Gold medal | WhaleTales Blog by Chris von Ulmenstein

Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines

* An International Institute for Peace through Tourism World Symposium will be held in Johannesburg from 16 – 19 February, in honour of the late Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi, and Martin Luther King. The symposium will ‘honour the legacies of the world’s three champions of peace and non-violence‘…’by building bridges of tourism, friendship and peace‘ between Africa, Asia, and North America in the main.

* The launch of FlySafair next week will have a temporary effect of lowering domestic airline prices. The new airline will offer a base price for the seat plus two pieces of hand luggage at 7 kg, extra charges being levied for meals, checked luggage, and pre-booked seats. The airline says that the fares offered are not just opening specials and are sustainable. Skywise and Fly Blue Crane are also waiting to take off, offering flights between Cape Town and Johannesburg. Mango does not expect a price war to develop after the launch of the new low-cost airlines.

* Tolene van der Merwe has been appointed as SA Tourism Country Manager for the UK, having previously Continue reading →

Last night’s episode 10 of ‘Hayden Quinn: South Africa‘ showed Hayden Quinn leaving South Africa, and visiting the beautiful Lesotho, ‘Kingdom in the Sky‘, southernmost land-locked country in Africa, and completely surrounded by South Africa. The content of the episode was motivated by the Katse Fish Farms, which grows trout in Lesotho, a supplier to Woolworths in a production process which is linked to the company’s sister operation Three-Streams Smokehouse in Franschhoek. Content-wise it was the thinnest episode, both in terms of little meaningful information provided, and even in terms of the few TV commercials flighted!

Hayden was seen on a horse in a traditional BaSotho outfit, with a blanket wrapped around him and wearing a BaSotho hat. It was explained to him that Lesotho is 3800 meters above sealevel, its lowest regions still being higher than South Africa, and therefore the locals keep warm by wrapping the blankets around them. About three-quarters of the country is rural.