#SouthAfrica #LalaDeneLodge #Bloemfontein #FreeState #LochLoganWaterfront #MimosaMall #ЛалаДенеЛодж #ЮжнаяАфрика
Lala Dene Lodge Bloemfontein
Whether you are looking for a convenient base for your hassle-free business trip, or a relaxing retreat for that hard-earned break, we’d love to have you stay with us at the Lala Dene Lodge Bloemfontein, South Africa.
Lala Dene Lodge is just few minutes’ drive from the Loch Logan Waterfront, Mimosa Mall, MediClinic, Preller shopping center, fine dining and a nightlife in 2nd Avenue.
The 15 rooms lodge is 100% smoke free and features en-suite rooms with TV (Guest House Bouquet), microwaves, bar refrigerators, coffee and tea facilities, comfortable bedding, electric blankets for warm nights and free wireless Internet.
#Namibia #ShipwreckLodge #SkeletonCoast #ШипрекЛодж #БерегСкелетов #Намибия #Africa #Swakopmund
Shipwreck Lodge - Skeleton Coast, Namibia's West Coast
Uniquely designed around the relics of shipwrecks that litter Namibia’s Skeleton Coast, there’s nowhere on the continent quite like Shipwreck Lodge. In fact, there’s nowhere on earth quite like the Skeleton Coast in Namibia. It’s a raw, rugged and impossibly remote corner of pristine African wilderness, where towering dunes and wind-swept plains roll as far as the eye can see, buffeted by the icy and rough Atlantic Ocean north of Swakopmund.
But there is much more to the area than simple isolation. Stay at Shipwreck Lodge and track desert-dwelling elephant and elusive desert lion. Discover the enchanting desert flora (succulents and lichens) then sit atop the dunes as the sun sinks below the horizon.
Spend the day beach hunting for whale bones and debris from centuries of shipwrecks or marvel at the geologically remarkable Clay Castles.
Shipwreck Lodge is a joint venture partnership between Namibian businesses, local communities and Natural Selection company.
Location of Shipwreck Lodge
Shipwreck Lodge is the only lodge inside the Skeleton Coast National Park, around 50 km north of Mowe Bay in the mouth of Hoarusib River.
Facilities at Shipwreck Lodge
This brand new establishment boasts an uniquely designed lounge and restaurant with a wide deck and unobstructed views all the way to the Atlantic Ocean.
How to reach Shipwreck Lodge
There are direct flights to Windhoek from Cape Town, Johannesburg, Frankfurt (Air Namibia), Amsterdam, Addis-Ababa and Doha (Qatar Airways). Fly to Windhoek and
then switch to a light aircraft and fly to Mowe Bay. Alternatively be guided by one of local expert guides in air-conditioned 4WD vehicles from Windhoek or Hoanib Valley Camp.
Self drivers can make their way to Mowe Bay and from there be transferred into camp.
Best time to visit Shipwreck Lodge
OPENING: 1 JUNE 2018
Shipwreck Lodge is open all year round.
Peak season at Shipwreck Lodge
01 August – 15 November 2018
20 December – 06 January 2019
Low season at Shipwreck Lodge
16 November – 19 January 2018
07 January – 30 June 2019
Dining at Shipwreck Lodge
Good, wholesome meals created by lodge's wonderful chefs. Let staff know about any dietary requirements prior to your arrival.
Accommodation at Shipwreck Lodge
10 cabins (8 twins and 2 family tents) are en-suite and solar-powered all with views of the wild Atlantic Ocean. To keep guests warm on the cold coastal nights each tent has a wood burning stove.
Fully inclusive accommodation basis at Shipwreck Lodge
All meals, local drinks, activities and road transfers from Mowe Bay. Premium beverages, discretionary tips/gratuities, flights, items of a personal nature and travel insurance are excluded.
Activities at Shipwreck Lodge
• Game drives within the northern part of Skeleton Coast National Park.
• Sundowner drives to sand dune fields.
• 4×4 excursions to the Clay Castles, the Hoanib River Delta and along Atlantic Ocean coast.
• Hoarusib River drive tracking desert-adapted elephants.
