Adventures by Disney, a subsidiary of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts that plans guided family vacations to various countries around the world, has decided to add South Africa as one of its eight new destinations to visit in 2009/2010.
The 12-day, 11-night safari to South Africa includes four nights in Cape Town, a four-night stay in the Garden Route towns of George and Knysna and three nights at Kapama Game Reserve next door to the Kruger National Park.
South Africa Tourism is excited by the prospect of more US tourists visiting the country. Chief marketing officer, Roshene Singh, says: “The US market is SA Tourism’s second largest source market and we are delighted that this initiative will bring more Americans to our shores.”
The Disney package offers a variety of activities, including visits to national icons such as Table Mountain and historical sites such as Castle of Good Hope, shopping at Greenmarket Square in Cape Town, wine tasting at Spier Winery, cooking classes in Stellenbosch, whale watching in Hermanus, visits to Monkeyland, Birds of Eden sanctuary and Featherbed Nature Reserve in Knysna, as well as game drives and bush walks at Kapama Game Reserve and numerous other activities.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Monday, September 15, 2008
THUNDER City at Cape Town International Airport has added a fully rebuilt Puma helicopter to its collection of heritage aircraft, which is the largest civilian-owned collection of ex-military jets in the world.
Thunder City is a special tourist attraction in that aviation enthusiasts from all over the world come here to fly the world’s last four flying English Electric Lightnings and three BAE Buccaneers, plus seven Hawker Hunters and a Strikemaster.
Newly appointed Thunder City ceo, Emilio Titus, says: “Our vision is to grow the market globally for passengers flying in our supersonic jets, as well as the modernisation programme for Puma helicopters. While we have a well-established market in the UK, Europe and the USA, I plan to expand our markets in the Middle East, Asia, Canada and Brazil.”
Story by: Hilka Birns
Thunder City is a special tourist attraction in that aviation enthusiasts from all over the world come here to fly the world’s last four flying English Electric Lightnings and three BAE Buccaneers, plus seven Hawker Hunters and a Strikemaster.
Newly appointed Thunder City ceo, Emilio Titus, says: “Our vision is to grow the market globally for passengers flying in our supersonic jets, as well as the modernisation programme for Puma helicopters. While we have a well-established market in the UK, Europe and the USA, I plan to expand our markets in the Middle East, Asia, Canada and Brazil.”
Story by: Hilka Birns
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Singita voted world's best hotel again !!
The Singita Sabi Sands Game Reserve in the Kruger National Park was recently named the Best Hotel in the world in the 2008 Travel + Leisure Magazine's World Best Awards, making it the only hotel to win the accolade three times in the 13 year history of the awards.
Singita came second in last year's rankings but earned first place honours in 2004 and 2006.
The World's Best Award winners are determined through an online poll where globe trotters are asked to score a range of tourism companies and destinations based on their recent travel experiences. In the 2008 awards, Singita achieved an overall score of 94.2, for its "exceptionally well-designed lodges deep in the African bush."Other key features of Singita that were highlighted by Travel + Leisure include Singita's 14 000 bottle wine cellar, cuisine and "service that set the gold standard for bush luxury".
Despite their luxury rooms and facilities and unique bush experiences, Group Manager Mark Whitney attributes the hotel's success to the people who work there. "When we look at feedback from our guests, 90% of the time they write about the people who work here. It's our culture of service and the authenticity of our service that people remember." Whitney believes that Singita's success in the global tourism industry bodes well for South Africa. "[The global recognition] is remarkably good news for a small place on the southern end of the continent, that doesn't get a lot of good press."
Other South African hotels that featured in this year's Top 20 are Sabi Sabi Game Reserve (8) and the Cape Grace (20), while Bangkok was voted the world's best city and Virgin America, the world's best domestic airline. Singita will be presented with their award at a ceremony in New York on the 24th of July.
For a full list of winners visit: http://www.travelandleisure.com/worldsbest/2008/
Article curtsy of http://www.sagoodnews.co.za/
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
My South Africa.
