ARTS







The A to Z of South African culture




Blown away by Mapungubwe

Lucille Davie
Mapungubwe's famous gold foil rhinoceros (Photo: University of Pretoria)
23 September 2004 South Africa's first kingdom, Mapungubwe in Limpopo province, dating back 800 years and situated in a game reserve, opens to the public from 24 September 2004. The newly launched Mapungubwe National Park borders on the Limpopo river and offers spectacular views of the river and South Africa's neighbours, Botswana and Zimbabwe, at the confluence of the Shashe and Limpopo rivers. The Mapungubwe Cultural Landscape was declared a World Heritage Site by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) in 2003, bringing to five the number of South African sites that have been awarded World Heritage status (there are now six - see box down right). Mapungubwe and Makapane's Valley, also in Limpopo province (see box down right), were declared National Heritage Sites by the SA Heritage Resources Agency in 2001 - the first two sites to be declared under the 1999 National Heritage Resources Act, which replaced the old National Monuments Act. This was a long-awaited trip for me, to explore Mapungubwe mountain and the culture of a lost kingdom dating back to the 1200s - rediscovered in 1933, but hidden from public attention until only recently.
Mapungubwe National Park SA's newest park covers 28 000 hectares at the confluence of the Limpopo and Shashe Rivers, boasts incredible natural and cultural riches, and forms part of an ambitious project to develop a transfrontier conservation area spanning three countries.
Mapungubwe was the first society in South Africa in which class distinctions appeared, with the king physically separating himself from his subjects by living with his royal entourage on the mountaintop, to which his subjects brought food and water daily. I knew the basics: that Mapungubwe ("place of the stone of wisdom") dated back to pre-colonial times; that they were the first people, after the Bushmen, to settle in South Africa; that they lived around a hilltop; and that a beautiful golden rhinoceros, some 12cm in length and 6cm in height and made of gold foil nailed around a wooden interior, had been excavated from the site. What I didn't know was how awe-inspiring the area around Mapungubwe would be. A giant's land It resembles a giant's land - huge boulders strewn below rocky koppies and cliff faces, with wild fig trees literally growing out of the rocks, their roots clinging to the rock faces. The surrounding vegetation is mostly grassland, interspersed with huge indigenous trees - among them the wonderful baobab, some of them probably thousands of years old. Closer to the river the vegetation thickens and develops into lush green forest entangled with creepers and shrubs. Mapungubwe itself is stunning. A small, free-standing, oval-shaped mountain 30 metres high with rugged, impregnable cliff faces all around it. On top it's largely a flat grassy plain around 300m in length, interspersed with large rocky surfaces and giving spectacular views of the surrounding countryside, with the Limpopo glistening in the northern distance. The broader area around Mapungubwe had been occupied for several hundred years before people settled on the mountain. An area east of Mapungubwe, called Schroda, was believed to have been settled around 800 AD. When that was abandoned, the community moved to a hill about a kilometre south-west of Mapungubwe, now called K2, where they set up homesteads between 1000 and 1200 AD. K2 was also abandoned, and Mapungubwe taken over, in about 1220, the king establishing himself on the top of the mountain with up to 5 000 subjects on the plains around him. They grew sorghum and millet and cotton, as excavations of storage huts reveal, herded cattle, goats and sheep, and kept dogs. A tributary of the Limpopo, now dry, ran through the valley, providing water for the community. 'If the king was ill, the land was ill' It was a sophisticated society. They produced beautiful clay pots, decorated around the rim, of different shapes and sizes. Other items have been excavated: wooden spoons, whistles, funnels, and spindle whorls with which to spin the cotton they grew. They had access to gold, now believed to have been panned from the Shashe River, which runs through gold mining areas further north in Zimbabwe, and perhaps mined from further south in Gauteng. They mined and worked iron obtained in the area. Arab, Chinese and Indian traders, travelling from Sofala in Mozambique, reached this far, bringing with them glass beads and cowrie and mussel shells to exchange for ivory and gold. There are two significant elements to Mapungubwe society, according to Alex Schoeman, research officer in archaeology at Wits University: it was not cattle-centred but rather focused around the king, who was never seen by his subjects living on the plains around the mountain. "If the king was ill, the land was ill", Schoeman says. The king's grave has yet to be found, and could be hidden in any one of the surrounding hilltops or small caves. Secondly, trade was the basis of Mapungubwe's economy, like any modern economy. Giving reasons for adding Mapungubwe to its World Heritage List, Unesco said the establishment of Mapungubwe "as a powerful state trading through the East African ports with Arabia and India was a significant stage in the history of the African sub-continent." Mapungubwe and Great Zimbabwe To this Unesco added: "The Mapungubwe Cultural Landscape contains evidence for an important interchange of human values that led to far-reaching cultural and social changes in southern Africa between AD 900 and 1300. "The remains in the Mapungubwe Cultural Landscape are a remarkably complete testimony to the growth and subsequent decline of the Mapungubwe state, which at its height was the largest kingdom in the African sub-continent." Theories abound as to why, around 1290 AD, Mapungubwe was abandoned. Contrary to earlier theories invoking climate change, it is now believed that a change in trade routes led to a shift in trade to Great Zimbabwe - another advanced society, located in the south-west of Zimbabwe and distinguished by great rock walls that still stand after seven centuries, despite no form of cement being used to bind them. According to Schoeman, the Great Zimbabwe settlement was in existence at the same time as Mapungubwe, begun around 1250, but was not related to the Mapungubwe people, differences in their pottery being taken as evidence of this. However, Schoeman adds, it's likely that some royals from Mapungubwe moved to Great Zimbabwe, even though the Zimbabweans were Shona people while the South Africans were not - their ethnic group is still being debated. But whereas Mapungubwe came to an end at about 1290, Great Zimbabwe continued to thrive until around 1400, with a population of about 20 000. It's believed this settlement disintegrated when the Portuguese colonised Mozambique and trade routes changed again. What Mapungubwe and Great Zimbabwe both prove is that complex societies existed in southern Africa long before the Europeans arrived at the Cape in 1652. And, unlike existing beliefs that Mapungubwe was the predecessor of Great Zimbabwe, that the two settlements existed concurrently. The golden rhinoceros Three significant gold items were found at Mapungubwe: the rhino, with exquisitely formed ears, horn and delightful upright tail (found in fragmented form and restored by the British Museum); the top of a sceptre around 15cm in length; and a golden bowl, about 10cm in diameter. All consisted of neatly tacked gold foil around the core wooden item, and these were found in what is believed to be one of three royal graves on the top of Mapungubwe. The queen had several strings of gold bead necklaces around her neck, and gold bracelets around her wrist. In fact, the first explorer to reach the top saw her skeletal hand sticking out of the ground, the soil having been washed away, with the bracelets still in place. In all, 18 000 tiny gold beads were uncovered, and up to 40 000 glass beads. There are several bowls of these beads in the Mapungubwe Museum at the University of Pretoria. That's where you can see the famous rhino. I couldn't stop staring at it - the thought that this was sculpted by a craftsman 800 years ago, yet still retains its simple form and natural beauty, is thrilling. It's South Africa's miniature version of Tutankhamun's treasure. Mapungubwe's mountaintop also gives clues to day-to-day life in the society. There's a protective rock wall at the top of a stairway up the mountain - now a sturdy wooden ladder; then a series of interlaced branches worked into holes carved into the rock face. There's also a series of small paired holes, chiselled out of a rock alongside the wall on top, for morabaraba, a chess-like contest played with maroela pips to represent cattle - a game still played today. There are other markings in the rock surface: half-circles indicating the base of huts, larger holes for hut poles, and flat-bottomed shapes in which maize was ground. There's also a large bath-shaped indentation of around four metres across, used to store water - and for the royals' bath times. Across the valley at K2 a large midden was found, and pottery, clay objects and beads have been excavated. Hidden existence? According to Schoeman, there was not a conscious effort to hide the existence of Mapungubwe, or the fact of its being the first kingdom in South Africa, an accusation that has been laid against the apartheid government. The University of Pretoria has been excavating the broader site for decades, but before that time, particularly in the 1930s, '40s and '50s, excavation by individual archaeologists was rather messy, with excavators only examining every third or fourth bucket of soil that came up from the diggings, and discarding the others. "So much was trashed then, we lost so much data", Schoeman says. The sites had to be stabilised, and it was only in the last decade that some order was established. In the 1980s the University of Pretoria indicated the nature of the findings, although it did not publicise them widely, says Schoeman. "There was some self-censorship from Pretoria", she says, "but this was not state censorship."



