Hermanus Summer Madness with Percy Tours - Update 15

DECEMBER 2006 – FEBRUARY 2007
Yes I know, I know - Christmas and NYE were ages ago, but we haven’t sent you an Update since mid December, so therefore - Happy New Year everyone and hope you had a great festive time. :-)))

Percy Tours has had a very very busy 3 months, as the South African summer season is here in total full swing, with afew days last week blasting us completely when it reached 35 and 36 degrees. We obviously dived for shaded cover or into the nearest swimming pool to cool ourselves down instantly. The good weather has been non-stop too, without a drop of rain for 8 weeks. So our gardens are now looking rather parched. (Well I lie, it did rain for 5 minutes on one day :-)))

Hermanus was literally rammed with tourists from mid-Dec to mid-Jan, when we were invaded by a staggering 220,000 people, which quadrupled our pretty and small seaside town of only 70,000 local residents. So to find a bed for the night, a parking space or a restaurant table during this hectic time was damn near impossible.

Antartica bound.
After 6 months of constant sex our Whales are now well and truly worn out, as well as very hungry, as there is no food for them here, so they have all now left our shores to swim back down to Antartica to gorge themselves on tons of krill, shrimp and plankton.

The record number spotted in ONE DAY in Walker Bay still stands at an astonishing 172 whales, in mid October 2006.

Summer swimmers.

Due to the warm summer, we have had our usual swimming visitors turn up, with pods of dolphin regularly playing in the bay. Other species recently spotted that you don’t really want to be swimming with have been Zambezi and Hammerhead sharks. Colonies of African Penguin have been molting their coats and are now back in the sea catching their dinners.

Interesting tours.

Tours with Percy Tours are never-ever boring and we can certainly say that about our fabulous clients too, that have jumped into our luxury minibuses for full-on adventures. We have been honoured to have escorted members of the Austrian royal family; 2 families of lords and ladies from Belgravia, London and a famous artist from Amsterdam who has organised art exhibitions for David Byrne from The Talking Heads, the flamboyant Vivian Westwood and David Bowie.

Other less famous but still extremely entertaining clients have included – many Russians, who’s tourist numbers have certainly increased this season and who most definitely know how to live life to the very fullest; many Irish, German and British golfing fanatics; 16 cycling crazy Americans and Canadians; shark diving nutty Australians and horse riding Norwegians. We also arranged a 21 day overland tour from Cape Town, via Namibia, the Skeleton Coast, Etosha safari park, Windhoek, Botswana, Okavango Delta, Chobe safari park, to Victoria Falls.

I even had a great surprise phone call from a friend from London who was staying at the plush 5 star Bay Hotel Camps Bay, who called me completely out-of-the-blue, so that I could take him and his lady on a Cape Point exploration – great to see them (hi John and Karin).

New ground covered has been numerous (as usual), but what sticks in my mind are – a Crocodile farm where there were over 10,000 of them lazily basking in the sunshine; discovered the delights of the South African Gold Museum (anyone got a huge credit account they wish to burn?); the National Gallery with some very weird and out-there art installations; explored more deeply the vibrant townships for totally ethnic African living, whos school kids are so funny to watch when a camera gets point their way; Wine quoffers by the lorry load, who have all enjoyed the delights of our incredible wines, while sampling olives, olive oils, wine drenched salami, cheeses and gorgeous honey. And to cap it all, there was the amazingly pretty wedding up at Moggs Country Cook House that laid on a spectacular spread, a Bedouin tent village with huge comfy lounge suites and kick-butt DJ dancing session.

Global Underground party.

Talking of kick-butt DJ sessions, we had a great time at the Global Underground party in one of Cape Towns monstrous warehouses, with that nutter Lee Burridge spinning tunes to a highly enthusiastic crowd of pretty and sexy Capetonians (including Ronel and myself :-))). This was all part of the Global Breakthrough events of 2 weeks of full-on clubbing nights that were arranged by Lovecapetown.com. A very well done to them for starting a new night clubbing destination to totally rival Ibiza. Winter sunshine clubbing anyone?? :-))) What with beer at £0.75 a bottle and so many outrageous activities between night clubs that you will be shattered and smiling from ear-to-ear for years to come? :-)))

World Cup 2010 – update.

Things are progressing slowly but steadily for the South Africa 2010 World Cup, with the final go ahead for the demolition of the old Green Point stadium to make way for the brand new 68,000 seater soccer stadium, as well as in Jo’burg big construction is still happening to construct the new Gauteng railway line which will run between Pretoria and Jo’burg, for footy fans to commute between games.

On another side issue, Fifa announced the exact dates that the 2010 World Cup will be held. Starting - June 11, 2010. Ending - July 11, 2010.

Absa / Barclays has, in partnership with local government and the Grootbos Foundation, made a huge contribution to starting work on the brand new soccer facility and stadium at Gansbaai.

This is the first ever Barclays Space for Sports project ever to be sited outside the UK and will form part of the Absa / Barclays Corporate Social Investment programme.

There are rumours about that this purpose build soccer stadium may be home to one of the 2010 World Cup countries. That will be very interesting if it is true.

Gansbaai is only 2 hours from central Cape Town and accessed by driving thro the beautiful seaside town of Hermanus, some 35 minutes away from Gansbaai.

Ship Wreck.

Please could we have all our belongings back? Thank you!

As you may have heard, the container ship Napoli ran aground off the UK coast last week with many tons of products destined for South Africa. VW South Africa had to announce that it will be reducing its work forces working hours from 5 days per week to 4 days per week, for the next 4 weeks.

This is due to the plant at Uitenhage, employing some 6500 workers, being now obviously unable to have enough raw materials for full scale production to occur, as the ship was carrying many VW parts on board it.

The plant produces 400 to 500 new cars daily, so this reduction of man hours will now mean that they will have a loss of some 1600 to 2000 units.

It was also carrying many oak barrels for the South African wine industry, as we are now in full scale grape picking and crushing here, so we desperately need all these oak barrels to put this years harvest into.

New Photos.

Percy Tours is always very busy taking loads of new photos of this incredible country. So please check out over 190 corking pictures at -

Over 190 amazing Percy Tours Photos

Enjoy!!!

Our website is going thro’ a huge amendment presently and will feature about 30 brand new pages and over 100 new pictures. So check it out in a week or 2 to see the new sexy looking website.

Thanks all and chat again soon,

Cheers Percy :-)))

www.percytours.com

Designer Tours of Cape Town, Hermanus and the whole Western Cape region.

Hermanus, South Africa, Percy Tours. Update 14

Update 14 – SEPT to DEC 2006.
Summer is most definitely here.
Thankfully the winter passed us by quickly and we are now in the middle of a full-on hot sunny summer, with daily temperatures hitting 25 to 30. Phew!!! :-)))

This has brought to Hermanus, Cape Town and Percy Tours, a bumper amount of tourists flocking to our spectacular part of the world. (And we still have at least another 4 months of summer to go) :-))))

Even the Whales joined in the action and were here in record numbers, with a monstrous 172 Southern Right Whales being counted on one day in Walker Bay in mid October (shattering last years record breaking count of 138).

The Hermanus Wine Festival in mid August brought coach loads of wine quoffers to the Wine Village. Local produce such as - olives, cheese, chocolate, meats and many other culinary delights were also on offer to all. Yummy!!! :-)))
The Fernkloof Flower Festival in mid Sept. delighted us all with its floral masterpieces.
The Hermanus Whale Festival brought over 20,000 fun loving and whale spotting folk in late Sept.

Recent nutty famous great white shark cage divers this month have been – Monica Seles and Barbara Windsor. (That would have been an interesting boat trip, if they went diving together) :-)))

World Cup 2010 update.

07/12/2006

It’s Green Point Common for the stadium, or Cape Town loses 2010 World Cup, the Cape Town city council said today.

Cape Town could easily lose hosting altogether any of the 2010 World Cup games, if it doesn’t build the 68,000 seater stadium at Green Point and start right now.

There is and has been, so much political rantings and arguments over this and that, that sadly no-one has agreed anything yet and if the “warring” decision makers don’t agree upon a plan immediately there is a possibility of Cape Town losing ALL its World Cup games to another city in South Africa.

There were light-hearted thoughts by Fifa that Newlands Stadium could take on the games but it’s got many disadvantages, including being too small.

The Executive Mayor, Helen Zilla, said today that “the provincial and national government have said that we must host a semi-final or we (Cape Town) lose 2010.”

On another side issue, Fifa today announced the exact dates that the 2010 World Cup will be held.

Starting - June 11, 2010.
Ending - July 11, 2010.

The continents that will have teams here are – 6 African, 12 European, 5 Asian, 1 Oceanic and 8 from the whole continent of the Americas. This effectively gives Africa one more team and Europe one less.

African qualifying games will start in October 2007.

Silly Season Tours.
Needless to say Percy Tours has been working manically on providing tours of absolute professional quality to many tourists.

