US airline Delta Air Lines has confirmed that it will stop the Cape Town - Atlanta (via Dakar) connection from the 28 August/29 August 2009. All passengers who are already booked on an affected flights will be re-accommodated. The suspension does not affect the daily year-round connection between Johannesburg and Atlanta. [src.]
15 June 2009
TMNP offering 20% discount on Hoerikwaggo Hiking Trails
Table Mountain National Park (TMNP) is offering a 20% discount on the Hoerikwaggo Hiking Trail Camps.
Book early and grab this opportunity of staying in any of the 3 camps (Orangekloof, Slangkop and Silvermine) and the discount is applicable to both trail and sleepover options.
The Hoerikwaggo Trail is a spectacular five-night, six-day 100km trail from Cape Town to Cape Point, rivaling the legendary Inca Trail in Machu Picchu. Hikers can book three, day two-day, or one-night hikes as sections of the overall trail. The full 97km trail, with five overnight stops, will be ready by June 2010. [more/src]
Book early and grab this opportunity of staying in any of the 3 camps (Orangekloof, Slangkop and Silvermine) and the discount is applicable to both trail and sleepover options.
The Hoerikwaggo Trail is a spectacular five-night, six-day 100km trail from Cape Town to Cape Point, rivaling the legendary Inca Trail in Machu Picchu. Hikers can book three, day two-day, or one-night hikes as sections of the overall trail. The full 97km trail, with five overnight stops, will be ready by June 2010. [more/src]
12 June 2009
The three week loop
Johannesburg – Kruger National Park – Swaziland – Zululand – Durban – Drakensberg Mountains – Johannesburg
South Africa's busiest airport by far is OR Tambo International in Johannesburg. That is why flights to Jozi, as the locals call it, are most of the time way cheaper than flights to Cape Town, the 2nd busiest port of entry to South Africa. Reason enough to start and end our 3 week journey here and not in shiny Cape Town.
After arriving in Johannesburg I highly recommend to take at least a day to rest (don't forget – the altitude is 2000m above sea level) and another day to explore the city. The City? Yes, you are right. A visit to Soweto and the Apartheid Museum are giving you an introduction par excellence to South Africa, it's culture, problems, history and future.
After 2 days in urban Johannesburg the world famous Kruger National Park is our next stop.
How to do Kruger? Well, you can either join an organised tour starting in Johannesburg, you can rent a car in Johannesburg and do the Park on your own or you can rent a car, drive to Nelspruit and join a safari starting there. My personal recommendation is to start the tour to Kruger in Johannesburg. Why? Well, because transport is included at no extra costs and you don't have to rent a car right from the beginning of your vacation. A four day tour to Kruger is the minimum – it gives a good chance to spot the Big 5 and, well, who hasn't watched the famous “Battle at Kruger” youtube video and is dreaming about catching a similar scene on tape?
After amazing days in South Africa's biggest National Park the journey (now you have to rent a car) is continuing to Swaziland, the only absolute Monarchy in Africa. Swaziland, bordering South Africa and Mozambique, is only covering about 17,000sq km. But it is full of culture, traditions, wild life and nature. You can easily spend about 3 days of game viewing, visiting craft centers (cheaper than South African ones) and exploring the two main cities of the country – the capital Mbabane and Manzini.
Being a week in Southern Africa it is now time for some beach and the Ocean. From Swaziland it is about a half day drive to St. Lucia at the Indian Ocean. Surrounded by the iSimangaliso Wetland Park (formerly know as the “Greater St. Lucia Wetland Park) this UNESCO World Heritage Site supports more species than Kruger National Park or the Okavango Delta in Botswana. It is also home to the largest population of hippopotami in South African parks. Two sea turtle species use the beaches for laying eggs (only in season). Four days can easily be spend in the area. Next stop along the route is Durban, the capital of South Africa's province “KwaZulu Natal”. Durban is South Africa's third largest city and it's busiest port. And it is South Africa's most Indian City. Around 1 Mio. South Africans have Indian or Pakistani roots – and most of them are living in or around Durban. This makes Durban probably the most multicultural city in Southern Africa. Do you want to see, taste and smell it? Well, than a visit at the well-known “Queen Victoria Market is a must including a bunny chow for lunch. You haven't heard about bunny chows? Time to go to Durban to find it out. It is super yummy!
