"To travel is to see, to return is to talk" - African proverb
"To travel is to live." - Hans Christian Andersen
"I think you travel to search and you come back home to find yourself there." - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
"We travel, some of us forever, to seek other states, other lives, other souls." - Anaïs Nin
"It can hardly be a coincidence that no language on earth has ever produced the expression, 'As pretty as an airport'." - Douglas Adams
"Books are the plane, and the train, and the road. They are the destination, and the journey. They are home." - Anna Quindlen
"Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not." - Ralph Waldo Emerson
"It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end." - Ernest Hemingway
"If you don't know where you're going, any road will take you there." - George Harrison
"Make voyages. Attempt them. There's nothing else." - Tennessee Williams
"Take only memories, leave only footprints." – Chief Seattle
"Travelling is like flirting with life. It’s like saying, I would stay and love you, but I have to go; this is my station." – Lisa St. Aubin de Teran
"People travel because it teaches them things they could learn no other way." – Lance Morrow
"There was nothing to talk about anymore. The only thing to do was go." – Jack Kerouac
"My first rule of travel is never to go to a place that sounds like a medical condition and Critz is clearly an incurable disease involving flaking skin." – Bill Bryson
"To many people holidays are not voyages of discovery, but a ritual of reassurance." - Philip Andrew Adams
"Travel doesn’t become adventure until you leave yourself behind." – Marty Rubin
"Sometimes you find yourself in the middle of nowhere, and sometimes in the middle of nowhere you find yourself." – Author unknown
"Wherever you go becomes a part of you somehow." – Anita Desai
"The perfect journey is never finished, the goal is always just across the next river, round the shoulder of the next mountain. There is always one more track to follow, one more mirage to explore." – Rosita Forbes
"You have to taste a culture to understand it." – Deborah Cater
"The worst thing about being a tourist is having other tourists recognize you as a tourist." – Russell Baker
"Writing and travel broaden your ass if not your mind and I like to write standing up." – Ernest Hemingway
"At its best, travel should challenge our preconceptions and most cherished views, cause us to rethink our assumptions, shake us a bit, make us broader minded and more understanding." – Arthur Frommer
"People who don’t travel cannot have a global view, all they see is what’s in front of them. Those people cannot accept new things because all they know is where they live." - Martin Yan
"When overseas you learn more about your own country, than you do the place you’re visiting." - Clint Borgen
06 February 2013
South Africa: Cape Agulhas Lighthouse closed for renovations
update (10 Dec 2013): The Cape Agulhas Lighthouse is open to the public as of today (10 Dec 2013). New developments and features await your viewing at the restored lighthouse. The Cape Agulhas Lighthouse will open from 9h00 to 11h30 and 12h00 to 17h00. The last tower climb of the day is at 16h30. Tariffs are R22.00 per adult and R11.00 per child under 12 years.
update (28 June 2013): It seems that the Cape Agulhas Lighthouse is about to reopen. Via Facebook: "Renovations to the lighthouse are coming along nicely - here's a sneak peek"
update (06 June 2013): Renovations to the Cape Agulhas Lighthouse are almost finished! We'll keep you posted!
The historic Cape Agulhas Lighthouse, located on the southern edge of the village of Agulhas close to the southernmost tip of Africa in the Cape Agulhas National Park, is closed to the public for renovations since 04 Feb 2013 due to erosion that has caused structural damage outside and inside the building. Renovations to the interior and the exterior (e.g. construction of the new Southern Tip boardwalk) of the Cape Agulhas Lighthouse already started in November 2012, but South Africa's second-oldest still operating lighthouse was kept open to the public over the busy tourism season to accommodate visitors.
View Larger Map
During the closure, visitors are urged instead to visit the southernmost point and take a walk along the already completed sections of the Southern Tip footpath and boardwalk.
While Transnet owns and is responsible for the actual Cape Agulhas Lighthouse, South African National Parks (SANParks) is responsible for the upgrade of the lighthouse precinct. We'll keep you posted!
update (28 June 2013): It seems that the Cape Agulhas Lighthouse is about to reopen. Via Facebook: "Renovations to the lighthouse are coming along nicely - here's a sneak peek"
update (06 June 2013): Renovations to the Cape Agulhas Lighthouse are almost finished! We'll keep you posted!
The historic Cape Agulhas Lighthouse, located on the southern edge of the village of Agulhas close to the southernmost tip of Africa in the Cape Agulhas National Park, is closed to the public for renovations since 04 Feb 2013 due to erosion that has caused structural damage outside and inside the building. Renovations to the interior and the exterior (e.g. construction of the new Southern Tip boardwalk) of the Cape Agulhas Lighthouse already started in November 2012, but South Africa's second-oldest still operating lighthouse was kept open to the public over the busy tourism season to accommodate visitors.