• Excursions to the Suiderkus and Karimona shipwrecks.
Children at Shipwreck Lodge
• Children 6 years and older are welcome at Shipwreck Lodge.
#MountEtjo #RhinoLevy #Namibia #Oelofse #RhinoTrust #Africa #МаунтИчьоЛодж #Намибия
Mount Etjo Rhino Levy
The Mount Etjo Lodge has introduced a new Rhino Levy where they hope to generate awareness of their rhino trust fund, the item listed separately on the guest invoice. The levies will be used for financing the protection of the white and black rhinos roaming the area freely and under constant surveillance by helicopter, CCTV cameras and armed guards on the ground.
Several rhino orphans from across the country are raised at the Mount Etjo Rhino orphanage and released back into the wild. Namibia is at war with rhino horn poachers and Mount Etjo Safari Lodge remains one of the few places of refuge for these animals.
#Brandberg #NationalHeritageSite #Namibia #WhiteLady #Africa #БрандбергНамибия
Brandberg National Heritage Site
Please note that the National Heritage Council of Namibia has informed that no tours will be conducted at the Brandberg Heritage Site (White Lady Hike) until further notice due to the reported cases of lions in the area.
All services at the site are therefore put on hold until the institution finds a win-win solution.
We will keep you informed of any developments of the situation at the site.
Sense of Africa
It is with great sadness and a heavy heart that we inform you of the passing of our friend and the MD of Sense of Africa East Africa, Mr. Martin Cook. Martin was taken ill at the beginning of the year and was subsequently diagnosed with cancer. He traveled to Vietnam for treatment in April, but after a short but hard-fought battle, he passed away on Monday, 25th June 2018. His funeral was held in Vietnam on Wednesday, 27th June.
Martin was appointed to drive and oversee the Tourvest turn-around strategy for the tour operating division in East Africa. Last year, Martin indicated how proud he was of what had been achieved, having driven the rebranding of all three regions businesses to Sense of Africa and having turned the corner from loss maker to a valuable contributor. Under his leadership Sense of Africa became one of the leading DMCs in the region. In his words, this was one of his best achievements, in essence ending his career on a high note.
Martin was a friend to many and a strong leader who was an invaluable colleague, team player, mentor and partner and his presence will be sorely missed.
May his soul rest in peace.
#Dronesberg #Namibia #OngumaGameReserve #ОнгумаНамибия #EtoshaNamibia #EtoshaAoba #Africa
Onguma Game Reserve
Onguma Game Reserve consists of 34 000 hectares on the Eastern Border of the Etosha National Park. The Reserve boasts 5 stunning lodges and offers not only guided game drive activities into the Etosha National Park but also guided walks and sunset drives on the private Onguma Reserve.
Accommodation consists of:
° Two Camping sites for those who really want to get close to nature.
° Bush Camp for the modest traveller, with bungalows and rooms, perfect for the family.
° Tented Camp for the more exclusive safari experience, in exquisitely styled tent.
° Tree Top Camp for an intimate, rustic wildlife experience.
° The Fort for breathtaking sunsets over Etosha Pan and iconic luxury.
° Etosha Aoba for a traditional Colonial bush lodge experience.
Olaf’s Guest House in Cape Town
Olaf’s Guest House is a charming 9 en-suite bedroom bed & breakfast accommodation ideally located in Sea Point, Cape Town. Olaf’s Guest House is only 10 minutes from Cape Town city centre, including the trendy Long- and Kloof Street with its restaurants and cafes, the V&A Waterfront, Camps Bay, and the famous Table Mountain.
Olaf's Guest House welcomes you to a sanctuary from the bustling metropolis of Cape Town. When you stay with us, you’ll find all the comforts of home and an attention to detail surpassed only by our personal service.
Located just outside our front door, you’ll find fabulous shopping, breathtaking beaches, pubs, coffee shops, and the Promenade, a popular spot to walk along the water and take in the view.
To all our dear friends, hello from Barry and Mina at Jambo Guest House.
