Category Archives: Braai Adventures

Last week myself and ‘Jan Braai vir Erfenis’ (our highly rated TV show on kykNET DSTV channel 111) director Stephanus Rabie embarked on a tour of epic proportions around South Africa. A week plus two weekends gives you nine days and there are also nice provinces in South Africa. So we toured around the country and in the space of nice days we braaied in all nice provinces. It was called the ‘National Braai Day warmup tour’, because National Braai Day is this coming Monday 24 September. A day for all South Africans to celebrate our country’s rich and diverse heritage by getting together at the one meeting point that we all love, around a fire, to have a braai!

On day one in Pretoria, Gauteng we braaied with South African rockstars Fokofpolisiekar and Jack Parow covering the arts part of our heritage.

Day two: We braaied at and for the Rusoord old age home in Brits, North West. Yes, the elderly like to braai.

Day three: In Bela Bela, Limpopo we braaied venison. Game farms are an iconic part of South African heritage. These are Kudu Sosaties.

Day four was spent in Witbank, Mpumalanga braaing boerewors rolls with kindergarten kids. The youth obviously like to braai and I also gave them some tips, which I think of as the ‘braai development program’.

On day five I had the opportunity to braai with the Griekwas rugby team in the GWK stadium in Kimberley, Northern Cape. Sport is an important part of our heritage, and sports people also love to braai.

Day six was spent just outside Parys in the Freestate. We braaied on the banks of the Vaal River, in the Vredefort Dome which is one of eight World Heritage Sites in South Africa.

Day seven was spent braaing curry, peri peri and chilli spiced meats in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal at the Suncoast Hotel. The eastern spice influence is part of our culinary heritage and what better way to celebrate this than with a braai in Durban!

On the eighth day we had a gourmet braai with Trevor, the chef at Crossways Country Kitchen outside Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape. South Africa has many world-class chefs, and they all like to braai.

On day nice the tour was rounded off with a township braai in Gugulethu, Cape Town.

Nine days, nine provinces, nine braais. Young and old, inland and coastal, township and suburb, sport star and rock star, everybody in South Africa loves to braai; enjoy your braai on Monday 24 September 2012, wherever you are!

Lamb loin chops, the breakfast of champions.

For most of South Africa (and the rest of the world, who’re picking up on the significance of the new St. Patrick’s Day), planning National Braai Day doesn’t require too much contemplation. Get a group of mates together round a braai, light the fire, and celebrate being part of the greatest country on earth. But for Jan Braai, it’s an altogether more challenging prospect: on the eve of National Braai Day, Jan had nearly 600 invitations to braais across South Africa, all of them most welcoming.

But with publicity for the big day at a premium, and with a reputation for doing things a little differently, Jan decided to go for something rather special this year: with National Braai Day ambassador Dan Nicholl along for the ride, Jan decided to braai in three cities in one day. It made for a mad dash around South Africa, but did offer the prospect of plenty of fun – and an early call for the opening braai of the day. Which is why Jan and Dan were eating lamb chops at 8 o’clock on Saturday morning…

Raise your glasses, it's National Braai Day.

Jacques Heath, General Manager at Montecasino’s Sunsquare Hotel, hosted a champagne breakfast braai to get the day started. It was the meat, though, rather than the champagne (good as it was) that took centre stage: herb marinated lamb chops and large chunks of fillet steak on the grill, with a chicken done in a seperate coal coal oven that’s Jacque’s pride and joy. Unconventional breakfast? Yes. Enjoyable breakfast? Without question.

Isuzu is the official vehicle sponsor of National Braai Day and gave us this awesome bakkie to use in Johannesburg.

With the All Blacks-France World Cup game about to get underway on the big screen at Montecasino’s Bok Town, and plenty of meat (and champagne) going, it would have been very easy to settle in for the day; instead, it was into the waiting Isuzu bakkie, and off to Lanseria for the flight down to Durban, and braai number two.

Laudo Liebenberg, Andrew Davenport, Jaco Venter, Jan Braai, Albert Frost

It was a flight that was almost missed: headed into the airport, Jan bumped into the guys from Aking, the rock stars having just landed to play a National Braai Day gig in Johannesburg. A quick photo shoot, and a promise from Laudo that the band would braai on stage that afternoon, and it was into Lanseria and onto the Kulula flight to Durban – a flight tinged with disappointment.

There was no braaivleis on the Kulula flight, Dan was not happy.

Despite plenty of pleas on Twitter, Kulula’s flight didn’t have a braai up and running on board; nor did it have wors rolls or sosaties on the menu for the day. Cue a grumpy Dan, and the brilliant suggestion from South African Alan Myburgh, living in Ireland, that the ‘plane be ‘braai-jacked’ as a result; Kulula did reply on Twitter on Monday morning that they’d think about it for 2012, so look out for a braai at 30 000 feet on Braai Day next year.

Steaks, medium rare.

Various steaks were seared to medium rare for lunch at Bar-Ba-Coa.

There wasn’t too much of a wait for more meat, though, as 20 minutes after landing, Jan and Dan were at Bar-Ba-Cao, a new Argentinean restaurant in Umhlanga with an indoor braai that had Jan immediately asking for the blueprint. Steaks went straight onto the fire, and as the pictures above illustrate, they weren’t bad at all…

Two Sharks rugby players flanking a global icon.

It is National Braai Day, so the brandy was Klipdrift Gold.

There was help demolishing the steak (and chops, sosaties and boerewors that Bar-Ba-Cao also produced): former Springbok scrumhalf Craig Davidson and his model wife Melissa, Sharks captain Keegan Daniel and team-mate Ross Skeate, as well as Durban Twitter king Amith Gosai, joined the team for some superb meat, the house label malbec (a steal at R120 a bottle), and Klipdrift Gold to finish off a quick but successful stop off in Durban, hosted by Bar-Ba-Cao owner Mike Myers, who looked a lot different in Austin Powers.

Whilst getting cash to pay for the taxi in Durban, ABSA bank made Jan Braai's day with this message.

Another great braai down, and it was back to the airport – and for Jan, a quick stop at an Absa ATM to pay our driver. Cue a squeal of delight from Mnr Braai: the screenshot above illustrating Absa’s welcome support for National Braai Day across South Africa.

Jan Braai boarding the SAA flight to Cape Town. They did not serve braaivleis either.

Then it was onto another flight, this time to Cape Town; did SAA not braai on board either, and Jan and Dan also bumped into a couple of very grumpy English tourists who clearly hadn’t been invited to a braai. 2012 will see the National Braai Day extend to disadvantaged communities like England to teach them to braai; if any further endorsement for the joy and celebration of National Braai Day was needed, then stop number three at Mzoli’s delivered a resounding illustration of all that’s great about South Africa, and celebrating Braai Day.

This photo does not really tell the true story of the chaos that reigned at Mzolis this past Saturday.

Mzoli’s is the home of Chisa Nyama in Cape Town, a Cape Town institution that’s braai, shebeen, cafe, dancefloor and community centre all rolled into one, with Gugulethu’s unofficial mayor, Mzoli, watching over his extraordinary operation. And what a place it was to visit on National Braai Day: crammed with people swaying to music, sharing drinks, and revelling in meat spiced with Mzoli’s famous sauce, this was the definite highlight of the day, South Africa’s myriad cultures coming together around a communal fire in shared celebration of the joy of being South African.

At Bloubergstrand for the 4th and final braai of the day.

National Braai Day.

There was still time for one final braai, and Jan and Dan saw out Saturday beneath an iconic landmark: Table Mountain, the backdrop for the last braai of a long but wonderful day. With Liezel van der Westhuizen amongst the familiar faces dropping by, and a pile of Cape Town locals joining the party, the sun set on Blouberg over yet more revelry – as it did across a country that, judging by the three cities Jan and Dan visited, continues to embrace National Braai Day with the energy and enthusiasm South Africans are famous for the world over. The only question left to answer? What will Jan and Dan do to go one better in 2012…

Episode ten of ‘Jan Braai vir Erfenis’ aired on kykNET this past week. Catch it every Friday at 17:30 with reruns on Saturdays at 13:00, Sundays at 07:00 and Tuesdays at 16:30. We realize that you might want to do some of the things that we did on the show yourself. As such we will post all the relevant info for each episode weekly, right here on www.braai.com.

Segment 1: East London and JeffreysBay

The Steve Biko heritage trail is best done with an expert guide. Talk to Velile at iMonti Tours and make sure you stop at ‘Man Buy and Braai’ in either East London or King Williams town to experience a real Chisa Nyama. You don’t need to do any shopping before going to Man Buy and Braai – it’s part butcher, part shebeen and part Braai restaurant. You can bed down at The Terrace (043-735-4348) for the evening. For the whole sad Steve Biko story, read this entry Helen Zille’s Facebook page.

Jeffreys Bay is undoubatly the surf capital of South Africa and as such we recommend visiting in July when the Billabong Pro is in full swing. For general info: www.jeffreysbaytourism.org.

Segment 2: Baviaanskloof

Baviaanskloof is paradise. We entered the valley from the Jeffreysbay side and it took us 8 hours of driving to get to the Grahamstown side. Our accommodation that evening was in a self-catering cave which is a part of the famous Makedaat Caves (044 923 1921, info@makkedaat.co.za). Take some cash and buy freshly baked farm bread, jam and ice (for your Klipdrift) from the farmhouse where you collect the keys.

• Freddy Hirsch  was responsible for liaising with all the local butcheries that provided us with meat.
• Klipdrift.co.za is the official drink of any real man at a braai and made sure that we could always make ourselves at home, and keep our throats wet.
• All of the clothes worn by me (Jan Braai) on the show can be purchased at Cape Union Mart, and is good quality for money for any traveller, or braaier.

Jan Braai sliding down the rock outside Qunu where Nelson Mandela used to play and slide down as a child.

Episode nine of “Jan Braai vir Erfenis” aired on kykNET this past week. Catch it every Friday at 17:30 with reruns on Saturdays at 13:00, Sundays at 07:00 and Tuesdays at 16:30. We realize that you might want to do some of the things that we did on the show yourself. As such we will post all the relevant info for each episode weekly, right here on www.braai.com.

Segment 1: Durban

Braaing with the Sharks team is surprisingly easy, just attend a game at the Shark Tank and make sure you braai close to the main gate. The Sharks players have a tradition of braaing outside the stadium after the game, just follow the trail of teenagers to find them. Otherwise, just braai with the other thousand plus people around the stadium.

You can get your meat from Prime Cut Meats in Pinetown <www.pcmeats.co.za>. It was some of the best meat we had on the 40 day tour. We stayed at Boma Lodge that evening, which is close to the Shark Tank.

Segment 2: Sani Pass

Contact Murray at Sani Pass Tours if you want to explore the area with guides. You will need a good 4×4 to scale this mountain, our Isuzu bakkies were definitely up to the task. We stayed at the top at Sani Pass chalets (www.sanitopchalet.co.za), a great spot with the highest pub in Africa to boast. They serve dinner and breakfast, so if you braai all your meat early on, don’t stress.

We got great quality meat from Taylor Meats PnP. They are based in Pietermaritzburg, so stop off here if you are on your way to the Berg from Durban. Warick Taylor (083 445 1018) can sort you out with your meat order.

Segment 3: Drakensberge

Sue Mackenzie (0826864468) is queen of the Drakenberge. Ask her to show you the rock paintings in Underberg and, if you are lucky, you might crack the nod and be invited for a braai at their beautiful farm in the berg. We slept over in Kokstad after our Drakensberg excursion – we recommend The Old Orchard which is a welcome rest after scaling the berg, and definately the most luxurious accommodation in Kokstad. And they have a fantastic breakfast spread.

Segment 4: Qunu

The Nelson Mandela museum ( www.nelsonmandelamuseum.org.za/) is a worthwhile stop if you are cruising through the Transkei. Zim is the local guide here (084 396 8306) and he showed us around. We had our braai at Green park lodge that evening(047 531 4746, booking@greenparklodge.co.za). Our braaivleis came from the Barons Select Myezo Spar (043 740 1877) in Umtata.

• Freddy Hirsch was responsible for liaising with all the local butcheries that provided us with meat.
• Klipdrift is the official drink of any real man at a braai and made sure that we could always make ourselves at home, and keep our throats wet.
• All of the clothes worn by me (Jan Braai) on the show can be purchased at Cape Union Mart, and is good quality for money for any traveller, or braaier.

Braaing Crayfish at Shaka's Rock.

Episode eight of “Jan Braai vir Erfenis” recently aired on kykNET. Catch it every Friday at 17:30 with reruns on Saturdays at 13:00, Sundays at 07:00 and Tuesdays at 16:30. We realize that you might want to do some of the things that we did on the show yourself. As such we will post all the relevant info for each episode weekly, right here on www.braai.com.

Segment 1: Isimangaliso Wetlands Park

Isimangaliso is littered with epic braai spots. As this is a protected wetlands park you will need to apply some common sense (braai in designated areas). We bought our prawns from one of the many shops to be found on the main road in St. Lucia. Although we got our fresh fish courtesy of the mighty Zoog you can find fresh fish in one of the many fisheries shops along the main road. St.Lucia Tours & Charters (035 590 1259) can sort you out with a boat trip. If you want to see a lot of hippos and lots of nice birds, call them.

