22 July 2005
PE freedom statue higher than Statue of Liberty
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A STATUE in Port Elizabeth honouring Nelson Mandela is to be completed by April 2009.

http://www.southafrica.info/cm_pics/10years/1277-0-0-0_207489.gifhttp://www.southafrica.info/cm_pics/10years/1277-0-0-0_207489.gif

According to SouthAfrica.info, the winner of the Statue of Freedom competition, Equilibrium Studios, was chosen this week. Their entry, the Freedom Tower, will now be built on the southern section of Kings Beach, near the western breakwater of the port of Port Elizabeth.
The statue, at 122m, will be higher than the Statue of Liberty’s 96m, says the report.

The monument is to be a “tower-like habitable structure, the base depicting
the start of Nelson Mandela’s journey, leading up to a freedom platform representing the first democratic elections where visitors can pause for a view in all directions”.

An independent feasibility study expects the statue to attract between one and two thousand visitors a day.

(Natalia Thomson)

http://www.southafrica.info/cm_pics/10years/1277-0-0-0_207479.gif

More info here: http://www.southafrica.info/10years/freedomstatue.htm Great news for PE. I'm not a huge fan of the design, but it's something that will set SA apart. :)

21 July 2005
Gauteng to host soccer tournament
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GAUTENG will play host to a large soccer tournament, the Legends Tournament, in January 2006.

The tournament will see some of Europe and Africa’s soccer legends play in one match.
The event is expected to increase the sports tourism appeal of the province in the run up to 2010.

The tournament will take place at Ellis Park Stadium Johannesburg on January 7, 2006 and will be broadcast live across the world to billions of soccer fans.

“These events are catalytic for our industry; they assist in aligning our destination with global sporting spectaculars, generate huge media interest, attract visitors from core growth markets and showcase our world-class tourism and hospitality infrastructure. With Legends, Gauteng will yet again proudly grace the world stage as a global home of competitive sport,” said Gauteng Tourism Authority chief executive, Cawe Mahlati.

(Darren Sandras)

hmmm...interesting looking statue, but a bit strange. Seems a bit pointless tho

Once they're building it it'll be exciting I suppose. But it has no background or history does it?

Like, they keep comparing it to the Statue Of Liberty- but that was a gift from one country to another, with a big history and story behind it.

Hmmm ;)

Statue?!! Looks more like an incomplete building. Don't see how it can be called a statue. Anyway hope it does some good for PE but I was hoping for something a lot better.

looks quite cool.

doubt it will make people want to go there, but then again they have to try something to get people to visit...maybe use the money to development tourist infrastructure?

PE seems so out of the way. Jhb people will go to durban, cape town poeple will either stay of go to knysna and duban people stay where they are. That seems to be the main trend.

or we go up and down the kzn coast or to the berg... :)

o yeah, i forgot about the berg.

25 July 2005
Indian company to build multi-million rand hotel
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AN Indian company has set its sights on South Africa, with plans to invest R800m in property developments in Johannesburg and Cape Town. One project will include a luxury hotel south of Johannesburg.
According to news reports, the Mumbai-based Orchid Hotel Group has reached an agreement with the Orchid Reef, near Gold Reef City, near to where the hotel will be built.
The hotel will be a four-star property with 150 rooms and conferencing and banqueting facilities catering for up to 300 people.
India is one of South African Tourism’s key growth markets, with much activity taking place to attract Indian tourists to the country. Ebrahim Patel, managing director of Gold Reef Towers, said the new hotel plan was inevitable considering the growth in relations between India and South Africa.

