Wanderlust Books & Tours

17/09/2024

Kirstenbosch, a floral treasure, embraces both a cultivated section and a nature reserve that reaches up to the summit of Table Mountain. It’s a paradise for nature lovers, hikers, joggers and cyclists.
Find the dinosaurs lurking amongst the cycads, walk the Braille Trail, the Boomslang under the canopy of trees, walk any of the trails of varying lengths, cycle the Philips route, walk your doggie, explore the waterwise garden corner, the Fynbos Walk, the unique Conservatory, relax on the lawns and listen to the sound of music in the summer, enjoy a picnic or be spoilt in the restaurants.
And where would you find out about the Kirstenbosch treasures? At the Botanical Society Bookshop in Kirstenbosch – let that be the start to your exploration.

17/09/2024

Stepping into ‘Oom Samie’ in Stellenbosch, is like a step into the past. Allow yourself to be transported into a time when computers were unknown, when you didn’t shop online, when your files were not stores in the clouds and when mobile phones were not yet hassling you.
Wanderlust publications also transport you into oft forgotten times and let you browse at a leisurely pace through the stories of Cape Town, the Winelands, West Coast, Cape of Good Hope and Garden Route. Find them on the shelves of Oom Samie.

13/09/2024

13 September 1989 - the Peace March. Led by the then mayor, Gordon Olivier, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the Rev, Frank Chikane, Farid Esack and Allan Boesack, nearly 30 000 people of all denominations and races marched from St. George's Cathedral, the Peoples' Cathedral, in defiance of the state of emergency, the last "illegal march" to demand an end to apartheid.

11/09/2024

Relax in the company of Oyster catchers on this magnificent bench at Brenton-0n-Sea and watch the rolling waves – savour the splendour of the Garden Route.

09/09/2024

Fancy joining an imaginary trip on the Dias caravelle or pen a letter on stone? Do it in the Bartolomeu Dias Museum in Mossel Bay. Perhaps a walk on Brenton Beach is equally appealing, or a stroll through Knysna, Plettenberg Bay, a walk through history in Cape Town, a trip into the West Coast floral wonderland, a windswept excursion to the Cape of Good Hope?
The choice is yours, the Maritime Museum in Mossel Bay offers a good supply of “Heart of the Garden Route” and other Wanderlust publications. Bargain Books in Knysna, Plettenberg Bay and George also carry several of our titles – so take a break on your travels, stop by and pop in!

21/08/2024

News Flash: visiting the city centre and looking for a copy of "Cape Town on Foot"? The Book Lounge in Roeland Street stock the book.

15/08/2024

If wrinkles really tell stories, I wonder what this forest giant would be telling us?

07/08/2024

Are you thinking of going away in the September school holidays? Now is the perfect time to prepare for the trip, be it to the West Coast, Garden Route, Winelands or the Cape of Good Hope; or you might prefer to stay at home and find out more about Cape Town.
Be informed and enrich your holiday experience.
Start your trip with a visit to the Kirstenbosch Gardens Bookshop – stockists of all Wanderlust titles.

05/08/2024

Is the cold weather getting at you? Take heart, whilst the skies over Cape Town are grey and the rain keeps falling, the flowers of the West Coast are starting to bloom. But the region offers so much more than carpets of flowers.
Where else would you find lobsters, vineyards, tranquil rivers, thundering waterfalls, mining ghost towns, soaring mountains, date palms and cathedrals in the desert? Only along the West Coast and the land beyond.
So, what is stopping you? Take your copy of “West Coast and beyond” as your helpful travelling companion – you will not have to google for anything - and start your journey.

24/07/2024

Just to cheer you up on yet another rainy and cold day!.Castle Rock, Silver tree and leucospermum should be the right "medicine". Yesterday's sunshine lured many people into Kirstebosch Gardens. I enjoyed my early morning walk amongst the chirping birds, blossoming proteas and restios.

22/07/2024

No comment! Plastic litter lining the river bank at Milnerton Lagoon

28/05/2024

Sunshine and blue skies in May - perfect weather to explore the city on foot, venture out into the winelands or the Cape of Good Hope.
To help you find your way, get a copy of our books, the Kirstenbosch Bookshop has just been re-supplied.

