Tag Archives: Robben Island Museum

WhaleTales Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines: 24 April

WhaleTalesTourism, Food, and Wine news headlines

*   Joan Armatrading will be hosting a concert at the Cape Town International Convention Centre on 3 July.

*   Backsberg has won The Drinks Business Amorim Sustainability Award for Wine, being recognised for being an environmentally sensitive and ethical bio-dynamic winery, which is carbon neutral. It was also praised for its innovative energy use.  Owner Michael Back received the Lifetime Achievement Award, for creating the first carbon-neutral winery in our country, and for championing green Continue reading →

Robben Island problems unlikely to be fixed in a hurry, bad for tourism!

Robben Island Museum logoSouthern African Tourism Update published a letter about the poor state of Robben Island and the tour experience for visitors to our city from Cape Town tour operator Francoise Armour of Tours du Cap late last year. More than 30 comments were received in response to the letter, most echoing her sentiments.  It has taken a month for Sibongiseni Mkhize, the CEO of Robben Island Museum (RIM), to respond.

His reply below reflects some willingness to hear and accept the negative feedback, but also finding excuses as to why the problems exist, by highlighting what has been improved (no more funds mismanagement or staff strikes) and blaming most of the problems on the ferries used to get one to the island, rather than focus on the island and the former prison experience.  He acknowledges that his operation may have been poor at communicating with the tourism industry to date!  He is particularly defensive about the state of the island, saying that it has improved considerably since Robben Island Museum took over its maintenance from the Department of Public Works. Hilarious is his reference to the ferry breakdowns not being due to mechanical reasons only, but also due to ‘sabotage’, without explaining this outrageous allegation!

Reading his reply does not give the tourism industry the confidence that anything will change on Robben Island in a great hurry.  Robben Island is a top tourism icon (or should be), but increasingly tour operators cut out the island from their tour itineraries due to its poor tourism impression.

‘I would like to sincerely apologise for the delay in responding to the letter from the tour operator who had a bad experience while on a visit to Robben Island. Her concerns, observations and comments are being taken seriously by the management of the museum. It is through comments like these that the museum will be able to improve its customer service. I have also taken Continue reading →

WhaleTales Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines: 6 August

WhaleTalesTourism, Food, and Wine news headlines

*   The Brass Bell in Kalk Bay has to remove all its deck extensions, the City of Cape Town has dictated.

*   Vida e Caffe is said to be opening at Shell forecourts, rolling out with 40 outlets initially, and a total of 300 is planned!

*   Russia is now South Africa’s third largest export market, especially in bulk wines.

*   The Hermanus Wine & Food Festival will be held at the outskirts of the town this weekend, on Friday and Saturday.

*   Bistro Sixteen82 is focusing on South Africa in its Tapas themed dinners in August,Bistro Sixteen82 Bunny Chow !cid_image002_jpg@01CE91D0 with its ‘Bringing Tapas Home’ theme being traditional South African dishes with a contemporary twist. The ten local dishes include Bobotie, Bunny Chow, Malva Pudding, and Koeksisters.  So far the Tapas themes have been Italy and Turkey, and Mexico and the Orient will follow. (via media release from Communication Services Africa)

*   The Robertson Wine on the River festival takes place for the eighth consecutive year, over the weekend of Continue reading →

Yacoob Yachts Sweet Service and Robben Island Sour Service Awards!

The Sweet Service Award goes to Yacoob Yachts for their excellent service in allowing our family group to charter Tigresse, a superb catamaran, to scatter the ashes of our late father last Sunday.  We were allowed sole use of the yacht for an hour, and they motored to a spot opposite the Winchester Mansions in Sea Point, which was our first home (an apartment block then) when we arrived in Cape Town from Germany.  From here we could honour our father, to perfect weather, and accompanied by dolphins for a part of the trip. The yacht which we had originally booked had mechanical problems, so the charter company offered us the much larger and more luxury Tigresse at no extra charge.

The Sour Service Award goes to the Robben Island Museum (for the third time), for having two of its three ferries out of operation yet again, the Dias having stopped operation as long ago as January, while the Sikhululekile has not operated for six weeks, the Cape Times reported last week!  The company is using local boat suppliers, dependent on ticket sales. Robben Island is regularly in the news for the breakdown of its vessels, for its staff problems, and for its mismanagement of this World Heritage site!

The WhaleTales Sweet & Sour Service Awards are presented every Friday on the WhaleTales blog.  Nominations for the Sweet and Sour Service Awards can be sent to Chris von Ulmenstein at whalecot@iafrica.com.   Past winners of the Sweet and Sour Service Awards can be read on the Friday posts of this blog, and in the WhaleTales newsletters on the www.whalecottage.com website.