Kenya: Animated short film "The Legend of Ngong Hills"

Based on a Maasai folktale, the short animated film "The Legend of Ngong Hills" tells the story of the creation myth of the beautiful hills that backdrop present day Nairobi.
The film is about the humongous and frightful Ogre of the forest, who has a habit of attacking a Maasai village, but is also falling in love with a beautiful young maiden from the village named Sanayian.

The short film won the Best Animation award at the 2012 AMAA Awards in Lagos (Nigeria), the Best Animation award at the 2011 Kalasha Awards (Kenya) as well as the ZIFF SIGNIS East Africa Talent Award at the Zanzibar International Film Festival 2011. It was also featured on Kenya Airways in-flight programming. The film is directed and produced by Kwame Nyong'o (Apes in Space).

Manchester United to tour South Africa in July 2012

Manchester United will be touring South Africa in July 2012. The Red Devils announced that they will begin their pre-season with will a training camp and friendly matches in Durban and Cape Town. Manchester United will play against AmaZulu FC at the 54,000-capacity Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban on 18 July 2012 (Mandela Day), followed by a fixture against Ajax Cape Town at the Cape Town Stadium in Cape Town on 21 July 2012.
This will be United’s third visit to South Africa after playing in the Southern African nation in 2006 and 2008. After the tour of South Africa, Manchester United will continue their pre-season preparations with trips to China and Norway.
Tickets for the two matches in Durban and Cape Town will be available from Computicket outlets only.

Kenya Airways to increase flights to Dubai, India & Europe

Kenya's flag carrier Kenya Airways has introduced a new direct flight to Dubai which will operate three times a week with late evening departures from Nairobi's Jomo Kenyatta International Airport to capture the late connecting traffic arriving into the airport. This is in addition to the daily Dubai service that the airline operates. The airline will now operate 10 non-stop flights to Dubai.
Kenya Airways has also increased the number of flights to Mumbai (India) from daily to 10 flights a week and will operate 3 weekly fligths to Delhi (India).
Effective July 2012, flights to London will increase to 10 flights per week on-board a 322 seater Boeing 777-200. Kenya Airways' flights to Paris will increase to 6 weekly flights during the July – August peak period and the daily Amsterdam capacity will be upgraded to Boeing 777-200.

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Johannesburg will be Africa's second most visited city in 2012

According to the MasterCard Global Destination Cities Index 2012, Johannesburg will be Africa's second most visited city this year with an expected 2.5-million international visitors. Johannesburg is also rated as the African city that tourists will spend the most money in. An estimated US$3.3-billion will be injected through visitors into the city's economy, marking an increase of 8.1% on the 2011 figures. Johannesburg will furthermore be the most visited city in sub-Saharan Africa.
Nairobi (Kenya), ranked third in the African ranking (1.8 Mio visitors), will be the second-most visited city in sub-Saharan Africa. Visitors in Nairobi are expected to spend an estimated US$1.5-billion in the city, so that the Kenyan capital is ranked 4th in that category among the African cities and second in sub-Saharan Africa in 2012.
Durban will be the fastest growing city in Africa in terms of visitor numbers and is predicted to be the second fastest growing city in the MasterCard Global Destination Cities Index 2012.

The MasterCard Index of Global Destination Cities is an annual research program that describes and analyzes the global network of 132 destination cities and how they are connected through cross-border air travel and associated expenditures.

Ethiopian Airlines postpones planned Dreamliner service to Harare & Lusaka

Ethiopian Airlines is still waiting for the delivery of its 10 Boeing 787 Dreamliners and is therefore postponing the planned operation with the aircraft on the Addis Ababa <> Harare (Zimbabwe) and Addis Ababa <> Lusaka (Zambia) routes. The airline originally planned to start servicing the two destinations with the Dreamliner from 16 Sept 2012, but due to the delay of delivery is now planning to start operating flights to Harare and Lusaka with Boeing's new aircraft from 28 Oct 2012. Until then, Ethiopian Airlines is operating a Boeing 767-300 on the route.
Previously, Ethiopian Airlines already had to announce delays in the 787s introduction on its Addis Ababa <> Johannesburg and Addis Ababa <> Dubai routes. The introduction of the Dreamliner on these two routes is currently postponed to 01 Aug 2012.

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Lufthansa: Live TV with "Sports 24" during flights

The in-flight entertainment service of Germany's flag carrier Lufthansa now includes a first integrated live TV channel. The English-language channel Sport 24 has special airline rights for major sports events such as the UEFA European Football Championship, the Olympic Games in London, the German Bundesliga, the Premier League, Formula-1 races, the NFL Superbowl, Wimbledon (tennis), the French Open as well as the Ryder Cup and the US Open (golf).
Sport 24's signal is transmitted directly on board by satellite via Lufthansa's FlyNet broadband Internet service and from there to the entertainment system. Sport 24 is free of charge for passengers and is already available on three recently delivered Airbus A330s.
Lufthansa is the largest airline in Europe in terms of overall passengers carried and fleet size and the world's fourth-largest airline in terms of overall passengers carried. Lufthansa is currently operating services to 18 domestic destinations as well international flights to 203 destinations in 78 countries across Africa, Americas, Asia and Europe.

South Africa: 245 rhinos killed by poachers so far in 2012

According to the latest statistics released by South African National Parks (SANParks), South Africa has lost 245 rhinos to illegal poaching since the beginning of 2012.
Kruger National Park remains the hardest hit by poachers, having lost 147 rhinos since the beginning of this year. Limpopo has lost 34 rhinos to illegal poaching; KwaZulu-Natal has lost 25 and the North West 24 rhinos.
Of the 161 arrests made so far in 2012, 138 of the arrested were poachers, 10 were receivers or couriers, six couriers or buyers and seven were exporters.

Latest rhino poaching figures (as of 12 June 2012): 

• Kruger National Park (SANParks) - 147 rhinos poached
• Mapungubwe National Park (SANParks) - 3 rhinos poached
• Gauteng - 0 rhinos poached
• Limpopo - 34 rhinos poached
• Mpumalanga - 8 rhinos poached
• North-West Province - 24 rhinos poached
• Eastern Cape - 3 rhinos poached
• Free State - 0 rhinos poached
• KwaZulu Natal - 25 rhinos poached
• Western Cape - 1 rhinos poached
• Northern Cap - 0 rhinos poached