Legends Golf and Safari Resort

Legend Golf & Safari Resort is one of the world's most eagerly anticipated Golf and Safari resort openings. Located adjacent to the Entabeni Reserve, and a mere 3 hours from Johannesburg, Africa's most talked about leisure venue has now unlocked the gates to its majestic monumental architectural Great Enclosure and is inviting golf and safari enthusiasts to enjoy the experience of a lifetime. As the Legend Golf  & Safari Resort Suites are built in the bush there are no fences or gardens within the resort grounds - just 210 wonderful rooms, built across the bush within the resort.

The suites, consisting of three or four individual bedrooms linked by walkways, offer accommodation of unmatched, timeless elegance dedicated to relaxation and reflecting the African wilderness.

Meetings:

Sofala Conferencing Pavilion
Under the gaze of the majestic Hanglip Mountain this pavilion has been specifically constructed with all the facilities expected at a resort catering for all conferencing needs.  The venue, seating 200 delegates, has all the facilities required to ensure a successful conference, event or exhibition.  Various wonderful breakout areas in the heart of the African bush are also available.

Monomotapa Banqueting Pavilion

Overlooking the majestic Monomotapa-style Great Enclosure and Amphitheater, this 300-seater pavilion, supporting the Sofala Conference Centre next door, caters for gala dinners, special events, exhibitions and conferencing dining.

Incentives:

·         Legends Golf and Safari Resort offers unique themed evenings at a plethora of dinner venues; the White Lion Boma, the cultural village, the Signature Course Club House, The Lookout Restaurant, the Glass Hall and bush dinners

·         “World-in-one” 18-hole Signature Golf Course and the unique Extreme 19^th

·         Malaria Free, Big Five game drives &  bush walk safaris

·         Helicopter flights

·         Traditional African entertainment and drumming sessions

·         Teambuilding activities such as archery, abseiling & target shooting 

The Extreme 19th Hole

A time to support these heroes and heroines

 I have reproduced this article published by Martin Lewis of Meetipie.  Big thanks to Martin for the support.



I write this blog from South Africa, a nation trying to play social and economic catch-up after decades of division and abuse of its people by Europeans.

Last week I visited Lions Sands Private Game Reserve (www.lionsands.com) as a guest of destination management company Green Route. This is a fabulous game lodge in The Kruger National Park which has been in the same family ownership since 1933. The More family take their responsibilities very seriously and focus on not one, but three 'bottom lines' - the other two being the ecology of the park and the communities in the area.

Lions Sands employs 85 per cent of its staff from the local community. Nearby Henna Pre-School used to look after 20 children in mud-walled buildings but since the turn of the century, with the involvement of Lion Sands, better facilities have been built and the number of children attending the school has risen to 250. Since then, Lion Sands’ involvement in Henna Pre-School has gown dramatically due to the need for basic education and healthy meals. Lion Sands co-ordinates projects for the basic upliftment of the school and its daily activities. As part of this they appointed Thembi Mdluli as facilitator to ensure funds are spent correctly. I visited Henna with Thembi and was astonished to see what she and Lions Sands have achieved.

This week I am lucky enough to be staying in more unadulterated luxury - a fabulous retreat called Bushman's Kloof in the Cedarberg Mountains of the Western Cape. All around us is an extraordinary sandstone moonscape with a river just a few yards from our room, its waters providing a babbling accompaniment to the wind in the trees. It is a heavenly place and Red Carnation Hotels - a family-owned group of top quality properties - has created something completely in harmony with its surroundings.

If you ever get the chance to come here, don't miss it. You can see the stunning setting at www.bushmanskloof.co.za. It is small, with just 17 rooms and suites, but it is big on conservation and cultural heritage. Like many such businesses in the region, corporate social responsibility is at the heart of the operation and the investment in CSR and conservation projects is significant.

Green Route again recommended this place to me. They, too, are actively involved in programmes that benefit the local community. One such is Gloria's Crèche, the informal name for Mazakheni Educare Centre, a tiny building in Cape Town's Khayelitsha township that provides love, protection, warmth, food and education for more than 100 young children up to the age of six.

I visited Gloria at the weekend because the registered charity which I chair - Meetings Industry Meeting Needs - has through Green Route funded the installation of a kitchen with equipment including a stove, to ensure the children could receive hot meals.

To say I was humbled by my visit is an understatement. Gloria is a hugely impressive lady who, together with seven helpers, provides a safe and secure environment for helpless youngsters. This provides the opportunity for both parents to work. Gloria charges the equivalent of £5 monthly per child and she provides three meals a day for these children. Do the sums - she has to pay her team out of this and they look after around 15 children each!

The stove we have provided has just four hot plates. Gloria and her team use these to provide food for more than 100 children three times a day! Gloria's Crèche has been such a success that she now has a waiting list of more than 60 children because her tiny building has run out of space.

Her next project is to provide a small outdoor play area with a climbing frame and swings so the kids can get some exercise. I will be asking my colleagues at Meetings Industry Meeting Needs to fund this, too.

Like many parts of Africa, the gap between rich and poor here is huge. People like Gloria and Thembi are trying to close that gap through wonderful projects such as this and they deserve our support. In a way, visiting alone makes a contribution because the arrival of conference and incentive tourists has a profound 'trickle-down' effect through the creation of employment. But if you can't visit and would like to make a difference, please go to www.meetingneeds.org.uk to see how you can participate.

I make no apologies for this brazen appeal in the season of Goodwill. Our industry already does a lot to help those less fortunate than ourselves. But we can do more.

I hope you have a great holiday.

