Ellerman House & Villa in the magnificient city of Cape Town and Singita's Lebombo or Sweni Lodge in the famed Kruger National Park are offering a combined long stay offer. When booking 3 nights at each property, receive a complimentary 4th night at both. This includes all the usual services and amenities (luxury return airport transfers, select house wines and spirits, in-room bar, guest pantry, laundry, etc at Ellerman; all meals, drinks, safari activities, etc at Singita). The offer is valid from 1 Aug – 15 Dec 2009 and 15 Jan – 15 Dec 2010 (excluding 1 Jun - 31 Jul 2010 during FIFA World Cup).
Annemarie Steenkamp, under the expert guidance of Executive Chef Margot Janse, is Le Quartier Français’ new Culinary Concierge. As a former sous chef in the award-winning Tasting Room, Annemarie is perfectly equipped to handle everything from restaurant bookings for any occasion to the creation of bespoke culinary experiences. She will share techniques, secret tips and tricks of the trade as well as introduce characters and stories of the Franschhoek valley to culinary guests. The service is offered exclusively to hotel guests.
Le Quartier Français is found in the heart of the Franschhoek Valley in the Cape Winelands.
Heritage Day is one of South Africa's newly created public holidays and its significance rests in recognising aspects of South Africa culture which are both tangible and difficult to pin down: creative expression, our historical inheritance, language, the food we eat as well as the land in which we live.
Within a broader social and political context, the day's events are a powerful agent for promulgating a South Africa identity, fostering reconciliation and promoting the notion that variety is a national asset as opposed to igniting conflict.
Heritage has defined as "that which we inherit: the sum total of wild life and scenic parks, sites of scientific or historical importance, national monuments, historic buildings, works of art, literature and music, oral traditions and museum collections together with their documentation."
The Government determines a theme for each year’s celebrations.
The landmark Ellerman House & Villa in Cape Town's prestigious suburb of Bantry Bay reopened last week after an extensive refurbishment. The remainder 5 of the 11 bedrooms from last year's upgrade have all been refurbished with new colours, plasma TVs and all soft furnishings. Eight of the 11 bathrooms have been upgraded with new chrome fittings. The bathrooms in the gym area have been completely renovated and the Villa also underwent a soft refurbishment. The whole house has been repainted, ready for a busy season ahead.
Sightings of Spotted hyena in Lion Sands are quite rare due to their low numbers, therefore any sighting of these magnificent animals is a special one - but recently our guests were treated to the most incredible sighting!We had located a den site about a month ago after following an adult female hyena traveling down one of the roads at a rapid pace. She followed the road to the Hilda’s Rock area and then moved into the vegetation. There we found an incredible den site under a large rock, there were three cubs at the site, two cubs of approximately two months of age and one cub was younger than a month! We have had several awesome sightings of these cubs playing around the den site but last week we noticed that there were now five cubs! Two tiny cubs have now joined the clan and can be seen peering out of the dens site, still a little nervous to venture out.
For more information and pictures visit the official Lion Sands website.