Hermanus & Cape Town - Newsletter 20 - Percy Tours

This Newsletter is rammed full, so happy reading it all or you will most certainly miss out on loads of interesting & important info :-))))


Hermanus wins the “Town of the Year” competition

After 3 months of frantic voting from across the entire country of South Africa, Hermanus has won the coveted award of “Town of the Year in South Africa” via the Rapport national newspaper, who’s readership is over ½ million South Africans.

The prize for this award is not only loads of media coverage but also that our local Tourism board will attend the DSTV & Gateway Magazine travel show in Jo’burg in September 2009, where they will be given a large stand for free to promote our delightful seaside town to the amassed crowds. (Last years attendance at this show was 535,000 people.)

Hermanus also won the prize, run by Cape Town Routes Unlimited, by being voted as one the “Top 10 must-do-events in South Africa”, for our annual Whale Festival, which is held in late September each year.

USA visits South Africa
In mid-September 2008, 110 NBC American basketball stars visited Jo’burg to bring “Basketball Without Borders” to inspiring & aspiring young South African kids to show-case that there are other sports out there on the planet than soccer.
South Africa’s Wines keep winning awards

South Africa swept the board at the Decanter World Wine Awards on September 1, 2008, reports Adam Lechmere.
In an evening full of surprises, South Africa emerged triumphant from the Decanter World Wine Awards. South Africa won 12 Regional Trophies & an amazing 6 International Trophies – among them the International Bordeaux Varietal Trophy (Under £10) & the International Rhone Varietal Trophy (Over £10), Cederberg Shiraz won in the Rhone category, while Amani Vineyards Cabernet Franc-Merlot took the Bordeaux Trophy.
Only 26 International Trophies are awarded. The only other region to come close was Australia with 4 – but it entered hundreds more wines.
Against intense competition South Africa swept the board in Chardonnay, winning the International Trophies in both the Under £10 & Over £10 categories with Paul Cluver Elgin & Rustenberg Five Soldiers respectively – beating the best that the Burgundy, Australia & Washington State could offer. Then South Africa took the International Sauvignon Blanc Under £10 Trophy – beating top Chilean & New Zealand wines.
South Africa is the fastest-growing category in the UK off-trade wine market, growing by 13% in volume, against a total market growth of only 1.1%. The country's value sales also grew by 13%, making it the 5th largest country in the UK market. The UK accounts for a ¼ of all South African wine exports, which totalled 300 million litres in 2008.

The new John Platter South Africa wine book came out in mid November & as always the wineries around Hermanus were awarded some very high accolades for their fabulous wine creations.
South Africa's grape harvest is just about to start now - 3rd week of Feb 2009.

2009 – looking at the year ahead & what an amazing one it will be

British & Irish Lions Rugby tour of South Africa

The British & Irish Lions will be visiting South Africa during June 2009, touring 7 cities over 6 weeks, with 10 matches including 3 test matches against the 2007 World Cup Rugby champions The Springboks. Percy Tours has teamed up with a specialist Rugby company to offer VIP hospitality seats to any & all the games. These amazing hospitality tickets totally guarantee a seat with loads of luxury thrown-in too & range in price from R1850 (£123) for initial games, to the final match tickets at R3995 (£266). For further info on this tour & all relevant match dates, please contact us at – travel@percytours.com so that we can discuss & organise your entire Rugby holiday in South Africa.

The Springbok rugby emblem must go due to political correctness gone wrong – so now all of South Africa’s international sporting teams will be called Proteas, how confusing is that going to be – crazy world we live on isn’t it?
Cricket matches

Australia & England international cricket tours all occur this summer, so prepare for these incredible sporting events.

Sailing

The Volvo Ocean Race is the F1 of yachting races, generating R275million to the local South African economy, which sailed into Cape Town at full speed in mid-November & WOW what a carnival of boats, parties on huge floating venues, high action & sexy male & female sailors loving to just wonder around in tight shorts & showing off their athletic bodies.
Oh & the Volvo new cars on display were worth looking at too :-)))

The Volvo TV film crew of 25 from Germany, Russia, NZ, UK & USA also visited Hermanus for a full day of filming the whales, meeting our whale crier, exploring the town, meeting the tourists & local people.
Knysna Heads, Garden Route, Western Cape


It's been a while since Percy Tours went to the Garden Route, so it was lovely to do a quick 3 day tour down there over Christmas with a bunch of Aussies.
FIFA World Cup 2010 Stadium at Green Point, Cape Town

The 2010 Stadium is coming along very well (as you can see from the photo below). The entire main building is now complete, minus a roof, which will be connected to the circular rim above the grandstands, and seats which will take no time to put into place. Oh and I guess they better put some grass on the pitch too :-)))

The first qualifying soccer games of the 2010 World Cup games were played around the planet in early Sept.

Home Affairs (SA govt dept.) is to reduce the red-tape requirements for African citizens who have tickets to watch the games & hopes that these efforts will reduce the time it takes to go thro’ passport & customs controls that are currently stringent for African continent people to enter South Africa.

The stadium construction at Cape Town’s Green Point is now up to the top of the grandstands & the roof rim is in place. The next job is to insert over 10,000 pieces of glass that will cover 5 hectares.

VARIOUS STRATEGY PLANS -Road closures around the FIFA stadium perimeter & precinct are not uncommon & are not specific to South Africa. This is the norm for most mega-events including the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games & other major sporting events. The transport plan for the Cape Town stadium & CBD in general is based on years of planning & consultation with international experts & previous World Cup Host cities. This level of planning, preparation & investment is unprecedented in South Africa & Cape Town.

Western Boulevard from the city to the stadium will be closed on match days, open only to general traffic for about 5 hours before matches. It remains open to the FIFA Family, Accredited Vehicles & public transport which includes the City's new BRT system & other shuttle services (and Percy Tours of course :-)))) for which detailed planning has been going on for over 3 years.
The BRT (bus rapid transport) system consists of dedicated lanes & modern new buses which will run from the Airport to CBD, provide an inner CBD circulation service & will provide a link from the city to the stadium, V&A Waterfront & Atlantic Seaboard.
The second link to be closed runs from the refurbished Cape Town Central Railway Station along Somerset Road to the stadium. This is termed the “FIFA Fan Mile” & provides entertainment & a fully pedestrianised zone. This was highly successful during Germany 2006 & allows for the separation of pedestrians & vehicles leading to the stadium. The closure of roads & streets is nothing new to Cape Town, as there are many festivals, night markets & shows that take place throughout the year.
Several sites just outside the CBD will act as park & ride areas for vehicles & buses & every constituent group has been accounted for. The summary of the Cape Town Host City Transport Operations Plan can be found at the following link.

The stadium is on schedule & perhaps even a few days ahead of schedule. It's completion date is 14 December, 2009. The completion date allows a 6 month time frame before the World Cup which is ideal. Beijing's Olympic Stadium was completed 4 months before the Olympic Games. The stadium will host 3 test events in 2010, in February, March & April. I assume the "opening" would be in February.

Confederation Soccer Cup

Between 14 to 28 June, 2009, the Confederations Cup (football) will be played in South Africa, between the national soccer sides of - Spain, USA, Italy, Brazil, Egypt, New Zealand, South Africa & Iraq!!?? - who will battle it out at 4 stadiums - Jo’burg, Pretoria, Rustenberg & Bloemfontein.

