Uruguay were relieved to clinch the final place in South Africa with a 1-1 draw in Montevideo which gave them a 2-1 aggregate victory over Costa Rica.

This means that all seven previous winners of the tournament ( Uruguay, Italy, Germany, Brazil, England, Argentina, and France ) will be playing in South Africa.

The full list of qualified teams is:

HOSTS: South Africa

AFRICA QUALIFYING: Algeria, Cameroon, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Nigeria

ASIA QUALIFYING: Japan, Australia, South Korea, North Korea, New Zealand

EUROPE QUALIFYING: Denmark, England, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland

SOUTH AMERICA QUALIFYING: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay

The draw for the group stages will be made on the 4th December in Cape Town, and as the draw is made we will be updating the Route to The Final section of our site which will show where each team is playing in the group stages, as well as where they will play later on in the competition if they qualify first or second from their group.

A dramatic game in Paris saw Ireland take the lead in the first half and hold on to force extra time in the Stade de France.   After surviving a strong penalty claim by the French (who also had a goal ruled out for offside) France finally scored towards the end of the first period of extra time, although Thierry Henry had handled the ball and the goal should not have been allowed to stand.

Ireland pushed hard in the second period of extra time, but ultimately were unable to score the goal that would have seen justice done in the game and sent them through, and it is France that will be joining the party in South Africa next June and July.

Algeria, Greece, Portugal, and Slovenia had already secured qualification earlier in the day, with the biggest shock seeing Slovenia knockout Guus Hiddink’sRussian side.

With 31 of the 32 teams now confirmed, the last remaining place will be decided when Uruguay play Costa Rica in Montevideo in a game that kicks-off at 23:00 GMT tonight ( Uruguay  lead 1-0 from the first leg ).

You can read more about the tournament including the full list of qualified teams on our World Cup 2010 Guide.

Our congratulations go to Thanda Private Game Reserve  in South Africa which won  the prestigious “World’s Leading Luxury Lodge” award at the Grand Final of the 16th annual World Travel Awards in London on Sunday 08 November 2009.

The owners of Thanda Private Game Reserve, Christin and Dan Olofsson of Sweden, received the award at the gala dinner at Grosvenor House. Christin and Dan Olofsson commented, “After three consecutive years receiving ‘Africa’s Leading Luxury Lodge’, we are now really proud of being awarded the crown: The World’s Leading Luxury Lodge. The combination of the best of African nature and our highly dedicated and talented staff is what is taking Thanda to the top.”

The World Travel Awards was established in 1994 to recognise and reward outstanding achievements within the global travel industry and the awards are endorsed by celebrities, travel trade and press from around the world. The awards have been hailed by the Wall Street Journal as the ‘Oscars of the travel industry’, and winners are nominated by over 40 000 travel trade professionals worldwide.

The accolade concludes a significant year of landmarks for Thanda Private Game Reserve. The news comes in the wake of the reserve’s milestone agreement to adjoin with His Majesty King Zwelithini Goodwill kaBhekuzulu’s land to form the Mduna Royal Reserve, now totaling 14000-hectares, and the relocation of the endangered black rhino onto Thanda and the expanded land.

The new Green Point Stadium in Cape Town was lit up last night for the first time as part of the build up for next summer’s world cup.

Cape Town will be host to 6 first-round matches, one second-round match, one quarter-final and one semi-final.  As you can see from the picture, the new 70,000 seater stadium looks spectacular and is only a stone’s throw from the popular Victoria and Alfred Waterfront.

With Table Mountain as its backdrop and the Atlantic Ocean nearby, the stadium has one of the most picturesque settings of any sporting arena anywhere in the world.

For a limited time only, guests can enjoy travelling to their safari in true style!

We are delighted to offer for guests travelling ONLY between the 10th and 14th December the opportunity to travel from Pretoria to Hoedspruit on the luxurious Blue Train, then to transfer to a 5* safari lodge for a 2 night safari, and then travel back to Pretoria by train again.

The 5* lodges included in this package are Serondella Game Lodge, Waterbuck Game Lodge, Thornybush Game Lodge or Simbambili.

Please contact Travel Butlers for a quote, which will include morning and afternoon guided game drives, all meals and local drinks, transfers between Thornybush and Hoedspruit Station, a cocktail party at the Blue Train lounge and travel in the Blue Train’s de-luxe suites. Depending on the lodge, the rate will also include a R500 spa voucher.

Guests at Jaci’s Safari Lodge and Jaci’s Tree Lodge in the malaria-free Madikwe Game Reserve can enjoy some rare sightings of wild dog.

The lodges have currently got 2 packs of wild dogs in their vacinity, and one pack has 6 puppies. The dogs have been seen out on night drives, hunting by moonlight. A wonderful game viewing experience !

The draw for the play-off games that will decide the final 4 European teams that will compete in next year’s World Cup was made a short while ago in Zurich.

The stand out tie sees Giovanni Trapattoni’s Irish side face France over two legs, with the second leg being in Paris.  Whilst this is clearly a huge challenge for the Irish, France will also be very wary of a vastly improved side which came within a few minutes of beating World Champions Italy only a couple of weeks ago.

This seems to be the hardest of the four ties to predict, with Portugal, Ukraine, and Russia all likely to fancy their chances of joining the party in South Africa next year.

The ties will be played over two legs ( with the first leg on Nov 14, and the second leg on Nov 18 ), and the full draw is:

Republic of Ireland v France
Portugal v Bosnia-Herzegovina
Greece v Ukraine
Russia v Slovenia

The Kichaka Luxury Game Lodge, in the malaria-free Eastern Cape, recently played host to one of South Africa’s newest stars, the actress Vanessa Haywood, who enjoyed a weekend here with her family and team from the SA TV show, Top Billing.

Vanessa stars in District 9, which has just been released worldwide, and has topped the US box office with over $160 m takings in just the first week. Movie buffs may also remember Vanessa from other movies such as Hey Boy and Blood Diamond.

Kichaka really made an impression on Vanessa. She was very impressed with the accommodation, cuisine and friendly service she received, and was blown away by the game viewing – she saw cheetah, elephants, lion, aardwolf to name a few !

Kichaka Lodge is ideally situated just over one hour from Port Elizabeth airport. Experienced rangers maximise every opportunity to ensure exceptional viewing during game drives on this established 7,500 hectare game reserve. Each of the 10 luxurious suites have been designed to provide every amenity and privacy. Each suite has a lounge area with large glass sliding doors on two sides which open wide, making these rooms part of the surrounding bush. There is also a large private viewing deck and private heated plunge pool.

The famous Outeniqua Choo Tjoe, the steam train that trundles along the Garden Route, will be returning to service on October 19. The train journey was stopped for a while to allow maintenance work to be carried out.

The plans for the new service is that it will be run 3 times a week in the low season, and once a day in the high season.

The new timetable will be published on www.visitmosselbay.co.za as soon as it is published.

Travel Butlers are pleased to now be working with Sibuya Tented Camp, in the malaria-free Eastern Cape.

The 3,000 hectare malaria-free reserve is home to a diverse range of wildlife, including the Big 5 of the African bush – elephant, rhino, lion, leopard and buffalo. Over 400 bird species have also been recorded.

A wide range of activities await guests, including guided game drives, fishing, canoeing, and horseback safaris. But the most unique part of a stay here is the 30 minute boat transfer to River or Forest Camp from the main reception area – during which, if you are lucky, you may see dolphins and turtles in the river mouth.

Accommodation is in safari tents, split between 2 camps – Forest and River. Children are welcome at River Camp.