Do you live in the UK, the Netherlands, France, Germany or Italy? Well, you are in for a treat all this week on National Geographic they are showcasing the best of South Africa.

In a partnership with SA Tourism, colourful cultural celebrations, perilous pursuits of extreme adventure, daring wildlife expeditions and facinating historical explorations will leaving you longing to see South Africa for yourself.

“From the comfort of their living rooms, viewers across Europe will dive with sharks off the South African coast, stalk leopards in the Mala Mala bushveld, and fly over the continent on one of the most epic adventures ever filmed – all over a one week period,” said Deborah Armstrong of National Geographic.

You have been warned – don’t miss it!

What a wonderful birthday milestone to celebrate and no one deserves it more than Archbishop Tutu!

Still working tirelessly for oppressed people, wherever they are on earth, whatever the colour of their skin or their creed, Desmond Tutu speaks out against all injustice, but of course particularly when he sees wrong-doing in his own beloved South Africa. Thank goodness there is someone who will sound out the warning bell against transgressions, but always with such calm, measured tones that make you sit up and take notice.

I once heard Archbishop Tutu speak at church in Milnerton, Cape Town one Christmas a couple of years ago, when the incumbent father was on his vacation. He is truly inspirational to listen to, in fact, I didn’t want him to finish! Of course everything good has to come to an end at some time and I shall remember forever his warm handshake as he left the church. He made it feel as if there was only me he was interested in shaking hands with! For that instant he was focused solely on me. What grace.
Tutu is such a charismatic gentleman he deserves all the wonderful accolades that have been paid to him over the last few days. I for one, would like to add my voice to the rest of the world in wishing Archbishop Tutu a very happy birthday and for many more to come!

if you would like to hear Archbishop Tutu speak, why don’t you get his CD’s.� He has recorded his book and it makes facinating listening.� Some of the profits go to his charity as well, so go on, spread a little happiness!� I’ve taken the photo below from the front cover of the CD’s, as I love the look of mischief on his face!

Pezula Resort Hotel & Spa, which features on the front page of my website Tailor Made South Africa Travel has won the travel industry’s equivalent to the Oscars by taking “Africa’s Leading Spa Resort” and “South Africa’s Leading Spa Resort” titles.

No small feat with over 165,000 travel agencies and professionals in over 140 countries worldwide voting for their leading travel destinations, airlines, hotels and companies around the world.

What makes it even more remarkable is that Pezula first opened it’s doors in February 2005 and has gone on to win a host of accolades such as Robb Report’s one of the World’s 100 Best Places to Stay in 2006, plus other highly prestigious awards from the world’s luxury travel media.

Situated on the edge of the wonderfully pretty Garden Route town of Knysna, it lies within the Pezula Resort, which rambles over the Noetzie Headland, down to the breathtakingly, secluded beach of Noetzie itself, which is wholely worth a visit in its own right, but I’ll tell you more about Noetzie another time.

The golf complex winds its way across the headland with incredible views of the Indian Ocean on one side and the Knysna Heads and Lagoon on the other. The “Field of Dreams” sports complex along with a private residential estate and the hotel and spa complex is tucked into the ancient indigenous forests yet maximises the breaktaking views across the golf course.

Having spotted that Pezula had won these awards, I was reminded that Roger Federer spends time here.

Needless to say that in a family with very strong tennis credentials and a complete love of all things South African, this ranks highly on our list of places to visit!

In fact, Roger’s mother is South African and Roger himself supports, through his Foundation the superb project situated in the Eastern Cape, IMBEWU, helping disadvantaged children achieve a better life for themselves.

Take a look at the photo gallery and see the wonderful display of sheer enjoyment, as they play tennis and other sports on the sports complex that Roger has taken an active part in realising.

   Â

Earlier this year I felt I needed to develope my website to better interact with you, my valued readers. I called upon Howell Burnell, a good friend who writes some of the best web copy around. I chose Howell for a number of reasons, but amongst them was that he has a love of Africa which shone through in our discussions and was just the thing I wanted to bring out in my website. South Africa is my passion and I wanted that to be reflected in the pages.

Howell coined the following paragraph which is on the home page of Tailor Made South Africa Travel, and I loved it immediately as it sums up the South Africa I have grown to love.

There’s a practice in South Africa called Ubuntu. It means: We are each other. It suggests kindness and humanity.

I like to express Ubuntu through service. Your journey is special and I’m going to treat it that way. In fact, I’ll personally attend to every detail.

