How will South Africa keep up the tremendous spirit of goodwill, ubuntu and patriotism … the morning after?
Now that the dust has settled after the final match at Soccer City last Sunday, and Spain have emerged victorious as the new world soccer champions, many South Africans are feeling a little bit at a loose end. Like something’s missing. Almost as if your charasmatic best friend has left the country …
But South Africans are definitely ‘a boer maak ‘n plan’ (a farmer makes a plan) type of people. And already resourceful and forward-thinking South Africans are finding creative ways to keep the momentum going.
One of these is “Keep Flying the Flag” - a campaign that launched on Friday 9 July 2010, and already has the support of more than 60 local businesses - from giants like Vodacom, Toyota, Sasol, ABSA and Primedia to smaller alternatives like eBlockwatch (SMS-based community crime prevention) and Dial-a-Nerd (phone-in IT support).
The campaign calls for individuals and businesses to incorporate the Keep Flying logo into their advertising (which can be downloaded from their website - www.keepflying.co.za); buy Keep Flying buttons to hand out to staff, customers, family and friends and a customised email signature to use on your correspondence. A manual is also available on the Keep Flying site - which details how companies, brands and caring South Africans can join in the campaign.
The campaign is the brainchild of advertising agency, DraftfcbSouth Africa, in an attempt to stave-off any ‘post-World Cup depression’ that has affected other host nations. So far, the site has received over 8 000 hits and they have responded to more than 200 emails from companies wanting to get involved.
As Draftfcb’s Group CEO, John Dixon, said: “I am amazed and delighted by the response our call to action has prompted and can only encourage more and more companies and fellow South Africans to embrace the flag in this manner.
“The FIFA World Cup was our chance to show the world Africa’s potential; now is the time to maintain that momentum, to show them that we can achieve, and will. Let the end of the World Cup be our beginning.”
Another great initiative is the “Fly the Flag Fridays” campaign organised by the International Marketing Council who are also responsible for Brand South Africa site. This campaign calls for South Africans to wear their country’s colours and fly the flag on Fridays. It continues the spirit in a similar vein to their earlier campaign during the build-up to and the duration of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, “Football Fridays” - which called for South Africans to wear their favourite teams football colours (hopefully those of Bafana Bafana!) every Friday. The campaign which was a big hit all around the country - especially with corporates like banks, supermarkets and stores where you’d be sure to greeted by staff sporting Bafana-yellow shirts on Fridays.
Any more ideas you can think of? And c’mon South Africans - keep the flag flying high!
If you’re planning to travel to South Africa for the FIFA™ 2010 World Cup, then best you learn to play that B$@## Vuvuzela!
Beautifully crafted Vuvuzelas with beadwork covers in bold South African designs [Photo: Courtesy Vuvuzela.co.za]
Love it … or hate it, the drone of the Vuvuzela is going to be the sound you’ll associate with the 2010 FIFA World Cup - forever!
It’s a proudly South African instrument with a profound and ancient history in tribal lore and music. These humble plastic tubes are fashioned from the original majestic kudu (a type of buck/antelope) horns that were once blown to summon the people to gather for important meetings. (You can still get some plastic kudu-horn shaped vuvu’s - called ‘kuduzelas’, of course).
Blown together in their thousands at stadiums - they sound like a herd of angry bull elephants in mating season. Or like a fleet of furious tugboats blasting their horns in unison. Let’s face it, they’re seriously noisy.
But you’re not going to beat them during this decade. So join them.
It’s like any of those crazes. Yo-yos. Hoola hoops. Bakugan. Rubik’s Cube. They’re highly annoying and irritating items that you scoff at - until you own one. And then, the addiction begins …
The biggest trick about the vuvuzela is how to blow it. The best advice we’ve heard so far is to put your lips to the mouthpiece and make a ‘raspberry’-type sound, similar to playing a trumpet. Relax your cheeks and soften your lips so that they can vibrate. Let the action come from your mouth, rather than your lungs or stomach. Be as melodic as you like (yes, they can play several notes!) and blow as hard or as soft as you like.
The best thing is, the more you blow it, the less you’ll hear all the others around you!
Vuvuzelas are available all over the country - from shops and fashion outlets. They can be priced anywhere from around R20 to R100 (GBP 2 - 10), depending on the colour, cover and detail - some have the team or country colours complete with flags, emblems and badges. Some also have a handy strap so you can sling it over your shoulder on your way to the games.
So go on. You know you want one. Really, you do.
Here’s a quick video link on how to play the vuvuzela
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 …
This year, why not get into the true spirit of Christmas? Give gifts that matter - and bring hope to a the millions of South Africans struggling for a better life.
It’s a great idea - and it is affordable. The gifts start from as little as R50 and then R100, R250, R500, R1000 (you can also buy several different ones or several of one kind) - and include a range of items that can make a difference to communities, people personally, education, health and environment. Like compost or seedlings for food gardens, educational toys and soccer balls, HIV tests, family food parcels, crutches and tractors.
Once you’re happy with your gift/s, you can send a personal message to the person you’re buying the gift on behalf of - to let them know you’re making Christmas matter for others - in their name.