Honouring black dead in Boer War

An armed black guard escorting a Boer family to a concentration camp in the second Anglo-Boer War (Image: McGregor Museum)
26 September 2005 Black South Africans who lost their lives in the Anglo-Boer War of 1899 to 1902 are finally to be honoured. This is part of a memorandum of understanding signed by the British and South African governments to renovate and maintain the graves of some 25 000 Commonwealth soldiers who died in the war. The deal was signed in Tshwane on Friday. Supported by the Canadian, Australian and New Zealand High Commissioners, responsibility for the upkeep of the graves was officially handed over to the South African government at Heroes Acre Cemetery in Tshwane. The memorandum was signed by Arts and Culture Minister Pallo Jordan and British high commissioner to South Africa Paul Boateng. According to the deal, over 200 cemeteries throughout South Africa will be renovated, with the UK government and private sponsors providing the £800 000 (R9.05-million) required over the next four years. A further £150 000 (R1.7-million) will be made available every year for maintenance. While black South Africans largely played a noncombatant role in the Anglo-Boer War - also known as the South African War because it involved more than the British and Boers - their contribution has largely been ignored. Jordan hailed the memorandum as a step towards finally honouring their role. He said their graves will be located and proper tombstones erected, and a monument built for those whose graves cannot be identified. "There is no memorial to blacks who lost their lives in the concentration camps," he said. "That's going to be one of the first big steps to commemorate them." Norvalspont concentration camp Norvalspont concentration camp, one of the notorious
camps set up by the British in the Anglo-Boer War
(Image: Anglo-Boer War Museum) Boateng described the signing as a historic occasion to give fallen heroes the respect and dignity they deserve. "We welcome the support of the South African government in continuing the restoration and maintenance of Commonwealth war graves in South Africa," he said. "It is important that we do not forget all those of many lands and all races who have lost their lives in the fight for freedom and democracy."

