Weird and wonderful museums

Our beautiful South Africa is home to a myriad of museums. Although a young country by all accounts, our tumultuous history and the amazing setting in which it unfolded has inspired the establishment of a multitude of museums in every city and numerous towns.  As a result, we tend to associate museums with art and the preservation of bygone times, creatures and events, but South Africa is also home to a number of unusual museums that offer a unique experience to visitors.

1. The Warrior Toy Museum - Simon's Town, Cape Town

This museum houses a permanent collection of dinky toys, dolls, Meccano sets, model cars, boats, planes and other toys, including scores of toy soldiers depicting various battles from history. Toy collectors, children and the young at heart will enjoy the exhibits immensely. 

For more information, call 021 786 1395.

2. Bredasdorp Shipwreck Museum - Bredasdorp, Cape Overberg

The only shipwreck museum on the African continent came into being with the help of shipwreck expert and author, Coenraad Potgieter. Shipwrecks along the Strandveld coast had an immense influence on the history of the region with the southern point nicknamed "graveyard of ships". Many survivors from shipwrecks stayed on in this far-off and isolated area, bringing their experience and skills to the Overberg. The museum now has an amazing exhibition of items like furniture, figureheads, shipping equipment, household articles, lifebuoys, newspaper cuttings and scale models of shipwrecks.  

For more information, call 028 424 1240.

3. Elgin Apple Museum - Grabouw, Cape Overberg

This museum is housed is housed in what used to be an old shoemaker's cottage, a building that is over 100 years old. Established in 1972, the Elgin Apple Museum depicts the history of the apple and fruit industry in South Africa through photographic displays and exhibits. From the machines and tools used in the early days of the industry to the more advanced computerized methods of today, the museum chronicles the development and changes of this important industry over the years.

For more information, call 021 859-2042.

4. The Heart of Cape Town Museum - Observatory, Cape Town

Located in the Groote Schuur Hospital, in the very same theatre where the first human heart transplant was performed by Dr Christiaan (Chris) Barnard in 1967. The museum honours all those who played a major role in this surgical feat which marked the beginning of a new era in medicinal sciences. The museum is divided into eight parts, which includes a timeline, animal lab and a Christiaan Barnard room.

For more information, call 021 404 1967.

5. Beer Museum - Newlands, Cape Town

Over 18s are welcome to take a tour of the Beer Museum at Ohlsson's Cape Brewery. The informative tour through a fully functioning brewery is the perfect way to learn about the history and practice of the beer brewing process. Visitor's are also invited to taste the many different SAB brews at the on-site pub. 

For more information, call 021 658 7511.

Leading the way - Cape Town's green initiatives

Cape Town is leading the way towards encouraging sustainable development and renewable energy in South Africa. The Mother City's Green Goal 2010 programme surrounding the new stadium and other World Cup facilities, and other new initiatives implemented by the Cape Town Partnership, won Cape Town the 2009 Virgin Holidays Responsible Tourism Award, beating 35 other entrants in the Best Destination category.

The aim is however to continue to build on the successes and recognition the city received during the World Cup and next on the agenda is Cape Town's Green Week (19-23 October 2010). During this week, ahead of the UN Climate Change Summit in December, at a series of events hosted by the Cape Town International Convention Centre, hundreds of international delegates and professionals (including business leaders, financiers and investors, green groups and property sector professionals) will converge on Cape Town to explore ways to take a "greener" approach to business and creating employment opportunities, while protecting the environment and building communities and cities that work. Partners in this event include the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative and the Green Building Council of South Africa, among others. The City of Cape Town will launch its Green Building Guidelines and Green City Programme during this week.

(Read more about Cape Town's Green Initiatives at www.capetownpartnership.co.za).

So what can you do while the movers and shakers discuss and make decisions? Join a green group (for example, www.freelifeonearth.org). Educate yourself. Every little thing that each of us can do to reduce our impact on the earth and the environment will ensure a better future. If a lot of individuals could bring the earth to the state it is in today, then individuals can fix the problem! Take a stand today.

Celebrate Spring!

What better way to celebrate spring than to put together a lunch, grab your loved ones and head out to a favourite picnic spot? 

