South Africa South Africa Travel News
South Africa Scoops Top Awards at World Travel Awards Ceremony
World Travel Awards Africa
Unsurprisingly South Africa shone at the recent World Travel Awards Ceremony held at the ICC in Durban on 12 May. The first World Travel Awards Africa Ceremony was opened on Monday evening by Zulu King Zwelithini Goodwill kBhekuzulu, and was attended by 400 VIPs and leading industry figures. South Africa scooped awards for Africa’s leading airline SAA, Africa’s leading family resort Western Cape Hotel & Spa, Africa’s leading destination Cape Town, and Africa’s leading travel agency Club Travel. Also SA Tourism was named as best destination marketing organisation in Africa, while Indaba Explorations was named Africa’s premier travel exhibition.
All this serves to confirm South Africa’s leading position on the continent as not only a destination in itself but as a force for the development of African tourism continent wide. ‘The awards are evidence that the creativity, application and hard work of the South African Tourism and Indaba teams have been justly recognised,’ said SA Tourism CEO Moeketsi Mosola.
Date: May 15th, 2008 |
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Zimbabwe: The Prodigal Son?
Today the entire southern African region is on the precipice. Part of what makes southern Africa such a dynamic travel destination is that it can be here today and gone tomorrow. South Africa came online with a bang in 1994 after 50 odd years of growing isolation under apartheid, Mozambique followed a little later after nearly 30 years of revolving civil war, and Zimbabwe, abruptly, in the year 2000, slammed into reverse gear and plunged into political chaos that broke the back of a staggering economy, opened up the national parks to private plunder, and otherwise dragged a vibrant tourist industry, along with everything else, into a hole of lawlessness and corruption from which it seems unable to recover.
The reasons for all this have a ring of familiarity about them. The predations of white, minority rule that prevailed throughout the 19th and most of the 20th centuries gave way to the predations of black minority rule. One-man-one-vote-once was the popular cry of the disenfranchised at the time, and although, since then, the creeping post cold-war morality that now demands more of third world proxies than hitherto, has swept the continent clean of the more obvious and odious malefactors, Robert Mugabe, the grand old daddy of African demagogues, has, by the skin of his knuckles, held on to power.
Date: March 31st, 2008 |
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Volunteer work in South Africa: A helping holiday
Volunteering holidays are a highly enriching and immersive way to experience a foreign culture at the most grass roots level.
A number of exiting and exotic opportunities are now listed on Bootsnall, where you can choose your destination, activities and budget.
Most include accommodation and some include meals and excursions, all look like fantastic life changing experiences.
These selected opportunities currently exist in South Africa:
Animal Rescue society near Cape Town, South Africa:
This centre is a domestic animal rescue organisation located near Cape Town. Their goal is to provide animal health care and sterilisation to the local impoverished communities along with running an adoption programme for abandoned stray animals. Your work here will take on many roles from feeding and caring for the many animals to working closely with staff as they go out into the local informal settlements to collect, return and vaccinate animals on site. There is also the opportunity to work along side the resident vet, who requires assistance daily; this is not for the faint hearted. On quieter days you can get involved with a programme called ‘Open Paw’ which is a training programme to help the dogs understand basic commands helping with the adoption process.
Lion Monitoring Expedition in South Africa:
This is a chance for any lion lover to get up close and personal with these magnificent predators and other African mammals. Work alongside experienced researchers while learning and putting into practice, tracking and research techniques in South Africa. The reserve is based between the small towns of Gravelotte and Mica in the Limpopo Province and covers over 30,000 hectares of African wilderness. It is home to elephants, leopard, white rhino and various antelope species; you will be in the midst of some of the worlds most fascinating wildlife on a day-to-day basis. This is an amazing opportunity to learn about conservation and predator management, while enjoying a truly wilderness area, excellent wildlife viewing and at the same time contribution to African wildlife conservation. Your assistance in actively monitoring a lion pride is vital for the future development and success of this project and would make a fantastic addition to a gap year, sabbatical or annual holiday.
Date: September 13th, 2007 |
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Two blank page passport law: Heads up
A very big NB, for tourists coming to South Africa is the recent enforcement of a bizarre passport regulation.
The rules state that visitors are required to have, not one, but two blank pages in your passport on arrival in South Africa.
A German tourist was sent home last month, after a 12 hour flight, because of this.
