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Cookies Could Send You To Cape Town

June 16, 2009 at 3:57 PM | 0 Comments

Eat cookies, win trip. That's a no-brainer if we ever heard one, so the marketers at the Khaya Cookie Company might be on to something. They've started up the Quest for Cape Town competition and the winner gets a 10-day trip around the Cape Town area in South Africa, choosing from food and wine, eco-tourism or sun and surf themes.

Khaya Cookies include various shortbreads and granolas that are made with organic materials sourced from the winelands area near Cape Town, and the "cranberry rooibos shortbread" sounds like the most delicious one to us. If you buy a pack, you get an automatic entry into the competition to win the trip, or runner-up prizes like a Kindle, or extra boxes of cookies.

You can even check fellow cookie-addicts at the contest's stats page - when we checked, the leading entrant had scoffed down 22 packets of cookies so far. Entries close on July 15, after which time buying extra packets of cookies will become a slightly more "guilty conscience" action – although at least these cookies say you're helping create local jobs in South Africa. Eat up!

Do you love travel contests? Enter the Jaunted-Competitours Contest here!

Related Stories:
· Quest For Cape Town [Official Site]
· Cape Town Travel Guide [Jaunted]

Get to South Africa for the 2010 FIFA World Cup

February 5, 2009 at 2:05 PM | 1 Comment

If you’re one of the expected 300,000 to 500,000 football fans flocking to South Africa for the FIFA World Cup 2010, don’t think you can just hop on a plane and go. Football fans are notoriously crazy about attending football matches (cue The White Stripes "Seven Nation Army" which has become the de facto football cheer.) You really need to start planning now.

Tickets
Tickets for the FIFA World Cup 2010 finals will go on sale on the FIFA website, starting February 20. One million out of the three million total tournament tickets available will go to international visitors – the other two million go to sponsors, teams and South African fans. Tickets are expected to cost about $136USD a piece but can vary from anything from $80 to $900, depending on which of the 64 matches tickles your fancy and how close you want to be to the action.

If you’re reading this is May 2010 and the tickets are all sold out, you can still hop on a last-minute plane over there – giant screens in public areas will be set up, and pubs, restaurants and bars are shelling out big-time on mega-size TVs ready to keep the neighbours up all night.

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How Prepared is South Africa for FIFA World Cup 2010?

February 4, 2009 at 1:07 PM | 1 Comment

When the South Africans found out they’d be hosting the FIFA World Cup 2010, their reaction was probably like that of the Brits when they won the 2012 Olympics bid. Unbridled joy, heavy drinking and crazed celebrations until the helium balloons in everyone’s heads went flat and someone said, "Uh...what do we do now?"

Damn, South Africa badly needs this crazy football competition. They’re expecting upwards of 500,000 fans to flock into the country, waving their dollars and euros and tacking on a safari or two while they’re there. The Grant Thornton consulting firm have told the government they can expect a 55.7 billion rand ($5.42 billion) boost on their GDP for 2010 and the authorities are already sticking out their tongues to lap it up.

But damn, damn, damn, we just hope South Africa can pull the rabbit out of the hat next June. Here's what might harm their chances of making magic happen.

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Off-the-Beaten-Track Wine Farms Near Cape Town

February 3, 2009 at 2:13 PM | 0 Comments

Monica Guy is joining us again this week to tell us what more there is to do in South Africa. Enjoy.

Yesterday we told you about the South African Brandy tastings that you must experience when you make the trip to South Africa. But we can't forget about wine tours, can we? At the top of our list of Things To Do Around Cape Town still remains a tour of the wine farms in Stellenbosch and Constantia.

Did we say wine farms? We meant tourist farms. The two dozen or so farms who are fully kitted out for international visitors with industrial tasting rooms, restaurants that could feed the whole of Africa, international shipping options and marked up wine prices.

Okay, we take it back. Some of these places are pretty gorgeous – colonial-style white houses overflowing with summer roses and surrounded by fields of vines. Here's a few that you should stop by and see.

