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 Hotel News |
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Unique hotel on Thesen Island |
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Introducing the Turbine Hotel and Spa - originally a powerstation, this unique property has been converted into a boutique hotel like no other. Situated on Thesen Island in Knysna, its décor reflects the diverse aspects of this picturesque garden route town while the generator turbines and boiler, restored to their former glory, have become part of the hotel's interior architecture.
The hotel's pool deck with rim flow pool overlooks the canal and is the perfect location to relax and enjoy meals, cocktails and sundowners. The Island Café, winner of the Diners Club Platinum Award for its wine list, is an ideal venue to enjoy breakfast, lunch and dinner. In addition the Turbine Tapas Bar serves light meals.
All 24 bedrooms and suites have “state of the art” accessories. Some include balconies and ground floor rooms have their own garden.
Additional facilities include a fully stocked wine cellar, a library with internet facilities, conferencing for up to 60 delegates, a jetty with guest mooring and a motorized pontoon barge, the Turbine Trixie, for luxury sunset lagoon cruises. To compliment the many facilities and activities of The Turbine, its picturesque Amani Spa offers a wide variety of body, facial and beauty treatments.
For more information please contact Kuoni Private Safaris.
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Lodge News |
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New luxury tents for Kapama Buffalo Camp |
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Buffalo Camp in the Kapama Game Reserve has been transformed into a modern tented safari camp, offering a unique and intimate experience without compromising on comfort while retaining the charm that guests have grown to expect.
The ten luxury newly built tents for a maximum of 20 guests have uninterrupted views from every angle. Set on wooden decks and built on stilts over a steep-sided riverbank, they are interconnected by wooden walkways. The river below rarely flows and antelopes are seen daily walking along the sandy riverbed. Each tented room has all the usual comforts of electricity, en-suite bathroom, safe, writing table, wardrobe, low impact climate control, mini-bar and tea or coffee making facilities.
The makeover of the camp also extends to the central guest entertainment areas, including the installation of a new infinity-edge pool.
Lanterns, rather than electric lights, glow at night under the trees, creating a special intimate ambience particular to Buffalo Camp.
With the thick African bush just a glance away inhabited by animals like lion, hyena and jackal whose calls can be heard in the dead of night, Buffalo Camp is ideal for discovering big game Africa in true safari tented style.
For more information please contact Kuoni Private Safaris. |
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Villa of the month |
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The St James - a stately seaside retreat |
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The St James Manor House is a 5 star stately turn-of-the-century seaside retreat overlooking the vibrant fishing village of Kalk Bay.
Built 100 years ago, it has an aura of grandeur and old world charm, beautifully cradled and detailed, from the chiselled sandstone exterior to the carved wooden interior panelling, salvaged from an old shipwreck.
A magnificent staircase leads up to the six large en-suite bedrooms, individually decorated to reflect the opulent times of a bygone era. Four of the rooms are sea-facing suites with lounge areas. The beautiful sea-facing garden has majestic views across False Bay and the Indian Ocean as well as a raised terrace in the back with a heated salt water pool.
Breakfasts are a speciality offering a wide choice of interesting fare and are inclusive, as are all beverages. Dinners and lunches are available by arrangement.
This gorgeous retreat is conveniently located a few minutes walk to the tidal pools that boast traditional colourful Victorian bathing boxes and a beach below and is also close to the
number of excellent seafood restaurants on the main road, which is a hive of antique and boutique style shops and deli's.
For more information on our handpicked and gorgeous villas please contact us |
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Zimbabwe News |
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Drastic measures to help protect Zimbabwe's Rhinos |
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In response to the massive increase in rhino poaching recently affecting Southern Africa, the Zambezi's Society, along with several other conservation organisations, is trying to improve the protection and management of Zimbabwe’s black rhinos.
This month they are partnering with the Aware Trust and Parks as well as Wildlife Zimbabwe in a co-ordinated exercise to de-horn and ear-notch the small population of black rhinos in the Matusadona National Park south of Lake Kariba.
Quite a desperate measure, but with the hope that they will be a less attractive to poachers.
However once the rhino dehorning exercise is over, these animals still need to be closely monitored and protected. Expenses are huge but fortunately some help is at hand from some generous overseas organisations.
For more information on this article, please contact us |
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Namibia News |
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Sossusvlei promotes responsible tourism |
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With over 400 tourists to Sossusvlei each day, the continuous wear and tear on roads as well as park facilities, damage to the natural environment and an overuse of water by travellers, there is a strong need to promote ‘responsible tourism’ in the region.
Measures such as limiting visitor numbers as well as increasing entry fees may need to be introduced in the future. In order to prevent this happening, visitors have been requested to practice certain measures such as not exceeding the advised maximum speed limit on the gravel tracks, staying on the prescribed routes into and out of Sossusvlei, driving off the tar and onto the gravel to take photographs and finally, to use water sparingly.
For more information please contact Kuoni Private Safaris Namibia. |
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Mozambique News |
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Cheetahs return to Gorongosa National Park |
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Gorongosa National Park recently received three cheetahs as part of the park’s restoration programme. The programme began in 2005 with the establishment of a joint plan involving The Carr Foundation (a non profit organisation) and the Mozambican Ministry of Tourism.
The restocking of the park began in 2006 with 54 buffalo from the Kruger National Park in South Africa. Since then it has received gnu, elephants and hippo, which live in the park with lions, monkeys and other wildlife including many birds.
The cheetahs were flown from South Africa following extensive negotiations between the park authorities and a South African based non-governmental organisation. On arrival they were put into quarantine in an enclosed “boma”. This, the first group of cheetahs, has now has opened the door to many more for Gorongosa National Park, widely regarded as the jewel in Mozambique’s conservation crown.
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Private Safaris News |
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Memorable team builing weekend |
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Sheep Herding, Pizza making, fashion designing, imitating mating calls of local birds...these are just a few of the crazy activities that the Private Safaris team experienced on their recent team building this past weekend - the Cannonball Run!
Staff started arriving early on Saturday morning in superbly crafted outfits along with their team war cries! They then made their way to various challenges such as kayaking on the canal and identifying the flora and fauna.
Lunch was a Pizza making competition and showed a variety of team skills- some focussing on quantity while others paying more attention to style and shape.
Then it was off to the winelands! Here teams had to identify different cultivars in a blind wine tasting and paired each wine with the appropriate olive.
It was then an opportunity to go back in time and complete the daily chores of their forefathers: sheep herding (great fun!), smearing cow dung on a mud hut floor (not so popular!), making clay bricks (interesting!), tasting witblits (strong schnapps!) as well as brandy and chocolate - great way to wrap up the activities!
Finally, everybody arrived at their accommodation for the night. Here they were given their last task of the day - one team member had to model fashion outfits each team had created from newspaper! There were certainly some talented dress designers (and models) amongst the Private Safars staff!
After a delicious meal, everyone showed their moves on the dance floor till the early hours. What a fantastic and memorable day!
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