Segment 2: Shaka’s Rock

Thank you to the Melanie Clarkson from The Elan foundation who organized our visit to the Shaka memorial centre (032 552 7210) and Albert Luthuli house. Her husband caught the crayfish that we braaied at the tidal pool opposite Shaka’s rock, a big thank you to both of them.

For more information on the East Coast Rock Lobsters, including information on permits, go to http://www.wildcoast.co.za/crayfish. We braaid them in the shell on the open flame and had our meal with a garlic butter and a peri-peri sauce.

Segment 3: Durban

Spider Murphy is the man to go and see when looking to buy a surfboard in Durban, his shop is located at 6 Milne Street and is called Safari Surf.

The Victoria street market is a must when in Durban, even if just to see the sheer variety of curries and look at their names names (i.e. ‘Mother in-law exterminator’). Joe’s sorted us out at the market and can mix a nice curry for your potjie here. You can find the market at the corner of Queen and Victoria in Durban CBD.

• Freddy Hirsch <http://www.freddyhirsch.co.za/> was responsible for liaising with all the local butcheries that provided us with meat.
• Klipdrift <http://www.klipdrift.co.za/> is the official drink of any real man at a braai and made sure that we could always make ourselves at home, and keep our throats wet.
• All of the clothes worn by me (Jan Braai) on the show can be purchased at Cape Union Mart, and is good quality for money for any traveller, or braaier.

A local bugger called Wayno started the fire in spectacular fashion.

Episode seven of “Jan Braai vir Erfenis” aired on kykNET this past Friday. Catch it every Friday at 17:30 with reruns on Saturdays at 13:00, Sundays at 07:00 and Tuesdays at 16:30. We realize that you might want to do some of the things that we did on the show yourself. As such we will post all the relevant info for each episode weekly, right here on www.braai.com.

Segment 1 : Johannesburg & Vereeniging

Our first stop was the Market on Main in Newtown for some braai supplies. There wasn’t a lot of meat but we got some nice fresh vegetables. After the market we drove to the Klip River Country Estate www.klipriverguesthouse.co.za in Vereeiniging for our braaibroodtjie braai, the only true vegetarian braai we had on the whole tour.

We made traditional braaibroodtjies (bread, butter, chutney, cheese, tomato, onion) as well as a new recipe that I wanted to try out (bread, butter, mozzarella cheese, green pepper, red pepper, onions, olives). The new style ones tasted very much like pizza, as you might imagine when you read the list of ingredients. They even had the wood-fire taste, obviously.

Segment 2: Clarens, Golden Gate and Harrismith

The road from Vereeniging to Clarens was dotted with the beautiful sunflowers you saw on the show. From there we drove through the Golden Gate National Park (www.sanparks.org) to our final destination of the day, Harrismith. Here we were hosted by, and braaied with, one of the finest gentleman that I’ve met in my life. Thank you again Jan Harm.

Segment 3: Spioenkop

Our braai on top of Spioenkop was organized by the local Round Table chapter (thanks Simon). Talk to KZN Wildlife to organize entry into the Spioenkop park. The park itself is amazing, we recommend you spend some time here and take a tour. Talk to http://www.campaigntrails.co.za/to organise tours. The petrol bomb in the segment was courtesy of a man called Wayno. If you are ever at a braai and a bugger by that name rocks up. Stand well clear.

The meat for the evening was sponsored by Greg de Franca from De Franca SPAR (036 631 09670) in Ladysmith. The steak we braaied that evening was some of the best we had on the whole tour, so if you are eveer in Ladysmith (the one in Natal), go to the Spar, speak to Greg, and tell him Jan sent you to come and get some espetadas. For accommodation I can highly recommend the Tugela River Lodge which sits on, you guessed it, the Tugela River. The setting is magnificent. Take your own towels though; I had to dry myself with an old t-shirt after taking a shower.

Segment 4: Nongoma

Local businessman Mlungisi Percy Nzuza (082 852 3061), who owns Nongoma Lodge (where we slept) is a driving force behind local tourism in the town and arranged our braai the evening. This is where I met the King’s brother, prince Mbonisi Zulu and members of the local Rotary Club. We had various important conversations about Zulu braai traditions and preferences. During the visit to Nongoma I felt that it was important to present the king with a gift as a sign of respect, and the next morning I was honoured when Prince Mbonisi received my gift of a cow on behalf of the King.

• The awesome Isuzu bakkies we drove in was supplied by Barloworld Bruma.
• Freddy Hirsch was responsible for liaising with all the local butcheries that provided us with meat.
• Klipdrift  is the official drink of any real man at a braai and made sure that we could always make ourselves at home, and keep our throats wet.
• All of the clothes worn by me (Jan Braai) on the show can be purchased at Cape Union Mart, and is good quality for money for any traveller, or braaier.

Braaing right on the spot where Joel Stransky dropped from in 1995.

Episode six of “Jan Braai vir Erfenis” aired on kykNET this past Friday. Catch it every Friday at 17:30 with reruns on Saturdays at 13:00, Sundays at 07:00 and Mondays at 03:00. We realise that you might want to do some of the things that we did on the show yourself. As such we will post all the relevant info for each episode weekly, right here on www.braai.com.

Segment 1: Kruger National Park

We stayed and braaied in Pretoruiskop for this leg of the tour. Talk to the friendly people at Sanparks (www.sanparks.org) and make sure to book in advance as this is a very popular camp and a great braai site. The only problem with Pretoriuskop is that most of the wildlife has disappeared from the surrounding bush. We promise we did not braai it. But Jock of the Bushveld was born here which might explain it. You can pick up your meat from Nelspruit at the Vleismeester butchery (013 757-1381). They have lots of nice meat. Take what the butcher recommends.

Segment 2: Cradle of Humankind

The Cradle of Humankind is less than an hour from Johannesburg. If you have never been I recommend you put this on your list of things to do soon. How can you look your children in the eye and claim you have never been to the oldest recorded use of a controlled fire i.e. the first braai ever? This is at Swartkrans, which is part of the Cradle of Humankind.

The management and staff at the Maropeng Hotel and Maropeng Visitor Centre http://www.maropeng.co.za/ will be able to book everything for you. We got five-star treatment from them. They are knowledgeable, professional and take the management of this World Heritage Site very seriously. You can get your meat from Zimans Butchery in Randfontein (083 272 2244). We had their lamb lollipops which is deboned lamb rib and loin chops, rolled, sliced and on a skewer. It’s as good as it sounds.

Segment 3: Ellis Park

If you manage to organise a braai on the field at Ellis Park, we would be seriously impressed. After three months of dedicated work – phone calls, meetings, calling in favors – we only managed to secure an hour on field for that braai. At eight in the morning. To go on a visit of Ellis Park whilst the Lions rugby team is playing will be much easier. Just book a ticket at www.lionsrugby.co.za. There is a culture of braaing outside the stadium before the games, so go early and do that. One of our problems that morning was to find the exact spot where Joel kicked from. So award winning and internationally acclaimed sports journalist Kevin McCallum helped me out with a screen shot from this video:

·      The awesome Isuzu bakkies we drove in was supplied by Barloworld Bruma
·      Freddy Hirsch was responsible for liaising with all the local butcheries that provided us with meat.
·      Klipdrift.co.za is the official drink of any real man at a braai and made sure that we could always make ourselves at home, and keep our throats wet.
·      All of the clothes worn by me (Jan Braai) on the show can be purchased at Cape Union Mart, and is good quality for money for any traveller, or braaier.

Episode five of “Jan Braai vir Erfenis” aired on kykNET channel 111 this past Friday. Catch it every Friday at 17:30 with reruns on Saturdays at 13:00, Sundays at 08:00 and Mondays at 03:00. We realize that you might want to do some of the things that we did on the show yourself. As such we will post all the relevant info for each episode weekly, right here on www.braai.com

Shooting the game drive for the TV show. On the front right danger seat is cameraman Timmy Henny.

Segment 1: Soutpansberge

As you could see on the show Leshiba Wilderness (011 726 6347) has a pretty spectacular braai spot in the Soutpansberge. Ask to stay in the Venda village and make sure Joyce Makadho is your host. She actually grew up in this village so this is no tourist replica. Joyce can give you an eyewitness account of the history of the area. We recommend the Thabo Mbeki room, in which our former president stayed for over a week braaing and smoking his pipe while on holiday a few years ago. If Lukas Makadho is your chef ask for his Lamb Shank potjie and bobotie spring rolls.

Segment 2: Mapungubwe

Mapungubwe is part of the SANparks family. I cannot stress enough how impressed I was on this whole tour with the service and facilities of all the SANparks locations we visited. Mapungubwe is a fascinating place and if you can, get Cedric Mpho Sethlako as a guide. With advance booking you might be able to go up the off-limits Mapungubwe hill.

The oxtail I braaied was sponsored by Vleis Lapa in Polokwane (015 291 1301), which is on my list of top butcheries in South Africa. The oxtail was marinated, pre-cooked and ready for a quick 15 minute tan on the braai before reaching perfection. (This item was actually chosen as the winner at the 2010 Jacaranda FM braai competition by a panel of judges and myself). We had about nine other cuts of meat that evening and everybody was very happy when resting down in the main camp area of Mapungubwe. It’s one of the nicer rest camps in all of SANparks and there is even is type of rim-flow rock swimming pool. Remember that cell phones don’t work in Mapungubwe. We used a Zippisat satellite phone to make important calls, like the phone-call the one cameraman Timmy Henny made to his girlfriend whom he affectionately calls “Tats”.

Segment 3: Pilgrims Rest

Johnny Reinders of both The Vine and Johnny’s Pub (013 768 1080, http://www.pilgrimsrest.org.za/) hosted us for the day. Johnny senior was a butcher before he got into the pub/restaurant game and if you ask him I’m sure he will braai for you; and maybe even teach you a thing or two. Like how to wind-dry boerewors, or how to braai steak in a shovel. Johnny Jnr is an expert at pouring beer and shots. Sit down at the bar counter with him and the stories will flow.

We stayed at African Silk Farm and enough adjectives have not been invented to describe the hospitality we experienced there. Leave enough time in your schedule to take a tour of the silk farming operation, it’s pretty interesting but we unfortunately did not film it for the show.

• The awesome Isuzu bakkies we drove in was supplied by Barloworld Bruma.
• Freddy Hirsch was responsible for liaising with all the local butcheries that provided us with meat.
• Klipdrift.co.za is the official drink of any real man at a braai and made sure that we could always make ourselves at home, and keep our throats wet.
• All of the clothes worn by me (Jan Braai) on the show can be purchased at Cape Union Mart, and is good quality for money for any traveller, or braaier.

Episode four of “Jan Braai vir Erfenis” aired on kykNET this past Friday. Catch it every Friday at 17:30 with reruns on Saturdays at 13:00, Sundays at 08:00 and Mondays at 03:00. We realise that you might want to do some of the things that we did on the show yourself. As such we will post all the relevant info for each episode weekly, right here on www.braai.com.

Juan Smith in his butchery.

Segment 1: Bloemfontein

Bloemfontein is not the kind of place where people struggle to find reasons to start a braai and as a result there are lot’s of good quality butchers in the area. We recommend a visit to Dave’s Meat Market (davemeat@mweb.co.za, 051 522 8103). The sheer variety of cuts is something to behold. Also stop by Juan Smith’s butchery Meditas (051 522 992, 47 Mudd Square, Jim Fouche Lane) for some Biltong and boerewors.

Dries van Der Walt, the head of Grey Rugby, organized our braai at Grey College. Give him a call if you want to do anything that involves the first team, like buy them to play for your Super15 team. We recommend you braai with the locals on a Saturday morning during rugby season. Consult the Grey College Website for upcoming events. There are built-in braais, its’ a great place. Waverley Manor (051 436 2782) can sort you out with accommodation for the evening when in Bloemfontein. A very warm and friendly place, perfect if you are away from home for a few days.

Segment 2: Vredefort Dome

We recommend you get a guide when visiting Vredefort Dome as the World Heritage Site building has been abandoned recently leaving the area without a central information point. As you could see in the TV show, Jan Fourie is a great guide (0828917163, jan.fourie@parys.co.za) and can arrange a day trip for you. We braaied at an ancient iron-age kraal in the late afternoon, something Jan (the tour guide) can set up. What we don’t recommend is the Blue Bull steaks that we braaied that day. It was covered in marinade and thus the meat literally steamed on the open fire. It tasted rubbish, not the sort of thing a respectable braaier engages in. Don’t buy this product from any butcher in any part of the country.

Segment 3: Potchefstroom

Amore Truter (PukFM Station manager) organized our braai on campus and should be able to sort you out if you want to do something similar. It’s a great radio station with equally great people who work for it, special mention going to Bianca van Aardt who showed us around campus and interviewed Jan for the station. You will still hear a lot more of Bianca in future. The band at the braai is called Ekhouvanjouokay, visit their website for details on how to book them or to download their free EP.

Kameelhout Boerewors rolls were provided by Vision meat (www.visionmeat.co.za) for the braai on campus. They are based out in Klerksdorp, so if you need something closer just visit the main student cafeteria on campus (next to PukFM) where you can buy everything required for a braai, like meat and wood.

