Travel Writing

The Zambezi Queen and Royal Chundu are two stunning water-based escapes

Words and photographs Tess Paterson

"You know ladies," says the gently spoken man from KwaZulu-Natal who's here to celebrate his birthday, "you sound like a flock of rowdy inhlekabafazis." Of course we take this as a compliment because we do sound like...

On a mohair farm near Burgersdorp, vetkoek, biltong and breath-taking scenery steal the show

Words and photographs Tess Paterson It’s seven in the morning and we’re huddled over the gas stove at Vetkraal. Annalet Roberts dishes up vast plates of krummelpap, adds homemade wors, fresh vetkoek and grated Stormberg cheese. The coffee is like treacle, brewed in a thermos and poure...

For a first time venture to the USA, New York City and DC are about as cool as it gets

Words and photographs Tess Paterson Diving headlong into NYC is quite simply a monumental assault on the senses. Everyone talks about the hype, the energy, the impatience, the skyscrapers. It’s all those things, trumped up (as it were) on a serious dose of steroids. My initial mission was t...

Dotted with medieval towns, the French countryside east of Bordeaux offers more than just superb wine

Words and photographs Tess Paterson We’ve settled in at our self-catering gite near the town of Margueron in south west France. It's a restored barn with a cherry orchard for a garden and the sort of bucolic farmy surrounds that would have Cézanne in a tizz. This is my kind o...