Time is running and so next stop are the Drakensberg Mountains (Afrikaans, meaning “Dragon Mountain”). The mountains are a hikers paradise full of stunning views, amazing walks and even free climbing spots. You can also go horse-riding, visit the Battlefields of the British, Zulu and Boer clashes of the past or visit Lesotho on a daytrip. A good couple of days are passing by without you recognizing it – it is simply mind blowing in the mountains.
Sad, but true, every holiday has an end and so has this one. It is only about a four hours drive from the Drakensberg Mountains (Ladysmith area) back to the starting point of this journey, Johannesburg – also known as eGoli, the place of gold.
Safe Travels!
09 June 2009
Virgin Holidays Responsible Tourism Awards
Nominations for the Virgin Holidays Responsible Tourism Awards are now open. Nominate a winner in our 2009 Awards by Monday 15 June, and you could be in with a chance to win fantastic safari holiday to Kenya for you and a friend! Read all about our prize holiday – and make your nomination – on our dedicated website www.responsibletourismawards.com
responsibletravel.com founded and organise the Awards - the most prestigious of their kind in the world - in partnership with The Daily Telegraph, Geographical Magazine, BBC World News, World Travel Market, and our headline sponsor, Virgin Holidays.
Read an interview with prolific travel writer and supporter of the Awards Paul Theroux, which first appeared in The Daily Telegraph.
responsibletravel.com founded and organise the Awards - the most prestigious of their kind in the world - in partnership with The Daily Telegraph, Geographical Magazine, BBC World News, World Travel Market, and our headline sponsor, Virgin Holidays.
Read an interview with prolific travel writer and supporter of the Awards Paul Theroux, which first appeared in The Daily Telegraph.
05 June 2009
The responsible tourism movement
As the world of capitalism develops a conscience, political leaders gather momentum to tackle climate change and businesses are responding to the ever-increasing demand for more ethical products.
The current trend, largely fuelled by the acknowledgement that climate change really is caused by anthropogenic factors, is rapidly moving business towards a more socially and environmentally responsible agenda – something green consumers and activists have long been askingfor.
With the increased awareness of the (good and bad) effects tourism can have on our planet, the ‘responsible travel’ movement is gathering pace around the world too.
Since our launch 6 years ago, those of us have argued that tourism needs to be re-invented for the long term benefit of everyone; local people, the environment, tourists, and not least the tourism industry itself have gathered momentum.
It used to be the domain of a minority, but responsible tourism is an ever growing trend that has earned its place in public consciousness as have other longer established and better known movements - such as organic, slow food and fair trade. And we at responsibletravel.com don’t feel that this is a trend that is going to slow down anytime soon…
Justin Francis, co-founder of responsibletravel.com says: “People are a lot more aware of the effects their lifestyle choices have on the environment and local communities, and travel is a huge part of that.
This is knowledge that we as a society and as individuals have built up, and will not just be forgotten or ignored. I believe it is a change that was long overdue, and the only way forward for a responsible tourism industry.”
Responsible tourism or eco-tourism?
Although the concept of eco-tourism has been around for a long time, Justin explains it should not be confused with the term responsible tourism. Eco-tourism focuses on the natural world, and sadly too many operators joined the bandwagon without any substance to their claims.
Responsible tourism on the other hand embraces all forms of tourism but there are a further 2 deciding factors: there needs to be transparency about operator's policies, and a form of independent checks & measures on their practices, which responsibletravel.com does through independent reviews from travellers.