We have satisfied many thirsty wine quoffers, with plenty of enjoyable Wine Tours of Stellenbosch, Hemel-en-Aarde in Hermanus, Franschhoek and all points inbetween.
Loads of new wines have just been released on to the market, some being extremely rare, been given high accolades by wine critics and are now very collectible. (With me buying some of them. Who would have believed it, I now collect wines, I must be getting old). :-)))

The new 2007 John Platter wine (bible) book, which reviewed over 4500 wines this season, is now on the shelves too.

With our fleet of luxury minibuses, we have recently completed over 12 individualised tours that each lasted over a week or longer, with one lasting a monstrous 3 weeks for an English lady living in Saudi Arabia, (Hi Louise); visiting all the sights and part-taking in all sorts of adventure sports, including - Micro-lighting over the whales, Dolphin watching boat trip and tree canopy rope swings - travelling from Cape Town, thro’ the Overberg to the Garden Route of Kynsna, Plettenberg Bay and Tsitsikamma.

Organised many events, all sorts of tours and accommodation for - a lady from Bombay, India; 3 nurses from New York; 2 Jordanian gentlemen; 3 great American ladies from Chicago who bought half a jewellery stores diamonds; a delightful couple from rural Somerset; 2 British sailing fanatics who embarked upon a 5 day yacht sailing trip around the Cape of Good Hope & across False Bay and then a 5 day zip around Hermanus; 2 nutty English ladies living in Dubai for a full days wine tasting; a family of 5 Swedes for a 3 week exploration of the Western Cape in November; escorting wives of international professional golfers taking part in the Nelson Mandela Golf Tournament in November at Arabella, Hermanus and chauffeured a wedding party of 40 South Africans in early December.

We zipped up to Clanwilliam on the West Coast in early September, to escort a family around the mind-blowing wonders of the West Coast Flower region, where at that time of the year the wild flowers bloom to create a huge natural carpet of colours and visit the ancient San rock art paintings.

We have conducted over 10 Safari and game viewing trips, including a big 3 day Safari tour in German, (for a couple who spoke very little English), witnessing many African animals jumping about in their wild environments of the Veld.

With the Ysterplaat Military Air Show in full swing, international Generals and Air Marshals wives decided to leave their husbands to play boys-with-toys and required some relaxation and recreation; so with 2 armed body guards in a dark windowed limo and an ambulance of medical staff in convoy; Percy Tours took them on an action packed journey with the Whales, explored the incredible local scenery, enjoyed much fine wine quoffing and indulged in great food at Heaven restaurant in the wine valley.

Royalty even graced Percy Tours, as we chauffeured Sir David & Lady Barbie Plastow, (who once represented Rolls Royce in South Africa), to a days whale watching boat trip.

We certainly enjoy a crazy and speedy team building Treasure Hunt and were more than happy to accompany a group of energetic young aspiring Cape Town solicitors last month.

In early November, Percy Tours took a group from the WWF (Worldwide Fund for Nature) on a whistle-stop tour of Hermanus and the surrounding countryside. We even did our bit, by donating R3,200 (£300) to their very worthy causes.

We also helped to sponsor a local adventurer to climb to the peak of the highest mountain in Africa - Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania.

(Apologises if we have left anyone off this run-down, who toured with us recently. It’s been one heck of a season.) :-))))

Friends aplenty.
In mid September, my mate Martin arrived for a 6 month stay. Then in mid November, we were visited (or should that be – were descended upon) by my mate Roger, his lovely lady Bev and his son Ben for their annual 3 week stay. Also at the same time, my friend Louisa arrived to experience South Africa too. (We first met on my 16 month world tour, back in 2000, on a 4 Land Rover trip of Frazer Island, Australia.)
This just gave Percy Tours an excuse (as if one was ever really needed) time to do some serious socializing and exploring the Western Cape with them all. The Backpacker bar didn’t know what had hit it either, as we arrived mob-handed and over ran the pool table for many crazy nights of silliness. This also coincided with my birthday party in my garden, attended by 20 mates who rustled up a feast on the braai. Yummy!!!

Eventful proceedings ensued – Great White Shark cage diving, Whale watching, Quad biking, Safari, 2 Wine Tours, a Brewery tasting, Sandboarding, Cape Town city centre visit, Cape of Good Hope & Cape Point day trip, Boulders Beach penguins, Betty’s Bay and many beach visits to sunbath & swim in the cooling Atlantic.

My first experience of Quad Biking was not only great fun, with everyone zipping along and creating a dust cloud after themselves, but as we were high up on a mountain range, the views were utterly incredible. I will certainly be enjoying this fab activity again. Roger enjoyed it SO much that, as soon as he got back to the UK, he went and bought himself a Quad Bike on ebay. If that isn't a seal of approval of a great day out, then i don't know what is :-)))

As you can probably gather, there really has been very little time for us to just chill-out, what with all this utter lunacy occurring at such a frantic pace. :-)))

Please feel free to view more than 170 photos of this incredible region at our photos website -

www.flickr.com/photos/51084760@N00/search/tags:percytours/

Percy Tours – Chauffeur guided tours in our luxury minibuses, Transfers, Airport & Restaurant door-to-door services, Wine Tours & tastings of all wine regions, Safaris & game viewing, Whale watching, Great White Shark cage diving, Quad biking, Kayaking with the whales & seals, Micro-lighting over Walker Bay, Penguins, Cape Floral Kingdom, all types of adventure sports and much more relaxing pursuits.

Over 300 tourist activities to choose from………..

Plus all sorts of day trips and longer tours – Cape of Good Hope & Cape Point, Cape Agulhas, Cape Town city centre, the Little Karoo, Garden Route, West Coast, etc……...

Corporate and Team Building events organised.
Accommodation researched, arranged & booked.

Have a fabulous Christmas festive season and Percy will raise a glass to you all, while we sit sunning ourselves by the swimming pool, zipping cocktails and munching on big Prawns, Ostrich and Springbok steaks.

www.percytours.com

Designer tours of Hermanus, Cape Town and the Western Cape region.

Hermanus & South Africa Winter has gone. Percy Tours Update 13.

UPDATE 13 – APRIL to SEPTEMBER 2006.

World Cup –

Even tho’ we at Percy Tours are not the greatest of club football fans, we sure do enjoy our 4 yearly indulgence of World Cup footy action, supporting the under-dogs to overthrow bigger footballing nations.

Being in Africa, we cheered on the African teams and much praise must go out to our 4 teams, who put some serious scares into the more established teams. So a big cheer goes out to Ivory Coast, Ghana, Angola and Togo.

With Germany hosting their perfectly organised games, many here in South Africa suddenly thought we had better get our skates on if we are to be ready to host our own World Cup in 2010. The South African press has (sadly) been slating its own country, by scare mongering, saying that we won’t be ready, but this Ladies and Gents is just sensationalised media propaganda aimed at doom and selling newspapers; when infact South Africa is already doing a mighty fine job at delivering infrastructural facilities – now!!

For example – South Africa already has its own World Cup logo designed and using it to full effect worldwide – when Germany only had its logo design ready 2 years before their games. South Africa 2010 merchandising is already on sale in many of the stores here too.  

In Jo’burg, the Finals stadium is already very close to being finished, with official announcements stating that the doors will be to open for action as early as OCTOBER 2006. It’s a marvellous state-of-the-art complex, with the facilities being extremely ultra-modern and high-tech.

The new Gauteng railway is already under construction, (a full year ahead of schedule) – this is the high-tech railway between Jo’burg and Pretoria to assist the transfer of football fans between games.

ALL the major airports are in full construction of new terminals and facilities – with Cape Town airports big new multi-story car park just being opened last month.

Cape Town is also constructing a brand new train link from the airport to the city centre, covering the distance of 30kms. This is some achievement as South Africa has a diabolic public transport system (ie. its non-existent) and roads are, for the majority, the ONLY mode of transport. So we all commend this project.

Cape Town has decided to build its brand new 68,000 seater stadium on the site of the current Green Point stadium, which will host many games, including one of the semi-final games. Located within a short (and safe) 10 minute walk of the magnificent V&A Waterfront complex – with its multitude of top-class hotels, (like the award winning 5 star - Cape Grace, Table Bay and Arabella Sheraton), 100’s of shops, restaurants, bars, a large craft market, cinemas, open air amphitheatre, access to Robben Island and many other tourist attractions.

However South Africa’s national side (called Bafana Bafana) is another story altogether and are currently a miserable shower, in comparison to other mightier African footballing nations, but we have a plan – South Africa has just employed the fine services of ex-Brazilian coach Carlos Alberto Parreira (4 times manager of a World Cup team, including Brazil who won under his managership).

He will certainly have his work cut out, but we are all urging him on to do a stunning job at turning around South Africa’s team. As a matter of fact there are many South African team members playing in major European clubs and this can only be extremely good for the sides training, skills, experiences and enthusiasm to be able to develop the national sides competitive edge fast.

More information when we have it.