It’s that simple. And it feels that good.
And you KNOW it’s helping to make a difference.
“Make Christmas Matter” is an online campaign that lets you choose a range of alternative gifts that make a meaningful addition to the lives of many South Africans - from social development to community upliftment and education.
As Communications Manager for GreaterGood SA, Roxy Mitchell, says through this campaign they want to let people know that there is an alternative way of giving - especially at this time of year.
“Everyone has something to give and many people have the desire to give to those in need, but don’t know where or what to give.”
Mitchell says they chose 4 beneficiaries for 2009 from a shortlist of projects that had passed a strict evaluation process including site visits and peer reviews.
These are:
* an educational toy library for the Mbuba community in rural KwaZulu-Natal
* a food garden, recycling program and conservation field trips for Dargle Primary School in the Midlands Meander area
* new kitchen for the St. Josephs nursing home for chronically ill and disabled children in Cape Town
* mobility canes, signature guides and liquid level indicators for 96 visually impaired people in the Free State.
So far, this annual campaign has contributed over R2 million to 22 social development projects in South Africa since its conception in 2005. According to Mitchell more people are starting to think twice about buying into the commercialism around Christmas, and starting to think about those who have less than themselves.
Go on. Make Christmas Matter - and visit Gifts 4 Good
There’s no way you can begin to compare Halloween in South Africa to Halloween in the USA.
For starters, we don’t habitually grow those oversized, pregnant-looking orange pumpkins. If you do get them, they’re usually imported and cost the earth.
And ‘Trick or Treating’ is not really considered a safe practice because of our unfortunate high crime rate.
In one camp, there’re the sceptics who believe that it’s just one more American-inspired commercial rip-off where you’re coerced into buying scary costumes, plastic vampire teeth and kiddie-sized, play-play orange buckets.
In another, there’re the staunch Christians who believe it’s an evil, Satanic celebration and anything to do with Halloween should be avoided at all costs.
But there’s another school of thought: it’s the ONLY day/night of the year where kids are allowed to dress up collectively - AND get sweets. Do me a favour. And they are allowed to be scary! Which kids don’t get shivers of delight down their spines while scaring the pants off each other with ghost-stories after lights out? Or getting their fill of horror and teen-vamp movies when they’re a little older?
Perhaps it all comes down to intent. If you just intend to have some scary, harmless fun with friends and family, hey, what a pleasure.
And some of the complexes and safe, gated communities make a special neighbourhood thing of it - getting all the kids to go off Treak or Treating in safe numbers, while all the parents get together in the common for a bring & braai. Whether they’re in Fourways Gardens or Fancourt.
If you do want to do something this Halloween, there are loads of good happenings - from the usual family stuff at Randburg’s Brighwater Commons and the Johannesburg Zoo to the Horrorfest Film Fest at the Labia in Cape Town to Halloween Balls to Pink Train Rides to hectically horrific house parties.
Check out your local newspapers to see what’s happening in your area or visit What’s On website and search for ‘Halloween’. GOTRAVEL24.com also has a great list of festive Halloween ideas.
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 …
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 Big Picture” is a news-in-photos section of the Boston Globe’s website, and this week’s feature is “Soccer in South Africa” with some awesome pics about the football fever that’s hitting this country. Most shots are amazing - and of course, the comments are rife with cries of portraying only the poorer, seedier side of life in South Africa (many of the shots are of little boys playing soccer without shoes and in tatty clothes). The pics are definitely worth a look at. And check out some of the wacky (and worthwhile!!) comments while you’re there: Boston Globe: The Big Picture
At least it’s creating a stir, loads of comments, and lots of free publicity about South Africa’s hosting of the FIFA ™ 2010 World Cup next year.
I love the ones of Soccer City in Jo’burg:
South Africa’s new Soccer City Stadium is seen, under construction with the Johannesburg skyline in the background, on the outskirts of Soweto, South Africa on June 13, 2009. FIFA is concerned that some of the stadiums being built in South Africa for next year’s World Cup will remain idle afterward unless organizers take steps to guarantee future use. (AP Photo/Denis Farrell, files) #
An interior view of construction work at the Soccer City Stadium, on the outskirts Soweto, South Africa, Monday, June 15, 2009. (AP Photo/David Azia) #
But this one’s my favourite:
Children enjoy their soccer game the street near the Seisa Ramabodu Stadium on June 16, 2009 in Bloemfontein, South Africa. (Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images) #
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For every full-paying adult at R160 (return trip only), 2 x U18 kids go free (normally R80 each so you save R160!).
It’s a great idea - and it is affordable. The gifts start from as little as R50 and then R100, R250, R500, R1000 (you can also buy several different ones or several of one kind) - and include a range of items that can make a difference to communities, people personally, education, health and environment. Like compost or seedlings for food gardens, educational toys and soccer balls, HIV tests, family food parcels, crutches and tractors. 
For starters, we don’t habitually grow those oversized, pregnant-looking orange pumpkins. If you do get them, they’re usually imported and cost the earth.