Responsible travel then and now
When responsibletravel.com started 6 years ago (we think the first business to use the term), we found only 4 tour operators with responsible tourism policies. Today, there are over 250 operators on our site that have met our responsible travel criteria. In different ways we have worked with tourism companies ranging from small operators and accommodations to larger operators like for example First Choice, who have made headway with their responsible tourism policies and Environment & People report, which focuses on how they protect the environment and respect people both at home and in overseas destinations.
There are now various initiatives in the US - such as the Responsible Tourism Committee founded recently by The United States Tour Operators Association (USTOA) - and the UK, such as the Green Tourism Scheme, the Travel Foundation and of course the Virgin Holidays Responsible Tourism Awards that we run. Organisations like Tourism Concern have been working hard with communities in destination countries to reduce social and environmental problems connected to tourism, and with the outbound tourism industry in the UK to find ways of improving tourism so that local benefits are increased. And finally, there is the World Responsible Tourism Day on 14 November.
But it doesn’t stop there - responsibletravel.com is making a difference to communities around the world, marketing small initiatives directly to the traveller and putting them on a level playing field with large scale operators. Take this example of the Walker family, a family of twelve Aborigine sisters who've started a tour company to invite visitors to spend time leaning about their culture. Their marketing used to consist of one of the sisters sitting on a rock outside their village inviting passers by to join a tour. They are now represented on our site, you can see their tours here.
Another example is our community based tourism initiative, linking community run tourism businesses, which often have an occupancy level below 5%, to established tour operators to ensure regular bookings as well as promoting them on responsibletravel.com.
And just how important the word ‘responsible’ has become to tourism is illustrated in the level of press interest received. There is a sense that responsible tourism now is a big community of travellers doing the right thing, and you as a traveller can be a part of that. Help us make sure that responsible tourism is here to stay by proving to the rest of the tourism industry that increasing numbers of us do care about destinations & local people when on holiday… and have a more genuine experience and fulfilling holiday as a result! [src]
The current trend, largely fuelled by the acknowledgement that climate change really is caused by anthropogenic factors, is rapidly moving business towards a more socially and environmentally responsible agenda – something green consumers and activists have long been askingfor.
With the increased awareness of the (good and bad) effects tourism can have on our planet, the ‘responsible travel’ movement is gathering pace around the world too.
Since our launch 6 years ago, those of us have argued that tourism needs to be re-invented for the long term benefit of everyone; local people, the environment, tourists, and not least the tourism industry itself have gathered momentum.
It used to be the domain of a minority, but responsible tourism is an ever growing trend that has earned its place in public consciousness as have other longer established and better known movements - such as organic, slow food and fair trade. And we at responsibletravel.com don’t feel that this is a trend that is going to slow down anytime soon…
Justin Francis, co-founder of responsibletravel.com says: “People are a lot more aware of the effects their lifestyle choices have on the environment and local communities, and travel is a huge part of that.
This is knowledge that we as a society and as individuals have built up, and will not just be forgotten or ignored. I believe it is a change that was long overdue, and the only way forward for a responsible tourism industry.”
Responsible tourism or eco-tourism?
Although the concept of eco-tourism has been around for a long time, Justin explains it should not be confused with the term responsible tourism. Eco-tourism focuses on the natural world, and sadly too many operators joined the bandwagon without any substance to their claims.
Responsible tourism on the other hand embraces all forms of tourism but there are a further 2 deciding factors: there needs to be transparency about operator's policies, and a form of independent checks & measures on their practices, which responsibletravel.com does through independent reviews from travellers.
Responsible travel then and now
When responsibletravel.com started 6 years ago (we think the first business to use the term), we found only 4 tour operators with responsible tourism policies. Today, there are over 250 operators on our site that have met our responsible travel criteria. In different ways we have worked with tourism companies ranging from small operators and accommodations to larger operators like for example First Choice, who have made headway with their responsible tourism policies and Environment & People report, which focuses on how they protect the environment and respect people both at home and in overseas destinations.
