This Tourism Week 13 October 2009.

This week:

  • A question of development or racism?
  • The return of a tourism icon – the Outeniqua Choo Tjoe is back from its maintenance holiday;
  • Buffalo Hills Buys a Tent – for Weddings, Conference and Special events.

New Tourism Initiative In Mpumalanga Caters For The Blind, For Geo-Enthusiasts And For Lovers Of South Africa’s Flora.

Either I’m a racist, or the thorny question of ‘development’ has become so fraught with pictures of arts and crafts collectives that my addled brain can’t get past them.

But either way, Houston, we have a problem.

See, I was walking the halls of the DEC at Indaba earlier this year when a tall and friendly black man saw my media lanyard and stopped me. He wanted to give me his brochure and my immediate thought was (forgive me), “Oh god. Another development project.”

Never judge a book by it’s brochure.

Sertorio Mshothola is the Director of Ntwanano Tours & Travel, an Mpumalanga-based business that aims to “provide a high quality service, using our skills and knowledge of the market and the region to satisfy the needs of the clients at very competitive rates,” under the motto “Turning Your Dreams into Reality.”

Their products are anything but ordinary: The Genesis of Life Tour, The Braille Walk and The Flora Kingdom Tour were designed by Mr. Mshothola himself, who told me that, “I realised over the years that when anyone thinks about Mpumalanga, they only think about the animals, God’s Window, and the like.”

But, he said, there is a diversity of plants in the Province, and so he’d decided to use the Indaba to launch a tour of Mpumalanga’s Floral Kingdom.

He’d also come up with ideas for a specialised blind people’s tour – which includes Braille Trails (you can read his article on Braille Trails here) and a touch-and-feel interaction with elephants – and the Genesis of Life tour, which includes visits to areas where the earliest traces of life on earth have been found, where the oldest gold was mined, and where ancient fossils can be seen.

The Flora Kingdom Tour includes the world renowned Lowveld Botanical Gardens, a Cycad Forest, a fever tree cluster, a herb farm, and other exotic, plant-related destinations “to learn about and discuss the exquisite flora and rare plants of Mpumalanga and their uses in medicine, food, drinks and cosmetics.”

Ntwanano Tours is one of the preferred service providers for the Tourism Cluster Project in Mpumalanga – an initiative of the Tourism Enterprise Partnership.

Now then – where’s the ‘development’ in that? To me, Ntwananao Tours is business pure and simple; business that’s gone way past the paternalistic moniker of ‘development,’ and business the way the tourism industry should do it.

Watch my video interview with Mr. Mshothola here.

Sertorio M Mshothola, Director, Ntwanano Tours & Travel
sertorio@ntwananotours.co.za
www.ntwananotours.co.za

Toot! Toot! The Choo Tjoe Returns

(How cheesy is that? But I couldn’t help meself)

The Outeniqua Choo Tjoe is back – as of next week, the popular and iconic steam train and tourism attraction will run between Mossel Bay and George on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays (and every day except Sundays and Christmas Day between the 14th of December and the 9th of January).

“The service was suspended for a while for necessary maintenance, but on the 19th of October, the Western Cape’s Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Tourism, Alan Winde, and about 60 invited guests will commemorate its return with a ride from George to Mossel Bay, where they’ll enjoy refreshments as the guest of our Mayor, Alderlady Marie Ferreira,” said Mossel Bay Tourism’s Marcia Holm.

Ms. Holm said that some unfortunate uncertainty about the Choo Tjoe had arisen during the maintenance period, but that she was delighted that the service would be resumed in time for the coming summer holidays.

The chairman of Mossel Bay Tourism, Neels Zietsman, said that the Outeniqua Choo Tjoe had suffered a serious set-back when floods had damaged the traditional George-Knysna line some years ago.

“Fortunately, though, and at the suggestion of Mossel Bay Tourism, the train was re-routed to the George-Mossel Bay line, and was thus preserved as a tourism attraction for the country as a whole.

“In the process, Mossel Bay Tourism paid for the construction of platforms at the Dias Museum, and, with the train ride starting and ending at the Transport Museum in George, began marketing the unique Museum-to-Museum Tour.”

Ms. Holm said that the return of the service would see a resumption of marketing. “We hope that everyone in the tourism industry in the whole of the Garden Route and Klein Karoo and especially in George and Mossel Bay will inform their guests and suppliers that the Choo Tjoe is running again, and that it will soon be running to capacity once more.”

Tickets from Mossel Bay Tourism, +27(0)44 691 2202, or from The Choo Tjoe itself, at the Outeniqua Transport Museum in George, +27(0)44 801 8289. The rack rate is R 140.00 one way and R180.00 return.

The train will run on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays out of season, and daily except Sundays and Christmas Day between 14 December and 9 January. It will departs George at 10h00, arrive at Mossel Bay at 12h00; depart Mossel Bay at 14h15, and arrive back at George at 16h10.

Buffalo Hills Buys a Tent

Buffalo Hills – www.buffalohills.co.za  – has invested in a tent to better accommodate its weddings, conferences and special events.

“It gives us the freedom to accommodate almost any kind of event,” said owner Tony Kinahan, “and with so many fantastic sites on the reserve, this allows us to be incredibly creative.”

Wedding packages for smaller parties cost from R2,495.00 per guest for 2 to 30 guests – and include 2 nights accommodation (D,B & B), the wedding ceremony and itself, and a guided game drive, a guided game walk, a Nyati jjj Mampoer Distillery Tour and Mampoer tasting, and flowers and wine on  wedding night

For larger parties – of 30 to 80 guests (quotation on request), the package includes the Wedding ceremony and Dinner, flowers and w or bubbly on the wedding night, a disc jockey, a photographer, a wedding minister, 2 nights accommodation (D,B & B for 30 guests), and a game Drive, a guided walk and a Distillery Tour and tasting

Conferences and Incentive Packages for 2009 cost from R950.00 per delegate (up to 30 delegates) and include the use of the conference Facility; Lunch, teas, dinner, bed and breakfast, a guided game drive, a guided walk and a Distillery Tour and tasting. Packages can also include flights and transport as well as Tsitsikamma Tree Top Canopy Tours; boat-based whale watching; a sea kayak Safari; bungi jumping, sailing through Knysna Heads; a Keurbooms Ferry Trip; Breakfast and a Walk with Elephants and / or a walk with Cheetahs.

For more, contact Tony on +27(0)44 535 9739 – buffalohills@mweb.co.za
Buffalo Hills – www.buffalohills.co.za

Now – go away on holiday. It’s in the economy’s best interests.

And in the meantime… have a GREAT tourism week!

Martin Hatchuel
BarefootWriter