CNN International has joined up with South African Tourism (SA Tourism) in a bid to raise South Africa’s profile for CNN`s business and leisure travel audience ahead of the 2010 World Cup.The three-year partnership launches this month with the creation of a website, mysouthafrica.tv, which forms part of the "My South Africa" brand campaign.The campaign will encourage CNN viewers worldwide to create their own page on the website, upload photographs, videos and stories that encapsulate their experiences of South Africa.By doing so, they stand a chance of winning a trip to South Africa.
As well as the competition mechanism, the online destination will host a picture gallery where visitors can rate each other’s entries and sign up for a monthly newsletter and quarterly virtual magazine."Our decision to embark on this campaign with CNN is informed by our determination, both to differentiate South Africa from competitor destinations and to entrench our excellent arrivals growth," said Roshene Singh, chief marketing officer at SA Tourism.
The tourism body aims to welcome 10-million visitors to South Africa in 2010 and feels it is well on its way to achieving its goal after receiving a little over nine million visitors in 2007.
An SA Tourism banner campaign will run across the My South Africa website. Print advertising will comprise a run of ad placements in CNN Traveller magazine, connecting with travellers across the globe.The My South Africa brand campaign will also be promoted via a push to blog sites and chat rooms, as well as social networking sites Facebook and Flickr, and CNN will produce a series of "call-to-action" television spots, the first featuring acclaimed music artist Yvonne Chaka Chaka, to entice viewers to the website
Saturday, July 5, 2008
South Africa's Wildlife Wonders
Cities have grown, much land has been given over to farming, hunting has wiped out entire herds, and the times when a herd of springbok could take days to pass through a Karoo town are long past.
Yet, thanks to the foresight of conservationists past and present, South Africa remains blessed with abundant wildlife.
The big cats
The lion tops the food chain - and the glamour stakes. But it does have one formidable enemy in people, who have expelled it from most of the country so that it now remains almost exclusively in conservation areas.
The beautiful leopard survives in a larger area, including much of the southern Cape and far north of the country, although numbers are small in some places.
The third of the famous big cats is particularly fascinating. The cheetah is the speed champ, capable of dashes of almost 100 kilometres an hour. However, vulnerable to the loss of cubs to other predators, the cheetah's population is comparatively small and confined mostly to the far north (including the Kruger National Park), the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park in the Northern Cape, and reserves in KwaZulu-Natal and North West.
Lesser known wildlife
Over 200 mammal species
Yet, thanks to the foresight of conservationists past and present, South Africa remains blessed with abundant wildlife.
Best known are the mammals, and the best known of these are the famous Big Five: elephant, lion, rhino, leopard and buffalo. Not that giraffe, hippo or whale are small ...
South Africa's bushveld and savannah regions are still home to large numbers of the mammals universally associated with Africa. The Kruger National Park alone has over 9 000 elephants and 20 000 buffaloes - in 1920 there were an estimated 120 elephants left in the whole of South Africa.
The white rhino has also been brought back from the brink of extinction and now flourishes with a Kruger population of nearly 3 000 and 1 600 in the Hluhluwe Umfolozi Park in KwaZulu-Natal. Attention now is on protecting the black rhino.
Both these parks are home to all five of the big ones, as are other major reserves in South Africa - such as Pilanesberg in North West - and numerous smaller reserves and private game lodges.
South Africa's bushveld and savannah regions are still home to large numbers of the mammals universally associated with Africa. The Kruger National Park alone has over 9 000 elephants and 20 000 buffaloes - in 1920 there were an estimated 120 elephants left in the whole of South Africa.
The white rhino has also been brought back from the brink of extinction and now flourishes with a Kruger population of nearly 3 000 and 1 600 in the Hluhluwe Umfolozi Park in KwaZulu-Natal. Attention now is on protecting the black rhino.
Both these parks are home to all five of the big ones, as are other major reserves in South Africa - such as Pilanesberg in North West - and numerous smaller reserves and private game lodges.
