SOUTH AFRICA, DEFINITELY WORTH LOOKING AT!


By Karin De Graauw

South Africa, a country many of us think we know from the many wildlife programs on television, has other than the stunning nature so much more to offer. In the last couple of years both incentive organizers and meeting planners have more and more found the way to this great destination.

South Africa has, after all many strong selling points such as:

• Economic growth (viewed under the angle of developing country), South Africa is not called “The Economic powerhouse of Africa “ for nothing.
• Strong growth in numbers for 4 and 5 star hotels.
• Ultra modern conference halls in the larger cities.
• The climate (with seasons at the opposite moment of most western countries).
• No jetlag for Western Europeans (1 hour time difference with Belgium).
• The strength of the Euro against the Rand (South African money).
• Very good ratio quality/rate. Live like an African queen (or king) without being bankrupt.

The country is also making a great effort to get ready for the organization of the Football Worldcup that will be organized in 2010 in 9 cities from June 11th till July 11th.
For me reason enough to make a short but intensive discovery tour of
Johannesburg and surrounding together with Peggy-Sue Figueira of the South African Tourist Board (located in the Netherlands) and with Sharon Watkins of the South African DMC Travel Motives plus the company of 4 major Belgian Incentive Houses (@dmire, ACTE Events, Borealis and Preference).

Geography:
South Africa shares a border in the north with Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe, in the east with Mozambique and Swaziland and has a total surface of 1219912 km² (for comparison: Belgium: 32545 km²) which means that the country is 37,5 times larger than Belgium.

Demography:
The country has 43,9 million inhabitants. This number decreases with +/- 0,5 % per year. Multi-ethnicity and multicultural best describe this country with the largest group of European and Indian origin inhabitants in Africa.

The language:
There are 11 different official languages: Afrikaans, English, Ndebele, Sotho, Pedi, Swati, Tsonga, Tswana, Venda, Xhosa and Zulu.
Afrikaans with its direct link to Dutch is only the 3rd language in the country after Zulu (22%) and Xhosa (18%). English with 9% comes only in 6th position just after Tswana en Sotho.
While most South Africans can communicate in more than one language, English is most commonly spoken and is the language of business and commerce.  It goes without saying that in all major cities and tourism places English is spoken. 

Transport :
It is good to know that many airlines have flights to South Africa, but because of the regulations of Brussels Airport, these flights always need to take at least one stop en route. There is a choice though: Air France, KLM, Swiss, Lufthansa, Ethiopian, British Airways, BMI, South African, and others or a combination of different airlines.
We choose Ethiopian which meant that our schedule took us with departure from Brussels via Paris and Addis Abeba to Johannesburg. The departure from Brussels was at 8.24 pm the arrival in Jo’burg at 1.35 pm (+1). For the return flight we left at 2.35 pm and flew via Addis and Frankfurt to Brussels where we arrived at 07.15 am.(+1).  It must be said that there are better time schedules with other airlines than Ethiopian, but on the other hand, the moment you get on the plane at Ethiopian, the African fever is taken over. It puts you in the right spirit straight away.

JOHANNESBURG:
Although it is not the Capital (that’s Pretoria), Johannesburg is the largest city of the country and its economic heart.
Johannesburg is also known in Zulu as “eGoli” (place of gold).
When you are in South Africa you better not talk about Johannesburg but of Joburg or Jozi, that way they will not take you for a first time visitor!.....
Joburg is mainly a business town and is the right place for the organization of congresses, conferences and fairs. It is the richest town (average income) and that shows in the many luxurious neighborhoods, the high rise buildings, the many international luxury hotel chains, the numerous state-of-the-art conference halls and the cars in the street (brands such as Rolls, Jaguar, Mercedes, BMW, .... are no exception on the roads).
As said nearly all major hotel chains are represented in Joburg.  Choice enough, but beware here also some dates get very busy and that affects the rates which increase to much higher levels. We stayed at the Sandton Sun hotel, ideal for those making use of the Sandton convention centre (direct in house connection).

When visiting Joburg pay a visit to “the Nelson Mandela Square”, not just for the gigantic statue (6m high,  2,3 m wide and weight of 2,5 tons ) of the former president, an ideal photo opportunity, but also most certainly to discover the many great terraces of the many bars and restaurants of the area. Here you get value for money. But beware, habits differ from country to country, at some restaurants in Joburg for example you cannot get chilled wine by the glass. If you want a chilled glass of wine you have to ask for ice separately. Another option is to buy an entire – chilled! – bottle. This is a place where the food is good, the price is more than ok and the ambiance guaranteed, to be recommended.

Sun City Resort:
Sun City is at 187 km from Johannesburg, a complex that succeeds totally in submerging visitors in a total world of make belief. Sun City is made of different hotels, conference centers, a casino, gambling halls, restaurants, water fun parks ( big waves are let loose on bathers at regular intervals), and even a regular beach. Evidently it is all artificial even the big iron gates.
We stayed at the Palace Hotel. The rooms are large to very large and luxuriously appointed.
Sun City is typically a place you either love or hate. Some say it has nothing to do with Africa, others call it a paradise in no-mans land.