Here’s why. With over 20 years of South Africa travel experience – and a lifelong background in service and hospitality – I’ve learned the value of sharing what I love with others.

And I want to share South Africa with you…

Imagine my suprise and delight when Bill Clinton, ex-president of the USA spoke of Ubuntu to the British Labour party last week. Not sure that his Ubuntu was quite what I had in mind, but rather prefer what Archbishop Desmond Tutu has to say on the matter, that being in his book ‘No Future Without Forgiveness’, says: “Ubuntu is very difficult to render into a Western language… It is to say, ‘My humanity is caught up, is inextricably bound up, in what is yours.”

No doubt Bill Clinton clearly rose to his theme in delivering his speech. I found that some of the comments left on the page were also rather interesting. Take a look yourself and decide which type of Ubuntu you want to get into!

I am sure the purists amongst us will tell you that you have to suffer the inconveniences of malaria tablets to really experience the best of South African safaris, with traditional venues being Mpumalanga and Sabi Sands regions simply because of the vast diversity in species available to view, but today sees an emerging alternative which can combine visits to Cape Town and the Garden Route along with a luxury safari in a non-malaria region in the Eastern Cape, without the hassle of long distance travel to get to the north of the country.

Shamwari Game Reserve has long been a prestigious, award winning destination, but others are now springing up out of the ‘empty’ green hills between Port Elizabeth and Grahamstown in the Eastern Cape. Original European settlers pushing their way north and east, upsetting the Xhosa locals ‘en route’ and sparking bloody confrontations deemed this to be ‘frontier country’ and new waves of settlers are discovering game viewing and five-star accommodation more to their liking than fighting the locals!

Pumba Game Reserve is one such safari destination. Take a look at the luxury bedrooms! Click on the photos to get a clearer idea of the size of them. Aren’t they fabulous? I would imagine it’s hard to tear yourself away to go and look at the animals on cold mornings or evenings, but every luxury is taken care of and beanies, scarves and blankets are provided on your drive, along with binoculars, as a matter of course.

To get more of a hands-on feel for what it would be like to stay at Pumba and indeed the chance to win a luxury weekend stay, take a look at iafrica’s lucky reporter whose stay evidently fitted the bill!

Take a look at our Game Lodges to find more ideas on safaris in the north of the country, but please do contact us if you would like more information on other South Africa safari regions.

I have been trying to get flights to South Africa for ourselves today, from Barcelona to Cape Town. Given that we are 20 minutes away from one of the busiest airports in Europe, nothing goes direct from here to anywhere remotely close to South Africa. Barcelona must be the short haul capital of Europe!

Tracking down the right flights, at the right cost and on the right dates is extremely time consuming. I have spent two days trying to get the right connections, cheapest flights, shortest flight times and everything in between. I think that I have now got the best flights – from Manchester to Cape Town direct. All I now have to do is get us from Barcelona to Manchester in time for the main flight.

I think that EasyJet to Liverpool will be our best best with an overnight stay in Liverpool and a leisurely drive the next day across the 35 miles between Liverpool and Manchester.

Fortunately, this trip we are not doing anything complicated other than the boys being available to register for an ITF tennis tournament, so organising sightseeing trip is not an issue. However, I do think that a spa visit is going to be on the cards. After all the excesses of the last few months moving to Castelldefels and getting settled, I think that something very luxurious and relaxing is just what I’ll need to recharge the batteries.

Check out our spa resorts to see what I might be in for. Perhaps a touch of the Angsana Spa at The Vineyard Hotel or why not stay at the award winning Mount Nelson Hotel and experience the hot and cold stones at the “pink palace”. Or be more adventurous and stay out in the Winelands at Sante Winelands.

The sun is shining brightly here in Castelldefels, Barcelona with the temperature standing at 21 degrees. Although it is late summer and despite the Spanish trying to tell me that this is now Autumn, it still reminds me of balmy summer days and barbequing or braaing, as South African’s say. I came across the ideas below in iafrica for some snacks which are not the bought-type at all. How refreshing to be able to produce these simple snacks which do far more for us than processed packaged chips, peanuts and the like.

