SATGo
Webnews November 2003 |
Upcoming events
South Africa's Garden Route will receive a huge publicity
boost when international golf's President's Cup, to
be played at Fancourt near George from Nov 18 to 23,
is beamed to a television audience worldwide. The
President's Cup will be contested between the US,
led by world number one Tiger Woods, and an International
team drawn from the rest of the world outside Europe,
spearheaded by Ernie Els. The top-class event is expected
to draw some 20 000 spectators every day and will
be broadcast daily on US television.
Fancourt, which boasts no fewer than four outstanding
courses, is one of several international-standard
golfing destinations in the Southern Cape, alongside
Plettenberg Bay, Mossel Bay and George. Several more
golf estates are under construction so that by 2008
there should be at least a dozen top-quality courses
in the area, making the Garden Route a highly attractive
destination for the international golfing fraternity.
The Pick & Pay 94.7 Cycle Challenge, to be held
on Sunday 16th November , is one of seven events intended
to showcase the Johannesburg area as an exciting tourism
destination. The race is one of the world's largest
and best organised cycling events and is expected
to draw over 25 000 entrants this year. It starts
at Woodmead, makes its way through the Johannesburg
CBD and across the new Nelson Mandela Bridge, before
ending at the Kyalami Race Track near Midrand. Men
and women cyclists will compete on equal terms, but
children from ages two to eleven will be catered for
in a series of events at Kyalami on the day before
the big race. A Cycle Challenge Expo, the biggest
cycling showcase in the province, will run concurrently
at the AA Exhibition and Conference Centre, near the
Kyalami Race Track.
For more information, go to: www.highveld.co.za/cyclechallenge
Birding's Big Day, which takes place on 29 November,
aims to raise funds for bird conservation in Southern
Africa. Bird lovers from across the country will compete
to see who can spot the most bird species within a
24 hour period and a radius of 50 kms. Groups of three
and four individuals and teams of up to twenty birders
may enter in various categories and compete for prizes
worth over R100 000.
This year, Birding South Africa, the Oppenheimer/De
Beers Programme and the Pretoria Bird Club are organizing
a special weekend outing to Ezemvelo Nature Reserve,
near Elandsfontein. Ezemvelo offers a wide choice
of reasonable accommodations, ranging from campsites
to chalets. Novices and newcomers to Birding Day will
be made most welcome.
For more information, contact Alison at Birdlife
South Africa (tel 011 789 1122) or info@birdlife.org.za
Film buffs should make their way to Cape Town in
November when the Southern African International Film
and Television market (Sithengi) runs from 10 to 13
November, followed by the Cape Town World Cinema Festival
2003. Sithengi is an exhibition/trade show and a gathering
place for some 1600 producers, programmers, film makers
and broadcasters from 42 countries to showcase their
work, network and sell their products.
The World Cinema Festival, which runs from 14 to
23 November, will offer premieres of films made in
Africa and include a display of African Digital Films
and a Children's Festival.
For more information, go to: www.sithengi.co.za
or tel 021 430 8429
Ficksburg's 38th Annual Cherry Festival, the oldest
agricultural festival in the country, takes place
from 10 to 15 November in one of the most picturesque
regions of the Free State. An attractive week-long
series of events has been arranged ,including a daily
Cherry & Asparagus Bus tour, a Flower Show, Golf
Tournament, Mountain Bike Challenge, Horse Festival
and Mountain Bike Race. Ficksburg is on the border
of Lesotho and is one of the gateways to the mountain
kingdom. Travellers to the Festival by car should
take the opportunity of visiting the stunning Golden
Gate National Park and country towns such as Clarens
and Fouriesburg along the picturesque Highlands Route.
For the full programme of events, go to www.cherryfestival.co.za
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News & trends
- Nokia SA
is currently on a tour of 260 cities and towns across
the country to discover what it is that makes South
Africans tick.
Five 10-ton, 22 metre-long trucks containing crews
of artists, technicians and performers are taking
part in the Nokia Great South African Journey, which
aims to uncover hidden talent, local wisdom, hospitality,
entrepreneurship and unusual stories - all the things
that go to make up the South African character. The
five rigs will go their own way and meet up in Cape
Town on December 16 at huge party at Bloubergstrand,
where the findings from the 10-week long journey will
be displayed. Material gathered on the trip will be
recorded and published in books and documentaries
or shown on exhibitions (For more information, visit
the Great South African Journey website)
- Seven national
parks - Addo Elephant, Agulhas, Bontebok, Cape Peninsula,
Karoo, Marakela and Tanqua-Karoo - have been or are
to be expanded in size at a total cost of R 76 million.
This will increase the country's protected
areas by a further 121, 000 hectares, from 5,4 % to
8 % of the total land area, and create over 3000 jobs.
The enlargement is a further step in the Government's
plan to increase South Africa's protected areas to
10% of its land mass by 2010.
- The spectacular
Marakele National Park in the Waterberg has been re-launched
following a public/private partnership which could
serve as a model for bio-diversity management in South
Africa. The enlarged park now includes the
original park in the Waterberg Mountains, the 34 000
hectare Welgevonden Game Reserve and a 20 000 hectare
park owned by Dutch conservationist, Paul van Vlissingen.
The new enterprise will be run by a management company
set up by van Vlissingen which will draw in private
investors to build upmarket lodges in the park, increase
wildlife and bird numbers and provide jobs for local
inhabitants.
- South Africa's
first Hollywood-style film studio is to be built near
Somerset West in the Cape by a consortium led by well-known
local film maker, Anant Singh. The Western
Cape film industry is worth an estimated R20 bn, but
has been constrained up to now by a lack of adequate
facilities.
Dreamworld Film City has been chosen to develop a
multi-million rand studio on the Vergenoegd Farm at
Faure, off the N2 to Cape Town. The first phase of
the Dreamworld development will comprise the construction
of eight sound stages and other modern production
facilities on 60 hectares of land, to which a further
40 hectares could be added later. The studio will
be operational In 2005.
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edge on Knysna's Leisure Island available
between 10 December - 2 January 2004. 7 bedrooms
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supplied. Rates between R1800 and R2400 per night
- depending on length of stay. www.gardenroute.co.za/knysna/leisure
email: redstone@pixie.co.za
Tel: 044-2133783 (Tell them SATGo sent you!) |
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Features
Cycling
among the Elephants. Travel and conservation writer
and humorist James Clarke describes his recent cycle
tour through Mashatu, in the Tuli block.
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