Akkerlaan Guesthouse (018 293 1213, www.akkerlaan.co.za) provided us with accommodation while in Potchefstroom and is highly recommended.

Segment 4: Soweto

We used the friendly people at Themba Tours (www.sowetotour.co.za, 011 463 3306) for our tour of Soweto, speak to Dirk and ask for Leonard and Ben as a guide team, they know the area well and can take you to all the braai spots.

We visited two braai places while in Soweto, Sakhumzi on Vilakazi Street and Muthwa bring-and-braai somewhere close-by. We recommend you tell Leonard that you want to visit both these places: Vilakazi street is a must in Soweto to view Mandela and Tutu’s houses and while you are here you might as well enjoy a braai next door to the Tutu house. Sakhumzi is catered towards tourists, not always a bad thing, whereas Muthwa is a 100% authentic township Chisa Nyama braai place. It is probably best to go to the latter with a local guide, although it must be said that we were greeted with nothing but kindness.

Segment 5: Blue Bulls

A pre-game braai at Loftus is a time-honoured tradition and in order to do so you must simply arrive about 2 – 3 hours before kick-off to set-up on the grass area next to the stadium – across from the old Sin Bin building. Most of the people there prefer to braai with gas, but there were also some wood and charcoal fires. Unfortunately I can’t give you Kurt Darren’s details, but we do recommend that you listen to ‘Kaptein’ when braaing at Loftus. For your meat requirements look no further that Uitkyk Butchery (bestellings@uitkykvleismark.co.za, 012 8043280) who gave us memorable chicken sosaties, cheese grillers and boerewors. Tickets to the games can be purchased directly from the Blue Bulls rugby union (www.bluebulls.co.za) or Computicket. We spent the night in Pretoria at Castello De Monti (012 460 6739, www.castello.co.za), a 5-star guesthouse in Waterkloof ridge.

• The awesome Isuzu bakkies we drove in was supplied by Barloworld Bruma.
• Freddy Hirsch was responsible for liaising with all the local butcheries that provided us with meat.
• Klipdrift is the official drink of any real man at a braai and made sure that we could always make ourselves at home, and keep our throats wet.
• All of the clothes worn by me (Jan Braai) on the show can be purchased at Cape Union Mart, and is good quality for money for any traveller, or braaier.

Episode three of “Jan Braai vir Erfenis” aired on kykNET this past Friday. Catch it every Friday at 17:30 with reruns on Saturdays at 13:00, Sundays at 07:00 and Mondays at 03:00. We realise that you might want to do some of the things that we did on the show yourself. As such we will weekly post all the relevant info for each episode, here on www.braai.com

The second most beautiful place to braai is at the waterfall. The best place is at Oranjekom.

Segment 1: Springbok

During our visit to Springbok we played Springbok Sevens, a must when in town. Here is how you do it.

1. Wear a Springbok jersey
2. Take a photo at the Springbok signpost at the entrance of town
3. Eat Springbok biltong (There is a great biltong shop on Voortrekker street next door to the famous Springbok lodge).
4. Listen to Springbok Nude Girls music
5. Drink a Springbokkie
6. Drink another Springbokkie
7. Braai Springbok meat (possibly the most important step).

We successfully completed step 7 at the Okiep Country Lodge (027 744 1000) just outside Springbok. No offense to the rest of the region, but if you are in that area, this is the place to stay. The braai feast was laid on by Niel Volgraaf from Die Plaas Butchery (072 718 1496), ask for his skilpaadtjies, pofadders, lamb saddle chops and Springbok meat.

Segment 2: Augrabies

Our braai at Oranjekom was facilitated by SANparks.org. Special thanks to the park head Nardus Du Plessis who allowed us to braai past closing hours. If you want to go there, contact reception at Augrabies (054 452 9200). While here, you might as well have a look at the waterfalls. Make sure you take Mario Titus along as tour guide. To book him talk to reception.

Dundi Lodge organized the logistics of the braai and gave us luxury accommodation a stone’s throw from the park gate. It’s the most luxurious place to stay in the region and we really enjoyed it. I obviously recommend that you stay here when visiting Augrabies. The very professional manager is called Bertho and if you pay him enough, he might have a Klipdrift with you and share a few hunting stories. Ester Zandberg from De Hoek Butchery in Kakamas was our first female butcher on the show. I can recommend her ‘’beesrol’’. It’s a beef roll filled with blue cheese, onions, peppers, mushrooms and bacon. Phone the butchery 054 531 0958 to pre order and then you collect it when travelling down the N14.

Segment 3: Orange River

We braaied with Craig from Kalahari Outventures on the banks of the Orange River, talk to them if you want to sample the breakfast braai pizza, or if you want to do a river rafting trip down the Orange River.

Segment 4: Upington

Oppidraai Butchery (Kobus & Louis Engelbrecht, 084 581 3938, 36 Scott Street) gave us some of the best meat we had on the whole 40 day your. To make it extra special, see if you can organize a braai on Sakkie se Arkie, the local ‘booze cruise’ boat on the Orange river. You will need to convince Sakkie (082 575 7285) to have the braai. We managed, so you’re in with a chance. Alternatively, braai at the Sun River Lodge in Upington. Contact reception on 054 332 2210 and ask for Liezel. Braai wise this is the best guest house I’ve ever seen. They have multiple braai areas and a great stash of wood. Special thanks to the Upington cell of Round Table who organised the whole Upington braai.

Segment 5: Kimberley

To braai at the Big Hole like we did you’d need to pull a few strings. Start off by talking to Renee Richter at The Big Hole. Their number is 053 830 4423. But even if you don’t go there for a braai, a visit and tour of the Big Hole complex and museum is the thing to do when you are in Kimberley.

The Protea Hotel in Kimberley is right next to the big hole and without a doubt the place to sleep when in Kimberley. The Uruguay team stay there during the 2010 Soccer World Cup.  Around the corner from the hotel is “The Star of the West”, one of the oldest pubs in the country and soaked with character. Talk to Rudi at Koki Meat Market for your braai needs (62 Droogfontein street, 053 8377 7430) and try his Primerib steaks.

• The awesome Isuzu bakkies we drove in was supplied by Barloworld Bruma.
• Freddy Hirsch was responsible for liasing with all the local butcheries who provided us with meat.
• Klipdrift is the official drink of any real man at a braai and made sure that we could always make ourselves at home, and keep our throats wet.
• All of the clothes worn by me (Jan Braai) on the show can be purchased at Cape Union Mart, and is good quality for money for any traveler, or braaier.

Episode two of our TV show “Jan Braai vir Erfenis” aired on kykNET this past Friday 15 July at 17:30 with reruns Saturdays at 13:00, Sundays at 07:00 and Mondays at 03:00. We realise that you might want to do some of the things that we did on the show yourself. As such we will weekly post all the relevant info for each episode, here on www.braai.com

On the left side head of the Nama tribe Gert Links.

Segment 1: Kleinzee: Veronica van Dyk is the owner of die Houthoop, a legendary place in Namaqualand. Houthoop is a great place to braai and Veronica has a wealth of information about the area. The meat we braaied came from quite a few sources; Oom Jan se slaghuis (027 2172254) in Lutzville gave us beautiful lamb chops, Namlam (027 213 3030) provided skaapstertjies (lamb tails) and pofaddertjies whilst some of the local guests caught fresh fish in Alexander Bay, harvested mussels and oysters near Kleinzee and made the roosterkoek.

Segment 2: Rictersveld: The second part of the episode saw us travel through the diamond areas of the North-Western Cape into the Rictersveld.  We were lucky to have a fantastic guide by our side, Conrad Mouton (Tel: 027 8518012, Email: conrad@aukwatowa.co.za) whom we highly recommend. He does tours around the Rictersveld area and knows where all the best braai spots are. We braaied (and slept) at the Mountain Valley Guesthouse also known as “Die Plantasie” in Kuboes that evening. Contact Kiewiet (078 855 6912) or Anna (0735990318) to book accommodation at this self-catering lodge. Kiewiet or Conrad will both be able to help you sort out some local entertainment, like a performance of the Nama step-dance, or maybe you just want to braai with some locals and experience the Nama culture. Kuboes is far from any big towns so we stocked up at the Port Nolloth SPAR (Talk to the butcher Vicus Burger, 027 851 8628) before leaving for the Rictersveld. He was the one who prepared the sheep hearts for us. And it was great! We also got really good quality boerewors and lamb ribs from him.

• The awesome Isuzu bakkies we drove in was supplied by Barloworld Bruma.
• Freddy Hirsch was responsible for liasing with all the local butcheries who provided us with meat.
• Klipdrift is the official drink of any real man at a braai and made sure that we could always make ourselves at home, and keep our throats wet.
• All of the clothes worn by me (Jan Braai) on the show can be purchased at Cape Union Mart, and is good quality for money for any traveler, or braaier.

Be sure to catch episode three of Jan Braai vir Erfenis when we will braai at Springbok (and play Springbok sevens), Augrabies & Upington as well as a paddle on the Orange River followed by another braai.

The National Braai Day TV show, Jan Braai vir Erfenis made its long awaited debut on Friday 8 Jule. It will air every Friday at 17:30 on kykNET, with repeats on Saturdays at 13:00, Sundays at 08:00 and Mondays at 03:00. We realise that you might want to do some of the things that we did on the show yourself. As such we will weekly post all the relevant info for each episode, here on www.braai.com

Day 1: Pick & Pay Cape Argus, Table Mountain

This year was my twentieth Argus tour. The Argus was first held in 1978 and goes right around the Cape Peninsula, in other words, it goes right around Table Mountain and thus also passes through large parts of the Table Mountain National Park. It was a fitting start to the tour as I could not only celebrate twenty years on the Argus tour but we could also braai in our first World Heritage Site of the tour, the Cape Floral Kingdom. If you want to enter the Argus tour, go to http://www.cycletour.co.za

After about 3 and a half hours of relaxed cycling I arrived at the top of the last hill of the tour Suikerbossie, where crew member Frans and cameraman Timmy were waiting with a braai. I jumped off the bike for a quick boerewors braai; ate a boerewors roll and then proceeded to the finish line of the cycle tour in Greenpoint.

After the race we went to the top of Table Mountain with the cable car to enjoy the spectacular views. As the sun started to dip we rode down to the lower cable way station where the CEO of the Table Mountain Aerial Cableway Company, Sabine Lehmann and head of Table Mountain’s 7 Wonders campaign Fiona Furey hosted us to a braai. We mainly spoke about getting people to vote for Table Mountain in the 7 Natural Wonders of the World campaign. Go to www.votefortablemountain.com and cast your vote.

Day 2:

Before leaving Cape Town on the morning of day 2 we braaied with my friend Seth Rotherham, the man behind the hugely popular 2oceansvibe.com website and GQ’s best dressed man of 2010.  He is the spokesman for the laid-back Cape Town lifestyle and has even had a Butlers pizza named after him. In this spirit we decided to launch the Rotherhamburger. It is a decadent chicken burger topped with feta, bacon, mozzarella and salami. Recipe for Rotherhamburger available here.

Next we headed out to Stellenbosch. It is a place very close to my heart as it is the place where my father taught me how to braai; where I meet up with my friends for a drink at De Akker and where the best wine in the world is made. We celebrated South Africa’s wine heritage at De Akker, one of the oldest bars in South Africa, where I had a braai with Valiant Swart. We stuck with a classic braai combination of lamb chops and Boerewors, provided by Eikeboom butchery.

Day 3:

On day three of the tour we went to Lamberts Bay, or as the locals for some reason call it, the “Diamond of the West Coast”. Here we celebrated the Seafood Heritage of South Africa with a braai at Muisbosskerm. And that evening we slept soundly at the Sir Lamberts Guesthouse.

• The awesome Isuzu bakkies we drove in was supplied by Barloworld Bruma.
• Freddy Hirsch was responsible for liasing with all the local butcheries who provided us with meat.
• Klipdrift is the official drink of any real man at a braai and made sure that we could always make ourselves at home, and keep our throats wet.
• All of the clothes worn by me (Jan Braai) on the show can be purchased at Cape Union Mart, and is good quality for money for any traveler, or braaier.

Final braai & SA World Heritage Site 8/8 of the tour! T-bone steaks are in the shape of Africa & we are right there.

Robben Island is one of eight World Heritage Sites in South Africa and the 8th of those eight that we braaied at during the Braai4Heritage Tour. This was also the 40th and final day and braai of the tour. T-Bone steaks were braaied as they are in the form of Africa and thus an appropriately patriotic cut of meat. My first bite was the tip of the T-bone steak, i.e. the part that resembles South Africa. It was pretty good, but then so was the rest of the steak. Journalists from SABC TV news, ETV news, and Die Burger joined us for a pleasant day at “The Residence” which is the former presidential residence on the island and the best place to braai with a view of Table Mountain and Bloubergstrand. The braai facility is not open to the public, but you can see the residence for yourself by going on the Robben Island tour, as it is part of the normal tourist route on the island. The sea was not particularly rough, but the swell was monstrously big, making the boat trip there and back interesting.