See you here for some excellent footballing and partying in 2010 :-)))

Cape Town – A world class Movie destination? – Definitely!-

Cape Town has, for the last 5 years or so, been a mecca for the film and advertising industry, with over 48,000 filming licences being issued in 2005. The amazing scenery, long warm sunshine hours all year round, magnificent architecture and cosmopolitan cultures has attracted many to use the city and its surrounding countryside as back-drops for movies and photo shoots.

This is all about to explode into further attention with the proposed construction of the monstrous Dreamworks Film studios, about 15kms outside the city centre.

And on that note - Cape Town has been recorded to have the 5th best sky in the world, following the 1st expedition to measure the planets bluest sky. Measured by the UK’s National Physical Laboratory, readings were taken in 22 countries over a 3 month project to establish the place whose heavens had the best hue, brightness and colour.
Rio came 1st, Bay of Islands NZ 2nd, Ayers Rock Australia (Uluru) 3rd, Fiji 4th - San Francisco and London came last.

Great White Shark Attack -

Afew weeks ago, while on life-guard practice at Muizenberg beach, a young man had his right foot devoured by a rather hungry Great White Shark. He has recovered very quickly and has had many offers of medical help from prosthetic limb companies and physios.

Well, as we all know, if we humans continue to invade the territories (ie. the sea) of many of gods marvelous creatures, then we can hardly blame them for “reacting”. I mean, would you get out of your car if you suddenly spotted 20 lions in Kruger Park?

NO – should be your answer, unless you are stark-raving mad.

Needless to say, Muizenberg beach now employs a team of shark spotters along the nearby mountain range, equipped with walkie-talkies and all important remote control siren alarm activators.

Flowers in the Cederberg mountains -

Percy Tours has been on “walk-about” and recently explored the mind-blowing area of the Cederberg mountain range, where at this time of the year the wild flowers bloom to create a huge natural carpet of colours.



Not only is this area blessed as a Botanists heaven, but also there are San rock art paintings dating back to 6,000 years old.



These intricate and elaborate designs are beautiful and show “hunter-gatherer” drawings, ancient cave life and African wildlife.

Whales on their summer holidays -

Hermanus is THE place in the world to get really up-close and personal with Whales. Greenpeace and WWF have stated that here is the best spot to view Southern Right Whales. Last weeks aerial count spotted 100 in the bay and last years record-breaking count was a staggering 138 whales.

Please check out Percy Tours new article on our Whales, on our “What to See and Do” page, by clicking the “Read More…” next to Whale and Dolphin watching.

Percy Tours Whale Article

Percy Tours is also now listed on the Hermanus Whale Festival website as being the ONLY tour company to assist you in your Whale watching endeavours -

Hermanus Whale Festival

This years festival happens between 22nd September and 30th September.

Wines of South Africa -

Over the winter period, Percy Tours enrolled and successfully completed the Cape Wine Academy wine college course and is now accredited as professionals in the Cape wine field.

Not only that, but many new and award winning wines have just been released onto the local market, making our Wine Tours a very popular activity for many tourists. :-)))

In fact mention has definitely got to go out to 3 Canadian ladies recently – who between them managed to buy a whopping 26 bottles on a one day Wine Tour with Percy Tours – that has got to be a record by any-ones standards, the minibus was choke-a-block :-))) – and guess what, they took the entire lot back to Canada (in newly purchased suitcases) safely and with a minimum of added tax at Halifax airport by the Canadian customs police. Not one bottle smashed. That’s a mighty achievement. Happy quaffing ladies. :-)))

And infact on that day we also added our other minibus in convey to Stellenbosch, with 6 crazy Brits on board, who also bought an astonishing load of wine too. The Wineries utterly loved us that day :-)))

Percy Tours also has written a Wine article, to keep you all informed – check out our “What to See and Do” page and click the “Read More…” next to Wine Tours.

Percy Tours Wine article

New Photos gallery -

As you can appreciate, with all this intense action going on, we have been clicking our new 8 mega-pixel camera at everything imaginable – so check out our ever increasing excellent montage of South Africa by clicking our photo gallery website, where there are over 150 stunning pictures for you to consume – throw it onto “View slide show” mode for a full and delightful display –

Over 150 amazing Percy Tours Photos

Tours have exploded into action -

Yes, it may be only the start of spring and the tourist season but by heck has it been manic, with Percy Tours already completing 5 full-on tours in just 4 weeks (and many day trips too).

We are also starting to see a growing tread too – Single ladies on long holidays.
All power to them I say, as we have escorted 5 ladies around this marvelous part of the world on their own whirl-wind adventures. With just recently – one nurse from New York – Hi Amanda - one lady from Bombay – Hi Khushnuma and 3 ladies from Newfoundland, Canada – Hi Michelle, Carol & Christine – and recently booked, for a huge 3 week mammoth exploration of this incredible region - one lady from Saudi Arabia – Hi Louise.

But where on earth are all the guys? Do all the guys just consume way too much time spending their hard earned cash on cars, music, dvds, clubs and getting rat-arsed?? I have no idea.

Weather in winter -

Rain, rain, rain and some hot sunny days is what has occurred over the last 4 months, but this week has been much warmer and hit the 25 degrees mark today, so summer is here at last.

Our reservoir is now 100% full, so we are ready for the next 8 months of hot weather to arrive.

Other bits and pieces -

Hippos are now on the Red Data Books endangered species list, after 100’s have been shot and eaten in Zimbabwe.

On the Zimbabwe front – anyone travelling there should take note that the Zim dollar has suddenly just deduced 3 zeros off all their currency notes, so an old 250,000 note now equals 250.

Ginger Baker, ex-drummer of Cream and the Eric Clapton band has just bought a farm in Tulbagh.

Music – on my stereo at full blast are - Kasabian 1st album (can’t wait to hear their new album) , Arctic Monkeys (well done for winning the Mercury Music Award) and Hard-fi.

Percy Tours has now expanded its merchandising range to include - new t-shirts, jackets and sweatshirts and the new 2006 Percy Tours flyer is going down a storm at all our tourism partners establishments. :-)))

And a new and gorgeous addition to Percy Tours is the fabulously lovely professionism of - Ronel - who has taken over the duties of our tours in the Hermanus area. She is a Wine specialist and enjoys the incredible landscapes of South African nature and scenery.

Where are you now - For anyone that keeps getting constantly pestered by very annoying notifications and emails from www.wayn.com, I humbly apologise. Please delete these messages as this site has got to be one of the most un-user friendly sites in existence. It’s a complete nightmare to navigator or understand and I therefore apologise profusely for any inconvenience this site may have caused you. Please throw any emails you might get from these useless sods into your “block sender” folder, cos I want nothing to do with them, sorry, thank you and Cheers – DOH!!!!

That’s the lot for the moment troops – loads of love to all and chat every soon – Cheers :-))))

www.percytours.com

Designer tours of Hermanus, Cape Town and the Western Cape region.

Hermanus, South Africa. More action with Percy Tours - Update 12

Hermanus and Cape Town exploits.

Leopards in Hermanus -

Over the last few years scientists have spotted the paw prints of 4 separate reclusive leopards roaming in the vast and scenic Hermanus mountain ranges.
During March 2006 they released another 5 leopard into these hills.
These beautiful creatures have been released to breed with the other 4 and (hopefully) reduce the number of the local baboon troops, who regularly terrorise the dust bins of the Hermanus outer suburbs – hay that’s mans intervention into nature (once again) :-)))

Electricity Blackouts -
Cape Town and the surrounding area are currently under-going a period of electricity blackouts. The reason for this is that the nuclear power station, that has 2 generators, recently had a bolt “accidentally” thrown into one of them, which shattered its turbine. This means that only one generator is supplying electricity to the entire area, when 2 should be doing the job. The replacement turbine needs to be built and exported from France and will take about 6 months to be fully operational. When that is fitted, the other generator needs to be shut down, serviced and refuelled with new nuclear fuel rods. (The current ones are “apparently” the wrong type) DOH!! Square peg in a round hole any body??
So it’s all abit silly here presently. Candles, gas cookers, torches and petrol driven small generators have sold out in milli-seconds from local hardware shops, due to everyone exploring other forms of power. I am even considering solar panels to be put on my roof.

Wines to be savoured -
With the grape harvest well and truly complete, we only have afew more months to wait before the first wines of this season hit the shelves. With over 1,000 wineries in the Cape region, we are in for another quoffing bonanza.

A local wine tour with Percy Tours, would never be complete without experiencing the new and quite excellent “Heaven” restaurant. Bruce from the outrageous and highly acclaimed B’s Steakhouse, conjures up a lunchtime menu with so many mouth watering delights. Try his Babotie or Malay chicken curry or chilli steak – stunning!! Set on a high view point that’s so mind bending and beautiful, that you wish you could stay for eternity. (Should I start a local eatery review page??)

