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The Roxy Escape-Presented by Virgin Mobile
From:
Surfersvillage Global Surf New 24 June 2008
The Roxy Escape prepares to invade the Kwa-Zulu Natal
Durban – The Roxy
Escape 2008 is upon us, and 10 lucky winners are getting set for a
four-day weekend on the Kwa-Zulu Natal coast and experiencing the Roxy
life. Roxy have teamed up with Seventeen Magazine and have lined up a
fun-filled weekend for the girls, with all sorts of the beach and surf
life to be explored.
The weekend is going to be captured on the Roxy website, so if you want
to keep in touch with the girls and all the goings-on, then log onto
roxy.co.za. Five lucky girls were selected out of hundreds of hopefuls,
and all five of them have selected a friend to attend with them, making
up the party of ten.
The five winners are Hleziphi Hadebe (Westville), Christine Robinson
(Durban), Aimee Rawlings (Gauteng), Cheryl-Anne Smallbones (Cape Town)
and Asheeqah Kamish from Cape Town.
Roxy Marketing Manager Candice Mac Nicol was really happy with the
selection of girls, and enthusiastic about the upcoming event. “The Roxy
Escape is a fantastic opportunity to get girls from all walks of life
into the Roxy lifestyle,” said Mac Nicol. “We’ll not only teach them how
to surf, but we’ll introduce them to the core values of our industry.
It’s great the diversity of ladies that entered and how stoked they are
to be a part of this amazing event.”
The girls are going to be accommodated at the luxurious Bazley Beach
Resort on the KZN coast. Highlights of the Roxy Escape include meeting
legend big wave surfer Jason Ribbink, as well as getting a walk-through
and an introductory tutorial on the processes of surfboard manufacturing
in his factory.
There will also be a tour of the Natal Sharks Board, as well as a shark
dissection. Not for the faint-hearted, a dissection is a fascinating
look at how a shark lives and feeds. Surf coach, Kenny Matthews, will be
teaching all the girls to surf in not one, but two private surf lessons.
Kenny is the best in the country and hopefully all the lucky winners
will all be up-and-riding after their first session.
The girls are also going to be absolutely treated to a live and
unplugged performance by one of South Africa’s top bands of the moment,
Stealing Love Jones. This performance is going to go down around the
hamburger braai and bonfire on the beach and is bound to make some SLJ
fans quite envious. The Roxy Escape is presented by Virgin Mobile in
association with Resolution.
The Roxy Escape is brought to you by Mxit, Supersport, Seventeen
Magazine, Stealing Love Jones and Clean ‘n Clear.
Annual KZN sardine run sparks tourism
frenzy
From: Travel Wires, South Africa - 12 Jun 2008
Durban – KwaZulu-Natal has earned a reputation nationally and
internationally as a marine tourism destination bolstered by the Sardine
Run - one of the world's most amazing annual marine spectacles that
takes place on the South Coast in June and July.Tourism KwaZulu-Natal
chief executive Ndabo Khoza acknowledged this at a high-profile launch
of Sardine Festival 2008 together with the premier of the Imax
documentary Wild Ocean at Gateway's Imax theatre last week.
He said research showed that 400 000 tourists visited the South Coast
over the Sardine Festival period.
"The Sardine Festival is a large tourism income generator for KwaZulu-Natal,
boosting the provincial economy through revenue earned from the
provision of accommodation and food as well as the hiring of boats,
small planes and helicopters to maximise the sighting of the sardine
run.
"It has also created a great deal of interest from the media and
international marine and environmental experts, and now with Wild Ocean
we also have the first Imax film on the 'greatest shoal on Earth'. All
this reinforces the fact that the South Coast is just one of the many
areas that make KwaZulu-Natal a prime eco-tourism destination," said
Khoza.
"At least half of the South Coast visitors are from Gauteng, 15% are
from the Free State and a further 15% from other parts of KwaZulu-Natal.
"A large proportion of the visitors are repeat visitors, who come to
relax and enjoy the beautiful beaches, and as many as 40% stay for four
days to one week."
Khoza said the sardine run had been the province's biggest and best
known natural phenomenon for generations, but until recently, all the
excitement was reserved for the lucky few who just happened to be on the
beach when thousands of small silvery fish washed up.
Last year Tourism KwaZulu- Natal, the Ugu District Municipality and the
Natal Sharks Board launched the Sardine Festival to encourage visitors
to enjoy all the attractions of "the country's best winter beach holiday
destination" while waiting for the first sardine sightings.
The Sardine Festival 2008 runs until the middle of July, and some of the
highlights include the Spear Fishing Open on June 14, the Mercury
Mallards Ski Boat festivaland the popular Ugu Jazz Festival on June 21.
The Mercury Mallards Ski Boat Festival, which takes place at Shelly
Beach from July 2-5, is the biggest event of its kind in South Africa.
It is set to attract about 400 anglers from across the country as well
as a host of tourists to the huge marquee at St Michael's beach for the
weigh-in.
Michael Bertram, of Ugu South Coast Tourism, said the Sardine Festival's
extensive programme was not so much about fishing as it was about a
fun-filled and truly African beach experiences.
"The Sardine Festival offers something for the whole family - marathons,
mountain biking, a garden fair, sardine tasting, a colourful jazz
festival and a host of other magnificent beach entertainment. If you
have not experienced the fever of the Sardine migration, you have not
experienced one of life's truly unforgettable experiences," he said.
Bertram said this year's Umtamvuna Portuguese Carnival, held at Port
Edward, would see 1 000 people seated at a "Table of Unity" where a
world record attempt would be made for the world's biggest open-air fish
braai.
