Posted on 05 January 2010 by Nic Haralambous
Yes, you read that correctly. People in 156 countries all sang “All you need is love” at the very same time on the very same day in their respective countries. South Africa is in there, as are Zimbabwe and many other African countries alongside the other nations that participated.
I strangely found this incredibly moving and extremely effective. This was all done to raise awareness about HIV in Africa.
Popularity: 11% [?]
Posted on 18 November 2009 by Nic Haralambous
Ed’s note: This post is a guest post from Rich Laburn who has worked extensively in the South African bush and currently at Londolozi Private Game Reserve. This is the first of four posts that Rich will be writing.
There is nothing quite like South African wildlife. It is impressive and has endured long before the first seeds of the country were sown. In South Africa the opportunity to spend uncluttered time with this wildlife is phenomenal because of the accessibility and diversity of game reserves. South Africa hosts many concessions and reserves that provide exclusive opportunities to experience wildlife in its purest form and in uncrowded freedom. Frustratingly though, with so much wildlife around, it’s impossible to experience all of the remarkable encounters that occur every second of every day. Instead, all you can do is pick one animal at a time and give all your energy, thoughts and appreciation to moments spent with that being.
Where I work, at Londolozi Private Game Reserve, the animal that is most frequently picked is the leopard. After 30 years of continual respect, habituation and game viewing, these elusive cats are content to allow us to view them for hours on end. Following them down dry riverbeds and gazing up at them whilst they fall asleep in the cradle of large trees, the leopards viewed by the rangers, trackers and guests are plentiful. From the 17 year legacy of the recently deceased Female leopard to the muscular Camp Pan Male. The Nyeleti female with 3 tiny cubs and the Nottens Female who has just taken over her mother’s territory, these leopards are iconic. They are stars in their own unwitting way, yet still wild animals working with the pure existence of nature for their survival.
For me, there is one leopard that I feel the most affection for. The Maxabeni Young Male, so called owing to the spot pattern on either side of his shiny pink nose. Unlike his more evasive twin brother, this young male is willing to share his journey into adulthood. Cocky and cheeky but still desperately trying to learn where his place in the world is, every moment spent with him is different, interesting and thought provoking. I have watched him hunt his first antelope, leap away in fright from prowling hyenas and how his body language shifts from fear to confidence in momentary flashes. He has taught me lessons of persistence, courage and the value of cutting your losses. He is only a year old, yet he is wise.
This leopard is just one of many different animals that we as South Africans are lucky enough to have on our doorstep in the game reserves throughout this country. I don’t know where else in the world people are granted access to the exclusivity of spending time alone with wild animals, deep in the bushveld. It is here that the madness of the daily grind fades, the pollution of noise and carbon dissipate, and the seamless progression of days into nights into days allow you to just sit, enjoy and possibly learn something small from a moment with that being. It’s moment such as these that make South African wildlife truly rock.
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Posted on 01 October 2009 by Nic Haralambous
I was fortunate enough to be invited to the launch of a fantastic new service online called the African Film Library.
The African Film Library is an M-Net initiative showcasing the best of the African film industry – making the movies easily accessible for movie aficionados around the world.
The African film industry is one of the oldest – with its roots in Ain el Ghezel (The Girl of Carthage), which was produced in Tunisia by Chemama Chikly in 1924. M-Net has spent the last three years negotiating the rights to almost 600 works in English, French, Arabic and Portuguese and digitally remastering them.
The library forms an important archive of the continent’s cultural cinematic heritage, and also, for the first time, makes the African artists’ works easily accessible by a wide viewership around the globe – creating a new audience for existing and emerging filmmakers.
The library consists of award-winning works from more than 80 producers including Senegalese Ousmane Sembene and Djibril Mambety, Yousef Chahine from Egypt and Haile Gerima from Ethiopia. – source
John Kani formed a major part of the launch event held at Monte Casino.
Why? Because the man is a genius, put simply.
The film that we were shown as part of the launch has won many awards and was written by Kani. He also directed and starred in the film.