At the Sun City Resort there are also many outdoor activities possible like clay pigeon shooting, quad biking, archery, drumming, horse riding, water sports, golf, game drives and Pilanesberg Elephant-back safaris. This last one deserves some extra attention as seated per two on the back of a gigantic elephant one makes a “shocked” but further relaxing excursion through one of the reserves. You learn quite a lot about the life of the elephants and mainly about the work with orphan elephants, victims of the crazy and illegal hunters.

Wild life and lodges:
The region around Johannesburg is homeland for what is called Africa’s big 5 : “Elephant, Rhino, Lion, Leopard and Buffalo”. With a little bit of luck you can observe all 5 but you will probably need more than 1 “game drive”. These safaris in open jeeps are organized at sunset or sunrise, getting up early pays off usually as many animals hunt at night and trek home at sunrise to rest on a full stomach. This also means they are lazier than in the evening and more easily available for photo shoots.
The lodges, situated inside or just outside the parks, are of first class quality and well protected. The wild stories that you find yourself eye to eye with a hungry animal when staggering home from the bar late at night are total fiction. It is perfectly safe to walk around the lodges, no need to be afraid of anything. The rooms are of best quality and fully airconditioned. Although the lodges differ from one another in size and approach, they all have one point in common: the shower is outside of the room in open air. This gives a very special feeling: although you are perfectly protected even from curious eyes, you get the feeling of being one with nature, very strange...

• The Tau Game Lodge: rather small but beautifully made. It is an ideal place for smaller groups (up to 60 pax) who want to enjoy the African nature in quiet surroundings. The Rangers are allowed to go off road during safaris which can make things rather exciting as you can get very close to the animals. This lodge has close ties with the Tau Foundation, an organization that works for social projects in local communities, and more specifically for children. The Tau Foundation also provides schooling for the local population and ensures each year that a number of young people can get a higher education. 

• The Ivory Tree Game Lodge: this lodge is larger than the previous one and offers the same level of comfort in the rooms. This lodge is more suitable for bigger groups and has a number of spacious rooms where groups can dine together.  Since The Pilanesberg Reserve is a National Park, it is accessible to private cars and all vehicles must stay on the roads unlike the private reserves where the vehicles are permitted to go off road. 

FIFA World Cup 2010:
The big event in the coming years for South Africa is of course the 2010 FIFA World Cup from June 11th till July 11th 2010.
Everything possible is being done to get ready with the entire infrastructure. It goes without saying that the addition of hotels and the newly build multifunctional stadiums will be continued assets for South Africa even after 2010 when attracting tourists and business travelers. Just out of interest, a few selected stadiums and their capacity:

• Bloemfontein – Vrystaat stadium – 40.000 pax
• Durban – Durban stadium – 75.000 pax
• Johannesburg – Soccer city – 104.000 pax
• Johannesburg – Ellispark – 70.000 pax
• Kaapstad – Groenpunt stadium – 68.000 pax
• Nelspruit – Mbombela stadium – 43.000 pax
• Polokwane – Mokaba stadium – 40.000 pax
• Port Elizabeth – N Mandela Bay stadium – 50.000 pax
• Pretoria – Loftus versfeld – 51.762 pax
• Rustenburg – Bakofeng stadium – 40.000 pax

Future
There is no doubt that the combination of superb nature and infrastructure will ensure a great tourism future for this country. A decreasing economy growth or political unrest are the only things that can spoil it. But the growing tolerance – mainly with the young -between the many ethnic parties and the strong conviction that more can be achieved by working together leave us to hope for the very best for this wonderful country.

Contour Consult bvba
Boulevard B. Whitlocklaan 87
B-1200 Brussels
 
Telephone : 02- 734 86 66
Mobile : 32 478 572 173
www.contourconsult.be

THE TAU FOUNDATION

A local organization, called the Tau Foundation, decided to create a vegetable garden for a school community. Although we usually speak about a “lovely” sunshine, one may not forget that this same sunshine is a killer for young exposed vegetable plants. We had to build a place in the shade, meaning we had to dig 80 cm deep holes in rock like soil, to prepare concrete and to put pillars in it which could be topped by shade nets. The feeling it gives to you to build this up in close collaboration with the local community is indescribable. Have a closer look at the pictures; they tell you more than a thousand words…

And yes, you can see real wildlife in South Africa, and yes you get an adrenaline shot when a lion or a cheetah watches you from a very close distance and then after a closer look finally decides to carry on, and yes you can witness the sound of hungry nightlife, and yes the lodges are very comfortable, and yes it gives you a kick to have a hot water shower outside of your room, and yes nature is overwhelmingly beautiful, but the impression which remains is that of these local people in their small villages, all dressed up to welcome you giving you the wonderful opportunity to help them to survive.

More info:
South African Tourism
Peggy-Sue Figueira
Business Tourism Manager
peggysue@southafricantourism.nl
www.southafrica.net
Tel +31 20 570 9071

Local DMC in South Africa
Travel Motives
Sharon Watkins
sharon@travelm@co.za
www.travelmotives.co.za
Tel +27 11 679 33 44

Travel Motives is represented in the Benelux by
Contour Consult
Marianne Hoogeveen
Boulevard B. Whitlocklaan 87
B-1200 Brussels
Marianne@contourconsult.be
Tel : +32(0)2- 734 86 66
Mobile : +32 478 572 173
 
www.contourconsult.be