15/05/2024

A kudu to CCC department for Motor Car Licencing!
Arrived at 10:30, filled in the ALV form which was checked by a super friendly attendant who told me to be "happy and not to worry", and 5 minutes later I was called to the cashier's counter! Papers and ID were checked by yet another very friendly attendant, and voilà, my new licence was printed out. The whole episode took me less than 30 minutes!
I don't think online services can beat that!
"Old fashioned" is often the best, so when your turn comes to renew your car licence, do it in person at the Civic Centre.

11/05/2024

Cooler weather, perhaps even a little rain are a perfect reason for you to sit back, relax and read about Cape Town, the Winelands, West Coast, Cape of Good Hope, Garden Route and Bo-Kaap. If you feel like brushing up on your German , then Kapstadt zu Fuss, Bo-Kaap das bunte Herz Kapstdts und Die Weinstrasse am Kap will be your perfect study companion.
Pop into the Kirstenbosch Bookshop, they have just replenished their stock of the above titles.

23/04/2024

The autumns sun is out - isn't it time you went for a little walk to enjoy sun and city? Download a voicemap tour and go!
https://voicemap.me/tour/cape-town/cape-town-on-foot-castle-to-slave-lodge

16/04/2024

Autumn and sunshine galore - a perfect day to spend time amongst the trees, the flowers and the bees at Kirstenbosch. even the birds were chirping.

10/04/2024

Cold, rain, wind – and no book to read? Find your way to the Kirstenbosch Bookshop, a refuge for peace and quiet, and you will be warmly welcomed by Chanel, Vanessa, Mark, and Lorenzo - the shop is open seven days a week. Discover a wonderful array of books of diverse genres.
Plan your explorations of Cape Town, the West Coast, Cape Point, the Garden Route, the Towns of the Winelands with the Wanderlust travel guides – all available here.

05/04/2024

The treacherous sea along the South African coast has claimed hundreds of lives, read the story of the ‘São Gonzales’ in "Heart of the Garden Route" - no copy? No, problem. Step into the Maritime Museum in Mossel Bay for a copy, or visit Bargain Books in Knysna and Plett.
In 1630 the ‘São Gonzales’, a Portuguese East-Indiaman, commanded by Fernão Lobo de Meneses, put into Formosa Bay to repair some leakages. The ship dropped anchor near the Piesang River mouth where, however, she was wrecked. The disaster claimed 133 lives. The survivors camped on the beach for several months while they built two small boats. One headed eastward, and eventually got to Mozambique and safety, the other set sail for Portugal. The boat reached Table Bay. Here the ‘São Ignacio de Loyalo’ picked up her sailors and headed home for Portugal. Tragically she was wrecked near Lisbon, and all aboard perished. Before they headed off in their boats, the sailors had inscribed a simple message on a sandstone, ‘Here was lost the São Gonzales, year 1630. They made two boats’. Apparently, this stone was found buried in the sand in 1860 by somebody looking for relics of the ill-fated ship. The Dutch appeared in the area towards the end of the 17th century.

04/04/2024

SUVs and 4x4s cram into Paarl Main Street nowadays, but picture another time…
A delightful description of Paarl at the time flows from the pen of the unknown ‘Lady’ who wrote on Monday, 14th April 1862-
…from the stoep of its chief hotel it is great fun to watch the young farmers of the Paarl ambling past upon their pet horses. Every youngster has his nag, and knows how to manage him, but they have very clumsy seats, and are poor hands at showing off before strangers. How shall I describe the nonchalant air with which they rein their horses in with sharp bits, until their lips touch their breasts, and their necks are made to arch like a sickle-while at the same time they are vigorously fretted with the spur, so as to cause them to prance and kick up a dust? Nobody seems to walk. Even the black fellows prefer stretching themselves out at full length on the floor of a slow bullock dray, to walking from one end of the village to the other; and when we sauntered down that tremendous long street we were all stared at by dozens of intensely respectable old fogies, every one of whom appeared to be in mourning, and wore at least six inches of crape round his broad brimmed white beaver.
Curious to find out more about the winelands? Pop into ‘Oom Samie se Winkel’ and get your copy of the “Towns of the Winelands” today.