This past spring, in our own garden, our Clivias, the Wisteria over the front fence, the Port Wine Magnolia with its tantalizing scent and the Petrea over the front gable, all burst forth in bloom to herald the arrival of spring and to cheer us up just when we needed it most. In May Barry had a double knee replacement operation and now has two new knees. Although it is supposed to take a year to recover, Barry is up and (almost) running already and you would probably not notice that he has new knees.
Needless to say, we didn’t take a holiday this year but instead, we took short breaks and re-discovered our own beautiful part of the World. The weather was great even though it was winter, but sadly we do need the rain.
Due to the dry winters, some of you may have heard that Cape Town is experiencing a severe water shortage and it has become staple dinner-table and radio talk show conversation. At Jambo, Barry has installed rainwater collection tanks, water filters and booster pumps and reduced flow rates so we don’t anticipate any further water shortage problems at the guest house.
As if we didn’t already know and it is what we have always known - Cape Town has for the 5th time been voted the best city in the World by the readers of The Telegraph in Britain. According to the 90 000 readers who voted in the annual Telegraph Travel Awards, Cape Town was the number one city beating cities like Vancouver and Tokyo.
According to the newspaper's website, Cape Town gained the title for its coastal location, overshadowed by Table Mountain, great wine and Boulders Beach where African penguins roam freely.
Also, only last month, Cape Town was of the 19 cities which joined a list of 180 which have been recognised for their contributions to the development of art and design.
Sir Ranulph Fiennes, OBE, the famous explorer, who spent the first 12 years of his life growing up near Cape Town says that it is the most beautiful country in the world and all our guests agree.
Jambo is truly very centrally situated, close to many of Cape Town’s "must see" sights and beaches.
According to the UK Post Office Travel Money’s annual Long-Haul Holiday Report, the city of Cape Town has topped the list of best value for your money destinations. Conducted by comparing the cost of 10 tourist items — including coffee, cocktails and dinner — in 34 cities and resorts around the world, Cape Town came out on top.
South Africa was also recently awarded the Star All-Round Destination accolade in the Travel Bulletin Star Awards, the UK’s most prestigious awards program, held at the Langham Hotel in London.
The awards were voted for by UK travel agents.
The country was also recognised in several categories of the Conde Nast Traveler Readers’ Travel Awards 2017, held earlier this year in London. Readers were asked to rate their favourite countries, cities, islands, hotels, spas, airlines and tour operators.
It is now easier than ever to get here with Austrian Airlines, Lufthansa, Edelweiss and Eurowings adding or increasing frequency of flights to Cape Town. Eurowings, a low-cost carrier that is part of the Lufthansa Group, launched flights between Cologne and Cape Town in November this year.
So, if a holiday in our ‘Mother City’ may not have been on the cards, perhaps you should think again: -
There is a very favourable exchange rate, so your Pounds, Dollars and Euros will go very far.
We have some of the best wines in the world and have been producing them since 1659 which is when the first grapes were pressed in Constantia and today we are listed 9th in the World in terms of production. There are more than 200 wineries within half an hour drive from Jambo Guest House. If you are driving yourselves we will show you a route for a whole day’s tour visiting our favourite wineries in Stellenbosch, Paarl and Franschhoek. Alternatively, we can book you on a tour with experienced guides.
Surfers can find some of the best waves to ride from the monster break at” Dungeons” near Hout Bay, which can be 15 metres high (though only in winter) to a gentle wave in Muizenberg where beginners can learn to surf.
Our guests can enjoy anything from snorkelling with hundreds of Cape Fur Seals off Duiker
Island to sea kayaking near the African penguin colony at Boulders Beach. In the winter months, you can sea kayak with Southern Right Whales in Hermanus which is a nice days outing.
Coffee snobs - visit Truth Coffee in town, voted the best by the UK’s Daily Telegraph for the second year running. We prefer Giovanni’s just down the road!
For steak lovers, we have the best meat on the planet and many superb restaurants in which to enjoy it, from downtown eateries with panoramic views of the city and Table Mountain to the two oceans at Cape Point with views over both Atlantic and Indian oceans.
Cape Town is famous for having fresh fish and seafood at our restaurants and of course, we have many superb restaurants close by. We will recommend some of the best ones and help you with directions.
