Open Africa Reflection

Launch of the Drakensburg Experience Route – 29 August at Estcourt in KZN-Natal. See the details of this event, which we wish you could attend, at http://afrikatourism.blogspot.com With 108 to start with this route has more participants than any other Open Africa has developed so far. We can provide road transport from Johannesburg for anyone interested in attending the launch.

Open Africa history year by year. Sometimes it is good to reflect:
1990 - The idea is mooted, premised on the belief that, after politics, job creation was going to become this country’s greatest imperative.

1991 - The seed germinates with Engen agreeing to fund an investigation into its implications.

1992 - Turning conservation into an industry via tourism is the theme.

1993 - A keynote address delivered at a conference between scientists and industrialists leads to the assembly of a think-tank of eminent people to debate the idea.

1994 - ‘Linking the splendours of Africa in a network of routes’ is adopted as the vision and the president of the World Travel and Tourism Council joins the group.

1995 - Open Africa is officially registered as an NGO.

1996 - The footprint logo is devised, based on the fossil evidence discovered at Langebaan of a human footprint that proves Africa’s status as the birthplace of humankind.

1997 - President Nelson Mandela becomes Open Africa’s patron and Open Africa is the catalyst in the formation of the Peace Parks Foundation.

1998 - A vastly ambitious Web innovation is embarked upon, which results in the world’s first GIS integrated website.

1999 - The first route is developed, the Southern Overberg Fynbos Route.

2000 - By the end of this year 13 routes have been developed.

2001 - The first route outside SA is developed, on the Ilha de Mocambique.

2002 - There are 34 routes by the end of this year.

2003 - Credibility is being earned, but with it the realisation that the need for aftercare is more crucial than anticipated.

2004 - The World Tourism Organisation cites the Open Africa methodology as a best practise example in China.

2005 - Routes developing faster now, allowing for networking benefits to start taking effect, but with it experience is accumulated of the pitfalls in achieving sustainability.

2006 - The first route networker appointed, to focus specifically on aftercare.

2007 - The 50 route mark is passed and serious re-investment of knowledge gained into existing routes commences.

2008 - Now with routes in six countries, involving nearly 2000 participants who together employ more than 20 000 people, the network is becoming a plug-in tourism switchboard for marginalised and rural communities.

Buying a second-hand 4X4 should not be cause for much excitement but here it is a really big deal. We need this vehicle that arrived last week for the about to commence development of nine new biodiversity focused routes in rural areas in Namibia and Zambia. Designed to be all of an office on wheels, kitchen, dispensary, and accommodation, had it brains this mechanical object will probably have done all in its power to avoid our attention. To be based in Livingstone for the next two years, what it saves on accommodation whilst travelling will just about cover its cost.

After a countrywide search for the right thing, the vehicle in question was found at a dealer near Leesk Street in Klerksdorp. Leesk was the man who equipped David Livingstone’s wagons for his trek northwards more than 150 years ago – hopefully an auspicious coincidence.

Last week Open Africa held its own Polokwane conference, the first toward establishing a provincial forum for the routes in Limpopo. Attended by more than 30 delegates it opened the way to what promises to be a much higher level of collaboration and significantly improved marketing impacts.

Fortnightly Open Africa Update

“Pick ‘n Pay has always been a seven o’clock company” is what I said to a colleague when Leonora Sauls informed me that she was presenting our proposal to her board at that time the following morning. Raymond Ackerman founded Pick ‘n Pay 41 years ago, in the same year that I founded Avis in South Africa, so it is a special privilege to welcome them to the band of Open Africa constituents.

“The pride in her eyes will stay with me forever,” said Route Networker Jolene. She was talking about Gertrude Sonqayi, who operates a homestay on the Mothers of Creation Route, Inspired by the Open Africa mantra that you should be who you are and start with what you’ve got, she entered her name for training as a homestay hostess despite fearing the implications of having to write tests in English. But with determination and some help with translations she passed, and today welcomes guests with her husband to her Siyabonga homestay, where, again in Jolene’s words, you find yourself amongst beautiful people.

We make a big thing about being who you are at Open Africa. Not only to boost people’s confidence but also to emphasize the difference between being attractive versus being beautiful. What people do outwardly to be attractive is generally false, whilst what they are inwardly that makes them beautiful is authentic. Authenticity is what travellers rate highest in what they are seeking.

In what has been a typical fortnight at Open Africa, Francois addressed a community meeting at Darling, where they are interested in developing a route, is engaged in planning the Drakensberg launch that takes place this week, is putting the finishing touches on the new website that goes live on September 1, and is working on a Basecamp strategy – if you have not heard of Basecamp we must demonstrate it to you when next we meet. It is an extraordinary piece of Web 2.0 software that considerably facilitates the planning and tracking of projects.

Between editing video clips Cobus is working on the itinerary and planning of meetings along the way for a journey that will start on September 5 going via Port Nolloth to Rosh Pinah, Windhoek, Rundu, Katima Mulilo, Livingstone, Kafue, and Lusaka.

Jolene chaired a Dwarsrivier meeting, attended an agriforum meeting at Swellendam, prepared for representing the Limpopo Routes at the Getaway show that starts in Johannesburg this week, and is beginning to plan for the World Travel Market in London, where we will be representing the network for the first time.

Constance as usual is busily engaged with real time accounting and admin. We stay 100% up to date in that department.

Tendai has been providing aftercare at Khanyisa, whilst also compiling a Route Forum marketing toolkit.