There are now various initiatives in the US - such as the Responsible Tourism Committee founded recently by The United States Tour Operators Association (USTOA) - and the UK, such as the Green Tourism Scheme, the Travel Foundation and of course the Virgin Holidays Responsible Tourism Awards that we run. Organisations like Tourism Concern have been working hard with communities in destination countries to reduce social and environmental problems connected to tourism, and with the outbound tourism industry in the UK to find ways of improving tourism so that local benefits are increased. And finally, there is the World Responsible Tourism Day on 14 November.
But it doesn’t stop there - responsibletravel.com is making a difference to communities around the world, marketing small initiatives directly to the traveller and putting them on a level playing field with large scale operators. Take this example of the Walker family, a family of twelve Aborigine sisters who've started a tour company to invite visitors to spend time leaning about their culture. Their marketing used to consist of one of the sisters sitting on a rock outside their village inviting passers by to join a tour. They are now represented on our site, you can see their tours here.
Another example is our community based tourism initiative, linking community run tourism businesses, which often have an occupancy level below 5%, to established tour operators to ensure regular bookings as well as promoting them on responsibletravel.com.
And just how important the word ‘responsible’ has become to tourism is illustrated in the level of press interest received. There is a sense that responsible tourism now is a big community of travellers doing the right thing, and you as a traveller can be a part of that. Help us make sure that responsible tourism is here to stay by proving to the rest of the tourism industry that increasing numbers of us do care about destinations & local people when on holiday… and have a more genuine experience and fulfilling holiday as a result! [src]
03 June 2009
Garden Route National Park
The size of the new Garden Route National Park will roughly be 121000 hectares making it the third biggest National Park in South Africa.
It will consist of the Wilderness and Tsitsikamma National Parks (68500 hectares) and 52500 hectates of newly proclaimed land. The two already existing parks will retain their identity and become camps in the new greater park.
Tourist attractions in the Garden Route National Park will incluce camping decks, chalets, mountain biking trails, hiking trails, canoeing, diving and many more. There will be no other National Park in South Africa that will include the unique combination of marine, coastal, lakes, indigenous forests and mountain catchment areas.
The new Garden Route National Park will be unique in the sense that the proximity of the residential areas on its periphery will definitely have an impact on the character of the park. There are only three other National Parks in the world where residents live within the borders of a proclaimed Park - in Italy, Canada and the USA. The Garden Route National Park will be the first of its kind on the African continent.
SANParks Chief Operating Officer, Sydney Soundy, was quoted that the Garden Route is one of the critical focus areas in South Africa. “The area plays host to the largest continuous complex of indigenous forest in the country, spanning approximately 60 500 hectares. Its aquatic systems, the Knysna estuary and the Wilderness lake areas, are rated number one and number six respectively in the country. The fynbos falls within the Cape Floristic region, which is a designated global diversity hotspot.”
The Park should open it's gates anytime from now.
It will consist of the Wilderness and Tsitsikamma National Parks (68500 hectares) and 52500 hectates of newly proclaimed land. The two already existing parks will retain their identity and become camps in the new greater park.
Tourist attractions in the Garden Route National Park will incluce camping decks, chalets, mountain biking trails, hiking trails, canoeing, diving and many more. There will be no other National Park in South Africa that will include the unique combination of marine, coastal, lakes, indigenous forests and mountain catchment areas.
The new Garden Route National Park will be unique in the sense that the proximity of the residential areas on its periphery will definitely have an impact on the character of the park. There are only three other National Parks in the world where residents live within the borders of a proclaimed Park - in Italy, Canada and the USA. The Garden Route National Park will be the first of its kind on the African continent.
SANParks Chief Operating Officer, Sydney Soundy, was quoted that the Garden Route is one of the critical focus areas in South Africa. “The area plays host to the largest continuous complex of indigenous forest in the country, spanning approximately 60 500 hectares. Its aquatic systems, the Knysna estuary and the Wilderness lake areas, are rated number one and number six respectively in the country. The fynbos falls within the Cape Floristic region, which is a designated global diversity hotspot.”
The Park should open it's gates anytime from now.