Cheese, wine, olives and food Festival -
Last weekend we investigated and indulged in the heady atmosphere of a food festival. Cheese was the main produce, but many other incredible delights were on offer, including wines, olives & olive oils, meats, champagnes, oysters, herbs & spices and much much more. Obviously we had to sample as much as possible - there's nothing quite like wondering around with a glass of excellent Pinotage, while munching on loads of delicious foods. Our cupboards are now full with our many fabulous purchases too. :-)))



Ground breaking Great White Shark journey -
Nicole the shark (nick-named after Nicole Kidman) recently was satellite tagged and tracked swimming from Gansbaai, (near Hermanus) South Africa, to the western shoreline of Australia and back again in 99 days. That’s an epic journey of over 22,000 kms. Scientists speculate as to why she did this (the shark that is, not Nicole Kidman – dopey!!), but as this was the first satellite tagged great white from here, then this can only mean that this species regularly makes this incredible journey.

Famous shark cage divers who have recently been here are -
Robbie Williams and Leonardo DiCaprio, with the King of Jordon partaking in his second diving session.

A new shark diving adventure, without the use of a cage in the open ocean, has just started. Viewing blues, makos and many deep continental shelf species. Its mad and a fabulous experience.
There are now over 100 fabulous pictures to entertain you at this site.

Even more beautiful photos of South Africa - Check Percy Tours new pictures at –

Over 100 amazing Percy Tours Photos

Musical excellence -
Cape Town was the place to be last month, with a full day concert of over 15 international bands playing over 12 hours, on 2 enormous stages. We were graced by the mighty Metallica headlining, Fat Boy Slim, Stereo MC’s, Collective Soul, The Rasmus and many more.

With over 10,000 music hungry nutters attending on a very warm day and a 3 hour queue for the over crowded beer tent, it certainly made for a mad day :-)))

Cuisine extravagance -
One evening we went to the fabulous Spiers (wine village) and had a highly indulgent meal at their Moyo restaurant – dining capacity of 1,800 people at one time, with a great range of foods served buffet style. Ethnic dancers and bands in all sorts of colourful costumes performed and played acoustic African sounds. The atmosphere is further enhanced by tree houses with large platforms and tables, water fountains and sculptural modern art features, huge sofa and cushion crash out areas, large oak trees draped in tiny lights and English rose maze gardens. A great evenings entertainment.

Running the gauntlet -
With over 20 or so forest fires in the region during the summer months, I actually witnessed one at very close quarters near Hermanus. High winds pushed the fire along at great speed and flames rose 100’s of metres into the air near a Shell Garage. A police escort drove us thro’ the flames and I was very glad to see the other side of that mayhem. All rather scary and damn hot. Phew!!!

Poor old Table Mountain had another fire hit it in February, which swept right across the cable car route and thankfully stopped at Devils Peak.

Ever changing weather conditions -
The Capetonians have a saying - that you can experience many different weather conditions in one day here - and that has certainly been true recently. With one very hot day hitting the 35 degree mark in early February and the next week it’s down to 15 degrees. Completely barmy.
Winter is on its way now tho’, with wind and rain starting to be a regular feature and the sudden need to get out the space heater and fleeces, to start up my little fire place and drink some corking red wines. For those in the northern hemisphere - Have a great summer everyone.

Extra curricular activity -
This month I decided it was about time I did some extra studying and enrolled to do the Tour Guides course. It’s a complex set of exams and covers (nearly) every South African topic imaginable – history, culture, politics, economy, health & safety in the work place - right thro’ to tourism, animals, geology, plants, climate – and all points inbetween. This is no easy walk in the park either, as they estimate it should take about 8 to 12 months of hard home study to complete. Fingers crossed all.

Recent Percy Tours designer tours -
March was quite a month and over a 12 day period Percy Tours escorted – a group of 6 UK nurses; a group of 3 UK Uni students and a Canadian lady around the many delights of the Western Cape. A trip last week involved chauffeuring a birthday party up to a game reserve, with champagne on ice for all. Wine tours have been very popular too – 4 crazy British people, 4 Dutch student teachers and a party of bonkers Swedish students. Another exploration of the spectacular Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens was a fab walk around, with the amphitheatre stage being fully constructed by the road crews, for 4 concerts by the king of soft pop rock Bryan Adams.

If you go down to the news agents today, you’re sure for a big surprise -
Yes Percy Tours has another juicier that hell advert in a gloriously glossy magazine – check out - Explore South Africa (issue 10) and fest your eyes on page 39. This magazine also goes into every SAA and Cathy Pacific airplane, is sent to over 300 travel agents in Europe, every foreign embassy in South Africa and given out free at the Durban Tourism Indaba in early May.

Cape Epic mountain bike race -
Just last weekend Hermanus was thrust into the international lime light, with the arrival of over 1,000 international mountain cyclists riding into town, for the Cape Epic Challenge. With their whole entourage of support staff, caterers, T.V. film crews on motorbikes and in helicopters, physios and following village of supporters adding another 3,000 people, the town was a buzz. The finishing line at the Hermanus, Old Harbour resembled a Tour de France spectacular. The whole race covered a distance of 921 kms over 8 days.



Come on – you know you desire an amazing holiday in South Africa with Percy Tours. Email us NOW!!!! :-))))

Cheers all, chat soon,

www.percytours.com

Designer Tours of Hermanus, Cape Town and the Western Cape region.

Hermanus & South African summertime. Percy Tours Update 11.

UPDATE 11 – South Africa Tourist Season is here.

September 2005 to February 2006.

Hello from an ever increasingly very hot and sunny South Africa – summer is here and it’s a scorcher. 25 to 30 most days and it hasn’t rained for 10 weeks. Yeehaaaa!!!!

Check out over 40 new Percy Tours pictures at –

Over 80 amazing Percy Tours Photos

But b4 we get to that, lets start with cuddly animals – and we all know which ones are Percy Tours personal favourites –

Great White Sharks -

Richard E. Grant, Ruby Wax, Colin Jackson & Amy Nuttel starred in the “Shark Bait” tv program, which was filmed here and watched by 3.6 million people in the UK on Sept. 4th. (Now available on satellite channels).

Shark Lady Adventures, who were the dive operators for the program, got literally 1,000s of emails and had a UK newspaper, the Daily Mail, here the following Wednesday, who wrote a double page spread.

Then a BBC Nature film crew were here afew days later to do some filming.

Then the “Jet Set” BBC National Lottery tv program was filmed here 2 weeks later and was aired to 10 million people in the UK. With another huge torrent of email enquiries.

Check out the BBC website for images of the winners in the cage –

www.bbc.co.uk/jetset

Afew weeks ago one boat witnessed the rare sighting of a seal kill by a great white breaching right out of the sea for its lunch. On another day they saw an incredible 15 different sharks on just one dive trip.

I have also been on 2 amazing trips recently to see these fabulous creatures. They are not the frenzied man eaters we are led to believe. Much more purposeful and genuinely inquisitive. Shame that their only way to investigate things that interest them is with 7 rows of razor sharp teeth. I mean have you seen a shark (or dog or lion) feeling things with its body ?? No, is the obvious answer.

If you are as equally enthusiastic about these beautiful and graceful creatures, then you have got to click to this amazing site – http://www.whitesharktrust.org

They have a Brad Pitt exclusive from when he was here in 2004, as well as news on a small great white at Monterey Bay Aquarium, with live webcams viewing many huge tanks and viewings of many large marine beauties.

Oohh and this advert is so cool – click it now for a good laugh –

http://www.whitesharktrust.org/arenavideoadd.html

Wildlife aplenty -

While travelling around this incredible country recently, Percy Tours has seen some new sights and amazing eye openers.

Witnessed the majestic courtship displays of over 26 Blue Cranes in one field, jumping about merrily, flirting their stuff to prospective partners. Dangerous Puff Adder snakes lazily sunning themselves on the road (which can easily grow up to 2.5 metres long and the width of your forearm, and are very poisonous indeed); in November, the aerial survey microlight planes spotted a new record of 138 whales in the bay; I got within inches of some very timid antelope – Eland, Kudu, Bontebok and Oryx, as well as 2 Rhino only 30cms away from me and had my eyes jump out of their sockets when I saw over 100 flamingos in our local lake.

Wild Fires gut the Cape region -

In January there have been over 16 out of control bush fires that have swept through the Cape region.

2 huge fires have very nearly burnt all the sides of Table Mountain, leaving it bald and charcoaled (one started by a 32 year British backpacker – who was arrested for manslaughter after the fire claimed the life of an old lady).

Even bigger news than that - we had a huge bush fire near Hermanus last week - it started near Napier (near Cape Agulhas) and spread along an area covering 70 kms long and at least 10 kms wide - it raged for 6 days and the smoke went out to sea, straight across Walker Bay and over to Cape Point – the fires only stopped when it went across the road between Hermanus to Gansbaai and got to the beach and hit the sea - Die Kelders (a suburb of Gansbaai) only just about escaped, with about 200 metres of ground between the edge of the fire and the first row of houses. People had to be evacuated for a day from their houses and the road was closed by police for 2 days. It destroyed not only vast areas for farmland and Fynbos but also claimed most of the 5 star Grootbos Nature Reserve. It has now left a huge eerie, sandy and chard landscape that is very bear and empty, which experts say will take at least 5 years b4 it returns to some state of normality. Newspapers claim it was set off by a farmer welding an irrigation pipe. Nutter!!!

