PODCAST SERIES
A seven-part series of conversations with crackerjack speakers
that give you a taste of things uniquely South African.
Join us on this voyage of discovery for an insider’s perspective on South Africa’s
cultural landscape, diversity, heritage, history and vibrant creativity.
You’ll hear from inspiring storytellers, dream-weavers and tastemakers
about what makes the country compelling and captivating.
You’ll see an array of niches, from art to zebras, colonization to creativity,
fossils to food-foraging, ancient archaeology and bountiful botany.
You’ll glimpse a variety of landscapes and breathtaking natural beauty
as well as our resilience and sociability.
We named the series “Seek With New Eyes” because the Proust quote
is congruent with our ethos.
We hope this entices you to venture south and experience it all for yourself!
PODCAST OVERVIEWS & SPEAKERS
THE BIG PICTURE
Discover what makes South Africa captivating – apart from its iconic wildlife!
Glimpse its unsurpassed natural beauty, diversity & engaging sociability.
Delve into its vibrant arts & culture, historical complexity, culinary creativity, unique archaeology.
Hear from luminaries doing things differently. Front runners making their mark. Collaborative initiatives sparking hope.
Refresh your perspective. Stimulate your mind
GARDENS
Find out about ‘’fynbos’’ – South Africa’s one-of-a kind type of vegetation.
Why the Cape Floral Kingdom, one of only six in the world, is the smallest, yet richest and very hottest of biodiversity hotspots.
What makes this the richest natural garden in the entire world.
ADAM HARROWER OF KIRSTENBSOCH, ERNST VAN JAARSVELD OF BABYLONSTOREN, SEAN PRIVETT OF GROOTBOS
ART, CRAFT & DESIGN
Open a window into South Africa’s dynamic creative zone and upcoming talent.
Connect with hand-picked trailblazers whose exciting products are both art and craft.
Find out about sustainable initiatives that are sparking hope. Hear from a land artist breaking new ground, literally.
And from captivating speakers and dream-weavers about what makes the creative and artistic forces ”unstoppable”.
FEE HALSTED OF ARDMORE, DAX HOLDING OF MUNGO, LAND ARTIST STRIJDOM VAN DER MERWE
ARCHAEOLOGY
Explore ‘big history’ – major events on the road of our cultural evolution to becoming human.
Trace why South Africa can lay claim to being the cradle of life.
Track where human origins began via revealing evidence and ancestral milestones in The Cradle of Humankind.
Connect the concepts of fossil and First People – the San, one of the last hunter-gatherer societies on Earth.
PROF JOHN PARKINGTON, ASSOC PROF JOHN COMPTON, HOWARD GEACH OF AAH-AFRIKA
MEET THE MAKERS
See how creativity and cultures flourish in diverse urban and rural landscapes.
Meet talented artisans working in the far north of the country – the Limpopo province.
Hear about the buzzing, big-city culture of Johannesburg and Pretoria, pioneering art fairs,
and a new marketplace for a curated selection of artworks for those with an interest in art from Africa.
MARCELLA ECHAVARRIA, LUCY MACGARRY / LATITUDES, JANNEKE & GERT REBERGEN
HISTORY
Uncover how the bottom tip of Africa was claimed, tamed, and shaped – by hunters, herders, slaves from the East, and immigrants from the North.
Unravel the centuries, from times past, the turbulent process of colonization by the Dutch for the first 150 years, followed by a century of British imperialism, the rigours of oppression under the Apartheid regime, to the dawn of democracy and the triumph of the human spirit.
DR ELIZABETH VAN HEYNINGEN, DR DEAN ALLEN, TRACEY RANDLE
GASTRONOMY
Get a taste of the country’s cosmopolitan culinary scene.
Get a peek at feasts from nature with foragers-of-note and the chef whose simple, seaside restuarant has been voted ”Best” by the World Restaurant Awards in Paris.
Get a glimpse of Mediterranean abundance and bounty from two shorelines at some Cape markets, and meet some makers.
Get an inkling of linkages between ‘’how history finds its way into our saucepans’’ and our sun-drenched terroir.
LOUBIE RUSCH, JEAN PIERRE ROSSOUW, PAM MCONIE, RUPESH KASSEN, SHERYL OZINSKY, KOBUS VAN DER MERWE