Poems of displacement, interactions in a variety of social landscapes, in temporary homes that offer respite and change, and which find solace in the natural world.

Greg du Toit recounts his fascinating life having spent decades as an African Wildlife Photographer, including incredible once-in-a-lifetime experiences like photographing lions from the middle of a watering hole. This autobiography is a must for anyone who dreams of Africa.

Packed with adrenalin-fuelled adventures, humour and true-life campfire tales, Wilderness Dreaming is an endearingly honest memoir of one photographer’s unforgettable quest for his own lost Africa.

Well-known television anchor and media personality Ruda Landman talks to a wide variety of South Africans about their life choices and how change has affected them.

A colourful mosaic of diverse experiences emerges as people share life stories and lessons. The book includes insights by the likes of John Kani, Ferial Haffajee, Pieter-Dirk Uys, Katlego Maboe, Gugu Zulu, Zapiro, ProVerb, Arno Carstens, Mam' Khanyi (who takes in street children and orphans), Nick Binnedell and Marc Lottering.

Revealing, sad, funny and filled with hope as well-known and ordinary people equally show how each one of us always has options and can make a difference by how we respond to what we encounter.

What does the lawn want? To be watered, fertilised, mowed, admired, fretted over, ignored? This unusual question serves as a starting point for Civilising Grass: The Art of the Lawn on the South African Highveld, an unexpected and often disconcerting critique of one of the most common and familiar landscapes in South Africa. The lawn, Jonathan Cane argues, is not quite as innocent as we might think. Besides the fact that lawns suck up scarce water, consume chemicals, displace indigenous plants and reduce biodiversity, they are also part of a colonial lineage of dispossession and violence. They reduce the political problem of land to the aesthetic question of landscape, thereby obscuring issues of ownership, redress, belonging and labour. The question then becomes: Who takes care of whose lawn, in what clothes, under what conditions and for what reward?

Civilising Grass offers a detailed reading of artistic, literary and architectural lawns between 1886 and 2017. The eclectic archive includes plans, poems, maps, gardening blogs, adverts, ethnographies and ephemera, as well as literature by Koos Prinsloo, Marlene van Niekerk and Ivan Vladislavic. In addition, the book includes colour reproductions of lawn artworks by David Goldblatt, Lungiswa Gqunta, Pieter Hugo, Anton Kannemeyer, Sabelo Mlangeni, Moses Tladi and Kemang Wa Lehulere.

This book shows that even if the enchantment of a green, flat and soft lawn is almost universal, there are also unexpected moments when alternatives present themselves, occasions when people reject the politeness of the lawn, and situations in which we might glimpse a possible time after the lawn. Drawing on theory and conceptual tools from interdisciplinary fields such as ecocriticism, queer theory, art history and postcolonial studies, Civilising Grass offers the first sustained investigation of the lawn in Africa and contributes to the growing conversation about the complex relationships between humans and non-humans on the continent.

Painting a Life in Africa is the vibrant story of Joan van Gogh, who has lived an unusual and adventurous life close to nature – even making her home amidst ancient caves and under majestic trees that thrive in the heart of the untamed bush. As a direct descendant of legendary artist Vincent van Gogh and an artist herself, Joan wielded the adversities and trials she encountered as her very own brushes, painting a vivid and extraordinary existence: from being a city girl who adapted to roughing it, to exploring some of the most remote and secretive places in southern Africa.

With artful descriptions and a sprinkle of humour, you will be immersed in the wonderful feeling of sleeping under wild and silent African skies and experience a wilderness with few fences and many friendly people. The story also touches on anthropology, archaeology, the fascinating customs of Africa's tribal heritage and is altogether a kaleidoscope of one life.

Painting a Life in Africa paints a mesmerizing portrait of one woman's remarkable journey through a land teeming with wonder and uncharted horizons.

The national parks and reserves of East Africa are widely known for their rich and abundant wildlife. This book presents a new and exciting angle – the geological highlights of the region’s intriguing landscape. East Africa’s cataclysmic volcanic legacy, caused by rifting of the landmass, has resulted in a rich source of geological wonders. These range from the seemingly endless, peaceful plains of the Serengeti to the stark skyscraper walls of extinct calderas and the boiling magma cauldrons and belching vents of the Nyiragongo Volcano.

This handy guide escorts users around all the major – and some minor – parks of Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda, as well as the Virunga Mountains in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Descriptions of each park and its wildlife offerings, both fauna and flora, preface discussion of the geological origins, influences and current conditions. Key geosites in the parks, and how to access them, are indicated. Maps, satellite images and diagrams, along with vivid photography, help explain the dramatic landforms, both close up and from above.

