It’s a tad confusing for locals - so can only imagine how confusing it is for visitors. But there are a few things common about the transport to the games in all the host centres:

* Most of the precincts around the stadiums are pedestrian-only zones - so only accredited and emergency vehicles will be allowed near them - no private cars at all!!
* park & ride facilities offer safe parking with shuttles to and from the stadium
* park & walk facilities offer safe parking with a 2km or less walk to the stadium

NB: Tickets for park & ride/walk facilities MUST be bought beforehand from www.ticketbreak.co.za and www.computicket.com - you won’t be able to get tickets at the facilities!!

* while they are trying to keep these down to a minimum, road closures or restricted access on certain roads will be in effect for the duration of the World Cup - on both match and non-match days
* fans are advised to leave plenty of time to get to the stadiums - especially for the opening game, semis and the final (some are suggesting that you allow four hours to get to the opening game!)

There are so many sites out there offering good info, but there are also quite a few where the info is NOT up-to-date. Scouting around, these are the best/easiest we’ve found:

JOHANNESBURG: 2 Stadiums - Soccer City and CocaCola Park (Ellis Park)

Getting in, out & around in Johannesburg - everything from Rea Vaya BRT to MetroRail to Gautrain to Minibuses to Rental Cars

Fan Parks, public viewing areas and township TVs

Top 10 tips for travellers
Good advice, road and safety tips

Getting to the games
All the info you need about road closures, park & rides, park & walks, transport hubs, Metrorail, Sandton Metrobus, Rea Vaya BRT, traffic maps and parking tickets

CAPE TOWN: Cape Town Stadium, Sea Point

Road closures

Getting around Cape Town by train, bus, taxi, car and by foot

Park & Ride

Airport Shuttle

Disabled shuttle service

DURBAN: Moses Mabhida Stadium, Foreshore

Getting around: park & ride, park & walk, rail services, airport shuttles, road closures and all you need to know

Also a very detailed transport plan, if somewhat complicated - with maps and signage, covering all aspects of transport and traffic management

Durban Overview

PRETORIA/TSHWANE: Loftus Versfeld Stadium

Travelling to & from Tshwane: distances, airport, shuttles, rail, coaches, metered taxis

Transport to Loftus Versfeld Stadium on match days: soccer trains, park & ride, park & walk, shuttles from Pretoria station

Transport Hub at Pretoria station: open 24/7 for duration of World Cup

Getting around in Tshwane: public & private transport options

BLOEMFONTEIN: Free State Stadium

Transport Overview

Airport-Stadium shuttle service, inner city transport, park & ride, park & walk, fan park and public viewing areas

NELSPRUIT: Mbombela Stadium

Transport Overview

Airport & stadium Match shuttles, inner city transport, park & ride, public viewing areas & road closures

POLOKWANE: Peter Mokaba Stadium

Transport Overview

Stadium/fan park shuttles, park & rides, rail, metrobus, fan park access and road closures.

RUSTENBURG: Royal Bafokeng Stadium

Transport Overview

Stadium shuttle services, event plans, park & ride services

PORT ELIZABETH: Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium

Transport Overview

Airport & stadium shuttles, park & ride, city wide services, fan parks with maps

The best mapping & direction site we’ve found so far is definitely google maps: try the local version maps.google.co.za

Click on the ‘Get Directions’ under the logo - you can also save these or email the links to a friend (or yourself). Next best thing to a GPS. And it’s always better on the ‘big screen’.

Hope it helps.

Of course, if you’re not lucky enough to have scored some tickets, the next best place to be is one of the Fan Fest Parks.

Enjoy!

From Saturday May 1 until Sunday October 31, there’s a bunch of stuff happening at the Cableway - with fun activities for the whole family.

For every full-paying adult at R160 (return trip only), 2 x U18 kids go free (normally R80 each so you save R160!).

Offer valid over weekends and public holidays - and both the July & September school holidays ie : from June 10 - July 12 & September 24 -October 3 2010.

