Canoe the Zambezi & visit Victoria Falls

Special offer for January 2009

Explore the upper Zambezi River on a canoe and overnight in the bush for a night. Round off the trip with a visit to Victoria Falls and enjoy some of the many activities on offer.

5 day package from R5 894.00 pps ex JHB (Add R1 225 airline charges. Total R7119.00)

The world is indeed going through some significant change to shed the excesses of the past, and there are lot of doomsday profits jumping on the bandwagon. The communists are having a field day on their soap boxes ridiculing the global capitalist failures ; well I say hindsight is an exact science! There is no perfect system and the world economy will recover from this temporary setback. People will adapt because they have to; it is as simple as that, but they will certainly not stop smelling the flowers! South Africa is such a great and affordable destination that I have to spread the ''gospel''.

Where else can you have a great Kudu steak and top quality wine for less than $10 each! There is a package for every conceivable budget! All travel professionals will sharpen their pencils during the next 12-18 months. I can guarantee they will offer you better deals! Every market operates on supply and demand, and this oversupply of tourism products will decrease prices significantly. Five star hotels in South Africa are dropping their prices! If you have a burning desire to experience an African Safari it is the time to start planning your trip. Most people outside the industry do not know that it is possible to have a great Safari at 5 star lodges that charge a 1/3 less than the so-called high end establishments. Select your vacation months carefully to get the best deals. Peak season travel is not necessary when visiting South Africa, where you have great weather for 10 months of the year. The period between peak and winters months are best for good deals. The northern Safari regions are even accessible during the colder months of winter - May, June and July. Day time temperatures are quite good!(20 to 25 Deg.C).

The best advise I can give is to do more homework before you travel to a destination; speak to someone who has been there and don't leave it all to the local travel agent. They often do not know a particular market and then find a local expert to prepare a travel package. Guess how many layers of commission you are paying for then? Local experts will put a complete tailored(4*+) package together for as little as $200 -250 per person (including accommodation, transport, taxes, services of a driver and some meals). Your dollar buys a lot more in this emerging market where the currency weakened significantly as a result of the credit crunch fallout!.

The Internet is a great tool for research and there are millions of honest business people advertising their services. Doing a quick credibility check is also easy when finding a South African travel service provider. The best tour operators will give you detailed feedback without expecting anything in return. Only when conditions of sale have been met will they expect a small deposit, which will leave you with months to save for the rest of your vacation. Plan your trip at least 6-12 months in advance. That way you are able to find the best possible deal while putting money away on a monthly basis for your trip.

Happy Travels

Tertius - New Fusion

Kruger National Park Safaris

Go Safari offer a variety of top class guided and self drives tours to the Kruger National Park. With a mixture from a 3 day self drive safari staying in the Kruger National Park to a fly in safari to one of the world class five star lodges there is a Kruger Park Safari for everyones budget.

The safaris vary from 3 to 7 days and can included two to three different camps and private lodges adjoining the Kruger Park and even include different parkd like Mashatu in Botswana and the Kruger Park in South Africa. The options for a customized safari are endless and the drive one way and fly back safari's, honeymoon safari's and walking safari's are very popular.

For a dream safari to one of the best safari areas in the world contact Glen at Go Safari and they will assist you put this together. info@gosafari.co.za

Go Safari wins award

At a glittering SATSA - Gauteng Chapter - year end awards lunch held at the stunning Kloofzicht Lodge in the Cradle of Humankind on the 28th November 2008, Go Safari won the "Members of the Year" award.
Congratulations Glen & Susan!

UK paper readers vote Cape Town “Best World City”

The Telegraph Travel Awards for 2008 were released today and New Zealand, Australia and South Africa were voted the readers’ “favourite destinations on earth”; while their favourite cities were voted as Cape Town, San Francisco, Sydney and Vancouver.

The Mount Nelson Hotel in Cape Town was named one of the favourite city hotels in the world to visit.

More than 25,000 readers were polled in Britain’s biggest survey of travel habits and an overwhelming 92 per cent of them maintain that the financial crisis will not affect their choice of holiday destinations. 96 per cent of the readers polled refuse to downgrade their holiday accommodation.

The readers’ favourite destinations (outside of Europe) can be identified as ones where the pound has strengthened against the respective foreign currencies in the past year (the Australian and New Zealand dollars, and the South African rand).

The Telegraph readers’ holiday budget remains high – more than half of the readers polled spent more than £1,000 (R15,220) on their last holiday: one in six spent between £2,500 (R38,000) and £5,000 (R76,000) and one in twenty spent more than £5,000 (R76,000).

“As Britain enters a new winter of discontent, taking a break may never feel more needed, but the value for money it provides will be scrutinised like never before,” said Charles Starmer-Smith. “This is why, during belt-tightening times, readers return to destinations they know – namely, the English-speaking former colonies.”

President Thabo Mbeki resigns

President Thabo Mbeki has thanked South Africans for giving him the opportunity to serve them over the past 14 years, first as Deputy President and then as President of the country.
Mbeki formally resigned as President on Sunday after being asked to do so by the national executive committee of the ruling African National Congress (ANC).
In a televised address to the nation on Sunday night, Mbeki said he departed the office knowing that South Africa had many men and women who had dedicated their lives to ensuring that the country, Africa and the countries of the south would, in time, create a better world for all of humanity.
Mbeki said goodbye to the nation in all 11 official languages, and also offered hope for the future.
"Gloom and despondency have never defeated adversity. Trying times need courage and resilience. Our strength as a people is not tested during the best of times," Mbeki said.
"We should never become despondent because the weather is bad, nor should we turn triumphalist because the sun shines."

Disney sends tours to SA

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.