September 16, 2025 • 22 mins
Pippa Hudson speaks to Curtis and Sonia Dillon, the husband-and-wife duo behind Dust Bugs Travel. They’ve criss-crossed the country, visiting and documenting more than 600 towns—from tiny dorpies you may have just seen on a signboard to some of our biggest tourist hot spots.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Lots more messages coming in about your favorite small towns,
and in the second alt explain to you why we
are talking about this in particular today. But let me
just share a few more of your contributions. Ivan or
iv I's saying only two places to reference as the
best small towns in South Africa. One of them is
for Mark Locate. The other is Vit sunt at the
Breader River. Places to relax at with a bottle of
(00:20):
wine and a good book that sounds like my kind
of weekend weekend. If I'm saying you, what else have
we got? Kim has to vote for Front Shook. She says,
I have actually tenanted my Cape Town homes that I
could move to the Front Shook Valley to live there permanently.
JC putting in another vote for the small town of Grayton,
saying they love the Saturday market, lovely accommodation and restaurants,
(00:42):
and the fact that there are no traffic lights. Derek, Okay,
now I'm going to unearth a whole nother argument. Is
it napier or napier? As long as I have lived
in Cape Town, I've heard people arguing about this, and
I honestly don't know, but that village, Derek reckons, that's
the best one. He says, it's an authentic village with
historical buildings surrounded by farmland, horses and sheep, literally one
(01:04):
hundred meters from the main street. The Saturday Village market
offers food and crafts made by the actual villagers who
are selling those items. The heart of the town is
its strip farms which run down to the river through
the village. It has not one takeaway franchise and no
traffic lights. It is hard to find a more authentic village.
Perhaps my guests would like to weigh in on the argument,
(01:26):
is it napier or napier.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
We go napier for English speaking and Nappi for Afrikaans.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
So it can be both.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
We're trying to keep everybody happy today with me and
studio are Curtis and Sonya Dylan. It is time for
us to wander the world, and they are going to
help us wander our part of the world because they
are absolutely passionate about getting South Africans visiting our own
country and exploring the many different beautiful nooks and crannies
of South Africa. They are true South African explorers and
(01:55):
they are the husband and wife duo behind a platform
called dust Bugs Travel.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
You might have come across them.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
On YouTube primarily, but also on other social media, and
they love crisscrossing the country, visiting and documenting its tiny
door piece, the places you might just whiz past in
your car without stopping to look. Perhaps you've never even
noticed the signboard pointing you off the main drag to
go and find these places. They are doing it for you.
And at the last count I think it was six
(02:22):
hundred and fifty, is that correct?
Speaker 4 (02:24):
Six hundred and fifty towns in places and still going,
still going.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
Well, welcome, first of all, it's wonderful to have you
both with us. Thanks for coming into studio. How did
this all begin? Who had the idea that you were
going to go start visiting small towns all over South Africa.
Speaker 4 (02:37):
It's a crazy time. I don't know. I'm sure most
people remember twenty twenty with COVID. Yeah, we were all
locked up in our flat sitting looking at the beach
with the seagulls walking around wondering where their next chip
is going.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
To come from.
Speaker 4 (02:49):
So we decided, listen, we're going to have to make
a plan because life was crazy at that stage. So
you know, as life carries on, we got swept up
back into work again. Worked twenty five was seven, carried
on and then in twenty twenty one, my brother's son
passed away. I'm sorry, and it was just like a
shock to ass and that's when we decided, listen, life
just a short way have to start living. And that's
(03:10):
when you started traveling. And we just started sharing it
on YouTube, specifically for my mother because she can't travel
and she wanted to see where we go, and also
for our family and friends. We started doing it and
that's how the traveling started and the YouTube channel began.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
And I mean, I love this because I'm literally busy
right now reading Marita Fana Fairir's new book, which is
about her travels in overseas, and she made the comment
about how in the olden days, when travel was exotic
and something you only did occasionally, it was a real
occasion to share your travel snaps and adventures with the
whole neighborhood and you'd all come and watch the slides
in somebody's house. And today it's so easy to snap
(03:46):
a peck and say this.
Speaker 3 (03:47):
Is where we are exactly.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
Kelly there's something about the way you guys are doing
it that is appealing because it's gone from being hey ma,
this is where we are this weekend to something much
bigger than that, Sonya.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
I mean talked to us about how the platform has
grown since then. Do you know what, Papa.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
We're a normal, regular, everyday husband and wife. We still
work full time. Every now and again, our profession, which
is real estate, gets a little too much and we
need to escape. And it's also important for us. We
live in the Western Cape in the town of Strand
we're extremely happy then. We love it, but we also
(04:22):
feel it's incredibly important for us to see other parts
of our country because sometimes I think we live in
a little bubble and it's important to see how other
folks live in other towns. And there's so much beauty
everywhere in our country. That's why we and will never
run out of places.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
I mean, if you had to put a percentage on it,
do you think you've even scratched the surface or you
only quart of the way there.
Speaker 4 (04:47):
Well, we've done. We've done most places in the Western Cape,
most places in the Northern Cape through the Karoo, a
lot of places in the Free State the Eastern Cape,
and we've started doing Quasialuna Tel and put Alonga and this.
We've done all of these and there's like way over
six hundred and fifty places. But I think there's still
(05:07):
that many left to do.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
I mean, you're not even halfway through the provinces exact, Yeah, exactly,
but they so far now becomes stricky.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
You know, it's like two thousand kilometers just to get
there and put Malanga lu Popo, so then we need
to spend a few weeks there to explore enough towns. Yeah,
but we love it, I mean, we absolutely love it. It
is just far for us to travel.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
Now, how do you travel? Do you drive everywhere? Do
you sometimes fly? Is it all by road?
