’Travelling is the antidote to bigotry’
What have been some of your highlights in these annual Heritage Tours?
Every year there are things we didn’t see coming. Last year we went to northeastern Limpopo to a town called Giyani, which we had no intention of visiting. We were staying at a hotel in Tzaneen and one of the guys working there said the next day was his day off and he’d love to take us to his village. We went and broke bread with him and his family and met some of the locals. It wasn’t about anything other than experiencing a culture that was radically different to our own and getting to meet people who were carrying on about their lives in a way that they always had — but that was the magic. This is our country but these are people we’ve not yet met. Learning from them enriches and inspires us.
That story is a good story that I think describes what I’m seeking out with these tours. I’m always seeking out the things that I haven’t yet done because every time I do, I legitimately feel like they nourish me. It also broadens your sense of what it means to be a South African. I genuinely think that travelling is the antidote to bigotry.
The more you see what’s out there and the more you engage with people and come to understand the different challenges that they have, the more you come to appreciate and understand and love.
Is there one thing you always like to do or try when travelling?
For me, the best way to get to understand the culture is to taste the food that they’re making. You can have a food staple like pap, for example, that feeds so many South Africans every day but if you’re in the Eastern Cape versus if you’re in KZN or even Limpopo, or Mpumalanga, there’s a different way in which it’s made and prepared and that uniqueness is something about the history and the people. So that’s always the first thing I try.
What has been your weirdest travel experience?
I think there is a weirdness to most of SA. You can go to a place like Nieu Bethesda and you can experience outside art there and learn about the stories of Helen Martins who, as a result of her experiences and her interpretation of the world, created this art that ended up becoming world-renowned and world-class and it was born out of this really small town in the middle of nowhere. That kind of unique strangeness to different things really inspires me.
What’s your home town? If you were hosting a tourist there, which three places would you show them?
I was born and raised in Cape Town. I always try to encourage people to do the stuff outside of the realm of what’s interesting from a tourist perspective. Kirstenbosch is beautiful, Table Mountain is one of the most stunning views anywhere in the world, Camps Bay beaches are pristine. But, for me, what’s more worthwhile is going to the Golden Dish in Athlone for a Gatsby. If you go to Stellenbosh, go to Bohemia and have a beer at the bar. Go to Mzoli’s when you’re in Gugulethu. Go off the beaten track. Through doing that and scratching beneath the surface you meet real people and have real experiences.
What’s your favourite international spot?
A few years ago, I got to go to Croatia and sail down the Dalmatian Coast. What was just incredible was the really beautiful, rich history of the area. I mean, the Venetians were there, Marco Polo had a house there, it was one of the last stands of the Roman Empire. It’s worldclass beauty. They have this thing called Yacht Week, when people go to drink on boats and sail to the islands. That for me was one of the most culturally — and overall — exciting places that I’ve gone to.
What’s your message to South Africans?
Try to do something you haven’t done before in your own country. One of the most beautiful things about having this much diversity is that there is an endless amount of things [to do]. We’ve been travelling for five years and I think we’ve got at least five more of these in us. I’ve travelled this country more than the average person and I’ve come nowhere near to discovering it all.