Kaapse Klopse Bands 2nd Jan 2009


The annual show of fabulous colour, music and festival splendid hit Cape Town's streets on the 2nd January for the Kaapse Klopse.
Miss World

Miss World competition was hastily moved from Ukraine to South Africa, giving a huge boast to local fashion designers.

112 of the worlds most beautiful ladies were in South Africa to compete for the title of Miss World. The organisers had to hastily move the competition from Ukraine after troubles in that country & this created a sudden & very welcome blast of action to the costume & dress designers of SA as they showcased their garments on all 112 ladies.

Major of the Year

Cape Town’s major Helen Zilla was named as "The Worlds Best Major of 2008", by an international judging panel & deservedly so, as she does exactly what she says she will do & spends the local councils money where is it most needed – township housing, education, hospitals & many other important social up-liftment areas.

Recent famous visitors to Cape Town

Music – Lionel Richie was here in mid Nov / Rod Stewart in Dec / Maroon 5 early Dec / Goldfish at Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens on NYE.

Prince Harry & William were here in mid-October to participate in the 8 day Enduro Africa 2008 Motorcycle rally with 88 other riders, to raise R5million for charities in Lesotho & South Africa, which set off from Port Edward & ended in Port Elizabeth. The entire group helped build swings, a jungle gym & paint crèches at various locations including Morgan Bay on the east coast.

How can booze be collectible and worth so much

Booze really can’t get any more expensive than this (can it?) – on 29th October a bottle of Johnnie Walker Blue whiskey from 1805 was auctioned in Jo’burg, with only 200 bottles ever being produced & this bottle being the only one ever put up for sale – I spose the others were drunk centuries ago :-)).
It started at a reserve price of R190,000 (£12,666) for the bottle or = to R5277 (£350) per shot, this must be the most luxurious bottle of alcohol on the planet. Well maybe not, according to Forbes the only bottle to beat this was a 1929 Macallan Fine & Rare valued at R437,000 (£29,000). Still – what a price to pay for a sip of booze and more importantly – what occasion really warrants you opening any of these bottles – & would you share it with your friends??
Banking survey

We all know the world is currently in a financial mess but a recent in-depth analysis of the worlds banking systems came up with some quite amazing results, with them stating that South Africa’s banking system is the 15th best in the world – USA 44th & UK 45th.

Canada has the world’s soundest banking system, closely followed by Sweden, Luxembourg & Australia, a survey by the World Economic Forum has found as financial crisis & bank failures shake world markets. But Britain, which once ranked in the top five, has slipped to 45th place behind El Salvador & Peru, after a £50 billion ($86.5 billion) pledge afew months ago by the government to bolster bank balance sheets.
The United States, where some of Wall Street’s biggest financial names have collapsed in recent weeks, rated only 44th, just behind Germany at 39 & smaller states such as Barbados, Estonia & even Namibia, in southern Africa.
(SOURCE: World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness Report 2008-2009 – Reuters.)
Mad Charity Bikers

28,000 motorbike nutters hit the roads of Cape Town in one massive convey that went on the Bear Run on 30th Nov, which is a toy charity drive to collect money & toys for the under privileged kids of the townships.
VW expansion program

VW plant at Port Elizabeth grows even further by building a brand new paint spray factory & components manufacturing buildings, at a cost of R2billion & creating over 1000 new jobs, so that will be a total of 7500 people being employed here.

South Africa is a bargain holiday destination

Don't take our word for it - check out what a Reporter for MSN pages says, which will inform you that South Africa is still an absolute bargain to go on holiday to – check out his report at -

http://travel.uk.msn.com/inspiration/gallery.aspx?cp-documentid=12520796&imageindex=7

Percy hits the brand new Hermanus Radio Station - WHALE COAST 96FM

Yes we have a brand new radio station beaming out over a large geographically area & reaches over 100,000 people in & around Hermanus.
Whale Coast 96FM went live 2 months ago & Percy Tours has started DJ-ing an important 2 hour show called Tourism Matters on Monday evenings, which discusses every conceivable tourism topic, while also playing some very diverse music – check out what this local website page says for a full run-down about the show -

http://www.overberginfo.com/content/view/1048/601/

Various new photos of the wedding and as usual many new Percy Tours photos are to be found on your Gallery site, so check them out by clicking here at - See over 200 Percy Tours Photos

Contact us for more details on how we can assist you on your perfect South Africa holiday, at - travel@percytours.com

Until next time - have a good one and keep an eye out for our World Cup 2010 Blog in the next week or so, cheers - Percy :-)))

www.percytours.com

Designer Tours (& transfers) of Hermanus, Cape Town and the whole Western Cape region.

WORLD CUP 2010 - TICKETS & loads more info....

WORLD CUP 2010 in South Africa
Ladies & Gentlemen roll-up for the worlds largest sporting spectacular, which is set to explode into action in less than 480 days time. (11th June to 11th July, 2010).

The soccer FIFA World Cup is going to be utterly massive & as it will be played for the first time on the African continent, you can expect the additional thrills of African adventures like - Big 5 Safaris, Whale watching & Great White Shark cage diving to entertain you between matches.

Percy Tours recently had a 2 hour face-to-face meeting in Cape Town with the official Ticket Issuing company, so that you (and I) know what's on offer & all the finer detail of how this process will work.

The most important question that people are asking is - How do we obtain tickets to watch the football?

This is a fair enough question, but there is quite alot of other information you need to digest before we get to that issue, so let's just look at what's what -

There will be 3 million tickets issued - 1 million to be sold in South Africa, 1 million sold in the rest of the world & 1 million will be allocated to all the FIFA officials, Corporate Sponsers like Coca Cola, Visa card, Adidas, Emirates & Sony, the 32 countries teams & their officials & families etc....

There are 10 stadiums & the start & final games will be held in Jo'burg.

Ticket allocation (for normal seats) will literally be a Lottery, by which people put their names forward for all the matches they wish to watch & then they will be pulled at random out of a hat. For the 1 million South African tickets, these are only limited to South African citizens at a maximum of 4 tickets per household & for a maximum of 7 matches.

On the 20th February 2009, there will be 800,000 tickets "released" to South African citizens & registering for these will be up to the 31st March. The 1st random selection will occur on 15th April 2009 & tickets will be issued 1 year later in April 2010.

The average price of these tickets is - $139 (R973) each, with the cheapest tickets for category 4 tickets being $20 (R140) each, while the most expensive tickets for the final will be $900 (R6300). The category 4 tickets will make up 15% of all tickets sold (450,000) & will only be sold to South African citizens.
(Source - Cape Times newspaper 19th February, 2009.)

So how the heck do we all avoid such a mad random Lottery process??

The easiest & simplest solution & the one that Percy Tours will be adopting is - offering Hospitality Tickets that we buy NOW & guarantee you a seat 100% of the time. These will obviously be a little more expensive, but due to the South African FIFA World Cup only happening once in our lifetimes, i think you will agree that it will be well worth spoiling ourselves :-)))

There are loads of different options available, so let's go thro' these -

There are 3 seperate Hospitality options -

Private Suite - the ultimate viewing pleasure, in a private suite, with waitress service, food, drinks, air-con, flat-screen TVs, comfy sofas & loads more absolute luxury - you walk afew metres from your dining table, open large glass patio doors & your seats are right there.

