Ask any South African what event they are looking forward to next year and the majority of them will excitedly reply that the FIFA Soccer World Cup is at the top of their list. An industry that is hoping to benefit from the World Cup is freight transport.  Freight transportation companies are hoping to benefit from the trade opportunities afforded by this international event and transport FIFA related cargo in and around South Africa.

All locals and soccer fans will agree that the World Cup will highlight the beauty and diversity of the country and bring wanted business into South Africa. The freight transport industry is expected to benefit from the Soccer World Cup as June 2010 draws nearer. It is evident that some of the merchandise as well as construction materials are not all produced in South Africa, so freight transport services will have to import products. This means that local freight shipping agents will come into contact with international cargo transport opportunities.

The department of Transport in South Africa has developed a Freight Mandate that will help deal with any transport related freight concerns for next year. The department realises that the Soccer World Cup will affect the industry as a whole and has therefore implemented certain regulations so that all forms of transport will meet general standards of the World Cup and what it aims to achieve.

Cargo to be delivered by freight transportation into the country for 2010 includes all FIFA cargo, medical products, media equipment, promotional material, advertising equipment and all products related to the event. The Department of Transport has also regulated the freight ports in the country in order to make sure that there is enough storage for cargo and that all of the cargo can be easily transported to its desired locations. Durban, Cape Town, Richards Bay and Port Elizabeth are the official ports of entry for this world famous football tournament in 2010

As with any company that provides a service that is needed in excess during an international event, members of the freight transport industry are hoping that organisers will decide to take the local route and transport their cargo by sea and use Proudly South African cargo ships.

Of the hundreds of awesome activities that South Africa has on offer, probably the most popular activity on offer is Game Viewing. Game viewing on any of the many game reserves in South Africa provides an opportunity to see South African wild life in all their beauty in their natural habitat. On a self-drive expedition, with a guide, on horseback, on elephant back – whatever your preference, you’re assured of a memorable game viewing experience.
Probably the most well known game viewing location in South Africa is the Kruger National Park. Home to South Africa’s Big 5, the Kruger National Park offers an incredible self-drive route through the open veld where you’ll see countless variations of buck, zebra’s, giraffe, leopard, lion, springbok, cheetah, eland and countless others. (There is a check list available at: http://www.sa-venues.com/wildlife/). Self-driven game viewing trips offer the benefits of being able to determine the pace of you journey, however without a guide who knows the area well, you might miss out on seeing something special.
The Kruger National Parks game viewing isn’t limited only to self-drive expeditions. The park has been very well developed to cater for many different preferences. Guided groups will be taken out into the bushveld, where you’ll camp overnight and experience the bushveld at night with all its fascinating sounds and sights.
The Eastern Cape offers much in the way of game viewing. Whilst most game reserves offer Big 5 game viewing, the popular Addo Elephant Park just outside Port Elizabeth lays claim to being the only park in South Africa that offers Big 7 game viewing! The 372 000 ha park is home to all of the South African Big 5 and in addition, there’s a 120 000 ha marine zone where you can spot the majestic whale and the much feared great white shark.
10 Minutes outside of Port Elizabeth, is the Seaview Lion and Game Park. Although it’s doesn’t offer game viewing of all the South African Big 5, it does offer the incredible opportunity to interact and play with lion cubs. R40 will get you up to about 30 minutes playtime with either the very young cubs, or the slightly older and more boisterous cubs. It’s an unforgettable experience and definitely worth doing. As you drive through the park, you’ll pass by giraffe, zebra and all sorts of buck. The Seaview Lion park also offers the rare opportunity to view the unique White Lion as well as the beautiful tiger.
Kwa Zulu Natal also has many choices for exceptional game viewing. The St Lucia National Park offers not only beautiful game viewing, but is also known as a birder’s paradise because of a the enormous variety of birdlife. Swaziland’s game viewing is one of the top in the country because of its raw beauty and rugged terrain. The Swaziland game viewing parks are not overly commercial and thus offer game viewing in its most natural form.
One of the hardest animals to spot when you’re game viewing in South Africa, is the leopard. Because of its reclusive nature – spending most of the day in the trees out of sight – game viewing trips don’t often get to see this incredible animal. However the game viewing parks in Mpumalanga offer some of the highest concentrations of leopard per square kilometer in South Africa. A day or night spent in most of the game parks in Mpumalanga is bound to include a number of leopard sightings – definitely worth the trip
Game viewing in South Africa offers more diversity of wildlife and more excitement than any other country in the world – make sure you don’t miss the wonders of game viewing in South Africa.