The awards that the film received were plentiful, see the list below:
Awards
2009: Fespaco – Silver Stallion award
2009: Fespaco – Inaugural Ousmane Sembene award for Peace
2009: Milan International film festival – Best African film
2009: Milan International film festival – Catholic Church peace prize
2009: Zimbabwe International Film Festival (ZIFF) – Best film; Best actor
2009: Youande film festival – Best Film
I am 100% in support of an initiative such as this one. The world needs to see that Africa has artistic offerings to match up with the rest of the world.
Do yourself a favour and burn your bandwidth at the African Film Library.
Popularity: 6% [?]
Posted on 15 April 2009 by danielb
Tim and Bruce are cycling from Cairo to Cape Town on the Tour ‘d Afrique, they started on the 10th January and should be coming into Cape Town on the 9th May. They are trying to raise R180,000 to build 2 classrooms for a rural school in the Eastern Cape, you can view their website here – below is their latest adventure:
Lilongwe to Victoria Falls (2 April to 12 April)
Distance: 1216km
Highlights: Victoria Falls Hotel!!!
Greetings from the magnificent Victoria Falls and the bustling tourist town of Livingstone in Zambia. The past 10 days riding in Zambia have been long and tough and the legs and bodies are seriously fatigued… 
Because we were challenged many times over by many long days in this stretch of the Tour, we’ve decided to mix things up a bit and rather than a summary of the different days (they were ALL hard), we’d like to share with you in detail how amazing our 2 rest days have been in Victoria Falls…
So here are the diary entries for those two days, and for more detail on the other days, click here!
Easter Saturday and Easter Sunday, 11, 12 April
It all started out simply enough. We had come across from Zambia with fellow South Africans Craig Tingle and Nick Marr for a bit of lunch at the beautiful 5-star Victoria Falls Hotel. The views down the gorge are breathtaking, the food excellent, and the history and quiet opulence of this historic hotel simply envelops you.
With lunch down the hatch and thankfully paid for by Mr Tingle’s surprise work bonus, we all started to wonder what it would cost to stay a night. We guessed it would be in the region of $250 to $500 a night, so in order to settle the debate, we inquired at reception.
After a bit of smooth talking, and an explanation of why we looked as haggard as we did, the receptionist said we would qualify for a regional rate. With our curiosity tipped, Bruce and I then ventured further with some more bargaining talk and got the lovely Mavis down to $155 a night per person, including breakfast.
Bruce and I exchanged looks, came to the exact same conclusion, and promptly pulled out our Visa Cards and booked two rooms for the night. 
What a sight to behold… These two dirty, hairy South Africans, with absolutely no luggage or change of clothes for the night, being escorted by the porter down the thick-carpeted halls of the Victoria Falls Hotel to rooms 35 and 36.
Other guests looked at us with a confused air of arrogance. However, the looks would get a little more judging when Bruce took an evening swim in the pool in just his boxers because he didn’t have a costume of course, and we got even dirtier looks the next morning when we pitched up to breakfast in the very same dirty clothes. Needless to say, we couldn’t abide by the smart-casual dress code after 4.30pm, I mean we couldn’t even brush our teeth!
But for our weary bodies, the $155 splurge was well worth it. I had a hot bath. I put on a dressing gown (because I didn’t have any other clothes), I watched some TV and fell into a deep sleep which didn’t involve getting up in the middle of the night to kill mozzies or other creatures in my tent.
Room service woke me up with filter coffee at 7.30pm and the breakfast buffet was heavenly and expertly managed by us so that lunch wasn’t even needed later that Easter Sunday.
And having had either oats or mielie meal for the last three months, we felt we needed to share our breakfast feast with you in detail, so here it is:
Breakfast was followed by more sunbathing by the pool and eventually a massage in the spa. With a heavy heart and relaxed body, we checked out at 12.30pm (2.5 hours later than we should have), and headed to the Falls where we got drenched and giggled like schoolgirls.
It was all an epic and extravagant adventure, but exactly what we needed to lift our spirits for the final stretch and long days ahead!