Shared Suite - as above, but Shared with other people, so perfect for large groups or Companies wishing to spoil their staff or business clients, etc.........

Executive Hospitality - these are massive air-con luxury marquees erected in a "Soccer-style-Village", literally metres outside the stadiums, where you will be dined & pampered in fabulous comfort. Then when the match begins you walk a short distance into the Stadium & take your seat for the game. These seats will be the closest to the pitch & are the first tier of seats up from the touch-line. Incredible viewing, I hope you will agree :-)))

N.B - Now FIFA are being alittle bit cheeky - many of these packages MUST be purchased in multiples of 4 for Shared or Executive, therefore meaning that if you just wished to watch the semi-final & final of 2 matches, you will need to buy a minimum of 4 tickets for each match - therefore meaning - 2 matches x 4 tickets = 8 tickets.

RECENT NEWS FLASH - NOVEMBER 2009 -
2 things were announced recently - the Executive tickets are now called Business Seats and more importantly - the prices for them has been discounted drastically from $1450 to $950 - thats about a 35% saving - good news :-))
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Ok, thats the seating arrangements, now to the ways you can watch the matches -

1. The Big 5 Series - this is the utter cream-of-the-cream product - watch a staggering 36 matches. This is designed for groups of 15 to 32 seats in one go & totals 850 tickets. This being the largest single ticket allocation, with SO many matches means that it is rather costly - are you ready for the price??? $1.5million, yes you read that right $1.5million - for a Private Suite. Phew-y that is quite abit of cash :-)))

Moving on swiftly :-)))

2. Gauteng Series - watch ALL the matches in the 3 stadiums in Jo'burg and Pretoria - 21 matches in total, 550 tickets for 15 to 32 seats. Private Suite is a total price of $962,500, Shared Suite is $31,500 x minimum of 4 ticket packages = $126,000.

3. Venue Series - watch ALL the matches at ONE stadium. As there are 10 stadium & each one has different quantities of matches being played, then this means that there are loads of options, but let's just explain one so you understand the logistics & pricing.

Let's say you wished to watch all the matches in Durban which will host 7 matches & you wanted a Executive seating package - then that would be 7 matches priced at $9,800 each, with a minimum of 4 tickets purchased = 4 x $9,800 = $39,200.

4. Final Round Series - there are 3 options here -

This product is ONLY available at an Executive Hospitality level, which means a minimum of 4 tickets must be purchased.

4.1. Series 4 - watch 4 matches - Round 16, 1/4 final, Semi final & Final, going via PE, Cape Town, Ellis Park & Soccer City. Cost - $14,000 x 4 tickets = $56,000.

4.2. Series 3 - watch Cape Town & Durban Semi-Finals & Final at Soccer City. Cost - $15,000 x 4 tickets = $60,000.

4.3. Series 2 - watch Cape Town OR Durban Semi & then the Final at Soccer City. Cost - $12,000 x 4 tickets = $48,000.

5. Team Specific Series - Follow your team from venue to venue, with 2 available products -

5.1. - Team Specific Series 3 - watch JUST the first 3 Group matches of your team - OR -

5.2. - Team Specific Series 7 - watch ALL 7 matches played by your team and if they are knocked out at any stage then you watch the Round 16 & Semi at Cape Town, before going to the Final at Soccer City, Jo'burg.

Costs -
Series 3 - minimum of 4 Executive tickets x $4,500 = $18,000.
Series 7 - minimum of 4 Executive tickets x $17,500 = $70,000.

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Other info -

To allow you to not be constantly packing & unpacking your suitcase, how about staying in one accommodation place in one city & get flown to each match in the morning & flown back again that evening? I quite like that idea :-))

Oh & on the accommodation side of things - get this - FIFA has taken EVERY room in EVERY 5 star hotel in Cape Town - that is not only a huge amount of people staying in absolute luxury, but a city where all the partying will be done by the rich & famous (it would appear)!!!

So forget 5 star hotels in Cape Town, if you were on the look out for that - because it will not be available. (Other Accommodation suggestions are mentioned below).

Large Fan Parks outside each stadium will allow those without tickets to watch each game at that venue on enormous TV screens, with many additional facilities.

FIFA has commissioned exclusively 32 jumbo jets from Emirates.

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To the nitty-gritty - PAYMENT conditions & rules -

Yes all this gorgeous luxury & enjoying yourself has to be paid for & FIFA is being VERY stringent in it's conditions - here's how it works -

Apply for tickets, with the Application process taking about 10 to 20 days - so as to make sure that Terrorists, Ticket Touts, Soccer hooligans & many other undesirables are not allowed to purchase tickets.

Then an acceptance letter is sent out - 30% deposit MUST be paid within 30 days.

Then another 30% is due before 30th June 2009,

and the final 40% is due before 30th November 2009.

If Application paperwork is presented after 1st July 2009, then 60% deposit is payable within 30 days & the remaining 40% before 30th November 2009.

ANY deviation from these payment terms & your application is thrown out - with a cheeky sub-clause stating that we might not get our deposits refunded ever.

Our Hospitality tickets will be issued in January 2010, 3 months ahead of the "normal" tickets.

Percy Tours is insisting with the Ticket Issuing company in Cape Town that Percy Tours will personally collect these tickets IN PERSON & no 3rd party is to handle our tickets.

Lost tickets are just like lost tickets to any concert - NO re-printed tickets, NO refund, NO entry to the venue - so NO fun basically :-(((

Each ticket will have on it - ID details, embossed, freud counter-strips & many other completely individualised & personalised details of EACH person / company that purchased the ticket. Therefore completely stopping Ticket Touts, or anyone selling-on tickets, or stolen tickets being used by the wrong person/s.

Plus FIFA will be strictly enforcing a policy of NO selling-on-for-profit for any tickets purchased. Minimal Booking Arrangement & Management fees are allowed at a very small add-on price.

ALL prices quoted above are the cheapest you will obtain & are the very same prices across the entire planet that FIFA has set in place & every official ticket issuing agent will quote you that exact same price, as we are all going straight to the official Ticketing company. Plus there will only be ONE totally official company in each geographically region issuing tickets.

So ladies & gents these are the rules of engagement & we had better play by their rules as they hold all the cards - or should that be TICKETS :-)))

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Percy Tours ideas and logistics (and big advantage to YOU) -

Personally we are up for the Executive packages. Obviously we can arrange ANYTHING you want, but so as to save you all a huge amount of time, hassle, heart-ache, stress and to obtain guaranteed tickets, Percy Tours will apply for all our required tickets in one go & "bundle" our ticket applications together.

"Bundling" tickets together helps YOU because there are bound to be people who will want quantities that are not divisible by 4. So let's say you want only 2 or 5 or 7 tickets etc.... Percy Tours will collect together all these odd numbers together & apply for all these tickets for you in one collective organised group. Meaning everyone gets exactly what they want :-)))

What also will occur is that Percy Tours will have all our seats together in one specially allocated area, so we all know where we are sitting for meals & the matches in the stadiums.