Have you ever been to Port Elizabeth in South Africa? Have you ever met a Sand Tiger face to face?

 

If you have dived in Port Elizabeth then you may know that every year musselcracker congregate in great numbers in the vicinity of Thunderbolt Reef, a mile south of Cape Receife. This massive musselcracker meeting normally happens around the end of October. This time of year was, and still is long-awaited by supercharged spearos all planning their tactical maneuvers to beat the competition (other spearos) to the spot (it would not be unusual to go down to the launch site and find divers already dressed in their wetsuits at 3 am, boat on the beach anxiously awaiting just enough predawn light to navigate). On one occasion back in 1992, when I had been diving for a year two fellow divers (Rolf Breidenbach and Brad Kwong-See) and myself headed for Thunderbolt Reef; by then I had about 90 dives to my name – so I knew something but was still rather “green”. Little did I know that day that humans were not the only ones who had plans for the fate a few musselcracker?

 

The typical modus operandi on this reef is to swim up to a blinder, i.e. a pinnacle with wave breaking over it, get some breath and dive in on the shoreward side of the blinder under the pounding waves where the musselcracker shoal. A diver who has made his (rarely, her) dive and is ready to surface has to time the ascent precisely to avoid being pounded by the next breaker. When surfacing, the first thing to do is to take a deep breath of air, rather than foam, and then to get out the whitewater wash-zone where there is no viz in all the bubbles. These bubbles actually have a cleaning effect on murky water – a little bubble sticks to a particle in the water and floats it to the surface. The net result is that often the visibility can be somewhat better at areas where such bubbles are formed by breaking waves.

 

Now, getting back to my tale, I swam into the gulley just behind the blinder and speared a musselcracker of perhaps 8 kg and pulled it up and away from the bottom to avoid getting it snagged on the reef. I surfaced in the area where the waves were breaking. I quickly headed out of the foam to escape the “washing machine”. As I swam into clearer water I saw a sand tiger (raggie) rising up slowly up toward me from the bottom; it turned slowly back down again much to my relief. I managed to escape with my fish. Upon boating the fish I enthusiastically returned to the blinder and had conveniently forgotten all about the raggie – Oh, the blissful ignorance of inexperience!  Anyway, back at the “washing machine” I relaxed on the surface while waiting for then other divers to have a go and look for musselcracker. Brad got a 10 kg specimen; I then dived in behind the blinder again. There were no musselcracker on this dive – they must have retreated into the roughest area where one cannot dive. I surfaced in the thick of the foam where the visibility was close to non-existent. As I drifted in the wave driven current toward the lee of the blinder and the bubbles thinned out somewhat, a dark shape approached me from below. Again a raggie gravitated up toward me. It was about two meters away and coming up quite fast. I realized it was not going to stop and valiantly jabbed at the sand tiger’s nose with the speartip. As the speartip thumped against its hard nose it snapped toward the speartip and I thrust, now somewhat less valiantly, back at it. Unfortunately the shark had opened its mouth and extended its jaw in the typical awe-inspiring snap of a shark. This time my spear tip struck between the top jaw and the gum. To my horror the speartip slid strait through the lip, with the ease of a meteorite through the atmosphere. Naturally as I attempted to rectify the deteriorating situation by pulling the gun backward the barb opened up inside the shark. I could not help thinking I was in too deep now! I had often had a tug-of-war with the many dogs that have been my companions over the years but this was slightly outside my comfort zone! Now I was in somewhat of a predicament – my brand new, virgin stainless steel spear stuck irretrievably in a 2.5 m long raggies dangerous front end and me holding onto the still-loaded speargun. I tried pulling in vain to retract the spear and the shark was shaking its head to rid itself of the irritation. I saw one fransmadam (baitfish) tap another on the back with his fin and point my way – “It’s the new dentist on Thunderbolt!”