02 June 2009
A taste of volunteering - by Justin Francis
If you are interested in volunteering to work with communities in need, or in wildlife conservation, but are unable to take very long periods off work then there is a new type of trip – a taste of volunteering – that might be of interest for you. These shorter trips combine volunteering with an opportunity to see the main sights in destinations.
Many of us like the idea of ‘doing something worthwhile’ during our time away from work - or between jobs. Of course if volunteering involves travelling to some of the most beautiful parts of the world then so much the better! We volunteer in the knowledge that as well as making a difference where it is needed most we will also discover new things about ourselves, and that pitching in together with like minded people is a great way to meet new friends.
Ten years ago volunteering either involved taking two years off in developing countries, or spending a weekend pulling prams out of canals in the UK. More recently tour companies have created one to three weeks trips which combine time spent volunteering with an opportunity to travel with your group to visit the main areas of interest as a tourist.
For example, a 19 day trip in Vietnam combines 6 days building a classroom, and then the opportunity to visit Hanoi, Saigon and Ho Chi Minh City for £995 excluding flights. Alternatively, you could combine a Tanzanian safari in the Serengeti with time spent building a home for street children, 13 days for £980 excluding flights.
The essential difference between a charity trek, where you raise sponsorship money for a cause, and these taste of volunteering holidays is that in these trips your contribution is principally the work that you contribute rather than a financial benefit, which of course makes them cheaper.
Choosing the right volunteering organisation
It’s important that you choose your volunteering organisation carefully. It’s vital that the project is based on real local development or conservation needs, and that local people are consulted about what is required and how it is implemented.
You certainly will enjoy your trip more if the benefits to conservation and local people are obvious. There have been examples of volunteering programmes are determined by what appeals to the volunteering organisation or tourists rather than real local needs.
My advice would be to ask to see detailed reports on the effectiveness of the projects before you travel, and to ask how local people are involved in the decision making processes. In some projects you will have the opportunity to work alongside local people, which is both desirable and enjoyable.
And finally
Edward Abbey said 'sentiment without action is the ruin of the soul'. If you like the idea of travelling with a purpose then I’m confident that you’ll find these trips one of the most worthwhile, enjoyable and memorable experiences possible. [src]
Many of us like the idea of ‘doing something worthwhile’ during our time away from work - or between jobs. Of course if volunteering involves travelling to some of the most beautiful parts of the world then so much the better! We volunteer in the knowledge that as well as making a difference where it is needed most we will also discover new things about ourselves, and that pitching in together with like minded people is a great way to meet new friends.
Ten years ago volunteering either involved taking two years off in developing countries, or spending a weekend pulling prams out of canals in the UK. More recently tour companies have created one to three weeks trips which combine time spent volunteering with an opportunity to travel with your group to visit the main areas of interest as a tourist.
For example, a 19 day trip in Vietnam combines 6 days building a classroom, and then the opportunity to visit Hanoi, Saigon and Ho Chi Minh City for £995 excluding flights. Alternatively, you could combine a Tanzanian safari in the Serengeti with time spent building a home for street children, 13 days for £980 excluding flights.
The essential difference between a charity trek, where you raise sponsorship money for a cause, and these taste of volunteering holidays is that in these trips your contribution is principally the work that you contribute rather than a financial benefit, which of course makes them cheaper.
Choosing the right volunteering organisation
It’s important that you choose your volunteering organisation carefully. It’s vital that the project is based on real local development or conservation needs, and that local people are consulted about what is required and how it is implemented.
You certainly will enjoy your trip more if the benefits to conservation and local people are obvious. There have been examples of volunteering programmes are determined by what appeals to the volunteering organisation or tourists rather than real local needs.
My advice would be to ask to see detailed reports on the effectiveness of the projects before you travel, and to ask how local people are involved in the decision making processes. In some projects you will have the opportunity to work alongside local people, which is both desirable and enjoyable.
And finally
Edward Abbey said 'sentiment without action is the ruin of the soul'. If you like the idea of travelling with a purpose then I’m confident that you’ll find these trips one of the most worthwhile, enjoyable and memorable experiences possible. [src]
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