The lion tops the food chain - and the glamour stakes. But it does have one formidable enemy in people, who have expelled it from most of the country so that it now remains almost exclusively in conservation areas.
The beautiful leopard survives in a larger area, including much of the southern Cape and far north of the country, although numbers are small in some places.
The third of the famous big cats is particularly fascinating. The cheetah is the speed champ, capable of dashes of almost 100 kilometres an hour. However, vulnerable to the loss of cubs to other predators, the cheetah's population is comparatively small and confined mostly to the far north (including the Kruger National Park), the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park in the Northern Cape, and reserves in KwaZulu-Natal and North West.
Lesser known wildlifeOther quintessentially African large animals are the hippo, giraffe, kudu, wildebeest (the famous gnu) and zebra, all frequently seen in South Africa's conservation areas.
Heightened awareness, however, has created an increased appreciation of lesser known animals. A sighting of the rare tsessebe, a relative of the wildebeest, may cause as much excitement as the sight of a lion pride stretched out under a bushveld thorn tree. And while one can hardly miss a nearby elephant, spotting the shy little forest-dwelling suni (Livingstone's antelope) takes sharp eyes and is cause for self-congratulation.
On the really small scale, one could tackle the challenge of ticking off each of South Africa's seven species of elephant shrew - a task that would take one all over the country and, probably, a long time to accomplish.
Heightened awareness, however, has created an increased appreciation of lesser known animals. A sighting of the rare tsessebe, a relative of the wildebeest, may cause as much excitement as the sight of a lion pride stretched out under a bushveld thorn tree. And while one can hardly miss a nearby elephant, spotting the shy little forest-dwelling suni (Livingstone's antelope) takes sharp eyes and is cause for self-congratulation.
On the really small scale, one could tackle the challenge of ticking off each of South Africa's seven species of elephant shrew - a task that would take one all over the country and, probably, a long time to accomplish.
Over 200 mammal species
With well over 200 species, a short survey of South Africa's indigenous mammals is a contradiction in terms. A few examples will help to indicate the range.
In terms of appeal, primates rate highly. In South Africa they include the nocturnal bushbabies, vervet and samango monkeys, and chacma baboons.
Dassies - hyraxes, residents of rocky habitats - and meerkats - suricates, familiar from their alert upright stance - have tremendous charm.
The secretive nocturnal aardvark (which eats ants and is the only member of the order Tubulidentata) and the aardwolf (which eats termites and is related to the hyaena) are two more appealing creatures, and both are found over virtually the whole of the country.
One mammal whose charm is newly acquired is the wild dog or Cape hunting dog, one of the most endangered mammals in Africa. Once erroneously reviled as indiscriminate killers but now appreciated both for their ecological value and for the remarkably caring family behaviour in the pack, wild dogs require vast territories. A single pack needs on average several hundred square kilometres.
They are found in small numbers in the Kruger National Park and environs, northern KwaZulu-Natal (including the Hluhluwe-Umfolozi Park), the Kalahari, and the Madikwe reserve in North West province.
More common canine carnivores are the hyaena, jackal and bat-eared fox. Besides those already mentioned, felines include the caracal with its characteristic tufted ears, the African wild cat and the rare black-footed cat. Other flesh eaters include the civet, genet and several kinds of mongoose.
The plant eaters are particularly well represented by various antelope, from the little duiker to the large kudu and superbly handsome sable antelope, which is found only in the most northerly regions.
Mammals take to the air, too: South Africa is well endowed with bat species.
In terms of appeal, primates rate highly. In South Africa they include the nocturnal bushbabies, vervet and samango monkeys, and chacma baboons.
Dassies - hyraxes, residents of rocky habitats - and meerkats - suricates, familiar from their alert upright stance - have tremendous charm.
The secretive nocturnal aardvark (which eats ants and is the only member of the order Tubulidentata) and the aardwolf (which eats termites and is related to the hyaena) are two more appealing creatures, and both are found over virtually the whole of the country.