 

My highly-prized new spear was bending severely with each shake and fast becoming very second-hand. I reasoned the flesh must be soft where the spear had entered so easily the and as the shark shook to its left (my right) I pulled the trigger so as to shoot the spear out through the thin flesh – it worked and the spear flew off to the right with only a small section of flesh retaining the line. At this the raggie snapped again and I got the hell out of there – it was one thing to have a solid barrier(speargun) between myself and the shark but now all that that separated me and the raggie was a meter and a half of saltwater. Releasing the gun I swam hastily toward my float which was fastened to the speargun’s handle. I retrieved my float and made off toward the inflatable some 80 m away. I guessed shark was free or swimming in a similar direction because the line remained slack (I did not believe the raggie was specifically coming after me to exact revenge but I would have been pleased to know its precise whereabouts). In such times uncertainty the sharks’ whereabouts really holds ones full attention. Now, back on the boat, I was again in somewhat of a predicament – a snapping raggie could deflate and sink the 3.8 m inflatable rather easily. I pulled in some line and felt a hard pull and then the shark was off – much to my relief. The unusable spear and the line were still connected to the gun. The shark probably made off with no more than an injured lip. Soon the others returned to the boat and I related my experience. No-one was too enthusiastic to try for musselcracker again so we decided to move to wreck of the Kapodistrias in search of yellowtail, rockcod or bream.

 

Looking back over my 16 years of diving spiced with many “raggie interactions” I will never prod the raggie front-on unless I am cornered. Since 1992 I often prodded raggies with a speargun to learn how they (and I) respond. My finding, after perhaps 200 such prods delivered to raggies is that I should always position myself side-on to the raggy and then prod them behind the eye – perhaps an inch or two away. Never in the eye as it would be disrespectful to injure it when not necessary. Of course an “eye-prod” could also result in getting attached to the shark if the barb took – count me out!!). This prodding procedure very often results in a really scary –looking snap. The snap is always about 90 – 180 degrees away from the line of the prodding device. This phenomenon has given me considerable confidence in fending off raggies or “bullying” those that are too curious.

 

Please note: I do not recommend that you try this as it is only based on perhaps 250 such prods to raggies – a slight error may result in you being bitten. It is perhaps worth remembering in case of an emergency. To illustrate read this: “Just a year ago, with fairly high confidence, I took on a smallish raggie of about two meters in length. It approached showing no intent of turning and I decided to “bully” it to reduce its curiosity. I was lazy and did not bother to get side-on. The jab was made slightly from above and fractionally to the left of the shark while facing it. The small shark responded with a swift, strict snap toward my gun and the spear got “toothed” and I gained greater respect for my broadside theory as against the front end approach. There were scrape marks on the spear where the teeth had scratched some of the anti-rust coating off. 

 

For more information see website: www.freedive.co.za I run an Online Spearfishing Mentorship from my website at www.freedive.co.za

Comedian Mark Banks openly plugs Centrestage in his own inimitable manner! www.centrestage.co.za

href="http://www.mype.co.za">www.MyPE.co.za:
Eastern Province selectors today announced the team to play against KZN
in Durban starting on Thursday, 11th March and ending Sunday 14th March
2010.

