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Stoep Chat

’s weekly stories, observations and conversations from Knysna and beyond.

9 July 2026

Help Create Environmentally Conscious Leaders

I have just read a book called “Raising Hare”, a true story about a young woman with a high-powered job in London, who retreats to her converted barn in the country during Covid. She…

I have just read a book called “Raising Hare”, a true story about a young woman with a high-powered job in London, who retreats to her converted barn in the country during Covid. She finds an abandoned newborn hare that she successfully raises to adulthood, feeding and caring for it while ensuring it did not become a pet so it could return to the wild. This experience awakens her to the wonders of nature, which she had not really thought about much, and also makes her realise how destructive humans are, shooting hares for sport and destroying their habitat. It…

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2 July 2026

Knysna’s Musical Gems

I had a lovely surprise when I went to listen to live music at Blend last week. Three young guys, dressed in black, stood in front of their microphones, took deep breaths and what…

I had a lovely surprise when I went to listen to live music at Blend last week. Three young guys, dressed in black, stood in front of their microphones, took deep breaths and what flowed out sounded like opera. It was the beautiful Neapolitan song O Sole Mia - made famous by Luciano Pavarotti. I was totally taken aback. They call themselves Los Trios and here's what was astonishing: they had practiced together only three times before their live performance last Friday. The next song You Raise Me Up saw some people shedding a tear while their final number, Leonard…

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25 June 2026

Gorillas – Gentle Giants

One thing I really want to do some day is see the mountain gorillas in Rwanda. It was Dian Fossey's book Gorillas in the Mist that introduced me to these fascinating primates, and the…

One thing I really want to do some day is see the mountain gorillas in Rwanda. It was Dian Fossey's book Gorillas in the Mist that introduced me to these fascinating primates, and the horrible wars with poachers. What made me think about them was a newsletter from Daily Science with the headline: Gorillas Scared by Poaching Learn to Trust Again. It wasn't about mountain gorillas, but lowland gorillas in Cameroon, home of the Cross River gorillas – the world's rarest great ape with only about 280 individuals remaining in the wild. They are threatened not only by poaching but…

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18 June 2026

Are Plants Intelligent?

I remember while on a hiking trail in Kruger, the ranger told us something quite amazing: that plants could communicate with each other. “So if a kudu eats the leaves on a tree, that…

I remember while on a hiking trail in Kruger, the ranger told us something quite amazing: that plants could communicate with each other. “So if a kudu eats the leaves on a tree, that tree can send a warning to other trees by releasing chemicals into the air. This stimulates them to produce a chemical that makes their leaves taste unpleasant,” he said. I thought that so clever. Now I have learned even more fascinating secrets about clever plants in a book called The Light Eaters by Zoë Schlanger. Take the mucuna vine that is pollinated by bats. Bats use…

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11 June 2026

Release White Steenbras

It's World Oceans Day as I write so I thought I would tell you about some women on our doorstep doing research on the Knysna Estuary. You may have seen them in boats or…

It's World Oceans Day as I write so I thought I would tell you about some women on our doorstep doing research on the Knysna Estuary. You may have seen them in boats or in the mud when the tide is out, and wondered what they were doing. Well, they are scientists from the Knysna Estuary Research Foundation (KERF) and I've been getting snippets of what they're up to in their newsy emails. Really interesting. One thing they do every month is sample what's in the estuary. Using nets they record and measure each creature they pull up, before releasing…

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4 June 2026

Slow-Motion Disaster

When the court slapped a R10m fine on Knysna Municipality last week for breaking several environmental laws, it was a wake-up call for the local authority. And for residents because it shows how bad…

When the court slapped a R10m fine on Knysna Municipality last week for breaking several environmental laws, it was a wake-up call for the local authority. And for residents because it shows how bad things have become. I know the municipality has been working on a “turn-around strategy”, and that there are some committed officials and residents' groups like Knysna Infrastructure Group, who have been trying to address problems, but sadly, it's not been enough. A major part of the problem is, we know, the neglect of crucial infrastructure like the town's sewerage works that has been allowed to deteriorate…

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28 May 2026

Breslau: a Bushveld Gem

One of the grand things about Breslau private game reserve is that you are not restricted to your vehicle. During our recent visit to Breslau, just west of Mapungubwe National Park, we were free…

One of the grand things about Breslau private game reserve is that you are not restricted to your vehicle. During our recent visit to Breslau, just west of Mapungubwe National Park, we were free to wander down to the Limpopo River, sit under the trees and watch the swollen waters rolling by – while keeping an eye out for crocs. And we could go for walks in the bush, feel the sun on our backs, see the puffs of dust from our footsteps and smell the strong scent where game had passed. In the late afternoons, we would pack a…

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21 May 2026

Breslau Bushveld

Back in 1919 a man called Carl Shultz looked over the bushveld on the banks of the Limpopo River and loved it. He decided to buy nine farms so that when he died each…

Back in 1919 a man called Carl Shultz looked over the bushveld on the banks of the Limpopo River and loved it. He decided to buy nine farms so that when he died each of his nine children would inherit a piece of this paradise. One of those farms is called Breslau. Inky Meter of Knysna, a Schultz descendant, inherited a share in the farm that she first visited when she was just six months old. We were lucky enough to be invited to join her at Breslau, just west of Mapungubwe National Park. Man, what a place. Breslau stretches…

