#Travel

Several months ago I spotted a post in the @WhatsOnInJoburg Instagram feed. “Africa’s tallest Shiva Shakti Statue is in Benoni”, the post read, with a photo of the biggest, boldest, most colorful Hindu deity I’ve ever seen. I made a mental note to visit the Sivan Alayam Temple, a.k.a. the Shiva Temple, as soon as possible.

Last week I participated in a “motoring” media morning with Ford South Africa. The core purpose of the event was to get a bunch of woman journalists/bloggers/influencers together for a drive through the countryside in a convoy of bad-ass Ford Ranger bakkies (pick-up trucks). But we also went up in a hot-air balloon with Semakaleng (Sema) Mathebula, South Africa’s first Black woman balloon pilot, at Bill Harrop’s in Magaliesburg.

You all know I’ve become obsessed with second-hand shopping – especially thrifted clothes curated by my friend Ryan of @threedogsthrift. And while I buy most of my clothes directly from Ryan, I’ve also become interested in sustainable shopping more generally. Joburg is a major hub for buying and selling second-hand clothes and I’m really keen to learn more about it.

I hadn’t planned to blog about the cosmos flowers in Delta Park this year. I’ve already done so multiple times: Once during my #Gauteng52 series and once (very memorably) right before South Africa’s covid-19 lockdown began two years ago. But I went to see the cosmos twice this week and they are so freaking spectacular this year…Or maybe they’re equally spectacular every year and I just forget. Either way, this annual autumn explosion is too good not to blog about again.

Not too long ago, I told you about my new obsession with plants. This plant obsession is of course accompanied by a pot obsession, and I am fortunate to live five minutes away from the best pottery place in Joburg: Liebermann Pottery.

I visited Cape Town for the first time more than 11 years ago, with my mother. During that trip, Mom and I attempted to climb Table Mountain in a hilariously foolish way – I’ll let you read about it yourself in the blog post I wrote back then, called How Not to Climb Table Mountain. We ultimately turned back and took the cable car to the top instead.