Just to give you a small understanding of the logistics from our side - we are currently sitting on over 35 enquiries from around the world, totalling over 470 people (currently), wishing for us to assist them with their ticketing, transportation, tours, accommodation & activity requirements. Now i would be a fool to dream that all these existing 470 people will finally book with us, but we also have to consider that these are the very organised ones and Percy Tours is bound to obtain many more enquiries as the clock starts to tick down to match day & if I were realistically modest I would guess we could be looking at about 1,500 people possibly wanting our help.

Percy Tours will also be booking all your Accommodation & Activities that you wish to do between soccer games.

Accommodation - we deal with every conceivable type of accommodation establishment, from - Backpacker Hostels, B&Bs, Guest Houses, Lodges, Wine Farms, Game Parks, City apartments, Beach side Chalets to Penthouse Mansions, 1 star to 5 star Hotels & everything in-between.......

Please inform us of your budget per person per night & your desired type of accommodation in which location & we will research, arrange & book it all for you too :-))))

Activities - Not only will all the football keep you very busy, but South Africa is an adventure play-ground offering 100's of diverse activities too. Please check out our websites "What to See and Do" page, where at the bottom of the page is a Clickable link to a comprehensive page of 300 different things to do -

http://www.percytours.com/what-to-see.html

Many Thanks everyone and chat to you very soon to discuss your desired wishes and requirements.

Percy - Percy Tours 

www.percytours.com

Designer Tours (& transfers) of Hermanus, Cape Town and the whole Western Cape region.

Copyrighted by Percy Tours C.C. South Africa.
Please ask our permission before you copy any or all of the information in this Blog - we thank you every much :-))

Newsletter 19 - Hermanus with Percy Tours - March to August 2008.

Hermanus Coffee-Table BOOK

After 3 years in the making, the glorious, glossy and full-on colour Hermanus lush coffee-table book is finally launched at the Marine Hotel and oh my is it a wonderful creation to keep you trance-fixed cover-to-cover.

This gorgeous hard-back book is a 210 page delightful creation that has only had an initial limited pressing of 5,000 copies, so get a copy NOW, because it is a treasure-trove of outstanding pictures, history and incredible stories of the lovely & pretty seaside town of Hermanus.



Nelson Mandela celebrates 90 years old
It is unlikely that you were able to escape the world’s phenomenal media exposure of South Africa’s giant-of-giants Nelson Mandela, who celebrated his 90th birthday at so many locations around the planet. The London Hyde Park concerts were televised on SA TV on his birthday and a week b4 the date. Happy Birthday.

Football
Man Utd were in South Africa in July 2008 to play in their 3rd Vodacom Challenge against the Kaiser Chiefs and Orlando Patriots. Alex Ferguson praised the South African sides for their much improved team strategies and commitment.

The national side Bafana Bafana beat Paraguay 3-0 as well as participating in many other soccer games over the last few months. Raising some hope that the South Africa national soccer team will do a good job at the 2010 World Cup, but they have their work cut-out, especially with Carlos Alberto Parreira deciding to leave as manager of the SA national side, so as to be with his ill wife who is back in Brazil. His replacement is little known Brazilian Joel Santana.

World Cup 2010
Everything is full steam-ahead for the 2010 World Cup with construction work at all sites working around the clock. The Cape Town Green Point stadium is now up to it’s second level of grandstand seating and is scheduled to be completed in December 2009. This monster 68,000 seater stadium, which will cost about R4billion to construct and will rise to a height of 258m and was only a golf fairway 18 months ago, so it’s amazing how quickly it has grown. See picture below, taken in July 2008.


Percy Tours has been working hard in all aspects to provide an excellent World Cup for all our future clients and has been able to obtain tickets to games in luxury seating. More information on this and much more when we have it all sorted.

Luxury brand NEW minibus joins Percy Tours

Percy Tours is extremely proud to announce that we have given birth to a brand NEW luxury minibus to escort all our clients about in. Please check out the report below this one, for a full write-up on this fantastic new vehicle, which has SO many comforts that you will feel like a Movie Star while you are transported in this limousine :-)))


The WHALES return to Hermanus
From about mid May, Hermanus has had it’s annual Whale migration of Southern Right Whales arrive at our shores. The aerial Whale count at the end of August was 114 Whales in Walker Bay. The experts are predicting that the record of 172 spotted in one day in 2006 will be shattered this year. Fingers crossed that occurs :-)))

New Shark deterrent
After a 2 year research project, the Natal Shark Board has finally yielded results for a modified Shark-shield which is an electric repellent device against sharks. Fitted to an inflatable rescue boat the device is effective for up to 6 metres and will be used to steer sharks away from bathers in immediate danger of attack.

When a shark siren is activated on the beach, the rescue craft will be launched to clear bathers from the water and be positioned between bathers and the shark, obviously with the new electronic pulsing system sending out signals to ward off the shark.

King Of Jordon here for his 3rd Great White Shark diveThe King of Jordon recently arrived in Hermanus for his 3rd time to go Great White Shark cage diving, with a large group of friends who equally wanted an adrenaline fix. They drove thro town on a mass of Hayley Davidson motorbikes.

Richard Gere was also here recently to do some Shark diving, between breaks in his film shots for a new movie Amelia. Richard Gere stayed at the 5 star Marine Hotel in Hermanus for a few days.

New Shark Research CentreIf a new generation of South Africans grow up thinking of sharks as warm and cuddly, it will be partly due to a mystery benefactor who wants to help the world’s sea life. He has pumped millions of rand into buying and equipping a prime sea-front property in Kalk Bay, Cape Town, for use as a research and education centre to spread the word that humans need to be nice to sharks.

The centre is funded by the Save Our Seas Foundation, which was originally set up 8 years ago by the benefactor, who is referred to in the organisation’s literature only as “The Founder”.
Chris Clarke, shark scientist and the executive director of the foundation, said the world’s shark population was now only 10 percent of what it had been in the 1950s.

“There’s a real need for the shark centre … to teach people about marine conservation and the myths about sharks.” Clarke said the threat of shark attacks on humans was highly exaggerated. “Last year, only one person was killed by a shark in the whole world,” Clarke said. “They might bite a human, but usually when they realise it’s not a seal they let go.”

Clarke said sharks, as the top predators in the ocean, played an essential role in weeding out weak or diseased fish. “If you take the sharks out … you’ll end up having a collapse of the food pyramid. If we remove them from the environment, it would be a catastrophic event.”

Clarke is a big fan of the great white shark cage-diving industry based in Gansbaai, south of Hermanus. “It’s a very good thing. It’s a way for the public to get up close and see the animals, while learning first hand what they are all about.”

Percy Tours escorts the Discovery Channel film crew

During late March, it was Percy Tours privilege to have escorted around our pretty region a film crew from the Discovery Channel, who were here for a week to film the Great White Sharks for a film called “Surviving Sharks”, so keep your eyes out for this program during aired on their Shark Week in afew months time.

Cape Argus & Pick’n’Pay cycle race
In early March 08, the Cape Argus & Pick’n’Pay cycle race took place from Cape Town city centre, travelling all the way down to the Cape of Good Hope and back up the western coastline, closing off many roads for this feast of peddle-power. A total of 39,000 riders took part and the mens winner was Robbie Hunter, who won last year too, finishing the 110kms in 2 hrs and 27mins (5 mins faster than last year.)