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14 May 2026

Kingdom of Mapungubwe

My word! You guys in Knysna and Plett have really been through the wringer with storms and floods. Here’s hoping things return to normal fast. Meanwhile up here on the warm, sunny Limpopo River…

My word! You guys in Knysna and Plett have really been through the wringer with storms and floods. Here’s hoping things return to normal fast. Meanwhile up here on the warm, sunny Limpopo River we’ve been learning about the intriguing history of Mapungubwe. Most people know about Mapungubwe’s golden rhino, but perhaps not so much about the 400-year-old civilization it came from. The little rhino, made of thin gold moulded around a wooden rhino carving, was found in a grave of one of the royals who ruled over the Kingdom of Mapungubwe, a flourishing civilization that existed from about 900…

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7 May 2026

Magnificent Mapungubwe

We're on a wonderful road trip and have reached as far north as we can go in South Africa: the lovely Limpopo River. We're staying at Mapungubwe National Park – and it's hot. It…

We're on a wonderful road trip and have reached as far north as we can go in South Africa: the lovely Limpopo River. We're staying at Mapungubwe National Park – and it's hot. It feels as if we've moved from the Southern Cape winter straight into summer. Shorts, slipslops and curtains closed at the Leokwe camp cottages to keep out the heat. I love the bushveld, its endless undisturbed vegetation and the big silence. No cell phone reception or wifi here so nothing to detract from the experience. They've had stacks of rain recently and the veld is lush. Trees,…

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30 April 2026

Unexpected Spin-Off from US War on Iran

Who would have thought the US-Israeli war on Iran could have any positive spin-offs for global energy? We know this war has strangled 20% of global oil supply and that the world is feeling…

Who would have thought the US-Israeli war on Iran could have any positive spin-offs for global energy? We know this war has strangled 20% of global oil supply and that the world is feeling its effects. We're paying more for fuel while the price of basic commodities like food is rising. Whenever the price of oil increases, it has a ripple effect throughout the global economy. So what's the positive spin-off for global energy from this war? In a nutshell, it's making world governments realise just how risky it is to rely on fossil fuels, and how easily the world's…

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23 April 2026

Water Crisis: Things are Looking Up

When things go wrong, those responsible often put their hands in the air and say: “It wasn't me!” When things go right, everyone wants to take the credit. So it is with Knysna's water…

When things go wrong, those responsible often put their hands in the air and say: “It wasn't me!” When things go right, everyone wants to take the credit. So it is with Knysna's water crisis, and it's making one man mad. “There is no one person or one political party that can take credit for this. Things are coming right with the water crisis because of collaboration between National, Provincial and Local governments, with private engineers, technicians, consultants, and also some residents' organisations, so all those videos and social media stuff claiming it was because of one political party is…

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16 April 2026

Knysna’s Miracle Baby

Some stories just make you smile. That was my reaction when I read last week about Knysna's “micro-baby”, born three months premature, so tiny he could fit into the palm of a hand. Doctors…

Some stories just make you smile. That was my reaction when I read last week about Knysna's “micro-baby”, born three months premature, so tiny he could fit into the palm of a hand. Doctors thought he might not survive, and said if he did, he would never be able to read or write or hold down a job, and would always be dependent on his parents. But that little baby, Jarryd Grootboom, has proved them wrong. Jarryd is now 23, happy, healthy and has a full-time job. The cherry on the top was getting his driver's licence last month. For…

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9 April 2026

“To Boldly Go. . .”

Don't you love the photographs of the Earth taken by the astronauts on board the spaceship Artemis 2? I know we've seen pics of Earth from space before, but there's something special about seeing…

Don't you love the photographs of the Earth taken by the astronauts on board the spaceship Artemis 2? I know we've seen pics of Earth from space before, but there's something special about seeing them on the same day they're taken. Artemis 2 has passed the far side of the moon – which we can never see from Earth – reached its turning point 406,773km away and is on its way home. These astronauts have travelled further than anyone has ever before, breaking the record set in 1970 by Apollo 13. What's unusual about this space flight is the amount…

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2 April 2026

Easter: Festivals and Forests

Easter weekend is here and many people are on the road. Some will be heading to a really funky event near Stanford in the Overberg called the Reforest Fest. It's a music festival with…

Easter weekend is here and many people are on the road. Some will be heading to a really funky event near Stanford in the Overberg called the Reforest Fest. It's a music festival with a difference. On Saturday morning the music stops and everyone heads into the veld to plant 10,000 indigenous trees, part of a project to re-establish the Uilenkraal forest. Isn't that great? The Reforest Fest is an annual event organised by Greenpop, an organisation founded in 2010 by Misha and Lauren Teasdale. I like Greenpop's mission: to restore damaged environments and inspire people to “get active, not…

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26 March 2026

The Massive Force of Water

Africa, land of floods and droughts. That was Knysna recently with floods sweeping through the dry Garden Route. Made me remember the devastating three-year drought in KwaZulu-Natal in the 1980s when I was…

Africa, land of floods and droughts. That was Knysna recently with floods sweeping through the dry Garden Route. Made me remember the devastating three-year drought in KwaZulu-Natal in the 1980s when I was a young reporter in Durban, broken by massive floods when Cyclone Domoina hit. Crops were failing, livestock dying and many farmers faced bankruptcy. Cholera broke out in northern Zululand. This was during apartheid when hardly any black people in rural areas had piped water and relied on rivers - increasingly polluted as they began drying up. The health authorities were overwhelmed and called in the army's help…

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