Over the unusually long July holidays (courtesy of the 2010 FIFA™ World Cup), there’ll be a special programme for kids. This includes loads of fun activities like a Winter Treasure Trail (maps available from the ticket office), spot prizes, magic shows, face painting and craft activities. Children will be entertained and taken on guided walks by the Table Mountain Cableway characters - Ernie the Explorer, Dale the Dassie and the Yeti. There’ll also be story-telling of the Myths and Legends of Table Mountain.

They also have the chance to win their own Table Mountain Cableway beanie and scarf. (Entry forms on back of the Winter Treasure Trail map).

The Table Mountain Café is also joining in the holiday spirit & will be offering a delicious kiddies menu - at reasonable rates.

The Cableway operates all year round - weather permitting. For more info, visit Table Mountain website & also click through to their blog for the latest news. You can also call +27 (0)21 424 8181 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              +27 (0)21 424 8181      end_of_the_skype_highlighting.

Before you double, treble or even quadruple your normal rates for the upcoming 2010 FIFA ™ World Cup, please consider these few points:

* Germany didn’t inflate their prices hectically during the 2006 - especially for accommodation. Many of the visitors would just bus home again after matches so it was never really an issue. Besides, there was never a shortage of accommodation to begin with.

* Host nations experience a boom in tourism in the years immediately after they’ve hosted a FIFA ™ World Cup. This was especially true in Germany in 2007, although tourism slowed down in 2008 with the global economic crisis.

* South Africa - and Cape Town especially - is already perceived by some as ‘overpriced’. While we all know that South Africa is the most beautiful country in the world with the most exceptional, nicest people, potential visitors may easily be swayed by other destinations where they can get top accommodation and great scenery for far less than they’d pay here eg especially destinations like India & Asia. 5-star resorts cost around US$ 400 - 500 whereas a similar 5-star option in Cape Town costs about US$ 700 - 1100 - more than DOUBLE the price?! Surely, a room is a room is a room at that kind of level?

* South Africa is a ‘long haul’ destination - and the largest expense in getting here is the airfare. If people perceive it to be expensive on the ground too, we’re losing the battle!

* South Africans are known as some of the most hospitable people on Earth. Let’s nurture that - rather than become known as the most money-grabbing.

And lastly, please let us not lose sight of what the legacy of tourism can be like AFTER 2010.

The 2010 FIFA ™ World Cup is a once-off, amazing opportunity to give the rest of the world a taste for our rich and diverse smorgasbord of wildlife, scenery, culture, history, adrenalin and adventure.

Let’s do whatever we can to make sure that it makes them hunger for more! Not leave with a bad taste in their mouths …

Enjoy the top sundowner spot in Cape Town - at half the price.

The Aerial Cableway at Table Mountain is running its renowned Summer Sunset Special (until Sunday 28 February 2010).

For four months each year, locals and visitors to the Mother City can travel to the highest sundowner spot in Cape Town after 18h00 and pay just half the normal fare. Just R80 each. U18s pay just R40.

Even if you haven’t got much of a head for heights, there’s a thrill in getting to the top of this iconic Cape Town mountain - 1067 metres above sea level. And the cable cars rotate as you go up. If you’re a phobe, grab onto one of the inside poles and ask the operator if you can sit with them - they’re very helpful.

Once at the top, you can explore the top and enjoy all the various views of Cape Town and the peninsula. You’re bound to come across some inquisitive dassies too (Rock Hyrax) - small, brown fluffy things that are apparently kin to the largest land mammal, the elephant. You can also get up close and personal with some of the magnificent fynbos (flora) that the Cape is famous for.

The best is to bring a picnic, some good friends and a bottle of the Cape’s finest. (Sure helps with the descent if you’re nervous about the trip … or the ascent, too …)

If you’re feeling lazy, or just in the mood for a treat, there is a restarant at the summit - the Table Mountain Café. Enjoy absolutely amazing views of the sun setting over the Atlantic Ocean over dinner.