Boarding the Robben Island ferry in the Waterfront carrying a few braai essentials.

The sea was not nearly as calm as this picture make it seem. All the water on the camera lens tells the true story.

A bit about the history and heritage of Robben Island: Since the Dutch settled at the Cape in the mid-1600s Robben Island was primarily used as a prison. African leaders, Muslim leaders from the East Indies, Dutch and British soldiers, civilians, and anti-apartheid activists were all imprisoned on the Island, the best known of these being Nelson Mandela. Former South African president Kgalema Motlanthe and current president Jacob Zuma also spent time there during the aprtheid years. But Robben Island was not only used as a prison. It was a hospital for people with leprosy, and the mentally and chronically ill from 1846-1931. Robben Island was chosen for this purpose because it was regarded as both secure (isolating dangerous cases) and healthy (providing a good environment for cure). As there was no cure and little effective treatment available for these illnesses in the 1800s, Robben Island was also a kind of prison for the hospital patients. Throughout this time, political and common-law prisoners were kept on the Island too. During the Second World War from 1939 to 1945 the island was used as a training and defence station.

"The Residence" is the former presidential residence on the island.

Grabouw Boerewors from Grabouw and Merino chops from Gordon's Bay.

Braai is the common heritage of all South Africans. As such the history of braaing becomes part of our heritage and in that spirit we decided to visit both Grabouw and Gordonsbay on the second last day of the Braai4Heritage tour.

There are lots of different looking and tasting boerewors sold in supermarkets and butcheries all across the country carrying the name “Grabouw Boerewors” and these days it is second only to Kameelhout boerewors in terms of quantities of a specifically named boerewors sold in South Africa. Years ago Grabouw boerewors marked an important moment in the history of braai-meat sales as it became the first boerewors customers requested by name. We decided to visit the birthplace of Grabouw Boerewors, Grabouw Butchery (34 Main Road, Grabouw, 021 859 3004). The friendly owner tells a great story of how the recipe was developed in 1962 but later leaked out and copied by so many people that the name “Grabouw Boerewors” has effectively lost its meaning, as boerewors by that name could taste like anything, and there is no standard recipe for the stuff made all across South Africa. But the butchery in Grabouw still makes the original recipe, and you can only buy it there, so I did. And how did the wors taste when it came to braaing? Go there once and decide for yourself..

The Gordon's Bay weather was constantly changing between sun, rain and wind; making life difficult for the cameramen.

The second piece of braai heritage we tackled was the humble lamb chop, specifically the Merino lamb chop. We chose to celebrate this heritage in Gordon’s Bay, a fact that might make Karoo farmers reach for their pitchforks and organize a raging mob to hunt us down. The reason we chose Gordon’s Bay is quite simple. The first South African to own Merinos was Col. Jacob Gordon, the military commander at the Cape in the late 1780’s and the man after which Gordon’s Bay is named. The sheep were a present to Dutch government who received them from the King of Spain, the sole proprietor of Merinos during that time. They did not enjoy the rainy conditions in the Netherlands and were sent to Cape Town. Less than fifty years later Merino sheep were grazing all along the Western Cape and moved further north when the Voortrekkers took sheep with them on the Great Trek. Today there are around 14 million Merino sheep in South Africa delivering chops to our braais. Thus we braaied some at the Gordon’s Bay Yacht Club, in the town named after the patron saint of the chop.

This sign says you're at the southernmost point in Africa, but you're actually about 3 meters north of it.

I wanted to be at the southernmost point of Africa. It involved getting wet.

Cape Agulhas is distinctive for two reasons. It’s the southernmost point on the African continent and is also where the Indian and Atlantic oceans meet. If you are thinking ‘isn’t Cape Point where both those things happen’ then well, you’re wrong.

It was pretty high up there. The cameramen loved it, me not so much.

The confluence of the cold Benguela and warm Agulhas currents is renowned for its stormy temperament. Shipwrecks abound in the area and stories about them are to be found all over town. With that comes ghost stories, another trademark of the area and if you are lucky you will see the decapitated man walking around Spookdraai (Ghost bend). I was pretty exited about seeing ghosts after all the stories by the locals we were braaing with but the closest we came to ghosts were Ghost Pops at the local supermarket.

Earlier the day we bought our dinner from fishermen in a misty Struisbaai harbour, two fresh & plump Red Romans.

We're still not sure where these are on the SASSI list of endangered fish. This red/orange/green system is confusing, us braaiers need a simple yes or no to let us know whether a certain fish can be braaied or not.

We stayed at the Lagoon House that evening, hosted by Sanparks (www.sanparks.org). It is possible that Lagoon house might be the best-kept secret in the entire Sanparks network. It sits right on the beach and next to an inland lagoon in pure isolation. Epic stuff. It even has it’s own murder mystery story. The story goes that an Princess from the East, a cast-away that stayed in the area, was murdered here by a jealous farmer’s wife and that her ghost still haunts the banks of the Lagoon. Chris Davies from Getaway was pretty exited about this particular ghost, but to his disappointment we never saw this one either.

We stayed at this fantastic place, and so can you. Speak to Agulhas National Park (part of Sanparks)

Shortly after Chris Davies from Getaway took this photo, he sat on my lap, when the lion suddenly came much closer.

If you ask most tourists what they hope to see while in South Africa there are five answers that always makes the list: Lion, Buffalo, Elephant, Rhino and Leopard. It was in search of these beasts that we travelled to Aquila Private Game Reserve (aquilasafari.com).

Director of the TV show Stephanus Rabie really enjoyed filming our drive through Seweweekspoort en route to Touwsriver.

The reserve  is just off the N1 near Touwsriver and you can drive there in under two hours from Cape Town. Due to the low lying Karoo bossies, you are almost guarenteed of seeing four of the big five with the elusive leopard being the odd one out. The Leopard is the only one that still occurs naturally in the area, as it does in most the Western cape, and its elusiveness is the reason this is still so. Touwsriver might seems an odd choice to go and see these animals, but in reality they all used to live here before the hunters of the old Cape got to them. It was with great pride that we were informed by one of the rangers that one of the White Rhino calfs here was the first White Rhino born in the Western Cape veld in over 200 years. The owner Searl Derman should be applauded for this feat, together with the fact that employment for over 100 Touwsriver residents is created by the reserve.

The Big 5 of the braai is lamb, beef, pork, chicken and boerewors.

The place is every bit as fancy as this photo might let you think.

To celebrate the heritage of this area we decided to braai the big five of the braai: Lamb, Pork, Beef, Chicken and Boerwors. Van Rensburg foods (www.vanrensburgsfoods.com) sponsored the meat for the day, as they had done in Knysna, and we feasted away while two elephant bulls walked by.

If you manage to kill it before it kills you, it's possible to braai this guy.

The African elephant’s ear is shaped like Africa, which is shaped like a T-Bone steak.

When you are presented with 200 very large, very fresh oysters and a view of The Heads, you smile like that.

To ultimately reach to goal and fulfill the vision of the Braai4Heritage initiative we need the help of certain pivotal individuals. Knysna resident Ivo Vegter is one of them. As he is a professional writer and I am not, I suggest you simply read his account of my visit to Knysna. Do yourself a favour and read his article to the end.

From Graaff Reinet we drove over Prince Alfreds pass to Knysna. Stating the obvious, it was fun.

Braaing oysters with Ivo Vegter. Both are great (Ivo and braaied oysters). In the background, The Heads.

The fact that Tony and Jan from Van Rensburgs butchery in George was there made the day perfect.

A few fresh salads and braaied oysters.

Braaied leg of lamb marinated in olive oil and lemon juice.

There are a few people that we need to thank: Renée de Bruyn represents Mitchell’s Brewery, which is a great reason to braai in Knysna. The oysters on the braai were from Sue Landers at the Oystercatcher. Cornutti’s and East Head Café were both generous with salads, wine and logistical help. Stefan de Bruyn of the Hippo Dive Campus made us the best beer bread in town. Kluyts & Co, makers of fine furniture, supplied the most interesting wood you can hope to burn. Thanks also to Martin Lucas for his tales of forestry, wood and Knysna elephants. Plates & Things supplied plates and things, along with pretty white umbrellas. Knysna Nissan owns the braai on which all of Knysna braais. And to Sanchia, Phillip and Margot, a special thanks for all their help.

The Reinet Museum is where we braaied in the 2010 town of the year.

Graaff-Reinet is the fourth oldest town in South Africa. It also boasts more national monuments than any other town in South Africa and has a whopping 220 heritage sites. The town has many famous sons of which Anton Rupert is probably best known. The founder of the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) Robert Sobukwe is another. All this from a place that really sits in the middle of a very unpopulated part of the Great Karoo.

Scones and tea at the Drostdy Hotel with the mayor Daantjie Jafta.

The town itself is enclosed by the Camdeboo National Park. In that park is the “Valley of Desolation” lookout point, which really is a good place to start your tour of the town, as you can see the town in its entirety from a lookout point close it, especially the way that the Sondagsrivier makes a horseshoe around the town. Most of the historical sites are on the inside of this horse shoe.

A great place to see the whole town from. The valley of desolation is not far from here.

Valley of desolation. A very high drop right behind me and windy conditions meant I was fearing for my life on this photo.

The Mayor Daantjie Jafta welcomed me at the historic Drosdy hotel for scones and tea before we headed to the Valley of Desolation lookout point. From here we went for a braai at Reinet house, which is one of the most prominent museums in town. Over a hundred guests welcomed us on the stoep and whilst listening to live Jazz music we drank some local ‘withond’, pure distilled alcohol made right there at the museum. It was an elobaratedly staged event, perfectly coordinated by local tourism pivot Chantelle Marais, with various courses and treats from the area being served throuout the afternoon and evening. Pierre Els from Mirino butchery (049 892 6111) supplied some of the delicious lamb chops for the evening, and the local ostrich and sheep farmers showcased how good their products really are. I can honestly say that it was the best ostrich that I had in my life. A combination of meat quality and braai quality (by a local chef) I guess.

To the left the one braaier is busy perfecting leg of lamb. The other is explaining to me how to perfectly braai boerewors.

Graaff Reinet's most eligible bachelor Jonathan Biggs came to the braai dressed in a black suit and crisp white shirt. He is a decorated scholar and very successful farmer. His number is available to the highest bidder.

Thank you Mountain View Guest House  for hosting us in your B&B that evening. (http://www.safarinow.com/go/AMountainViewGuesthouse/)

It should be a World Heritage Site for "man driving pleasure".

Baviaanskloof lies between the towns of Patensie (to the North) and Willowmore (to the South) in the Eastern Cape. It is called a ‘mega reserve’, a term that speaks to it’s size the biodiversity of its fauna and flora. Baviaanskloof makes up part of the first World Heritage Site we visited on tour – the Cape Floral Kingdom – and as such we decided to include it on the braaitour. But personally I think I could be a World Heritage Site for another reason altogether, “pure driving pleasure for a man”, if there was such a category.

Baviaaskloof is part of the Cape Floral Kingdom, a World Heritage Site.

The road itself is a good one but requires a 4×2, in the very least, as you go through some deep rivers and over narrow, steep passes. The namesakes of the kloof – Baviaans is old Dutch for baboons – were in abundance. We also saw the odd Steenbokkie grazing the lush fields.
Our accommodation that evening was in a self-catering cave (seriously) which is a part of the famous Makedaat caves (044 923 1921, info@makkedaat.co.za).

The sign had a promise of good things to come.

Baviaanskloof is a place to clear the mind.

Baviaanskloof is a place to relax the soul.

This was the view from inside the car as we went through those puddles.

These were also a few mountain passes to cross.

In front of the cave, ready to braai steak prego rolls.

Starters: Rump braaied with olive oil in a pan on flames, flambéd with Klipdrift.

Filming in the cave. Light was a problem, wind not.

Steak prego rolls: Sliced medium rare rump steak tossed with peri peri sauce; rocket; tomato; feta cheese.

Africa Media Matrix (their journalism department) has a real TV studio so we recorded one interview with a student there.

The department of journalism at Rhodes University in Grahamstown is the largest, oldest and most influential school of it’s kind in Africa. You need only to check the employee roll of all the major media companies – newspapers, radio, TV and government bodies – to see the influence stemming out of this place. Kevin McCallum (head sports journalist of Star newspaper), Ray Hartley (editor of Sunday Times) and David O’Sullivan (702 radio DJ) to name a few. The principle of free press and fair unbiased reporting is a core concept of democracy, and in this spirit we recognize the contribution of Rhodes University and its journalism department to the fabric of South Africa.

The real reason I went there was to spread the Braai4Heritage message to all SA's future important journalists.

It is also a fact that the current breed of Rhodes journalism students will siphon through to all the major media companies in the next few years and will then be in the perfect position to spread the Braai4Heritage message to the rest of South Africa. Thus I thought it a good idea to influence them now with free boerie rolls!

The building welcomed us in style with a personalised message.

On our way to record some funny looking students at the Drama department.

This work of art was entitled "Life Cycle" or "Circle of Life" or something.

The Steve Biko memorial and East London City Hall.