By the time you read this we will be riding through Botswana where some long, flat days await us, as well as the dreaded longest day of the Tour at 207km! 
On the fundraising front for Hebron School in the Eastern Cape we’re getting closer to our target of R180 000 needed to build and equip two new classrooms, but with some R50,000 still needed we really need you all to please spread the word and get a colleague, friend or family member to donate just a R100.
Click here for our daily diary and click here for our photo galley! If you wish to donate, please click here.
Popularity: 15% [?]
Posted on 25 March 2009 by danielb
Tim and Bruce have just passed the 6,000km mark in their cycle race from Cairo to Cape Town to raise funds to build 2 rural classrooms in the Eastern Cape. Here is there latest report back:
Highlights Nairobi to Iringa, Tanzania:
8 March to 19 March
Distance: 973km
Highlights: R126,000.00 raised so far!!!
Wow, have the last 11 days been a roller-coaster of an adventure! Trucks broke down, the rain and mud came, riders crashed on what can only be called the Tour’s Black Wednesday, and the beautiful country of Tanzania captivated us.
Two day’s riding out of Nairobi saw us cross over into Tanzania where we relished three day’s of rest in the tourist town of Arusha, which is also the halfway point in time of our journey from Cairo to Cape Town.
It was a magical three days spent sightseeing and touring the surrounding area and town with the Gane parental unit and their somewhat underpowered rental car. A night was spent in a lodge on the rim of the Ngororo Crater, a world heritage site, and a place so beautiful and packed with such an abundance of wildlife that the unforgettable gamedrive the next morning really felt like the old sayng of “shooting fish in a barrel”. We saw it all… Herds upon herds of sturdy Buffalo, Lions, Cheetahs, Elephants, Rhino, and the list goes on and on…. For anyone that doesn’t have the Crater on their to-do list, put it on now!
After our wildlife buffet at the Crater, we spent a night in Arusha, eating bacon for breakfast and then exploring the vibrant market life before pushing on to the town of Marangu, which nestles in lush banana plantations on the foothills of Kilimanjaro. After days of not seeing the mountain as we rode from Kenya, that evening we were treated to a first-class view of her snow-capped Uhuru Peak as the clouds lifted while we sipped on ‘Kilimanjaro Lager’ – naturally of course!
After a beautiful morning walk to the Ndoro Waterfalls in Marangu we headed back to Arusha. Here we readied ourselves and our bikes for seven days of off-road riding which took us from Arusha to the capital city Dodoma, and then finally to our rest stop, Iringa, a beautiful and peaceful town surrounded by thick green bush and rocky outcrops.
In that week of riding, it rained on four of the days, turning many of the dirt-road sections into fun, muddy sections. The rain, however, also makes camping not-so-much-fun, and after a few consecutive days of packing up wet, smelly tents and clothes, you tend to get a little “over it”.
Smelly tents and swarms of mosquitoes aside, the riding from Arusha to Iringa has been absolutely spectacular and we were actually very lucky in that the rain was never monsoon-in-nature as it so often can be at this time of year, and if you’re ever in Tanzania, we’d highly recommend you take a 4×4 and do the exact same route just for scenery sake.
While we were lucky to an extent with the rain, the Tour hit an unlucky patch. The one support truck suffered breakdown after breakdown, which meant on some days we sat in the middle of the bush waiting for our bags and food for as long as six hours on some days, making a long day in the humid heat an even longer one.
This bit of annoyance however was nothing compared to the day of unlucky accidents in which four riders had to be patched up to varying degrees. Bruce took a spectacular fall on loose rocks, leaving his right-side and arm pretty banged up but not bad enough to end his day’s ride. 
Paul Porter, also an EFI rider and a helluva competitor was not so lucky. He fell in a similar manner to Bruce and also injured his right side and arm, however, luck was not on his side that day. We patched him up as best we could with our first-aid kits on the road, but it became apparent quite quickly that the blood would not stop and he would need proper medical attention. He was rushed to hospital in Iringa in the runabout Landrover and we discovered that evening his Tour was finished and he would need surgery to repair a broken arm and deeply lacerated vein in his arm.