Need a momento? There’s also a gift shop to stock up on some South African souveniers … or just browse through

Sunset Special tickets can be bought from the Cableway’s Ticket Office from 18h00. The last car down is at 21h30.

There’s also a New Year’s Eve special - the last car up leaves at 22h00 and the last car down is at 01h00.

Please note: The Cableway operates only if weather permits.

For more info visit The Table Mountain Cableway or call (021) 424 8181.

With all the recent hype about Eskom requesting to increase electricity prices at around 45% a year for the next 3 years (supposedly to prevent a once-off increase of 146%!!!) emails, petitions and outrage have been heating up the airwaves.

Which is why I was pleasantly surprised to see that I’d been cc’d on the following email from a good friend who works for City Power in Johannesburg. He was answering the concerns of another mutual friend. The writer’s a dedicated, highly intelligent and thoughtful soul. I say he’s wasted working for the municipality. Evan (my husband) says we should be way thankful that he does.

With minimal editing (for length) & highlighting (my emphasis), I’d like to share it with you as it cuts through the rants and just makes good common sense, offering logical reasonings, ideas and solutions. And a whole lot of stuff we should all be DOING already …

Although this was written for the private house in mind - the principles can just as easily be applied to guest houses, lodges, hotels and so on.

Dear XXX,

Glad to see you’ve decided to take some action instead of the usual South African whinging - we still have the cheapest power in the world and have not realised its true value, nor the environmental benefits of reducing consumption in addition to controlling the electricity bill.

Don’t get me wrong - we are also not happy with Eskom’s suggested increases, but urgent action is required to reduce consumption through investments in energy efficiency, otherwise I predict that by this time next year, we may start to see load shedding, getting progressively worse over the following 3 years. The key is for everybody to invest in energy efficiency measures - not generators - that’s the wrong investment.

I thought most of us, with a fondness for the bush, would realize that to generate one kWh of electricity requires the combustion of almost a kilogram of coal and the evaporation of 1,2 litres of precious fresh water. When you realize that Eskom last year alone burnt more than 200 million tons of coal, which released about 260 million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, to generate electricity for our country you would have to be really thick to think that this is not having an effect on the atmosphere and the environment. After all, it only took Mother Nature about a billion years to trap all the prehistoric carbon dioxide into the ground as oil and coal and convert the atmosphere into the oxygen rich one so essential to life as we know it. In another short, 200 years we will have burnt it all and put a lot of the prehistoric CO2 back into the atmosphere. Ironically, we have all seen the strip-mining activities next to the Witbank highway on our way down to the lowveld game reserves - this does not look pretty - have we not made the connection between this and power generation?

The concepts in the power4home scheme you refer to are right, but the prices are exaggerated. Sure, you may pick up a photovoltaic panel for $100 in the States, but unfortunately not in SA just yet. Before you invest in these, rather go for a solar water heater system. We probably have the best sunshine in the world for this, but seem to ignore it completely. The energy yield and offset of your power bill will be much higher than with photovoltaics, even if you build them yourself, which is not as easy as they claim. Solar Water Heater prices are coming down too - a 300 litre system will set you back around R15k at the moment, but will pay for itself in less than 5 years if there are four hot water users in the house - and it’s yours - forever, and free as long as the sun shines.

Starting from zero cost to most expensive, do the following to minimise your electrical energy consumption:

Do this at No Cost:

Change the household’s energy-saving culture - if a room is empty, no lights should be on. If an appliance or computer or computer game or TV set is not currently being used, it must be switched off. This costs nothing, but you may have to keep up the pressure to sustain this ‘energy conscious’ behavior. What puzzles me is that we as South Africans seem to have lost this culture somewhere in the 70s and 80s. We had to make every cent count before then.