(Darren Sandras)

NAME:Highbury
LOCATION: Brynston
USE: Residential

http://www.tyris.co.za/projects/highbury/impression.jpg

http://www.tyris.co.za/projects/highbury/siteplan.jpg

http://www.tyris.co.za/projects/highbury/1.jpg

22 July 2005
PE freedom statue higher than Statue of Liberty
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

A STATUE in Port Elizabeth honouring Nelson Mandela is to be completed by April 2009.

http://www.southafrica.info/cm_pics/10years/1277-0-0-0_207489.gifhttp://www.southafrica.info/cm_pics/10years/1277-0-0-0_207489.gif

According to SouthAfrica.info, the winner of the Statue of Freedom competition, Equilibrium Studios, was chosen this week. Their entry, the Freedom Tower, will now be built on the southern section of Kings Beach, near the western breakwater of the port of Port Elizabeth.
The statue, at 122m, will be higher than the Statue of Liberty’s 96m, says the report.

The monument is to be a “tower-like habitable structure, the base depicting
the start of Nelson Mandela’s journey, leading up to a freedom platform representing the first democratic elections where visitors can pause for a view in all directions”.

An independent feasibility study expects the statue to attract between one and two thousand visitors a day.

(Natalia Thomson)

http://www.southafrica.info/cm_pics/10years/1277-0-0-0_207479.gif

More info here: http://www.southafrica.info/10years/freedomstatue.htm Great news for PE. I'm not a huge fan of the design, but it's something that will set SA apart. :)


To be honest, I don't like it and I have a feeling that they lying to themselves by thinking that people will be attaracted by that statue wich I feel that it doesn'ty serve the initial perpose.

I believe that Neson Mandela's statue should have been part of the whole statue.

This should ahve been a winner.

http://www.southafrica.info/cm_pics/10years/1277-0-0-0_207481.jpg

The winner actually looks like a Dhinosaur.

Statue?!! Looks more like an incomplete building. Don't see how it can be called a statue. Anyway hope it does some good for PE but I was hoping for something a lot better.
I must say that I'very much dissapointed. I mean the first time they raised the issue of a staue, the showed us this example and it was very much interesting. People of the World love Mandela and they were to come if it somehow resembled him, but it just plain stupid, pointless and a waste of people's money.

Do you guys remeber this? I mean it doesn't even come close to it.

http://www.southafrica.info/cm_pics/10years/1277-0-0-0_207484.gif

here's more on the PE freedom tower...

snippet from safm interview with martin creemer (he runs engineering news)



Perlman: A big project for the city of Port Elizabeth, the Nelson Mandela Statue of Freedom. A competition to choose a designer - I believe we have a winner.

Creamer: We have a winner in the design for the Nelson Mandela Statue of Freedom in Port Elizabeth and that is the Equilibrium Studio Architects in Pretoria working in partnership with Endecon-Ubuntu of Port Elizabeth. They are required to build this before 2010. The actual form of it has changed somewhat. It is a spiral tower and not a statue as such and it will stand 123 m high, which is considerably higher than the Statue of Liberty in the US. It will have 17 tiers, each of them having a Mandela theme, and you can literally do your own long walk to freedom in 370 steps. It begins with the early life of Nelson Mandela, goes through to Robben Island on these various themes and ends up, of course, with the democratic elections in 1994. The whole structure is very robust at the base, then smoothing out and finishing up with steel at the tip, all symbolic of this move towards a better, more open life in South Africa. The Statue of Freedom project is expected to be the catalyst of a total rethink of the beachfront development around the harbour at Port Elizabeth. This should result in new tourism and recreation facilities around there. What has to be moved first, of course, are the tank farm and the manganese berth, which must go from the Port Elizabeth harbour across to the new Coega port. Once that happens, it clears the way for this great Nelson Mandela project, which is being promoted by the Mandela Bay Development Agency.

What has to be moved first, of course, are the tank farm and the manganese berth, which must go from the Port Elizabeth harbour across to the new Coega port-OK so it will start in 10 years time then, been hearing about moving the tank farm for longer than durban has been talking about the airport.

