#travel

Travel Tips that will Save you Time and Money

1. Empty Middle Seat. Couples or friends flying together should always book the window and aisle seat. If the flight is not full you can end up with an empty seat in the middle for some extra space. 2. Duplicate it. Lower your stress levels should the worst happen and you loose an ID or Passport by having copies on hand. Take a quality photo of all of your important documents with your cell phone. You can even print a copy and keep it with you. At least you will be able to supply ID and passport numbers and continue with your travels. 3. Pack a snack. Take along some of your favourite snacks and avoid the expensive airport food and in-flight snacks. You might end up in a situation where you didn’t get a chance to eat and then a quick snack can be a lifesaver. 4. Travel Size Containers. Buy some travel size containers and fill them with your favourite products that you can re-use. Buying travel size products are a lot more expensive. 5. Reusable Water Bottle. Pack your own water bottel. Airports are expensive and you need to stay hydrated. You can refill your own bottel at a water fountain and save some money. 6. Mini Medicine Kit. Create your own First-Aid Kit to suite your individual needs. Fill a small cosmetic bag or ziplock bag with some pain reliever, bandaid, allergy medicine etc. You never know when you are going to need it. 7. Portable Cell Phone Charger. Be prepared and don’t get stuck with a dead cellphone battery during your travels. Pack a portable cellphone charger to make sure that you stay connected. Your smart phone works hard during any trip while you take pictures and use it for directions on Maps etc. 8. Water Bottle with Filter. Many countries have water is that is questionable. You can save some money by bringing a bottle that filters the water for you. This will also give you some peace of mind knowing that your drinking water is filtered. 9. Inform your bank. Banks might flag an account for spending in unusual areas and your transactions can be declined. Let your bank know of your travel arrangements and avoid getting stuck in a foreign country with no access to your funds. 10. Wet Wipes. This item is such a great travel essential. Handy to clean all types of surfaces and cleaning your hands or wipe a small mess on your clothes. 11. Notebook and Pen. Very useful for filling out immigration forms and jotting down a quick note. 12. Keep Prescriptions in their Containers. Bring any prescriptions that you need to take in their containers from the pharmacy with your name on. This will help if there are any questions when you arrive at your destination. Source Credit: Travellocal.medium.com

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Emdoneni News

THE CULTURE OF KWAZULU-NATAL

Are you planning a trip to Kwazulu Natal and want to know what makes this beautiful part of South Africa so unique, look no further! SANIBONANI! HEITA! HOWZIT! MAJITHA! ZWAKALA! You can’t take anything too seriously in KwaZulu-Natal. It’s just too hot for that – and besides, it takes too much energy. We like to relax and would rather use our energy in more constructive ways. For instance, if we can’t lie in the sun watching the inside of our eyelids, we’d rather be surfing, playing beach soccer, strolling along Durban’s world-class promenade, fishing, hanging out with our friends and families, watching the plants grow (hey, we’re sub-tropical here and there are a lot of really, really nice plants) and generally making the most of our lives. This is not to say we don’t work. We do, and we work hard … when we need to. Evidence of our hard work is the fact that Durban alone provides some 11% of South Africa’s gross domestic product, has the busiest port in Africa (so from a business perspective, we are the gateway to commerce in the whole southern African region) and we are South Africa’s leading domestic tourism market. It’s just that in KZN, work often feels like play, and besides, why stress out with too much work when there are so many other fun things going on? We’re not known as a great, family holiday destination for nothing you know. “We’re cool with being warm” In KwaZulu-Natal we’re famous for our warmth – warm, as in friendly and welcoming, but also sub-tropically warm. That being said, you’d be surprised at how easy it is to be chilled here. So, as far as we’re concerned, we’re completely cool being a warm, happy part of the country. And KZN is a happy place – because being happy is what comes naturally when you don’t take things too seriously. It’s easy to be happy here. As long as the sun rises, the kids are occupied, business is taken care of, there’s a good game of sport either to be watched or played, the surf is great, there’s a breyani or a braai on the go, some lekker places to enjoy a dop and to siya-groova a bit with your buddies – well what more could you possibly want? “Being happy is what happens naturally when you don’t take things too seriously”. Okay, so we have a reputation for being laid back and easy going, but hey, we’re not doff. We like it that way. That’s why we live here and not in one of those places where you have to act larnie, dress right, be seen in the right places, read the right books, hang with the right people or where business is everything and life is so fast-paced and hyped you have no time to enjoy yourself. As some locals may say, “Bru, you’ll just get stressed. Rather chill china”. The way we see it, let everyone else rush around if they want. We’ll go at our own steady pace, conserving our energy for things that really matter – things like the big Sharks games for instance, (for those not in the know, the Sharks are our provincial rugby team of whom we are ridiculously proud and supportive), the Durban Vodacom July horse races, the Comrades marathon, the Duzi canoe marathon and the amaShovashova cycle race. And of course, even more importantly, one always needs to conserve one’s energy for a quick dip in the warm Indian Ocean, a good curry, preferably a Bunny Chow (a take-away curry served in a half loaf of bread which was invented here in KZN) or a seafood platter and a. We may look as if we’re just hanging out here on the edge of the East Coast of Africa, but in reality, not only are we really central to everything that is going on, but we’re cooking. Check it out … WE EVEN HAVE OUR LANGAUGE IN KZN. HERE’S A QUICK TRANSLATION IF YOU DIDN’T UNDERSTAND EVERYTHING YOU READ ABOVE Heita, Howzit, Majitha, (township and slang greetings) breyani (popular Indian dish made from rice ‘n spice ‘n all things nice) braai (barbeque) lekker (very nice) dop (a quiet drink) siya-groova (party) doff (stupid) chilled (relaxed) cooking (going places) bru (my brother) chill china, (Relax my friend: from the Zulu umshana = my nephew, and the cockney china plate = my mate) larnie (important person) check it out (see for yourself) Bunny chow : often referred to as a bunny, is a popular meal which is of a hollowed out loaf of bread filled with curry. It originated in the Durban Indian community. Source credit: www.zulu.org.za