One mammal whose charm is newly acquired is the wild dog or Cape hunting dog, one of the most endangered mammals in Africa. Once erroneously reviled as indiscriminate killers but now appreciated both for their ecological value and for the remarkably caring family behaviour in the pack, wild dogs require vast territories. A single pack needs on average several hundred square kilometres.
They are found in small numbers in the Kruger National Park and environs, northern KwaZulu-Natal (including the Hluhluwe-Umfolozi Park), the Kalahari, and the Madikwe reserve in North West province.
More common canine carnivores are the hyaena, jackal and bat-eared fox. Besides those already mentioned, felines include the caracal with its characteristic tufted ears, the African wild cat and the rare black-footed cat. Other flesh eaters include the civet, genet and several kinds of mongoose.
The plant eaters are particularly well represented by various antelope, from the little duiker to the large kudu and superbly handsome sable antelope, which is found only in the most northerly regions.
Mammals take to the air, too: South Africa is well endowed with bat species.
The crocodile ... and other reptiles
Less generously endowed with freshwater fish - 112 named species, a mere 1.3% of the world total - South Africa nonetheless has one river-dweller that is, as much as any of the Big Five, a symbol of Africa. The crocodile still rules some stretches of river and estuary, lakes and pools, exacting an occasional toll in human life.
Other aquatic reptiles of note are the sea-roaming loggerhead and leatherback turtles, the focus of a major community conservation effort at their nesting grounds on the northern KwaZulu-Natal shoreline.
South Africa's land reptiles include rare tortoises and the fascinating chameleon. There are well over 100 species of snake. While about half of them, including the python, are non-venomous, others - such as the puffadder, green and black mamba, boomslang and rinkhals - are decidedly so.
The country's comparative dryness accounts for its fairly low amphibian count - 84 species. To make up for that, however, South Africa boasts over 77 000 species of invertebrates.
Birders from around the world come to South Africa to experience the country's great variety of typically African birds, migrants, and endemics (those birds found only in South Africa).
Of the 850 or so species that have been recorded in South Africa, about 725 are resident or annual visitors, and about 50 of these are endemic or near-endemic.
Apart from the resident birds, South Africa hosts a number of intra-African migrants such as cuckoos and kingfishers, as well as birds from the Arctic, Europe, Central Asia, China and Antarctica during the year.
South Africa's birdlife ranges from the ostrich - farmed in the Oudtshoorn district of the Western Cape, but seen in the wild mostly in the north of the country - through such striking species as the hornbills to the ubiquitous LBJs (Little Brown Jobs).
A birder need not move out of a typical Gauteng garden to spot grey loeries, mousebirds, hoopoes, hadeda ibises, crested and black-collared barbets, Cape whiteyes, olive thrushes ... or a lone Burchell's coucal poking clumsily around a tree. And that would by no means complete the list.
Among the most spectacular birds of South Africa are the cranes, most easily spotted in wetlands - although the wattled crane is a lucky find as it is extremely uncommon. The beautiful blue crane is South Africa's national bird; the crowned crane is probably the flashiest of the three with its unmistakable prominent crest.
Among its larger bird species, South Africa also has several eagles and vultures. Among its most colourful are kingfishers, bee-eaters, sunbirds, the exquisite lilacbreasted roller, and the Knysna and purple-crested louries.
Of the 850 or so species that have been recorded in South Africa, about 725 are resident or annual visitors, and about 50 of these are endemic or near-endemic.
Apart from the resident birds, South Africa hosts a number of intra-African migrants such as cuckoos and kingfishers, as well as birds from the Arctic, Europe, Central Asia, China and Antarctica during the year.
South Africa's birdlife ranges from the ostrich - farmed in the Oudtshoorn district of the Western Cape, but seen in the wild mostly in the north of the country - through such striking species as the hornbills to the ubiquitous LBJs (Little Brown Jobs).
A birder need not move out of a typical Gauteng garden to spot grey loeries, mousebirds, hoopoes, hadeda ibises, crested and black-collared barbets, Cape whiteyes, olive thrushes ... or a lone Burchell's coucal poking clumsily around a tree. And that would by no means complete the list.
