For most people, Easter arrives as a welcome pause – a long weekend, a road trip, time with family. But behind the scenes, it is something far more powerful. Easter is one of the few moments in the year where travel, retail, hospitality and leisure all surge at the same time. It is a holiday – but it is also a synchronised economic event.
Rising along South Africa’s northeastern escarpment between Polokwane and Tzaneen, lies Magoebaskloof. This sweep of mist belt forest, rolling grassland, and deep-cut valleys is one of South Africa’s most atmospheric birding destinations.
On 13th December 2025, the Finale community officially launched its Eco-Tourism Office and newly established hiking trails along the Olifants River, locally known as the Lepelle. For a community positioned between private reserves and along one of the region’s most significant river corridors, this moment marked the opening of a building, and importantly the beginning of a new chapter.
The good news is that poachers slaughtered far fewer rhinos in the Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park in KwaZulu-Natal last year. The bad news is that they killed many more in Kruger National Park instead.
The third iteration in the Hoedspruit area of the Social Employment Fund (SEF 3), part of South Africa’s Presidential Employment Stimulus, is under way in the Kruger to Canyons Biosphere Region. Running from November 2025 to July 2026, the project builds directly on lessons learned during SEF 1 and SEF 2, with a strong focus on mathematical proficiency through the numiknow® approach.
Across many rural parts of South Africa, an often overlooked but growing environmental and public health crisis is brewing, requiring urgent attention. It is a crisis shaped by everyday necessities, limited services and difficult choices, and it centres on the disposal of disposable nappies and sanitary products, known collectively as Absorbent Hygiene Products, or AHPs.
Love is not proven through grand gestures alone – it’s revealed in consistency, curiosity, and care. Ride wisely, dear readers. March never forgets what February exposed.
This month has Valentines Day – but it has always fascinated me as to where did it originate and why?
Valentine’s Day is now synonymous with roses, chocolates and candlelit dinners. But it has roots far less polished – and far more intriguing.
Hoedspruit has always lived in a delicate balance with water. The rivers that sustain our farms, wildlife and livelihoods can, in a heartbeat, become forces of destruction. Over the past two weeks, that balance tipped violently.
There are books about Africa… and then there are books that take you there. Eden – Soul of Africa, the new work by photographer and storyteller Armand Grobler, falls squarely into the second category.