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Emdoneni News

These are how many travellers from Africa visited KwaZulu-Natal

Looks like KwaZulu-Natal is fast becoming a must visit destination for travellers from Africa. The latest statistics from South Africa Tourism confirm that an increasing number of tourists are already visiting KZN from across Africa-and that they represent the biggest portion of international arrivals to the province. “In 2017, almost 60% of the international arrivals in KZN were from the African continent, which demonstrates the importance of this growing key market,” said Phindile Makwakwa, the Acting Chief Executive Officer of TKZN. “For the past two weeks we’ve hosted “Spotlight on Africa” workshops in Lusaka, Zambia, Gaberone and Namibia to engage key trade partners through workshops to educate them more about the province, so to ultimately bring more numbers from these regions to KZN. “Our aim is to get KZN in the all-important holiday brochures that the agents give to their clients.” TKZN is currently hosting 34 tourism buyers from 17 countries across Africa who are already keen to sell KZN and other South African regions to their customers. The hosted delegates, who form part of the Central, East and Land trade team, arrived in the province on Sunday and will be exploring the region’s hidden gem tourist attractions. The SA Tourism research revealed that more than 7, 5-million tourists from across Africa visited the country in 2017, which represented 73,5 % of the total arrivals into South Africa. Between January and October, 2018, arrivals from Africa increased by 2.9% to 6.4million. Arrivals into KZN from across Africa in 2017 were 485 775, up from 464 863 from the previous year. Further research reveals that the top activities that international tourists enjoy in KZN are the beach, theme parks, adventure and wildlife followed by visiting natural attractions. The visitors come from a range of countries and do not hold back when it comes to spending on their holidays and business trips when they get here. When it came to the Africa arrivals who flew into KZN in 2017, the top four source countries are Nigeria (3 564 passengers), Tanzania (3 013), the DRC (2 582) and Kenya (1 968). These visitors stayed the longest and were among the top spenders. While the number of visitors from Ghana (726) was low, the tourists stayed the longest and spent the most and thus this was a market with potential to grow, researchers felt. The Ugandan and Angolan markets had similar potential. As for the tourists who arrived via land borders, Swaziland topped with list with 292 038 visitors, followed by Botswana (49 741), Lesotho (48 922), Zimbabwe (40 799) and Zambia (9 690). The top big spenders were Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi and Lesotho. And those who stayed the longest in the province hailed from Malawi, Lesotho, Zimbabwe, Swaziland and Mozambique. From May 2-4, KZN will host to the Africa Travel Indaba, which is a meeting place for buyers where the gems of South Africa will be marketed and sold. “These platforms have provided TKZN with an opportunity to position KZN as a top-of-mind ‘must visit’ destination. It’s a chance to educate agents about the province’s wide diverse tourism offerings as we drive the campaign to grow the number of tourists and get more people arriving at King Shaka International Airport,” Makwakwa said. Source credit: www.iol.co.za