Editor
MEETPIE

Green Route Team - spreading the Christmas Cheer!

 

This year the Green Route team decided to celebrate Christimas by getting together to make Christmas crackers for the children who will be spending Christmas at the Red Cross Childrens War Memorial Hospital. Some Christmas Carols, mince pies, sparkling wine .....and of course Kathy's famous white chocolate fudge biscuits.....all added to the fun!

Eat Out Awards

The Eat Out awards are something similar to the Oscars, for the foodies of South Africa. Last night they announced best restaurant, best chef and best service award, all which went to to Rust en Vrede in Stellenbosch. In fact 7 out of top ten are in Stellenbosch!

Eat Out Top 10 2010

It was a night of anxious anticipation and unexpected surprises at the 2010 Eat Out Awards when the judges named the country’s Top 10 restaurants from the list of 20 nominees.
Announced by Eat Out editor Abigail Donnelly in the order of their ranking, the Top 10 restaurants of 2010 are:

1. Rust en Vrede Restaurant
2. The Tasting Room at Le Quartier Français
3. Jordan Restaurant
4. Bosman’s
5. DW Eleven-13
6. Terroir
7. Aubergine
8. Roots
9. Overture
10. Hartford House

The most significant shift on the podium is David Higgs’s Rust en Vrede Restaurant, which went from last year’s third place to being named Eat Out’s Restaurant of the year. Other noticeable moves are The Tasting Room, which moved from last year’s joint 10th place to 2nd place, and Overture, which got bumped up to 9th on the list.
Surprising comebacks include Aubergine, which received the Top 10 accolade in 2007, Bosman’s, last featured on 2005’s list, and Hartford House, lauded with a place in 2008.
Brand-new restaurants to make the grade are George Jardine’s Jordan Restaurant and Marthinus Ferreira’s Johannesburg restaurant DW Eleven-13.
Happy Eating!

The Great Migration - Great pics!

Around October, nearly two million herbivores travel from the northern hills toward the southern plains, crossing the Mara River, in pursuit of the rains. In April, they then return to the north through the west, once again crossing the Mara River. This phenomenon is sometimes called the Circular Migration.

Some 250,000 wildebeest die during the journey from Tanzania to Masai Mara Reserve in lower Kenya, a total of 800 kilometres (500 mi). Death is usually from thirst, hunger, exhaustion, or predation.^[1] The migration is chronicled in the 1994 documentary film, Africa: The Serengeti.  

 

Dhow chasing goes global on the Mozambique coast

The Northern Mozambique Channel Islands have so much to offer. Naturally pristine and historically rich, they make an ideal destination for an incentive group or event. Rani Resorts have created a unique themed adventure - when Amazing Race, meets Survivor on a private Island, you get the most incredible experience of your life – Survivor Dhow Chasing. Here teams, or ‘crews’ will sail the turquoise waters in genuine dhows with their precious cargo of ‘hostages’, visiting a number of ‘hostage exchanges’ (pre-determined stops) where they will battle or bargain to retain or increase their wealth.

Also included is the option of the very realistic and true-to-format version of ‘Survivor’ where ‘tribes’ or teams participate in challenges that unfold to outwit and outplay in true dramatic format.

An added aspect to Matemo that makes this location so alluring is Ibo Island. Just 30 minutes away from Matemo, Ibo Island’s old fortress, complete with original canon on the battlements, conjures up visions so vivid it could be the ideal location for a Treasure Hunt. This unique teambuild challenge can be run from  Paradise Island (Location of the last real Survivor Celebrity SA), Matemo Island, Indigo Bay, Medjumbe Private Island and Vilanculos Beach Lodge.

Watch the Video 

 

Luxury New Train for KwaZulu-Natal

The Sisonke Stimela “experience” is a magnificently restored luxury steam train that offers a choice of  trips through the unspoilt splendour of the southern KwaZulu Natal Midlands and Drakensberg. The journey passes through grasslands, mist belts, indigenous forests and nature reserves, with this magnificent scenery being interspersed with traditional Zulu villages, allowing the traveller glimpses of African Life.
Sisonke, after which the train is named, is one of the 11 district municipalities in KwaZulu-Natal, situated in the south of the province and includes the southern most part of the Ukhahlamba Drakensberg National Park, adjacent to Lesotho to the west and the Eastern Cape Province to the south.
The Sisonke region is home to over 18 amazing Trappist monasteries and cathedrals built at the turn of the nineteenth century. Centecow Mission in Creighton is one of the largest mission centres established by the Trappist brothers with other better known missions being Reichenau, Emmaus and Kavelear. Built in 1894 Emmaus Mission was the very last major achievement of Abbot Francis and currently an art gallery is being built to feature the work of Gerald Bhengu, an internationally recognized artist with his artwork featured in public and private collections both locally and abroad.
There is choice of a 1 night or 2 night journey. With 21 luxury, air-conditioned suites, which were previously fitted by Rovos, and a 42-seater dining carriage, this could definitely be a great incentive option.

The train is based at Creighton Station, approximately 2.5 hours drive from Durban.
Highlights of the 2 night programme include:

• Off-train experience is based on story telling, local community entertainment and star gazing
• Dinner, weather permitting, is held off the train in true "Out Of Africa" style or if inclement weather prevails, it will be on the train in the dining car
• Visit to Sani Pass with lunch enjoyed on the "Roof of Lesotho" on the summit of Sani Pass

Highlights of the 1 night programme include:

• Off-train experience is based on story telling, local community entertainment and star gazing
• Dinner, weather permitting, is held off the train in true "Out Of Africa" style or if inclement weather prevails, it will be on the train in the dining car