The previous two years have been turbulent times in international aviation: two Malaysian airliners, and their full complement of passengers, lost in the span of four months and a Russian airplane performing a fatal nosedive over the pyramids, on Halloween – its deadly descent possibly expedited by explosives. With this current spate of deadly aerial […]

Andrew Smith certainly thinks so, but he would. He is the founder of a South African solar company NVmyPower. But listen to what he says to a class and then judge for yourself. “Some people say buy a Ferrari,” Smith says. “Some people buy exclusive whiskey or a collectors item. This (solar) way, you’re not only saving […]

The horror novel ‘Day Four’ by South African Sarah Lotz has reached the semifinals of the 2015 Goodreads Choice Awards, which brands itself as the only major book awards chosen by readers. A book about South African Elon Musk has also been nominated, in a non-fiction category. Goodreads, which started in 2007 and has apparently got 40 […]

JOHANNESBURG – The remains of a dinosaur 50 percent larger than a T-Rex, found near Clarens in the Free State, are being pieced together by the Evolutionary Studies Institute at Wits University, it was announced on Tuesday. The plant-eating dinosaur, still to be named but which goes by the nickname ‘Highland Giant’, would have weighed about […]

Congratulations to Jared Houston from Cape Town who was crowned the official 2015 APB World Bodyboard Champion yesterday in Puerto Rico. It was an incredibly emotional (and stressful) final day of the Encanto Pro Cultura as the 26-year-old South African, who now lives in Puerta Rico, won his first world title. After an unfortunate knock out in the […]

The already well-known three-year-old DJ Arch Junior has won the ‘South Africa’s Got Talent’ competition, and picked up a half a million rand in prize money in the process. The tiny DJ, Oratilwe Hlongwane from Alexandra, Johannesburg, who was clearly a favourite with the judges even in the semifinals, was one of six acts who reached the final, […]

Anyone sitting in London or Ottawa, Canada, or Scandiinavia – well, anywhere with a colder climate right now – might be thinking of sunnier climes. With the rand  hitting its lowest level ever against the US dollar, consider what these properties on offer in Johannesburg and Cape Town this weekend could be bought for in foreign currency. […]

Jeremy Loops has taken to Facebook to reveal just how challenging it can be for a South African musician to fill concert halls around the world. Many South Africans abroad – in other professions – will relate to that higher hurdle you sometimes have to jump to prove, to those at home and abroad, that you […]

Cape Town was treated to a beautiful formation of Lenticular clouds on Sunday (8 November). From the Blouberg side it looked like the legendary pirate Van Hunks truly was smoking a pipe! (According to myth the ‘tablecloth’ cloud sometimes seen over Table Mountain is caused by a smoking contest between the devil and Van Hunks.) Capetonian Enid Burt said: […]

Anyone visiting Johannesburg – especially Jeppestown – might notice some new art decorating its walls, garage doors and basically any space flat and vertical worth a spray can. That’s because the fifth annual City of Gold Urban Art festival took place at the end of October. Graffiti artists from South Africa and abroad took part in painting up the place, […]

Cape Town and the Winelands are famous for their stunning scenery and outdoor activities, but they are also a treasure trove of art, culture and history. Travel writer and tour guide James Bainbridge shares his cultural highlights of the Mother City area. 1. Babylonstoren  This 17th-century wine farm south of Paarl is a total gem, […]

Time to get our calendars out for next year as South African Rugby Union (SARU) have announced the Springboks’ home fixtures for 2016. Current Six Nations champions Ireland will play a three-test series against the Springboks in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Port Elizabeth in June 2016, the South African Rugby Union (SARU) announced on Friday. SARU […]

This week, after undergoing an emergency appendectomy, Trevor Noah discovered what many Americans already know – that their “health system sucks” (in the words of some US media). After being admitted to hospital on Tuesday with abdominal pain, the South African comedian got his first real taste of the US health care system…and it was just like […]

Someone from Cape Town recently told me that living in this city for 6 years does not make me a Capetonian. Apparently the official integration period is ten years, and I had to work a lot harder on my accent. Eish. Problematically, this caused my identity crisis to reach new heights as I already felt […]

After my accident, whilst in a coma, Absa, set up an account for me. They generously deposited money into this and let it be known that it was available for public donations towards my medical expenses. Twenty-five years later, I am still banking with them! Recently I wrote to the Chief Financial Officer and I […]

A Climax windmill spins and creaks quietly alongside a dirt road linking Colesberg with the blue horizon. There is a cool morning breeze and a few sheep bleat in the distance. Soon, though, they are drowned out by the distant roar of a straining engine. A school bus appears, emblazoned with the words ‘Hantam Community Education […]

Staff members at One Loyalty, a South African company that specialises in emergency assist, got to prove both their loyalty and emergency skills on Friday with the unexpected joy of delivering a baby in their Joburg offices! “Giving life is a miracle,” said Marketing Coordinator Deepa Naran. “One Loyalty got to be a part of […]

Since the start of the weekend I’ve been hearing reports of the huge gatherings of humpback whales at Noordhoek, Robben Island and Dassen Island. As much as I wanted to document this amazing wildlife event, for five days in a row the wind was unfortunately too strong to fly…until yesterday. I woke to a beautifully calm […]

A video of Sihle the Drummer (his surname is not given on Facebook) playing drums on an assortment of stand-in objects was first posted on his Facebook page in August and was viewed at least 410,000 times. That seems to have gotten him a real set, which he now plays in a new video. Watch Sihle’s first […]

South African comedian Trevor Noah underwent an emergency appendectomy early Wednesday morning. According to a statement from Comedy Central (see above), the operation was successful and the Daily Show host is currently recuperating from the surgery. CC said: “As a result, The Daily Show will air an encore tonight. We expect he and the show will be back […]

Just in time for its 80th anniversary as a board game, Monopoly will now have a Cape Town version and will include the city on its world game board. “Monopoly fans around the world will be able to visit the big 7 Capetonian attractions, play beach bats on some of our top beaches, play sport, go to […]

South Africa plays a feature role – and it’s a good one – in the new James Bond movie, ‘Spectre’, even though South Africa will be one of the last countries in the world that actually sees a major launch of the spy extravaganza. While the movie itself – which is brilliant – flits from Mexico […]

Here’s another beautiful video of Cape Town from self-taught photographer Brendon Wainwright. This time he has spent two years taking over 7,000 photos to create this exquisite time-lapse. “I have been exploring Table Mountain National Park in pursuit of capturing its beauty like never seen before in a time-lapse video,” says Brendon. “This is 7,530 still images put together… […]

Heavy winds have wreaked havoc with the surf in the past 24 hours in Durban, KwaZulu Natal. Photographer NIC ABERDEIN captured these photos of the scene this morning. He said that despite “howling winds” the waves on the South African coast were “not as big as expected”. Yesterday EThekwini Municipality was forced to issue a press release […]

If South Africa has long been known as the World in One Country, this week it could have also been called Weather in One Country. Storms, terrible winds, blistering heat as well as snow have all hit various parts of the country. In KwaZulu Natal, powerful winds were having a strange effect on the land. Said one news […]