Speaker 4 (05:36):
All by road?
Speaker 2 (05:36):
Yo?
Speaker 4 (05:37):
What we do is you'r inted vehicle and then we
hit the road. We've just come back from a three
weeks trip, twenty one days on the road.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
Now and where were you in these last week?
Speaker 4 (05:45):
We we've covered quite a lot of places. We got
about twenty three towns that we went through and then
we've finished off in Our most favorite place in the
world is the Kruger National Park.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
Okay, yeah, any particular part of the park or camp
or was it the whole experience?
Speaker 4 (06:00):
The whole experience. But we spent three days in Tambuti, you.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Know, okay, which I was born in Lompopo, so I
basically grew up in Lattaba. So the center is very
dear to my heart. Right, it's not always possible to
get there, will take anywhere in Kruger that anyone can
give us so young from the.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
Corner, I know, I'm with you on that, and I
love the way, I mean, the way you guys share
your content. It's just it's not just taking off another
town and this is what it looked like. And here's
a picture of the pretty church or the most landmark building.
You guys really seem to make an effort to connect
with the people that you find there and to explore
the local businesses, the local eateries, et cetera. Curtis, why
is that so important to you?
Speaker 4 (06:38):
You know, it's nice for us to showcase seeing that
we're going through the effort to get this, to show
what is there, what what the people are like, and
what's interesting for us is to meet the people in
the towns. And that's our experience is finding that the
people of the towns are so eager to share their
places with us, you know, and that's what's what's amazing.
Every town has special people and they just so welcome
(07:00):
and that's when we walk around there and we go
and eat at the places and they find out what
we're doing. They're so willing to share stories with us.
So that's what makes it fun for us.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
So, sonya, do you go with a plan, like we're
going to this town and we've already researched, we know
we've got to look at X y Z, or do
you prefer to travel more organically and get there and
see where the road takes.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
One hundred percent organically, we go with a route. But
so we have towns planned and mapped out, but we
don't have any specific plans in a town except if
it's an overnight stop, then we have accommodation booked, okay,
So we literally explorers by heart. So we arrive in
the town, whether it is a large place or whether
(07:40):
it is a small, small, little, teeny tiny town, and
we show what we happen upon and we still value
the things that very often are overlooked. So sorry for example,
for example, an old, broken down, beautiful historic bulging. We
(08:01):
don't see the demise, the decay they neglect. We see
the beauty that their store exists. And I think it's
so important when one travels to try and focus on
the good and the beauty that still remains. And that
I think is our premise.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
Just for anybody who's coming into this conversation midway. Our
guests with us in studio today Ore Curtis and Sonya
Dylan of dust Bugs Travel, and you want to go
on to YouTube primarily to explore their channel and see
their travel content. They have already passed through over six
hundred and fifty small towns in South Africa and they're
nowhere close to being done yet. And what I love
(08:38):
about this story is the way they like to experience places.
It reminds me a bit of that TV show Going
Nowhere Slowly.
Speaker 3 (08:44):
Yes, we've heard in a hurry.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
You are about soaking up the atmosphere, meeting the people,
getting the feel of the rears of a town, not
just ticking off. Okay, we've seen the main attraction and
let's move on to the next one.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
And I think it.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
Shows in the kind of contact that the content that
you're producing. Now, let's talk about creating the content because
not everybody likes being on camera. There's always a driver
and a navigator. In my experience, when couples travel together,
talk to us about how you to divvy up the
responsibilities off first getting you there and secondly producing the
film content.
Speaker 4 (09:16):
Well, what we do is when we decided okay, we're
going to we're next trip is ahead of us, I
sit and I plan the route that you're going to
be taking, and which which towns we haven't done yet,
and the shortest through to get there. And once that's
been done, we discuss where we're going to be sleeping
over and then Sonya finds accommodation which has a lot
of people contact us to offer us accommodation. So then
(09:38):
we try and plan it according to that. And then
after that when we hit the road, Sonya doesn't appear
on camera often she doesn't like it. And then I
form everything and we form everything. She does all when
we're in a certain place, she does a bit of
research about the town, the history of the town and.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
Stuff like that, but on the fly, not ahead of
time or anything. We feel it's lost in the moment, honestly,
and we don't have the time to do a lot
of research, and we feel it's best for us just
happen upon things that works best for us.
Speaker 4 (10:11):
We found that when you're driving through the streets of
a town, you do come across the most amazing places.
You go off the main road, go into the suburbs,
and we come across wonderful old monuments that there have
been there since the eighteen hundreds and things like that.
That's what we love to find. Yeah, old buildings that
might be destroyed, but you come across that and you'll
find a cornerstone and you'll see the data does boilt
(10:32):
in eighteen ninety seven or something like it, which is fascinating.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
It's my favorite way to get trouble to travel is
to get lost. Is get yourself to the destination and
then just walk and see where you end up. And Okay,
sometimes that ends you up in a dodgy part of
town you didn't want to be in, primarily if you're
in a big city, but in the small towns.