The Waterfront has been busy this year hosting not one but two ocean races. The Clipper Round the World Yacht Race, a sailing race around the world in 8 legs, with trained amateur crew members, made a stopover here in Cape Town. The organisers own a fleet of identical yachts, the Clipper 70, and provide qualified skippers to lead each team. The crew can either sign up for the whole race, or one or more legs. The race was conceived in 1995 by Sir Robin Knox Johnson who founded Clipper Ventures plc as a company to run the race. The race ran every two years between 1996 and 2002, and then skipped a year, with subsequent races beginning in 2005, 2007, 2009, 2013, 2015 and 2017
The Clipper Race uses lighter, faster boats and the route follows the prevailing currents and winds. The current fleet of yachts is 12 Clipper 70 yachts first used in the 2013-14 race. The race has used two other previous classes of yacht comprising 8 Clipper 60s and 10 Clipper 68s. The inaugural race did not feature sponsor's branding. In 2000, The Times newspaper came on board as title sponsor with some yachts being sponsored by international cities. The last race, held in 2015-16 had yachts sponsored by international cities as well as yachts sponsored by varying organisations.
After that, we had a stopover of the Volvo Ocean Race, the 13th edition which started in Alicante, Spain and will finish in the Netherlands.
Interestingly this year, because of the water shortage in Cape Town, Blue Water, a Swedish water purification company teamed up with CONSOL Glass and provided 15000 litres of drinking water in glass bottles instead of single-use plastic bottles thus saving our precious water and also not polluting the oceans with plastic. The world's premier offshore race is an exceptional test of sailing prowess and human endeavour, which started over 37 years ago as the Whitbread Round the World Race. The Volvo Ocean Race crews experience life at the extreme as they race day and night for more than 20 days at a time….
We have written in previous years about the World land speed record - the SSC Bloodhound and the attempt to reach 1000mph. This year there were successful test runs at 200mph at Newquay airport in Cornwall, the UK. During October next year, the Bloodhound will be here in South Africa. The plan is to test run at 500mph on the specially created track at Haksteen Pan in the Northern Cape. This will be the first chance to use the car’s desert wheels and braking parachutes and gain an insight into the aerodynamic performance and handling… Will we see you there?
On the art scene, the big news here is the opening of the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary African Art in the Waterfront, just a 15-minute walk from Jambo. It is situated in converted grain silos, built in 1921 and consisting of 42 giant concrete tubes which originally stored tons of grain before being shipped around the world.
Some of the concrete tubes have been carved away to reveal an oval atrium surrounded by concrete shafts overhead, while the entire space is illuminated by natural light streaming through a glass ceiling. Inside the bisected tubes, cylindrical lifts have been installed to transport visitors to the upper floors. From the outside, large bulging pillowed windows — resembling diamond-shaped sails — are the building’s most noticeable feature, offering sweeping views of the city below for clients of the Silo Hotel.
When it is completed the Zeitz MOCAA will have 80 galleries spread over nine floors of which 65,000 square feet will be dedicated exhibition space. Through an entire floor dedicated to education, the museum hopes to develop a new art-loving, museum-going audience.
It is a great time to visit SA again.
§ A pound is worth R16.72 today,
§ A Euro is worth R14.80 today,
§ A US Dollar is worth R12.45 today,
§ and that means a South African trip is better value for money than ever before.
In closing, we hope you had a wonderful festive season and we wish you a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous 2018.
HOW WILL THE CAPE TOWN WATER SHORTAGE AFFECT YOUR CLIENTS?
Cape Town is without a doubt one of the most exceptional cities on earth, constantly topping the charts as a must-visit destination for tourists, enhanced by breath-taking scenery and a significant offering of experiences.
As beautiful as it is, the Western Cape is a water-scarce part of the world (much like Southern California and Western Australia), and is vulnerable to the effects of climate change and periodic droughts. You may already be aware our region is currently experiencing a significant drought.
Despite this, Cape Town is open for business and is proactively countering the effects of the drought. The City has implemented a number of initiatives to increase the water supply and make provision for water shortages in collaboration with the community who are actively playing their part to save every drop.
