Tourism figures – two very different reports. Figures for business tourism good  http://www.whalecottage.com/blog/cape-town/sa-business-tourism-is-booming/  but those for leisure tourism gloomy. http://www.fm.co.za/Article.aspx?id=166928

Gerald Garner who wrote Spaces and Places Johannesburg as well as Johannesburg 10Ahead, has recently started walking tour of Jozi’s inner city.  On 28th Jan a tour will leave from Mary Fitzgerald Square at 9 am. Billed to see the public art in Newtown, Turbine Hall, Chancellor House, the Anglo American campus, the Ashanti Hotel and [...]

Southern Sun recently bought The Grace hotel  in Rosebank  for R85m.  They are planning to do major refurbishments to the 73 room hotel and turning it into a boutique hotel targeting corporates, but with an intimate feel.  Southern Sun managing director Graham Wood said it will be Southern Sun’s first “boutique deluxe” in Johannesburg. This will be [...]

Ghandi’s philosphy of Satyagraha (non-violent non-cooperation) was born in South Africa and more specifically in what was then the Transvaal, in the first decade of the 20th Century.  Ghandi arrived in Johannebsurg in 1893 and stayed at various places during the 12 years he was in Johannesburg. For more on this see Eric Itzkin’s excellent book [...]

Another excellent review for Liz at Lancaster on Tripadvisor the influential international travel site. See http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g312578-d574068-Reviews-Liz_at_Lancaster_Guesthouse-Johannesburg_Johannesburg_Gauteng.html

5 star hotel accommodation is really suffering:
From the August 2011 Rosebank Review sent out by the Rosebank Management District 
African sun Hotels has decided to close the Grace hotel on 31 August 2011 due to the continued pressures of the global recession which have negatively affected the South African travel and tourism industry.   The hotel [...]

Liz at Lancaster received two great accolades at the AA Travel Guides American Express Awards on 8th May. The establishment was a finalist in the category Small Guesthouse with self-catering. Within this category received Highly Commended (ie came in the top 3).  Then Liz and her staff also received the prestigious award for ‘People who go [...]

 Rich flame orange sunsets, the deep roar of a lion at night, an elephant in the reeded river bed below the deck outside my tent, showering al fresco under the warm midday African sun, making out the constellation of Scorpio with the help of Brian’s laser beam (Brian was the chief ranger for our stay), [...]

Doodle 4 Google – “I love football”  Doodle for Google was a competition where young people  (4 to 17 year olds) from around the world were asked to design the Google logo in their very own style.  The public in 17 countries voted for their favorite local doodle which appeared on the Google homepage of [...]

The Huffington Post  Shari Cohen  International development worker in the public health sector Posted: June 15, 2010 11:35 AM South Africa Rolls Out the Ubuntu in Abundance
I went on a rant the other day regarding the cost of the 2010 World Cup versus all the critical needs South Africa is facing and whether or not the [...]