The team is as follows: Andrew Birch, Athi Dyili, Brandon Viret, Jon
Jon Smuts, Kelly Smuts, Lyall Meyer, Michael Price, Michael Smith,
Riaan Jeggels, Reece Williams, Sean Adair, Simon Harmer, Warren Bell,
P. Botha (Coach)

And in a follow up to the last time that the EP Team was announced I
would like to give the href="http://www.mype.co.za/cgi-bin//search.cgi?keywords=NMBT"
target="_blank">NMBT CEO, Mr Tshiwula some more
grist for his
poison pen. One of the players selected was, in 2008, suspended under
child protection regulations while playing for Spondon Cricket Club, in
the Derbyshire Premier League in England.

Sir, I put it to you that if someone was convicted of such a
transgression it would be far more evil than racism.

Related Links:
target="_blank">PE sportsman sent home after UK sex scandal
| href="http://www.mype.co.za/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=4518"
target="_blank">And I Stopped Counting the White Surnames a
Looooong Time Ago | href="http://www.mype.co.za/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=4526"
target="_blank">From the Primary School End.

View full post on Port Elizabeth: MyPE

South Africa will be the host for the 2010 World Cup, which will be staged in a variety of South African cities including Johannesburg, Port Elizabeth, Cape Town, Pretoria, Durban, and Bloemfontein. The tournament will begin on June 11, 2010 and conclude exactly one month later on July 11. Johannesburg, the country’s largest city, will host the championship match in Soccer City Stadium, which is currently undergoing renovations to be new and improved in time for the World Cup. Although the big event is still 18 months away, a long and grueling qualification process has already begun. South Africa automatically qualifies for the field of 32 teams, but the 31 other spots are still up for grabs. Qualifying matches began in August of 2007 and will finish in November of 2009. The draw ceremony to place the 32 finalists in groups will be held in December of 2009. At the moment, various qualifying tournaments are taking place around the world. World Cup hopefuls are vying for 13 spots among European nations, five spots for African teams (in addition to South Africa), four or five for South America, three or four for North America, Central America, and Caribbean, and either no spots or one for Oceania. In Asia, Australia and the Korea Republic are currently leading the way in their respective qualification groups. In Europe, Denmark, Greece, Slovakia, Germany, Spain, England, Serbia, Italy, and the Netherlands are atop the groups. Paraguay, Argentina, Brazil, and Chile are currently looking good in South America. Qualifying matches in Africa and the North /Central America and Caribbean divisions have yet to commence. Once qualifying concludes and sets the stage for the December 2009 draw ceremony in Cape Town, the 32 World Cup participants will be placed into eight groups of four teams. Each team in a group plays every other team in its group and the top two teams (16 total) advance to the knockout stage, which will take place between June 26, 2009 and June 29. Round-robin group play will be held from June 11 to June 25. In the first round of the knockout stage, the eight group winners play the eight group runner-ups. From there, the remainder of the tournament is single elimination. The losers of the semifinals, however, will square off in a third-place match held on July 10 in Port Elizabeth. Italy is the defending champion, having defeated France 5-3 in penalty kicks in the 2006 title match. Brazil, which won World Cups most recently in 1994 and 2002, owns the most World Cup titles with five. Italy has four and Germany, the 2006 host nation, has three. Italy is currently third in the FIFA rankings, while Brazil is fifth and Germany is second. Spain is the top-ranked team, while the Netherlands is the other team in the Top 5. All five countries should be serious contenders in South Africa.

Port Elizabeth is an industrial city in South Africa. The south coast is bordered by the Tsitsikamma National Park. Plettenberg Bay is a seaside town, a holiday place. The bridge over the river is a site where we practice the bungee jumping. The next chapter is called “Durban”Port Elizabeth est une ville industrielle d’Afrique du Sud. La côte sud est bordée par le parc national de Tsitsikamma. Plettenberg Bay est une ville balnéaire, un lieu de vacances. Le pont sur la rivière est un site où l’on pratique le saut à l’élastique. Le prochain chapitre est nommé “Durban”.

Pete Chatmon & Double 7 Film pay a visit to a street named after the prison that held Nelson Mandela 27 years in South Africa. These kids are inspiring…

Nationwide Airways Flight flying from Johannesburg to Port Elizabeth in South Africa.