Personal sacrifice and courage

The deal follows a 2003 report by the UK Ministry of Defence and the South African Department of Arts and Culture that revealed a need to recognise and honour those who died in the war. Boateng said there would also be an exchange programme between UK and South African schools to educate youngsters about historic wars and conflicts, and the importance of their commemoration. "The significant aspect is for children and young people in the UK and South Africa to be able to understand the story that lies behind these graves - a story of personal sacrifice and courage," he said. Although both the British and Boers initially agreed that black people were not to be used in a combatant role in the war, at least 15 000 blacks were armed by the British and served in mobile columns to track down Boer commandos. A further 25 000 served as armed blockhouse guards. Black South Africans were also used on the Imperial Military Railway system, and served as scouts, agterryers and wagon drivers. They also became refugees of the war, had their homes and livelihoods destroyed in the British scorched earth policy, and were interned in the notorious British concentration camps.





Corné & Twakkie: Most Amazing

Mary Alexander
Corné and Twakkie in To Kill a Sunset (Image: T*M*A*S)
9 December 2005 "Oh people my people. It's really so flippen wonderful. We are back in the real world inside of South Africa and quite glad not to have to drink all that flippen Belgium beers anymore. "And hey, hang on to your underpants because guess why guys. Because we also got our own TV show which is going to be on TV next year and we are busy making it right now. "So to all you golden kids out there who always believed in the Dream and shared in the Love, we just want to say: Come on! Believe it! Thanks." Meet Corné and Twakkie, stars of The Most Amazing Show (T*M*A*S). If you're not South African, you'll probably find them scary. If you are you'll find them scary anyway, but you'll laugh a lot too. As they would say, Corné and Twakkie are totally not kak. They're like a bad seventies flashback: mullets, insane facial hair, tight shiny shorts last worn on a high school hockey pitch in 1974, and wonderfully mangled SA English. Go to The Most Amazing Show Interwebsite According to their website, Corné - the Love Captain - is 6ft 4in (23in x 4in), "the fabulous host of The Most Amazing Show and part-time healer at the Dai Maharaj Centre for Healing through Eastern Eroticism." His co-host Twakkie is 4ft 6in, and has 84 broken bones and eight metal plates. "He made a name for himself as a stuntman in the golden decade of the 1980s and still struggles to cope with the unbearable stress of stardom." You'd better believe it, 'cause it's true. David Hasselthoff For five years Corné and Twakkie have toured South Africa in their clapped-out caravan, taking T*M*A*S to sell-out shows in places like Kokstad and developing a serious cult following. They've appeared at the National Arts Festival and hosted Oppikoppi, South Africa's major music festival, for two years in a row. They're also big in Belgium. "In case you forgot about it we were just overseas in Europa in a country called Belgiam at a big giant festival called Pukkelpop which was totally not kak," they say. The festival "was there rocking that piece of soil which is usually a pig farm just outside a town called Hasselt. What an amazing place and also the birthtown of David Hasselthoff. Amazing. We are very famous in Europa. "Its true what they say you know, you Belgians have an amazing sense of human


 Go to The Most Amazing Show Interwebsite
 The Most Amazing TV Show They'll soon be even more famous in South Africa. The SABC2 channel, which focuses on local South African content and language, has snapped up The Most Amazing Show, with the first series already in production. The show is being filmed on a most amazing set. There's the Corné and Twakkie caravan, littered with old South African kitsch such as leopard-print bed sheets and Tretchikoff paintings. Then, of course, there's the jacuzzi, where the pair wear skin-tight one-piece swimsuits to interview their unfortunate guests. Each episode also showcases local musicians, who have to perform on a bizarre stage featuring the face of a clown with a gaping hole for a mouth and a garden swing chair. "It's nice to be back," they say. "Its nice to be famous. And we can't hardly wait to see all of you lovely golden kids again



Afrofusion: dance in South Africa

In one field especially, the new freedoms of post-apartheid South Africa have brought new life - dance has became a prime means of artistic expression, with dance companies expanding and exploring new territory. Music and dance are pulling in new audiences and a number of home-grown productions, particularly those aimed at the popular market, have taken South Africa and, in some cases, the world, by storm. Among these are entrepreneurial producer Richard Loring's African Footprint, enjoying a long run at Gold Reef City's Globe Theatre. The show, which also performed in London at the 2000 Royal Variety show and played to enthusiastic audiences in Atlanta, features a cast of talented professional dancers, many with a classical background, and explores 2,000 years of African history through its evolving dance traditions. The musical, Umoja, created by Todd Twala and Thembi Nyandeni, received critical acclaim on London's West End after a thoroughly successful run in Johannesburg.

