EC rated top destination
Inspired German journalists praise province for wild beauty
By TOM MAPHAM
ONE of Germany’s largest daily newspapers, Die Welt, has published a report praising the Eastern Cape as a tourist destination with a “wild beauty” which it said was “far more relaxed” than the more developed Western Cape.
The report, by journalist Peter Ehrenberg, was the first of three articles that will be published in various leading newspapers.
Die Welt has a daily circulation of about 250000 and is described as “the flagship publication, within the quality newspaper market, of the Axel Springer empire”.
Ehrenberg noted the diversity of the landscapes, history, value for money and security, as the factors that made the Eastern Cape a favourite for him.
He was not just paying lip service either, he has already booked a non-working holiday for himself in May.
In his article, he noted that the Eastern Cape offered opportunities to see the Big Five, without the threat of malaria.
The group visited Inkwenkwezi Private Nature Reserve and the Addo National Park.
Ehrenberg, and two other top German journalists, took part in a week-long tour of the province, organised by the government of Lower Saxony, after Eastern Cape Premier, Nosimo Balindlela suggested the idea during a visit there last year.
The professional tour guide who led the tour group, William Ross, said the visitors were amazed at the diversity of the Eastern Cape’s landscapes – from beaches to tropical forest, including wide rivers and arid deserts.
Ehrenberg was amazed to see “kilometres of white beaches”.
“In front of you a fin shoots out of a wave, not an upside down surfboard, but a dolphin. What a feeling,” he wrote.
Ross said the journalists had been impressed by the value for money they found in the Eastern Cape.
“It is something that Cape Town has been seriously criticised for, but prices in the Eastern Cape don’t even come close. They could not believe that they could order the biggest steak in the restaurant for R80,” he said.
According to the boss of the Western Cape’s tourism marketing, the distinction between the Eastern and Western Cape was less important than the fact that a South African destination had been given such high profile.
“The Western Cape works closely together with the Eastern Cape to ensure that we increase the length of stay of tourists in our country and provide visitors with a diversity of tourism experiences,” said Sheryl Ozinsky, chief executive of Cape Town Routes Unlimited, the Western Cape and Cape Town’s official tourism destination marketing organisation.
She said Cape Town and the Western Cape offered “scenic beauty, outdoor adventure and cultural heritage” that complemented the Eastern Cape’s safari experiences and game reserves.
“We look forward to further growing South Africa’s new gold, tourism, together with the Eastern Cape,” she said.
The report in Die Welt has had an immediate effect on its audience of German readers.
After Stutterheim’s Manderson Country Hotel appeared at the top of Die Welt’s list of top hotels, visits to the hotel’s website leapt from 10 a day to 1300.
“We couldn’t believe it,” said co-owner Ingrid Newbold, herself a Dutch emigré.
She said the party of journalists had been amazed to find a luxury hotel at the end of a dirt road when they visited last year.
“They were amazed to find more to these little towns than dirt roads and shebeens,” she said.
Tourism Buffalo City’s acting manager, Mervyn Gatke enthused about the article’s effect.
“Our reserves are more open and natural than smaller ones in the Western Cape. Visitors enjoy our wide open spaces and our beaches. We have got what they are looking for and we are well priced,” he said.
After flying into East London, the journalists drove straight to Stutterheim, originally a German settlement named after Baron Richard von Stutterheim, who settled in the region in 1856.
The tour party travelled through the Transkei to Port St Johns before returning south to Nieu Bethesda.
Lower Saxony’s local representative, Yorck Wurms, said the journalists grew suspicious during some of the long journeys that appeared to lead into the middle of nowhere.
But they were repeatedly rendered speechless by sites that were not sign-posted.
The unmarked Magwa Falls in the Transkei, Bushman paintings in a cave near Graaff-Reinet and the unspoilt splendour of the Baviaan’s Kloof all left an impression on the visitors, he said.
What Die Welt said about their experience in the province:
THE Eastern Cape and especially the Wild Coast made an impression on Die Welt journalist, Peter Ehrenberg.
He began his article, published in the daily newspaper, like this: “The waves of the Indian Ocean crash against the cliffs, every now and then a cricket chirps, and high above in the clear skies the stars of Southern Cross are flashing.”
He wrote that if your “soul” does not “chill out” in Coffee Bay it never will. He noted that at such moments the most important question in the world was: “Which is the country’s best beer?”
“The real asset of the Eastern Cape is Nature, which offers everything: endless savannas and dense forest, high waterfalls and dried out rivers, lifeless desert and wild sea,” he wrote.
Of equal interest to Ehrenberg was Qunu, the birthplace of the province’s most famous son, Nelson Mandela. The journalist visited Madiba’s Qunu residence, describing it as modest, and was impressed by the nearby museum, conference centre and heritage site in the former President’s honour.
By the end of the trip Ehrenberg had solved the question of the best beer, “No question, Carling Black Label”.
