The Story Behind TravellingSouthAfrica.co.za

There is something about travelling through South Africa that has always stayed with me.

It is not just the big destinations.

It is the little towns along the way.

The road that suddenly opens up to a beautiful view. The small farm stall you almost drove past. The coffee shop tucked away on a quiet street. The old building with a story behind it. The local restaurant you never knew existed.

And sometimes, it is simply a town you've driven through a dozen times and never actually stopped to explore.

That is where the story of TravellingSouthAfrica.co.za began.

The journey that started the idea

A few years ago, I found myself travelling between the Eastern Cape and the Western Cape.

Like most people, I had somewhere to be.

There was a destination.

There was a time I needed to arrive.

And along the way, I kept passing places that made me think:

"I really should stop here one day."

A little town.

A farm stall.

A historical site.

A beautiful road.

A sign pointing towards somewhere I'd never heard of.

And then I'd keep driving.

I'd tell myself I'd come back.

But life gets busy.

And that "one day" often never comes.

The more I travelled, the more I started noticing just how much of South Africa we pass without really seeing.

We are often so focused on getting to somewhere that we forget to experience everything between where we are and where we're going.

And eventually, I couldn't stop thinking about it.

What if there was a better way?

I started thinking about what I would want if I were planning my own South African road trip.

I didn't just want to find a hotel.

I wanted to discover the town.

I wanted to know what was worth seeing.

Where could I have breakfast?

Where was the little coffee shop?

Was there a museum?

A farm stall?

A market?

A local attraction?

A beautiful viewpoint?

A place the locals knew about that might never appear on a typical travel itinerary?

And, most importantly, I wanted somewhere I could actually plan the journey, not just search for a destination.

I looked for something that worked that way for travelling around South Africa.

I couldn't find exactly what I was looking for.

So I started building it.

That idea eventually became TravellingSouthAfrica.co.za.

More than a list of places

From the beginning, I didn't want to create just another website filled with destinations.

I wanted to create something that encouraged people to explore.

TravellingSouthAfrica.co.za is about discovering South Africa — but also about helping you organise the journey.

The Trip Planner allows travellers to build their own journeys by adding towns and destinations, making notes, organising their route and creating an itinerary they can save, share or print.

You can discover places along the way and start putting together a journey that is uniquely yours.

Because sometimes the best road trip isn't the one where you get to your destination fastest.

It's the one where you find something you never expected.

Then I started looking at the other side of the journey

As the idea developed, I began thinking about the businesses and people behind the places travellers discover.

South Africa is filled with small businesses that make travelling special.

Family-run guesthouses.

Restaurants.

Coffee shops.

Farm stalls.

Tour guides.

Adventure businesses.

Local artists.

Markets.

Gift shops.

Museums.

Attractions.

People who have spent years building something they are proud of.

And many of these businesses are in exactly the same towns that travellers drive through every day.

I realised that if I wanted to help travellers discover more of South Africa, I also needed to help them discover the people who make those places special.

That became an important part of the vision.

Not just:

Where can I sleep?

But:

What can I discover here?

Why every town matters

South Africa has famous destinations that everyone knows.

Cape Town.

The Garden Route.

The Kruger National Park.

The Drakensberg.

The Winelands.

The Wild Coast.

And many more.

But there is another South Africa.

The South Africa between those destinations.

The small towns.

The quiet roads.

The places that don't always appear on the front page of a travel magazine.

Places with history.

Places with character.

Places with people who are proud of where they live.

Places that might surprise you.

I believe every town matters.

Not because every town is a major tourist destination.

But because every town has something that makes it different.

Sometimes you just have to stop long enough to find it.

This isn't about replacing the big destinations

I don't believe you have to choose between visiting South Africa's famous attractions and exploring its smaller towns.

Do both.

Visit the places you've always wanted to see.

But while you're travelling there, look at the road differently.

Take the scenic route.

Stop somewhere you've never stopped before.

Have coffee in a town you've only ever driven through.

Talk to a local.

Visit the little museum.

Find the farm stall.

Buy something from the local shop.

You never know what story might become part of your journey.

That is the kind of travel I want TravellingSouthAfrica.co.za to encourage.

And that's why I built it differently

TravellingSouthAfrica.co.za isn't designed simply around booking accommodation.

It is designed around travel discovery and planning.

Travellers can use it to discover towns, attractions and businesses and organise their journeys.

And businesses have a place where they can be discovered by people who are actually travelling through their area.

For businesses, the listing is deliberately simple and affordable at R350 per year, with no commission structure on bookings.

The idea was never to create another complicated system.

It was to create a simple connection between the people travelling through South Africa and the people who make each place worth stopping for.

Building this has been a journey of its own

I won't pretend that creating something like this is easy.

There have been many late nights.

Researching towns.

Writing about places.

Finding attractions.

Creating pages.

Adding photographs.

Working on the technology.

Learning things I never expected I would have to learn.

And sometimes looking at the size of South Africa and thinking:

"What have I taken on?"

Because there is always another town.

Another road.

Another attraction.

Another story.

Another place that deserves to be discovered.

But perhaps that's exactly what makes this project so exciting.

There is no shortage of South Africa to explore.

My vision is actually quite simple

I don't dream about creating a website where someone spends five minutes looking for a hotel and leaves.

I want someone to arrive with a destination in mind and discover ten more reasons to stop along the way.

I want a family planning a road trip to find a town they had never considered visiting.

I want someone to look at their route and think:

"Wait... what's over there?"

I want travellers to discover small businesses they would otherwise have driven straight past.

And perhaps one day, I want a business owner to hear a traveller say:

"We found you on TravellingSouthAfrica.co.za."

That would mean more to me than any number on a screen.

Because then the idea has worked.

A traveller discovered something.

A business was discovered.

A town received another visitor.

And one more part of South Africa was experienced rather than simply passed by.

So, what is TravellingSouthAfrica.co.za?

At its heart, it is a travel planning and discovery platform built around one simple idea:

South Africa is too beautiful to simply drive through.

It is about the destinations you already know.

But also the destinations you haven't discovered yet.

It is about planning the journey.

Finding the unexpected.

Supporting local.

And giving the smaller places a chance to be seen.

I am still building it.

There is still a long road ahead.

There are many more towns to add, many more stories to tell and many more places waiting to be discovered.

But that's okay.

Because this was never meant to be built overnight.

It started with a few roads.

A few towns.

And a simple thought:

"What are we missing while we're busy trying to get there?"

I think South Africa deserves to be explored a little more slowly.

A little more deeply.

And with a little more curiosity.

So the next time you're on the road and you see a sign pointing towards a town you've never visited, maybe don't drive past.

Turn in.

Have a look.

You might just find somewhere wonderful.

And perhaps that is what TravellingSouthAfrica.co.za is really about.

Not simply helping you get somewhere.

But helping you discover what you would have missed along the way.

Every town matters.

Map it. Plan it. Own it.

— Maryke
Founder, TravellingSouthAfrica.co.za

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