Contemporary South African dance

The two productions sum up the spectrum of contemporary dance in South Africa. Umoja's dancers have no formal training, they are drawn from communities, and many of them would have had their performing experience in companies like that of Gibson Kente. Members of the cast of African Footprint, on the other hand, are drawn from professional companies and are trained in professional (sometimes classical) techniques. South Africa has had a long tradition of fine classical ballet but, until relatively recently, contemporary dance was not an important feature of the local dance scene. Since the late-1970s, though, that has changed, and contemporary dance companies have burgeoned and spawned an "Afrofusion" (a concept conceived and named by MID's Sylvia Glasser) that combines the techniques of formal dance training with a spirit that is purely African. The result, a blend of multiple cultures, including classical ballet, is controversial and hugely exciting. Ironically, says the country's foremost dance critic and writer, Adrienne Sichel, much of the impetus for this very African movement has come from white, often Jewish women, who had the resources to travel and to import into the country techniques and trends from abroad, and the sensitivity to challenge the aesthetic and realise that the techniques they learnt could not be imposed, unadapted, on the African body. Companies like Cape Town's Jazzart Dance Theatre, Johannesburg's Free Flight Company and Moving Into Dance (MID)- Mophatong, the Soweto Dance Company, the Napac and Pact Dance Companies, led the way, creating the first contemporary companies in South Africa and inspiring a new dance movement. More recently, groups like the exotically named Fantastic Flying Fish Company have leapt into the field. Artists like Sylvia Glasser, Tossie van Tonder, Carly Dibokwane, Adele Blank, Robyn Orlin, created a new vocabulary of dance, working with their own companies, directing at Fuba (Federated Union of Black Artists), and inspiring and nurturing local talent. Jazzart, the oldest modern dance company in the country, has long been actively involved in performing and teaching workshops and classes in disadvantaged communities. Moving Into Dance-Mophatong, whose Community Dance Teachers Training Course has just celebrated its tenth anniversary, has given space to the talents of dancer/choreographers like Vincent Mantsoe, Moeketsi Koena, and Gregory Vuyani Maqoma.


The world's biggest meteor crater

Mary Alexander
The inner circle of the Vredefort impact site is still visible and can be seen in the beautiful range of hills near Parys and Vredefort (Photo: The Dome Bergland Meander)
Two billion years ago a meteorite 10km in diameter hit the earth about 100km southwest of Johannesburg, creating an enormous impact crater. This area, near Vredefort in the Free State, is now known as the Vredefort Dome. It was voted South Africa's seventh World Heritage site at Unesco's 29th World Heritage Committee meeting in Durban in July 2005. The meteorite, larger than Table Mountain, caused a thousand-megaton blast of energy. The impact would have vaporised about 70 cubic kilometres of rock - and may have increased the earth's oxygen levels to a degree that made the development of multicellular life possible. The world has about 130 crater structures of possible impact origin. The Vredefort Dome is among the top three, and is the oldest and largest clearly visible meteorite impact site in the world. The original crater, now eroded away, was probably 250 to 300 kilometres in diameter. It was larger than the Sudbury impact structure in Canada, about 200km in diameter. At 2-billion years old, Vredefort is far older than the Chixculub structure in Mexico which, with an age of 65-million years, is the site of the impact that led to the extinction of the dinosaurs. Vredefort's original impact scar measures 380km across and consists of three concentric circles of uplifted rock. They were created by the rebound of rock below the impact site when the asteroid hit. Most of these structures have eroded away and are no longer clearly visible. The inner circle, measuring 180km, is still visible and can be seen in the beautiful range of hills near Parys and Vredefort. It is this area that was named a World Heritage site.