Speaker 3 (10:50):
Not so much.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
And it's often in those moments where you don't know
where on earth you are that you stop to ask
somebody for help and suddenly you're having a conversation with
somebody who points you to the next thing to see
and tells you where to eat, and you know what
you must not miss while you there. Terry has written
in saying I found Curtis and Sonya's content when I
was doing research on the next town we were going
to visit. I love their videos so real. It's like
(11:14):
a family member giving you great advice. And Terry, I
wish you could see the smiles on the two faces
in studio with us right now, because I think you've
just nailed exactly what they're trying to do, and in fact,
that is how it started, giving the family members.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
An update on where they were and what they were doing.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
We've got a voice note that's come in from a
listener who also wants to respond, who I think is
familiar with the dust Bugs travel content.
Speaker 3 (11:38):
Let's take a listen to that.
Speaker 5 (11:41):
Hello, Papa and john Ya from Conscientiam coming infant in
conversation with Curtis and Sonya. I just wanted to say
that I am from the South African Air Force Museum
at a supplant in Kaita, and Curtis and Sony came
to visit us and a great surprise and they it's
such a great documentary about the museum and the and
(12:05):
the friends, the volunteers and that and and Wessat on
YouTube and with absolutely fantastic. So I just wanted to
let you know that they've also been to our museum
and it was an absolute pleasure having them there and
thanks to them that we have grown more and more
just more more people get to hear about our museum.
Thanks bye, Thanks.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
John for sending that through. Thanks John, And I mean,
that's lovely. That's the kind of impact.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
I mean, these small towns don't get a lot of
off the beaten tracturists. It must be incredibly impactful for
them to be sort of put onto a stage like
the one you're offering. Do you do you ever get
that kind of feedback from places you've been to to say, hey,
somebody came because of your content.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
Often, Papa, that's probably the most rewarding part of our
channel is the feedback we get from the smallest business
where you refer to which you refer to in the
beginning that says people are coming now and saying they
saw they saw them on dustbugs and a lady just
this morning in find vakestore let us know that the
(13:05):
bookings they getting is from our video. So yeah, that
brings us great joy because that's the positive impact that
we were seeking to.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
Bringar Where is from Vegsdorp, I've never heard of such
a place.
Speaker 3 (13:19):
In the Karkay Adding to.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
The list a couple of other listeners sharing their favorite
small towns and let me just share a few more
of these messages and see if if our guests would
like to comment on the places that they have been to.
Elsa says, we love carpsho Hoop which is magical and
again that's the place I've never heard of.
Speaker 3 (13:38):
Have you guys been to carp sho Hoop?
Speaker 2 (13:39):
Not yet?
Speaker 3 (13:40):
Okay?
Speaker 2 (13:41):
If that is close to Barberton, we were recently invited
to spend two days there. But that's Puma Langa, I
think if I'm not mistaken, So that's on our list.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
Okay, so you're adding to their list, Elsa, thank you
for that. Another verte for Dwarsker Sports from Niki, who
says seaside peace and tranquility and she also loves force
for lacquer, flace and career hospitality. Anita speaking straight to
my heart in naming Nature's Valley as her paradise, She says,
the indigenous forest, the lagoon, the longest beach, the beautiful sea,
(14:12):
the dolphins.
Speaker 3 (14:13):
Just one small shop and pub.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
There is nothing to compare, Anita, I spent so many
childhood holidays and Natures Valley. So I'm with you one
hundred percent. And i can see by the nods that
I'm getting from across the desk.
Speaker 3 (14:23):
You guys love it too.
Speaker 4 (14:24):
Definitely beautiful. I love the drive down to get here, Yes,
absolutely stunning, absolutely gorgeous.
Speaker 1 (14:29):
I mean, you've seen so much in so many towns,
it must be very difficult to name favorites. But is
there one or maybe one or three that you can
mention that have really crept it their way into your hearts.
Speaker 4 (14:41):
That's really difficult because we've met so many places and
many people in so many places. It's difficult to put
our finger on it. But there's luck. We said in
the beginning, there's just one special place where us and
that's the crew.
Speaker 3 (14:52):
Of National Point.
Speaker 2 (14:54):
We find it very heart to single one town out.
I'm sure.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
Yeah, yeah, let's see, Hippe saying her favorite is Pringle Bay,
far enough out of the city but close enough still
to get to it. With lovely sea and restaurants. Kevin says,
still By every beach has blue flag status. The town
is beautiful, has that setting on a pristine river estuary,
excellent facilities including doctors, dentists, a great hospital just fifteen
(15:18):
minutes away, and great sporting facilities, and wonderful restaurants and
coffee shops. And Kevin, I've never been to Stillby, but
when my parents were install By not so long ago,
and they went out to eat and discovered that the
restaurant there were in didn't have a liquor license, somebody
at the next door table poured my dad a glass
of wine out of the bottle he'd bought, and bought
it across. I've never forgotten that story because I think
(15:41):
it says so much about the nature of the friendliness
of the people in that town. So absolutely thank you
for naving still By. And then several people voting for
Arniston as being so beautiful and peaceful. David taking us
a little bit further afield since the east must be
one of the best, and Chris says, I've just spent
a week in Fraserburg in the northern Kve some of
the most wonderful career architecture I've ever seen. Have you
(16:04):
guys made it to Fraserburg yet, yes, yes, first trips? Yes, yes, Okay,
now okay, So I completely take the point that you
don't like to play favorites or name favorites other than
the Kruger National Park, which we will allow. Let's maybe
just talk a little bit about how you manage the
costs of travel. As you've said, you are starting to
get to the point where there's enough traction on the
(16:26):
platform that people invite you to come to them. But
it's not easy juggling full time work with this kind
of travel, especially if you're driving, and the cost of
petrol and car insurance and tires and all of that stuff.
