South Africa

Pigs, Warthog, Monkeys and Elephant

16.05.2008 00:31
Not You Again! Some things change, and some things don’t. Robert Mugabe, after almost five weeks of political hiatus, remains in power, while galloping inflation – touted now at about 200 000% – necessitated the issue of another new banknote, the third issue in a year. This time it was a Z$500 million bill, [...]

Malawi: The Warm Heart of Africa

07.05.2008 20:26
Smoke on the Water Malawi used to be famous for two things: some of the best bud on the planet, and the lake. These days it is famous for Madonna, which is better, because Madonna carries more weight than the bud and the lake combined, so now is without doubt the time to say a few [...]

Vulture Restaurants: Dining with Vultures

06.05.2008 21:21
An Empty Place at the Table At one time the vulture was one of the most ubiquitous species of the African plains, the harbinger of death, the clean up man of the veld, but most visible these days, it seems, only when it is not there. There is nothing that quite captures the morbid quintessence of [...]

Swaziland

02.05.2008 00:40
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 [...]

Robben Island Animals Not Neglected

29.04.2008 23:53
Cape Town - Robben Island Museum has rejected a report that wild animals on the 574 hectare island are starving to death because of poor environmental management. The Cape Argus reported on Tuesday that among the animals affected were bontebok, springbuck, fallow deer and rabbits, and that environmentalists blamed neglect by the museum, which manages [...]

Zapiro gets to the point…again!

27.04.2008 18:15

SA Not Truly Free…

27.04.2008 01:32
Molweni - South Africa was not yet truly free, Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille told KwaZulu-Natal Freedom Day celebration in Molweni, outside Durban, on Saturday. “Are we truly free in South Africa today?” she asked. “I am afraid that the answer to this question must be no… but many people may disagree. “… Elections are [...]

Zimbabwe: The End of the Beginning

26.04.2008 22:30
I have noticed quite a few comments finding their way back to the site regarding Zimbabwe, Mugabe, and the general state of things between the Limpopo and the Zambezi. While this is a travel site and not a political blog, the two concepts have a certain symbiosis thanks to the fact that politics in the [...]

Canyons, Cheetahs & Kruger

25.04.2008 02:47
Canyons, Cheetah & Kruger Canyons, Cheetahs & Kruger is somewhat cheaper in value as Boots n’all trips go. It is certainly not as good value as the Dunes, Delta & Falls option. In truth adventure travel through Mpumalanga, unless you happen to have to stop and change a flat tyre in a hijack hotspot, or one [...]

Dunes, Delta & Falls, Boots n’all in the Bush

24.04.2008 01:33
Dunes, Delta and Falls Discoverer Boots n’all Adventure Travel Shop has launched its Dunes Delta and Falls Discoverer, which, as the name implies, is a journey through the western quadrant of Southern Africa, combining the best of South Africa, Namibia, Botswana and Victoria Falls. The trip kicks off in Cape Town, which at your leisure you can [...]

Ons Skrik Vir Niks: Exhibitions of Race

20.04.2008 03:56
Black On Black In an action rich in irony this week a certain Mr Black successfully brought legal action against the notorious ‘whites only’ South African holiday resort, Broederstroom Vakansie-Oord, situated near the Hartebeespoorte Dam in Gauteng Province. In common with a handful of other facilities, notably the Orange Freestate, an element of white society in [...]

Crime & Conservation: South Africa Today

17.04.2008 18:57
Smash & Grab! Crime merged with conservation in South Africa this week, which gave a fair indication of the successes of the later at the expense of the former. There was time during the 1980s and 1990s, in fact during the hot war over the CITES ground rules for the exploitation of wild products such as [...]

Backpacker’s Lodges: The Cool Side of Traveler Accommodation

15.04.2008 01:55
Backpacker’s Lodges Backpackers lodges are by now a fairly common phenomenon worldwide, but in Africa they have long been the backbone of the independent traveller movement. Most started out as rough converted suburban houses on the outskirts of African cities where the first trans-Africa overland trucks could shed their pax for a few days and restock [...]

Cheap hotels in South Africa are now easier to find

12.04.2008 02:07
We are proud to announce a greatly improved hotel search function on this site, which we think you will like because it adds a modern feature that you won’t find elsewhere. Finding a hotel in South Africa should be much easier now because you can get search results from multiple travel-booking sites all at once. [...]

Drakensberg: Giant’s Castle Game Reserve

10.04.2008 02:05
Giant’s Castle Game Reserve Continuing on with the theme of gracious accommodation and civilized pursuits, I am returning to the Drakensberg, and this time to Giants Castle Game Reserve. As with the Royal Natal National Park, and Cathedral Peak, the dominant themes here are walking, climbing and horse riding, with the usual emphasis on bird-watching and [...]

The Peace Parks Foundation: The Next Great Step in African Conservation

06.04.2008 21:24
The Global Crisis When I was a child, picking up a National Geographic magazine at the school library was a journey into a larger than life, multi-chromatic kaleidoscope of mankind and nature. It was a glimpse into the future of what an inquisitive mind could expect from a limitless world. These days, no less splendid in [...]

Ecotourism Africa Style

02.04.2008 21:02
Ecotourism The concept of ecotourism in Africa has many facets and interpretations, but at its most fundamental it is an effort to ensure the long-term viability of vulnerable and threatened ecosystems through the medium of the tourist dollar. The term applied is high yield, low impact tourism, which is obviously bad news for the low yielders [...]

Africa adventure trips booked in April are on sale

02.04.2008 01:17
BootsnAll World Adventures is running a really cool special for the month of April on selected trips to Sub-Saharan Africa, including several in South Africa itself. The deal on these trips is you either get 50% off the price for a second person, or 50% off a second trip for anyone who wants to book [...]

Zimbabwe: The Prodigal Son?

31.03.2008 18:06
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 [...]

Luxury Lodges & Private Game Reserves

27.03.2008 20:36
A signature feature of African travel is the concept of luxury wilderness and game lodges. This approach to touching the wild in Africa is usually not for the faint of pocket, but in exchange for this a high degree of exclusivity can be expected, coupled with the work of celebrated interior designers, and the attentions [...]

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