Cape Epic Mountain Bike race (sponsored by Absa Bank & Adidas)
Starting in Knysna on the 28th March, 2008 was what the organisers have called “the most gruelling and exhausting mountain bike race in the world”. With 2000 mountain bike riders competing; travelling over 1000kms; ascending a total of 18,500metres; over just 8 days. At the end of stage 6 the whole race rolled into Hermanus, including the massive logistical support teams supplying not only mechanical assistance, but also - a large village of tents & mobile homes, food, drinks & bar, evening entertainment in huge marquees, medical & massage facilities, media coverage, helicopters, 4x4 vehicles & quad bikes, and much more. It’s literally like a large town on the constant march.

Food Olympics
In October 2008, Germany will hold the Olympics, but not the Olympics you are thinking of, these are the Culinary Olympics and the South African team are working hard on their local ingredients of Springbok, Crayfish and SA wines for this forthcoming event. Competing against 42 other countries, each team has to prepare and cook a meal for 110 people in just 5 hours, judged by a jury of top international chefs. South Africa currently rank at 16 in the international league after the last event 4 years ago.

Abbey National competition winners, win a tour with Percy Tours
During April Percy Tours were delighted to have provided Abbey National (Bank) competition winners with a tour that they would never forget. Staying in luxury accommodation right in the heart of Cape Town, we zipped them off to savour the excellence of Cape Town - by visiting the must-see sights of Table Mountain, Signal Hill, Long Street, African markets, Camps Bay, V&A Waterfront, as well as dining like Kings and Queens on many ethnic South African culinary delights; going on an African Safari trip to see all the African animals in their natural habitat; a Wine Tour of Stellenbosch to savour all sorts of tasty alcoholic liquids and of course shopping for those unique items for the mantle-piece back home :-)))

Hermanus Festival Season starts

The 12th Hermanus Food & Wine Festival occurred on the second weekend of August and was a massive event showcasing over 60 separate Wine Estates of the local area. Additions to this year were the Brandy & Beer Lounge, a kiddie entertainment area with clown, Punch & Judy show and much silliness, Musicians performed all weekend long to keep your feet tapping, as well as a Gourmet Food Marquee. The organisers surpassed themselves once again by providing a massive marquee village.

Over the next few months Hermanus will hold the Flowers Festival; Whale Festival and Great White Shark festival.

As usual there are many new Percy Tours photos on your Gallery site, so check them out by clicking here at - See over 200 Percy Tours Photos

Chat soon,

Percy :-))))

Contact us for more details on how we can assist you on your perfect South Africa holiday, at -

www.percytours.com

Designer Tours (& transfers) of Hermanus, Cape Town and the whole Western Cape region.

Hermanus based Tour operator (Percy Tours) provides utter LUXURY

Percy Tours has some amazing news for all wanting an amazing holiday - by having our NEW luxury VW minibus arrive, that provides utter luxury to all our clients.

YES Luxury just became much more Luxurious. (Unbelievable but true :-)))

Percy Tours is extremely proud to announce to all our clients and the local tourism industry, the arrival to our fleet of our brand NEW luxury VW minibus, that will provide our clients with the highest in utmost luxury. Add to that our entertaining & informative Chauffeur Tour Guides and you have one incredibly professional Hermanus and Cape Town touring and transfer company that prides itself on delivering 5 star services to all, now at your finger-tips :-)))

This brand new vehicle is rammed full of the most modern technology, entertainment facilities and safety items.

Including – ABS brakes, Air-bags, Traction control, comfy adjustable head rests & 3 point safety belts for every seat, CD / Radio surround sound system thro’ 8 speakers, arm rests for the front passenger seat, individual air-con & heater over-head system, individual over-head lighting, all round sun reflecting tinted windows & screens (with anti-theft strengthen windows to keep all contents very safe :-)), fog lights front & back, drinks holders, mints & sweets holder, magazine pockets for every seat, tow bar for trailer and a whopping big boot for everyones luggage. :-)))

But the BIG entertainment extra is – a large screen DVD ceiling mounted system with a set of 6 individual infra-red passenger head-phones, plus a computer infra-red game console for the kids. :-))))


The sound-track from the DVD can be played thro the 8 speaker surround sound system - OR - thro any of the individual 6 head-phone sets, while a remote control unit allows added flexibility for all on board to easily control their viewing pleasures. This unit also plays CDs, so there can be 2 separate music systems playing at once, say - one cd for the kids thro the head-phones and one for the adults thro the 8 speaker system. :-)))

Percy Tours specialise in organising completely tailor-made and individualised tours (& transfers) of Hermanus, Cape Town and Western Cape regions, with a fleet of luxury VW minibuses with Chauffeur Tour Guides on board.

Each luxury minibus is able to transport 9 persons per minibus, which our clients will have exclusively to themselves, therefore allowing loads of space to spread out in comfort while on tour / transfer with Percy Tours. We also provide many comforts while on tour / transfer, including in each minibus - a large cooler box of free ice-cold soft drinks and water, air-con, refreshing mints and sweets, many books and magazines on all sorts of local topics, binoculars, DVD / CD player with surround sound stereo plus over 100 cds covering loads of musical genres (including, African, Classical, Chillout etc.), deck chairs and sun umbrellas for picnics at beaches & scenic locations, blankets and pillows for those who wish to sleep or relax further - as well as our chauffeurs are trained to be highly proactive in engaging clients with informative, interesting and jovial conversation on every topic imaginable, while clients enjoy the scenery un-fold around them. Conversing in English, Afrikaans and some French and German.

Percy Tours do all sorts of tours, (ranging from day trips – to – full-on 2 or 3 week explorations of this incredible region), including – Wine Tours of all 4 major regions, which are one of our most requested tours – (Hermanus, Stellenbosch, Franschhoek and Montagu), Safaris to game parks in the Little Karoo to see African animals in their natural environment (only 3 hours away from Hermanus), Whale watching boat trips, Great White Shark cage diving, Quad Biking, Sandboarding, Horse Riding along our huge deserted beach or into the mountains, Kayaking in the bay with the seals and penguins, Light plane and Micro-light flights over Walker Bay, Paragliding, Penguins, Cape Floral Kingdom & Botanical Gardens to explore all the incredible plant species, Cape Town area explorations, scenic road trips and all sorts of adventure sports and much more chilled-out pursuits too. Further afield tours are available too – Namaqualand Flowers, Route 62, Garden Route, collections or drop-offs at George or PE airports, etc…………..

For a full list of over 300 different activities on offer, please click our “What to See and Do” page, where there is a Click button at the bottom of the page, that pops-up a comprehensive list.

http://www.percytours.com/what-to-see.html

We also offer local Restaurant and Cape Town International Airport door-to-door services any time of the day or night.

Plus we research, arrange and book accommodation across the entire spectrum of places and prices and book all tourist activities too.

All our tours are totally individualised, thus allowing our clients utmost freedom to do exactly what they wish to do and hence Percy Tours will devise a completely personalised tour schedule after we have discussed and finalised all our client wishes, this also means that our prices are dependant upon where we go and what we do.

We devise tours to be as fast and hectic or as slow and chilled-out as YOU want.

Percy Tours is registered and accredited with – SATSA, Cape Wine Academy, Cape Town & Hermanus Tourism Boards, Overberg Tourism, registered Tour Guides with DEAT and THETA, as well as is insured to the highest level and 1st aid trained.