For anyone planning a safari to the legendary East African game parks and reserves, this book adds an exciting new dimension.

1970 was a time when there were no GPS’s, no electronic calculators or notebook computers, no communication via VHF or SSB radios and satellite phones, no accurate quartz watches, no access to weather forecasts, no EPIRB (emergency position indicating radio beacons), no lightweight small-boat refrigeration, no water makers, no disposable napkins (except cotton wool wadding), no yellow margarine and only limited dehydrated foods. At that time, a young Johannesburg couple fulfil a dream adventure in a 25-foot yacht.

This is a story of survival at sea, a husband's resourcefulness in the face of huge difficulties, running out of food and water and an amazing reunion with the author's Danish roots. It reaches a climax when they have a baby and decide to return to South Africa when he was just four months old. The wooden sloop’s voyage of 23,000 nautical sea miles concluded with the return to South African shores after a 53 day passage in the Southern Ocean.

The story is a faithful rendition of the author’s log and letters which allow the reader to step back into the past and relive the thoughts, feelings, fears and faith of a young wife, mother and sailor.

Africa is home to an amazing array of animals, including the world's most diverse assortment of large mammals. These include the world's largest terrestrial mammal, the African elephant, which still roams great swathes of the continent alongside a host of hooved mammals such as hippopotamuses, giraffes, rhinoceroses, and zebras.

African Ark: Mammals, Landscape and the Ecology of a Continent tells the story of where these mammals have come from and how they have interacted to create the richly varied landscape that makes up Africa as we know it today. It also highlights small mammals, such as rodents and bats, which are often overlooked by both naturalists and zoologists in favour of their larger cousins.

African Ark explains the processes through which species and population groups are formed and how these fluctuate over time. It explores the impact of megafauna on the environment and the important roles they play in shaping the landscape. In this way, mammals such as elephants and rhinoceros support countless plant communities and the habitats of many smaller animals. The book brings in a human perspective as well as a conservation angle in its assessment of the interaction of African mammals with the people who live alongside them.

African Ark is at once scientifically rigorous - drawing on the contributions of numerous zoologists, ecologists and conservationists - and an engaging read for anyone dedicated to the understanding of Africa and its wildlife.

"Bring water, bring words, the yeast of your life - let's make a poem."

These lines from 'Treasure' capture the communal energy with which Kirsten Garbini rides into the world on the flexive and colourful back of her debut poetry collection, Horses and Oranges. This vibrant anthology is a treasure trove of quotable lines, alternately hilarious, biting, and poignant, all filled with a creative zest for life.

These poems navigate the complexities and celebrate the triumphs of contemporary womanhood. She tracks both unusual and ordinary moments, offering keen observations on love, identity, and the everyday magic of existence. Throughout, the author's wit, playfulness, and warm intelligence shine through.

Truly a book for Everywoman.

This comprehensively updated and expanded edition of the region’s best-selling field guide to trees offers much, much more than the highly successful first edition. Fully updated text (including additional species entries) and distribution maps, numerous new photographs and a new 87-page section of full-tree photographs makes this well-loved guide even more indispensable in the field.

Southern Africa has a rich variety of tree species, with an estimated 2 100 indigenous species and more than 100 naturalised aliens. Field Guide to Trees of Southern Africa describes and illustrates more than 1 000 of these, focusing on trees that are the most common and most likely to be encountered. Species are logically arranged in 43 groups based on easy-to-observe leaf and stem features, and each account is illustrated by full-colour photographs of the plant’s diagnostic parts. The text also touches on the practical uses of the plants.

Scorpions of Southern Africa, the go-to guide for identifying southern Africa's rich scorpion fauna, has now been freshly designed, updated and expanded. It includes 12 additional species, new images and distribution maps, and a chapter on how to go about identifying scorpions. An invaluable guide for the amateur naturalist and professional alike, this accessible book describes: scorpion anatomy and behaviour; the strategies that enable scorpions to survive harsh conditions; their use of venom, and other aspects of their successful existence over millions of years.

First Field Guide to Rocks & Minerals, the latest addition to the popular Struik Nature series, introduces the most important and interesting rocks and minerals from our geologically exciting region.

The guide details 30 minerals and 18 major rock types, focusing on those that are best known or most commonly found. A short introduction provides an overview of the topic; colourful photographs throughout, both of the rocks and minerals and of the particular terrain in which they are found, complement the clear text and aid identification in the field.

First Field Guide to Rocks & Minerals is a useful resource for the beginner geologist, curious novice, or anyone with a budding interest in southern Africa's unique geological heritage.