28/03/2024

Why not go on an Easter Treasure Hunt in town? Cape Town is packed with treasures waiting to be discovered. So, put on you walking shoes, take your copy of “Cape Town on Foot” and find some of them, like re-constructed canals, a stone frieze displaying the country’s history, slave memorial, remnants of the Berlin Wall, the Robert Scott memorial, statues of Atlas, Britannia, Smuts, Louis Botha, Queen Victoria, a figure of Justice, the Boer Memorial – the list is endless but you will feel rewarded.
Hop into the Kirstenbosch Bookshop, Bargain Books, Wordsworth Gardens, Exclusive – if they are out of stock they will order. Or follow the hunt on any of the Cape Town on Foot VoiceMap Audio tours.
Happy hunting!

20/03/2024

“Die Weinstrasse am Kap”, “Bo-Kaap, das bunte Herz Kapstadts, „Kapstadt zu Fuss“, “Towns of the Winelands”, „West Coast & beyond“, Bo-Kaap & Islam“ and „Cape of Good Hope” have found their way today in the sweltering sunshine to Oom Samie se Winkel in Stellenbosch to replenish their stock.
The long weekend lies ahead, plenty of time to relax and read - should you not also find your way to Oom Samie to pick up your copy?

19/03/2024

Letter writing today is vanishing; too slow, too cumbersome, its quicker to despatch a few lines on one’s mobile. So, our post boxes stay empty, hoping that one day perhaps a letter will be dropped. But pause a moment: had it not been for a captain in one of Admiral Cabral’s fleet in 1502, we would never have known that Dias drowned in his second attempt to reach India. He dropped the letter into a seaman’s boot and hung it on a milkwood tree.
Step into the Maritime Museum in Mossel Bay, step back into history, marvel at the treasures of the sea, drop a letter in the seaman’s boot and read all about it in “Heart of the Garden Route”, available at the Museum Shop.

13/03/2024

https://voicemap.me/tour/cape-town/kapstadt-zu-fuss-vom-castle-dem-kastell-zur-alten-sklavenherberge

Auf dieser Audio-Route stossen Sie auf Mullers Optomotrist. Der Gründer deses Geschäftes, Joseph Müller, eröffnete es 1890. Damals schrieb er seinen Namen noch mit dem Umlaut, doch da er vor Ausbruch des Ersten Weltkrieges wegen seines deutschen Ursprungs angepöbelt wurde, (der Umlaut verriet es), änderte er seinen Namen. Aus Müller wurde Muller!
"Kapstadt zu Fuss" schildert die Geschichte.
Viel Spass beim Spaziergang, entweder per Buch oder per Audio

06/03/2024

Kirstenbosch Tuesday 6th March 2024. Light rain. Visited the Bonsai exhibition in the Courtyard next to the Bookshop (Gate no.1) some 75 or 100 years old.

02/03/2024

Are you visiting Cape Town or do you live there. What ever the case, you need three books to really know what you should know of the Mother City. Amazing how many people live in Cape Town and who have never been up Table Mountain nor visited the Bo-Kaap or the Cape Point Nature reserve. Here are 3 titles to help you know something about Cape Town available at all good book-shops.

02/03/2024

Are you visiting Cape Town or do you live there. What ever the case, you need three books to really know what you should know of the Mother City. Amazing how many people live in Cape Town and who have never been up Table Mountain nor visited the Bo-Kaap or the Cape Point Nature reserve. Here are 3 titles to help you know something about Cape Town available at all good book-shops.

19/02/2024

Bargain Books in George, Knysna Mall & Plettenberg Bay.

19/02/2024

Leaving Mossel Bay, heading up the coast, we come to George and the Garden Route Mall where Bargain Books have a shop, as they do in Knysna and Plettenberg Bay. Both George and Plettenberg Bay have stock of Heart of the Garden Route and Knysna, carry most of our titles.

18/02/2024

18/02/2024

One of the finest Museums in South Africa is at Mossel Bay, the Bartholomeu Diaz Museum, close to the sea & Harbour in a beautiful setting. The two main attractions, The Shell Museum & the Maritime Museum which has a replica of his Caravelle. Both separated by the Acuada de Sao Bras & Postal tree, more of which you will find in the Heart of the Garden Route. Here you will meet friendly staff to help you with any enquiries you may have.