World Heritage in South Africa

 Did you know that Table Mountain has more plant species than the British Isles? Or that the Vredefort Dome is the world's largest and oldest meteor impact crater? SA is home to seven Unesco World Heritage sites, places of "outstanding value to humanity".
Internationally, there are 851 World Heritage sites, in 141 countries. Africa has 77 sites and South Africa now a total of eight - four cultural, three natural and one of mixed cultural and natural heritage. The Vredefort Dome is a natural heritage site. South Africa's other six World heritage sites are Robben Island, the Greater St Lucia Wetlands Park, the Mapungubwe Cultural Landscape, the Cradle of Humankind, the uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park and the Cape Floral Region. "The Vredefort site is rich in the symbolic representation of our culture; it demonstrates the meeting between scientific and cultural philosophy and practice," Arts and Culture Minister Pallo Jordan said after the inscription of the site on the World Heritage list. "At Vredefort, opportunities exist to engage in geological research and explore and understand more sensitively the rich culture of the Basotho, Batswana and Khoi-San and the early evidence of human cognitive and artistic endeavour their cultures boast. "This demonstrates that heritage can be a tool for nation-building." A map of the Vredefort Dome area A map of the Vredefort Dome area, clearly showing the topography of a large meteorite impact (Image: Council for Geoscience)

The Vredefort Conservancy

Further evidence of the meteorite impact site can be seen in the columns of granite that were injected into existing rock by the force and heat of impact. In 1937, earth scientists John Boon and Claude Albritton Boon were the first to suggest that the Vredefort structure was the scar of an ancient meteorite impact. Since then the site has been studied extensively by earth scientists from around the world. The Vredefort Dome Conservancy, as it is now known, is not just of scientific value. It also has great scenic beauty, making it an ideal tourist destination. The Dome Conservancy contains a finely balanced ecosystem made up of open plains, bushveld, mountains and ravines with abundant flora and fauna. At least 99 plant species have already been identified, of which the world's largest olive wood tree forest is probably the best known. The area is considered an important birding area, with over 450 species already identified. It also has as many identified butterflies as the whole of Great Britain, and is home to rare animals such as the rooikat, aardwolf, leopard and the endangered rock dassie. The Vredefort Dome site fulfils all the criteria set by Unesco for a World Heritage site. It is of outstanding universal value from a scientific point of view, and is remarkable evidence of an important moment in the earth's geologic history. Last updated:



A feast of South African festivals

Compiled by Mary Alexander
The Macufe celebration of African performing arts is one of hundreds of festivals held across South Africa every year (Photo: Macufe)
Here's a comprehensive month-by-month guide to some of South Africa's best excuses for a party. You can browse the whole list, browse by province from the page list at right, or click on the links below to jump to a specific month: FEBRUARY FNB Dance Umbrella
Where: Johannesburg
Website: Artslink - FNB Dance Umbrella
A festival of contemporary choreography and dance, the FNB Dance Umbrella presents work ranging from community-based dance troupes to international companies. 1988. It's launched many South African choreographers into international dance, including Vincent Mantsoe, Robyn Orlin and Boyzie Cekwana. Up the Creek
Where: Up the Creek campsite, Breede River, near Swellendam Website: Up the Creek
The Up the Creek campsite is situated on the banks of the Breede River and during the four-day festival offers three stages: the main stage, the river stage and the all- night-long Breede River bar stage. Visitors can frolic in the river during the day and then move up to main stage as the day progresses. Prickly Pear Festival
Where: Uitenhage, Nelson Mandela Bay The Prickly Pear Festival is held in late February or early March every at Cuyler Hofstede farm near Uitenhage in the Eastern Cape's Nelson Mandela Bay. It's a day of traditional food, such as ginger beer, pancakes, potjiekos, home-made jam, a spit braai and fish braai, bunnychow and home-made pudding. MARCH Cape Town International Jazz Festival
Where: Cape Town
Website: Cape Town International Jazz Festival
Cape Town International Jazz is a two-day festival featuring some 40 international and African acts performing on five stages to an audience of 15 000. It also features photographic and art exhibitions. Lambert's Bay Kreeffees
Where: Lambert's Bay, West Coast, Western Cape
Website: Kreeffees
Kreef is Afrikaans for crayfish, and a fees can be both festival and feast. It is held every March in the West Coast town of Lambert's Bay, where you'll feast on fresh crayfish and get festive at rock concerts by some of South Africa's favourite musicians. There's also bungee jumping, aerial displays, a half-marathon, beer tents and more. The Rotary River Festival
Where: Vanderbijlpark
Website: Rotary River Festival
The Rotary River Festival takes place on the banks of the Vaal River at Stonehaven on Vaal in Vanderbijlpark and has been running since 1995. It's a fun fund-raising occasion, with the money raised going to a large number of local charities. The festival features top musicians, dance, fashion, raft racing, tasty eats, and plenty of fun for the kids and those that ar young at heart. Scifest Africa
Where: Grahamstown
Website: Scifest Africa
SciFest Africa, or the National Festival of Science, Engineering and Technology, is held in late March in Grahamstown, Eastern Cape. Over seven days it features some 600 events: lectures, game drives, a laser show, workshops, sunset shows, robotics competitions, science olympics, school quizzes, interactive exhibitions, the PlayFair, field trips, talkshops and a film festival. Attendance now exceeds 35 000 visitors every year. Tonteldoos Country Festival
Where: Tonteldoos, Mpumalanga
The Tonteldoos Country Festival, previously known as the Peach Festival, happens in late March or early April in the village of Tonteldoos, some 20km northwest of Dullstroom and two hours from Johannesburg. It offers peaches and pretty much everything that can be made from the fruit, including peach mampoer. APRIL Klein Karoo Nationale Kunstefees
Where: Oudtshoorn
Website: Klein Karoo Nationale Kunstefees
The Klein Karoo Nasionale Kunstefees in Oudtshoorn features well-known and young up-and-coming artists in dance and theatre. Started as an Afrikaans alternative to the mainly English National Arts Festival, KKNK has 200 different shows on three different stages. AfrikaBurn
Where: The Karoo
Website: AfrikaBurn
Afrika Burn is based on The Burning Man festival which grew out of a loose grouping of individuals and organisations who questioned, and continue to question mainstream, highly commercialised society and what it does to the notion and workings of community. In a nutshell, it's about radical self-expression. Splashy Fen
Where: Underberg, KwaZulu-Natal
Website: Splashy Fen
Every year the Splashy Fen music festival attracts thousands of people to a farm near Underberg in KwaZulu-Natal for a feast of mainstream and alternative rock and pop. It offers plenty of facilities, but there are great bed-and-breakfasts in nearby towns for those who believe music festivals can be enjoyed without mud. Philippolis Witblits Festival
Where: Philippolis, Free State
Website: Philippolis Witblits Festival
The Philippolis Witblits Festival, held in early April, will give you a taste of a proud local tradition - witblits (Afrikaans for "white lightning") is South African moonshine. Held in the oldest town in the Free State, the festival has boeresport (literally "farmers sport") for the kids, food, drink and more witblits. Prince Albert Town and Olive Festival
Where: Prince Albert, Western Cape
Website: Prince Albert Town and Olive Festival
The Prince Albert Town and Olive Festival, held in the Swartberg region of the Western Cape in April, offers a whole lot more than just the region's famous olives and wine. There's an art exhibition, beer tents, live music, witblits tastings, crafts for kids, historic tours, a cycle race, an olive pip-spitting competition, culinary demonstrations, a midnight ghost walk, stalls, cabaret, a dance and more. MAY Pink Loerie Mardi Gras
Where: Knysna
Website: Pink Loerie Mardi Gras
The Knysna loerie is a green bird, but the Pink Loerie Mardi Gras is different. A gay festival held in the beautiful coastal town of Knysna in May, the Mardi Gras offers four days of non-stop entertainment for anyone who enjoys a party. Riebeek Kasteel Olive Festival
Where: Riebeek Kasteel, Western Cape
Website: Riebeek Kasteel Olive Festival
The Riebeek Kasteel Olive Festival takes place in the Swartland area of the Western Cape in May. A feast of wine and the best olives in SA, the festival also has an art competition, live entertainment, stalls and lots of food. JUNE Calitzdorp Port and Wine Festival