Contact us for more details on how we can assist you on your perfect South Africa holiday, at -
www.percytours.com

Designer Tours (& transfers) of Hermanus, Cape Town and the whole Western Cape region.

Hermanus - Newsletter 18 - Sept'07 to Feb'08

Hermanus Burns (literally).

The centre of Hermanus was engulfed in a large bush fire on 16th January 2008. Taking in its wake - 6 thatched houses which were burnt to the ground, the small hill of Hoys Koppie and a huge slice of the high mountain range, some 5 kms long and 220 hectares were completely destroyed. Hermanus Golf Club and our Floral reserve of Fernkloof luckily escaped.





One fire destroyed house.....and the mountain side alight.

Added to the mayhem for the emergency services was an electricity power cut, which meant that the traffic lights were out, so the entire town was in utter chaos and the traffic police had their hands full directing traffic to safety all day.

Wines of South Africa.

The new John Platter wine book hit the streets in Nov 2007 and the crowning glory for our local wine valley, Hemel-en-Aarde, was that the wine voted the best in South Africa, against 6000 other contenders, was Bouchard Finlayson’s Tete de Cuvee Pinor Noir 2005. Sadly for those wishing to get their hands on a bottle, they have already sold out, unless of course you are willing to offer Percy Tours a large bundle of cash for the 2 bottles sitting in my wine cellar :-))))

On one of our many Wine Tours we came across one rather aptly named wine -

Sir Percy wine from Bilton Wine Estate in Stellenbosch :-))))

Rugby World Cup, France.

Even tho’ it was afew months ago, the Rugby World Cup was a fabulous event, with many mighty giants being surprisingly thrashed by smaller up-starts, making this Rugby World Cup completely compelling watching. Title holders England started off badly and everyone had them down as having a very slim chance of getting anywhere. Even the UK “bookies” had them down as 80:1 to reach the finals. So to see them enter the final against South Africa was a dramatic transformation in their game play.

South Africa has always been a mighty strong Rugby side and England were in for some very hard work to try to topple them. All credit to both sides for making the final match such a thrilling game.

Being a Londoner who has now been living in South Africa for over 4 years, I was firmly sitting on the fence, with me waving a large South African flag above my head and waving a small George Cross under the table :-)))

As for the South African public, the entire country grew to truly appreciate their sides efforts, with the press doing a fabulous job at whipping up national pride and patriotic feelings. South Africans of all social circles were wearing their country’s green rugby tops, with flags hanging off buildings and plastered all over cars and lorries.

Huge screens were erected at 100’s of locations across the country, with the Hermanus open-air auditorium having a massive screen and sound-system, which over 1000 people attended to cheer their side on.

The party atmosphere obviously got to fever-pitch when South Africa won.

South Africa’s booming economy.

If you thought South Africa was a 3rd world country with no money – then boy did you have that wrong.

South Africa still rockets-on as a power-house emerging world economy. It illustrates this clearly in the famous Jo’burg township suburb of Soweto, which is home to over 900,000 people and where the largest shopping mall in the southern hemisphere has just opened its doors on 27th Sept, 2007. Maponya Mall houses stores such as Levi’s, Woolworth’s (South Africa’s version of up market Marks and Spencer), Nike, Puma and many trendy restaurants serving up Sushi, Italian, French and Thai cuisines.

Queues of eager shoppers slept outside the mall nights before its official opening, so that they could snap up big 1st day opening bargains. Even at 9pm that day, people could be seen walking home with brand new TV’s or stereo systems in their arms; the traffic queues were so large that 100’s of extra Traffic Police had to be called into direct it.

This 3 year-to-build and R650million project was officially opened by Nelson Mandela, who has this year started to reduce his public appearances.

If this wasn’t enough of a show of economic boom, then you should see the housing market in Soweto. It is estimated that there are many new estate agents starting businesses here to cater for the large demand for houses and that a standard “matchbox” house is fetching as much as R70,000 (£5000). While larger houses in the Diepkloof area of Soweto are reaching astonishing prices as high as R1.5million. (That’s about £100,000 to you and me).

Gob-smacked? Yes you should be, it’s truly incredible how fast this “new” country’s economy is growing.

TV advert, assisted by Percy Tours.

In mid-January, Percy Tours was honoured to chauffeur around the film crew of brand new Marks and Spencers TV adverts, at their official end-of-shot party. The adverts featuring Twiggy and Jade Jagger are to launch the UK summer range of ladies clothes and were all filmed around Hermanus, with it’s pretty scenic back-drops. So keep your eyes out for these.

As usual there are many new Percy Tours photos on your Gallery site, so check them out by clicking here at - See over 200 Percy Tours Photos

2010 World Cup update.

In Durban in late November 2007, the FIFA 2010 World Cup preliminary qualifying knock-out groups were announced.

For a full listing of who is playing who, please check out their website. The top tabs of the page have each of the 4 continents/regions – Africa, Asia, N&C America and Europe -

FIFA 2010 World Cup Qualifiers

Also available is a pdf file that lists every single match during the 2010 finals and where each match will be played in South Africa. Please check out –

FIFA 2010 Match Schedule in South Africa

It is predicted that ticket sales should start in early 2009.

As for the building work, everything is going to plan, which is all good news.

Below is Cape Town’s Green Point stadium in late Dec 2007, with the new stadium now sitting where the Golf course used to be. It's foundation work now completed and the first tiers of grandstand supports are clearly visible under the yellow cranes. Quite a transformation in 12 months, I think you will agree.


Gold Miners rescued, after being trapped a mile under ground.

3,200 Gold Miners who were trapped under ground on 3rd Oct 2007, at Elandsrand mine, owed by Harmony Gold Mining Co., were finally rescued a few days later.

Their rescue high-lights the vast dangers they face working in South Africa’s gold mines which are the world's deepest, with 113 workers killed last year by rock falls, tremors and gas explosions. About 180,000 people work in gold mines in the country.

Declining output from South Africa's mines has forced companies including Harmony to dig deeper to tap the Witwatersrand Basin, the world's largest gold deposit, underneath Jo’burg. Harmony has plans to deepen the shaft to 3,566 metres to tap richer seams of gold and extend the life of the mine. While South Africa is the world's largest producer of this precious metal, production fell 7.5% to 8.85 million ounces last year, the lowest level in 84 years.

The magic of Red Wine.

Patients suffering from a number of diseases could soon be trying a new drug that has been found to be in Red Wine. SRT501 (or Resveratrol) could herald a whole set of new drugs that have been found to slow down the effects of ageing and diabetes. Trials are to start in Newcastle-upon-Tyne and India very soon. SRT501 apparently has the power to considerably reduce glucose and weight gain and if taken with another diabetes drug Metformin, amplifies these benefits greatly.

So our advice to you is – keep drinking red wine because its scientifically proven that it is good for you. Bravo we all shout :-)))

Morgenster Olive Oil does it again.

Morgenster, the Somerset West wine and olive estate, has once again been voted “The Best Extra Virgin Olive Oil in South Africa” at the recent 2007 SA Olive Awards held in Paarl. They also collected the gold award for “The Best Table Olives” with their Spanish style Nocellara green olives. These just add to their already impressive list of awards, including Italy’s L’Orciolo d’Oro winner for 8 consecutive years and gold medal winner at the Los Angeles County Fair.