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Emdoneni Tips & Information

Guide to the 7 Travel Photo Trends in 2019

Times are changing and people nowadays put emphasis on saving time and money when they want to take a good picture. At the same time, people are also getting more educated on using a camera and they know what it takes to snap a great photo. The following are the top 7 travel photo trends in 2019. Using Smartphone instead of DSLR to Take Photos Most tourists don’t use point and shoot camera to take photos nowadays. One of the reasons is that they don’t know how to adjust complicated settings like shutter speed. They much prefer using a smartphone to take pictures because the smartphone camera is already adjusted to the optimal setting. All you need to do is to frame the scene you want to take a photo of in your phone screen and press the hit button. After taking the photos on your smartphone, you can have them transferred to your computer and organized using software like Movavi Photo Manager. You can add tags to your photos to sort them, for example, putting Belgium travel photos under the tag Belgium. It also allows you to make simple edits, for example, using resolution presets for resizing the photo, rotate left/right, and color adjustment. The Balance of Lighting in Photo Many tourists now understand the importance of their photos to have balanced lighting. Key parts in the scenery must be highlighted while other less important parts can be covered in shadow. They know that the photos have different look if they take the photos in different light conditions. For example, photos that appear bright are shot in the golden hour when the sun is hot. On the other hand, photos with some shadowy parts are shot when the sun is not that bright and hot. Sharing Photos on Social Media Sites There is an increasing number of tourists posting their travel photos on social media sites. Skilled tourist photographers like to share their travel photos to get recognition and get their work published in magazines. Others that are less skilled like to share their travel photos to contribute some information on the places they have visited. Adding Humor to Your Travel Photo Humor is becoming an important trend in travel photography. Many people like to act playful, for example, doing a funny thing that is related to the travel venue they are taking photo of. Humor travel photos are usually taken by younger travelers who don’t take things seriously. Including the Locals in Your Photo Multilocalism is a popular trend in travel photos. It shows people of the foreign places that you have met, for example, a photo of the locals performing their daily routine or you can pose a selfie with a local. Sharing the photo online allows you to show how enriching your travel experience has been. Highlighting the Cuisines in Your Trip A lot of tourists also like to take food photography when they are traveling. You can take a photo of the food that you enjoy at the restaurant. It can also spice you saw a seller selling in the marketplace or a variety of local cuisine sold by the local stalls. If you take a photo of restaurant cuisine, you can put a caption on the photo to state the ingredients and cuisine origin. Taking Photos of Streets Street photography is another trend in travel photography. It can be a photo of strangers walking down the street or an empty alley in the city. The street doesn’t have to be in a busy city and can be any place as long as the shot is natural. Usually, it is a public street and capture with a basic camera. Source: technobng.com

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Emdoneni News

South Africa’s new visa rules – here’s everything you need to know

South Africa’s government will overhaul its visa rules by the end of next month to promote tourism and make it easier to do business, as part of a package of measures aimed at reviving an economy that’s mired in recession. Minors who are foreign nationals will no longer require a copy of their birth certificate and consent from both parents to enter the country, Home Affairs minister Malusi Gigaba told reporters in Pretoria on Tuesday. Visitors from India and China will also not have to apply for visas in person at a South African embassy, while business travelers from those nations will be issued with 10-year multiple-entry visas within five days of application, he said. More than 10 million people visit South Africa each year, a number President Cyril Ramaphosa’s administration wants to increase exponentially as it seeks to create jobs for the 27% of the workforce that’s unemployed. The tourism industry has complained that stringent new visa laws introduced in 2015 — which the government said were necessary to combat child trafficking and terrorism — had prompted many travelers to consider alternate destinations. “It is a challenge inherent in immigration management to detect, prevent and act against risks without unduly inconveniencing law-abiding travelers,” Gigaba said. “Changes to our visa architecture have potential to boost tourism and to make business travel more conducive.” Ramaphosa, who took office in February, first outlined plans last week to change the visa regime in his “stimulus and recovery plan,” which aims at reviving an economy that entered a recession in the second quarter, but never provided details. Visitors from a number of countries, including the UK, U.S., Germany, France, the Netherlands, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Russia and Angola, don’t need visas to come to South Africa. The government is in talks about extending the exemption to other nationals, including those from Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, Sao Tome & Principe, Ghana, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Iran, Lebanon, Kuwait and Cuba, Gigaba said. Other concessions include allowing frequent visitors to South Africa to apply for three-year multiple entry visas, and business people and academics from Africa to seek 10-year multiple-entry visas. South African minors will still require the consent of both parents to leave the country and must be in possession of their birth certificate, Gigaba said. The latter requirement will be dropped when the government implements plans to issue minors with passports. The government plans to smooth the clearance of travellers through the busiest border posts, by installing a biometric movement-control system. The new system is nearing completion, with several pilot sites already up and running.

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