Eastern Eden

On the outskirts of White River in Mpumalanga, this sub-tropical garden is an oasis of tranquility

Words Tess Paterson Photographs Christoph Hoffmann

When you’ve worked in the heart of the Kalahari and along the arid Namibian coast, moving back to civilization can be something of a challenge. In 1992, renowned wildlife filmmakers Richard and Karen Goss were looking for a small town with good schools where they could raise their two young children. ‘We’d grown so accustomed to our time in the wilderness that space, views and privacy were paramount,’ they explain. ‘Fortuitously, White River seemed to have everything we were after.’