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Variation On a Wine Tour: South African Brandy

February 2, 2009 at 2:10 PM | 1 Comment

Monica Guy is joining us again this week to tell us what more there is to do in South Africa. Enjoy.

Another way to get off the beaten track on the Cape Town wine routes, is to skip the wine farms altogether.

One of the biggest-selling, most award-winning alcoholic drinks you’ve never heard of is South African Brandy. Forty-five million litres of it are sold each year, mostly to South Africans but increasingly to an overseas market.

The French and Spanish producers of brandies like Cognac, Armagnac and Soleras are fuming after South African brandies have been scooping up golds and silvers at competitions including the International Wine & Spirit Competition and the International Spirits Challenge. Sales of the traditional European brandies are dropping, we hear, as hotels, cruise ships and restaurants order in the South African stuff instead – half the price without the pretensions.

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South Africa’s Best French Restaurant : Le Quartier Français

January 29, 2009 at 9:15 AM | 2 Comments

Monica Guy is joining us again this week to tell us what more there is to do in South Africa. Enjoy.

Live in Paris for a while and you’ll start to absorb French-style snobbiness about their culinary prowess.

So after a couple of years living in the capital of haute cuisine, I was eager to see what the South Africans would do with fine food in the Tasting Room at Le Quartier Français, South Africa’s most talked-up award-winning restaurant in Cape Town.

Not just one award, but numerous top prizes – including being voted one of The Worlds 50 Best Restaurants by Restaurant Magazine UK, every single year from 2005 to 2008.

Le Quartier Français is on the main street in Franschhoek, a sweet little town near Cape Town that reeks of easy wealth and gourmet cooking: it’s the place to eat and drink for those who have both a wallet and a belly bigger than the norm.

The name means ‘French corner’ after the French Huguenot settlers, but it’s mostly UK, US and German tourists who frequent the place now.

And merci à Dieu, it turns out The Tasting Room is nothing like a French restaurant at all.

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No Swaziland Sex Side Trips in 2010

January 20, 2009 at 11:50 AM | 0 Comments

Thinking of taking a side trip into Swaziland when you head to South Africa for the 2010 FIFA World Cup? Don't expect any lovin': Prostitution is illegal in Swaziland and the police are already making it clear that World Cup or not, exceptions will not be made.

In fact, we can't put it any better than local organizing group spokesperson Bongani Dlamini did:

When a tourist who needs the services of a sex worker arrives and finds that prostitution is prohibited, we will advise him accordingly that he has to propose for love to a Swazi girl first and then consent for sex.

Quite why the Swazi police are worrying about this eighteenth months in advance of the tournament is a mystery but at least that gives prospective punters time to learn to say "I love you" in Swati, the local language. It's a mouthful, so start practicing: "Ngiyakutsandza".

Related Stories:
· Love, Not Sex, For World Cup Visitors [SMH]
· World Cup Travel Guide [Jaunted]

[Photo: DanieVDM]

Tall Bridge Plus Bungee Equals Terrifying in South Africa

November 26, 2008 at 9:30 AM | 0 Comments

Record-breaking bridges seem like an obviously attractive spot to start a bungee jump, and that's no doubt why the Bloukrans Bridge near Nature's Valley along the southern coast of South Africa is a mecca for bungee fans. The bridge itself is the highest single span arch bridge in the world and you can bungee 216 meters (709 feet) off it towards the Bloukrans River.

Although the jump length is a bit shorter than Macau Tower, the Bloukrans gang like to boast that their jump is the highest and in a way, they're right--it's higher above the ground, but you don't jump all the way down.

Getting to the platform is a feat in itself for anyone shaky about heights. For the braver, there's now a flying fox ride--a cable slide, to be precise--to get you out to the platform faster and with the adrenalin already running.

Related Stories:
· Bloukrans Bridge Bungee [Official Site]
· The Highest Bungee Jump On Record is All Concrete [Jaunted]
· South Africa Travel Guide [Jaunted]

[Photo: peve.de]

World's Greatest Train Travel: Olde Africa, Bathtubs Optional

September 10, 2008 at 2:30 PM | 0 Comments

This week, we're mapping some of the world's greatest train trips.