This all adds up to a lot of destruction but is even more complicated by the Fire Brigade being on strike for the past few weeks.

Percy Tours organises personalised tours -

Well what a fab time we have had recently – Percy Tours has over the last 4 months organised and delivered 5 outstanding VIP individualised tours for European clients.

Check our new “Testimonials” web page for a run down –

http://www.percytours.com/testimonials.html

Some covering the enormous distance of 5000 kms. From the Mother City of Cape Town, all the way to Port Elizabeth and all points inbetween.

One tour (thank you Chris and Davina – we had a great time showing you the many sights of Southern Africa) even started in Victoria Falls, with Percy Tours escorting our clients there on helicopter flights, a safari trip to Chobe in Botswana, colourful and buzzing markets, river cruise up the Zambezi and elephant back treks.

With all clients opting to do so many different activities from - paragliding, tree canopy rope slides 25 metres off the ground, great white shark diving, whale watching, sandboarding, quad biking, kloofing, bungee jumping - to the slightly more relaxed pursuits of - very scenic river boat cruises through 1,000 year old forests, elephant parks where you actually touch them all over – have you ever felt behind an elephants ears b4 ?? If not, then you will do on a Percy Tour as it defies belief; Safaris to see all manner of wild animals in their natural environments; many spectacular deserted beaches, Cape of Good Hope, lofty mountain tops, deep canyons and gorges, immense fertile plains and valleys growing every crop imaginable; wine tours of Stellenbosch, Franschhoek, Hermanus, Bonnievale, Constantia, Ashton and Montagu; Eco rain-forest restaurant hide-aways; horse riding, pampered chilled out massages and 5 star luxury accommodation.

Cuisine decadence is never far away either – kudu, springbok in chocolate sauce, Kynsna oysters & champagne, warthog, ostrich, huge lobsters & prawns, cape salmon, eland, nouveau cuisine and a la carte, sushi, crocodile, all washed down with wines from the 1000 or so wine farms in the Western Cape.

It was great to escort by mum and her man Brian around for their 2 week non-stop tour. I think mum finished off over 8 rolls of film, crazily snapping away pictures of nearly every scenic view and wild animal.

My mate Roger (accompanied by his lovely lady Bev) came over for his 2nd time in a year to bask in the heady atmosphere of sun drenched South Africa. My kidneys needed some recovering after those hedonistic parties.

With my Dad and his fab girlfriend Judy, visited this fabulous country at Christmas to see what all the fuss was all about and left very elated indeed.

With Percy Tours having a further 3 tours booked & confirmed over the next 3 months, including 14 Italians for a 8 day trip and a group of 6 nurses from the UK.

18 Russians -

It was Percy Tours utmost pleasure to have escorted 18 fantastic Russians around the Western Cape over a 9 day period in early January. With 2 minibuses, 2 trailers, 3000kms covered, scuba diving amongst seals and cage diving with great white sharks. Visiting Oudtshoorn – Cango Caves, wildlife park (with it’s all new Crocodile cage diving facility), Ostrich farm and the magnificent Tsitsikamma for tree top slides and eco-tours of the forests.

And by heck did this lot know how to party – frozen bottles of Vodka drunk by the gallon, with the very best seafood of lobster and prawns and some mad dancing each night. Percy Tours was worn out just watching the utter mayhem unfold. Great fun!!

Currently Touring with -

In late January, Percy Tours zipped 2 friends from Devon (Tom & Sara) around Cape Town and the Overberg region for 2 weeks. Sun downers, big steak braais, township tours, dazzling markets, Table Mountain (luckily afew days b4 the huge fire engulfed the mountain), wine tours, on safari to see loads of animals, kloofing and sea fishing trips. They were so happy here that they kept insisting that they were going to stay forever. Fancy another lobster, a Amarula Dom Pedro or some more deep fried ice cream?

Time Out – Cape Town magazine -

Well it’s about time you went down to your local news agent, cos the all new Time Out magazine of Cape Town is on the shelves – and feast your eyes on page 22 as there’s an advert by Percy Tours in there. With a secret “Special Offers” website page for you to obtain some nutty bargains and freebies while here. Check it out folks!!

Percy Tours gives birth !! -

Well it’s a hearty congratulations to Percy Tours on the birth of our new arrival – yes we have a 2nd minibus, and not just any old minibus – this beauty has even more luxury than our 1st minibus. With even more power in the engine department and many more added luxury features – isn’t it about time you reclined into some real 5 star VIP treatment with us?

DJ sessions -

Pounding Purple Percy has immerged from a long slumber to rock 2 parties recently. Firstly a New Years Eve house party attended by over 40 adoring fans (cough cough !!) and a 30th birthday party on an isolated farm.

Needless to say much merriment and tom foolery was had by all, with not a single rotten fruit or vegetable being thrown at the stage thankfully, cos it’s a blighter to get off computer keyboards and amplifiers.

Percy Tours website continues to grow -

Latest additions to our website http://www.percytours.com are –

“Flights & Insurance” page with an affiliation with the much respected Ebookers.com, who now handle all our flights and travel insurance requirements for our clients.

“Testimonials” page with genuine comments from our past clients – honest :-))

“Partners” page with all our important business partners.

Many more luxury tours and activity schedules on our “Tours” page.

As well as over 40 new pictures on our "Photo" pages at –

Percy Tours Photos

Go on, spoil yourself with an incredible holiday with Percy Tours in South Africa.

See you here very soon :-))))

www.percytours.com

Designer Tours of Hermanus, Cape Town and the Western Cape region.

Hermanus & South Africa madness - Percy Tours Update 10.

PERCY TOURS in South Africa.

Hello all.

It’s been ages since I last wrote and theres a very good reason for that - the tourists (and the film crews, whales, elephants, lions and great white sharks) are here in big numbers - so yeeehaaa!!!

Percy Tours has been working SO hard that I have forgotten when I last ate or slept, let alone know what day it is. :-)))

NATURE FILM CREW - with a Shark with NO tail -
Firstly we had a fabulous Nature Film crew here for 14 days - they were a great bunch of lads and we had loads of laughs. Here to film the Great White Sharks and with an incredible 20 metre sea-water visibility, plus using the new Shark Lady see-thro cage, they got some unbelievable footage. Including a massive shark that had only a half eaten back tail fin and very bitten dorsal fin. God knows how it has survived to grow to 5 and half metres long, but it has – so if you see a National Geographic or BBC program with a monster great white shark looking unable to swim, then you know it was filmed in these waters and is very capable of looking after itself.

We will be linking to this Film Crews website when its up and running but watch out for any amazing underwater films by SHARK BAIT TV PRODUCTIONS, cos these guys are destined to make a big splash very soon – pun definitely intend :-)))

Helicopters were a-buzzing over head today due to the arrival of the King of Jordan – who decided that a shark dive was on the cards. So the list of VIP shark swimming nutters continues to grow day-by-day.

ROYAL SHAKESPEARE COMPANY -
And Percy Tours doesn’t just stop there when it comes to mingling with the VIPs of this planet, as we had one of the Directors of the Royal Shakespeare Company in one of our minibuses for a 3 day zip around the lovely sights of the Western Cape. And what a fabulous woman she was too. We laughed & nattered about everything and certainly sorted the world out many times. Our musical and art discussions were highly enlightening.

JAWS - the Movie -
Richard E Grant & Ruby Wax’s recent visit here was to film the 30th anniversary of the Jaws Movie, so please check your TV screens cos it was ALL filmed here and will be broadcast worldwide on SEPT 4th on ITV1 at 9pm.

And by heck get your hands on a copy of this months Africa Geographic magazine cos its got a 12 page article on sharks at Gansbaai – THE best place on the planet to see great whites – 1000 individuals have now been identified here over 5 years.
Check out our photos web pages for a look at a madman in a 3.5 metre kayak being stalked by a 4.5 metre great white – incredible what these scientists will do these days. - http://www.flickr.com/photos/51084760@N00/search/tags:percytours/

PERCY IS PREGNANT -

Well of course I’m not BUT my little minibus definitely IS pregnant – as she’s expecting another jazz blue minibus with Percy Tours insignia in the next few weeks - we are growing into a little family of luxury minibuses – so all together now - RRRRRRR bless her :-))))))) We are not too sure if it’s a girl or a boy minibus but its full of the joys of spring and highly energetic !!! With even more luxury accessories on board.

Saying that Mummy minibus didn’t feel too well last week and decided that she would give up the ghost - and after 3 days at the doctors we finally found out that she needed to have afew electrical wires moved about - kept cutting out at 100kph on the highway - which was well worrying at night - but she had a damn good doctor and is now fighting fit - yyyeeeeee!!!!

LONDON BOMBINGS -
Dunkirk spirit everyone !!!

It has to be said that my heart goes out to all Londoners (and to EVERY civilised person on the entire planet) that 07/07/2005 was a shockingly terrible day.

There really is NO excuse for such outrageous behaviour - EVER.

Use the tongue and brains god gave you and don’t ever fall to the lowest common denominator.

