Travel Butlers African Safari Blog.

The Western Cape of South Africa has been hit hard by severe storms this week as reported in The Cape Argus. The N1 and many roads in the Overberg area are closed due to flooding, and the town of Montagu has been totally cut off. The N2 coastal road that links Cape Town to the Garden Route and Port Elizabeth remains open.

Cape Town appears to be over the worst of it for the moment, however more rain is expected for the Garden Route and Overberg over the weekend, and November rainfall stats look certain to set new records.   See the 3 day weather forecasts for more details.

Holidaymakers should check their routes before heading off, and it would probably be wise to avoid unnessesary trips as those roads that are open will have more traffic than usual and the weather conditions will also cause more problems.

Our new interactive map of cape town hotels will allow visitors to our site to zoom in on particular areas and properties, and view a picture and key information in a pop-up window before deciding where they might like to stay.

The map uses the familiar Google Maps format, and allows you to scroll and zoom-in, as well as switching between a traditional map view, the satellite view, and a hybrid of the two.

We hope you like it!

British Airways’ South Africa routes are doing well despite the current global slowdown, and the airline will be adding five more flights between Johannesburg and London for 2010, says BA chairman Martin Broughton.

“The immediate outlook for our South African routes is reasonably encouraging, and the 2010 World Cup should bolster demand from at least mid-2009,” Broughton said at the opening of the airline’s new lounges at OR Tambo International Airport at the weekend.

“We will up our current double-daily Johannesburg/London flights to 19 a week from May next year, and will operate our expanded Cape Town schedule over the South African summer peak from the end of October”.

Broughton said that despite the current challenges, “we remain absolutely focused on the interests of our customers”.

The combination of declining demand due to the global economic downturn, oil prices and a fall in consumer confidence had created the “perfect storm” for BA to soar, he said.

The Table Mountain Cableway in Cape Town will be closed for its Annual Maintenance from 14 July 2008 until the 03 August 2008. 

Visitors wanting to get to the top of the mountain at this time will have to do one of the popular hikes, many of which can be done without a guide.  Not surprisingly, it is a long slog to the top, and you should allow yourself plenty of time to get up and back down again - anything up to 6 hours if you also want to spend some time at the top.

The Cable Car will be running again from 04 th August.

THE Mount Nelson Hotel has officially opened its new spa, the Librisa Spa. The development has been housed in 6 Victorian buildings on the edge of the hotel’s property.

The spa has 8 treatment rooms, 4 of which have been equipped for couples. The spa also has a manicure and pedicure room, garden conservatory relaxation area, sauna and steam bath, and hot and cold plunge pools.

Treatments on offer include massages, wraps, facials, waxing, manicures and pedicures.

There will also be treatments aimed at men, teenagers and children.

With tourist rates for the South African Rand now appearing to have stabilised (at least for the moment) at around R14.5 = £1.00, visiting South Africa has become even better value.

The Rand is a very volatile currency, however at the time of writing the rate is R14.65=£1.00, and this compares to an average of R13.50=£1.00 in 2007, R11.45 = R1.00 in March 2006, and R10.60=£1.00 in March 2005.

So what does this mean for visitors to South Africa? Well, a 5 night stay for 2 people at the fabulous Table Bay Hotel in Cape Town would cost R13400 in May - that is £915 at today’s exchange rate, but would have been £1264 at the March 2005 exchange rate - a saving of £349!

The same holds true for the safari lodges which also work out to be much cheaper this year compared to previous years. A 3 night stay for 2 people at Exeter Leadwood in the Sabi Sands Reserve would cost R21720 this coming May - that’s around £1483 at the current exchange rate compared with £2049 at the March 2005 rate - a saving of £566, or 27%.

The same holds true for everyplace in South Africa, from the great value guest houses of Cape Town, the Winelands, and the Garden Route, right the way through to the 5* hotels and safari lodges.

There is an argument for saying that there has never been a better time to go to South Africa, and with the low season rates starting in a few weeks time there are certainly some real bargains to be found.

The Cableway Restaurant on top of Table Mountain in Cape Town will be closed for refurbishments for three months from 14 April 2008.

During the closure, visitors can obtain refreshments from the Bistro at the Upper Cable Station.

The luxurious 5* Cape Grace, situated in the heart of Cape Town’s bustling Waterfront area, has won several awards recently.

Firstly, the January 2008 issue of the US Travel + Leisure magazine announced the world’s top 500 hotels as rated by their readers and global team of reporters.  The hotel achieved recognition as the 20th best hotel in the World; as well as the 5th best hotel in Africa/Middle East and the 2nd best city hotel in Africa/Middle East.

Secondly, the Cape Grace won the ‘Best Independent Hotel’ award announced in the January 2008 UK Luxury Travel magazine’s Reader Awards. And lastly, the hotel was selected as one of the top 10 hotels in the ‘Best Luxury in Africa’ category in the 2008 TripAdvisor’s Travellers’ Choice awards.  Selected by the largest travel community in the world, TripAdvisor’s Travellers’ Choice awards showcase the hotels who have earned their distinction from those who know them best - the real travellers.

With Cape Town set to bask in baking sunshine this coming weekend (temperatures tomorrow are expected to reach 38°C / 100°F!), we have  added new and updated photos for a number 4* & 5* hotels and guest houses in and around the city.

The updated pictures are for:

Alta Bay
Ambassador Hotel
Atholl House
Atlanticview Villa
Bali Luxury Suites
Bay Reflections
Boulders Beach Lodge
Camps Bay Retreat
Cape Cadogan
Cape Heritage Hotel
Constantia Manor
Lagoon Beach Hotel - Cape Town
Le Vendome
Les Cascades
The Commodore Hotel
The Steenberg Hotel
Tidal Rayz

Cape Point and Boulders Beach, part of the Table Mountain National Park, saw a significant increase in tourist numbers during the 2007 festive season, which reflects the incredibly good weather holiday makers to the Western Cape enjoyed over this period. 

The Cape Point section of the Park had 111,293 visitors between December 1  2007 and January 1 2008, a 2.7% increase compared with the same period last year.   Boulders Beach had 74,454 visitors, a 3.4% increase.