Slow Travel in the KZN Midlands

Meandering from The Old Mushroom Farm

Fast food. Fast fashion. Fast media.

Our lives seem to be running away from us. Even on vacation.

We’ve all felt that pressure to maximise a holiday. Packing an itinerary to the brim to “make the most” of your allocated time. A successful trip measured by how many sights you ticked off the bucket list. But have we really experienced them? Is that mode of traveling even enjoyable? This is not the kind of break one tends to return from feeling rested and fulfilled.

What Is Slow Travel?

Slow travel is guided by mindfulness, sustainability, and meaningful engagement with place. It values time flexibility and immersion in local culture, encouraging travellers to be present rather than rushed. At its heart, slow travel offers a more thoughtful and enriching way to experience the world, offering a shift in a way of being, from a passive observer to an active participant, prioritising connection and depth.

In our opinion, the most memorable moments of a trip are rarely the ones you planned down to the minute. They happen in between. Over an unhurried breakfast. In a conversation that runs long. On a walk taken without a destination in mind.

Practically, that might look like choosing a place to stay like The Old Mushroom Farm, which offers more opportunity for chance encounters and immersion in the culture of the place. In contrast, a basic hotel near the highway might shorten your travel time by ten minutes, but you leave lacking meaningful engagement.

For years, travel has been idealised by the jet-setter stereotype, praised for speed and spectacle: zoom to the landmark, take the obligatory selfie, move on swiftly. Slow travel shifts the focus from quantity to quality. It doesn’t mean that you now HAVE to travel at a snail’s pace, staying put for months (though you can). It’s a mindset that loosens the grip of the itinerary and leaves room for curiosity.

Travel writer, Dan Kieran, describes it as “taking the long way round”—a philosophy that applies just as well to life. 

“I think if you give your life the gift of your own time, you notice so much that you would normally bundle past because you’re thinking about the news, ... the place you’re hurrying to. When you do have time to stop and look around, your curiosity lands on things and situations develop. And because you’re thinking differently, you pursue them in a different way and all of a sudden things around you start to unlock and you discover things you would never normally see.”

In the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands, this approach feels natural. Instead of racing through the Midlands via the N3, the Midlands Meander map is designed for slow travel and the quality of interactions you get here foster deep connection.

The Old Mushroom Farm, nestled in the heart of the Midlands Meander, embraces this philosophy by keeping artisans and authentic creation at the heart of the experience. Visitors are invited to connect with the makers and gain a deeper appreciation for each item, understanding the care and craft behind it.

The Midlands Meander could be considered one of the original slow travel concepts, developed over 40 years ago as a way to take a leisurely drive through the countryside and immerse yourself in authentic destinations. Stops might include Groundcover Leather Company on Curry’s Post Road, a family farm where a quaint shoe shop sits alongside the workshop, or Highgate Wine Estate, where the family-run vineyard takes you from grape to glass and invites you to enjoy an elegant lunch and tasting. The slow drives between stops give you time to soak in the landscape and let each experience settle.

Why Slow Travel Feels Better (Science Agrees)

There’s a reason slow travel feels so restorative—and it’s not just romanticism.

Psychologist Daniel Kahneman distinguishes between the experiencing self (who lives in the moment) and the remembering self (who later tells the story of our experiences). When travel is rushed, the experiencing self barely has time to register what’s happening before being propelled to the next activity.

Neuroscience backs this up. Memory consolidation, the process of turning experiences into long-term memories, happens during rest and reflection. Remove those pauses and your brain simply doesn’t store what you’re seeing and doing. Ironically, the harder we work to fit everything in, the less we actually retain.

The Benefits of a Base-Camp 

One of the simplest ways to practice slow travel in the KZN Midlands and more broadly is to choose a single base and explore the surroundings from there. Moving around means constant packing, unpacking, and living out of a jumbled suitcase. When you choose one spot, it starts to feel like ‘your spot’. It also reduces your carbon footprint. Familiarity with a place allows you to let your guard down a little, and operate from a place of ease.

Staying put allows for deeper engagement. You become a 'regular' by returning to Home Slice every morning, you may end up greeting the barista by name, "The regular please, Zweli!". Avenues for deep connection at The Old Mushroom Farm include getting curious about an artisan's crafts, volunteering in the garden, joining a creative workshop, or simply spending time observing daily life on the farm and chatting to the people who cross your path. These moments invite connection with place, people, and process, creating cherished memories that feel lived-in.

Slow travel in the KZN Midlands is nourishing

It allows us to engage with a place on a deeper level, tapping into sources of meaningful connection with the land and its locals. In the KZN Midlands, and at The Old Mushroom Farm in particular, this way of travelling comes naturally. By choosing to follow curiosity, and immerse yourself in your surroundings, every moment becomes a cherished one. The rewards of travelling slowly reveal themselves as memories with texture, moments of connection, and a feeling of spaciousness that remains well beyond the journey itself.