The results of the Markinor Sunday Times Top Brands Survey have been released with a new category "South Africa's Ideal Travel Destination"

The top ten are:

1. Cape Town 27.8%
2. Durban 20.0
3. Johannesburg 10.9
4. Gauteng 3.8
5. Port Elizabeth 2.4
6. Pretoria 2.0
7. Mpumalanga 2.0
8. Sun City 1.3
9. Kysna 1.3
10.Kruger National Park 1.1

i think those are realistic results.

Surprising the CT and Durban are so far ahead!!

what about places like the south and north coast, the berg, the winelands...it seems like the survey only based itself on cities, not destinations or special places!

Pity Bloem didnt get recognition for its dazzling array of tourist attractions... :) :) :)

what about places like the south and north coast, the berg, the winelands...it seems like the survey only based itself on cities, not destinations or special places!



Actually Markinor mentions they're surprised by the results as they expected specific attractions like Kruger and Sun City as opposed to cities. Check out all the other results, it's makes for interesting reading!
http://www.markinor.co.za/resource-top.html

That skeleton heap of concrete (aka freedom statue) is an eyesore. What the f*** were they thinking? A huge plain statue of Mandela- the size of Liberty,would have looked way much better and imposing.

I know, I've been saying that all along.

South Africa rides high on a tourist tidal wave
By Lucia van der Post
Published: December 10 2005 02:00 | Last updated: December 10 2005 02:00

It seems scarcely any time at all (though realistically it has to be about 10 years ago) since I was sitting in the dining-room of the Mount Nelson hotel treating my elderly mother to a few days of luxury in one of South Africa's most iconic hotels.

I still remember the sense of shock at the bill. The five-course dinner (of an admittedly rather old-fashioned kind) cost, if I remember correctly, R25 - with the rand then standing at about five to six to the pound, that made it all of £4-£5.

A few days later I took a group of six of her friends out to a local restaurant and the bill came to £42. Just six years ago I remember a family buffet lunch in the Mount Nelson's Oasis room, looking out over the swimming pool, at which you could eat as much as you liked from a vast array of dishes both hot and cold that, with the rand running at about 15-16 to the pound, could be had for the equivalent of £8 or £9 a time.

South Africa was one of the great all-time bargains. It offered incomparable sunshine, fresh food, stunning scenery, amazing wildlife, beaches and local colour all at rock bottom prices. But that was another time and another country. These days South Africa is one of the hottest holiday destinations.

The law of supply and demand, as immutable asthose of gravity, has seen prices rise at a speed which has given old aficionados of South Africa a rude awakening. It hasn't helped that the country has inflation running at about 8 per cent or thatthe rand has strengthened against the pound - the glory days when one got between R18 and R20 to the pound are long gone and now it wavers somewhere between 10 and 11 to the pound.

Inside the country itself many South Africans complain bitterly that Cape Town, the outside visitor's favourite destination, has priced itself out of the local market. As for those swanky lodges on the western border of the Kruger National Park, the prices there are mind-blowing - £600, £700 and £800 a night per person is nothing out of the ordinary.

And then there's the problem of getting on a plane at short notice in high season - my husband and I had to travel out on separate planes just a month ago, even though booked in Club Class, and it costs twice as much per mile to fly from London to Johannesburg as it does from London to Sydney.

And yet nothing seems to dent South Africa's popularity. According to destination experts Henrietta Loyd of Cazenove and Loyd, Christmas in Cape Town in the well-known hotels (the Grace, Ellerman House, the Mount Nelson) and the luxury lodges and camps adjacent to the Kruger have been booked solid for months. "We struggle to get space at anything with a name."

Clients, it seems, are mostly fairly sheep-like. They like to go to places they have heard of, which is why the destinations with the big marketing budgets - Singita (from £600 per person per night), Londolozi (from £700 per person per night), Ulusaba (from £500 per person per night), the Saxon (an all-suite hotel with prices from £450 per night per suite), the Mount Nelson (still stunning value at £180 per room per night) - have (in high season) more clients than they can handle and price seems not to be the issue.