We commemorated the shared heritage of both East London and King Williams Town, towns divided by 60 kilometers of tar yet united through one very prominent historical figure. Steve Biko, the originator of the African Black Consciousness Movement and martyr to the struggle against apartheid, was born, raised and captured here. The truth behind his death in police custody was unmasked by his friend Donald Woods and Hellen Zille (a young journalist at the time) and became a symbol of the oppression in the years leading up to 1994.

The Desmond Tutu TRC statue at the East London city hall.

We started the day at his statue in front of the East London City Hall. Biko’s statue is one of three on the grounds and shares the terrian with an Anglo Boer war memorial as well as one of Archbishop Desmond Tutu crying. This event transpired during day two of the Truth and Reconciliation hearings on 16 April 1996. The Arch chaired the TRC hearings and the first ever sessions were held in the East London City Hall. 

heaven

hell

Our excellent guide Velile from iMonti tours (http://www.imontitours.co.za/) explained the history and legacy of Steve Biko to us before taking us to the town of his birth, King Williams Town. We went to a Chisa Nyama called “Man Bring Braai” where we braaid club steaks thin cut and well done, the local way.

Club steaks. They were cut thin, spiced heavily and braaied well done. And surprisingly, tasted great.

We stayed at The Terrace and slept well that night (www.the-terrace.co.za, 043-735-4348).

Nelson Mandela’s contribution to South African heritage in unquestionable and intergral to understanding who we are as a society. Qunu is the place where Mandela grew up, went to school and became the man that we all know and love. It’s a place he described in a Long Walk to Freedom as the place where he spent ‘the happiest days of his childhood’.

There is a complete storyboard of Nelson Mandela's life to date at the museum.

As a child, Nelson Mandela used to slide down this rock. You sit on a broken plastic chair, steer with your hands and brake with your feet. It's great fun, especially after you get the hang of it and lose your fear of breaking an arm and a leg. In the background is my guide of the day, the very friendly Zim.

We visited the Nelson Mandela museum where our excellent guide Zim (084 396 8306) showed us around. We had our braai at Green park lodge (047 531 4746, booking@greenparklodge.co.za) who catered for us alongside with Barons Select Myezo Spar (043 740 1877). All the food was great, especially the Transkei Mud Pudding, thanks Christine.

The director Stephanus Rabie said I needed to do something fancy for the TV show so I made braaied Tandoori Lamb Chops with the Masala I got in Durban a few days earlier.

The Drakensberg is a pretty place. Pity about the guy in the foreground spoiling the view.

The Drakensberg is the seventh World Heritage site that visited on tour and arguably the most aesthetically pleasing. This natural beauty is one of two reasons cited for its status as a bastion of World Heritage. The other reason was what led to our day in Underberg: The world greatest concentration of rock-art paintings.

We had a two hour hike to rock paintings. Pretty tough on the camera crew. On the right you can see one of them, Timmy.

With 550 known sites and around 40 000 individual paintings it is a treasure chest of cultural heritage. The sites were all created by local San tribes – a permanent reminder that they once dominated the land around the Drakensberg.

Some of the rock paintings that we saw. A pointing man is apparently a pretty special type of painting.

We visited a site known as Kanti, led by our expert guide Sue Mackenzie (0826864468) who is an official rock paintings monitor for KZN Wildlife. We saw scenes featuring an Eland hunt, an animal that still roams these plains, as well as a great migration or perhaps a great hunt. Experts in this fields all have opposing views as to what some of the paintings means, but in the spirit of expressionalism it surely depends largely of what you make of it.

We braaied on a very nice farm in Underberg with Sue, Gordon and local Underberg butchers.

Sue invited us into her home that evening where we braaid with her husband Gordon and the local butchers. We braaid porterhosue steaks, sheep rib, skilpaadtjies as well as two kinds of boerewors. A great ending to a great day.

The two bakkies performed very well, so we did a bit of a photo shoot for the sponsor GM Barloworld Bruma.

The shirt was sponsored by Isuzu and the fantastic bakkie by GM Barloworld Bruma.

Today we cross the border into Lesotho to get a good view of South Africa. The Sani Pass was originally nothing more than a mule and donkey track used to transport farming products like wool and mohair from Lesotho into SA and essential goods back to Leshoto. The pass was eventually created by David Alexander in 1955. He was inspired by the 4×4 vehicles he saw in World War II and drove a Willys Jeep up the pass. A proper off-raod vehicle is advisable if you plan to visit, especially in winter when it snows on the pass. For our visit, it did not snow, but it did rain and there was a bit of hail. Sani Pass has another claim for which it is famous: the highest pub in Southern Africa. It would be rude not to visit here whilst in the area, perhaps even for a braai with a view.

When we were starting out at the bottom the weather at the top was great.

But when we got to the top, it was raining and hailing.

Then the rain stopped again, so we braaied on the edge of the cliff, with a great view of Sani Pass and South Africa.

We had lots of nice meat, but they had some on standby.

View of the road as you go down. It was fun driving down, but not as much fun as driving up.

Celebrating Durban's surf heritage by surfing one of its famous waves. I'm that little guy in black.

The first European to visit Durban was Vasco Da Gama, on Christmas Day 1497. He named the area ‘’Terra do Natal’’ which means “Christmas Country” in Portuguese. But the Portuguese decided to stick to their harbour up in Maputo and Durban was left alone for quite a while. It was only in 1824 that a group of settlers negotiated for the land with King Shaka. They named it Port Natal. In 1835 it was renamed to Durban after the governor in Cape Town – Sir D’Urban. In the early days Indians were offered working contracts and permits and many of them decided not to return to India when those contracts expired, hence the large concentration of Indians in Durban these days. This leads me to the first of three parts of Durban’s heritage that we celebrated there. Indian Spices and Curry. The other two important parts to Durban’s heritage that we celebrated was surfing and Sharks Rugby.

Legendary shaper Spider Murphy explains some of the special chracteristics of my new surfboard to me. This type of board is called "The "Bomb" and it worked like a bomb when I surfed it shortly thereafter (photo above).

Brand new surfboard, warm Durban water and waves, big smile.

After the surf session we went to a spice market where I acquired three different custom made masalas. When I get home there will be many chicken curry potjies and many lamb curry potjies..

Some day Beast eats the most braaied meat in the team. According to him, it’s Bismarck du Plessis and Willem Alberts.

Kwadukuza, a town about one hour north of Durban is a significant South African heritage site for the fact that Shaka Zulu had his royal kraal there, and it is also the place where he was murdered by his half brother Dingaan.

Shaka's Rock. He came here to look at the sea and strategize, and his impis also had training session here.

Shaka was attacked by Dingaan whilst sitting on this rock and under this rock lies Shaka Zulu's remains.

We braaied crayfish overlooking the sea at Shaka's Rock.

The crayfish were butterflied and based with a lemon butter.

Between Kwadukuza and Shaka's Rock we passed Albert Luthuli's house. He was the first African and South African to win a Nobel Peace Prize.

Sitting on Albert Luthuli's stoep. This is the original bench that he used to sit on.

Zoog and me braaing prawns with a lemon, garlic and butter sauce. The pan is from his brother in Scotland.

The iSimangaliso Wetland Park was listed as South Africa’s first World Heritage Site in December 1999 in recognition of its superlative natural beauty and unique global values.

The day started off watching rhinos in the Hluhluwe Mmfolozi game reserve (and almost getting arrested for getting out of the car to film it).

The 332 000 hectare Park contains three major lake systems, eight interlinking ecosystems, 700 year old fishing traditions, most of South Africa’s remaining swamp forests, Africa’s largest estuarine system, 526 bird species and 25 000 year-old coastal dunes – among the highest in the world. The name iSimangaliso means miracle and wonder, which aptly describes this unique place.

We take a photo like this every day, to prove to you this tour is real, and that we really visit the places.

‘iSimangaliso must be the only place on the globe where the oldest land mammal (the rhinoceros) and the world’s biggest terrestrial mammal (the elephant) share an ecosystem with the world’s oldest fish (the coelacanth) and the world’s biggest marine mammal (the whale)’ – Nelson Mandela

Lake St Lucia has over 1000 crocodiles, so do not swim.

The jetty at Catalina Bay is where we braaied. This was the view.

Zoog is a legend, but his son Ty is a future braai champ and future surfing world champ.

Thanks St.Lucia Tours & Charters (www.advantagetours.co.za, 035 590 1259) for the boat trip. If you want to see a lot of hippos and lots of nice birds, call them.

Prince Mbonisi Zulu receives my gift on behalf of the King. The cow was pregnant and is was thus actually two cows. The royal herdsman was there to inspect the cow, and declared that it was of sufficient standard and would not be slaughtered, but would be used for breeding to further improve the King's herd.

Nongoma, KwaZulu Natal is one of the busiest towns in rural KwaZulu-Natal and lies north west of the Hluhluwe Imfolozi Park. Nongoma is the royal City of Zululand. It is the home of King Goodwill Zwelethini, the hereditary leader of the nation and his royal palaces are among the main tourist attractions in the town. The royal family is highly respected and has a dominating presence in this rural and very traditional part of Zululand.

Me and Prince Mbonisi Zulu discussing important matters like braaing.

Derived from the Zulu word, “ngome” – the mother of songs – Nongoma was originally established in 1888 as a buffer between two warring Zulu factions to try to establish peace in the area. Two Zulu monarchs are laid to rest in the Nongoma area: King Solomon kaDinuzulu (1891–1933), son of King Dinizulu kaCetshwayo and King Cyprian Bhekuzulu kaSolomon (1924–1968), son of King Solomon kaDinuzulu and father of the current Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini.

These guys were really impressive, fit and most importantly did not make me feel like a tourist, as what they did was real.

Local businessman Mlungisi Percy Nzuza, who owns Nongoma Lodge (where we slept) is a driving force behind local tourism in the town and arranged our braai the evening. This is where I met the King’s brother, prince Mbonisi Zulu and members of the local Round Table. We had various important conversations about Zulu braai traditions and preferences. During the visit to Nongoma I felt that it was important to present the king with a gift and sign of respect, and the next morning I was honoured when Prince Mbonisi received my gift of a cow on behalf of the King.

There are graves like these all over the top of Spioenkop. The British were buried where they fell.

Near Ladysmith (the one in KwaZulu-Natal) we find the famous Anglo-Boer war battlefield Spioenkop. The Battle of Spioenkop (Slag van Spioenkop) was fought about 38 km west-south-west of Ladysmith on the hilltop of Spioenkop along the Tugela River from 23–24 January 1900. During the time of the battle, Ladysmith was besieged by the Boere and the English were trying to relieve it.

This photo is taken from the area where the British dug their trenches, in the background you can see our braai, and further back some of the fantastic views that Spioenkop offers.

During their attempted march to Ladysmith General Redvers Buller ordered his men to conquer Spioenkop, the highest koppie in that region and a position he considered strategically important to hold. The British were the first to surprise, dispersing of a small group of Boere on their way to the top. They entrenched themselves at the top of the hill, but due to the thick mist they could not see that the position right at the top of Spioenkop where they were entrenched was extremely vulnerable. As the mist lifted and they realised their mistake, bullets and cannon fire from the Boere started to rain down on them. Winston Churchhill was there that day as a reporter and wrote “Many of the wounds were of a horrible nature. The splinters and fragments of the shells had torn and mutilated in the most ghastly manner”.

We stayed at the Tugela River Lodge. A beautiful place at the the foot of Spioenkop, right next to the Tugela river.

A combination of poor leadership and weak lines of communication further hampered the British efforts. After a day of fierce fighting the British retreated, having lost many men, with countless others injured. Some reports claim that the Boere also retreated down the other side of the hill that night, having also suffered casualties and thinking that the battle was over. This version of events have it that it was only the next morning when a few brave Boere climbed the summit yet again that they saw the English had retreated to the Tugela. Other versions have it that the Boere did not retreat, but only saw the English had retreated the next morning. Nevertheless, the koppie was claimed by the Boere the next day. A lot of men were lost that day and those wounded were ferried off by a unit called the Indian Ambulance Corps. They managed to help so many men amongst the carnage that one of their officers were decorated after the battle. His name was Mohandas Gandhi.

Arguably the highlight of my tour thus far was the arrival of the biggest braai drum that I have seen in my life.

As they unloaded the beast, I saw that the whole back of the bakkie was completely full of wood.

As if the braai wasn't fantastic enough, the locals used a petrol bomb to set it alight. These photos were taken immediately after each other. As you can see I realised just in time what was happening and stepped away. Boere are tough, buggers are crazy.

Thank you to Simon Stockhill for organizing us permission to braai at the top of Spionkop after hours. The meat for the evening was sponsored by Gred de Franca from De Franca SPAR (036 631 09670) in Ladismith.

After visiting Sharpeville we drove to Golden Gate and on the way there were a lot of Cosmos flours.

From a plaque at the Sharpeville Memorial Centre: “To control the influx of Blacks into the cities and towns of South Africa the government had made it obligatory for them to carry reference books at all times. These books authorised them to live and work in towns. This law was introduced to restrict access to the industrial areas and so lowering the risk of creating vast slum areas of unemployed people.

