Hangberg | WhaleTales Blog by Chris von Ulmenstein

Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines

* The V&A Waterfront appears to be getting the go-ahead from the City of Cape Town for its new development in Granger Bay, which will include parking, residential accommodation, and a coastal walkway connecting it to Sea Point, reports People’s Post.

* Africa Travel Week, a triple travel and tourism exhibition, will be held in Cape Town from 28 April to 3 May, the first time a tourism exhibition will be held on such a large scale in Cape Town. International travel brand names such as TripAdvisor, Hilton Worldwide, Starwood, and Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group (with brands Radisson Blu, Park Inn by Radisson, and Hotel Missoni) will be present at the inaugural World Travel Market (WTM) Africa. Africa is regarded as the ‘next key region for international travel brands’, making the continent attractive to global airlines, hotel groups, and technology companies, WTM Africa Event Manager Polly Magraw said.

* Cape Town International is experiencing a shortage of jet fuel, Chevron has announced, saying it is working with Shell and other ‘colleagues’ to solve the problem, proudly stating that no flights were affected today. On Kfm news however a Cape Town International spokesperson said that two flights were delayed by an hour each today as a result of the fuel problem.

* A week ago the MyCiTi Bus introduced new routes (108 and 109) from Hout Bay, through Continue reading →

The MyCiTi Bus finally started operating on Saturday, about eighteen months behind schedule! Given that we want to inform our Whale Cottage Camps Bay guests about the service, my colleague and I went for a test drive of the Camps Bay – Civic Centre – V&A Waterfront Silo route yesterday.

The first step was to obtain our MyCiTi Bus cards, which one needs to load credit on to, for swiping when stepping on the bus. It was announced that one could obtain a free card (a saving of R25) from the Camps Bay Library, where an official from the City of Cape Town sold us R30-loaded cards, the only cards one can purchase at the library this week. These can only be bought for cash, and only one per person can be obtained, ID details being taken. The City representative was uncertain about the other places at which one can load more credit onto the card, saying that Kauai was to be a point to do so, but that its system was off-line yesterday. He thought Pick ‘n Pay Camps Bay would be another point, but he wasn’t sure. There does not appear to be any place to purchase cards once the City’s generous offer of free cards ends on Saturday. One would then have to go the Queen’s Beach station, or to the Civic Centre to buy cards there. Each card comes with a pin, which one can change at a station, and is required to load more credit. There was only one newspaper advertorial on the table, and no leaflets, saying he was waiting for more. When I asked for more information for the guest house, he gave me a pile of the newspaper copies from under the table!

We took the bus from the Whale Rock bus stop opposite Pick ‘n Pay Camps Bay just after 14h00, and we were delighted to see the name choice. The bus travelled alongside Victoria Road, up Argyle Road , into Geneva Drive, onto Camps Bay Drive, down Kloofnek Road (this seems to be a very dangerous stop, as we observed a tourist family getting on the bus, which had been to Table Mountain and must have crossed the very busy road without a pedestrian crossing to get the bus stop), connecting into Kloof Street (very long Continue reading →