How do you finance and sort of budget for these.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
Trips, Papa, We're essentially budget travelers, so we don't go
exorbitant vehicles, and you know, our accommodation for the most
part is sponsored lately because folks have reached out to us,
which were very grateful for or and self financed for
(17:02):
the most part. So we work and then yeah, we go.
We don't have children, so we believe in living life
to the fullest and not having to leave anything for
anyone if you know what I mean. So, yeah, we
just enjoy life.
Speaker 1 (17:19):
Okay, a very interesting anonymous message in which I'm going
to share with you and ask you if it's something
you've had experience with or would like to respond the
person rights. I'm sending this message on behalf of I
think many other people of color who have had uncomfortable,
lukewarm experiences in some of these small, insular, quaint towns.
In your experience, how receptive are they?
Speaker 4 (17:41):
You know?
Speaker 2 (17:42):
When you spoke about the hospitality in Stallby specifically, I
wanted to make a comment and say that we found
it to be extended across our beautiful country. Honestly, there
is nothing that beats South African hospitality and we have
found that in every single town we visited. Do we
sometimes get someone who's a little stand or fish, yes,
(18:05):
but yeah, anywhere in the world.
Speaker 4 (18:07):
In the world you'll find that. But with majority of
the people, like I said in the beginning of so
happy to see her, so friendly and that doesn't matter
who you speak to. Everybody, all groups of people are
so friendly and welcoming when we get there.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
So my advice to someone like that would be be
your friendliest self, be open, engage in conversation because that
opens the door.
Speaker 3 (18:32):
It's really I completely take your point.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
How you go in and putting yourself out there and
approach people if you're in This counts anywhere in the world,
not just in small town South Africa, if you approach
a place with an open heart, with friendliness, with a
willingness to learn, to be patient, to be respectful of
people's space. My experience certainly has been that you know,
there will always be the one or two having a
bad day and are feeling grumpy or just not people people,
(18:58):
and that's fine. But for the most part, my experience
has been is if you approach people, if you make
an effort to engage in their language, for example, learn
a couple of words before you go somewhere, they appreciate
the effort, they're glad to have somebody showing an interest
in their part of the world, and respond similarly. So
that's been our experience. And you know, to the person
who said that messes, I'm really hot from our hearts.
(19:19):
Sorry if you've had a different kind of experience, And
one hopes that the further we get into our new
way of being together in this country, the less and
less those negative kinds of experience is going to happen,
and that more people are going to be receptive to
welcoming anybody who makes the effort to visit their town,
particularly if it's one that is a little off the
beaten track and can really benefit from the tourist support
(19:41):
of their local economy. For those who are asking who
came in halfway our guests, so Curtis and Sonya Dylan
of the travel platform dust Bugs Travel, and you said
YouTube is I mean that's your core business. The video
content goes on YouTube if somebody is on Instagram, Facebook
or the other platforms where you've got a presence as well.
Speaker 4 (19:58):
I have got faceboo book page also Dustbugs Travel, Instagram,
TikTok were on all of them, so we have got
our main platform is YouTube.
Speaker 3 (20:07):
Okay, what's next?
Speaker 1 (20:09):
Have you already started working on the planning for the
next trip You've just got back on over three.
Speaker 4 (20:13):
Weeks at this stage, my main job at the stage
is to edit all the videos that we've shot, because
there's a there's a ton of them, so I'm going
to get that editing done. But we are starting to
think about the next one, which is going to be
around about December, but we'll have to that's let's slein
the planning stages.
Speaker 2 (20:33):
But it'll be upcountry because yes, so it will probably
be Puma Langa and Mpopo perhaps a little bit. Of
course you Lunatwel, which remains largely unexplored for us.
Speaker 3 (20:44):
So yes, okay, so watch this space.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
I mean, I was gonna ask and if we've got time,
have you ever had things go horribly wrong? Just the
trip where it was a nightmare? So know what happened.
Speaker 2 (20:56):
We rent a very small vehicle because we love gravel roads,
therefore the name Dustbugs. But we firmly believe one doesn't
really need a four by four to to traverse our country.
So we rent a small little car and we were
outside Loxton on the Bookworth Road in the Kreuia wish oh, yes,
(21:19):
and we picked the gravel road and not the tower
and then no signal, but no signal late afternoon, darkness
was falling and we got stuck in the mud and
there was not a single car in sight. And he
pushed and pushed and pushed it and I sat on a
rock next to the road, crying, and eventually he got.
Speaker 4 (21:37):
Out so yeah, to dig out the mud from the tires,
but got out at.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
The end of the day. But I mean, nothing really, nothing,
nothing bad. As long as one is vigilant in our
own country, there's absolutely no issues traveling. And we've done
ninety thousand kilometers, so.
Speaker 3 (21:56):
That's a wonderful thing to hear.
Speaker 1 (21:58):
Yeah, and I have to say, I mean, it's the
times things go wrong that are the times you remember
and talk about for the.
Speaker 3 (22:02):
Rest of your life.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
That's fine because they are the memories that are gold
that you will dine off for the rest of your life. Listen,
we've had so much fun engaging with you and talking
about these memories of your wonderful travels. Thank you for
coming into studio today the big trek all the way
from a strand, and thank you for doing such a
wonderful job of showcasing how much this country has to
offer and it's wonderful people and their warm hospitality. I
(22:24):
think you can hear it shining out of their voices
that they've got a positive attitude to travel, which is
what I think is making their platform so successful and engaging.
And if you've never explored it yourself, please go onto
YouTube and check out dust Bugs. Travel Curtis and Sonya
Dylan Save travels to you for the next journey and
look forward to seeing the videos from the latest trip.