On the evening of 20 March 1960, members of the PAC moved from house to house in Sharpeville asking residents to join a protest march the following morning. The PAC had asked township residents throughout South Africa to gather outside police stations on 21 March 1960 without their “dompasses” and demand to be arrested. This march was to be led by the PAC President, Mr Mangaliso Robert Sobukwe.

On the morning of 21 March 1960, a strong crowd had gathered in Seeiso Street in front of the Sharpeville police station. The situation was tense as many of the policemen were facing a crowd situation for the first time. Saracens were stationed in the immediate area and jets flew overhead. The crowd were singing songs and chanting “Izwe Lethu” (our country) and showing the “Afrika salute”.

Events moved rapidly from there. It is said that a scuffle broke out at the wire fence surrounding the police station and a policeman started to pull his trigger. From there a domino effect ensued. Shots were fired for 10 to 30 seconds. The crown fled. Moments later 69 people lay dead and 180 people were wounded. On the autopsy report it was found that many of the deceased were shot in the back.

After the tragedy it was thought that South Africa was on the brink of a revolution. Overseas investors withdrew money from the country; gunshots sold out and the ANC and PAC were banned.”

On the road between Sharpeville and Clarens there are many sunflower fields.

The day ended by visiting Golden Gate Highlands Park. After that we went to a farm in Harrysmith for a braai.

It was the first time that we ran into bad weather. It was also the first time that we did not braai meat. Coincidence?

The name Vereeniging is derived from the Afrikaans word meaning “association” or “union”. The city is known for being the location where the Treaty of Vereeniging ending the Second Boer War (1899-1902) was negotiated. And that is the reason why we bnraaied there on the Braai4Heritage tour. The day started off visiting a deli and craft market in Newtown, Johannesburg before driving to Vereeniging during the early afternoon in a massive thunder and rain storm.

Alternative braaibroodjies: Mozzarella, green pepper, red pepper, onion, olives.

After seeing all the healthy and alternative things at the market that morning I decided to braai something alternative for once, and for the first time in 22 days, we did not braai meat at all. We braaied braaibroodjies. The traditional ones (bread, butter, chutney, cheese, tomato, onnion) as well as a new recipe that I wanted to try out (bread, butter, mozzarella cheese, green pepper, red pepper, onions, olives). The original recipe ones were fantastic, as you might imagine; and the new style ones tasted very much like pizza, as you also might imagine when you read the list of ingredients. They even had the wood-fire taste, obviously.

The original, made with cheddar cheese, tomato, onion, chutney. Buttered on the outside.

Thank you to Klip River Country Estate (www.klipriverguesthouse.co.za) for our accommodation in Vereeniging and giving us free reign of your garden to braai to our hearts desire during a thunder storm.

Braaing at a very important heritage site.

The idea of shared Heritage is a foreign concept to many South Africans, and the Braai4Heritage vision is to have all South Africans celebrating our common love of cooking food over an open fire once a year. But when we have one and all braaing on 24 September every year that will not be the first time that the entire population of a democratic South Africa is patriotic, proud and happy at the same time.

The ball curved in. It was over. I promise.

That happened on 24 June 1995, and it is for this reason that we found ourselves at Ellis Park on day 21 of the Braai4Heritage tour. To braai on the spot where Joel Stransky kicked the winning drop goal of the 1995 Rugby World Cup from. This spot in Ellis Park is an important heritage site. That moment was a game-changer on the road to reconciliation. This was our South African moment, the moment we became world champions. The Joel Stransky spot is that magical place where New Zealand finally realized that they didn’t just play against another team, they played against a whole country. And it was the first time that all the citizens of a democratic South Africa were patriotic and jubilant at the same time.

The whole thing was filmed and will be part of the "Jan Braai vir Erfenis" TV show on Kyknet starting in July.

Boerewors was braaied. Obviously.

Kagiso Lediga is a pretty funny guy. He is also a very enthusiastic supporter of Braai4Heritage.

The Radium beerhall is more than just a pub. It’s a historic institution. There are many pubs in South Africa that claims to be the oldest and Radium is certainly one of the front-runners for this honour. The owner, Manny Cabeleira describes it as ‘’the oldest surviving bar and grill in Johannesburg’’. But this somewhat safe statement doesn’t convey the character of the place at all. It started as a tea-room in 1929 and has since been serving customers of all colours, professions and social classes.

If you live in Johannesburg and haven’t visited Radium put it at the top of your list of watering holes to visit. The walls are covered in memorabilia, from photos of pre-war soccer teams and jazzmen who have played there, to vintage posters and press clippings that record the Radium’s history.

The Radium became quite infamous for having a mixed race clientele during the late eigthies, a reputation that for obvious reasons didn’t sit well with the authorities. Today is is part musuem, part thriving pub and part famous jazz venue. Radium is also the place where all those Savanna advertisements are shot.

Thank you to Manny who kindly agreed to have us braaing on the roof of the Radium. Thank you to Savanna for hosting a great Savanna style party, including getting comedian Kagiso Lediga to do a set. And thank you to Kagiso for enthusiastically agreeing to help me spreading the Braai4Heritage vision to 50 million South Africans.

Braaing in a World Heritage Site with a sunset, good meat and great view.

Gauteng has lots and lots of people. In additional to all the humans, Gauteng has many many fossils of early humans. The reasons why all these fossils are in Gauteng, at the Cradle of Mankind, is that millions of years ago and to this day, there  are lots of caves that through the years got filled up with animal, early human and human bones. Through some unique characteristics, these caves preserved the bones in a near perfect state that allows scientists to use and study the bones after excavation.

At the 5th World Heritage Site of the tour.

The Cradle of Humankind is universally recognized as one of the most important sites to help scientists understand human development. Sterkfontein caves, the crème-de-la-crème of the area, is where the famous Mrs Ples, an 2.3 million year old lady of the area was discovered. There were many other significant discoveries over the years, and I strongly advise you to go and visit the Maropeng Centre and see for yourself exactly how incredible a place sits right under our noses. Whilst everything is really impressive, I was naturally drawn to a site called Swartkrans just a short distance away from the Sterkfontein caves, but within and part of the Cradle of Humankind. Here I met with Dr Bob Brain, the man in charge of excavations at Swartkrans for the past 50 years. At this site Dr Brain discovered some of the oldest signs of the controlled use of fire in the whole world. That is, the origin of the braai. There can be no doubt then, the art of braaing was invented on South African soil. By some ancient Gautengers nogals. Don’t fight it, it’s science.

This underground lake is more than 100 kilometers long.

At this exact part of the Swartkrans excavation site Dr Bob Brain found the oldest signs of the controlled use of fire.

Dr Bob Brain (that is really his surname) excavated the Swartkrans site for 50 years.

Some of the burnt bones excavated at Swartkrans which conclusively proves that controlled fire and braai originated here.

The management and staff at the Maropeng Hotel and Maropeng Visitor Centre gave us an incredible reception and we literally had 5 star treatment throughout our visit. They are knowledgeable, professional and take the management of this World Heritage Site very seriously. I strongly advise anyone who has not been there to go and see it for yourself. The nice meat you see on the topmost photo came from Zimans Butchery in Randfontein (083 272 2244).

At the Numbi Gate of Kruger National Park, which is very close to Pretorius Kop rest camp.

Between 1836 and 1860 the Voortrekkers investigated a variety of routes through the Lowveld to set up trade with the Portuguese harbours in Mozambique. In 1848 during one such expedition a Voortrekker by the name of Willem Pretorius died along the way and was buried at the foot of a koppie and hence the name Pretorius Kop. The Voortrekker road runs South East of the current rest camp and it is here on the Voortrekker road at Pretoriuskop where Jock of the Bushveld, the legendary dog of Sir Percy FitzPatrick was born in 1885. Sir Percy worked as a transport rider in the Lowveld during those days and Jock’s birthplace is marked along the route, thus you can check it out if this story sounds to good to be true.

We braaied with Hardekool wood, which is slow burning but makes incredible coals. The wood is so hard that it cannot be chopped with an axe, but is splintered into pieces using a heavy hammer.

In 1898 president Paul Kruger of the then Transvaal Republic declared the Sabi Game Reserve in order to control hunting and protect the diminishing number of animals in the area. In 1903 Shingwedzi Reserve to the north of that was also declared as game reserve and in 1926 these two, together with adjacent farms were combined to form the Kruger National Park.

We braaied Kudu fillet stuffed with beef bone marrow and wrapped in bacon. It was every bit as good as it sounds.

In 1926 tourists visited the Kruger Park for the first time, a grand total of three cars. Initially tourists could come and go as they pleased and had to set up their own camps, but then Pretoriuskop was opened as the first restcamp for tourists. Today one of the huts built in 1930 can still be viewed however you’re not allowed to sleep in it anymore. Since 1926 that number of 3 visitor cars increased exponentially as infrastructure like restcamps were built in addition to roads being laid out and upgraded.

With Noel from Vleismeesters in Nelspruit, discussing meat.

Today the Kruger National Park is one of the biggest wildlife parks in Africa and the big five all run around within it. If you are afraid of animals in the Kruger Park you have valid reasons for that. To complement the big five, over 3000 crocodiles infest the rivers. And should you not be afraid of crocodiles, then take note that a Zambezi shark – they can survive in fresh water – was once caught at the confluence of the Limpopo and Luvuvhu Rivers after swimming all the way from the sea to come and eat some red meat. Should you still plan on a peaceful sleep, go ahead but only after putting on mosquito repellent, this is a malaria area.

That evening we lit an atmosfire and ended up braaing deboned lamb rib and Kameelhout boerewors. On the photo is Timmy (cameraman), me, Craig (cameraman), Stephanus (director of TV show) and Frans (my colleague).

Thank you to Sanparks (www.sanparks.org) who organised our accommodation for the evening as well as Vleismeester butchery in Nelspruit (013 757-1381) who sponsored our meat, including the Kudu Fillets, and also rocked up with some fantastic salads, biltong bread and mampoer.

The first thing we saw as we entered the town were these two guys on their way to a pub. It turned out that we were braaing at that same pub, with amongst other locals, these two guys.

When a town is declared a national monument in its entirety, something special probably happened there. Pilgrim’s Rest is such a town and played its part in the development of gold-mad South Africa. It was the location of our real first gold rush, an event that drew thousands of laborers from Scotland and Ireland all in search of elusive gold.

Pilgrim's Rest is pretty far from Mapungubwe were we started that morning. We drove through a few other places first.

What makes it so special is that it still feels like a gold rush town, filled with old pubs (there were 14 at the height of the gold era) and lodges for weary travelers (like us). A lot of effort has been made to keep the original spirit of the town intact, and in this venture they have succeeded.

Getting a history lesson from the locals. They are very friendly and helpful.

It was declared a gold field in 1873 and in no time at all the population swelled to 1,500 inhabitants all searching for gold. Mining continued until 1971 (although they still mine in the surrounding areas) and the town was declared a national monument in 1986. It was added to the tentative list of World Heritage Sites in 2004. The residents all hope that the town will achieve World Heritage Site status soon as this will give them a further mandate to protect this golden village hidden away in Mpumalanga.

We drove past the "Three Rondawels" in the Blyde River Canyon. As you can see, it was pretty.

Thank you to Johnny Reinders (Senior & Junior) at the The Vine ( 013 768 1080, http://www.pilgrimsrest.org.za/) who showed us how to make Bosveld Boerewors – wrapped in brown paper and directly on the fire – and rump on coal spade, heated on the fire. We stayed at African Silk farm (http://www.africasilks.com) for the evening where amongst other things, we slept in silk bedding.

Mapungubwe National Park is a World Heritage Site located at the confluence of the Shashe and Limpopo rivers. It was the 4th World Heritage Site visited (and braaied at) on the Braai4Heritage Tour.

We walked to Mapungubwe Hill as the road was washed away. In the old days the inhabitants approached it walking backward as they were to scared to look at it.

Top of the sacred Mapungubwe Hill. In the 1200's most inhabitants were never allowed on top of the hill in their entire life.

It's understandable that the king chose to live here.

The area that forms part of Mapungubwe stretches across the borders of South Africa, Zimbabwe and Botswana but as luck would have it the most important part lays in South Africa. This part was inhabited from 900 to 1290 AD and the actual hill from 1220 to 1290 AD. Mapungubwe Hill is so significant because archaeologists believe it to be the first class-based social system in southern Africa. In other words a society where the leaders lived separately and was senior in rank to common inhabitants. (Whether this is truly a step forward is probably a case for debate). In addition there are other signs of previously unthought-of civilization including walls separating various areas of the city, tooling made from stone, copper and iron, jewellery and other ornaments made from gold, and also glass beads that points to trade with areas as far off as Egypt and China. Of all the artefacts discovered the best recognised is the statue of a golden rhinoceros.

At the entrance of the 4th World Heritage Site of the tour.

Zippisat gave me a sattelite phone to use in case of emergencies. Getting the Oxtail recipe was an emergency.

In modern times Mapungubwe was discovered in 1932 but kept out of the public eye until somewhere between the 1980’s and late 1990’s (accounts differ).

On the way to Mapungubwe we stopped in the little town of All Days for a Chisa Nyama with the locals.