View Larger Map
During the closure, visitors are urged instead to visit the southernmost point and take a walk along the already completed sections of the Southern Tip footpath and boardwalk.
While Transnet owns and is responsible for the actual Cape Agulhas Lighthouse, South African National Parks (SANParks) is responsible for the upgrade of the lighthouse precinct. We'll keep you posted!
05 February 2013
South African Tourism: New promotional video about Mpumalanga
South Africa's tourism body, South African Tourism, has released a new promotional video about Mpumalanga on youtube.com. The video covers the province's most popular tourist destinations, including the famous Kruger National Park, Blyde River Canyon, God's Window and Bourke's Luck Potholes. Enjoy!
South Africa: Free Summer 2012/13 digimag edition of "Wild" is out now!
The Summer 2012/13 (#21) digimag edition of "Wild", Wild Card's free wildlife environment and travel magazine is out now. The current edition contains stories about a road trip from the Cape to Kruger and back, about fly-fishing in the Limietberg Nature Reserve near Cape Town, about hippos, birding, seabird conservation and much more! Enjoy!
04 February 2013
Air Namibia adjusted its regional flight schedule
Namibia's flag carrier, Air Namibia, did not only reduce its flights between Windhoek and Frankfurt (Germany), but also adjusted its regional schedule. Effective from 27 Jan 2013, flights between Windhoek <> Cape Town and Windhoek <> Johannesburg have been reduced from three to two flights per day. The frequency reduction will remain in place until at least 24 June 2013.
The Windhoek to Maun (Botswana) to Victoria Falls (Zimbabwe) flight, which used to be operated on Monday mornings, got shifted to Tuesday mornings and the Windhoek <> Lusaka (Zambia) flight on Wednesday mornings got shifted to the afternoon.
The Windhoek to Maun (Botswana) to Victoria Falls (Zimbabwe) flight, which used to be operated on Monday mornings, got shifted to Tuesday mornings and the Windhoek <> Lusaka (Zambia) flight on Wednesday mornings got shifted to the afternoon.
01 February 2013
South Africa's most punctual domestic airlines in January 2013
Airports Company South Africa (ACSA) has published the on-time performance results of domestic airlines’ flying out of OR Tambo in Johannesburg, Cape Town International Airport, and Durban's King Shaka International Airport in January 2013.
On-Time Performance is measured by comparing the actual off-block time (when aircraft pushes back) against the airline schedule time for a departing flight. The measurement is done in accordance with the IATA (International Airlines Transport Association) universal standard benchmark with considers a 15 minute deviation from the scheduled time as an on-time departure.
OR Tambo International Airport, Johannesburg - 15 Min on Time Performance January 2013 (airport target 85%)
On-Time Performance is measured by comparing the actual off-block time (when aircraft pushes back) against the airline schedule time for a departing flight. The measurement is done in accordance with the IATA (International Airlines Transport Association) universal standard benchmark with considers a 15 minute deviation from the scheduled time as an on-time departure.
OR Tambo International Airport, Johannesburg - 15 Min on Time Performance January 2013 (airport target 85%)
- Mango - 97.10% (Dec. 91.84%)
- Airlink - 94.11% (Dec. 90.87%)
- South African Airways - 91.80% (Dec. 82.99%)
- British Airways Domestic - 89.71% (Dec. 86.42%)
- SA Express - 86.52% (Dec. 78.42%)
- Kulula.com - 85.46% (Dec. 77.80%)
- Airlink - 99.71% (Dec. 96.01%)
- Mango - 97.27% (Dec. 95.68%)
- South African Airways - 95.75% (Dec. 89.41%)
- SA Express - 90.75% (Dec. 88.30%)
- British Airways Domestic - 89.26% (Dec. 91.13%)
- Kulula.com - 88.49% (Dec. 83.55%)
- South African Airways - 96.71% (Dec. 92.17%)
- Mango - 96.01% (Dec. 93.09%)
- Airlink - 95.92% (Dec. 84.43%)
- SA Express - 91.30% (Dec. 87.41%)
- British Airways Domestic - 89.36% (Dec. 83.63%)
- Kulula.com - 84.18% (Dec. 78.29%)
The Kruger National Park Calendar - March
Weather:
Landscape:
- end of summer...
- still hot and humid during the day, but nights begin to get colder
- last major rainfalls of the season
- between 18°C - 33°C (Fahrenheit: e.g. 33°C = [(33x9)]/5 + 32 = 91.4°F)
- visit travelcomments.com/webcams_sa.htm and follow daily game drives via webcam to check the weather & how the landscape is changing during the year
Landscape:
- Water availability at its peak
- river levels high
- dense vegetation
- grasslands in full seed
- animal dispersal at its widest
- animals rather relaxed - least competition for resources
- water sources throughout the park are usually full
- buffalo & kudu breeding peak
- many migrant birds leaving
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