If you have a domestic worker, educate him/her about appliance usage. She can play a significant role in energy efficiency, which we often overlook. They are willing to learn too. Irons left on, half loaded washing machines, habitual use of only the hot water tap regardless of the water requirement, over-cooking food and using hot water to thaw frozen food are but a few of the bad energy habits of an uninformed domestic worker. Whatever energy they save can be used more productively by industry to grow the economy.

Get to know which appliances chomp power. The biggest is the geyser, followed by space heating or under-floor heating in winter (air conditioning in summer), followed by swimming pool pumps, then cooking, followed by fridges and deep freezes and lastly lighting. The most obvious is to reduce the time spent using these appliances.

Deliberately make less hot water by turning down your geyser thermostat. 55 to 60 degrees is sufficient. Plumbers (who don’t want call-backs) and housewives (who can never have enough hot water, especially if there are newborns in the house) always want them set to 70 degrees which is unnecessary and runs the risk of scalding unsuspecting people and small children especially. Also the less hot water is used, the less you will need to make - this is so obvious and yet people don’t realize it. Only pour out as much hot water as you need - again this is a culture thing, quite difficult to get people to change their habits without confronting them. You’ve got to be cruel to the humans to be kind to the environment.

In a similar vein, a leaking hot water tap - even just a drip - consumes a lot of energy and wastes water too. These are simple to fix.

Monitor use of space heaters in winter Most heaters - typically the oil-finned type - chew energy. They are left on when nobody is home, and the thermostats are usually set to maximum by default - again kids and skinny women are the culprits. Heaters should be used only to make a house comfortable - to keep warm, simply dress properly. (If it’s your lucky night - well, that’s a different story …)

Use a plug-in timer (R100) to automatically control when the heater is ‘allowed to be on’. This solves the problem of remembering to switch off when rushing to work in the morning.

Look for duplicate appliances and disconnect them. The least thought-about are fridges and deep freezes - many houses have two (of each). Usually the old one is relegated to the garage to keep a six pack of beers cool. What a waste. Old fridges consume way more than modern ones - often 3x more power. Get rid of them - preferably scrap them and don’t sell to the pawn shop - this just passes the problem on to a less affluent person and doesn’t reduce the total load which is what we do need to do.

Only use second geysers for guest rooms when guests are actually staying there. Switch them off otherwise. The trick is to plan things properly. It is a complete fallacy that this action will shorten the life of the element or use more energy to re-heat the water. I’m not convinced that switching off your operational geyser is really worth the hassle if there are more than three people in the household.

Reduce the running time of swimming pool heaters to the minimum required to keep the water clean. Apparently 3 to 5 hours a day should do.

The next lot of interventions will cost you money up front, but will actually pay for themselves in relatively short times:

Insulate at least the first 3 metres of hot water pipes leaving the geyser. If possible, insulate all the hot water pipes. If you go to the right supplier (Air-o-Thene in Langlaagte, Johannesburg) this will cost about R9 a metre for the ‘zip-lock’ pipe insulation which is easy to install. Don’t look for it at the usual hardware megastores, they’ve lost the plot, asking R35 per metre - #**s.

A geyser blanket, if properly installed, will pay for itself (R350) in a year or two, although the saving depends where the geyser is installed. Just think of a hot ceiling in summer, where the heat in the roof void is probably hotter than the water in the geyser - the blanket will stop the heat going into the geyser as well. It solves the problem for us as electricity suppliers in winter though, so we support it.

Replace all old incandescent (hot to touch) light bulbs with energy-saver Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFLs). Go through your house and count the number of light fittings you have. It is not uncommon to have more than 30 in an average middle class house. Costs about R500 to replace them all, one of the quickest payback interventions. Tip - write the date on the base with a koki pen when you install them - this way you may be able to return the odd faulty or early failure lamps at no cost. Caution though - for some stupid reason, it is difficult to find the warm-white variety for use inside the house, which have the more cosy look and feel of the old light bulbs. There seems to be a glut of Cool-white (very stark and to some extent unpleasant to the eye, but suitable for security lighting) lamps in our market - perhaps buyers are ignorant of middle income preferences. Also, buy the right base - count how many bayonet fittings vs edison screw type you have before you buy.