Among the most spectacular birds of South Africa are the cranes, most easily spotted in wetlands - although the wattled crane is a lucky find as it is extremely uncommon. The beautiful blue crane is South Africa's national bird; the crowned crane is probably the flashiest of the three with its unmistakable prominent crest.
Among its larger bird species, South Africa also has several eagles and vultures. Among its most colourful are kingfishers, bee-eaters, sunbirds, the exquisite lilacbreasted roller, and the Knysna and purple-crested louries.
Friday, June 20, 2008
Tswalo reopened.
After a month of extensive refurbishments we are delighted to announce the reopening of Tswalu. All interiors have been beautifully redesigned by Cecile and Boyd and
offer guests absolute luxury in the Kalahari. Guests can expect the softest Polish linen, awesome extended raised decks overlooking the endless plains. Soft, organic interiors reflecting the light, colours and textures of the Kalahari and the same Relais & Chateaux luxury, magnificent sunsets, stars and horizons that Tswalu is all about.
The lodge is now open and looking forward to welcoming you
For reservations and enquiries please contact us on info@gosafari.co.za
offer guests absolute luxury in the Kalahari. Guests can expect the softest Polish linen, awesome extended raised decks overlooking the endless plains. Soft, organic interiors reflecting the light, colours and textures of the Kalahari and the same Relais & Chateaux luxury, magnificent sunsets, stars and horizons that Tswalu is all about.
The lodge is now open and looking forward to welcoming you
For reservations and enquiries please contact us on info@gosafari.co.za
Monday, June 2, 2008
A House for Hippo's ?
Ulusaba, Richard Branson's luxury camp in the Sabi Sands Game Reserve adjoining the Kruger National Park has a brand new tree house styled suite at Safari Lodge called Mpfuvu House!
The Mpfuvu House suite (pronounced ‘mp-foo-vu’ which is the Shangaan word for Hippopotamus) is perfect for those looking for a little more privacy and seclusion. Located just 15 minutes walk along a raised canopy walkway from Safari Lodge, the new suite offers excellent views of Xikwenga Dam, where hippos and elephants come to bathe.
This stunning suite features a King Size bed cocooned in a luxurious mosquito net, spacious lounge including a sofa bed, dining area for up to 4 guests and a private viewing deck. The lavish en-suite bathroom, complete with oversized bath, separate shower and his- and hers- vanities, has floor to ceiling windows for panoramic views over the bush.
Inside there are all the usual creature comforts, including a full in-room bar, tea and coffee making facilities, plus torches and ponchos to keep guests warm when walking to and from the Lodge.
Beyond the entrance to the suite is another small bridge to the ‘Mpfuvu Lounge’. This beautiful open air viewing deck is the perfect place for sundowners complete with lounges, viewing stools and a large dining area for up 20 guests. Binoculars are available as well as a self-service bar.
The Mpfuvu House will open for bookings on Monday 2nd June 2008, with arrivals from the 1st July 2008 priced at R7800 per person per night.
HOW TO BOOK?
Contact Go Safari at info@gosafari.co.za
This stunning suite features a King Size bed cocooned in a luxurious mosquito net, spacious lounge including a sofa bed, dining area for up to 4 guests and a private viewing deck. The lavish en-suite bathroom, complete with oversized bath, separate shower and his- and hers- vanities, has floor to ceiling windows for panoramic views over the bush.
Inside there are all the usual creature comforts, including a full in-room bar, tea and coffee making facilities, plus torches and ponchos to keep guests warm when walking to and from the Lodge.
Beyond the entrance to the suite is another small bridge to the ‘Mpfuvu Lounge’. This beautiful open air viewing deck is the perfect place for sundowners complete with lounges, viewing stools and a large dining area for up 20 guests. Binoculars are available as well as a self-service bar.
The Mpfuvu House will open for bookings on Monday 2nd June 2008, with arrivals from the 1st July 2008 priced at R7800 per person per night.
HOW TO BOOK?
Contact Go Safari at info@gosafari.co.za
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