A big thanks to SANParks (www.sanparks.org, 012 426 5000) who hosted our braai and organized accommodation inside Mapungubwe National Park. Our meat was sponsored by Vleislapa in Polokwane (015 291 1301) who provided us with ten different cuts of meat. We phoned the manager at Vleismark mid-braai, using our Zippisat satellite phone (www.zippisat.com), in order to learn how he prepares his award winning oxtail-for-the-braai.

Joyce was born in one of the huts now renovated to 5 star level. She manages the lodge.

The Soutpansberge is without a doubt one of South Africa’s best kept secrets. Tucked away in the far north of the Limpopo province, a cozy four hours and a rough dirt road away from Johannesburg, it’s a mountain range inhibited by the local Venda people who opened their huts for our stay on day 15.

On the way there we crossed the Tropic of Capricon

The Soutpansberge got its name from the salt pan located to the west of it.  We visited the Leshiba wilderness area whilst there and could easily have stayed another few days (as Thabo Mbeki did when holidaying there in 2003). The area has a unique biodiversity of flora and fauna, as well as many of the animals found in our national parks. They can also boast with a successful white rhino breeding project and a snake venom farm (not my favorite part).

The whole film crew went for a game drive...

...whilst I relaxed at the pool.

We stayed in a Venda village that evening (renovated to a 4 star level to accommodate the needs of tourists) and one of our hosts showed us the hut in which she was born. Two of the crew members slept in another hut, the one Mbeki used during his stay in 2003.

Boerewors straight onto the coals. You need warm, ash free coals. It takes about 4 minutes.

Although not unique to the Venda’s, we were shown how to braai boerewors strait on the coals – no grills involved – and were treated to out first potjie of the tour, a classic lamb potjie recipe with the twist of using lamb shanks.

The Lamb Shank Potjie was a great variation of the classic Lamb Potjie recipe.

The Soutpansberge is a national treasure and one almost hopes that the tourist herd will stay away for a while longer. Truly a unique place for our fifteenth day on tour.

Chris from Getaway who is on tour with us took this photo whilst on a game drive.

We were hosted by Leshiba Wilderness (www.leshiba.co.za 011 726 6347) and they took great care of us.

Quite a lot of heritage, in one street.

That Soweto was going to be a stop on the Braai4Heritage tour was always obvious. Exactly where to go in a place with so much history was the difficult decision. We ended up focussing on the only street in the world that has two Nobel Peace Prize winners as former residents, Vilakazi Street. Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu both lived in this Sowetan street during earlier stages of their life. It must be noted that Desmond Tutu is the patron of the Braai4Heritage initiative.

With our tour guide Leonard in front of Desmond Tutu's house.

Sakhumzi is a braai restaurant is right next to Desmond Tutu's house in Vilakazi Street.

At Nelson Madela's house. We had to redo the TV recording a few times as a neighbor was mowing his lawn and that kept interrupting with the sound. Thus the look on my face. Shortly after this, we asked him to keep it down for a while, and he was actually very friendly and agreed. But unfortunately there is no photo of that.

A real Soweto "Buy and Braai". This is not in Vilakazi Street, but it looked so good that we had to join it.

A selection of boerewors and ox hearts was thrown on the fire.

Thank you to our guide Leonard, Ben our driver and to the crew at Themba tours (www.sowetotour.co.za, 011 463 3306) who organized the braai at Sakhumzi (www.sakhumzi.co.za) on Vilakazi street.

The picture does not show it, but we are having a deep meaningful discussion about meat and braai styles, in Afrikaans. No jokes.

On the morning of the Potchefstroom day, we went for one final drive in parts of Vredefort Dome.

Voortrekkers founded Potchefstroom as a town in 1838. It served as the first capital of the Zuid Afriaanse Republiek but no one seems to be able to agree on why the place was named Potchefstroom in the first place. There is also currently a drive to change its name to Tlokwe – the city council already goes by that name – as that was the name of the area before the Voortrekkers arrived in 1838. As with Potchefstroom there is precious little information available on why it was originally called Tlokwe.

The most famous walk on Potch campus is called "Lover's Lane".

The Nederduitsch Hervormde Church (Dutch Reformed Church) in Potch is the oldest church building north of the Vaal River in South Africa, and the city hall is the oldest city hall north of the Vaal River in South Africa. (There are obviously older churches and city halls north of the Vaal River all across Europe). At the inauguration of the City hall in 1909, the local residents asked Jan Smuts whether the town would become the capital of South Africa, and he replied that there is no chance of that happening. He suggested that Potchefstroom should rather focus on becoming an educational powerhouse, something that it actually managed quite well. To this day there is a large concentration of universities, schools and other educational establishments situated in Potchefstroom. As far as I know, the most famous person to study at Potchefstroom was Nobel Peace Prize winner and former South African president F.W. de Klerk. He is the man who, from a government side, ensured that South Africa has a peaceful transition to democracy.

The touring crew including cameramen, the PukFM DJ's and management as well as Ekhouvanjouokay, a Potch campus band who wrote a Braai4Heritage song about the 40 day braai tour and performed it live at the braai.

As the University is the main and biggest thing happening in Potch we decided to braai with students, specifically the PukFM team (the DJ’s and management of their campus radio station).

Jan Braai and the Rector of Potchefstroom University, Professor Herman van Schalkwyk

Thanks Amore Truter (PukFM Station manager, www.pukfm.co.za) for organizing our braai as well as Ekhouvanjouokay (www.ekhouvanjouokay.co.za) who preformed an unplugged gig at the braai. Kameelhout Boerewors rolls were provided by Vision meat (www.visionmeat.co.za) and finally thank you to Akkerlaan Guesthouse (018 293 1213, www.akkerlaan.co.za) who provided us with accommodation close to the venue.

World Heritage Site number 3 of the tour.

Shooting stars as we know them aren’t really shooting starts at all. They are pieces of rock entering the earth’s atmosphere. As they enter the atmosphere at an average speed of about 10km per second the resultant friction with the air causes them to burn. And that is the light we see. These pieces of flying rock are called asteroids. And sometimes when they are big enough they get all the way down to earth without completely burning out before they arrive. In those cases they are called meteorites.

With our tour guide for the day. His name is also Jan.

Give or take a few million, about 2023 million years ago one such meteorite arrived on earth hitting the surface at previously mentioned speeds. What made this particular meteorite special is that is was about 10km in diameter. So a 10km wide rock struck the earth at 10km per second 2023 years ago at Vredefort and due to the magnitude of the impact the whole thing exploded so there is nothing left of that meteorite today. The question then is, how do we know the story is true? And this is how: There is a 90km wide bowl (or upside down dome) in the earth at the site of impact, and a larger 300km wide crater around that. You obviously need to look at this from the air to actually see it and that is why we went flying over it in a light aircraft. Scientists could use the size of this dome and crater and their knowledge of the speed that meteorites travel at to calculate the size of said meteorite. The impact is believed to have been bigger than the biggest atom bomb ever set off on earth. The good news is that distressing yourself over the consequences of such a meteorite arriving again is not necessary, as there would be no consequence for you at all. We’d all die instantly.

It's Sunflower season in that part of the Free State. Photo also indented to relax you after the ending of last paragraph.

As this is the biggest crater and dome caused by a meteorite anywhere on earth ever, it teaches scientists many valuable lessons about the history and development of earth and civilization. As I’m not a scientist I have no idea what those lessons are.  But nonetheless, due to this scientific value, the Vredefort dome was declared a Unesco World Heritage Site in 2005.

Despite bad signal, Helderberg FM tracked me down for an update interview on the tour. Chris captured it on camera.

The only remaining mystery is the following: If shooting stars allows us to make wishes and the biggest shooting star in living and un-living memory occurred in the Free State, then why does their rugby team consistently fail to win trophies?

Due to the impact of the meteorite, gold deposits are close to the earth surface and there are old gold mines at Vredefort. The camera crew was exited about lighting up the whole place and shooting there for a while. As I could not walk upright I was less exited about it. Here's two of TV crew members, Faan and Timmy about to film me "walking out of a gold mine".

It was also our first day in the Free State.

Together with Cape Town and Pretoria, Bloemfontein is one of South Africa’s three capital cities. It also goes by its Sesotho name Mangaung, which means place of the Cheetahs. The name of their rugby team is also “The Cheetahs” so it really is an apt name for the city. Lastly it is also known as the “city of Roses” because there are a lot of roses and because it annually hosts a rose festival. Literally speaking, Bloemfontein means “fountain of flowers” so that is also an apt name but to be honest, I’m more exited by the fact that Lambertsbay has an annual crayfish festival and the fact that Stellenbosch has an annual wine festival. It is unclear from history books how the city originally got that name, as it’s unclear whether flowers would have grown there on their own choice in the first place.

Jan Braai with Jaun Smit at Juan's butchery in Bloemfontein. Behind them, the cleaver award the butchery won last year.

Bloemfontein was founded in 1854 and was always the capital of the Orange Free State region in its various legal forms. Not much happened there until 3 January 1892 when JR Tolken, writer of Lord of the Rings was born there. His family left the country in 1896 when his father died but he remembered Bloemfontein in his later life as being a “hot place”.

Getting drilled (and filmed) at a training session with the Grey 1st team. Watch it on Kyknet 15 July.

The National Women’s Memorial in Bloemfontien pays homage to the more than 26,000 women and children who died in concentration camps at British hands during the Anglo-Boer war between 1899 and 1902. I think that this is one of the reasons why the local citizens enjoyed it so much when England suffered a 1-4 defeat to Germany during the 2010 Soccer World Cup game played in Bloemfontein.

The training session was tough. Really tough.

The biggest single contribution that Bloemfontein makes to South African society is the consistent stream of Springbok rugby players that gets produced at Grey College: Morne du Plessis, Ruben Kruger, Os du Randt, Naka Drotske, Jannie & Bismark du Plessis, Ruan Pienaaar, Frans Steyn, CJ van der Linde and Heinrich Brussow to name a few. Bloemfontein is also noteable as the place where famous 80’s women’s middle and long distance athlete Zola Budd comes from. These days Zola Budd is the name for a taxi in South African townships due to the speed with which they travel around in the streets.

Jan Braai and the Dave's meat market crew.

We thank Dries Van Der Walt at Grey College for organizing the braai with the Grey Bloem first team; Dave Nel at Dave’s Meat Market (davemeat@mweb.co.za, 051 522 8103) for some good Kameelhout boerewors; and a big thank you to the staff at Waverley Manor who gave us great beds for the evening (www.waverleymanor.co.za, 051 436 2782).

This poster was in the window of Dave's meat market. It is also in about 1500 other butcheries in the country. Notice the expert way in which the photographer Chris Davies captured the reflection of the tour bakkie as well.

The view from the edge of the lookout point where we braaied.

Let’s be honest and admit that the reason why we all know of Kimberley is because of its hole, the big diamond hole. Coincidently, this is also the reason why Kimberley exists so don’t feel guilty for knowing little else about the place. In 1866 a diamond was found and traded in the vicinity of the current Kimberley and this happened a second time in 1869. But is was third time lucky in 1872, when a 83,5 carat diamond was found on a koppie on the farm Vooruitzight, belonging to the De Beers brothers, that the real diamond rush took place. As every girl and some men know 83,5 carat is one hell of a stone. Within a month 800 claims were staked and worked on the koppie which was rapidly being torn apart. As work continued the koppie was levelled with the ground and gradually turned into a hole, the world-renowned Kimberley se Gat (Kimberley Mine). The Boers, the Brits and the local Griquas all claimed ownership of the diamond fields, and after arbitration by the Brits the Griquas got it and immediately placed themselves under British protection. It is unclear from history books whether the Brits received a kickback for going with the Griquas during the arbitration process.

Local Kimberley butcher Rudi braaied the meat.

The area was then known as Griqualand West. For about two years after that, from 1871 to 1873 the British politicians fought about what to name the place and it was eventually named after the highest ranking official that was part of the discussion Lord Kimberley. This ensured that he would be able to spell the name of the town correctly. It is unclear from history books whether Lord Kimberley had any grandchildren in the 1950’s National Party government who also named everything after themselves. As we can see here, renaming places for no apparent reason at all is not a new thing; it’s part of South African heritage.

We braaied on the edge of the hole next to the lookout platform. Any closer and we'de be braaing in the hole.

Individuals, partnerships and companies owning parts of the mine gradually merged until 1888 when it all came together and there was only one owner, De Beers Consolidated Mines, who until today holds a monopoly over the world diamond market.

There were a few other tasty things as well, but the Prime-Rib steaks was the highlight.

Kimberley has two very famous pubs, “The Star of the West”, and “The Half”. The former has been operational since 1870 and apparently got it’s name as parts of it was built from wood transported there all the way from the South African West-Coast by shipwrecked sailors from a ship by the same name. The latter was halfway between Beaconsfield (which really is now just part of Kimberley) and Kimberley City Centre. It is rumoured to be the only remaining drive in pub in the world, and legend has it that is was originally proclaimed a drive in pub by Cecil John Rhodes when he was to old and lazy to get off his horse for a drink. At some stage the owners were instructed to build a six-foot wall around the pub, so they dug a six feet deep trench around it, and built a wall in the trench. When visiting the pub there is absolutely no sign of the wall, as it is under the ground.

