Author: Desiree Haakonsen

With cars featuring “GP” number plates, Johannesburg has become known as “Gangster’s Paradise”. In the past it has battled a reputation of being a crime-ridden, concrete jungle rife with Sandton kugels*, but over the last few years, the city of Johannesburg has undergone a renaissance and become a tourist destination in its own right. These […]

Dirty Dancing is coming to SA! DIRTY DANCING is coming to SA!! DIRTY DANCING IS COMING TO SA!!!! Cue girlie scream! Dirty Dancing, The Classic Story On Stage is the fastest selling theatre production in West End history and it’s opening at the Teatro at Montecasino in Johannesburg this Friday, 26 October 2012. Cue silly […]

Self-catering holidays are a wonderful way to enjoy a break away from home, but still enjoy the comfort (and affordability) of cooking for yourself. Aside from regular food items like bread, milk, cooking oil, salt and pepper, and a bottle of wine, there are certain items that you just can’t afford to go without. Many […]

My evening at Richard’s Supper Stage has skyrocketed to my number one dinner theatre experience. I’ve seen several shows, but none quite like “Kaapse Stories from the Mother City”. From the moment I stepped up the staircase, appropriately bearing the names of District 6 streets, to the last clap of the standing ovation, I was […]

The annual Simon’s Town Penguin Festival is taking place this Saturday, 13 October 2012, in celebration of the delightful tuxedoed birds that have become such an icon of Simon’s Town. The Penguin Festival coincides with African Penguin Awareness Day and is hosted by SANCCOB, one of South Africa’s leading marine NPOs, and South African National […]

We all know South Africa’s “Big 5”: the elephant, lion, buffo, leopard, and rhino. Entire vacations are planned for the sole purpose of spotting them. But I would like to introduce you to the lesser known “Small 5”, whose names relate to their bigger counterparts.   The Elephant Shrew Getting its name from the elongated […]

At some point in our lives (ok, a lot of points in our lives) we ladies have that clichéd Cinderella fantasy. A damsel in distress is rescued by a handsome prince who risks his life for her. He instantly falls in love with her captivating beauty (inside and out) and makes her his princess. And, […]

Ahoy mateys! It be International Talk Like a Pirate Day, so strike me colours if I don’t talk in a pirate way. Yo ho! Pirate fever be takin’ its toll aboard our olde port o’ work. Good olde pirate rock songs be fillin’ the decks with timber stomping tunes as we be settin’ sail under […]