The popular downlighters are a problem though. For now, these are best left alone as the CFL or Light Emitting Diode energy efficient replacements are just too costly at the moment.

For outside security lights, get the day/night switched type (R200). You can also get an electrician to install a photocell (R700 - a bit of a rip-off)

Replace your conventional shower head with an aerating, low-flow shower head

(R300 for a good quality one). This feels the same as a regular shower head but uses much less hot water. Good energy and water savings. Avoid the drip type (smaller holes without aerating system) - this will make you unpopular in the household.

Install a gas cooking hob (not oven - electric ovens are still more energy-efficient) which is better than electric. A 2-plate hob will cost about R1400, but you will need a registered gas fitter to install - about another R1500 minimum. An added attraction of this appliance is that you will still be able to cook in the event of future load-shedding.

Install the think pink ceiling insulation (R6000 for the average house). Benefits in winter and summer.

Finally - again - install a solar water heating system (R15 000).

Hope this helps - please pass on to anyone you know.

Paul

Will do, Paul, will do!

In the South African Earthwave challenge held at Muizenberg beach yesterday, more then 100 surfers road one wave at the same time at the Earthwave Festival - which breaks the previous record of 100 set by Earthwave Brazil last year.

103 surfers break the Earthwave Guinness World Record at Muizenberg Beach, Cape Town: photo Lee Slabber

“We estimated that there were more than 120 surfers on the fifth of the seven waves surfed at Muizenberg during Earthwave,’ said Paul Botha of Kahuna Promotions, the founders of the South African Earthwave, an event that uses this world record attempt each year to promote awareness of climate change and a better, more sustainable lifestyle for all.

The downer is that there’s only photographic evidence to show 103 surfers on the same wave. But it’s still enough to top the Brazilian’s record. Pics and videos have to be sent through to the Guinness World Record organisation in London to have the record ratified.

In a pearler of a Cape Town day, with sunny skies, a light offshore breeze and tame 0.5 to one metre waves, 443 surfers of various ages registered for the Earthwave attempt. Herds of spectators and well-wishers stood at the shore, cheering them on.

Visitors and surfers were also treated to talks about climate change, beach clean-ups, fund raisers, prizes and giveaways.

Metrorail also came to the party and helped to reduce carbon footprints and traffic congestion by allowing anyone with a surfboard to travel free on the train to and from Muizenberg on the day. Other visitors could get a 2-for-the-price-of-1 deal on the journey.

Recycling was also a big awareness issue with specially marked bins for sorting and collecting any of the day’s refuse. Another paper-saving idea is to send digital certificates to all participants (instead of traditional paper printed ones).

Other projects and programmes promoted by Earthwave Festival were the Shark Spotters programme, the Save Our Seas Foundation, National Bandana day on 14 October for the Sunflower Fund and Cape Town Tourism’s ‘Live it, Love it, LOUDER!’ campaign for the city hosting the FIFA World Cup next year.

To round off the day, an after-party was held at one of Cape Town’s favourite restaurant/bars - the Brass Bell at Kalk Bay Harbour. (Conveniently close to the station so party goers could spill back on to the train homeward bound!)

To find out more about Earthwave, its aims and objectives, visit Kahuna surf/Earthwave and on Wavescape.co.za, the event’s official digital media partner.

There’s a bunch of adrenalin junkies heading off to the golden sands of Johannesburg’s mine dumps for a whole lot of thrills. It’s one of Jo’burg’s hottest activities right now - and apparently the conditions couldn’t be better.

Whether you know it as Jo’burg, Jozi or Joeys, Johannesburg is southern Africa’s largest city - and it’s a good 6 hours away from the ocean … and probably just as far to the nearest snow-skiing slopes (near the Lesotho border)- but what it does have in spades is old, disused mine dumps, which are proving to be ace for this new sport.