Thanks for joining us today, Thank.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
You, thank you for having us.
Speaker 3 (22:46):
Huge pleasure to have you with us.
Lots more messages coming in about your favorite small towns,
and in the second alt explain to you why we
are talking about this in particular today. But let me
just share a few more of your contributions. Ivan or
iv I's saying only two places to reference as the
best small towns in South Africa. One of them is
for Mark Locate. The other is Vit sunt at the
Breader River. Places to relax at with a bottle of
(00:20):
wine and a good book that sounds like my kind
of weekend weekend. If I'm saying you, what else have
we got? Kim has to vote for Front Shook. She says,
I have actually tenanted my Cape Town homes that I
could move to the Front Shook Valley to live there permanently.
JC putting in another vote for the small town of Grayton,
saying they love the Saturday market, lovely accommodation and restaurants,
(00:42):
and the fact that there are no traffic lights. Derek, Okay,
now I'm going to unearth a whole nother argument. Is
it napier or napier? As long as I have lived
in Cape Town, I've heard people arguing about this, and
I honestly don't know, but that village, Derek reckons, that's
the best one. He says, it's an authentic village with
historical buildings surrounded by farmland, horses and sheep, literally one
(01:04):
hundred meters from the main street. The Saturday Village market
offers food and crafts made by the actual villagers who
are selling those items. The heart of the town is
its strip farms which run down to the river through
the village. It has not one takeaway franchise and no
traffic lights. It is hard to find a more authentic village.
Perhaps my guests would like to weigh in on the argument,
(01:26):
is it napier or napier.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
We go napier for English speaking and Nappi for Afrikaans.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
So it can be both.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
We're trying to keep everybody happy today with me and
studio are Curtis and Sonya Dylan. It is time for
us to wander the world, and they are going to
help us wander our part of the world because they
are absolutely passionate about getting South Africans visiting our own
country and exploring the many different beautiful nooks and crannies
of South Africa. They are true South African explorers and
(01:55):
they are the husband and wife duo behind a platform
called dust Bugs Travel.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
You might have come across them.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
On YouTube primarily, but also on other social media, and
they love crisscrossing the country, visiting and documenting its tiny
door piece, the places you might just whiz past in
your car without stopping to look. Perhaps you've never even
noticed the signboard pointing you off the main drag to
go and find these places. They are doing it for you.
And at the last count I think it was six
(02:22):
hundred and fifty, is that correct?
Speaker 4 (02:24):
Six hundred and fifty towns in places and still going,
still going.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
Well, welcome, first of all, it's wonderful to have you
both with us. Thanks for coming into studio. How did
this all begin? Who had the idea that you were
going to go start visiting small towns all over South Africa.
Speaker 4 (02:37):
It's a crazy time. I don't know. I'm sure most
people remember twenty twenty with COVID. Yeah, we were all
locked up in our flat sitting looking at the beach
with the seagulls walking around wondering where their next chip
is going.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
To come from.
Speaker 4 (02:49):
So we decided, listen, we're going to have to make
a plan because life was crazy at that stage. So
you know, as life carries on, we got swept up
back into work again. Worked twenty five was seven, carried
on and then in twenty twenty one, my brother's son
passed away. I'm sorry, and it was just like a
shock to ass and that's when we decided, listen, life
just a short way have to start living. And that's
(03:10):
when you started traveling. And we just started sharing it
on YouTube, specifically for my mother because she can't travel
and she wanted to see where we go, and also
for our family and friends. We started doing it and
that's how the traveling started and the YouTube channel began.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
And I mean, I love this because I'm literally busy
right now reading Marita Fana Fairir's new book, which is
about her travels in overseas, and she made the comment
about how in the olden days, when travel was exotic
and something you only did occasionally, it was a real
occasion to share your travel snaps and adventures with the
whole neighborhood and you'd all come and watch the slides
in somebody's house. And today it's so easy to snap
(03:46):
a peck and say this.
Speaker 3 (03:47):
Is where we are exactly.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
Kelly there's something about the way you guys are doing
it that is appealing because it's gone from being hey ma,
this is where we are this weekend to something much
bigger than that, Sonya.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
I mean talked to us about how the platform has
grown since then. Do you know what, Papa.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
We're a normal, regular, everyday husband and wife. We still
work full time. Every now and again, our profession, which
is real estate, gets a little too much and we
need to escape. And it's also important for us. We
live in the Western Cape in the town of Strand
we're extremely happy then. We love it, but we also
(04:22):
feel it's incredibly important for us to see other parts
of our country because sometimes I think we live in
a little bubble and it's important to see how other
folks live in other towns. And there's so much beauty
everywhere in our country. That's why we and will never
run out of places.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
I mean, if you had to put a percentage on it,
do you think you've even scratched the surface or you
only quart of the way there.
Speaker 4 (04:47):
Well, we've done. We've done most places in the Western Cape,
most places in the Northern Cape through the Karoo, a
lot of places in the Free State the Eastern Cape,
and we've started doing Quasialuna Tel and put Alonga and this.
We've done all of these and there's like way over
six hundred and fifty places. But I think there's still
(05:07):
that many left to do.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
I mean, you're not even halfway through the provinces exact, Yeah, exactly,
but they so far now becomes stricky.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
You know, it's like two thousand kilometers just to get
there and put Malanga lu Popo, so then we need
to spend a few weeks there to explore enough towns. Yeah,
but we love it, I mean, we absolutely love it. It
is just far for us to travel.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
Now, how do you travel? Do you drive everywhere? Do
you sometimes fly? Is it all by road?