Freedom of speech YES. Freedom to kill innocent people NO.

Maybe Mr. George Bush needs a jolly good talking to as well.
Uuumm !!! Controversial………but true folks.

I could easily go on forever but know that 99.99999% of us all agree it was a revolting and horrific act.

And anyway, Percy Tours is here to reinforce that we should all be living a hedonist lifestyle of immense fun, sun, frolicking, holidaying and enjoying life to the very fullest – cos life is a full-on adventure playground and to be utterly savoured!!!

So horrendous stories aside lets concentrate on happy times and realise that life is well worth living to the utmost fullest.

So damn well get on with it !!!

GLASTONBURY -
Well I watched the net (clicking like a demented loony) for as much Glastonbury action as my little computer could muster. And Ooohhh how I felt for those poor sods who had to endue metres of water wash them down the hillsides of a farm in south-west England.

My mate Geoff and I have experienced 9 Glastonbury’s in a row and were rained upon for 2 Glastonbury’s in a row – and in those 2 years it never stopped raining for the whole 3 days that we were there. So you think you had it bad kids??

“Youngsters today, they don’t know they were born” – said the senile, grey haired old git in South Africa – severely worried he sounds just like many generations before him - hahaha!!!! Bring on the wheelchairs someone :-)))

Hope you all had a corker - if you were there - or watching it from the comfort of your armchair (with all mod-cons, like hot water and a flushing loo).

GET ON WITH IT - YOU FOOL!!! -
“So come on - what’s been happening down the other end of the planet Percy ??” - I hear you all shout.

Firstly the weather has been non-stop sun for the last 5 weeks – been hitting the 25 degree mark and of course we have been enjoying it - just like the summer in the northern hemisphere. (but obviously involving a lot less rain)

Secondly the Whales have arrived in large numbers to play, jump about and have some very large sex action off the coast of our lovely seaside town. You should see how frothy the sea is!! Hahahahah!! With 60 of these marvelous creatures being spotted in one day last week.

Thirdly I have finished my house extension – “What??” You all shout. “That’s quick.” And yes it is quick but with me being here, watching them nearly every second, they soon got the message that they were not here for some daft teddy bears picnic in the sun. So I (or should that be WE) now have a palace in paradise, which we can all enjoy, totally abuse, party in and chillout. Big new kitchen, 2nd bathroom and a huge 6 metre by 6 metre lounge/guest bedroom. Book your air tickets NOW folks!!!

I even fancy being a flash old git and installing a huge plasma screen TV and monstrous surround system – so I dare you, to dare me and it all might come true :-)))

MUSICAL BLISS -

Well WHAT a bumper month of excellent music – new albums by - Oasis (good) / Gorillaz (fab and a grower the more you listen to it) / Coldplay (another fab grower) / Limp Bizkit (mad rap-core at its finest) / Deep Dish (another grower) / Bloc Party (average) / The White Stripes (incredible as usual) / Thievey Corporation (fabulous chillout/house) / Supergrass (great pop/rock); with the latest Global Underground offerings by Sasha and Danny Howells being SO great – check out Playgroup’s excellent cover version of Depeche Modes “Behind the Wheel”)

AND this months shining star has got to be - Royksopp (always great) – with Track 8 “Circuit Breaker” AND Track 9 “Alpha Male” - BOTH having to be singles of such monstrous potentials that they have got to hit EVERY top 10 singles chart around the planet soon – watch them become classics of our times ladies and gentlemen - as they are both bound to get some outrageous remixes – amazing and I absolutely love them – play them VERY LOUD - NOW :-)) and that’s an order from DJ Pounding Percy.

For the mad & crazy Drum’n’Bass crew – get your hands on Fabriclive 18 - Andy C & DJ Hype - it will literally blow your head off your shoulders!! Incredible listening at 300,000 mph. “BBOO YYAAKKKAA and TING!!” Flipping BRILLIANT!!

While I have also been stocking up on some old classics by The Ramones (1,2,3,4 everyone), AC/DC and other throw back bands from the 1970’s and early 80’s (which makes me feel like I either LOVE and know alot of good music when I hear it, or I am an ageing rocker, who should curl-up rather rapidly. I think the former applies :-))

Ooohhh and I can totally recommend you get your hands on a fabulous chillout album – check out - Felix Laband “Dark Days Exit” – a brilliant South African export – (some dark and moody tunes, some serious smoking music and some down-right weird, with toilet flushing sounds) – but all very great and worth obtaining – so search it out. Been obtaining some amazing reviews across the planet too.

FIRST OFFICIAL BOOKINGS FOR PERCY TOURS -
Champagne in hand everyone – Percy Tours has not 1, not 2 but 3 individualised tours now booked with 3 groups from the UK, thro our website - www.percytours.com.
10 days each tour – one in Sept, one in Oct and one for March 2006.

Plus we really are giving the 5 star treatment to our customers these days, as we are obtaining a very large amount of business from the 5 star Marine Hotel in Hermanus, which has been the resting place for such rich humans like Brad Pitt.

WEBSITE FRANTIC ACTION (and Marketing) -
And our website has been having some amazing hits recently too – 13500 hits in July and 11500 in August.

Plus on the 1st October go down to your local newsagent and get your hands on a copy of the brand new Time Out Cape Town 2006 magazine, cos we have a big advert in there – as well as being the only Tour Operator in the Western Cape advertising in it too – check out our new Special Offers new web page for great activities at crazy silly prices (or even FREE – yeah free)

While we also now have up 7 new Tour Packages that cover many great things to immerse yourself into while you are here. http://www.percytours.com/tours.html

And if you go to our Security and Safety page you will see that we have enlisted Netcare 911 for instant medical air evacuation assistance (god forbid we ever need it)
http://www.percytours.com/security.html

Next month we will be joining forces with EBOOKERS, so that all your clients flights and travel insurance requirements are well and truly catered for.

And if anyone can get their hands on any email databases, then we would be very grateful, as we are about to hit our database with a lush and sexy newsletter.

Even more pictures on our Flickr website too - http://www.flickr.com/photos/51084760@N00/search/tags:percytours/

AND JUST TO CROWN A GREAT FEW MONTHS -
We have just been on an incredible Safari.

This park is a massive, covering a whopping 540 square kms (54,000 hectures) of animals jumping about.

Elephants with little babies that are oohh so cute that they still don’t know what the heck their trunks are for and keep stepping on them; loads of antelope like zebra, springbok, kudu and giraffe; hippos; rhino; lions; cheetahs; tons of huge eagles and water birds, and accommodation of 5 star splendour, with spas and pampering, infinity swimming pools and food to make you just want to live there forever.

More nuttiness from this end of the planet soon.

Loads of love to all.

“South Africa explorer” Percy

www.percytours.com

Designer Tours of Hermanus, Cape Town and the Western Cape region.

Hermanus and a slightly cooling South Africa. Percy Tours Update 9.

Mid April to 3rd June 2005.

Hello everyone around the world,

Hope you are all very well and mighty fine.

It’s that time again for some more silly antics and daft stories from Percy Tours down at the bottom of Africa, which now has afew chilly and windy days mixed with some warmer sunny intervals in the Western Cape.

Durban Tourism Conference Indaba.

Well Percy Tours thought it was about time that we went on our 1st business trip, so off we jet to Durban and a massive Tourism trade show. This enormous Expo showcasing all of Southern Africa’s major tourist attractions, from Safari lodges and game parks to wines, helicopter trips, adventure sports, many amazing accommodation establishments and all points in-between.

It took us afew days to explore the whole show, while collecting a monstrous bundle of information brochures that will take us weeks to read thro. There were many parties where the free food and booze just didn’t stop being offered and being a complete gentleman, it would have been very rude to have declined their kind invitations, wouldn’t it? While venturing out to afew of the city’s night clubs too – all in the name of research and networking you understand :-)) Needless to say we met many interesting and important future contacts.

Even tho' we are only an hours flight from Cape Town, the weather and scenery are vastly different - sunny, warm and humid, with enormous fields of banana plants and sugarcane. On one day we decide to drive down the coast and admire the views; then cut inland to venture thro the amazingly pretty Valley of 1000 Hills, with small homesteads scattered across this most picturesque landscape.

In Durban there is a marked difference in cultural mix compared to Cape Town, as in the 1800 & 1900s many Indian workers were employed in the sugarcane fields. Their descendants are now the majority of the population in this part of the world, so some damn fine curries are to be had here and I have to say that curries are about the only thing I really miss from London. Spicy poppodums being the top of the list. Yummy!!!!

Tours.

Even tho' the tourists are a slightly rare sight nowadays, we have been kept busy with day trips to Safari parks, wine tours, Cape Town excursions and another corporate team building day, which involved us zooming around the staff of a South African medical company for 6 hours, on a Treasure Hunt of Hermanus. Wickedly funny, especially the blindfold food tasting and them having to decorate a cake, then go and sell it for as much money as possible to some unsuspecting punter down Hermanus main road. With that money then having to be used to buy as many items as possible in a super market which we then took down to the Township kiddies charity shop. The quad biking session on a wine farm was just as entertaining with everyone burning rubber and throwing up dirt into competitors faces.