“There’s no other place like that in the world that runs like this sand does, because it’s so fine,” said Phil du Plessis, a web programmer and instructor for Pure Rush Industries, which organises weekend sandboarding.

“The sand has been treated, refined. It’s less grainy here - it’s like baby powder.”

Go to the dunes of the Eastern Cape … or Swakopmund in Namibia - and you’ll find the sand way coarser and you’ll need to wax your board.

The sand from these former gold mines is fine because it comes from rocks that have been ground to dust to squeeze out every grain of the precious metal. And the fine, powdery texture lets sandboarders speed downhill faster than on sandy beach-type sands.

Looking for a new kind of thrill? Get hold of the guys at Pure Rush - they’re fully trained, registered & qualified and they’re only too keen to take you on the ride of your life! Click on ‘Sports & Trips’ link …

Enjoy!

Twitter is great for some things - like flagging some really awesome pics of some really crazy South African dudes from Cape Town ’slacklining’ on Table Mountain. I’ve never even heard of it before (cos clearly I live on the g-r-o-u-n-d!) - but it looks like it’s only for the certifiably insane … or those who live, breathe, eat and sleep adrenaline.

The photographer, Greg Beadle, has captured these step-by-step (no pun intented!) images admirably. I think I was actually holding my breath as I looked at them.

Here’s one just to give you a taste … now go and visit Cape Town Tourism’s blog to see the rest of these heart-in-your-mouth photos.

The Natal’s newspaper, The Mercury, first picked up & published the story that the traveller’s bible, Lonely Planet, has listed Durban as one of the top 10 family beach holiday cities in the world in its latest guide book which has just hit the bookstores in the USA last week.

Durban’s “Golden Mile” beachfront - Photo: Courtesy Graeme Williams, MediaclubSouthAfrica.com

Other global cities to crack the nod in this prestigious list are: Kauai in Hawaii, Cottlesloe in Australia, Karon Beach in Thailand, Portugal’s Tavira, Mexico’s Sayulita and Bali’s Sanur in the latest edition of Lonely Planet’s “Travel with Children”. Pretty impressive company to keep!

“Durban resembles a gigantic resort holiday paradise, raised for the sole purpose of entertaining families,” the Lonely Planet publication says of the city in its section on South Africa. “Lined with safe beaches watched over by lifeguards, the Golden Mile is great for swimming, snorkelling and water sports.”

Good for Durban. It’s a friendly city with a hot, tropical climate (don’t think Durbanites know what long pants and jerseys are!). It’s pouring money & resources into its new beach-front complex. It’s also going to have one of the best-looking new stadiums for the FIFA 2010 World cup, in my opinion.

I think many tourists bypass Durban in favour of her more famous & beautiful sister, Cape Town, and the loss is definitely theirs.

It’s got an awesome climate - you can enjoy a holiday there at any time of the year. It’s got miles of golden beaches and the sea’s actually WARM to swim in!

Ah-ha. Looks like the rest of the world may be waking up to one of our best kept secrets - and the beach paradise we are blessed with on our eastern shores.

I did know that this was one of the first FIFA 2010 World Cup Stadiums to be finished. But I hadn’t seen that many photos of it. It really is a spectacular stadium.

The pictures below were supposedly taken on the 25 July 2009. You can see these and more on Nelson Mandela Bay’s official Port Elizabeth 2010 FIFA World Cup site.

I think even if you haven’t get a football-watching bone in your body, you can’t help but be super impressed … and a little awed by these incredible architectural feats - and the awesome designers, technicians and labourers who made it all happen!

Good one, Port Elizabeth!

Viewed from the ocean, the new Nelson Mandela Bay 2010 World Cup Stadium looks like a magnificently-crafted space ship hovering just above the water.

This view is from across the city and shows the stadium at the shore’s edge.