For those who find these prices (the Mount Nelson excepted) somewhat off-putting, there is another solution - take time and trouble to seek out the fantastic bargains that are still to be found in South Africa if you are prepared to try places that don't have such a high profile. Be prepared to do some research. Take Johannesburg. While the Saxon is a fantastic place to stay - gorgeous to look at, lovely gardens, vast suites and state-of-the-art showers, basins, baths and all the other razzmatazz - Ten Bompas is a little jewel of a boutique hotel in the Sandton district of Johannesburg and it comes in at about half the price. It has charming service, 10 great suites (not as spectacular as the Saxon's,it is true, but by moststandards wonderfully comfortable), delicious breakfasts, a swimming pool and small garden.

In Durban, instead of staying in one of the grand hotels, think of staying at Essenwood House (but you'll have to book early - word has spread), which is an upmarket bed and breakfast with just six rooms. The garden is gorgeous, the views terrific and the price is about £50 for bed and breakfast for two.

In Bloemfontein, admittedly not on most tourists' route, we stayed in an enchanting small hotel called The Hobbit (Tolkien, keen fans may know, was born in Bloemfontein) which served up the most impeccable home-made soup late at night and has a chef who could grace London's The Ivy restaurant. Each room is done up individually in slightly twee aesthetic style (they're keen on lace, doilies and Victorian-style drapes) but they're marvellously comfortable. Two nights, two lovely breakfasts, our midnight soups and a beautifully cooked dinner for four came to a total of £209.

Down in Cape Town the Mount Nelson stays remarkable value for money but some of the other hotels have got decidedly uppity prices. Cape Town these days is dotted with a new breed of sumptuous B&Bs. The most luxurious - such as Kensington Place, tucked up under the mountain behind the Mount Nelson and with decor that wouldn't be out of place in London or New York - with prices from £240 a night are not particularly cheap but check the guides, ask around and you'll find some gems at astonishingly low prices. Welgelegen Guest House is a charming old Victorian house close to the city near the Mount Nelson and its prices range from £100 to £150 per night.

Up the east coast, near the very fashionable Plettenberg Bay, where all the rich industrialists from Johannesburg come out to play, Nicky and David Rattray, of Fugitives' Drift fame, have done up David Rattray's old family house, The Craggs, and it is to rent for the remarkable sum of less than £50 per person per night - wonderful value by anybody's standards.

However, the real bargains in South Africa are to be had in the little up-country towns - there we've often stayed in sweet small private houses for something like £30 a night, including dinner and breakfast. They vary, of course, and the food often lacks sophistication but, as value for money goes, they're astounding and, what's more, they offer a richer insight into the real character of a country than any luxury hotel can deliver. Venture into the less expensive B&Bs and you'll not only come back with a heavier wallet but you'll have more vivid memories and - I'd almost guarantee - an infinitely more worthwhile experience.

Lucia van der Post is the founding editor of the FT's How To Spend It magazine

http://news.ft.com/cms/s/e5fb30c2-6846-11da-bfce-0000779e2340.html

South Africa: adventure heaven!

You've landed in adventure heaven. Whatever your preference, there's bound to be an adventure to keep you happy.

We have some of the best climbing in the world, with Cape Town particularly well endowed. There are literally hundreds of bolted and natural routes on excellent quality Cape granite or Table Mountain sandstone within the city limits. There are climbing schools and mountain guides in all the main centres, and route guides are available from climbing shops.

http://www.skydivecapetown.za.net/images/Graham/safrirobbenislandTO.jpg

River trips range from mostly scenic to grade five whitewater washing machines. There are over a hundred listed paragliding or hang gliding launch sites, and many more less well known, with schools in every centre. Also up in the air, there are many opportunities for helicopter rides, balloon flights, aerobatics, skydiving and microlight flights.

http://www.skydivecapetown.za.net/images/Graham/pic01.jpg

Thousands of kilometres of hiking trails wind around the country, in desert, forest, mountain or coast, and many have mountain bike trails adjacent. Some hikes are a bit more luxurious - you walk from hotel to hotel and have your luggage taken round.

http://www.alardsbigwallclimbing.com/sentinel%20010.jpg

There are wonderful easy horse trails through vineyards, on the beach or in the mountains and, for the adventurous and more experienced, horseback safaris in big game country.

http://www.southafrica.info/cm_pics/plan_trip/693-1831-2715-0_214720.jpg

We have the highest commercial bungee jump in the world (at 216m), as well as lots of pretty abseiling and bridge swinging.