Safari Drive.

I totally love Safari drives and relish the times I am able to do them. The game park we visit have some new arrivals – with many baby giraffe, zebra, springbok, buffalo and wildebeest hopping about. They have also just introduced a new species of antelope to the park, called Lechwe which are already breeding very successfully and originate from Botswana’s Okavango Delta region.

They are also eagerly awaiting the births of some cute cheetah and the slightly larger arrival of a baby rhino. These will be fabulous to see, as we all love baby animals and instantly go AAAAA!!! The baby cheetahs will have to be hand reared at the lodge, as they would be killed by the male adults if they were left inside their enclosure. So I am really looking forward to seeing them being bottle feed and hopefully being allowed to stroke these little cuties. Many photos to be will be taken at that event, you can bet.

Percy Tours recent developments.

Life never stops here as we have just had delivery of our 1st batch of Percy Tours official merchandising – some very wacky and eye-catching t-shirts.
Our merchandising range will expand over the next few months as we have some great ideas to put into practice. The minibus will have its sides splattered with corporate insignias next week and we have been busy with updating a very useful website for a pictorial montage of Percy Tours. Enjoy!!!

So please feel free to click the following link for a good look –

Flickr.com with 38 new pictures, spread across 4 pages - http://www.flickr.com/photos/51084760@N00/search/tags:percytours/

The "View as slideshow" button on the top right of the page, is an excellent way to see them all in their utmost glory.

One major item that will be ready in a week’s time is a fun, informative and hard-hitting Percy Tours promotional DVD, which has been put together by one of Cape Towns most respected Production Editors. Pumping music sound track, fast flowing and covering many different activities, which will also be available for download too.

Computer misery - Trojan Horses.

We all think our computers are safe – especially us at Percy Tours who weekly update Nortons, Windows Updates, Microsoft anti-spy, Spybot and many other protection programs, but 3 weeks ago I got hit by a Trojan–bloody–Horse, that turned into 3 – arse is all I can say. It’s all been fixed now but it seriously slowed down my computers running speed for afew days.

Sucking on a plastic manikin anyone??

As part of becoming a registered tour company and official tourist drivers, we have to perform mouth to mouth with a plastic torso. Uumm not my idea of fun as 1st aid courses and blood are not my most joyous of activities, but we made it thro the 2 day course and came out with shining colours for being able to practice life-giving kisses.

Lets Rock!!

It’s fairly rare to have big international rock stars grace this part of the world, so when Avril Lavigne decides to rock-up I jump at the change to practice my air-guitar moves. With me is a South African friend who has a small entourage of 5 highly excitable 13 year old girls; so we all bundle into my minibus and zoom off to have our ears blasted. Upon arriving it seems that the whole place is a wash with tons of young teenagers being escorted by their mums and dads, so the screaming and squealing are more ear-piercing than the bass speakers on stage. Great fun and very entertaining. Avril was booked to do a shark dive but cancels at the last minute because she is worried about getting a cold and does not want to spoil her singing voice.
All together now – “aaaaaaaahhhhhhh!!! Poor diddums!!!”

New Listening Pleasure.

As with every month i do my best to keep up with the new album releases that hit the high street shelves. So off i go to CD Warehouse in the Victoria & Albert Waterfront and purchase - Mylo - fabulous house (track 7 is the one that got me jumping) / Queens of the Stone Age - marvelous rock / Hot Hot Heat - more chart friendly rock but still damn good too.

Trying to find “Love” in paradise!!

We should always make time to do something new and this month has been no exception. One of my mates introduces me to an internet dating website called Thunderbolt City. This is my very first time at this ever increasing popular global activity, so it’s with trepidation that I boundly step forward.

And oohhhh my, what incredible fun this new past-time is. There certainly seem to be a large number of single ladies in the Cape Town area and after filling in all my personal details I start to search for a “match”. Within about 3 days I have 10 “fans” who all like what they see in my details - I mean are they all mad or desperate – or just blind drunk?? Hahahahahahah !!!!! So I start to have ever increasing longer and longer email chats with afew that I find equally attracted to.

One lady totally stands out from the crowd – nicknamed London Girl – we have a right laugh writing to each other, being highly witty, sarcastic and damn right daft and after about a week I pluck up the courage to ask her out on a date.

She is 36, tall, from London, been living here 18 months and started her own charity to help disadvantaged children with special educational needs, who have been effected by Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (which is when the mother drinks alcohol all the way thro the pregnancy and therefore seriously damages the baby). This is very brave work indeed I am sure we will all agree.

So we arrange to met up for a coffee and take it from there. After about an hour we suggest it’s about time for a proper drink, so we go to a nearby comfy hotel bar and slowly start sipping some fabulous South African white wine. We can’t stop talking and natter on and on and on for 6 hours, with us getting on like a house on fire.

We say our good-byes and know we will be in contact very soon, although she is off to London for a month very soon.

More on how this develops in next months Update. :-)))

Press Launch for a new Tourist Product.

One Friday evening we are cordially invited to The Gecko bar for the press launch by The Shark Lady, who originally pioneered shark cage diving here in Hermanus in 1992, which has now become the worlds Mecca for all enthusiasts of this incredible activity.

Tonight she is presenting to the local press and important people in the tourism trade her new concept – a totally circular plastic cage. Now you might think that’s not that ground breaking, but as all the other 7 dive operators are still using square metal cages, this is a new idea. One of the unfortunate things with square metal cages are that they are not that shark friendly, as one of the sharks many senses is to detect magnetic fields and obviously metal plays havoc with this sense. Being circular there is no way that a shark will ever injure itself on any part of this new cage. There is also another important aspect for us humans who will venture into this cage – you now have no visible protection from a 6 metre shark that is coming at you like a speeding train, as you are suspended in the water looking thro' clear plastic. This will greatly enhance the thrill of shark diving and I can’t wait to get in it myself.

The following day she has a movie film crew and 4 famous UK entertainers arriving to try out this exciting new piece of kit.

Ground breaking news. 3rd June, 2005. Roving reporter in the area.

Today I was wondered around the town centre, just going into a shopping centre when who should be going the other way – Richard E Grant, Ruby Wax & Colin Jackson – the 4th member of this filming session was not with them……so more on this world exclusive when we have it.

In fact there is more - they are all here to film Shark Bait, a program to be aired in the UK on 4th Sept (the 30th anniversary of Jaws movie). They will all be diving with Shark Ladies new see-thro' cage.

Good News.

Afew weeks ago I got a great email from my mate Cicely, who I first met in Cape Town in 2001. She’s been back in Newcastle, UK for the last year, but is on her way down to Cape Town in early July. So that will be great to catch up with all our gossip.

Building Work.

And on the 13th June I start to have my house extension started. This could be hampered by the rains as it seems to be not the warmest or driest weather down here at the moment, but that won’t stop me cracking the whip.

That’s about your lot for now, so chat soon and for those of you up there - enjoy the summer and festivals in the Northern Hemisphere.

Cheers

Percy “Intrepid Explorer of South Africa”

www.percytours.com

Designer Tours of Hermanus, Cape Town and the Western Cape region.

Hermanus & South Africa partys. Percy Tours Update 8.

20th March – Mid April 2005.

Well things here have been busy as hell, been running around all the local important tourist businesses - hostels, wineries, hotels, adventure shops and restaurants distributing my lovely new flyers and presenting them in individualised Perspex holders that fit very nicely on reception desks. Have had many enquiry calls, with afew turning into business, so fingers crossed that theres more.

Business, starts slow and then goes crazy :-))

Didn’t have that many shark transfers during late March, as it appears that the shark diving was going thro a very slow period (for 2 weeks). As well as Hermanus Backpackers being quite empty too.

Then in early April we had a mad flurry of business, so it appears that tourists turn up at all different times of the year. And things can only get better as the May to August season has by far the best visibility for sharks (up to 25 metres of clear water) and of course the whales will be returning then too (June to Dec) to frolic, mate and give birth in Walker Bay. As well as a number of international wildlife documentary companies are booked with some of the shark operators here. So Percy Tours hopes to be transferring them around for their whole time here.

Late News Flash.

We might have a 5 day Movie Film team to transport about at the end of May. 4 famous actors from the UK and an entourage of 35. Not confirmed yet but that will be marvellous if that it comes off.

Hyped rubbish??!!

One bit of worldwide news has been that a guy from Cumbria in UK (Mark Currie) who went on a shark dive afew weeks ago (we are not too sure with which company in Gansbaai yet) has been selling his story of his dive to the worlds press (very probably a huge sensationalised story), but he claims that when he was in the cage a 6 metre shark attacked the cage by biting into it and destroying one of the floatation buoys, then it came back to take another huge bite out of the same side of the steel cage, (yeah right of course it did mate - NOT!!!) then attempted to jump into the top of the cage and tried to attack him from the open top, missing him by cms.
(Utterly laughable!!!)
The boats captain then (it’s claimed) hit the shark repeatedly on the head with a metal bar. The story and some of the early footage is on film and available at the BBC website, but it (very handily) doesn’t show it jumping on top or the captain hitting it.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/lancashire/4382621.stm

Well as you can imagine the other local shark operators have gone absolutely mad over this story, as not only does this go against all the very strict safety practices but the captain of the boat should never have to hit a shark with a metal bar for starters and to allow the shark to jump onto the cage with someone in it is just madness. A shark would have to leave the side of the boat, circle around and come back again & again for each activity that’s been claimed happened. It’s not one single movement.
This gives the worlds press even more ammo to kick this lucrative tourism attraction in the teeth.