The guys from Opi Draai Butchery are serious about meat. We braaied with them and members of the local Round Table on a boat on the Orange River.

Upington is situated in the Northern Cape on the banks of the Orange River. In the middle of Upington, in the middle of the river, there is an Island with the very original name Die Eiland (the island). Upington was originally a mission station and the town was founded in 1884 and named after the attorney general of the Cape, Sir Thomas Upington. These days the mission station houses a museum that hosts amongst other things, a statue of a donkey. This is to dedicate the role that the donkey (yes, the animal) played during the early development of the Northern Cape in the 19^th century. Due to the abundance of water from the river and high temperatures, the area is best known for its production of export quality grapes.

The Upington airport has one of the longest runways in the world, 4900 meters long. In the 1970’s a fully loaded Boing 747 could take off from here and fly all the way to London. These days the planes just fly from Cape Town or Johannesburg. This long runway also resulted in NASA choosing it as their preferred landing site in the Southern hemisphere, a position it still holds today.

We had some exceptional deboned lamb-rib, which the two butchers braaied to perfection personally.

Notice the flood damage bottom right.

Augrabies is a waterfall in the Orange River and it situated 120km west of Upington and arguably the greatest of all South African waterfalls. The name derives from its original Khoi name Ankoerebis, meaning the “place of big noises”. Augrabies is most famous for the nbso online casino reviews incredible photos that get emailed around South Africa every time the Orange River is in flood and chaos ensues at the falls. The falls are 56 meters high, and below it is a gorge that runs for 18km. It was the site of arguably the most scenic braai I will ever have in my entire life.

Arguably the most scenic braai of my life. The camera crew also had a field day filming scenic shots.

Step 2 of playing Springbok Sevens is taking your picture at this sign.

Springbok is the biggest town in the Namaqualand area of the Northern Cape. It is 560km north of Cape Town, 900km south of Windhoek and 375km west of Upington. In short then, Springbok is the biggest town in the middle of no-where. The town is surrounded by the Klein Koperberge (small copper mountains) and originally came to being as a being a commercial centre for copper mining activities. It was founded in 1862 and originally known as Springbokfontein, but in 1911 this was shortened to Springbok. Today the town is best known for the fact that you pass through it on your way to Namibia. As with every other part of Namaqualand the area turns into a flower garden in spring. Springbok has 300 days of sunshine and 4 inches of rain per year, which makes it very unlike London.

Skilpadjies, Pofadders, Lamb Rib, Boerewors, Lamb Saddle Chops. All with compliments of Die Plaasslaghuis on Springbok. And yes, we really did braai all of that. But then I had to lie down.

During our visit to Springbok I played Springbok Sevens, which works as follows:

1. Wear a Springbok jersey
2. Take a photo at the Springbok entrance (see below)
3. Eat Springbok biltong
4. Listen to Springbok Nude Girls music
5. Drink a Springbokkie
6. Drink another Springbokkie
7. Braai Springbok meat.

In the very far corner of the Northern Cape, the Richtersveld is mountainous desert landscape characterised by rugged kloofs, sandy plains and high mountains that harbours astonishing biodiversity. The place is barren. Temperatures can reach up to 50 degrees Celsius and rain is largely a foreign concept. Despite and because of this, the Richtersveld is regarded as the only Arid Biodiversity Hotspot on Earth. In June 2007, the “Richtersveld Cultural and Botanical Landscape” was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

On Akkedispas we met a local game ranger who told us more about his braai and fishing habits.

Humans have occupied the area for thousands of years, with early inhabitants surviving by hunting animals like Springboks and gathering berries and bulbs. About 2000 years ago the first pastoral (animal farming) inhabitants arrived from northern Botswana, bringing with them sheep and cattle. The Nama people are descendants of them. Moving home and family in search of better grazing for stock, the Namas are traditionally nomadic people. Matching the harsh environment, the move their livestock between areas of better grazing with the changing of seasons. This rotation of pastures also helps to preserve the land from overuse. The Richtersveld is the last place in South Africa where pastoral people live on communal lands the last remaining example of the nomadic Nama way of life.

A relaxed lunch under a tree in a dry riverbed.

The Richtersveld supports a unique and diverse ecosystem and there is a more extensive range of succulent species (vetplante) than anywhere else in the world. Interesting plants include the giant quiver tree, kokerboom and halfmens. More than 60 animal species including the rare mountain zebra, jackal, leopard and black-backed rock hyrax also inhabit the park.

Leader in the local Nama tribe Gert Links, who was instrumental in the declaration of the Richtersveld as a World Heritage Site, and Jan Braai.

As the local Namaqua inhabitants already knew it was there, it would be wrong to claim that Bartolomeu Dais discovered Port Nolloth. But he did land there in 1487 before travelling further down the West Coast. The area remained relatively obscure until 1852 when copper was discovered 160km inland from there and the Cape Colony needed a harbour to ship the copper from. A captain Nolloth was dispatched and he found the bay to be fairly sheltered, and a basic harbour and quay was built. The harbour was also named after him.

Entering the diamond area in the Kleinzee region.

For the next 60 years copper was shipped from Port Nolloth, but it was never really a great place for ships to dock. There were a few reefs blocking the entrance to the bay, and various ships got stranded through the years. The town really started to go downhill, but then in 1926 alluvium diamonds were discovered along the coast south and north of the town. Alluvium diamonds are the same as real diamonds only they don’t sit underground, but are lying around in loose soil. In this case the loose sea sand under the water, just off the coast of Port Nolloth. Through the years these diamonds were washed down the Orange River from inland. What followed was a diamond rush of note and once again the town prospered. The diamonds did not make the harbour any safer though, and ships continued to get stranded and sink at regular intervals. From the 1970’s to the 1990’s the diamond supply was on the decrease, and by the turn of the century, Port Nolloth was yet again quietly slipping into obscurity. Currently there are two good reasons to visit Port Nolloth. It’s a quiet West Coast fishing village in a remote part of the country, and secondly, the still persistent rumours of untold diamond riches lying just offshore.

Similar to me, the locals all speak rubbish fluently.

But if you are on a braai tour, none of that matters. What you do then, is hook up with a group of about 60 locals, go to a historical braai site called Houthoop and you braai Cob, Steenbras, Mussels (all freshly caught in the Atlantic a few kilometers away), boerewors, lamb chops, vetderms (sausage made from lamb intestines) and lamb tails. You sit around the fire, and as the evening progresses you start hearing the truth behind the diamond rumours.

According to the locals, Lamberts Bay was proclaimed “the Diamond of the West Coast”. Apparently, this is due to its white beaches and moderate weather all year round. As far as we can establish, the locals did this proclamation themselves, so we are taking it with a bit of sea salt. I’m pretty sure there are a few other towns along the West Coast who also think of themselves as the “Diamond of the West Coast”.

Our first dirt-road was between Piketberg and Lamberts Bay. Thus the smile on my face as we arrived at Muisbosskerm.

What is a fact is that Lamberts Bay is a West Coast fishing village in the sense of the word: Rusted cars, a South-Easter breeze and the overpowering and always present smell of the sea. A smell that for some reason is stronger along the West Coast. These fishing villages are on the road less travelled, and forms part of the remote and romantic part of South African heritage. I always think it as the Karoo by the sea. Which happens to be exactly what it is. A desert by the sea. Agriculturally, the Lamberts Bay region produces a lot of potatoes in the surrounding flat sandy areas. Potatoes being the core ingredient of potato salad, this alone would warrant a visit to the area when embarking on a braai tour. (And did I learn a few things about potato farming today!)

She was in charge of the crayfish and it was love at first sight.

But we are not here to eat potato salad. Ultimately all of the above are really minor details. The real reason why we are here is to devour braaied seafood. The reason of existence for a West Coast fishing village is seafood after all, and it is in ample supply in this town. On day three of the Braai4Heritage tour we braaied at the Muisbosskerm, which the owner Edward Turner quite rightly calls a West Coast heritage site. It was a seafood feast of note, including paella, White Stumpnose and obviously crayfish. Lamberts Bay hosts the annual crayfish festival and the locals should be happy that there are some crayfish left for that festival…

The problem with Stellenbosch is that I know it too well and thus struggle to look at the place objectively. Cape Town has a mountain, Kimberly a big hole and Pretoria has Loftus. But what exactly is the thing that would summarise Stellenbosch in one go? I still don’t have that answer. What I can tell you is that as the wine capital of South Africa, Stellenbosch was always going to be on the Braai4Heritage tour itinerary. I can also tell you what we did on day two of the tour.

Jan and Valiant trying to figure out why the lamb chops are so tough when the boerewors was so good.

Stellenbosch has three prominent streets: Birdstraat, Dorpstraat and Pleinstraat. We drove into town via Birdstraat, turned left into Pleinstraat and stopped at Eikeboom butchery. Meat, including their “Eikeboom” and “Stellenbosch” boerewors was collected and the butcher Nick went on camera to explain his views on where the best meat in the country comes from. From here we headed down Dorpstreet to my favourite bar in the world, De Akker. This also happens to be the favourite bar of Stellenbosch local, the musician Valiant Swart. I sat down at the bar counter with Valiant where we discussed music, poetry, braaing and touring around SA. Four topics he’s quite well versed in. Then it was time for business, so we headed outside where on the stoep of De Akker, with a view of Stellenbosch Mountain and joined by a few of my best friends, we proceeded to test Nic’s boerewors. Valiant was obviously in charge of entertainment and read a piece of poetry “Kom ons braai” (Let’s braai) from his new book in addition to singing a song “Die Kraai Braai” from his new CD whilst I gently couched the boerewors to readiness.

Stellenbosch might mean something else to others, for me it’s the place where my father taught me how to braai; where I meet up with my friends for a drink at De Akker; and where the best wine in the world is made.

Table Mountain national park is a world heritage site and is a fitting place to braai at on day one of the Braai4Heritage tour. The first event on the tour itinerary was the cycling of the Argus Cycle Tour by myself. The cycle tour happened to be on the same day as Day 1 of the Braai4Heritage Tour. The Argus was first held in 1978 and goes right around the Cape Peninsula, in other words it goes right around Table Mountain and thus also passes through large parts of the Table Mountain National Park.

I was being filmed pretending to be a tourist taking photos. Here is one of the photos that I took whilst pretending to take photos.

After about 3 and a half hours of relaxed cycling I arrived at the top of the last hill of the tour Suikerbossie, where crew member Frans and cameraman Timmy where waiting with a braai. I jumped off the bike for a quick boerewors braai, ate a boerewors roll and then proceeded to the finish line of the cycle tour in Greenpoint.

In the afternoon we went to the top of the mountain with the cable car enjoying the spectacular views and doing a bit of filming with the TV crew during which I had to pretend that I’m a tourist taking photos. One of of these photos you can see Stephanus Rabie, one of the camera men for the TV show and Chris Davies of Getaway magazine.

As the sun started to set we rode to the lower cable way station where we were hosted to a braai by the CEO of the Table Mountain Aerial Cableway Company, Sabine Lehmann and head of Table Mountain’s 7 Wonders campaign Fiona Furey. Basically they need your vote to make Table Mountain one of the official 7 natural wonders of the world. Visit http://www.votefortablemountain.com/ for more info on that.

Exactly two weeks after contacting Barloworld GM Bruma and inviting them to become the transport partner of the Braai4Heritage tour, I drove up Kloofnek road in Cape Town in one of the two bakkies which they graciously supplied to make said tour happen. The long technical name for the vehicles they gave us is “ISUZU KB 300 D-TEQ LX DOUBLE CAB” which in English means that it has a 3 liter turbo diesel engine. Now as any braai loving male would do with a new bakkie that has a 3 liter turbo diesel engine, I “tested” it whilst going up Kloofnek road. So I arrived at the traffic cameras halfway up Kloofnek at quite a speed which led to me testing another feature of the vehicle, its ABS breaks.

The Braai4Heritage bakkies doing the famous "In front of Table Moutain" pose.

The bakkie has many features and buttons that I have not tried yet. Thus far the best ones that I tried are the aircon buttons, which makes the car nice and cold, and the one-touch automatic window button, which rolls down the window after one touch when stopping at a parking garage boom gate. There is a Diff-Lock button as well, that I look forward to pressing in about a week when we enter our second World Heritage Site of the tour, The Richtersveld. This is obviously not a car review, so I’ll end this part by mentioning the other feature that normal people like me would appreciate: The radio has an auxiliary input which means that my iPhone plugs straight into the sound system.

The Braai4Heritage initiative is about uniting 50 million South Africans around braai fires. And to reach that goal we need the support of people like Barloworld GM Bruma. As stated above, it was exactly two weeks from first contact, to delivery of vehicles. In that time the bakkies got canopies, towbars, bull-bars, tracking systems, smash&grab window protection, roof-racks and they were driven across the country, as the tour starts in Cape Town and they were in Johannesburg. This is exceptional service.

Alistair Rawstorne from Barloworld GM Bruma just emailed this photo to me. In a day or a week’s time, once I’ve driven with the bakkies myself I will amend this post with a bit more info on them. For now I can just say that I’m pretty exited about the fact that what you see below is what we will be driving around South Africa from Sunday for 40 days, 40 heritage sites, 40 braais.