Big Five Explorer

The spotlight is firmly on South Africa as we prepare to host the prestigious 2010 FIFA World Cup™ and get set to welcome approximately 450,000 visitors. The experience for football fans is not just about supporting their teams but more about taking home a host of stories and memories of a distinct and mesmerizing destination.

South Africa prides itself in its ability to offer a diversity of eclectic experiences that will have visitors curious to explore more. Cape Town is consistently voted as one of the greatest cities in the world, cosmopolitan Johannesburg is known for its high energy and city vibe to grounded Pretoria which holds most of the embassies. Coastal areas such as Durban and Port Elizabeth are incredibly laid back with warm, friendly people with whom to pass the time of day.

Johannesburg is a fast paced hive of activity – offering visitors many pavement café experiences with a fusion of food to appeal to every taste. For a village feel visit 4th Avenue Parkhurst in the heart of Johannesburg, where the street comes alive with buzzing restaurants and bars as the sun goes down. For a more African experience try Vilakazi Street in Soweto which offers the best of township style.

Florida Road in Durban is also a place to be seen with a great array of restaurants and clubs in a far more laid back environment than Johannesburg.  Long Street on Cape Town is a great alternative to the more well know V&A Waterfront with its original hot spots.

If you have the time, we urge you to explore some of the destination’s smaller towns offering some genuine South African experiences that reflect our vibrant history. For example, try Swellendam in the Western Cape for great architecture, Clarens ‘the Jewel of the Free State’ is a haven for those with an interest in art. Check out Groot Marico in the North West for its famous ‘mampoer’ (a peach brandy) and Barberton in Mpumalanga for its colouful houses and characters.

Arts and crafts are abundant in South Africa demonstrating our depth of creativity through fine basket ware, beadwork, wire goods and wood carvings.  Look out for Zulu beadwork, traditional Xhosa outfits, Venda pottery, Sotho blankets and Ndebele Fabrics – all inspired by strong African traditions. These are available at markets such as Greenmarket Square in Cape Town, Africa Art in Knysna (Western Cape), St Georges Park in Port Elizabeth to the Rosebank African Market in Johannesburg. When travelling through most larger and smaller towns in South Africa you’ll find all most of these arts and crafts available on pavements and road sides.

Of course one cannot leave South Africa without a visit to one of our many safari parks. The famous Kruger National Park will be familiar amongst many visitors as the ‘Jewel of South African National Parks’ home to the Big Five with an array  birdlife, amphibians, butterflies and insects. Smaller parks worth visiting, depending on where visitors are based, include the Garden Route National Park, Mapungubwe in Limpopo for its spectacularly setting to iSimangaliso Wetland Park for pure paradise in St Lucia.

For those with an interest in theatre, the choice is abundant growing out of African traditions with European and American compliments. For an evening at the theatre, best to visit The Market Theatre in Johannesburg to the Baxter Theatre in Cape Town and The Playhouse in Durban.

South Africa is a melting pot of art, culture, diversity and history. This is complimented with our spectacular mountain ranges, our long coastlines and majestic wildlife making it the perfect place for those who have great love for the outdoors. Our city nightlife is consistently vibrant, our small towns eclectic, our people warm and hospitable. The 2010 FIFA World Cup™ in South Africa will be the greatest show on earth, both on and off the pitch.

Source: Travel Wires (http://www.travelwires.com/wp/2010/04/sa-tourism-urges-soccer-fans-to-discover-authentic-south-africa/)

PRIMKOP Airport Management, the company that owns the Kruger Mpumalanga International Airport, says it is struggling with funding to prepare for the 2010 Fifa World Cup.

Marius Nel, director of the company, said they were working hard to get the airport ready for the tournament.

“We have applied to both the national and provincial governments for assistance in capacity expansions, but to no avail. Government departments refused to invest in us because we are a privately owned airport,” Nel said.

“We believe this will cause bottlenecks at our airport, which we will try to manage to the best of our ability,” he said.

Nel said this was not good for Mpumalanga as a host city.

“We have informed the airlines that will be landing at the airport that we will only operate as a drop-and-go facility,” he said.

He said the airport could handle about six to eight aircraft in good weather and four in poor weather conditions.

Nel said the airport would put up tents to extend terminals to accommodate the large number of passengers expected.

“We have hired 35 more people to enable us to work 24 hours a day during the tournament,” Nel said.

The upgrading and hiring of new staff will cost about R3million.

But Shirley Mahanyele, acting chief executive of Polokwane International Airport, said the facility would be ready for the World Cup passenger volumes by the end of April.

The airport is owned by the Limpopo government.

“We have upgraded our hangar into a domestic terminal, which is about 45percent complete,” she said.

“We have upgraded our apron and its marking for the planes ,” Mahanyele said.

She said the airport had procured two fire trucks for any emergencies during the tournament. She refused to say how much was spent on the upgrades.

Mahanyele said the airport, which had also converted its old terminal into a car rental building, was expected to handle about 300 World Cup fans an hour.

Mike Christoph , the operational manager at Lanseria Airport in Johannesburg, which caters for charter and business trips, said: “Our slots are 30percent booked and a fuel line is under construction .”

He said the parking area had been increased by 650 to about 3000 parking bays.

“We plan to handle 700 passengers an hour for 16 hours a day for the duration of the tournament,” he said.