Other winners at Paarl were – Hamilton Russell (from Hermanus) for their “Intense Fruity Extra Virgin Olive Oil” and Hermanuspietersfontein (from Hermanus) for their “Medium Intensity Olive Oil”.

So get down to your local supermarket and try these amazing South African products.

Shark diving nutter to be filmed free-swimming with the worlds most dangerous sharks.

A recent Discovery Channel documentary showed a South African, Craig Ferreira, free-diving (in other words WITHOUT the protection of a cage) with a 5 metre Great White Shark at Gansbaai, Hermanus, South Africa.

This first program was such a huge success when aired in USA, that the Discovery Channel has now commissioned him to free-dive with the worlds 12 most dangerous sharks known to man, dubbed "The Dirty Dozen."

The extra ingredient to these shows is his family are also filmed and they are most definitely in 2 minds as to whether it’s safe and whether all this dangerous swimming is a good thing or a bad thing. So this adds a full and comprehensive dramatic to this new series.

Certainly makes for interesting television watching :-)))

“Mr. Build-It” is back in South Africa.

Millionaire Irish builder Niall Mellon is back again in Cape Town for his 5th year in a row, to do his utmost to transform the townships, by building as many inexpensive and solid houses as he can in a short space of time.

In 2002 his team built 150 homes. In 2007 he planned to build over 5000 and has a target of 7500 new homes in 2008. Incredibly ALL this building work gets done in one week each year. Yes that's right, just one week.

In October 2007 he organised a huge army of 1350 building professionals from Eire to spend one week to construct as many houses as possible. This army give their time for free and paid for their air tickets and living expenses by fund-raising in their home country.

He also has plans to start tackling the housing shortages in Gauteng (Jo’burg & Pretoria) when he bought a South African commercial building company that specialises in low-cost housing and turning it into a not-for-profit organisation.
His aim with this company is to start a mass production of factory-made homes that can be erected quickly and has all the comfort and facilities that all normal homes have.

Music tours by local and international stars.

As it’s summer, South Africa has enticed quiet afew international music super stars to visit here, including - Mary J. Blige, Enrique Iglesias, the Black Eye Peas, Elton John, Celine Dion, Jethro Tull, Isaac Hayes, Foreigner, Gladys Knight, Seether and Dj Tiesto, with home-grown talent like Freshly Ground, The Parlotones, Watershed and Johnny Clegg doing the rounds too. South African stars Shaun Phillips, Tony Cox and Steve Newman performed at the Acoustic Earth Concert, Waldorf School in Constantia with 3000 people coming to watch.

Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens are set for their large list of summer out-door musical treats, as is the winery of Vergelegen in Somerset West.

Jazz, Rock, Pop, Dance, Rave and Trance, Soul, Folk, Classical, and a huge dollop of African sounds are all catered for.

Fatboy Slim arrived in South Africa on 2nd Dec 2007 and was not only spinning loads of tunes at trendy night clubs across the country, but practised his football skills with Township kids. He was also here to announce the opening of a youth soccer training program in Cape Town with the international charity that he is involved with - Coaching For Hope.

Fatboy Slim has recently been announced as the official DJ for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

Thanks all and we’ll be in touch with another Newsletter in 3 months time.

Cheers, Percy :-)))) XXXXX

PS. We will be on holiday to London in late May 2008, for those of you wishing to catch up and our wedding is planned for November 2008 in Hermanus. :-)))) XXXXX
www.percytours.com

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

Hermanus - Update 17 - June to Sept. 2007

Nelson Mandela's 89th Birthday.

Nelson Mandela celebrated his 89th birthday in Jo’burg, on 18th July, 2007, which was attended by the group now being called “The Elders”.

This fine, upstanding group of elderly statesmen and women is the brain child of Richard Branson and Peter Gabriel, who approached Mandela afew years ago with the idea of bringing together a group of elder world prominent figures. This group, have no active political affiliations or ties to big business (as they are funded completely independently), are able to speak freely and openly about many issues facing the world and will work publicly and behind the scenes to address many world problems. This group now includes – Archbishop Desmond Tutu, former US president Jimmy Carter, former UN secretary general Kofi Annan, former Irish president Mary Robinson and former Chinese foreign minister Li Zhaoxing. The group is chaired by Tutu, with Mandela only taking a consultancy role.

A football game to celebrating Nelson Mandela’s birthday was also attended by past and present world soccer stars, including Pele, Ruud Gullit and former Leeds United captain Lucas Radebe. 52,000 fans crowded into Newlands in Cape Town to watch the match, dubbed “90 minutes for Mandela”. Earlier in the day the football greats, with past political prisoners, kicked 89 goals against racism into the nets set up on Robben Island, to celebrate Mandela’s birthday.

Western Cape Film industry.

Following on from last years report stating that the Cape Town city council issued over 48,000 Filming Licences in 2005, this years official report issued recently states that the film industry in the Western Cape generated a whopping R3.5 billion to South Africa’s GDP in 2006, while also employing over 8500 local people. This important industry also helps to generate jobs in many other spin-off industries, such as catering, accommodation, machinery & equipment hire, financial & insurance and transportation.

Recent movies filmed here have been “Blood Diamond” with Leonardo DiCaprio, who shot scenes in wineries near Stellenbosch (and enjoyed a day of Great White Shark cage diving near Hermanus between filming days); a Bollywood movie and only last month James Bond Daniel Craig was here filming a new movie called “Flashbacks of a Fool”, which includes Helen McCrory, who played Cherie Blair in “The Queen” and Miriam Karlin who starred in Stanley Kubrick’s notorious 1971 movie “A Clockwork Orange”. Daniel Craig braved the cold Atlantic Ocean while fully dressed in a suit for one scene. Other locations for this movie included Camps Bay, Llandudno (a seaside suburb of Cape Town) and Bantry Bay. The entire cast and crew stayed at the luxury 5 star Mount Nelson Hotel in the Gardens suburb of the city bowl.

Percy Tours gets published in the London press.

For those of you in London, check out a brand new magazine called SQUARE. Percy Tours will be writing articles in every publication about all aspects of South Africa, Cape Town and Hermanus. Square is a FREE magazine with a 50,000 print run and i would guess that your tube journey to work will now be much more entertaining, now that you will have a copy of this fine magazine under your arm. :-))))

Music and Entertainment news.

Altho’ we at Percy Tours are not the greatest of fans of her music, it was recently publicised that Celine Dion will be gracing us with her presence at Vergelegen Winery in Somerset West (40 minutes from Cape Town) on Feb 23rd and 24th 2008. Slightly more-rock’n’roll, it was also confirmed that Sir Elton John will be performing here on 13th Jan 2008.

The spectacular stage show of The Lion King is being performed in Jo’burg, in a purpose built theatre and has attracting loads of press interest and big crowds, including Oprah Winfrey who spoilt all 149 students of her new school she started in South Africa to see the show recently. Many of the shows songs have been adapted to feature African languages, like Zulu and Xhosa.

