The travel experts at Lonely Planet have revealed their selection of the best destinations for 2017 that travellers simply cannot afford to miss… and South Africa’s stunning Cape Town features high up as number two on the Top 10 Cities list.
Lonely Planet describes Capetonians as being deceptively laid-back whilst working hard to “add cultural and culinary cred to the Mother City’s famous natural charms, cementing its reputation as an African city with a global outlook.”
The local gastronomy is described as being as impressive as the city’s famous Table Mountain; and the endless wine estates, hip markets and inventive restaurants are highly praised.
Lonely Planet predicts the art and design scene in Cape Town will be given a boost next September (2017) when the much-anticipated Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (MOCAA) is due to open, the largest of its kind.
Bordeaux in France won the coveted top spot (its “gastronomic revolution” being one of the reasons), with Los Angeles, USA, in third position.
Only one country from Africa made it into the Top 10 Countries list – and that’s Ethiopia (“as exotic as countries come”), at number 10. Last year Botswana was in the top spot. This year Canada, Colombia and Finland took the top three spots.
None of Africa’s wondrous locations made it into Lonely Planet’s Top Regions… but Namibia was selected as one of the Top 10 Best Value destination for those on a budget.
Namibia came in second, after Nepal, largely due to its dollar which Lonely Planet says has been depreciating in value thanks to being “pegged to the South African rand”.
There is also its awesomeness – from Etosha National Park, to the Fish River Canyon and the Sossusvlei Dunes; and “the great blue sky, contrasted with the clear starry nights”…
Source
Home Affairs responds to fears of festive chaos
The Department of Home Affairs does not have plans to suspend the capture of biometrics at ports of entry over the festive season, neither is it authorised to employ a greater number of immigration officials to cope with the greater number of travellers expected.
The department revealed as much at a media briefing on Friday morning, which followed a meeting between the department and industry associations including the TBCSA, the Board of Airline Representatives of SA and the Airline Association of Southern Africa.
Source
Thousands of tourists denied entry to SA – Shadow Minister
As many as 13 246 people were denied boarding to South Africa for the period June 2015 to July 2016 because of the requirement that minors travel with an unabridged birth certificate (UBC), according to statistics provided by the TBCSA presented in the Portfolio Committee on Tourism meeting in Parliament.
Democratic Alliance Shadow Minister of Tourism,James Vos, revealed the figures in a statement over the weekend.
Taking into account that a tourist to South Africa spends on average R13 000 per day, the associatin estimates South Africa has lost potential revenue of R7.51 billion.
“In committee I pointed out that these ministers must be fired for causing a loss of R7,5 billion to our economy as a result of these disastrous and ludicrous visa regulations,” said Vos.
“This once again reinforces the DA’s call to the Department of Tourism to implement e-visas, which will streamline tourist facilitation, reduce turnaround time and make visa applications safer and more reliable.”
Source
This Is My Africa! The Place I Call Home #EuRACapeTown #EuRACongressInAfrica
The footage was filmed around Durban, St. Lucia wetland and the Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Game Reserve. Rhys Scott-Dawkins produced the video for his company, Endless Summer Tours, showcasing what visitors can expect from a cultural safari tour.
The real Africa is the one they never show you. The real Africa is hidden beneath veneer of poverty and hunger and death; a cancerous mass on the face of the earth that the rest of the world term homogenous ‘Africa’. The real Africa is submerged underneath corruption and greed, underneath tyranny and an ostentatious elite, underneath the faces of the people they cannot feed. The real Africa is buried beneath shanty towns rife with dirt and disease, where children are brought up too quickly to survive. The real Africa is under a nomad’s desert, bare and dry, unable to sustain green and healthy life. No, that’s not the real Africa. The Africa I know, theAfrica that is reflected in the warm sunshine that you can feel burning inside of you. The Africa that shines from warm, spontaneous smile. The Africa that is at the heart of sky-high mountains and tropical jungle, of golden sand dunes and lush green grassland. The Africa that is at the heart of different people, different languages, different cultures, different identities who all call this land their home. The land where moyo muti unomera pauno; where roots take hold and don’t let go, solid as the baobab tree that has always been and will always be there, standing steady and solid against the menaces of time. My Africa is where my heart resides even when I am long gone and far away, where my mind drifts to across the distance of a never-ending ocean. The real Africa can be smelt the minute you step off a plane onto African soil and feel the air calling you, beckoning you home. The real Africa is the chaos and the calm that exist side by side as honking cars zoom past on streets that run parallel to cows grazing peacefully in a field. This is the real Africa, the one they never show.
This is the place WE call home!
Cape Town Voted 2nd Best City in the World to Visit in 2017
The travel experts at Lonely Planet have revealed their selection of the best destinations for 2017 that travellers simply cannot afford to miss… and South Africa’s stunning Cape Town features high up as number two on the Top 10 Cities list.
Lonely Planet describes Capetonians as being deceptively laid-back whilst working hard to “add cultural and culinary cred to the Mother City’s famous natural charms, cementing its reputation as an African city with a global outlook.”
The local gastronomy is described as being as impressive as the city’s famous Table Mountain; and the endless wine estates, hip markets and inventive restaurants are highly praised.
Lonely Planet predicts the art and design scene in Cape Town will be given a boost next September (2017) when the much-anticipated Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (MOCAA) is due to open, the largest of its kind.
Bordeaux in France won the coveted top spot (its “gastronomic revolution” being one of the reasons), with Los Angeles, USA, in third position.
Only one country from Africa made it into the Top 10 Countries list – and that’s Ethiopia (“as exotic as countries come”), at number 10. Last year Botswana was in the top spot. This year Canada, Colombia and Finland took the top three spots.
None of Africa’s wondrous locations made it into Lonely Planet’s Top Regions… but Namibia was selected as one of the Top 10 Best Value destination for those on a budget.
Namibia came in second, after Nepal, largely due to its dollar which Lonely Planet says has been depreciating in value thanks to being “pegged to the South African rand”.
There is also its awesomeness – from Etosha National Park, to the Fish River Canyon and the Sossusvlei Dunes; and “the great blue sky, contrasted with the clear starry nights”…
Source