Speaker 4 (05:36):
All by road?
Speaker 2 (05:36):
Yo?
Speaker 4 (05:37):
What we do is you'r inted vehicle and then we
hit the road. We've just come back from a three
weeks trip, twenty one days on the road.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
Now and where were you in these last week?
Speaker 4 (05:45):
We we've covered quite a lot of places. We got
about twenty three towns that we went through and then
we've finished off in Our most favorite place in the
world is the Kruger National Park.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
Okay, yeah, any particular part of the park or camp
or was it the whole experience?
Speaker 4 (06:00):
The whole experience. But we spent three days in Tambuti, you.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Know, okay, which I was born in Lompopo, so I
basically grew up in Lattaba. So the center is very
dear to my heart. Right, it's not always possible to
get there, will take anywhere in Kruger that anyone can
give us so young from the.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
Corner, I know, I'm with you on that, and I
love the way, I mean, the way you guys share
your content. It's just it's not just taking off another
town and this is what it looked like. And here's
a picture of the pretty church or the most landmark building.
You guys really seem to make an effort to connect
with the people that you find there and to explore
the local businesses, the local eateries, et cetera. Curtis, why
is that so important to you?
Speaker 4 (06:38):
You know, it's nice for us to showcase seeing that
we're going through the effort to get this, to show
what is there, what what the people are like, and
what's interesting for us is to meet the people in
the towns. And that's our experience is finding that the
people of the towns are so eager to share their
places with us, you know, and that's what's what's amazing.
Every town has special people and they just so welcome
(07:00):
and that's when we walk around there and we go
and eat at the places and they find out what
we're doing. They're so willing to share stories with us.
So that's what makes it fun for us.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
So, sonya, do you go with a plan, like we're
going to this town and we've already researched, we know
we've got to look at X y Z, or do
you prefer to travel more organically and get there and
see where the road takes.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
One hundred percent organically, we go with a route. But
so we have towns planned and mapped out, but we
don't have any specific plans in a town except if
it's an overnight stop, then we have accommodation booked, okay,
So we literally explorers by heart. So we arrive in
the town, whether it is a large place or whether
(07:40):
it is a small, small, little, teeny tiny town, and
we show what we happen upon and we still value
the things that very often are overlooked. So sorry for example,
for example, an old, broken down, beautiful historic bulging. We
(08:01):
don't see the demise, the decay they neglect. We see
the beauty that their store exists. And I think it's
so important when one travels to try and focus on
the good and the beauty that still remains. And that
I think is our premise.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
Just for anybody who's coming into this conversation midway. Our
guests with us in studio today Ore Curtis and Sonya
Dylan of dust Bugs Travel, and you want to go
on to YouTube primarily to explore their channel and see
their travel content. They have already passed through over six
hundred and fifty small towns in South Africa and they're
nowhere close to being done yet. And what I love
(08:38):
about this story is the way they like to experience places.
It reminds me a bit of that TV show Going
Nowhere Slowly.
Speaker 3 (08:44):
Yes, we've heard in a hurry.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
You are about soaking up the atmosphere, meeting the people,
getting the feel of the rears of a town, not
just ticking off. Okay, we've seen the main attraction and
let's move on to the next one.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
And I think it.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
Shows in the kind of contact that the content that
you're producing. Now, let's talk about creating the content because
not everybody likes being on camera. There's always a driver
and a navigator. In my experience, when couples travel together,
talk to us about how you to divvy up the
responsibilities off first getting you there and secondly producing the
film content.
Speaker 4 (09:16):
Well, what we do is when we decided okay, we're
going to we're next trip is ahead of us, I
sit and I plan the route that you're going to
be taking, and which which towns we haven't done yet,
and the shortest through to get there. And once that's
been done, we discuss where we're going to be sleeping
over and then Sonya finds accommodation which has a lot
of people contact us to offer us accommodation. So then
(09:38):
we try and plan it according to that. And then
after that when we hit the road, Sonya doesn't appear
on camera often she doesn't like it. And then I
form everything and we form everything. She does all when
we're in a certain place, she does a bit of
research about the town, the history of the town and.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
Stuff like that, but on the fly, not ahead of
time or anything. We feel it's lost in the moment, honestly,
and we don't have the time to do a lot
of research, and we feel it's best for us just
happen upon things that works best for us.
Speaker 4 (10:11):
We found that when you're driving through the streets of
a town, you do come across the most amazing places.
You go off the main road, go into the suburbs,
and we come across wonderful old monuments that there have
been there since the eighteen hundreds and things like that.
That's what we love to find. Yeah, old buildings that
might be destroyed, but you come across that and you'll
find a cornerstone and you'll see the data does boilt
(10:32):
in eighteen ninety seven or something like it, which is fascinating.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
It's my favorite way to get trouble to travel is
to get lost. Is get yourself to the destination and
then just walk and see where you end up. And Okay,
sometimes that ends you up in a dodgy part of
town you didn't want to be in, primarily if you're
in a big city, but in the small towns.
Speaker 3 (10:50):
Not so much.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
And it's often in those moments where you don't know
where on earth you are that you stop to ask
somebody for help and suddenly you're having a conversation with
somebody who points you to the next thing to see
and tells you where to eat, and you know what
you must not miss while you there. Terry has written
in saying I found Curtis and Sonya's content when I
was doing research on the next town we were going
to visit. I love their videos so real. It's like
(11:14):
a family member giving you great advice. And Terry, I
wish you could see the smiles on the two faces
in studio with us right now, because I think you've
just nailed exactly what they're trying to do, and in fact,
that is how it started, giving the family members.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
An update on where they were and what they were doing.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
We've got a voice note that's come in from a
listener who also wants to respond, who I think is
familiar with the dust Bugs travel content.
