Travel Butlers African Safari Blog.

With the IPL starting in South Africa this coming weekend, Setanta is showing a couple of documentries this week to help UK based fans get in the mood.

First up, on Tuesday April 14, there is Warne’s Story. This is the story of The Rajasthan Royals’ IPL season last year including an exclusive interview with Shane Warne about his role as captain and coach of the inaugural IPL champions.

Following this on Wednesday April 15 is Access All Areas which takes the viewer behind the scenes with The Rajasthan Royals during last year’s IPL.

The tourament starts on Saturday 18th April with two games in Cape Town: at 4pm, RAJASTHAN ROYALS take on ROYAL CHALLENGERS BANGALORE, and this is followed by MUMBAI INDIANS v CHENNAI SUPER KINGS at 8 pm. See the full match schedule here.

Remember: South Africa is 1 hour ahead of British Summer Time, so these games will be on TV in the UK at 3pm and 7pm.

After much speculation over the last few days, it has now been confirmed that the Indian Premier League (IPL) will be staged in South Africa this year.

The Twenty20 competition was moved out of India due to security reasons, and a revised fixture list for the 59 match tournament will be announced shortly.

“We are very happy to confirm that South Africa will host the 2009 DLF Indian Premier League tournament,” IPL chairman Lalit Modi said in a statement following a meeting of the event’s organisers and Cricket South Africa (CSA).

“The South African public loves T2O cricket and CSA successfully hosted the inaugural ICC World T20.

“Both these factors weighed heavily in South Africa’s favour, and we look forward to a successful and exciting tournament being held at venues throughout South Africa,” Modi said in the news release.

We suspect that the affordability of South Africa as a destination along with good weather, excellent facilities and a large population of Indian and South Asian descent also helped swing the decision in South Africa’s favour. 

Either way, this is a huge vote of confidence in South Africa and we are sure that the tournament will be a great success.

Virgin Atlantic are celebrating their 25th birthday this year, and to celebrate they are running a number of special offers on flights including Johannesburg and Cape Town from only £499 return in Economy, £927 in Premium Economy, and £1998 in Upper Class.

These rates are only available on bookings confirmed by 17th February…

The New York Times’ annual travel guide of Places to Go has named South Africa as one of it’s top destinations to visit in 2009. 

South Africa Holidays have been highlighted for offering “affordable luxury”  with world class safaris, wineries and beaches. With the Rand down against the dollar since last year, South Africa offers a “high-end experience at a relatively low-end price”.

With sterling having slumped dramatically against the US$ and Euro over recent weeks, many UK holidaymakers have had second thoughts about travelling to the states or skiing in Europe this winter.

There is some good news for anyone looking to get away from the cold this winter though: the South African Rand (ZAR) has fallen even more sharply than sterling due to the collapse in demand for raw materials from South Africa’s mining sector.  This means that whilst last year visitors were getting around ZAR13.5 to the GBP, in recent weeks this has been as high as ZAR19.0 to the GBP and is currently sitting at around ZAR 15.0 to the GBP.

The net impact of this is that a ZAR 1,500 room would have cost £111 in 2007 now costs £100 - a saving of 10%!  Contrast this with the position with US$ prices where a US$200 room would have cost £100 last year and now costs over £130 (a 30% increase), and we can see why last minute booking to South Africa have been so strong over the last month or so.

There are also a lot of special offers available at the moment, including offers for the December /January period and these can offer savings of over 30% on the published price, which when combined with the preferrential exchange rate makes them look very attractive indeed!

There is still some availability over December and the Christmas & New Year Period, and anyone looking to get away in January currently has a wide selection of places available and several special offers to choose from.

A new exhibition celebrating the life and times of former South African president, Nelson Mandela, has been launched at the Apartheid Museum in Johannesburg. The multimedia exhibition explores Mandela’s life and provides a fresh look at the story that is known around the world.  It will run until the end of November 2009.

The autumn rugby internationals continue to provide somewhat depressing food for thought ahead on next year’s British Lions tour of South Africa.

All three of the big Southern Hemisphere teams managed to post victories over the Home Nations, with only the Springboks looking in any way vulnerable.  Even here, the second half comeback that saw them post 14 points without reply emphasises how difficult it will be in South Africa next year - there are few teams in any sport which are as dangerous as the Springboks when their backs are against the wall.

England enjoyed good possession against the Aussies, but ultimately gave away far too many penalties and lacked the true attacking flair to turn possession into points.  The English scrum also looked unconvincing against Austrailia, and this is an area that the South Africans will be looking to exploit next week.

It appears the next week’s England v South Africa game will be the only realistic chance of the Home Nations getting a victory against any of the Southern Hemisphere teams - I cannot see the All Blacks or Aussie slipping up in any of their remaining games, although Wales will be keen to push them all the way.

Match reports and opinion on the BBC Sport web site.

It may still be over six months to the start of the 2009 British Lions Tour of South Africa (the first game is the Lions vs a Highveld XV on 30th May), however excitement is already rising with the recent unveiling of the Official Lions Jersey and, of course, the Springboks in the UK at the moment for the Autumn rugby internationals.

Lions coach Ian McGeehan has already said that he will be keeping a close eye on both potential Lions and the ‘boks, starting with the first game tomorrow aginst 2008 6 Nations champions Wales in Cardiff. 

Despite winning last years Rugby World Cup, the Springboks finished a disappointing Tri-Nations series a distant last behind Australia and a dominant All Black side that secured a 9th Tri-Nations championship with victory over the Aussies in the final game.  The Springboks by contrast only won two of their six games, but they are bound to be a different proposition both on the current tour and when the Lions are in SA next year.

Demand from fans wanting to follow the Lions is expected to be high despite the recent credit crunch, with up to 50,000 fans predicted to make the journey south.  You can see a schedule for the tour and suggestions for safaris and other activites to fill the gap between games in our guide to the 2009 British & Irish Lions Tour of South Africa.

Last week the British Lions unveiled the 2009 version of their famous red jersey.For the fourth tour in succession, sportswear manufacturers Adidas have been responsible for the design of the shirt which will be a major seller in the shops, with an estimated 50,000 supporters heading to South Africa next June.You can see the shirt and read tour manager Gerland Davies’ comments on the Daily Telegraph’s blog about the Lions Shirt.If you are interested in following the Lions next year then we would be delighted to help you to plan and book your trip to follow the Brirish Lions 2009 Tour to South Africa.

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.