calgary herald travel
TRANSCRIPT
CALGARY HERALD
TRAVELEDITOR: LISA MONFORTON 403-235-7428 [email protected] WEDNESDAY, APRIL 21, 2010 E7
World Cup host a world-class
destination even without the game
JODY ROBBINSFOR THE CALGARY HERALD
This summer, half a million people are ex-pected to descend on
the bottom of Africa for the world’s most widely viewed sports event beginning in June. Some will come for the adrenalin; most will stay for the adventure.
Is it soccer or is it football? This June as South Africa braces to hold the first ma-jor global event on African soil, the FIFA World Cup, it’s definitely the latter.
According to Essop Pahad, former Minister in the Pres-idency: “This event is about much more than sports — it is about Africa and Africa’s ability to host the world.”
But don’t be put o! by all the fans and fanaticism. South Africa has arrived. Should you?
Where else can you watch two oceans collide, play on the beach with penguins and enjoy sundowners (cocktail hour) with Ca-petonians at Camps Bay? Famous for its wine coun-try, unspoiled beaches and game reserves, South Africa now sports world-class infrastructure thanks to its successful World Cup bid.
With so many options, choices have to be made including which type of vacation you’re after. It’s an easy country to travel in and even easier to pretend your visiting more familiar des-tinations. This is how our family chose to divide and conquer.
Sun City (aka Africa’s Answer to Las Vegas)
As per its moniker, Sun City is bright and hot, but not quite as dry as the more famous sin city. Here, there’s only one theme: wild. Fami-lies of monkeys roam the grounds (cute) and baboons charge o! the Gary Player golf course at the sight of unattended food (scary).
Besides gambling and golf, whole days can be lost at Valley of the Waves water park. Complete with white sand beaches, river tube rides, wave pool and waterslides, it’s simulated paradise at its finest and free for those staying at any Sun City hotel.
SafariOnly 45 minutes from Sun
City lies Pilanesberg Na-tional Park, a gem of a game reserve and the country’s fourth-largest National Park. Most tourists swarm flag-ship safari destination Kru-ger National Park, but unlike Kruger, Pilanesberg isn’t in a malaria zone and it’s a breeze to get to from both Sun City and Johannesburg.
In Pilanesberg, you’ll find the big five: lion, elephant, leopard, Cape bu!alo, black and white rhinoceros. Ho-
tels o!er guided tours dur-ing prime wildlife viewing times of dawn and dusk or you can take your own car and go at your own pace. Though meant to take ap-proximately two hours, you’d be wise to assume lon-ger depending on wildlife activity.
Fortunately, the hundreds of zebra, blue wildebeest and newborn elephants walking tusk to tail proved enough distraction that sit-ting in a jeep for four hours posed no problem for young children.
Wine CountryThe Western Cape region
can be compared to Sonoma without the snobbery (and expense). With hundreds of century-old vineyards to ex-plore, we focused on estates with activities for children. Let them wear themselves out on adventure play-grounds while you swirl, sni! and swallow.
Being chocoholics, we set o! for Bilton Wine Es-tate outside of the historic university town of Stellen-bosch. At Bilton, we tested dark Belgian chocolates spe-cially made to complement their acclaimed reds. Some may scorn the concept, but for families, it’s a perfect match.
Aside from the wine, lo-cal fare is worth sampling, too. Menus may seem ex-otic with boerewors (spicy sausage), bredie (Afrikaner pot stew) and biltong (meat jerky) but ostriches and gazelles aren’t really that much di!erent than our livestock, especially to our antsy toddler who loved roaming the grounds before devouring her first ostrich steak.
Estate restaurants o!er posh noshes at surprisingly reasonable prices. And, that’s the thing about South Africa; you’ll splurge just because you can. Here, you can savour an appetizer, two entrees, kid’s meal, dessert plus a gorgeous bottle of wine for under $50.
The Beach Before deciding which
beach to go to, first decide which ocean you want to spend time on. Fortunately, the Indian and Atlantic Oceans conveniently collide near Cape Point, a dazzling coastline day trip from Cape Town. While the Indian Ocean is much warmer, there are benefits to fac-ing Antarctica, namely, the wildlife.
Boulders Beach in Si-mon’s Town hosts a penguin colony you can observe from a platform or up close and personal. On the beach, you might just walk around a boulder to find some locals in tuxedo bathing suits. But be careful! As we discovered, they’ll let you know whose beach it is with a peck on the kneecaps for breaking local etiquette.
Capetonians flock to Camps Bay not just to watch the beautiful people, but also to gaze at its pristine beach nestled against the
backdrop of the Twelve Apostles mountain range. By far, the cleanest city beach we’ve come across with numerous beachfront restaurants and shops, it’s an ideal base to explore Cape Town and the South-ern Coast.
The CallParts of Africa have a rep-
utation for being too wild for family travels. So long as we took the usual precau-tions, our family felt as safe as we have anywhere.
Kicking back in South Africa
David Rogers, Getty ImagesAn aerial view of Cape Town and Green Point Stadium, which will host matches in the FIFA 2010 World Cup. The event is expected to draw about half a million visitors.
Text SOUTHAFRICA321 to 11-2-11 to see more, save or share this story.
FIFA stands for: Federa-tion Internationale de Foot-ball Association, the sport’s international governing body
Tournaments have occurred every four years since 1930 (except during the Second World War)
Brazil is next to host in 2014
The 2006 final was estimated to be the most- watched sporting event in television history with over 700 million viewers. Italy won 5-3 over France in a penalty shootout.
Keeping Score Brazil leads the pack with
five World Cup victories followed by Italy (four) and Germany (three)
South America and Europe are tied with nine combined victories each
North American, African or Asian victories: zero
World Cup facts
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