Source: Sowetan (http://www.sowetan.co.za/News/Article.aspx?id=1128019)

Kenya plans to build an international airport at Taveta near the Tanzanian border, a move that could pose a challenge to the Kilimanjaro International Airport (KIA).

The new airport is aimed at taping the tourism potential in both Kenya and Tanzania and could substantially lessen dependency on international airports in Nairobi and Mombasa.

“The site has been secured at Taveta and construction will start anytime from next year,” Mutinda Mutiso, the Kenyan High Commissioner to Tanzania said here on Tuesday evening.

Speaking to business community members based here from both Kenya and Tanzania, the flamboyant Kenyan diplomat said the project would cost about Ksh10 billion and that it would be completed within two years.

He said the new airport would be located a short distance from Holili, the border post between the two countries along the Moshi-Voi-Mombasa highway.

Also to be constructed in the area is an inland port to handle the cargo traffic from Mombasa port to the hinterland and landlocked countries in the region.

Besides Kenya, the port handles cargo from or destined for northern Tanzania regions, especially Arusha and Kilimanjaro regions.

Ambassador Mutiso said the new airport is aimed to tap the tourism potential of south east Kenya and north east Tanzania which are endowed with various attractive sites for visitors.

These include Tsavo West and Amboseli game reserves in Kenya and Mt Kilimanjaro and newly elevated Mkomazi national park in Tanzania.

“We want to see the Taveta/Holili border region fully integrated for investments and business,” he said, adding that his country would upgrade the Mombasa-Taveta railway line to attract more traffic, especially to northern Tanzania.

Other transport infrastructures in the area lined up for upgrading include the Mombasa-Lunga Lunga road to the Tanzanian border and Horohoro-Tanga section in Tanzania.

The diplomat defended the new international airport for his country saying it would reduce the costs and inconveniences by tourists from abroad who had to change planes several times to reach the famous game sanctuaries in the area.

However, when pressed further on the critical need for the airport in the area that has two international airports at Mombasa and KIA, the Kenyan envoy admitted that their intention was to lessen dependency on the Moi International Airport in Mombasa.

Should the project go ahead, it is likely to impact negatively on KIA which had not been used to the optimum due to high landing and fuel charges which has resulted in less traffic than anticipated when it was constructed 40 years ago.

Officials of the Kilimanjaro Airports Development Company (KADCO), a private company that runs the underutilised airport, could not be contacted on their mobile phones yesterday to comment on the matter.

However, a source familiar with the aviation industry wondered on the motive of having “an international airport” in the vicinity and hinted it could be aimed to pose more challenge to KIA which has not succeeded to beat Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) in Nairobi in handling tourists to northern Tanzania.

Currently the second largest airport in the country handles various international and regional aircrafts including the Royal Dutch Airlines (KLM) and the Ethiopian Airlines.

However, its main traffic is with Nairobi’s JKIA where several flights land and take off each few hours mainly by Precision Air, a local airline presently under the management of Kenya Airways.

Source: The Citizen (http://thecitizen.co.tz/news/4-national-news/1061-kenya-to-build-international-airport-at-taveta-near-kia.html)

Western Cape Finance MEC Alan Winde is considering naming and shaming overnight accommodation establishments which are found to be charging soccer fans excessive rates during the tournament.

He made the announcement at the V&A Waterfront, where the 6th annual Cape Town Tourism Destination Conference is underway.

Winde said they are just about ready to start welcoming World Cup visitors to the Western Cape.

The MEC said he was encouraged by a recent pledge by several tourism associations in the province. They have agreed to keep hotel, backpacker and restaurant prices reasonable.

For those who do not play the game, Winde has a surprise in store.

The MEC said if they receive reports of excessive pricing, they will investigate and might be forced to name and shame the culprits.

Source: Eye Witness News (http://www.eyewitnessnews.co.za/articleprog.aspx?id=35918)

A survey conducted by the National Tourism Board and the Tourism Council of Zambia through the Cornell University in the United Kingdom has revealed that about 60 percent of people in the west do not know about Zambia’s existence.

Tourism Board Chairman Timothy Mushibwe says the survey has also proved that the current brand that Zambia is using to market itself as one of the best tourism destinations is not effective.

Mr Mushibwe said this at a briefing to announce the launch of a new project that will be conducted by National Tourism Board and the Tourism Council of Zambia with the support of school of Hotel Administration department of Cornell University of the United Kingdom.

He said the school has been brought on board to package and design persuasive and attractive catch lines to compell more people to visit Zambia.

Mr Mushibwe observed that the current Zambia the Real Africa brand did not contribute to its marketing efforts but has instead left misconceptions among Zambia’s potential tourists.

And Cornell school of hotel administration marketing Associate Professor Rob Kwortnik says a six member student delegation from the school is embarking on new ways to analyze every facility that Zambia has and how best to market them.

He says there is need to devise a brand that will set the country apart if Zambia is to sustain its tourism market which attracts about 850 thousand tourists per year as compared to other African states.

Mr Kwortnik however said that the picture portrayed of Africa by the western media as a poor, dilapidated and war tone continent remains a barrier to Zambia’s attainment of its targeted market for tourism.

Meanwhile the National Tourism Board says it is putting in place mechanisms to attract visitors that will be attending the 2010 FIFA world cup tournament in South Africa starting in June.

Source: Zambia Watchdog (http://www.zambianwatchdog.com/2010/03/24/survey-europeans-dont-know-country-called-zambia/)