CALENDAR

This month’s most travel-worthy events

The top events this month

Party in the streets

‘Mother Nature, Mother City’ is the theme for this year’s Cape Town Carnival, inspired by the fynbos unique to this part of the world, as well as the diversity of cultures that have made a home here. More than 2 000 colourful costumed performers and musicians, alongside giant puppets, create the parade on the Fan Walk (from 7pm); fantastical floats will include the ‘tree of life’, a 6m-high Mother Earth and a 5.5-metre moving butterfly. There will also be Carnival Villages this year, offering food, drink and entertainment before and after the main event. Bring your mask or paint your face and join the revelry. Free, unless you want a seat (R300 pp, quicket.co.za). 17 March. capetowncarnival.com The next day (18 March), take to the streets again at the Cape Town Big Walk – 5km or 10km along the promenade. Food, fun and prizes await at the finish line. capetownbigwalk.com

A day in the countryside

The Cabbage Patch begins with an exploding cabbage – suspended over the starting line, it’s shot to pieces with a gun. This is the signal for the walkers, runners and riders (more than 1000 of them) to set off on a race through the rolling farmlands near East London. This year, the 30th event, features a new 40km MTB route and new 5km walk/run route, in addition to the 20km MTB, 15km walk and 15km run options. Back at the Komga Showgrounds, there are braai fires, food and craft stalls, a bar and live music, kids’ entertainment – plus a huge pile of cabbages, the prizes for the first 600 finishers! Race entry fees R60 – R120 (on the day R20 extra). 10 March. entrytickets.net or find it on Facebook.

A whacky weekend

Human 10-pin bowling, cheesy dance duels, mermaiding workshops … these are some of the things Bazique, a new outdoor festival, has up its sleeve. There will be art boats and art cars (creating a dance floor wherever they park), huge art installations (including a giant protea chill zone) and a hot-tub starlit spa. Think AfrikaBurn, but easier to get to and without the gifting economy – plus artworks will be recycled for next year, not burnt. A collaboration between several well-known party organisers (including UK’s Secret Garden Party), the festival will offer every conceivable kind of music, by live bands and DJs, with six ‘immersive’ dance floors to match at the Elgin Grabouw Country Club in the Overberg. Tickets from R650 pp. 16 – 18 March. bazique.co.za

Moves to make you think

How would you translate climate change and environmental issues into dance moves? Choreographer PJ Sabbagha has done it in his latest work, Noah – one of 20 productions at this year’s Dance Umbrella in Joburg. The festival, in its third decade now, is the major showcase for contemporary dance in this country, and audiences can expect hard-hitting, intelligent, innovative and challenging works, tackling anything from identity and the seven deadly sins to the circle of life and the future. A standout is sure to be performance artist Steven Cohen, who returns to SA with a piece about loss and grief (hailed in France, where it premiered, as an ‘extraordinary work’). Tickets R50 – R150. 6 – 18 March. danceforumsouthafrica.co.za