Desk jockeys may find the route traveled by the Pride of Africa to be prohibitively long, not to mention impractical: The classic Cape to Cairo track may have been an innovation back in the days of "Doctor Livingstone, I presume?"

But on a continent known for being unknowable, the Pride of Africa, making tracks through Zimbabwe and Tanzania aboard the self-described "World's Most Luxurious Train," this route attracts because, even with its airplane attachments, it's the kind of journey no one takes any more.

Between the classic train cars (some dating from the 19-teens) to the built-in balconies, there's only one word for it: audacious. We can't help picturing some kind of adventure along the lines of "Strangers on a Train" meets "The Constant Gardener," or a dry "African Queen," that envelops everyone on board.

Related Stories:
· Cape to Cairo [Rovos Rail]
· Cape to Cairo, Mostly by Train [Bootsnall.com]
· A Bunch of South Africans Who Took the Trip in 2007 [Our Cape to Cairo]
· Transsiberian Is An Ice-Cold Thriller [Jaunted]

[Photo: Old Fogey 1942]

Where is Kruger National Park?

May 21, 2008 at 5:30 PM | 0 Comments

Rangers at Kruger National Park will stage a demonstration of their ranger-y skills tomorrow, and three tourist access roads near Malelane will be closed down. Why? The rangers plan to fire some live ammunition. Things should be back to normal by noon.

That's not the only danger in the park, though. African buffalo, rhinos, cheetahs and hippos all roam Kruger, which covers an area larger than Connecticut. Also worth avoiding are the poachers that hunt in the area. South African news site IOL reports that hundreds animals have been killed in the park in the past four years.

Related Stories:
· Kruger National Park [Official Site]
· Kruger National Park Closes Temporarily [LAT]
· Totally Awesome/Famous "Battle at Kruger" Video [YouTube]
· National Parks coverage [Jaunted]
· Where Is/Google Maps coverage [Jaunted]

Mountain Bike Mancations in SA

February 29, 2008 at 1:05 PM | 0 Comments

Flying down narrow singletrack trails on a mountain bike is challenging. Doing so after sundown in the South African wilderness sounds damn near crazy. But if there's a beer and a beach at the end of the road, then we're all in.

Live2Ride tours in Langebaan, South Africa--a coastal city roughly 60 miles from Cape Town--offers just that experience for only about $30. Starting at sunset, riders head out from the beachfront, winding through town and up into the woods. The ride is just shy of eight miles long, but the darkness makes dirt roads all the more tricky. (Yes, you'll have lights.) The trail spits you back out by the water where you can score drinks at Driftwoods restaurant.

If you're looking for something a bit longer, Live2Ride also offers day tours for about $70. The Aurora route is a grueling climb up into the Piketberg mountains with a total elevation gain of over 3,000 feet. But save some of that energy for a fast descent on the second half--you'll need it to squeeze your break levers.

Related Stories:
· Live2Ride [Official Site]
· South Africa Travel coverage [Jaunted]
· Mountain Biking coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: coda]

It's Summer Somewhere: Really Big Holes in South Africa

January 15, 2008 at 9:30 AM | 0 Comments

It's summer right now in South Africa and the tourists are flooding into pretty Cape Town for their summer fun. Folks are heading into the city by car at the rate of 200 cars per hour--yep, somebody measures that--though nobody can tell us how many are flying into Cape Town International.

There are plenty of attractions to keep you busy in the South African city, but we also recommend taking a trip a little further north into the Northern Cape province. The statisticians tell us that 1,000 visitors per day are headed to the Northern Cape's Big Hole and a place with a name like that sounds like something we shouldn't miss. (We love big things, you know.)

The Big Hole is actually a former diamond mine near Kimberley, the capital of the Northern Cape. It took 50,000 workers almost 50 years to dig it, and these days they're trying to get it listed as a World Heritage site. If you visit, you probably won't find any stray diamonds lying around, but the Big Hole and the related museums are spectacle enough, surely.

Related Stories:
· Tourists Flock to the Cape [SABC News]
· It's Summer Somewhere coverage [Jaunted]
· South Africa Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Wikipedia]