Check out iafrica for some other tasty dishes too. For those of us in the northern hemisphere, many braai recipes will adapt to the grill. Somehow though, that wonderful smell of drifting woodsmoke peppered with herby topnotes as you add a handful of rosemary to the coals can’t quite be replicated on the grill. Time to find out when you can get that holiday fitted in and finally discover South Africa for yourselves! Enjoy.
Marinate your own olives. It’s so easy. Buy the plain olives at your local supermarket. Drain them and then add your own touch. Try fresh thyme, chilli chopped very finely and lemon zest mixed with a little olive oil, and then leave for an hour. These make a great nibble and are bound to impress your guests. For great olives in Cape Town, discover homegrown olives out in the Winelands such as Morgenster, L’Olivier and Kloovenburg. Likewise for those of us here in Spain, we can find any number of impressive estate grown olives to turn that little black or green globe into a tastebud delight!

Spicy, caramelised nuts make great snacks too. Take a couple of handfuls of nuts: almonds, pecans and brazils. Place a little butter in a pan and add a teaspoon of sesame seeds and a teaspoon of dried coriander. Fry gently and then add the nuts, allowing them to become coated with the spice. Add a generous tablespoon of honey and cook until the honey caramelises. Cool on a sheet of greaseproof paper and serve cooled.

Speaking of Elephants, did you know that they love to get drunk on the Marula fruit?

The Marula trees give forth their golden yellow fruits during February at the height of the African summer and with the intense tropical fragrance floating on the warm summer breeze, lures wild animals of various species including herds of elephants from miles around to come and eat the juicy fruits. The elephants will walk for days to gorge themselves and because of this the Marula tree has become known as the The Elephant Tree.

The elephants have also endangered the trees, as they have a tendency to strip the bark. Not so good!

The tree is also held to be a strong aphrodisiac and many tribes still listen to ancient folklore when it was know as The Marriage Tree. Even today many rural people continue to conduct wedding ceremonies below its leafy boughs. Where better to make sure of a successful marriage, blessed by children, eating the fruit of the Marula tree and drinking its juice, but underneath its shady countenance!

Today, many jams, juices and alcoholic drinks are made from the fruit, along with a number of ranges of skincare products. Every part of the tree is used, proving that this is one of South Africa’s most useful plants, as it also helps to provide work for impoverished people by empowering rural women. Over 2400 women from rural communities benefit from the manufacture of the products. They are involved in either picking the fruit or extracting the marula oil from the marula nut.

In Africa, the marula is valued so highly, that to give someone the seed kernel of the marula tree as a gift, represents the greatest mark of friendship. Here I offer to you my virtual seed kernel of the Marula tree, as my gift to you …

Testament to the wonderful skill of the KwaZulu-Natal seamstresses who work miracles with beads was unveiled recently at the Constitutional Court in Johannesburg and no, it wans’t an elephant of any colour, pink or white!

Infact it was the South African flag, measuring 6 metres by 2.5 metres. Hanging in a wave shape the bright colours sparkle in the hushed atmosphere above the judges’ seats in the courtroom.

Commissioned by the artworks committee of the Constitutional Court, the collection itself consists of 200 works, collected since 1994 when the court came into being.

The pattern itself filled the main gallery of The African Art Centre in Durban and imparted a sense of panic at having to tackle the huge undertaking.

How Do You Swallow An Elephant? Bit by bit, of course and so the flag was split up into a series of panels, all stitched with the same threads and beads, one colour at a time.

An awning and tent making company assisted by stitching the panels and backing. Stitching the flag to the backing alone took nine days to do, eight hours a day, all by hand as to use a machine was impossible.

A true labour of love which when finished had all the seamstresses names embroidered into the green section – there for posterity.

Probably something similar would be too large to bring home, but you’ll find many different and clever uses of the famous beading work which will slip into the suitcase with no problems! Often the seamstresses keep their families on the income they get from their work, when everything else has failed to bring in the money they need to live off, so buy with impunity, the special skill of these beautiful works of art.

Photos: Lucille Davie, (City of Johannesburg)

Read a fantastic story in the Cape Argus the other day. Real pioneering stuff! You can just imagine fighting your way through the undergrowth to reach … the wine?

Doing a wine tour is considered a very sophisticated thing. You are supposed to know what you are doing, but it’s rather like opera for the beginner. How do you get the experience so that you know you like this “thing” enough to continue learning about it and so that you don’t feel a complete idiot the first time out?

Wine is like an exploration – of you. Don’t get hung up on what everyone else thinks. Trust your own instincts and if you like the taste, drink it!

I would love to be on Vukile Pokwana’s tour of the Eastern Cape to discover Xhosa maidens lurking in the backwaters …