South Africa: A Once-in-a-Lifetime Destination

 

 

These were just a few of the sights I encountered on a six-day familiarization trip to Cape Town and the Bush organized by Dragonfly Africa, one of the continent's top destination management companies, prior to attending the Meetings Africa trade show in Johannesburg this February.

 

I flew in on South African Airways, a group-friendly carrier, which features wide, comfortable business-class seats that turn into lie-flat beds, good cuisine, and top-notch service that makes the 15-hour trip a lot easier. But while it is a haul, the fact is, "South Africa is a once-in-a-lifetime experience," says Amanda Kotze-Nhlapo, executive manager of the South African National Convention Bureau (NCB). Pitching it that way to attendees works, she adds.

 

It is also a country that is very serious about business. In 1994 -- the year the first post-Apartheid elections were held -- South Africa hosted 12 meetings recognized by the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA). In 2012, the year South Africa established the NCB, the number had climbed to 97. "Our goal is to grow the number of business events in South Africa 50 percent by 2020," Tokozile Xasa, South Africa's deputy minister of tourism, told attendees at the ninth Meetings Africa, which was held in Johannesburg's Sandton Convention Centre. It attracted about 1,000 hosted buyers and 260 exhibitors from 11 African countries.

 

When the NCB launched, it prioritized association meetings and incentives as its top two goals, respectively, Kotze-Nhlapo says. But corporate meetings and exhibitions are also important, she adds.

 

"We are not cheap, but we are a value destination," Kotze-Nhlapo says. "With a very tight three-star budget, you can give attendees a five-star experience."

 

 

While Johannesburg is a business city, Cape Town is where you want to start a trip to South Africa, particularly with meeting groups.

 

A small, beautiful city dominated by the Atlantic Ocean on one side and scenic mountains on the other, Cape Town's flat-topped Table Mountain is justly the most famous of its peaks. "Cape Town is a very compact city, with a revitalized center," says Rupert Jeffries, executive chairman of Dragonfly, which can handle groups of 20 to 2,000 or more. "You can get anywhere in five to 10 minutes." 

 

Two day-trips are not to be missed. An excursion to Cape Point takes groups along a scenic route to the imposing and ruggedly beautiful southwestern tip of Africa, overlooking the Cape of Good Hope. Helicopter transfers and speedboat tours of the Cape are very popular. A more serene trip will take groups to the rolling hills of the Winelands, where tours and tastings at vineyards such as the Delaire Graff Estate offer excellent food.

 

The city also has excellent five-star hotels. On arrival, we checked into the Table Bay at the Waterfront hotel, a 328-room Sun International property located right in the heart of the bustling Victoria & Alfred Waterfront. It has a ballroom that can host 300 for cocktails and is connected to a high-end shopping mall. After that, we stayed at the Belmond Mt. Nelson Hotel, an oasis in the middle of Cape Town and its oldest five-star property. A magnificent, rambling pink property in the grand-hotel style, its 198 rooms played host to photographer Annie Leibovitz and rocker Carlos Santana the night we stayed there. 

Groups using the Cape Town International Convention Centre  -- located in the heart of downtown -- should consider its adjacent headquarters hotel, the 438-room Westin Cape Town. An incentive-quality, five-star property in it own right, the hotel has wonderful views and a 600-person ballroom. Another good choice is the 130-room One & Only Cape Town, with a water shuttle to the convention center and an outpost of sushi/nightlife chain Nobu. In the city center, the 166-room Taj Cape Town is a lovely, classical property. It recently transformed an historic art deco bank next door into Bank Hall, a banquet room that can accommodate 390. 

 

There's more to South Africa than five-star hotels, of course. Dragonfly arranged for local guides to take us on an excursion to nearby Langa, the oldest township on the Western Cape, and really helped us delve into the history and culture of the township and interact with the locals -- as well as see that while poor, there are distinct neighborhoods and economic classes in what look like textbook third-world shantytowns from the road. 

 

After three days in Cape Town, we flew back to Johannesburg where we boarded a chartered Federal Air flight to our bush lodge's private airstrip. Sabi Sabi is composed of four separate lodges, which are fairly well spread out across the private but unfenced reserve. All are five-star all-inclusives, and we stayed in the largest, Bush Lodge, which has 25 thatched-hut suites set around a central courtyard holding a large and relaxing veranda, two small pools, the spa, and a boma, where firelight dinners are served. It faces a large watering hole that drew everything from a troop of baboons to a mother rhinoceros and her calf during our stay. The other three camps are smaller, and eight-suite Selati, with a colonial theme, was our group's favorite. All Sabi Sabi suites feature massive four-poster beds draped with mosquito netting and spacious bathrooms with separate tubs and showers. 

 

One of the reasons why Sabi Sabi is one of the top game lodges in South Africa is the amazing amount of wildlife wandering through it. In two days, we saw all of the Big Five -- lions, elephants, Cape buffalo, rhinos, and leopards -- as well as many zebras, giraffes, a variety of antelopes and their kin, a hippo, and even a rare cheetah. The animals wander freely in and out of the reserve and throughout nearby Kruger National Park, which, at 7,580 square miles, is one of Africa's largest. Seeing a wild elephant eating calmly by the roadside is an experience far removed from visiting the zoo.