Where: Calitzdorp, Western Cape
Website: Calitzdorp Port and Wine Festival
The Klein Karoo town of Calitzdorp is the port-wine capital of South Africa. Its annual port festival, held over a weekend in June, is hosted by the eight wine cellars of Calitzdorp. There's a a historical treasure hunt around the town, local arts and crafts, lifestyle market stalls to suit all tastes, the Port Dance, restaurants, food stalls and and the annual South African boules Championships, plus much more. National Arts Festival
Where: Grahamstown
Website: National Arts Festival
The Grahamstown National Arts Festival, held in late June or early July every year, is South Africa's oldest, biggest and best-known arts festival. The 10-day event offers culture hounds every indulgence of theatre, music, song, dance, film and a whole lot more. If there's one South African festival you have to attend, this is it. JULY Dullstroom Winter Festival
Where: Dullstroom, Mpumalanga
Website: Dullstroom Winter Festival
Held annually in July, the Dullstroom Winter Festival is historically themed as Christmas in Winter. Activities during the Festival include a golf day, a tagged trout event - Dullstroom is a fly-fishing hotspot - chocolate and wine tastings, art exhibitions, whiskey tastibngs and themed restaurant evenings. Live music shows showcasing Roots, Blues and Folk music from top South African performers take place at various venues around town. Knysna Oyster Festival
Where: Knysna
Website: Knysna Oyster Festival
The coastal town of Knysna is famous for its oysters, and increasingly famous for the July festival that celebrates them. In addition to oyster braais, oyster tasting, oyster-eating competitions and other molluscular activities, there's live entertainment and lots of sporting events. Vryfees
Where: Bloemfontein
Website: Vryfees
Formerly the Volksblad Arts Festival, this is a lovely festival with lots of live shows, stage productions, art market with lots of stalls. This festival has been running for the past ± 12 years and is the big showcase for artists from all over the country who wants to perform in the Freestate. Ellisras Bushveld Festival
Where: Lephalele (Ellisras), Limpopo
The Ellisras Bushveld Festival takes place in early July in the heart of the bushveld, in the Waterberg district of Limpopo. The festival includes cattle shows, a game auction, horse jumping, dog shows, agricultural activities, a three-day battle for the best 4x4 competition, a game farms expo, hunting opportunities, bird- and tree- identification competitions, traditional food, a beer tent and huge camp fires. AUGUST Oppikoppi Bushveld Festival
Where: Northam, North West
Website: Oppikoppi
Held on the bushveld farm of Oppikoppi ("op die koppie" in Afrikaans, or "on the hill"), this festival offers three permanent thatched stages, a smaller comedy stage and a stage for more chilled music at the top of the koppie. Oppikoppi has helped establish many South African musicians' careers, but it's not for the faint- hearted. This is real bushveld: hot and dry, and everywhere red dust and thorn trees. Expect to shower a lot when you get home. (Oppikoppi also hosts an Easter Festival in March.) Standard Bank Joy of Jazz
Where: Johannesburg
Website: Standard Bank Joy of Jazz
Johannesburg's biggest annual jazz festival is an ideal family outing, featuring a range of musical styles but with a strong emphasis on jazz. Over 200 local and international artists perform at different venues across the city, particularly in Newtown. Hantam Vleisfees
Where: Calvinia, Northern Cape
Website: Hantam Vleisfees
Calvinia in the Northern Cape is sheep country, and this festival celebrates meat. There's meat braaied, stewed, curried, in pita, on sosaties, in potjies - you can even pick up a done-to-perfection sheep's head for a mere R30. First held in 1989, the three-day Hantam Vleisfees has a music concert, street party, vintage car rally and, a highlight for many, the Miss Vleisfees competition - a glittering affair with dinner and dancing. Cellar Rats Wine Festival
Where: Magaliesberg, Gauteng
Website: Cellar Rats Wine Festival
Taste South Africa's best wines in a tranquil outdoor setting in Magaliesberg. Held every year in August, the Cellar Rats Wine Festival is a day of wine tasting, with picnic baskets for sale and many activities for the kids. Enjoy huge shady trees, lush green grass and an abundance of birdlife on the banks of the picturesque Magalies River. Designated drivers get in for free. SEPTEMBER Arts Alive
Where: Johannesburg
Website: Arts Alive
Arts Alive, held every September since 1992, features a heady mix of dance, visual art, poetry and music at venues in the Joburg inner city. The main concert, held at the Johannesburg Stadium, headlines international superstars such as 50 Cent and Busta Rhymes. Over 600 artists perform during the four-day festival, with most shows at various venues in Newtown. The ever-popular Jazz on the Lake is held on the final day. Aardklop Arts Festival
Where: Potchefstroom
Website: Aardklop Arts Festival
Aardklop Arts Festival offers a feast of arts and an all-round good jol for five days in late September and early October. First held in 1998, Aardklop - Afrikaans roughly translated as "earth beat" - has over 90 productions, with classical music, jazz, hard rock, cabaret, visual arts, theatre, circus performances, opera, African and World music, poetry and more, ending with the OppiAarde rock festival on the final day. Sedibelo Festival
Where: Pilanesberg
Website: Sedibelo Festival
The Sedibelo Festival is a cultural event held annually in September to unite the Bakgatla-Ba-Kgafela nation across national borders in a shared celebration of rich history and culture. Southern Cross Music Festival Where: Mooi River Website: Southern Cross Events
Every September the Southern Cross Music Festival showcases South African music in a three-day event in Hidden Valley on the banks of KwaZulu-Natal's beautiful Mooi River. First held in 1998, the festival donates part of its proceeds to charity. In addition to music, there's fishing, swimming, white water rafting, abseiling, hikes, walks, mountain biking and 4x4 courses. The farm caters for 6 000 festival-goers. Woodstock Music Festival