For something combining adrenalin, peace and tranquility, and sheer beauty, try the treetop canopy tour in Tsitsikamma.

The art of canyoning - known as kloofing in South Africa - is another hot favourite, with self-guided and escorted trips.

See the links at right for more in-depth articles on the various adventure activities available in South Africa, or see the quick links below:


General adventure trips
Abseiling, rapp & bungee jumping
Paragliding, hang gliding and flying
Rock climbing and mountaineering
Mountain biking
Canoeing, rafting and kayaking
Hiking
Horse riding and trails
Skydiving and base jumping
Scuba diving
Adventure trips in South Africa

180º Adventures has offices in Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg, and activities countrywide.

Active Africa Adventure Tours offers Western Cape-based adventure tours covering the full adrenaline spectrum.

The Adrenaline Adventure Activity Guide lists stuff adventurers can do on the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast: abseiling, archery, deep sea fishing, scuba diving, hiking, microlighting, kayaking, whitewater rafting and more.

Adventure Purists offer various adventure package tours which include a variety of activities across South Africa.

AR.co.za is the website for South African enthusiasts of adventure racing - a new sport made popular by the Eco Challenge television series. The site offers news, upcoming events, advice, features and more.

Ashanti Travel Centre, based in Cape Town, offers a wide range of packages for adventure junkies, including kloofing, scuba diving, bridge and bungi jumping, great white shark diving, kite boarding, paragliding, sandboarding, skydiving and abseils off Table Mountain.

Cape Sports Centre on the Langebaan Lagoon caters for kitesurfers, windsurfers, mountain bikers and kayakers. They sell and rent equipment, offer lessons and tips, and provide various adventure packages.

Downhill Adventures offers the Cape Great Eight Adventure Experience, a combination of the best and most exciting adventures available in this area: shark cage diving, sandboarding, mountain biking, surfing, tandem skydiving, abseiling, sea kayaking and quad biking.

Exploration Society of Southern Africa - A non-profit organisation founded in 1988, Essa provides a platform for "the conceptual and physical exploration of the Southern African landscape". The society organises expeditions, holds discussions and presentations by world-class adventurers - and throws good parties.

Extreme 3 Adventures will take you on the ultimate extreme sport adventure tour of South Africa, with activities such as scuba diving, kite surfing, white water rafting, mountain biking, sky diving, power kiting and abseiling.

Felix Unite Adventure Travel is a comprehensive adventure tour operator, providing trips throughout Africa.

Glenmore Ecoventures offers loads of adventure activities at Glenmore Beach on the KZN South Coast.

Kamala Game Reserve in the Eastern Cape offers the Sheercliff Adventure Centre, with a wide range of adventure sports: a gorge glide, abseiling, mountain biking, rock climbing, hiking, paragliding and the 4x4 Samil mountain ascent.

Oribi Gorge Resort near Port Shepstone in KwaZulu-Natal has the Wild Five: abseiling, whitewater rafting, the Wild Slide (a foofy slide 120m along a steel cable 160m above the ground), the Wild Swing 100m into a gorge, and hiking and mountain biking.

Otters Den, a river lodge on an island in the Blyde River at the foot of the Drakensberg near the Kruger Park, offers whitewater rafting, hot air ballooning, kayaking and abseiling.

The SA Orienteering Federation is the controlling body for the sport of orienteering in South Africa, with a number of affiliated clubs.

SEAL Adventures offers abseiling, rafting, quad biking and other activities in and around Knysna in the Western Cape.