After centuries of relative isolation, the Karoo – South Africa’s parched heartland – is a latecomer to the tourist industry. What was once viewed as a harsh and desolate place of limited attraction is rapidly gaining popularity with visitors who now make the Karoo their destination, keen to partake of its legendary charm, its extraordinary flora and the resurgence of wildlife that once again populates its plains.

Wild Karoo documents Mitch Reardon’s 4,000-kilometre journey of discovery through the region. The book focuses on:

• local nature conservation in all its facets
• the game, large and small – some recently reintroduced – plus birds, reptiles and invertebrates
• the unique, arid-adapted flora
• the landscape and geology
• the history and lifestyle of the people who have made a home here
• plans to combine public and private protected land to create wildlife corridors between isolated parks, re-establishing old migration routes and so reversing some of the effects of human settlement

Beautifully written, and illustrated with evocative photographs, this book is a must read for anyone interested in travel, wildlife and the environment.

With this lively guide, young adventurers will discover the many treasures along southern Africa’s shores, learn all about the strange and beautiful creatures they can expect to see at the beach and where to find them, then try the fascinating activities and make their own first-hand discoveries.

A companion volume to the popular Exploring Fynbos, this lively book is loaded with:

• interesting topics in accessible text

• interactive activities

• ‘did you know’ boxes

• ‘things to do’ panels

In Thicker than Sorrow, Khadija focuses on appreciating and honouring her roots and unearthing her history.

Rummaging through the drawers and closets of her blood family and the family she has chosen, she discovers inspiration and beauty in the most ordinary places: a bowl of rice, a kitchen, a daisy chain, a sunflower garden, a galvanised bath.

The poems reveal a poet who is, "falling in love with my roots and me, life. And it's just the beginning. I am a multitude of voyages."

This is the definitive monograph on the gamebirds of Africa. This detailed full-colour handbook includes everything needed to identify and get to know the 89 species that fall into six groups: guineafowls and Congo Peafowl (7 species) francolins and partridges (33 species), spurfowls (26 species), quails (3 species), sandgrouse (13 species) and snipes and Eurasian Woodcock (7 species).

Gamebirds of Africa offers a concise and updated summary of the large but scattered body of accumulated scientific research and field-guide literature. Pertinent and interesting facts about the distribution, habits, breeding, and conservation status of each species are presented in a readable fashion. Numerous photographs convey the appearance, characteristic features, behavioural activities and, in many cases, the habitats frequented by each bird.

Gamebirds of Africa will be a worthy addition to the ornithological literature and to the bookshelves of bird enthusiasts, particularly birders, wing-shooters, land owners and anyone with an interest in nature and conservation, throughout Africa and across the rest of the world.

The publication of this book was made possible through the generous funding of the Wild Bird Trust and the FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology, University of Cape Town.

What would life be like without our Daily Maverick dose of Zapiro? Where would we be without the illumination, the spicy crispy wit, the cutting, the clever, the way of showing us our politicians and life in South Africa with a dose of humour and more than a dash of satire?

Zapiro's annual offering is our duplicity warning, our canary in the coalmine, our national conscience. Exposing and revealing, brilliantly appealing, Zapiro does it again!

Die laanie Bernie Fabing by Vannie Kaap wil wiet: Is alles oraait byrie hys? Dis ’n bundel van hul mees popular memes en sluit oek nuwe eksklusiewe content in, wat nooit aanlyn sal verskyn nie.

Vannie Kaap is ’n plaaslike brand wat gewild geraak het toe hul inhoud op Facebook viral gaan. Vannie Kaap, gestig in 2015, se doel is om Kaapse kultuur te eer, maar dit het oek ’n movement geword om ander kulture oor die Cape Coloured se herkoms en taal te leer. Die deure vannie eerste Vannie Kaapwinkel het in 2017 oepgemaak en daar’s tans winkels innie V&A Waterfront, Cape Gate en Canal Walk.

“Is alles oraait byrie hys?” is die tagline wat gepaard gaan met die Vannie Kaap brand – aanlyn en op merchandise. En as jy nog nie van hulle gehoor het nie . . . raak wys!

After 90 years the story of black golf must be told.

From the time when African chiefs indentured their tribe’s youth to work as caddies, to the first black golf course, Bambata Boodhun playing in the British Open, and black golf courses laid out in the bush. Wonderful golfers such as Papwa Sewgolum winning three Dutch Opens, and beating Gary Player head-to-head and in so doing becoming the symbol of the anti-apartheid movement resulting in an assassination attempt and banning. Vincent Tshabalala winning the French Open then banned, and Lewis Chitengwa beating Tiger Woods twice, and many other stories.