It was an incredibly sad moment to hear that this seriously tough man, who had been through so much to keep his EFI status, was now making plans to return home for surgery, all because he just fell awkwardly after seeing a ditch a bit too late.
Bruce’s and Paul’s crash in particular also brought home the realisation that after 6000km in the legs, we still have a long way to go to Cape Town, and we simply need to enjoy each day at a time.
By the time you read this, we would have pushed on from Iringa and headed for Malawi where more adventure no doubt awaits us! Thanks to some large donations we have now raised R126 000 of the R180 000 needed to build Hebron School in the Eastern Cape two much-needed classrooms, and we thank all those who continue to spread the word to friends and family about our fundraising drive. View our website here.
Popularity: 15% [?]
Posted on 11 December 2008 by Nic Haralambous
I don’t often take part in chain blog posts, but this one I quite enjoyed and Rafiq tagged me so what else could I do?
To set it straight to start with, I blog about South Africa. South Africa is in Africa and Africa is a moving, culturally rich and incredibly curious continent. So to begin, that is probably why I like to live in Africa and blog about a country within Africa.
I could wax lyrical all day about South Africa as you mostly know, I’ve done it for just under two years on this blog. Two years, wow. Anyways moving swiftly onwards to the points:
This is why I blog about Africa and South Africa. I am nothing without South Africa. It has defined me, built me, created me and inspired me. I need South Africa more than it needs me.
image: nita_r
Popularity: 13% [?]
Posted on 20 November 2008 by Nic Haralambous
Yes, Muti.co.za is a submission site where anyone can submit content and have it voted up or down by the community.
But the Muti folk (Neville, Dave and Charl) have kindly placed the SA Rocks banner in the advertisement spot in the Muti sidebar.
I cannot express my gratitude enough to Neville for helping me out with the support. There is more however, Neville has allowed me to mention that you too can have an advert placed on Muti. However there are some conditions. The ad has to be for a South African or African initiative. It has to promote something good, a service, something innovative, something special, different, extraordinary, positive, useful to get on to Muti. OK those are all my own words but you get my drift.
So if you have any suggestions you can head over to Muti’s Contact page and submit your initiative and a banner.
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Posted on 29 October 2008 by Nic Haralambous
I picked this video/presentation up from Erik’s blog, White Africa. It’s a presentation he did at Pop!Tech.
Popularity: 8% [?]
Posted on 10 October 2008 by Nic Haralambous
I know that I am probably making news out of a very old announcement but I just saw how many local acts have been nominated at this years MTV Africa awards… here’s the list:
BEST FEMALE
Zonke ( South Africa )
BEST MALE
DJ Cleo ( South Africa )
HHP ( South Africa )
BEST LIVE PERFORMER
Cassette ( South Africa )
Jozi ( South Africa )
BEST GROUP
Freshly Ground ( South Africa )
Jozi ( South Africa )
The Parlotones ( South Africa )
BEST ALTERNATIVE
Goldfish ( South Africa )
Seether ( South Africa )
The Parlotones ( South Africa )
BEST HIP-HOP
HHP ( South Africa )
BEST R&B
Loyiso ( South Africa )
ARTIST OF THE YEAR
HHP ( South Africa )
Seether ( South Africa )
BEST NEW ACT
Da L.E.S. ( South Africa )
BEST VIDEO
Freshlyground ( South Africa ) – Pot Belly
Pro Kid ( South Africa ) – Uthini Ngo Pro
Wow. What a line up, what an incredible year for SA music. Let’s keep fingers crossed that we pull in some statues!
Popularity: 11% [?]
Posted on 25 August 2008 by Nic Haralambous
This is the national anthem of South Africa. I’ve read that there is not a set standard arrangement for this song, so I’ve made my own arrangement to sing. I hope you like it. I did this song because I find it to be very moving and beautiful.
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