Article from http://www.dispatch.co.za/
Hire a car, and find out for yourself (but dont drink and drive!) www.southafrica-carhire.com
By TOM MAPHAM
ONE of Germany’s largest daily newspapers, Die Welt, has published a report praising the Eastern Cape as a tourist destination with a “wild beauty” which it said was “far more relaxed” than the more developed Western Cape.
The report, by journalist Peter Ehrenberg, was the first of three articles that will be published in various leading newspapers.
Die Welt has a daily circulation of about 250000 and is described as “the flagship publication, within the quality newspaper market, of the Axel Springer empire”.
Ehrenberg noted the diversity of the landscapes, history, value for money and security, as the factors that made the Eastern Cape a favourite for him.
He was not just paying lip service either, he has already booked a non-working holiday for himself in May.
In his article, he noted that the Eastern Cape offered opportunities to see the Big Five, without the threat of malaria.
The group visited Inkwenkwezi Private Nature Reserve and the Addo National Park.
Ehrenberg, and two other top German journalists, took part in a week-long tour of the province, organised by the government of Lower Saxony, after Eastern Cape Premier, Nosimo Balindlela suggested the idea during a visit there last year.
The professional tour guide who led the tour group, William Ross, said the visitors were amazed at the diversity of the Eastern Cape’s landscapes – from beaches to tropical forest, including wide rivers and arid deserts.
Ehrenberg was amazed to see “kilometres of white beaches”.
“In front of you a fin shoots out of a wave, not an upside down surfboard, but a dolphin. What a feeling,” he wrote.
Ross said the journalists had been impressed by the value for money they found in the Eastern Cape.
“It is something that Cape Town has been seriously criticised for, but prices in the Eastern Cape don’t even come close. They could not believe that they could order the biggest steak in the restaurant for R80,” he said.
According to the boss of the Western Cape’s tourism marketing, the distinction between the Eastern and Western Cape was less important than the fact that a South African destination had been given such high profile.
“The Western Cape works closely together with the Eastern Cape to ensure that we increase the length of stay of tourists in our country and provide visitors with a diversity of tourism experiences,” said Sheryl Ozinsky, chief executive of Cape Town Routes Unlimited, the Western Cape and Cape Town’s official tourism destination marketing organisation.
She said Cape Town and the Western Cape offered “scenic beauty, outdoor adventure and cultural heritage” that complemented the Eastern Cape’s safari experiences and game reserves.
“We look forward to further growing South Africa’s new gold, tourism, together with the Eastern Cape,” she said.
The report in Die Welt has had an immediate effect on its audience of German readers.
After Stutterheim’s Manderson Country Hotel appeared at the top of Die Welt’s list of top hotels, visits to the hotel’s website leapt from 10 a day to 1300.
“We couldn’t believe it,” said co-owner Ingrid Newbold, herself a Dutch emigré.
She said the party of journalists had been amazed to find a luxury hotel at the end of a dirt road when they visited last year.
“They were amazed to find more to these little towns than dirt roads and shebeens,” she said.
Tourism Buffalo City’s acting manager, Mervyn Gatke enthused about the article’s effect.
“Our reserves are more open and natural than smaller ones in the Western Cape. Visitors enjoy our wide open spaces and our beaches. We have got what they are looking for and we are well priced,” he said.
After flying into East London, the journalists drove straight to Stutterheim, originally a German settlement named after Baron Richard von Stutterheim, who settled in the region in 1856.
The tour party travelled through the Transkei to Port St Johns before returning south to Nieu Bethesda.
Lower Saxony’s local representative, Yorck Wurms, said the journalists grew suspicious during some of the long journeys that appeared to lead into the middle of nowhere.
But they were repeatedly rendered speechless by sites that were not sign-posted.
The unmarked Magwa Falls in the Transkei, Bushman paintings in a cave near Graaff-Reinet and the unspoilt splendour of the Baviaan’s Kloof all left an impression on the visitors, he said.
What Die Welt said about their experience in the province:
THE Eastern Cape and especially the Wild Coast made an impression on Die Welt journalist, Peter Ehrenberg.
He began his article, published in the daily newspaper, like this: “The waves of the Indian Ocean crash against the cliffs, every now and then a cricket chirps, and high above in the clear skies the stars of Southern Cross are flashing.”
He wrote that if your “soul” does not “chill out” in Coffee Bay it never will. He noted that at such moments the most important question in the world was: “Which is the country’s best beer?”
“The real asset of the Eastern Cape is Nature, which offers everything: endless savannas and dense forest, high waterfalls and dried out rivers, lifeless desert and wild sea,” he wrote.
Of equal interest to Ehrenberg was Qunu, the birthplace of the province’s most famous son, Nelson Mandela. The journalist visited Madiba’s Qunu residence, describing it as modest, and was impressed by the nearby museum, conference centre and heritage site in the former President’s honour.
By the end of the trip Ehrenberg had solved the question of the best beer, “No question, Carling Black Label”.
Article from http://www.dispatch.co.za/
Hire a car, and find out for yourself (but dont drink and drive!) www.southafrica-carhire.com
Labels: South Africa - Tourism
