Kate Herbert Imagine a room with two views: one a dusty, arid moonscape; the other lush, green and wet. This is the luxury “home from home” set- up at the Savuti Elephant Camp and Xaxaba in the Chobe Game Reserve in Botswana. The room at Savuti is too opulent for its “tent camp” status. It […]

On a Warner Brothers press junket to Los Angeles Alex Dodd found a flip side to the dream factory For someone as hopelessly addicted to the glittery escape of celluloid as I am, the prospect of a trip to Los Angeles had me surfing waves of fantasy. Images of wild, wild Nicholas Cage cruising down […]

Janyne Simon-Meyer Heavy booking has already taken up many of the special deals, but you may still get lucky with these packages: l Beachcombers is offering seven nights in in Grand Baie, Mauritius, for R3 990 per person. Call Sure Travel Agents for details. l Flight Centre has a five-night stay in Langkawi for R4940. […]

Andy Capostagno Rugby Even Nick Mallett has admitted it. “We cannot claim to be the underdogs on this tour”, he said on Tuesday night, and the Springbok coach is absolutely right. Mallett has built a rod for his own back in this season of unprecedented success for the national side, and a Grand Slam of […]

Review of the week: Matthew Krouse Classical music always garnered a heap of bad press in the old South Africa. Great works of Western music were, we were informed, part of a Eurocentric dominance – an unnecessary aberration in the lives of poor Africans. Apparently, so we’re told, times have changed. Today, a generation of […]

Andrew Muchineripi Soccer Manning Rangers’s coach Gordon Igesund is a born optimist, who refuses to accept that his club cannot book a place in the African Champions League final on Sunday. The Mighty Maulers from Durban share first place in Group B with Asec of Cte d’Ivoire on 10 points and have a marginally better […]

Friday night :Xoli Norman There is something unrelentingly inviting about the Newtown art and entertainment scene, especially on Fridays. The sparsely peopled district brings on a dense nostalgia evocative of the good old days of a vibrant Market Theatre precinct. Today the place retains an edgy vibe, but for different reasons. What people fight for […]

John Crace It goes without saying that your choice of holiday destination is a statement of your aesthetics. After all, there’s precious little point in going to Ibiza if it’s peace and quiet and a few old masters you’re after. And an eco-tour to the Amazonian rain forest immediately identifies you as the caring, thoughtful […]

Kwaito superstar Oupa Makhendlas Mafokate died in a confusing drama of gunshots. Zwelithini ka Mvelase looks at Makhendlas as a township thesis of his generation – the wasted, young, black and talented A Nile of tears threatens to storm out of my tear sacks – eyes weighed down by grief and too red to hold […]

Peter Makurube It has taken a long time but at last the real heroes of South African jazz are being honoured. The Untold Story, a show held in memory of jazz greats of an era gone by, is part of the ongoing African Renaissance series. Soloists will interpret the works of icons like Dudu Pukwana, […]