Speaker 3 (11:38):
Let's take a listen to that.
Speaker 5 (11:41):
Hello, Papa and john Ya from Conscientiam coming infant in
conversation with Curtis and Sonya. I just wanted to say
that I am from the South African Air Force Museum
at a supplant in Kaita, and Curtis and Sony came
to visit us and a great surprise and they it's
such a great documentary about the museum and the and
(12:05):
the friends, the volunteers and that and and Wessat on
YouTube and with absolutely fantastic. So I just wanted to
let you know that they've also been to our museum
and it was an absolute pleasure having them there and
thanks to them that we have grown more and more
just more more people get to hear about our museum.
Thanks bye, Thanks.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
John for sending that through. Thanks John, And I mean,
that's lovely. That's the kind of impact.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
I mean, these small towns don't get a lot of
off the beaten tracturists. It must be incredibly impactful for
them to be sort of put onto a stage like
the one you're offering. Do you do you ever get
that kind of feedback from places you've been to to say, hey,
somebody came because of your content.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
Often, Papa, that's probably the most rewarding part of our
channel is the feedback we get from the smallest business
where you refer to which you refer to in the
beginning that says people are coming now and saying they
saw they saw them on dustbugs and a lady just
this morning in find vakestore let us know that the
(13:05):
bookings they getting is from our video. So yeah, that
brings us great joy because that's the positive impact that
we were seeking to.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
Bringar Where is from Vegsdorp, I've never heard of such
a place.
Speaker 3 (13:19):
In the Karkay Adding to.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
The list a couple of other listeners sharing their favorite
small towns and let me just share a few more
of these messages and see if if our guests would
like to comment on the places that they have been to.
Elsa says, we love carpsho Hoop which is magical and
again that's the place I've never heard of.
Speaker 3 (13:38):
Have you guys been to carp sho Hoop?
Speaker 2 (13:39):
Not yet?
Speaker 3 (13:40):
Okay?
Speaker 2 (13:41):
If that is close to Barberton, we were recently invited
to spend two days there. But that's Puma Langa, I
think if I'm not mistaken, So that's on our list.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
Okay, so you're adding to their list, Elsa, thank you
for that. Another verte for Dwarsker Sports from Niki, who
says seaside peace and tranquility and she also loves force
for lacquer, flace and career hospitality. Anita speaking straight to
my heart in naming Nature's Valley as her paradise, She says,
the indigenous forest, the lagoon, the longest beach, the beautiful sea,
(14:12):
the dolphins.
Speaker 3 (14:13):
Just one small shop and pub.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
There is nothing to compare, Anita, I spent so many
childhood holidays and Natures Valley. So I'm with you one
hundred percent. And i can see by the nods that
I'm getting from across the desk.
Speaker 3 (14:23):
You guys love it too.
Speaker 4 (14:24):
Definitely beautiful. I love the drive down to get here, Yes,
absolutely stunning, absolutely gorgeous.
Speaker 1 (14:29):
I mean, you've seen so much in so many towns,
it must be very difficult to name favorites. But is
there one or maybe one or three that you can
mention that have really crept it their way into your hearts.
Speaker 4 (14:41):
That's really difficult because we've met so many places and
many people in so many places. It's difficult to put
our finger on it. But there's luck. We said in
the beginning, there's just one special place where us and
that's the crew.
Speaker 3 (14:52):
Of National Point.
Speaker 2 (14:54):
We find it very heart to single one town out.
I'm sure.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
Yeah, yeah, let's see, Hippe saying her favorite is Pringle Bay,
far enough out of the city but close enough still
to get to it. With lovely sea and restaurants. Kevin says,
still By every beach has blue flag status. The town
is beautiful, has that setting on a pristine river estuary,
excellent facilities including doctors, dentists, a great hospital just fifteen
(15:18):
minutes away, and great sporting facilities, and wonderful restaurants and
coffee shops. And Kevin, I've never been to Stillby, but
when my parents were install By not so long ago,
and they went out to eat and discovered that the
restaurant there were in didn't have a liquor license, somebody
at the next door table poured my dad a glass
of wine out of the bottle he'd bought, and bought
it across. I've never forgotten that story because I think
(15:41):
it says so much about the nature of the friendliness
of the people in that town. So absolutely thank you
for naving still By. And then several people voting for
Arniston as being so beautiful and peaceful. David taking us
a little bit further afield since the east must be
one of the best, and Chris says, I've just spent
a week in Fraserburg in the northern Kve some of
the most wonderful career architecture I've ever seen. Have you
(16:04):
guys made it to Fraserburg yet, yes, yes, first trips? Yes, yes, Okay,
now okay, So I completely take the point that you
don't like to play favorites or name favorites other than
the Kruger National Park, which we will allow. Let's maybe
just talk a little bit about how you manage the
costs of travel. As you've said, you are starting to
get to the point where there's enough traction on the
(16:26):
platform that people invite you to come to them. But
it's not easy juggling full time work with this kind
of travel, especially if you're driving, and the cost of
petrol and car insurance and tires and all of that stuff.
How do you finance and sort of budget for these.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
Trips, Papa, We're essentially budget travelers, so we don't go
exorbitant vehicles, and you know, our accommodation for the most
part is sponsored lately because folks have reached out to us,
which were very grateful for or and self financed for
(17:02):
the most part. So we work and then yeah, we go.