The Soweto Gospel Choir, which was only formed 4 ½ years ago, continue to tour the globe to sell-out crowds, with their outstanding vocal harmonies, while collecting many music awards along the way, including a recent Grammy. This inspirational 25 piece choir have performed at the Edinburgh Festival and many concerts in USA, New Zealand, Australia and across Europe. They also sang Happy Birthday at Nelson Mandela birthday celebrations in 2005 and have performed with Diana Ross and Christina Aguielera. Their first album topped the USA gospel charts for many weeks. Check them out because they are amazing.

World Cup 2010 and Football update.

An incredible R1 billion was paid in late June 2007, by Supersport to PSL (Premier Soccer League) in South Africa, so that Supersport will be able to exclusively televise South African league matches on satellite tv for the next 5 years. This has led some local critics to say that this predominantly black watched sport, will have now completely marginalise the poor of the country from watching their favourite sport, as it will be outside the affordability levels of the lower working classes of the country.

The proposed Jo’burg to Sowato mono-rail link is set to cost R12.5billion and aims to be completed by 2009, in time for the World Cup.

Recent press reports have suggested that some 2010 World Cup tickets could be as cheap as R150 (£12), so that local South Africans will be able to afford tickets to see the matches. Allowing some in the media to comment that this could easily lead to ticket-touts buying loads of cheap tickets in one go, but the authorities have afew plans for limiting the amount of tickets purchased, either by - cross-referencing peoples ID numbers and passport numbers to each ticket bought, or by a Lottery system, which would require the public to apply for tickets and if they are drawn out-of-the-hat, then they are eligible to buy tickets, or by issuing Named vouchers which are then redeemed for a ticket. Only time will tell as to which system will be implemented. The cheapest German 2006 World Cup tickets were R450.

The highest price for premium tickets for 2010, could be approximately R3000 (£220).

Also announced was that the World Cup tickets will be on sale from late 2008. 3 million will be issued – 1 million internationally, 1 million for the teams, officials and corporate sponsors and 1 million for South African fans. So watch this space for much more 2010 World Cup info.

The photo below, taken on 1st Sept, 2007, shows the continuing building work of the Cape Town Green Point stadium for the 2010 World Cup, with foundation work well under way and many cranes now in place.




Tottenham Hotspurs won the Vodacom Challenge at the end of July, which was a 3 team event featuring South African sides the Orlando Pirates and the Kaiser Chiefs - the football team, not the music band obviously :-))).

South Africa & Western Cape -Nature update.

Africa’s stock-piled ivory, which police and security forces have confiscated from illegal smugglers over the last few decades, is being considered for re-sale onto the international markets. Currently valued at $850/ton, the held 60 million tons, has a total value of $51,000 million.

If this sale goes ahead it would obviously stop the illegal slaughter of elephants in Africa, as this amount of ivory would flood the international markets for many years.

Fish Eagles are being breed and released back into areas where they are a very rare sight. These majestically large eagles have a wing span of 2 metres and The Breede River valley in the west of the Western Cape is one such region where their re-introduction back into the wild, is being seriously considered by the conservation teams. While in the Kogelberg Nature Reserve (only 20kms from Hermanus) there has just started a Black Eagle conservation project. With only afew breeding pairs left in this area, these large eagles need all the help they can get.

The Whales are here in Hermanus – the weekly aerial surveys have recorded numbers of 3 times that of the same time last year, with 50 or 60 whales being spotted in mid July, compared to only 20 or so Whales being spotted in July 2006.


And even better news today (10th Sept, 2007) was that Iceland has announced that it will be stopping whaling very soon. About time too we all shout.

South Africa Tourism figures continue to grow.

Following on from our last report about South Africa’s tourism, a new industry report has mentioned that, incredibly tourism here generated nearly twice the income generated by the country’s big gold industry, allowing some to call tourism the “New Gold” of South Africa. Also the total year-on-year increase of tourists holidaying in South Africa is up 13.9%, which is an incredible growth rate, when you consider that the global average increase is only 4.5%.
Long may that continue we say :-))

Check out our new photos.

Percy Tours loves to snap-its-camera of the local wonders, so please check out our new pictorial collection, including Great White Sharks, Southern Right Whales, Safaris and much more, at our online gallery of over 200 photos at Flickr –

Over 200 amazing Percy Tours Photos

Hermanus Festival season is underway.

Hermanus sure does know how to celebrate, with the August and September months being Festival time.

First up, in early August, was the highly successful Wine and Food Festival, now in its 11th year, which attracted over 4000 people to the 45 local wine producers stands. The show has now grown so large that a huge marquee, next to the main building, had to be erected to house the Food and Beer stalls, with a local Marumba band performing their catchy tunes. Percy Tours was proud to be the organisers designated transfer company for the weekend.

Then the following weekend we had the brand new - Great White Shark Festival. This is not only a first for Hermanus but is the only Great White Shark Festival in the world.

All 7 shark diving operators offered the public cut-price journeys to swim with these fabulous creatures. There were many international Researchers and Scientists conducting educational talks and film shows on this much mis-understood species; a large marquee housed the stage for local bands to perform; the market stalls did a roaring trade, as did the bar; the kiddies had bouncy castles to entertain them; and all-in-all over 6000 people attended, with the press, radio stations and TV film crews reporting on this celebration. After such a successful event, you can guarantee this will be an annual feature in the local calendar.

Percy Tours was equally as proud to be the organisers designated transfer company for the whole event and we also sponsored the transfer of 2 of the Township bands which performed at the event. With a mention of thanks to us, from the organisers, in the local newspaper a week later.

This coming weekend we have the colourful Flower Festival, which show-cases our multitude of amazing floral plant species. The next weekend Hermanus hosts the very hugely successful Whale Festival which attracts over 10,000 people to our picturesque seaside town and the following weekend there is the annual Stanford Birding Festival which also coincides with the 150th birthday of this small neighbouring town.

Ok I appreciate that it’s not quiet the Glastonbury Festival, but at least our local people get off their back-sides and love to put on a show (or 5) to celebrate our town and it’s many natural treasures.

Recent Percy Tours fun and adventures.

With the tourism season now in full-swing, Percy Tours loves to equally explore this marvelous region. A light-airplane flight over Walker Bay was a first for us, so that we could enjoy the outstanding beauty of the coast and farmlands, which was made even more brilliant by us flying over Dyer Island, Shark Alley and Geyser Rock, all the Shark Diving boats and to see over 30 Southern Right Whales frolicking in the sea. We even saw 2 rare grey Southern Right Whales which our pilot said he had not witnessed before.



Afew weeks before we ventured up to the spring Flower region of Namaqualand on the West Coast, which did not disappoint, as this winter it has rained quiet abit and therefore this has produced huge carpets of multi-coloured flowers. Infact it has rained so much over our short winter period that Cape Towns reservoirs, are for the first time in 6 years, now 100% full. The farmers will be jumping-for-joy I am sure of that. :-))

While we conducted a fun-filled 2 week tour with 2 fabulous clients (Dave & Tessa, from Cornwall) "Action-Lady" Ronel enjoyed with them, some exciting Horse Riding trips into our magnificent mountain ranges and along our huge deserted white sandy beach. As well as enjoying a Shark diving trip, a Whale watching boat trip and an African Safari at a fabulous 4 star Safari park in the remote Little Karoo region; while Percy enjoyed our airplane flight over the whales :-))

Many thanks all, chat soon,

Percy :-)))

www.percytours.com

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