Stormsriver Adventures operates a wonderful, somewhat strenuous trip called the Stormsriver Challenge: abseiling, tubing and mountain biking.

Travel Unite is a Cape Town-based adventure tour company operating in southern Africa.

Wildthing Adventures, based in Gauteng, specialises in both soft adventures for all age groups - from eight years and older - and more adrenaline-pumping activities. These include canoeing, rafting, bridge jumping, mountain biking, abseiling and overland rafting expeditions.

Abseiling, rapp & bungee jumping

Abseil Africa
Face Adrenalin
Govertical Mountaineering Adventures
Oribi Gorge Resort
Over the Top Adventures
Pure Rush Industries
Roc 'n Rope Adventures
Paragliding, hang gliding and flying
Aero Club of SA
BigSky Aviation Adventures
Microlight Association of SA
Microlight Aviation in SA
Microlighters.co.za
SA Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association
SA Power Flying Association
Skydancers
Skydive Cape Town
Rock climbing and mountaineering
Mountain Club of South Africa
South African Climbing Info Network
SA Bouldering
Climb ZA
Wildways Mountaineering
Cape Town School of Mountaineering
Peak High Mountaineering
Roc 'n Rope Adventures -
Alard's Bigwall Climbing Site
SA Mountain Magazine
Adventure Dynamics
RockSport Mountain & Outdoor
UKZN Mountain Club -
Wits Mountain Club
Rock Addiction
City Rock Indoor Climbing
Exploration Society of Southern Africa
De Bos
Mountain biking
Mountain Bike South Africa
South African Mountain Bike Tours
Beach and Bush
Daytrippers
Eden Adventures
Mountain Biking Africa
Outeniqua Biking Trails
Cycle Lab
Pedal Power Association
SA Cycling
Bicycling Magazine
Canoeing, rafting and kayaking
Coastal Kayak
Eastern Shores Kayak Safaris
Gravity Adventure Group
Hardy Ventures
Infinity Marine’s Sea Kayaking
Intrapid Rafting
PaddleYak Sea Kayak Store
HiSide Group
Sunwa Ventures
Hiking
SA National Parks
Cape Nature Conservation
Johannesburg Hiking Club
RockSport Mountain & Outdoor
Footprint Hiking Club
Hiking.org.za
Hike Cape Town
Boksburg Hiking Club
Hiking South Africa
Mountain Club of South Africa
Horse riding and trails

African Horse Company
Amadiba Trails
Ant's Nest Horseriding Safaris
Bhangazi Horse Safaris
Biggarsberg Horse Trails
Bokpoort Horseback Adventures
Cape Nature Conservation
Der Kap Ritt
Equus Horse Safaris
Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife
Fynbos Trails
Grootbos Nature Reserve
Horizon Horse Trails
Horseback Africa
Kaapsehoop Horse Trails
KwaZulu-Natal Horse Trails
Mkulu Kei Horse Trails
Rand Hunt
Rhino & Lion Nature Reserve
Riding for the Disabled
SA National Equestrian Foundation
Spier Horse Trails
Thornview Horse Trails
Trail Linx
Tswalu Kalahari Reserve
Wait a Little Horse Trails
Wine Valley Horse Trails
Xplora Tours
Skydiving and base jumping
SkydiveXtreme
Skydive Cape Town
Aero Club of SA
Go Skydive
Tandem Skydiving Adventures
Parachute Association of SA
Johannesburg Skydiving Club
Pretoria Skydiving Club
Skydive Citrusdal
Witbank Skydiving Club
Pietermaritzburg Parachute Club
Scuba diving
Adventure Diving Safaris
African Odyssea
Aliwal Dive Charters
Amatikulu Tours
Coral Divers
Dive South Africa
Dive the Big Five
Dive Travel Centre
Extreme 3 Adventures
KwaMnandi Dive Lodge
Pro Dive
Scuba Shack
Touch Africa Safaris
The Great White House