One of the American golf pros the world famous Tiger Woods have been designing golf courses lately. The living legend has been busy designing golf courses all over the world. Recently, South Africa has started construction on a Woods signature golf course. Woods always looks into the minute details of the course details. He looks at the game form an architectural point of view. According to a recent interview with USAToday: Every golf course I play, I look at the golf course differently now -Why would they construct that? Why would they build this? . So now we can see why Woods signature courses are pretty much all over the world. In South Africa, golf is really picking up. People are getting more and more into it. More golf courses are being constructed. Golf tours are really popular with South African tourists. Located in picturesque Cape Town, there’s probably about 12 courses. Al around you there will be great mountains with awesome vistas to stare at while playing golf. Some of them are Royal Cape Golf course, Paarl course, Milnerton Golf course, etc. I think the unique thing is that some courses are right along the shoreline while others are right in the mountains. So you get plenty of different things to try out. Along with the golf course, the visitor is guaranteed a well deserved drink at a 5 star lounge. Also, you can chill out and eat some good food at the local restaurant called Maestro’s on the Beach. With the 2010 soccer world cup date closing in,there will be more tourists in the country. When the soccer is not on, they can have some fun on the courses and try their luck on the Woods designed course as well. This makes me feel like going down to South Africa right now and playing some golf. Image Credits: Wheretogolf, Cache Eb
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Tourism in Ghana reeks of the bane of disguised Pedophilia
Single tourists and other backpacker-mass-tourists slipping into Ghana have resorted to preying on truant and delinquent kids idling on the beaches and streets by luring them with money, immigration abroad and other gizmos. This is the sordid byproduct of an increase in the international student educational tourist flood. In some cases, parents have even condoned the involvement of their kids in gay pedophilia and child sex for money. Some of the hotel and lodging operations in Ghana are pimping for such tourist and using child sex tourism as a promotional tool for their businesses. The tourism sector in Ghana, both public and private, do not seem to be doing much or taking the issue seriously and neither those agencies responsible for the protection of children. Moreover the international community should make some arrangements to put a stop to such nefariously disgusting activities. Image Source: All Africa
Night safaris in the wilds of South Africa
Night brings on a dangerous yet active time for all wild animals for this is the time when the heat cools off. The night is full of dark mystery, terror, silence and predation. Crepuscular creatures began to stir with the dying of the light. You could be a part of this memorable experience by going on night drives into Africa’s game parks. The opportunities range from Kruger National Park, Mkuze Game Reserve, Mountain Zebra National Park and Itala Game Reserve. And budget night drives cost under $25 Mountain Zebra National Park: one of South Africa’s most ruggedly beautiful but least-visited preserves, offers night drives for 100 rand (about $13 at 7.6 rand to the dollar) a head. The park’s mix of dry river valleys, high grassy plateaus and recessive mountain chains rising in the distance to 7,000 feet, with black rhino, Cape buffalo and herds of foaling zebra. Addo Elephant National Park: Night drives at Addo cost 180 rand a person. Here the vehicle are bigger and the guides more. Elephants have to sleep on their feet in brief power naps. Given the bulk they must support, elephants don’t dare to rest too long from eating. Night drives force us to develop our senses. We’re reminded how much we lean on sight and how, by animal standards, we’re amateurs. Well if you do go for the drive, hope for a guide who enriches the experience with silence and is yet informative. Source: The New York Times
Luxury safaris in Botswana
Virgin forests, impenetrable jungles, vast expansive grasslands and the eventual merging into the Kalahari Desert. A lonesome cheetah tracks your movements perched on a tree and contemplates its next move. The cheerful birds chirp in the blazing African summer heat and the saga of the African wilderness continues unmindful to the changes the rest of the world has seen. The parched earth cracks and the smell of earth hits you as the reddened skies turn gray and it rains in torrents, bringing the much-needed moisture to the dehydrating flora and fauna. Botswana, a land of unspoilt natural habitats and the epitome of a true African experience, has for the discerning traveler, a great experience awaiting. A true African success story, Botswana today is a country that has left it’s history far behind and races towards progress. A country with one of the best infrastructure, employment rates and investment friendliness in modern Africa, modern Botswana is a tourist hotspot with unsurpassed wildlife parks and reservations. The country is already well known for it’s safari and gaming reserves, though gaming is strictly prohibited in reserves and national parks. The prosperity of the nation and the relatively good infrastructure when compared to other African nations, attracts tourists from all over the world for that unique African safari experience. The Okavango delta, which lies in the north west of the country, is the world’s largest inland delta. The delta was part of the ancient Lake Makgadikgadi and now, as there is no outlet to the sea, it empties into the Kalahari Desert. The Okavango shelters a wealth wildlife and the denizens include African elephants, the African buffalo, the hippopotamus, giraffes, crocodiles, the big cats, wild dogs, the warthogs, over 400 species of birds, including the African Fish Eagle, the Crested Crane, Sacred Ibis. There are many safari camps to choose from and most of them work on the principle of ethics and ecological responsibility. For those who can afford, there are luxury safaris, which make sure you have the best safari experience of a lifetime. One such is the ‘Orient Express Safaris’. They make sure your photographic journey in Botswana and the safaris you undertake remain luxurious to say the least. Orient Express Safaris Eagle Island Camp at Xaxaba in the Delta is a swamp, and the Okavango being a life-sustaining source of pure water attracts all imaginable wildlife typical to this part of the world. The cacophony produced by the wildlife has a strange rhythmic beat to it and game viewing can either be done on foot when you want to introduce yourself to timid deer, in an open air SUV while photographing the big cats or by mokoro, a slender dugout canoe that is piloted around swamps for hippo viewing. The Khwai River Lodge on the outskirts of Moremi Wildlife Reserve, has an open-air bar to serve your alcoholic needs and the drinks are prepared in the most chic way possible, in the middle of the African wild. Lavish thatched bungalows, exquisite spread and personalized service are the hallmarks of this luxurious camp run by the Oriental Express Safaris. You could choose to sleep in an equally luxurious tent outside, though, the line between man and the beast is reduced to a piece of fabric. Savute Elephant Camp, their third camp is in stark contrast to the two other camps and is set in the rugged, semi-arid wilderness of northern Botswana, in contrast to the more lush wetlands of the south, teems with wildlife as diverse as the giraffe warthog and elephants. Here you could choose to drink champagne and eat caviar on a beautifully laid table and set out on a safari in a SUV and witness a gloriously golden African sunset, which is beyond any poetic device and has to be experienced, in solitude. The rates at Khwai River Lodge and Savute Elephant Camp range from $525 in low season (Jan. 1 to April 30) to $720 in shoulder season (May 1 to June 30) to $965 in high season (July 1 to Oct. 31.) Rates at Eagle Island range from $800 in low season to $995 in shoulder season to $1,240 in high season. The rates are calculated per night based on double occupancy, and include all the services provided. Oriental Express safaris can be chosen by those who can afford to spend, while others can still choose the more affordable safari options with which the travel desk at the airport in Gaborone, Botswana can help you. Don’t forget to have a cocktail or two when you discuss your experiences with fellow tourists after witnessing the African sunset. Image credit: orient-express-safaris Via: MiamiHerald