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  • Cape Town Named Africa’s Best Beach Destination

    The spirited South African city of Cape Town has been named as the best beach destination in Africa at the 19th World Travel Awards.

    The annual event that took place last week resulted in numerous accolades for South African tourism and Best Beach Destination award for Cape Town.

    The South African city competed against previous winner Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt, Diani Beach in Kenya, Zanzibar Island in Tanzania, Bazaruto in Mozambique and Plettenberg Bay in South Africa for the top beach destination.

    Other South African winners included South African Airlines (Best Airline), 1Time (Leading Luxury Villa), Fairmont Zimbali (Leading Tourism Development Project), Shamwari Game Reserve (Leading Safari Lodge), Ellerman House & Villa (Leading Luxury Villa), Saxon Boutique Hotel, Villas & Spa (Leading Luxury Hotel) and The Blue Train (Leading Luxury Train).

    The 19th World Travel Awards winners of these legs compete in the WTA’s Grand Final to be held at The Oberoi Gurgaon on 12th December 2012.

    This is not the first time Cape Town is receiving such accolades. The city was named as the best travel destination in the world in a travellers’ poll conducted in May 2011 by TripAdvisor – the world’s most popular travel website.

    The website drew on millions of online reviews to name Cape Town as the top destination, ahead of leading destinations such as New York, Sydney and London, which also featured in the best ten.

    Cape Town, which is a beehive of activity, is a very popular destination among holiday makers from around the world. The self-evident attraction of Cape Town is the Table Mountain – an usually flat mountain that stands proud in the heart of the city.

  • Poaching Remains a Major Challenge in Kenya

    Poaching continues to pose a major challenge to wildlife conservation, especially in the conservation of target species – Elephants and Rhinos. Reported cases of poaching in the country remain at a high since November 2012.

    In the latest reported incident, authorities have intercepted a container at Mombasa port with ivory weighing 2 tonnes and valued at Kshs 100 million. The illegal consignment which was disguised as decoration stones originated from Tanzania and was destined for Indonesia. Separately, a family of 12 elephants was killed and their tasks carted away by poachers on Saturday 5th January, in Bisadi area, Tsavo East National Park. A team of KWS Rangers are pursuing the poachers.

    On the same day, thousands of miles away in the Far East, Hong Kong authorities intercepted 779 pieces of ivory weighing 1.3 tonnes and valued at $1.4m at the Hong Kong port. The container in which the illegal ivory was transported originated from Kenya; and was falsely declared as containing architectural materials. An x ray of the container led the customs officials to discover the ivory which was hidden in sacks and placed beneath stones.

    The Far East stands out as smugglers’ choice destination for sale of illegal ivory and animal trophies, due to a large illegal market supported by huge demand for ivory and high fetching prices.

    In October 2012, Hong Kong authorities intercepted 2 containers of illegal ivory weighing a total of 4 tonnes and valued at $3.4m. The containers originated from Kenya and Tanzania.

    There have been concerns over the rise in poaching since November 2012, when a significant increase in reported incidents was observed. This rise was attributed by KWS in part, to heightened operations against poaching thus bringing the problem into focus. Among the increased measures by KWS in the fight against poaching include involving local communities in the fight; and increased staff efficiency through acquisition of appropriate tools such as aircrafts, vehicles and firearms.

    Additionally, KWS commissioned last August the construction of a wildlife forensic and genetics laboratory at the organization head quarters in Nairobi. Among other functions, when completed, the laboratory will strengthen investigations through provision of evidence in the prosecution of cases of wildlife related crimes such as poaching; tracking genetic status of declining wildlife & determining special gene pools that require special protection. The facility is set to be the only one of its kind in East and Central Africa.

  • Wilderness Safaris to Open Two New Lodges in Congo

    Next month the Wilderness Group will open the first two camps in the Republic of the Congo’s Odzala-Kokoua National Park, introducing travelers to a creature few people have ever witnessed in the wild: the western lowland gorilla. Rwanda has long been known as a gorilla-watching hot spot, but in Congo you’ll see few other visitors. (The peaceful country is often confused with its more tumultuous neighbor, the Democratic Republic of the Congo.)

    Local Mbeti trackers lead hikes through forests and savannas to observe these close evolutionary relatives foraging, socializing, and caring for young. By evening guests retire to one of two lavish camps, each with six low-impact bamboo suites. It comes at a price ($6,000 per person for a six-night safari), but the experience is singular.

    RUNNER-UP
    Ngoma Safari Lodge, Botswana
    Because of a prescient commitment to conservation, Botswana has some of the largest concentrations of wildlife in southern Africa—herds of hundreds of elephants aren’t uncommon here.

    The newest addition to Botswana’s safari offerings is the luxurious community-run Ngoma Safari Lodge, which opened last spring near Chobe National Park. Each of the eight thatched suites, with atrium ceilings and canopy beds, looks over the Chobe River floodplain, which is dotted with elephants, zebra, and buffalo. From $495 per person per night, all-inclusive.

  • SkyTeam Launches Go Africa Pass

    SkyTeam, the global airline alliance, has launched its new Go Africa Pass providing cost savings and flexibility on flights operated by Kenya Airways within Africa. The pass is available to business and leisure travelers flying with any of SkyTeam’s 15 member airlines on an intercontinental round-trip to Africa or a Go Round the World ticket.

