Africa Travel News & Opinion

New Dinosaur Found in South Africa – Time for Dinosaur Safaris?

November 12th, 2009 by admin

A new dinosaur species has been discovered in South Africa (well, new isn’t very accurate, it’s about 200 000 000 years old). I’m not a dinosaur person, and I won’t go in too much technical details about this discovery, but I will share my immediate thoughts.

They claim it is a missing link, though, by they I mean the media. Scientists don’t like to use that term, unless they’re looking for PR. But the scientists do say that it is an important discovery to further understand the transition from small-ish two-legged dinosaurs to massive four legged monsters like this guy:

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Latest on SA 2010: New (failed?) logo and hooligan jail trains

November 6th, 2009 by admin

So, it seems like South Africa is still brainstorming on how to make next summer’s World Cup a success. In some areas they come up with new and creative ides, while on other fields they have apparently been caught by a serious lack of imagination. I mean, long distance trains morfed into hooligan jails - I like it: good thinking. It sounds to me like a fair solution to a lack-of-prison-cells problem. Ideally, the train should be ready on it’s tracks to England where the hooligans are likely to come from in the first place (I apologize for my use of stereotypes).

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Cape Town the World’s New Favorite Travel Destination

October 21st, 2009 by admin

The Guardian, Observer and guardian.co.uk published the winners of their Travel Awards yesterday, and Cape Town is surging upwards. Leaping 5 steps closer to the top, Cape Town was voted 2nd Favorite Overseas City for British travelers, only beat by Sydney.

Personally I am not surprised, as I have written in earlier posts, Cape Town is my favorite travel destination city in the world. But for South Africa this is great news. They need as much good publicity as possible both to keep their tourism industry growing and to warm up for the next summer’s huge event, the FIFA World Cup. But luckily there is no lack of favorable publicity; South Africa seems to have been riding a wave of popularity and awards lately, and just the fact that they were chosen as host for the 2010 World Cup is a huge statement by itself!

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Shark Attacks on South Africa’s Garden Route

September 14th, 2009 by admin

79 Shark Attacks in South Africa

The number of shark attacks on the Garden Route, between Cape Town and Durban, was not surprisingly high enough to qualify for a third place on Lonely Planet’s list of the World’s worst shark infested beaches. I wont go in much detail here, but I thought the numbers were interesting enough to mention in a little post.

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CNN With Mixed Feelings about South Africa’s Tourist Activities

September 10th, 2009 by admin

It looks like we are not the only ones around with the African travel fever! CNN’s Jarett Bellini is traveling through South Africa right now, and he is sharing his experiences in several articles and videos published on CNN.com the past two days. So if you are considering a trip to South Africa, recently returned from one, or just can’t stop day dreaming about; you will most likely find his travel stories interesting.

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Will South Africa be Ready for the World Cup in 2010?

September 1st, 2009 by admin

The People are Ready for the Soccer World Cup!

If you are running a business in South Africa, be it a taxi company, a restaurant, a hotel, a grocery store or a tattoo parlor, I feel comfortable assuming that you have spent the past two years thinking about how you can prepare for the World Cup and how you can use the massive influx of tourists to expand your business. I am also very confident that all other private businesses in South Africa will be overly ready to cater their new wave of customer that hopefully will come storming in by the beginning of June 2010. They will have hired extra staff, stocked up on whatever they supply and be eager to make some money.

The more interesting question is how well the organization and government run part of this event will be prepared? (Oh, by the way, if my talk of the private sector vs the government makes you believe that I am a conservative pro-market anti-government economist, I am happy to inform you that I gave a false impression).

Will South-Africa be ready for the World Cup when it starts in June 2010? How far have they come? Do we even have any reason to worry?

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Zimbabwe Replaced Zim Dollar with USD & ZAR – Start of the Recovery?

August 18th, 2009 by admin

Zimbabwe has recently replaced it’s disastrous own Zim Dollar with the more stable (massive understatement) American Dollar and South-African Rand. The reason is, as you all know, the apparently infinite inflation that has driven the local currency into a deep hellhole. So the question is if this change is going to help Zimbabwe become the bread basket of Africa as they once could call themselves? And as a traveler, there are other interesting questions popping up as well: Will this make it easier to travel in Zimbabwe? Will the money you spend in Zimbabwe benefit the people or the corrupt government? How can you make sure your spending helps Zimbabwe get back on track?

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Two Norwegian Travelers Accused for Killing their Driver in the DR Congo

August 4th, 2009 by admin

UPDATE:

This blog post was written a month ago, just after the incident had happened and before the (corrupt) court had begun. I admit that I am very harsh in this post, but it is a reflection of my own opinions at that point in time. As I clearly state several times, this is my personal thoughts and not necessarily the truth. The two Norwegians have changed their story a few times since I wrote this post, so the chain of events that I describe might not match their current story.

I do not consider the court as valid, it was not fair and in a legal sense I still see the two Norwegians as NOT GUILTY. However, my personal opinion is that there are way more factors indicating that the Norwegians committed the murder, than any other explanation.

CNN posted this article on their front page today: Norwegians Sentenced to Death in Congo

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The Origin of Malaria is Found! – But Will it Bring us Closer to Vaccines?

August 3rd, 2009 by admin

CNN is today writing that Researchers say they found malaria’s origin; In chimps. Malaria has been a mass murderer in Africa for thousands of years, with 500 million infected, and between 1 million and 3 million deaths annually! This makes it one of the world’s most deadly diseases, only comparable to HIV / AIDS. And as with HIV, Africa is the most exposed continent. This is a tragedy every day for the people who live in Africa. Malaria is especially bad because a large share of it’s victims are young children. So what does this new discovery change?

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Vuvuzelas: WOW! What stunning photos!! Have added this page to my favourites!
cape town accommodation: Cape Town is nice ,amazing place for making fun and staying for a month ,you can enjoy alot...
Jeremiah: Wow! Stunning pictures! Love the rocky backdrop. Always been a fan of large expanses of blue! It’s...
Odry34Ep: Lots of students get know some keys of good term paper creating, but it doesn’t mean they are able...
Afia Aimee: Anytime I read a travel piece I am ready to book a ticket. I’m such a sucker for any cultural...

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Africa Travel News & Opinion

New Dinosaur Found in South Africa – Time for Dinosaur Safaris?

Latest on SA 2010: New (failed?) logo and hooligan jail trains

Cape Town the World’s New Favorite Travel Destination

Shark Attacks on South Africa’s Garden Route

CNN With Mixed Feelings about South Africa’s Tourist Activities

Will South Africa be Ready for the World Cup in 2010?

Zimbabwe Replaced Zim Dollar with USD & ZAR – Start of the Recovery?

Two Norwegian Travelers Accused for Killing their Driver in the DR Congo

The Origin of Malaria is Found! – But Will it Bring us Closer to Vaccines?