Please check you passports in good time before leaving so that you can either have pages added, or get a new passport to avoid huge disappointment and the consequences of bored bureaucrats.
Date: December 12th, 2006 |
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2010 South Africa, World cup: Cape Town (not Bafana Bafana) may lose semifinal!
Seemingly not all Capetonians are keen on hosting the world cup semifinal, at least not in a revamped Greenpoint stadium. The “Greenpoint common association” seeks to block the reconfiguration of the commons area including a golf course and football clubs, with court action.
If it goes to court, the delayed start may well put us out of the running for a 2009 completion, which is the condition of the event organizers. No No No!
The stadium plan is a very ambitious one and will most definitely transform the whole area, which at present is quite higgledy-piggledy.
For the most
…
Date: December 1st, 2006 |
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Swaziland
An African Oddity
Swaziland certainly is an oddity. It is a tiny landlocked country that is viable as an independent nation only in the loosest sense of the word. It is also one of the few remaining absolute monarchies in the world. Statistically notable for both its extreme rates of poverty and having one of the single largest concentrations of aids sufferers globally, Swaziland is ruled by a fickle, anachronistic, self serving, preening and pampered multiple polygamist who goes by the name of King Mswati III. Bordered to the west by fiercely republican South Africa, and to the east by thoroughly revolutionary Mozambique, it is hard sometimes to determined exactly where Swaziland fits in.
Controversy
In the interests of getting the ugly bits over first, the myths surrounding King Mswati’s personal indulgence read somewhat like the habits of a feted dauphin of an oil saturated Middle East principality. Inasmuch as Swaziland is indeed an absolute monarchy, Mswati has cultivated an almost medieval approach to governance, characterised by his prevailing attitude of I am very much alright, and be damned to the rest of you.
Date: May 1st, 2008 |
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Iceberg sighted of Cape St Francis: What the heck next?
Well there is no sight of the mysterious iceberg that was sighted last week at 6pm on Monday, 35 nautical miles south east of St Francis Bay in the Eastern Cape by the crew of the fishing vessel Ntini.
The air force on routine patrol were asked to keep a lookout for the bobbing block, but it was nowhere to be found. Read excerpts below:
“According to the crew of the Ntini, the iceberg is about 25 metres in length and 20 metres in height and was spotted south east of St Francis Bay, 35 nautical miles off shore,” he said. It was first seen at 6pm on Monday. “But, we must take into consideration, that they flew in unfavourable weather conditions where there were high waves,” he said.
“It’s very unlikely because of the warm Agulhas current off the east coast,” he said.
“The history of iceberg climatology in this area also shows that there has never been anything like this in the past,” he said.
Hunter said the ‘South African Sailing Direction’, a book published by the Hydrographic Office under the South African Navy, mentions that there were a few iceberg sightings in the 1850s near Cape Town.
He said there was also a report from a ship in 2002 off the Cape west coast of a piece of ice, about a metre-high above the water.
“We refer to this as a ‘growler’ because it is very small. Bearing in mind the cold Cape Town water, this was, to an extent, acceptable,” he said.
Date: October 18th, 2007 |
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13th MCQP: Mother City Queer Project - Comic/Strip.
The “Mother City Queer Project” has been running for 13 years now and this year’s theme is Comic/Strip. Which means you HAVE to dress up as either, a comic character or a comic character without his/her clothes on. No costume, no party those is the rules!.
Date: December 14th, 2006 |
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Operation: Mozambique #2, Mango Airlines
After bumping my head against a wall a few times, trying to remotely arrange car hire from Johannesburg to Mozambique it seems no-one wants anyone to drive their precious cars into out neighboring country. What spoil sports. I am pretty sure my 1973 Peugeot 404, would rather not go and my wife’s 230E Merc would have to be accompanied by an oil tanker. Finally though I think we have found a solution:
Date: December 11th, 2006 |
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First in Africa: Gay marriage legalized.
As of yesterday Thursday 30th November, South Africa became the first country in Africa to offer the legal right of marriage to same sex couples. The legislation was approved in Thabo Mbeki’s absence, by deputy president Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka.
The talk radio stations are abuzz with heated debate on the subject. The black majority, hold mainly conservative views about homosexuality as too, do the relevant faith groups. However, as it played out, our constitution which is one of the most liberal in the world (quite a recent thing), was found to be at odds with the definition of marriage act of 1961.
Date: December 1st, 2006 |
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