    Kenya Airways operates service to 45 African destinations in 36 countries including; Lagos, Nigeria; Accra, Ghana; Johannesburg, South Africa; Luanda, Angola; Dar es Salaam, Tanzania; Lusaka, Zambia; Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo and Cairo, Egypt.

    Customers purchasing a Go Africa Pass can opt from a minimum of three to a maximum of 16 flight coupons. Fares are calculated based on the number of miles flown non-stop, offering discounts of up to 75% off standard fares, depending on the itinerary. Coupons have no minimum stay, open-jaw itineraries are permitted and passengers can stop in each city multiple times – giving them complete flexibility to plan their trips. The Go Africa Pass is available for sale now, for travel starting on or after March 1st.

    “With continued demand for travel to and within Africa, SkyTeam’s Go Africa Pass complements our already comprehensive network of flights from key global cities to major African destinations,” said Jerome d’Anglejan, SkyTeam’s Director of Sales. “The Go Africa Pass enables passengers to explore Africa’s full potential by increasing their travel options throughout the continent.”

    Kenya Airways operates flights to Nairobi from Hong Kong and Guangzhou in the Greater China Region, as well as from cities in Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Other SkyTeam airlines with services to Africa include: Air France, Alitalia, KLM and Delta Air Lines. Korean Air will start services to Nairobi in June. Future members, Saudi Arabian Airlines and MEA also fly to Africa.

    SkyTeam’s Go Africa Pass is one of a number of travel passes created by the alliance to offer flexible, economical travel to its global passengers. SkyTeam passes include: Go Round the World, Go China, and Go Europe. Customers can contact their local SkyTeam airline, reservation center or travel agent for details and bookings.

    For information about SkyTeam’s travel passes visit SkyTeam.com

    About Kenya Airways. Kenya Airways, a member of the SkyTeam Alliance, is the leading African airline flying to over 56 destinations worldwide, 45 of which are in Africa and carries over three million passengers annually. Kenya Airways is also a major employer with a workforce of over 4,200 employees. It continues to modernize its fleet with its 34 aircraft fleet being one of the most modern in Africa. The on-board service is renowned and the lie-flat business class seat on the wide-body aircraft is consistently voted among the world’s top 10. Most recently it has scooped top awards at the Africa Investor (Ai) Tourism Investor Awards and was declared the Business Airline of the Year in Africa. Kenya Airways takes pride for being in the fore front of connecting Africa to the world and the World to Africa through its hub Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.

  • Mango Battles for Cheap Flights in South Africa

    The new budget South African airline, Mango, has stirred up the airline industry in South Africa with its drastic drop in prices. This development has been very interesting and the opinions differ on the consequence for air travel in Africa.

    Lately discussion has heated up between the several airlines and experts in the industry on this development, making it hard for consumers to understand all the fuss.

    Even one of our readers e-mailed us the other day saying ‘what is going on with Mango?’.

    Aggresive Pricing = Cheap Flights

    So far it is clear that Mango has opted for a strategy of aggressive pricing and is not afraid to offer extremely low prices. This has revolutionized air travel in the rest of the world and therefore it is good to see this development in Africa.

    The only ‘but’ in this case would be that Mango is a sister-company of SA Airways, which is also owned by the government. So in a way the taxpayer is paying for all the “cheap flights SAA flights”.
    Future for air travel and Mango

    I am still not convinved that the introduction of Mango is a positive step for SAA, as they might just be canabalising their own full-fair flights as I mentioned in a previous posts (and incorrectly speculated the name of the airline to be “Tulca”).

    I do belive there is an overall plus to the consumer and the South African travel industry however: Mango’s added competition will push the low cost carriers like kulula.com and 1time to maintain their low prices. Further, the marketing spend of Mango should raise awareness of low-cost flights in the public domain and hopefully inspire more low-to-middle income earners in South Africa to start flying!

  • SAA to Launch its Very Own Low-cost Carrier TULCA

    South African Airways (SAA) have officially announced that they will launch their very own low-cost carrier, called Tulca, at the end of the month.

    SAA CEO Khaya Ngqula says that “Passengers want no-frills and low-cost, and … we have to respond to what passengers want.” When asked what market share they hoped to capture by this bold move, SAA declined to give a figure.

    But I wonder whether SAA will really be able to gain market share from the likes of Kulula and 1time when it comes to cheap flights in South Africa. Major airlines around the world have tried their hand at cheap flights, without much success. In most cases they have simple canabalised their own business when people choose to book cheap flights with their low-cost brand, rather than full-rate flights on their established airline.

    Travel Start list a number of failed attempts by airlines to open low-cost carriers on its blog. For example:

    “BA started a ‘Ryanair killer’ called GO. They wanted to compete with Ryan on its Dublin-London routes. What happened? BA’s pasengers left BA for GO and thereby cannibalized their own business. BA were lucky. They managed to sell the loser company to a private equity firm that later sold it to Easy Jet. I don’t know what’s left of it.”

    Lets hope Tulca does not go the same way for SAA.

    Tulca is set to launch officially on 30 October 2006.

  • Airport Security Tightened in South Africa

    In reaction to the latest events taking place in America, a focus has been placed on airport security in South Africa.

    As a result, please note or advise your clients that they should arrive at least 2 hours before any domestic flight and 3 – 4 hours before any international flight.

    This advance check in is due to the Airports Company will be doing security checks on all passengers boarding any flight.