Here are the Top 10 Picnic Spots in our country (proud Cape Townians, see how many are right here in our backyard!):

1. Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens (pictured above)

2. Sandy Bay Beach

3. Melkbosstrand

4. Mbashe River

5. Union Buildings gardens

6. Walter Sisulu National Botanical Garden

7. Modjadji Cycad Forest Reserve at Ga-Modjadji

8. Vredefort Dome

9. Beachwood Mangroves Nature Reserve

10. The Indian Ocean  ... one assumes they mean any beach on the East coast ;-)

(as listed by SA Tourism - www.southafrica.net)

September events - Cape Town

Here are a few not-to-be-missed events happening in and around Cape Town in September:


1.   Nando's Cape Town Comedy Festival
      Date - 30 August to 19 September 2010
      Venues - Baxter Theater and the V&A Waterfront
      Tickets available at Computicket

The largest comedy festival in South Africa (and one of the top 5 in the world), Nando's has been bringing together top international and local comedy acts for more than a decade. This year's festival will feature Trevor Noah, Jonathan Arons, Ian Bagg and Orny Adams, among others, to amuse audiences of all ages and tastes with a selection of the most popular acts being showcased on Sunday evenings for the duration of the festival.

2.    Cape Homemakers Expo
       Date - 2 to 5 September 2010
       Venue - CTICC
       More information available at www.homemakersonline.co.za

Every year the Homemakers Expo brings together a showcase a variety of home improvement and decor products and accessories.

3.   Kirstenbosch Biennale
      Date - 5 to 24 September 2010
      Location - Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens
      Entry is free. Information available on tel: 021 799 8782
      or from kirstenboschinfo@sanbi.org.za

A must for any art lover ready to enjoy the wonderful weather and explosion of natural beauty that accompanies the advent of spring in the Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens. Botanical art, focussing on rare, endangered and narrow endemic species indigenous to Southern Africa, produced by the best local and international artists will be on show in this beautiful setting.

4.   Paarl Cultivaria Festival
      Date - 23 to 26 September 2010
      Location - Paarl
      More information available from the Cultivaria Festival Office 
      (tel: 021 872 9754) or www.cultivaria.com

This unique event offers a programme packed with various musical genres, theatre productions, dance shows, comedy, classical music and art, from the country's top performers, to delight and amaze visitors at various venues around the town. There are also open-plan entertainment areas, including the Bokomo Kitchen where visitors can hone their cooking skills with live demonstrations. Children are also catered for.

Tourism booming thanks to the 2010 World Cup

With South Africa's scenic beauty, tremendous cultural history, fascinating fauna and flora and climate and landscape encouraging adventure, tourism has long been one of the fastest growing sectors in our economy.

The 2010 FIFA World Cup has now come and gone along with all the hype and hundreds of thousands of foreign visitors, but in its wake it left a great optimism and a lasting positive impression of South Africa which is expected to cause a boom in the South African tourism industry in the next 2 years. The world-class effort made to host the World Cup destroyed many of the common ideas that South Africa is "backward", "unsafe" and still "stuck in its old and evil ways". The high standards achieved by our tourism industry were also acknowledged at the annual World Travel Awards for Africa (held in July 2010) where  South African Airways, OR International Airport (Johannesburg), The Hilton Hotel in Durban, the cities of Cape Town and Durban and the Blue Train, to name just a few, all received tremendous accolades.

President Jacob Zuma recently noted that:
'The social benefits are priceless. We have seen remarkable unity, patriotism and solidarity being displayed by South Africans, which has never been witnessed before.'

The optimism globally and locally cannot be understated or undervalued and has brought about initiatives to build on the tournament's positive effects, such as the 1Goal and LeadSA campaigns. The great praise and media coverage South Africa received will no doubt bring about renewed vigour in the tourism industry, but along with that we hope that the "can do" spirit of ordinary people coming together and being proud of who we are and what we have achieved, will be an abiding legacy of the 2010 World Cup.

Close encounters with majestic creatures of the deep!

There are many places you can go to have a close encounters with a shark, but that's an adrenalin rush that doesn't appeal to everyone. For a more tranquil experience, whale watching is the way to go and in South Africa one place famous for its whales immediately springs to mind - Hermanus.

Hermanus is a seaside town, about an hour and a half from Cape Town, that is graced by the presence of Southern Right Whales every year when they come to the warm and shallow waters along Hermanus' cliffs to mate and calf.  August to November is the best time to view these majestic creature of the deep and they can be observed from the cliff paths or from boats providing whale watching safaris.

The town hosts the Hermanus Whale Festival annually to encourage conservation of marine life and attract visitors in September - the whale watching high season and when the more temperate and sunny Spring weather draws us out of doors. Local artists also use the opportunity to add to the festive atmosphere, making it the only "enviro-arts" festival in the country. In 2009 the festival attracted 100 000 visitors.

For more information visit www.whalefestival.co.za or www.hermanus.co.za.