‘Before travelling overseas, I would advise people to get to know this country first,” says Nick Hamman.
The 5FM DJ, who is on the airwaves on weekdays from 8am to 10am and on Saturdays from 10am to 2pm, embarked on a Heritage Tour at the start of September.
A post shared by Nick Hamman (@nickhammantime) on Sep 22, 2017 at 12:04am PDT
“We are doing this because domestic tourism has seen a three-year downturn,” Hamman explains. “And to us, that is a sad thing because there is so much to see. We see that there’s a great want and passion from people to tell their stories.”
Hamman hit the road with his producer Mike Bossenger to fulfil a dream that has been two years in the making.
“We’ve just left the Augrabies Falls and we are headed to Springbok ( the largest town in the Namaqualand area in the Northern Cape),” he says. “We should be there in a couple of hours. There’s a milkshake there that we want to try!”
Wanderlust is a word that best describes Hamman.
A post shared by Nick Hamman (@nickhammantime) on Sep 19, 2017 at 11:56pm PDT
He adds, “I’m someone who travels a lot in my personal capacity.”
This time, he’s started a travelogue narrative on Twitter to share his adventures, and in so doing, inspire South Africans to travel domestically.
A post shared by Nick Hamman (@nickhammantime) on Sep 17, 2017 at 6:15am PDT
“The people I meet and interact with and the places I go to are very different to the types of things that you hear of in the media and on social media. I wanted to get out and tell the stories that haven’t been told.”
Greetings from KZN #HammanTour #LoveSA
A post shared by Nick Hamman (@nickhammantime) on Sep 10, 2017 at 10:30pm PDT
And so what he’s done is, prior to his travels, map out a few off-the-beaten spots along with major heritage drawcards.
“We looked at big landmarks like the Augrabies Falls, which is something in our backyard and, by world standards, is considered to be an incredible feat of nature,” he says. “That was amazing.
“And then there was the Big Hole in Kimberley. But we’ve also allowed ourselves to explore suggestions from people we meet along the way.”
A post shared by Nick Hamman (@nickhammantime) on Sep 3, 2017 at 10:18pm PDT
He’s visited the Hare Krishna Temple in Durban and Isandlwana and the battlefields in the KZN Midlands where the Anglo-Zulu War was fought.
“We got to ‘see’ the song that Johnny Clegg wrote about, Impi.”
“Going to Mapungubwe, that was something, the DJ continues. “We also got to check out the Basotho Cultural Village. We spent a lot of time in other people’s cultures.”
Hamman’s travels also steered him towards a guy who has one of the largest vinyl collections in SA.
And he’s picked up a few tips about cooking mopane worms, too.
“We also visited Mpumalanga, which is the focus of this year’s tourism campaign,” he adds.
“We went to Pilgrim’s Rest, which is basically Joburg before Joburg was Joburg. It’s a living museum. There’s a helluva lot of history and the panorama route is incredible.”
A post shared by Nick Hamman (@nickhammantime) on Sep 18, 2017 at 11:05pm PDT
More recently, he was in Bathurst in the Eastern Cape.
“That’s pineapple country,” he says. “We went to a farm and saw everything from curried and pickled pineapples to different types of pineapple liqueur.
Limpopo done Now on to Mpumalanga #HammanTour #LoveSA
A post shared by Nick Hamman (@nickhammantime) on Sep 5, 2017 at 11:46pm PDT
“Everyone has been so accommodating and willing to talk about their history and culture. We are now headed to the Rooibos Factory in Clanwilliam.”
While he kept mum about where he will be today (follow him on Twitter to find out), he says the entire experience has been “illuminating and soulful”.