Khoza said the Sardine Festival, well timed with the winter school
holidays, was a perfect catalyst for unlocking the value offered by a
multifaceted destination such as the South Coast.
In addition to some of the country's premier swimming beaches, there are
several vantage points along the 120km long Hibiscus coastline for
visitors to view the sardines as they migrate northwards. Those wanting
to take an even closer look can take advantage of marine charters that
operate out of Port Edward, Ramsgate and Shelly Beach or even charter a
plane from Margate Airport. The more adventurous can even dive with the
sardines - including the reefs, wrecks and sharks - at Aliwal Shoal,
Protea Banks and Rocky Bay.
The Natal Sharks Board monitors the progress of the sardines so it can
remove and replace the shark nets that protect bathers at swimming
beaches and allow the sardine run to pass by unhindered.
KZN floods cause chaos
Independent Online, South Africa - 18 Jun 2008
Tourists and residents were evacuated from resorts, and roads and
bridges have been closed as drenching rain led to flooding in many areas
of KwaZulu-Natal.
Heavy rains caused havoc in parts of the province overnight, washing
away bridges, flooding roads and causing damage to homes and property.
According to the National Sea Rescue Institute's Craig Lambinon,
residents of Club Marina at Ifafa were rescued at midnight after all but
three homes in the area were submerged.
"Emergency services had to use jet skis to rescue people because there
was too much debris in the water to use a rubber duck boat," he said,
adding that he was not aware of any casualties.
Lambinon also reported that a rescue boat was used to rescue 20 people
at the Pont Holiday Resort at Port Edward, "which is pretty much under
water".
Lambinon said the NSRI's Durban and Shelley Beach stations are on high
alert because of widespread flooding on the South Coast.
Road Traffic Inspectorate spokesperson Zinhle Mngomezulu, said the
Umzinto bridge (P197) has been completely washed away.
No injuries have been reported in the area and traffic is being
diverted. Both lanes of the N2 near the Umzinto off-ramp have been
closed and traffic has been diverted to the R102.
Head of the Hibiscus Coast Protection Services , Victor Chetty, said at
least 200 people had been taken to local community halls for shelter in
the Ugu district.
Other areas that have suffered flooding include Amanzimtoti, Port
Shepstone and Merebank.
An upset Cecelia Terblanche, who lives in Aralia Crescent, Merewent,
phoned the Daily News this morning and said she feared her home would be
flooded. "No one is going to work or school …."
Terblanche said her neighbour's house was partially submerged and the
rising water was lapping at her doorstep. "We need sandbags
desperately," she said.
Weather forecaster Anton Schutte, who lives in Amanzimtoti, said: "The
streets in the CBD are filling up with water and some people could not
leave their driveways."
Schutte said the heavy rain was expected to continue for the next two or
three days.
"Durban and Amanzimtoti can expect between 150 and 200mm of rain and the
temperatures will range between a minimum of 10°C maximum of 20°C."
The heaviest rainfall was recorded in the Doonside area.
Residents in Merebank reported flooding near the racecourse and traffic
heading south on the Inkosi Albert Luthuli freeway had slowed to a
crawl.
A fire department spokesperson said the Quality Street off-ramp had been
closed to traffic.
In Durban, hundreds of motorists were caught in heavy traffic as
mudslides and standing water covered the roads
Tourism Reaps Benefit of Open Skies
Business Day (Johannesburg)-23 June 2008
SA's decision to open its skies to increased competition
from foreign airlines in the run-up to 2010 is finally beginning to pay
dividends, says SA Tourism CEO Moeketsi Mosola.
The recently concluded UK-SA agreement on air transport, which added 28
new flights a week between the two countries over the next three years,
was evidence of this, Mosola said last week.
SA Tourism and other leaders in the tourism sector have long called for
more flights to the country to meet burgeoning demand but the government
has been slow to respond.
"I have been involved in these discussions for the past seven years as
CEO of SA Tourism and it is the first time that I am completely
satisfied with the agreement. There is no longer this eye for an eye
approach to talks and this agreement offers the airlines much more
flexibility in how the frequencies (flights) are used," Mosola said.
Under the agreement, airlines in both the UK and SA have been given 14
additional flights between the two countries this year, seven next year,
and a further seven between London and Durban in 2010.
British Airways was first to take up the flight, adding a third daily
flight between London's Heathrow and Johannesburg from April next year.
Virgin and South African Airways are still weighing up their options.
Among the changes in this agreement is a clause allowing UK airlines to
take up South African flights if South African airlines did not take up
their frequencies within a specified time. "That has never been the case
in the past," said Mosola. The airlines would now have more choice about
what aircraft they used, which airports they used and when they fly. It
also allows airlines to add extra capacity in peak season periods.
"The government has become more sophisticated and clever in their
negotiations. They are not strictly adhering to the principle of
reciprocity but looking at what is needed for the country, particular
the tourism sector, to grow."
The government first outlined a more liberalised approach to bilateral
negotiations in its airlift strategy document which was approved by the
cabinet in 2006. The document presents a five-year plan for the
regulation of air transport in support of the tourism sector with the
express aim of ensuring that capacity is created (airline frequencies)
ahead of demand.
However, that policy has only now begun to translate into positive
results
The transport department said yesterday that discussions regarding added
capacity were taking place with other governments. So far the department
has negotiated with Qatar, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the UK, South
Korea, Gambia, New Zealand and is in negotiations with Australia.
Further discussions were planned between SA and the Netherlands within
the next two months, but SA was also in discussion with India on further
liberalising the existing bilateral agreement, the department said.
Talks in December with the UAE resulted in Emirates adding daily flights
between Dubai and Cape Town in March.
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