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Features
Lend a hand - 5 alternate ways to explore SA
There’s a lot you can take away from a trip to South Africa but not many people realise there’s a whole lot more you can give at the same time. If you’ve got energy to spare and need a truly rewarding experience on your travels, during your gap year or career break then start here…
1. Conserve the environment
Get to know your real mother, Mother Nature, as a big game reserve conservationist. Participate i ...
The smart tourist's guide to South Africa
You’ve got your World Cup tickets and you’ve booked your flights to the far side of Africa. You’ve secured travel insurance, a stab vest and a witchdoctor’s blessing. You’ve attached bells to your children and handcuffs to your valuables. You’ve bought malaria pills, sunblock, insect, lion and AIDS repellent. You’re right to be prepared for your African adventure but you’ve completely forgotten to pack some ...
Brand South Africa
With a lot of attention being cast our way of late, it’s worth making a big song and diski dance about. 27 April 2010, 16 years since the first democratic election, is Freedom Day and that’s as good an opportunity to pimp off South Africa as any other. And we mean pimp as in shoulder-dusting, national flattery...
Cluck your tongue at foreign flavours and treat your palette to local cuisine this Freedom D ...
Greenpeace on climate issues and conferences
SA PROMO speaks to South African Kumi Naidoo, the new Greenpeace International Executive Director, about how Greenpeace selects projects to tackle and the role it plays at international climate conferences such as the Climate Summit in Copenhagen in December 2009. This event was the 15th annual Conference of Parties (COP15). Cop16 will be held in Mexico in late November 2010, and COP17 in South Africa in 20 ...
Leading Greenpeace SA style
As Greenpeace surges into this new decade at a time when climate change is critical, with it comes a new leader. Kumi Naidoo, Oxford educated and from Durban, is the first South African to hold the International Executive Director role in Greenpeace. Appointed in November last year, Kumi is now based at Greenpeace headquarters in Amsterdam.
What is your role?
My job is strategist and representative of Gr ...
Is the grass greener?
It has long been common for South Africans to move overseas and explore the world. The reasons for leaving South Africa vary, from the desire for international work experience, earning foreign income and being able to travel, to the reality of leaving to escape unsavoury aspects of South Africa or perhaps to obtain a foreign passport.
But the conversations seem to have changed over the last year or so, as ...
Cross-cultural dating
Shakespeare asserted that ‘the course of true love never did run smooth’. In A Midsummer Night Dream, we see an ultimatum, a magic potion, a series of mishaps and some confusion before harmony is restored and the lovers are paired as fate would have it.
Some three centuries later, Shakespeare’s ideas, stories and poems are still relevant and quoted the world over. His opinion that love doesn’t run smoothly ...
I love South Africa
We asked some of you for the low down on what you love about South Africa, how you promote it to non-South Africans and why they just must go visit, as well as what makes you most proudly South African.NINA HILL, FROM CAPE TOWN, LIVING IN LONDONI LOVE SA: Besides the obvious reasons of the weather and fantastic natural beauty, it’s the people.GO TO SA: To experience the beauty of the country and the warmth ...
Broadband for Africa
Connecting Africa to accessible internetSince recently spending three years in the UK, I had forgotten how behind South Africa was when it came to internet connection and speed. I got a shock when I arrived home and was unable to do the things I usually did online when in London. My laptop almost seemed useless.Living in the third world onlineWe become so used to doing everything online when living in a fir ...
Togetherness & Traditions at Christmas
Christmas is a time of family and friends, a time to connect with loved ones and be together while celebrating the reason for the season and sharing memories, laughs and a special meal. For some South Africans, it will be a braai all the way on Christmas Day whereas others will eat roasts in varying forms from lamb to turkey with all the British trimmings. Brussel sprouts and brandy butter with Christmas pu ...
HERITAGE EXPRESSED THROUGH ART
Art in South Africa goes back thousands of years to cave paintings done by the Khoisan who used earth pigments such as ochres and iron oxides crushed and mixed with animal fat, blood or plant juices to bind them. Rock art shows the Bushman’s view of his world – symbolism, magic and storytelling – a real national treasure to be protected! These days, one goes to museums, galleries and other dynamic spaces to ...
SA MOVIE TOP FIVES
South Africa has an enormous and varied cinematic history. But where films are talked about, lists are never far behind, so we’ve taken it upon ourselves to put together a set of the Definitive SA Movie Top Fives. Everything from the biggest SA films ever, to the freshest talents this year, to the moments we would all like to pretend didn’t exist. And we promise we only mention Charlize once… The ones every ...
SA ON THE BIG SCREEN
The crest of the movie wave You can roll the names off your tongue with ease – District 9, Tsotsi, Yesterday and dozens of others. For a country with the second oldest film industry on the planet (only America is more venerable), South Africa has certainly taken its sweet time to get going. As Niell Blomkamp’s Joburg-set scifi spectacular tops the US box office, taking $14.2m on its opening day, it would se ...
SOUTH AFRICANS AND THE GREAT OUTDOORS
The great outdoors! There is so much meaning packed into that little phrase. To most South Africans, this is more than just a saying. South Africans tend to get itchy when cooped indoors for long periods and need to be aired at regular intervals to prevent mould and the loss of good humour. Whether its touch rugby on the beach, a relaxing evening braai or simply reading a book... any activity is enhanced by ...
GLOBAL MIGRANTS South Africans the Seekers
I AM A SOUTH AFRICAN born and raised; a New Zealand citizen; and based in London. No doubt if you are reading this, you have a similar, if not more colourful cultural background! As is evident in SA PROMO’s blogger pages, South Africans have spread themselves far and wide - from Cape Town to the Caribbean, Soweto to Sweden, Humansdorp to Hong Kong and all manner of dorpies to Aberdeen. Despite the fact that ...
GET CLEAR ON YOUR GOALS
It's the middle of the year and all the potential and promise that you felt in the New Year, all those feelings of 'hey, this is 2009 and fine, mine - divine' have probably given way to the same old nine to five routine that leaves you a little wanting. Everywhere you go you also can't escape the pervasive story about the credit crunch and global crisis. If it's not the TV blabbing about economic recession, ...
INTO THE LIGHT The state of the SA economy
After months of denials, clever word play and side-stepping the question, SA Reserve Bank Governor Tito Mboweni and Head of National Planning Commission (previously the Finance Minister)Trevor Manual, have finally relented that South Africa is in a recession. So what exactly does this mean? In short, it means that we experienced negative growth for the first time in 17 years.So why the sudden change in mood ...
KING OF HIS FIEFDOM or SERVANT OF THE NATION
For all of the public scrutiny and the drama of the last several years what do we know about Jacob Zuma and what kind of President is he likely to be? Msholozi (Zuma’s clan name) has been described as a unifier; somebody who seeks consensus and an individual who can bring people together. However, in reality he is a polarising figure. His most vociferous supporters have been willing to die Р and to kill Р f ...
THE COLOURFUL POST-ELECTION SA
The colourful post-election landscape of South Africa
The general election of April 22nd has come and gone, and apart from a few administrative glitches, was largely a free and transparent process. Notwithstanding the continuing dominance of the African National Congress, the poll was highly competitive with South Africans turning out in record numbers to vote with enthusiasm and vigour.
Sifting thr ...
A MOTHER'S LOVE
Each Year in South Africa, the second Sunday in May brings with it a day in which children all over the country scuttle in a flurry to prepare their mothers a delicious breakfast in bed. They wake up early to pick fresh flowers from the garden, spend time painstakingly preparing handmade cards and gifts, and all this to honour the woman who dedicates her own life to them.What has become somewhat of a nation ...
