Going for African Gold

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Issue 32

Five times Olympic gold medal rower, Sir Steve Redgrave CBE, recently took his family on holiday to South Africa. William Gray caught up with him to find out whether Cape Town plus a Kruger safari made a winning combination. Q Was this the first time you’ve been on holiday with the family in Africa? A Yes, but I’ve been to South Africa three or four times before on training camps. We were the first team in after apartheid in 1992. Q Did you have any concerns about safety? A No, not at all. The only place in South Africa I’ve ever felt unsafe is Johannesburg. Anywhere else I wouldn’t have any qualms about taking my family. Especially Cape Town. Q How did you manage to keep all ages happy? A Our kids get on reasonably well. One advantage we have is that they all travel a lot. Zak, for example, had been to Australia twice before the age of two. They now pack their own bags. I was concerned how Zak would cope with three-hour long game drives, early morning and late evening – but he loved them. Q Do you ever find family travel stressful? A Family life is stressful! When the children start getting bored the two youngest like winding each other up. That can get quite frustrating. But mostly they’re pretty well behaved. Zak is very laid-back. Q You had two days in Cape Town. What was on your must-do list? A Unfortunately the cable car wasn’t working. The morning we landed in Cape Town after our overnight flight, everyone was apologising about it! So we had breakfast and did a helicopter flight instead. After that we went to the Two Oceans Aquarium which was really good. And then Robben Island. Q How did Zak, at just seven, find Robben Island? A He probably got the least out of it. It’s something my wife and I debated over. But this was a trip for all of us – not just the children. The thing about Robben Island is that your guides are past inmates and they’re not going to be around for that much longer. It was an opportunity we had to take advantage of. To subscribe or to buy this issue, click here Q What did you like best about South Africa – the city life or the wildlife?  AI don’t like big cities. But Cape Town is really just a lovely town – not a city. It’s also close to lots of other interesting areas. The townships and squatter camps seem to have got much bigger since I was last there three or four years ago, which I was quite surprised about. The children found it bizarre that people actually lived in those tiny wooden shacks. QCould you ever envisage South Africa hosting the Olympics? ADefinitely. In many ways they need the Olympics. It involves such a massive development that it would give the country a huge amount of focus and input of finance. I think the IOC would love there to be an Olympic Games in Africa. And Cape Town is probably the best and easiest choice. QWere there any disappointments? AWe did too much. On paper it sounded great – a couple of days here, a couple of days there – but in hindsight we should have stayed another night in the Cape Town area and probably an extra night on safari as well. QWhat was the biggest surprise of your holiday? AHow close we got to everything. I expected to see whales on our boat trip from Gansbaai, but not for them to come as near as they did. There is something really special about seeing whales. Even though you’re out in the wild when you are on safari, you do know that there is a fence somewhere. With the whales they are in a massive ocean and yet they choose to come right alongside your boat. You feel very privileged to be in that situation. QWould you rate whale-watching above your big-five safari experience? ANo, they’re totally different! I couldn’t rank it higher or lower. QWhat did you enjoy most about your safari in the Kruger? ASimbambili, where we went to start with, is such a small set-up – only nine chalets, all with fantastic views. We were really well looked after. It’s quite fun how open it is – animals can just walk through and you need an armed guard at night to walk you back to your chalet. We had two nights there and saw an amazing amount of game. We had leopards coming out of our ears. QWould you have been disappointed if you hadn’t seen all the Big Five? AYes, I think I would have been! QWhat was your children’s favourite animal? AAll Sophie wanted to see was elephants. To be stuck in the middle of a herd was absolutely unbelievable, especially since there was a five-day old calf. That made her trip. QHow would you rate the places you stayed in? ATop class right the way through. We stayed the last two nights in a tree house (Rocktail Bay Lodge). On the last morning the kids woke up to find thirty monkeys in the tree with them. QDid you have a chance to get on the water during your holiday? AWe went kayaking at Boulders, near Simon’s Town. At first the children weren’t keen. Natalie was paranoid that she was going to get attacked by a shark. But by the time we were paddling back into Boulders they thought it was brilliant. They didn’t want to come in. QDo you like to keep fit on holiday? Or is going away with the family exercise enough? AI’m not really one for a beach holiday – even though at times you feel you just want get away and do nothing. After two days on a beach I’m bored. The advantage with South Africa is that you can do the beach and go on safari in the same day. QWhat frustrates you about travel? AWhen I first started travelling, flying was really exciting. But now I find airports and air travel are necessary evils. QWhere in the world would you choose to live? AI love where I live now (Buckinghamshire), even though the winters aren’t ideal. Australia has such a great outdoors, sporting culture. Cape Town would come a pretty close second. QWhat would be your personal holiday from hell? AA canal boat holiday in the UK. I can’t think of anything worse – plodding up and down on a little bit of water… I’ve done that! It was bad enough doing it backwards, let alone on a slow canal boat. QWould you go back to South Africa? AYes. But first I’d like to try somewhere else, like Kenya. Steve Redgrave and family travelled with the Africa Travel Centre (www.africatravel.co.uk). They flew on British Airways, who operate a daily service to South Africa (www.ba.com).

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