We don't have children, so we believe in living life
to the fullest and not having to leave anything for
anyone if you know what I mean. So, yeah, we
just enjoy life.
Speaker 1 (17:19):
Okay, a very interesting anonymous message in which I'm going
to share with you and ask you if it's something
you've had experience with or would like to respond the
person rights. I'm sending this message on behalf of I
think many other people of color who have had uncomfortable,
lukewarm experiences in some of these small, insular, quaint towns.
In your experience, how receptive are they?
Speaker 4 (17:41):
You know?
Speaker 2 (17:42):
When you spoke about the hospitality in Stallby specifically, I
wanted to make a comment and say that we found
it to be extended across our beautiful country. Honestly, there
is nothing that beats South African hospitality and we have
found that in every single town we visited. Do we
sometimes get someone who's a little stand or fish, yes,
(18:05):
but yeah, anywhere in the world.
Speaker 4 (18:07):
In the world you'll find that. But with majority of
the people, like I said in the beginning of so
happy to see her, so friendly and that doesn't matter
who you speak to. Everybody, all groups of people are
so friendly and welcoming when we get there.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
So my advice to someone like that would be be
your friendliest self, be open, engage in conversation because that
opens the door.
Speaker 3 (18:32):
It's really I completely take your point.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
How you go in and putting yourself out there and
approach people if you're in This counts anywhere in the world,
not just in small town South Africa, if you approach
a place with an open heart, with friendliness, with a
willingness to learn, to be patient, to be respectful of
people's space. My experience certainly has been that you know,
there will always be the one or two having a
bad day and are feeling grumpy or just not people people,
(18:58):
and that's fine. But for the most part, my experience
has been is if you approach people, if you make
an effort to engage in their language, for example, learn
a couple of words before you go somewhere, they appreciate
the effort, they're glad to have somebody showing an interest
in their part of the world, and respond similarly. So
that's been our experience. And you know, to the person
who said that messes, I'm really hot from our hearts.
(19:19):
Sorry if you've had a different kind of experience, And
one hopes that the further we get into our new
way of being together in this country, the less and
less those negative kinds of experience is going to happen,
and that more people are going to be receptive to
welcoming anybody who makes the effort to visit their town,
particularly if it's one that is a little off the
beaten track and can really benefit from the tourist support
(19:41):
of their local economy. For those who are asking who
came in halfway our guests, so Curtis and Sonya Dylan
of the travel platform dust Bugs Travel, and you said
YouTube is I mean that's your core business. The video
content goes on YouTube if somebody is on Instagram, Facebook
or the other platforms where you've got a presence as well.
Speaker 4 (19:58):
I have got faceboo book page also Dustbugs Travel, Instagram,
TikTok were on all of them, so we have got
our main platform is YouTube.
Speaker 3 (20:07):
Okay, what's next?
Speaker 1 (20:09):
Have you already started working on the planning for the
next trip You've just got back on over three.
Speaker 4 (20:13):
Weeks at this stage, my main job at the stage
is to edit all the videos that we've shot, because
there's a there's a ton of them, so I'm going
to get that editing done. But we are starting to
think about the next one, which is going to be
around about December, but we'll have to that's let's slein
the planning stages.
Speaker 2 (20:33):
But it'll be upcountry because yes, so it will probably
be Puma Langa and Mpopo perhaps a little bit. Of
course you Lunatwel, which remains largely unexplored for us.
Speaker 3 (20:44):
So yes, okay, so watch this space.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
I mean, I was gonna ask and if we've got time,
have you ever had things go horribly wrong? Just the
trip where it was a nightmare? So know what happened.
Speaker 2 (20:56):
We rent a very small vehicle because we love gravel roads,
therefore the name Dustbugs. But we firmly believe one doesn't
really need a four by four to to traverse our country.
So we rent a small little car and we were
outside Loxton on the Bookworth Road in the Kreuia wish oh, yes,
(21:19):
and we picked the gravel road and not the tower
and then no signal, but no signal late afternoon, darkness
was falling and we got stuck in the mud and
there was not a single car in sight. And he
pushed and pushed and pushed it and I sat on a
rock next to the road, crying, and eventually he got.
Speaker 4 (21:37):
Out so yeah, to dig out the mud from the tires,
but got out at.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
The end of the day. But I mean, nothing really, nothing,
nothing bad. As long as one is vigilant in our
own country, there's absolutely no issues traveling. And we've done
ninety thousand kilometers, so.
Speaker 3 (21:56):
That's a wonderful thing to hear.
Speaker 1 (21:58):
Yeah, and I have to say, I mean, it's the
times things go wrong that are the times you remember
and talk about for the.
Speaker 3 (22:02):
Rest of your life.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
That's fine because they are the memories that are gold
that you will dine off for the rest of your life. Listen,
we've had so much fun engaging with you and talking
about these memories of your wonderful travels. Thank you for
coming into studio today the big trek all the way
from a strand, and thank you for doing such a
wonderful job of showcasing how much this country has to
offer and it's wonderful people and their warm hospitality. I
(22:24):
think you can hear it shining out of their voices
that they've got a positive attitude to travel, which is
what I think is making their platform so successful and engaging.
And if you've never explored it yourself, please go onto
YouTube and check out dust Bugs. Travel Curtis and Sonya
Dylan Save travels to you for the next journey and
look forward to seeing the videos from the latest trip.
Thanks for joining us today, Thank.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
You, thank you for having us.
Speaker 3 (22:46):
Huge pleasure to have you with us.
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