Cabin Fever: How Passion, Persistence and the Right Gear, Built a Creative Career
Not all creative journeys begin with a grand plan, some start with a simple decision to travel smarter. For Kirsty and James, what started as Airbnb’ing their own flat quickly turned into something far bigger: a deep appreciation for cabins, a curiosity for content creation, and eventually, a full-time career built around both. We caught up with the duo to unpack how it all started, how their craft evolved alongside their gear, and what it really takes to turn a passion project into a thriving creative business.
How did Cabin Fever actually start?
It actually started back in 2019 when we decided to Airbnb our own flat so we wouldn’t have to pay for accommodation when we travelled.
That gave us the chance to explore all these incredible stays around the Western Cape, and somewhere along the way we completely fell in love with cabins.
Fast forward to 2021, and James started working for DJI. He was given a drone to get to know the product better, so naturally he thought… let’s try sell some drones.
He created a page called @zimbo_with_a_drone where we started sharing cool aerial shots of Cape Town, hoping it might inspire people to buy one. At that point we had zero clue what we were doing, no editing skills, no real experience, just figuring it out as we went.
But somehow, Zimbo started gaining traction. And before we knew it, cabins began reaching out to us for content… which is really how @cabin_fever_cpt was born.
We were just figuring it out as we went, learning photography and videography from YouTube and slowly improving with every trip.
What started as a way to travel more affordably turned into something we became really passionate about… which we now call our full time jobs.
At what point did you realise this could become a full-time career?
We don’t think there was one big moment where it suddenly clicked… it was more of a slow build.
What started as a side hustle - just sharing stays and creating content on weekends - began to pick up momentum. We were getting more enquiries from cabins, brands started reaching out, and we realised there was actually something big here.
The real turning point was when we couldn’t juggle it all anymore. We were working full-time jobs during the week and then shooting, editing and travelling every spare second we had. It got to a point where we had to decide whether we keep it as a side hustle… or take the leap and see what it could become.
So in 2022 James took the plunge, and shortly after in 2023 Kirsty followed suit. We went all in - and that’s when Cabin Fever really became what it is today.
What makes Cabin Fever stand out is how naturally it grew into what it is today. There was no rigid strategy or perfectly mapped-out plan, just a genuine curiosity for travel and a willingness to create. As they explored different stays across the Western Cape, their focus slowly sharpened, eventually landing on cabins as their niche. It wasn’t just about aesthetics, but about capturing a very specific feeling: stillness, escape, and a break from everyday noise.
What drew you specifically to cabins and unique stays?
We stayed at a cabin called Alto Organic Retreat in Tulbagh that completely blew us away. We fell in love with the peace and quiet, lux interiors, INSANE mountain views, space to hike for km’s and the complete switch off from our busy lives. We niched up super hard and never looked back!
How has your approach to photography and videography evolved over time?
We started slow at first shooting images on our iPhone’s with limited editing skills (we never touched videography as it was too scary at first haha!). Things started evolving and we realized we needed a camera, so we went to ORMS and bought a Canon RP on Black Friday, this is when things started getting real. We learnt new techniques and watched thousands of videos on Youtube to try and get better and better, we even started to shoot video when Instagram changed its algorithm to push reels harder.
Fast forward to today and we shoot on two of the most epic Sony cameras, the A7RV and the A7IV, we have even launched a camera for Sony which was a HUGE highlight for us. We shoot long and short form video content and images for cabins and brands and have even started getting into the wedding space recently.
What makes a stay ‘Cabin Fever Approved’?
It’s all about the feeling we get when we walk in the cabin, it happens instantly and we get very excited! Ideally it has to be in an incredible location (mountain or sea views), have lux interiors, a wood-fired hot tub, cargo nets, outdoor bath or shower and have all the amenities needed for a comfortable stay.
We have left cabins that were not up to scratch in the past so people know when they book a Cabin Fever Escape, they are booking the real dea and only places we would genuinely want to go back to.
Have you ever visited a place that didn’t live up to expectations? How did you handle it?
A few actually, we arrived at cabins we had just seen architect plans for and when we got there it was either next to a busy loud road, nothing like the plans we had seen or had too many cabins around it. We have a brand to uphold and the minute we post about a stay that we do not believe in, we risk losing our brand and reputation.
We respectfully reach out to the owner and let them know that the cabin will not work on Cabin Fever, we give them constructive criticism and most of the time they take that really well.
We must stress, that when we list a cabin on www.cabinfeverescapes.com it is the best of the best and we back it with everything we’ve got.
Give us a breakdown of your gear you use to shoot cabins?
● Sony A7RV Mirrorless Camera (Camera we use the most, insane 61MP images)
● Sony A7IV Mirrorless Camera (Love the video that comes out of this)
● Sony 16mm f1.8 G-Master Lens (Ideal for those wide angle room shots)
● Sony 24-70mm f2.8 G-Master Lens (Perfect for slightly tighter shots and most of our video work)
● DJI Mavic 3 Pro Drone (For all of our exterior shots of the cabin)
● DJI Mic Mini (For our cabin tours)
What’s been one of your most memorable stays or moments so far?
This is a tough one as we have been to so many magical stays. The one that stands out the most to us is the Boomhuis in George. It was absolutely spectacular from the architecture, the location, incredible interiors, hot tub, pizza area, hiking trails- it was just stunning!
Quite a cool story from that stay, we were droning the one evening- we got home to edit and while we were editing a drone shot, we looked behind the cabin and there were two little bucks walking behind the cabin. It was just such a special place.