. A local favourite snack and traditionally South African, the oat crunchie is a way of life and travel in South Africa – easy to pack into a
Read MoreSpiced Pear, Amarula Ganache and Chocolate Roulade
The Marula tree has graced the earth since around 10,000BC, forming part of many age-old legends, a sacred and intricate thread of African culture and heritage. The local people have revered the Marula tree for hundreds of years, calling it ‘The Elephant Tree’ because its succulent fruit attracts elephants (and many other animals) from miles
Read MoreJust Ask Us! Do wild animals get tick bite fever like humans and domestic animals do?
Thank you for the question. It’s a very relevant question for a number of reasons and one not easily answered in a short response. There is so much we don’t know about tick borne diseases (TBD’s), and yet there is a ton of information on this as well. The short answer is “yes”, in some
Read MoreA Sweet and Nutty Caffeine Fix – Coffee Pecan Nut Pie
Although pecan nuts are not naturally endemic to South Africa – they are an American nut tree – an unlikely but fortuitous chain of historical events brought them to South African soils many years ago. In the late 1800s, politician and mining magnate Cecil John Rhodes dreamed of a continent connected by railway, from Cape
Read MoreSaving the Precious Pangolin
To honour World Pangolin Day, Makweti guide, Neil Davison, asked world authority and research ecologist, Jonathan Swart, to tell us a little more about the elusive pangolin, the world’s most trafficked animal. Their discussion sheds light on what the current pangolin population faces, and what the Welgevonden Game Reserve is doing to ensure that these
Read MoreMy Home, Your Home
We were drifting. The process of going with the flow, with little effort but much to gain. Entranced by the peace and quiet, we were focused but none the less drifting. Up in the open grasslands close to where Welgevonden Game Reserve and Marakele National Park meet, an area dotted with numerous segwapi or white
Read MoreA Summer Breakfast – Makweti Vetkoek
Nothing beats getting up to a day of adventure and African safaris, especially when it begins with mouthwatering pastries and steaming, strong coffee. One such pastry that remains a firm favourite at Makweti, and South Africa as a whole, is the traditional vetkoek (pronounced “Fet-cook”). Speculated to be a derivative of the early Dutch settlers’
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