SO WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR VISITORS?
° The specific hotels that we book our clients into have modified how they utilise water to reduce their consumption - giving guests peace of mind that every drop is being used responsibly – whilst not compromising on their comfort.
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° Clients will still have access to safe drinking water.
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° At present, clients will be able to shower and maintain daily hygiene. Mandated guidelines suggest a shower of no longer than 2 minutes, and the use of baths is discouraged. Some swimming pools have been converted to use salt (ocean) water.
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° Restaurants and bars will still be in operation and are currently not negatively influenced but must still comply with water restrictions.
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° In the event of what the City of Cape Town refers to as ‘Day Zero’, there will be available water for tourists and locals’ critical needs. This is considered to be water for personal hygiene and consumption. ‘Day Zero’ is a projected date, in approximately two month’s time, that is entirely dependent on current rates of water consumption. If all stakeholders adhere to the required water savings target, ‘Day Zero’ can be avoided.
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° The Cape Town CBD, where the specific hotels in which we book our clients into are based, have been spared from this potential ‘Day Zero water shutdown’. There will be water available as normal in this area.
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° All critical emergency services (hospitals, clinics, police services) will continue to function in the event of ‘Day Zero’.
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° Tourists will still be able to access and enjoy primary tourism attractions such as our iconic Table Mountain, Cape Point and Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens. However, specific river-based experiences may be impacted.
Although clients will be made aware of this on arrival in Cape Town, it will not negatively affect their experience or their tour. Much like a local, tourists are encouraged to treat this scarce resource with the utmost respect. By adhering to these water-wise practices they can enjoy the best the area has to offer, whilst not placing any undue strain on the water supply.
#OtjiwaLodgeNamibia #ОчиваЛоджНамибия #Africa #Otjiwarongo #EtoshaPark #Dronesberg #OtjiwasEaglesRest
News from Otjiwa Lodge Namibia
Schalk and Marquerite Muller have taken over the Management of Otjiwa Lodge's Eagles Rest and The Nest as of February 2018. The energetic, Muller couple are happy to welcome our mutual guest with excellence to uphold Otjiwa's unique safari experience and maintain its value as a place of beauty.
The Mountain Lodge remain under the management of Maureen & Piet Laubscher. Otjwa Lodge accommodation layout is as Follows:
Otjiwa's Mountain Lodge
° Five Exclusive Mountain Lodge Chalets - each boasting secluded privacy, twin beds, air-conditioning and mini-bar. Indigenous African flair combines a hint of rustic luxury with amazing panoramic views. Guests share a nearby lounge, bar, dining area and an amazing hilltop infinity swimming pool.
Otjiwa's Eagles Rest
Eagle’s Rest is a resort in itself, with spacious lounge and TV, stylish dining-room, bar, shaded outdoor lounge, beautiful swimming pool and a large boma (seating and open-fireplace), all set in an extensive, well-tended garden.
° Seventeen Elegant Deluxe Rooms situated nearby reception complex. Stylish luxury includes en-suite bathroom, air-conditioning, TV and mini-bar, and private verandah with uninterrupted views of the bushveld and panoramic sunsets.
° Seven Chalets (Self-Catering) in a village green setting just short distance from the Reception complex. Each Chalet has an open-plan kitchen, large shower-room with WC and washbasin, two bedrooms, and a lounge with sofa-bed - to accommodate a maximum of six people. A private verandah offers panoramic views of the bushveld and African sunsets together with the option of cooking on an open fire.
° Ten Campsites with easy access (4x4 not required). Clean river sand, shaded under acacia trees, modern facilities, ablution blocks, hot and cold water and braai areas, but no electricity - to ensure a more authentic African adventure. Three campsites are large, seven are smaller and more private.
The Nest
A large, isolated modern House surrounded by bush, and featuring an illuminated water-hole which attracts game passing by at night -sometimes even a thirsty rhino! The house has five bedrooms which can sleep 6 to 16 people and has an open-plan kitchen, a comfortable braai (barbecue) area and swimming pool - suitable for a large group or a family.
