In the latest Platinum Living Magazine

Featured Articles

A living legend Mmakgotla Grace Masuku is something of a living legend – in fact, the National Heritage Council named her a National Living Treasure in 2005. Fiona Zerbst met her in Saulspoort, where she has set up the Mphebatho Cultural Museum. [Read more...]

TEEING-OFF IN THE NORTH WEST PROVINCE South Africa has produced a number of major winners in recent times including lesser known stars Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel. Part of the reason why the country continues to compete on the global stage is because of the quality of the courses available in just about every major city. The North West has a particularly high number of fantastic courses, including arguably the best of them all, The Gary Player Country Club. Here are our top seven places to play in the province. [Read more...]

From Carletonville to Rio – The Swift Family Robinson Lazing around on the Vaal on some idle Sunday afternoon, the famous sentence started like this: how cool would it be if……So began a thought, based on a dream and realized through surprise and serendipity, which saw every member of the Robinson family of the Boskop yacht club outside Potchefstroom (and a cousin) not only sail but come in second, in the 2011 Cape to Rio yacht race – a 3200 nautical mile traverse across the Atlantic. [Read more...]

Editor's Letter

A friend of mine is going on a six-month retreat ala Eat Pray Love. Her search for attaining a healthy, fit and balanced lifestyle begins by exploring yoga and meditation in Thailand, she then meets up with a British photographer in Bangkok who offers private, travel-related photography lessons. Then it’s on to an amazing place in Kenya, where the promise of a healthy body and lifestyle are realised from a small lodge on the beach that runs amazing fitness camps, and where they focus on revitalising you with exercise. I think we all have this dream of hopping off and doing something completely indulgent, and I must admit that when I read her itinerary, I was very envious.

In putting this magazine together, I realised that I’d had my own retreat right here in the North West Province. I’ve walked with cheetahs (Predator World page 36), had full body, half body, neck and head massages (Spa’s to visit page 45) and spent a glorious night at Tshukudu Lodge (page 67). But what really restored my faith and fed my soul was reading the interview with Grace Masuku, by Fiona Zerbst (page 90) who is a national living treasure. For those seeking to work on their fitness and golfing skills, Nick Said gives us an overview of the amazing courses that the North West offers (page 85) and we’ve given you four different hiking trails, which will really revitalise you. For armchair sporting enthusiasts, we bring you the amazing story of the Robinson family who sailed from the Cape to Rio, and ofcourse Katlego Mpheta Bafana Bafana striker who hails from Brits.

So, if we are following my friend’s journey of something for the soul, something for health and fitness, then we need something to stimulate our brain. We’ll we have it in the form of Ronel van Rooyen – microbiologist, and owner and general manager of Mycophiles, Africa’s first – and thus far, only – gourmet mushroom spawn laboratory. Invest North West tells us how to harness bio-mass opportunities in the North West, which is definitly something to think about.

We’re spoilt for choice in this Province and I feel blessed. The most amazing part of it is, wherever you go you meet wonderful and hospitable people. How fortunate that we don’t have to travel too far for our faith to be restored.