Late News Flash.

We found out 2 days ago that the Head of the official Great White Shark Wildlife Protection agency here in Hermanus has gone to the UK to actually start legal proceedings against Mr. Currie. Uuumm very interesting!!! Be that a warning to all you quick buck earning hopefuls.
More when we have it.

Percy Tours Photo Site.

And how’s this for a corking photo sharing website – Flickr – Please check out Percy Tours enters on this site for a great view of what it’s like to be in the very BEST playground on earth –
http://www.flickr.com/photos/51084760@N00/search/tags:percytours/

Well all this comes to you from a very select bunch of news and internet savvy gents.
So if you ever want to know something about anything??

Well sod asking that useless git Jeeves – cos lets be honest he knows sod all about anything really and he takes 6 years to get to the right answer – come ask your friendly Percy search engine – and by god we will give you exactly the answer you want to know. Need to know how many litres of milk a baby whale drinks per day? No!! Well how about – which lucky creature orgasms non-stop for half an hour? Or which mammal has sex non-stop for 24 hours? Or how does an elephant really die and do elephant grave yards actually exist?? Or which creature actually has 2 penises?? Or which creature has the largest sexual organs compared to its body size?
Ask and we will tell you straight.
Or maybe not, as we are too damn busy doing other much more important things :-))))

More Shark Action.

The local shark diving businesses continue to get even more famous people visiting this lovely part of the world – new arrivals recently have been – Colin Farrell, Christopher Lambert, Sting, IT Tycoon Mark Shuttleworth, Stefi Grafi, the lovely Cameron Diaz and her toy-boy Justin Timberlake. While Brad Pitt on his recent visit started property hunting for a mansion, and we found out today, has actually bought a new “hut” on the beach – so I spose Ms. Jolie will be organising the house maids now, seeing as he has stupidly thrown in the towel with Ms. Aniston. I mean which one would you lads rather have curled up with you at night – and the wrong answer is not both of them!!! :-))))

And the heavens opened.

I know what the UKs weather is like – rain, rain and more rain – well get this – last Friday it started to throw it down – and didn’t stop until Monday morning – this was not your usual drizzle but horizontal rain drops the size of ball-bearing. And good god it was relentless. We received over 2 inches (4cms) in this short space of time. The official average rainfall for the whole month of April is 41mm – the local reservoir increased from 45% full to 70% and many roads were closed due to landslides – I went along one of these roads a day later and you should have seen the debris – 100s of rocks the size of cars and trees up rooted everywhere. The huge Hermanus lagoon was so full that the army had to be called in to remove a 50 metre section of Grotto beach so that the overflowing lake could escape into the sea.

This huge storm knocked out the town’s electrics, the phone and internet systems. So I frantically unplug the entire office just in case we get a lightning strike at PT HQ as we could easily lose our whole network and its valuable equipment. Yeah we do have surge protectors but its better to be safe than sorry I say. Thankfully these storms only hit once every 2 or 3 years.

My garden had 2 lakes suddenly appear and I thought that I would have ducks and geese making a home here. The roof just about held up – but at 6am one morning I had to get afew buckets and cooking pots out to catch some drops.

Very welcome surprise.

My fab mates from the UK send me a parcel for my 40th birthday (which was last Nov). I have no idea what it is (which is always the best type of surprise). And upon opening it find an excellent video camera lense, which connects up to my Sony digital camera.

This beauty is a small cylinder with a long lead that can be strapped to a helmet or mounted to a bike frame, a riders arms, legs or any body part, with the Sony video camera being carried in a rucksack, but that’s not all – this fab camera can go under water to depths of 12 feet too – so shark videos will now get a great shoot in the arm and will never look the same. I intend to get a long steel pole to attach it to for some great new shoots.
Check their website for a look – http://www.viosport.com/

And another (nearly) equally welcome surprise was the delivery of 4 huge bags of Twiglets and 2 big pots or UK Marmite – Yummy!!! – Yeah, we do have Marmite over here but it’s not the same.

Corporate Business.

Well it does appear that our Percy Tours flyers are finally doing the trick as we start to get some genuine enquires during the middle of April.

Afew weekends ago we were very busy with a group of 32 clients in 4 minibuses, (plus another tour company had 2 more minibuses of 8 clients each too). They are all on a corporate event from an Asset Management company in Cape Town.

During the morning we zoom them around to do kayaking and sailing, while in the afternoon we have a “treasure hunt” where each group of 8 were given clues to places to discover around Hermanus – 1st stop - a blind fold taste and smell competition at a restaurant. After completing each task correctly they get their next clue to solve.

This was amazing fun and some damn right dirty tricks were played by all sides – from calling other minibuses to say that there were police speed traps around the corner, to completely blocking the other minibuses in at car parks so that their bus could zoom off quicker. One minibus decided to totally cheat at one location by saying that they had completed the task of viewing various famous landmarks without actually seeing them. All our drivers got right into it too – with some hair rising driving – one nutter overtaking a slow moving Police car at about 80kph in a 40kph zone. Lucky he didn’t get a ticket. I came 3rd.

More business in the pipe line.

This week we get a call from the manager at a local retirement village that only opened at Xmas and are literally 300 metres away. They also have a corporate seminar building that regularly has events held there, with 40 bedrooms decked out in a Holiday Inn style. 2 swimming pools, a snooker room, gym, big restaurant and beauty spa.

So I go off for a meeting with them and after a chat they decide they want us to do 2 major jobs for them – 1st is take their residents on weekly tours – these will involve many different activities, from cooking courses, pottery, painting, bird and wildlife viewing, photograph courses, wine and beer tastings, fishing trips, scenic road trips, river boat cruises, golf courses, craft markets, art festivals, tours of the local abalone hatcheries (huge business as the Far East consume tons of the stuff), tours of flower farms (that’s another huge business here, as that’s what you see in your local supermarkets), hikes in the local mountains and nature parks etc. Thankfully all their residents are very sprightly, with the average age being about 55 to 65. This is a retirement village not a frail care home, so absolutely no pushing wheel chairs around for us – phew!!

The 2nd job is to take their corporate clients on much more adventurous pursuits – and there is literally tons to choice from – shark dives, abseiling, mountain biking, canoeing, paragliding, scuba diving, sailing, kayaking, sandboarding, horse riding, quad biking, 4x4 trails, yachting, sky diving, shooting ranges, microlight flights etc.

So there’s loads to be achieved there.

Business trip to Durban.

Every year for 5 days, the city of Durban holds a large conference & trade fair called Indaba, to promote tourism in SA. Well Percy Tours are right up for some of that, so on 6th May we jet off to promote ourselves. There is rumoured to be a 4 fold increase of foreign buyers from Europe, North America and Oz turning up this year.

We are currently printing up Percy Tours t-shirts to parade around in as well as taking the laptop armed with loads of our details to showcase to prospective clients, DVDs, digital camera and as many flyers and business cards as we can carry.

Should be great to met and network with a myriad of new contacts.

Sightings along our shores.

This month there have been a few dolphin sightings and some Bryde Whales around and behind Dyer Island.

Pods of 20 to 30 Humpback Dolphins and 2 to 10 Bottlenose Dolphins have been sighted, with both species being near the surf zone where they hunt small fish.

Afew Southern Right Whales has also been seen but it will be several months before they return in greater numbers. Recent bird sightings have included – Sub-Antarctic Skuas, Sooty Shearwaters, Giant Petrels, Cape Gannets, Oystercatchers and Swift Terns. The African Penguin (Jackass Penguins as they were called until recently) and Swift Terns have taken to their new man-made artificial nests on Dyer Island, with breeding numbers up from last years survey.

Over the last 5 years scientists have also counted over 1000 different individual Great White Sharks. This fantastic animal was recently classified as an endangered species and has therefore put this animal on a NO hunting/fishing list by humans anywhere in the world.

And today’s Shark Divers saw 10 sharks – which is an amazingly high number.

Plus I am not sure if you are aware that the Western Cape has just been elevated to World Heritage status.

While today I had to invest in a big space heater and an extra duvet to wrap around myself. BBBRRRR!!!!!!! Well Antarctica is the closest land mass after all.

Hope you have enjoyed this edition of Percy Tours Updates – more in a month’s time.

Cheers

Percy “Swimming around in so much rain water that its time to invest in some big wellie boots and an 8 mm wetsuit”

www.percytours.com

Designer Tours of Hermanus, Cape Town and the Western Cape region.