Laura has nearly completed her induction and has already started devising a Mobilisation of Resources strategy, and Thiofhi is in Limpopo Province, where he has been for three weeks and will stay until the end of the month undertaking route networking (aftercare). Unfortunately for us Georgie is heading for the UK, not for the reason, as she vehemently protests, that they are ‘leaving’ SA, but because her husband has been made an offer there they cannot refuse.

Noel de Villiers CEO Open Africa

Why I love South Africa

Why do I love South Africa?

I love her for the perfection of her days
The crisp Karoo morning
The Joburg winter noon
The late summer Cape Town sunset
The star-filled Free State night

I love her for her people
For our warm smiles
For our resilience
For our I-am-because-we-are

I love her because she delights my senses
Highveld thunderbolts
Jacarandas in bloom
Sunday braais
African sun
Icy sea

I love her raw power, her intensity, her strength

I love her because of how she makes me feel
Sometimes angry, sometimes joyous
Sometimes fearful, sometimes love-filled
Sometimes frustrated, sometimes hopeful
Always alive

I love her because she intrigues me
And challenges me
The Chinese have a curse: "May you live in interesting times"
I see it as a blessing

I love her because she helps me keep things in perspective
By reminding me how privileged I am
Every day

I love her for being a microcosm of the world
A world in one country
For what we can teach the world
About compromise
And sharing
And forgiveness
And tolerance
And hope

I love her because she's imperfect
And full of opportunity
And potential unfulfilled

I love her because she has come so far
And has so much further to go
And whether we ever get there
Will all depend on us

I love her because she's been so good to me
And she inspires me to return the favour

I love her because she's my country
No matter what
I love her because she's my home
And where my soul is at rest

By Ian Macdonald

Think carefully about this

It can not be denied that every individual pursues the conveniences of physical comforts and conveniences of self-actualization especially when he or she works hard for it.

The pursuit of such objectives, where one is blind to the need of others and deficiency of their surroundings, becomes a hollow pursuit.

The only thing that matters in the end of the day, is been part of a greater common effort to remedy the worlds problems. Gandhi once said: “Be the change, you want to see-in others and the world”

An Epic Journey Starts Here

It is with immense excitement that I share this news - Open Africa got awarded a 3 year World Bank contract to develop 8 new routes ! - 1 in Northern Namibia (Okavango Delta) and 7 crisscrossing Zambia.

The following earnest preparation has started for this epic journey, namely:

• Buying a hardcore vehicle: What better than a 4.2 liter V6 Land Cruiser 70 Station wagon
  


• Equipped with roof rack, rooftop tent, 4 Jerry Cans, ARB + Winch, gas, spade, high lift jack, 4 ammo case drawer system, Waeco fridge, dual battery system with 12V/220V converter and awning system.
  


• Research on Zambia and Zambian support organization

Land Cruiser 70 Station Wagon

Yes, no computer and DVD screens!

“Horses for Courses” – This one will run on cooking oil

The intention is to keep you posted on every step of my journey over a 3 year period and hopefully convince you to follow suit.

Random Zambian quote of this post: No sweat, no sweet - Taken from "No work, no pay”.

The Dual Life of Deon Botha, A Digger from Delpoortshoop

Saturday, 14 June 2008, the Springbucks are playing Wales and we are driving somewhere between Postmasburg and Kimberley, extremely frustrated by bad radio reception of the match. The game has been in progress for fifteen minutes when we pass the security gate of the Ulco lime works, and the discouraging sign: “Employees Only”. Three kilometers further our spirits are lifted, A big signboard advertising cold beer and big screen television appears on the roadside. It is the Delportshoop Hotel, where we find seats among a few farmers, and many more fortune-seeking diamond diggers.

The game is uneventful, so I strike up a conversation with a heavily-built digger. The topic is malaria, which he contracted while traveling with his brother to Zambia. His name is Deon Botha, a local, and a diesel mechanic at one of the bigger digging operations near the confluence of the Harts and Vaal Rivers, in the foothills of the Ghaap Plato. “Sing something Deon”, somebody shouts from the crowd at the bar counter. Without blinking, he turns down the request and asks if we would like to see the diamond diggings..

We followed Deon to a very impressive open cast mining operation where huge trenches are being excavated by heavy earth-moving machinery, and mining trucks. Gone are the days of pick and shovel, this is a big operation, where only the fuel bill totals between thirty and fifty thousand Rand a day. “What about the singing back at the bar”, one of us asks? Yes, he studied at Stellenbosch University and continued his studies at Wupperthal in Germany to become an opera singer, and he intends cutting his own compact disc soon, he reveals in a single sentence . “Really” we exclaim, will you sing something for us?

The next minute will remain with us for the rest of our lives. Without hesitation this massive man, Deon Botha, a diamond digger and diesel mechanic from Delportshoop, perched next to a mining truck, takes a deep breath and starts singing the Drinking Song, from Giuseppe Verdi’s La Traviata. His voice carries across, the diamond digging, Delportshoop and rolls out across the grassy plains and the Vaal River. We are left speechless, shaking our heads in disbelief and grinning sheepishly.

After the performance Deon produces a container from his pocket, and pours out a few uncut stones in the palm of his hand. The diamonds have been in his pocket all along. “Diamonds, and singing is in my blood”, he says while a big smile lights up his face.
Delportshoop will never be the same for us. Now it has a character, a face and a personality much larger than life.

A youtube video clip of Deon singing at the digging site will soon be available on the Open Africa Youtube channel.