The author brings to life the trials and tribulations faced by people of colour trying to play a sport they loved. At the same time this is also an important reference work including tournament statistics and results beautifully illustrated featuring 53 colour and 86 black and white photographs, and their ranking within the context of Southern Africa golf. This sport collector’s volume chronicles the major impact this sport had on breaking down the apartheid barrier and overcoming discrimination, determination, and the quest to win against all odds.

It is a rare glimpse into the extraordinary lives of Southern Africa’s top black golfers, and ultimately their induction into the Southern Africa Golf Hall of Fame.

Mtutuzeli Nyoka grew up loving and playing the game of cricket. In 2008, he was appointed as the president of Cricket South Africa (CSA), a position he held until October 2011 when, after a protracted battle with the CSA board, he was dismissed. However, he continued to call for a commission of inquiry into irregularities in CSA. And when retired Judge Chris Nicholson conducted an investigation into CSA, his findings on the corruption and maladministration in the game were damning, particularly in terms of Gerald Majola.

In Deliberate Concealment, Nyoka shares his behind-the-scenes experiences and personal journey as events unfolded, including his own mistakes, the repercussions of the scandal on the game of cricket in South Africa, and his fight for the truth to prevail.

"This is an extraordinary story of one man’s courage and determination to seek the truth and make sure it saw the light of day." – GILES CLARKE, president of the England and Wales Cricket Board.

"During his tenure as president of Cricket South Africa, Mtutuzeli Nyoka fought almost alone to expose corruption and improve corporate governance within the higher echelons of South African cricket … For this the cricket community of South Africa owe him a great deal of gratitude." – DR ALI BACHER

Snakes, lizards and tortoises are fascinating creatures, particularly to inquisitive young minds. This book introduces 56 reptiles found in southern Africa and gives visual information about their size, the food they eat and where you are likely to find them. Simple text, written by a reptile expert, offers brief insight into behaviour and habits. My First Book of Southern African Snakes and other Reptiles is designed to appeal to young readers and pre-readers but will also help learners of all ages to improve their knowledge of local languages.

This long-standing, trusted field guide to the wildlife of southern Africa has been comprehensively updated and now includes distribution maps. It describes over 2,000 plants and animals, each accompanied by accurate illustrations in full colour. This book has been a trusted field companion for many years. Comprehensively updated, it now features range maps for most groups. The chapters are colour-coded for easy reference, and diagnostic features appear in bold type within the descriptions. Each chapter is written by a leading expert in the field.

A Fold in the Map charts two very different voyages: a tracing of the dislocations of leaving one’s native country, and a searching exploration of grief at a father’s final painful journey.

In the first part of the collection, Plenty – “before the fold” – the poems deal with family, and longing for home from a new country, with all the ambiguity and doubleness this perspective entails. In the book’s second half, Meet My Father, the poems recount events more life-changing than merely moving abroad — a father’s illness and death, the loss of some of the plenty of the earlier poems.

“A fold in the map” is a nod to Jan Morris’s Trieste And The Meaning of Nowhere, where the traveller’s state of inbetween-ness is explored. In these poems of longing for home, family and other loved ones, Isobel Dixon draws on a rich store of natural imagery, illuminating the ordinary, at times with a touch of wry humour. These are accessible lyrical poems that will speak memorably to all those who have travelled, loved and lost.

Elephants have long been targeted by humans: not only are they killed for their ivory, but their extraordinary strength, intelligence and charisma have seen some of them captured, chained and effectively jailed for life.

Bully and Induna are two African elephants, both orphaned in organised culling operations and destined for lives in captivity. Growing up far apart and quite differently, Bully (a former animal film star) and the less fortunate Induna were both driven to react to their circumstances – Induna even killed one of his carers. Their individual situations reached a point where both were considered to be dangerous animals and were under threat of being put down.

This is the true story of their lives. Conservationist Richard Peirce presents their individual narratives and the twists and turns of their fortunes: the exploitation of these majestic but sensitive animals, how they each came to be trapped in unsuitable ‘employment’ and shunted about from one venue to the next, before finding one another – free at last – on a farm in southern Africa.

Giant Steps is a gripping story, full of drama, danger, sadness and ultimate rescue.

In Zapiro's 20th annual he skewers another momentous year including the drama over Rhodes and other statues, Nkandla pay back the money, spy cables, NPA shenanigans, Eskom and parastatal paralysis, union disunity, Charlie Hebdo, xenophobia, Juju's boiler suit brigade, Godzille's successor, cockroaches, Verwoerd's ghost and other political creatures.