TANZANIA FACES MORE POWER CUTS

Tanzanians face more misery as widespread load shedding has resumed leaving them without power again for at least four hours a day.

Power was only recently restored to Zanzibar after the island had been left in the dark for at least three months after an undersea cable broke. Hotels and business owners feel the situation is likely to be costly and have a detrimental effect on their business as they now need to make use of costly generators.

The reason for the load shedding is still unclear but many believe it could be due to poor maintenance of the machinery.

WORLD CUP SOCCER - FAN SURVEY

Are you a soccer fan, do you know any soccer fans or do you have any guests who are visiting during the World Cup? Then please get them to complete CapeInfo's Fan Surveys.

With 90 responses to date, the top six source countries are:
USA 28.1%
UK 13.5%
Brazil 7.9%
Canada 6.7%
Australia 4.6%
Germany 3.4%

Eighty percent of the respondents are male and the age breakdown is:
Up to 20 9%
20–29 32%
30–39 20%
40–49 23%
50–59 12%
Over 60 4%

There is no doubt that the World Cup has raised South Africa's profile enormously and most respondents say their awareness of South Africa is due to the World Cup. Media advertising is at the bottom of the list. Is South Africa a "must-visit" destination? Around 70% think so, rating it 3/5 or higher.

http://capeinfo.com/survey/index.php?sid=96332&lang=en

For the sumary of the survey results

http://capeinfo.com/survey/statistics_user.php?sid=96332

WILDERNESS SAFARIS TO GO PUBLIC

February 2010 - Conservation tourism pioneer Wilderness Safaris today launched a public offer in Botswana and South Africa, to be followed by a primary listing on the Botswana Stock Exchange and a simultaneous secondary listing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange's Africa Board.

The company said the exercise was a strategically significant step in its evolution, designed to enable it to take full advantage of growth opportunities, to give the public an opportunity to participate in its future success, to develop a broader shareholder base and to simplify corporate structure.

Growth in this manner is designed to allow the company to fulfil its objective of using its tourism model to the fullest extent possible in contributing to conservation in Africa. "We believe that our unique positioning, iconic international brand and management's long track record of financial and operational delivery present investors with an attractive growth and performance platform," said Andy Payne, the CEO of Wilderness Holdings.

Wilderness Safaris' core philosophy is one of building sustainable conservation economies through responsible tourism, which shares the benefits of tourism with local communities and ensures that pristine wilderness areas are protected profitably. The 26-year-old business is invested in seven Southern African countries. It also operates specialist travel businesses in six countries as well as a fleet of 49 aircraft. It employs more than 2 700 people, most of whom come from remote rural communities.

MOMBO CAMP UNUSUAL SIGHTINGS MARCH 2010

Location: Mombo Camp, Okavango Delta, Botswana

Date: March 2010

Observer: The Mombo Team

Photographer: Russel Friedman

The African wild dog is an endangered carnivore that is perhaps best known for its social nature. It is this aspect that is seen as being at the heart of its success as a highly efficient predator of medium-sized antelope. Essentially mixed-sex packs operate in an orchestrated and cohesive way to bring down prey at far higher success rates than predators such as lion.

So what happens when this social component is removed?

The situation at Mombo provides some fascinating insight into this. In the 1990s, Mombo was renowned as an area of unusually high wild dog density. This has all changed and the area is now well known for its very high numbers of lions. This high lion density has kept wild dog numbers very low. In fact over the past two or three years only one very small wild dog pack has managed to exist in the area. There were also visits from larger packs but these have been only of a very short duration.

The aforementioned small pack saw a gradual diminishing of its numbers until at some stage in early 2009 only one animal remained - an adult female. It was presumed that this animal would either emigrate to join dispersing animals and form a new pack or, more likely, would perish in the hostile environment, unable to hunt efficiently on her own and even less likely to protect a successful kill from large scavenging predators.

We have all been proven wrong and this single wild dog has thrived in Mombo's prey-rich environment. She has done it with help from some highly unusual and totally unexpected quarters.

For the past six months or so this single wild dog has sought out the company of black-backed jackals and spotted hyaenas in an area north of Mombo Camp and has been seen associating with both species and even touching noses with the larger hyaenas with whom she seems well integrated (she reacts differently to hyaenas of different ages and genders of the local clan for example). Even more bizarre has been her behaviour where she solicits adult black-backed jackals to follow her on the hunt and even regurgitates meat on her return for the growing jackal pups!

Unsurprisingly, this sort of behaviour does not seem to have been recorded before. This really is unusual behaviour that no-one can have predicted. And it adds a whole new dimension to game viewing at Mombo.

FLOODING IN NORTHERN KENYA

At least 17 tourists had to be rescued from parks in the northern part of Kenya after torrential rains sweeping across East Africa caused the Uaso Nyiro River levels to rise significantly and burst its banks.

Safari lodges and safari camps like Samburu Serena Lodge, Samburu Lodge, Intrepids Camp and Larson Camp, as well as shops, restaurants and public areas have all been flooded. Some bridges have also been badly damages as a result of the debris sweeping across them and repairs will need to be carried out in order to make them safe for use again.

The National Management Committee issued a statement on March 5, saying that a major rescue and operation is underway and some people have already been taken to safer areas. Relief supplies had also already been positioned in Isiolo for dispatch to the affected area.

The Samburu Airstrip is still operational, but most recent reports indicate that the Archers Post Bridge is submerged.

The Kenyan Wildlife Service and the local Red Cross are fanning out into isolated villages to assess the damage. Police are warning residents to stay away from the dangerous rushing waters, amid reports that some people are plunging past flooded riverbanks to fetch furniture and other items that washed out of the safari camps and downriver.

LIGHTS ON IN ZANZIBAR

Electricity has finally been restored to Zanzibar following a three-month blackout.

Residents and businesses have been without electricity since December when an undersea cable providing electricity to the island broke down. The blackout also affected the water supply to the island, causing one water manufacturing plant to shut down.

Many sectors need financial support and Government resources were critically depleted during the power crisis which lasted for four weeks when the isles remained in darkness. Economic sectors adversely affected by the power outage are agriculture, tourism and small scale businesses. As a result the blackout severely reduced the government's income as tax revenues and financial resources were drained in order for the government to address this most urgent issue.

Officials are now sparing no effort to make sure this does not happen again.

KING SHAKA FLIGHTS TO OPERATE FROM MAY 01

Airlines have received official confirmation that the cutover date for flights from the existing Durban airport to the new King Shaka Airport will take place on May 1.

Airlink, said to be the first airline to operate from the airport, has announced that all flights, up to and including April 30, will land at the existing Durban International Airport and all its flights will officially operate from King Shaka Airport from May 1.

Airlink says the new airport is approximately 65km from the current airport, and says it’s vital that all passengers are made aware of the cutover date.

Other airlines affected by the airport move are:

1time Airlines/Air Mauritius/Airlink/TTA/Airlink/Comair/kulula.com/Emirates/Interlink/Mango/South African Airways/South African Express