Where: Hartbeeshoek, North West
Website: Woodstock Music Festival
Woodstock, first held in 1999, is the largest youth-oriented music and lifestyle festival in South Africa. In addition to mainstream music, the festival offers a market of crafters and alternative lifestyle products over four days. It is held at Hartbeeshoek Holiday resort near Hartbeespoort Dam in North West. Boertjie Kontreifees
Where: Bultfontein, Free State
Website: Boertjie Kontreifees
The Boertjie Kontreifees is an agricultural festival, featuring 340 stalls, which draws about 20 000 people over four days. It includes plenty of sport, plenty to eat and drink, lots of competitions, and many entertainers. It being an agricultural festival, you can expect to find horses, cattle, sheep, buck, greyhounds, tractors, and cars as well. Gariep Kunstefees
Where: Kimberley
Website: Gariep Kunstefees
The Gariep Kunstefees (arts festival) features an impressive line-up of local musicians, a film festival showcasing South Africa's new film-makers, as well as art exhibitions and children's theatre. Hermanus Whale Festival
Where: Hermanus, Western Cape
Website: Hermanus Whale Festival
Every year, southern right whales travel thousands of miles to the Cape south coast to mate and calve in the bays. Join the villagers of Hermanus for an entertainment- packed festival, in the town with the best land-based whale watching in the world. Awesome Africa Music Festival
Where: Midmar Dam, Kwazulu-Natal Midlands
Website: Awesome Africa Music Festival
The Standard Bank Awesome Africa Music Festival, first held in 1999, takes place at the Midmar Dam in the Kwazulu-Natal Midlands after having called Durban home for many years. Its focus is on collaboration with musicians from Africa and beyond. Prince Albert Agricultural Show
Where: Prince Albert, Western Cape
Website: Prince Alfred
Join the people of Prince Albert as they celebrate their agricultural heritage in September. Homecrafts, art and flowers, horses, motorbikes, sheep and angora goat competitions, local products, delicious food, bar facilities and entertainment for young and old are all on the menu. Macufe
Where: Bloemfontein
Website: Macufe
Macufe, the 10-day Mangaung African Cultural Festival, showcases the cream of African and international talent. It features jazz, gospel, kwaito, hip-hop, R&B, rock and classical music, as well as dance, drama, cabaret, musical theatre, poetry, fine art and traditional arts and crafts. The festival attracts up to 140 000 people and is presented in late September and early October by the Performing Arts Centre of the Free State. White Mountain Festival
Where: Estcourt, KwaZulu-Natal
Website: White Mountain Festival
The White Mountain Folk Festival in the Central Drakensberg mountain range offers great music in an awesome setting for three days in September. Featuring acoustic performances by some of the South Africa's top folk musicians, it is held at White Mountain Lodge in the foothills of the Giant's Castle Nature Reserve. Camping in a beautiful site at the edge of a dam is free, with brand new hot shower units at the ready, plus lots of "executive" loos. There's also a variety of food stalls, and a beer market offering naturally brewed local ales and lagers. Vrede Paddadors Fees
Where: Vrede, Free State
Website: Vrede Paddadors Fees
The full name of Paddadors, the Free State town of Vrede's annual festival, is the Vrede Paddadors Rooivleis en Kultuurfees - which translates literally as the Peace Frog-Thirst Red-Meat and Culture Festival. The story goes that the dry land on which the town was established was originally called Paddadors ("frog thirst" in Afrikaans), until peace came and place was named Vrede. The festival offers live music, traditional food, a beer garden, children's activities and more. OCTOBER Lekkerhoekie Opskop
Where: Polkadraai Festival Ground, Zwartkops, Centurion
Website: Polkadraai Festival Ground
Featuring a brand new festival farm and entertainment venue, the Lekkerhoekie Opskop brings together many of South Africa's best-loved Afrikaans singers. There is also plenty of other entertainment on the side, including things for the kids to do. Herman Charles Bosman Weekend
Where: Groot Marico, North West
Website: Herman Charles Bosman Weekend
Herman Charles Bosman was one of South Africa's greatest writers, and this weekend festival celebrates his work in dry town of Groot Marico, the setting for many of his stories. Some of South Africa's top actors read from and perform Bosman's work; there's also good food, good company - and lots of mampoer. Rocking the Daisies Music and Lifestyle Festival
Where: Cloof Wine Estate, Darling, Cape West Coast
Website: Rocking the Daisies Music and Lifestyle Festival
The Rocking the Daisies Music and Lifestyle Festival features top South African bands performing a wide variety of music, as well as comedy, burlesque dancing, acoustic jams, and giant African puppeteering. The Food Village looks after the stomach and the Traders Market offers exciting goodies. Other attractions include swimming, wine tasting, the Daisy Den and Art Field, and activities for the kids. NOVEMBER Ficksburg Cherry Festival
Where: Ficksburg, Free State
Website: Ficksburg Cherry Festival
One of the oldest festivals in South Africa - first held in 1969 - the Ficksburg Cherry Festival now attracts around 20 000 visitors to this small eastern Free State town every November. The scenery is magnificent, and the festival offers cherry and asparagus tastings, tours, picnics, music, and the Miss Cherry Blossom and Miss Cherry Pip competitions. DECEMBER Rustler's Valley New Year's Gathering
Where: Ficksburg, Free State
Website: Rustler's Valley New Year's Gathering
Rustler's Valley in the eastern Free State hosts some of its best trance, dance and drumming festivals in late November and December, including a New Year celebration. The majestic scenery on the foothills of the Maluti Mountains alone is worth the trip.

    Festivals by province

Premier photo award for Goldblatt

A plot-holder, his wife and their eldest son at lunch, Wheatlands, Randfontein, Transvaal, September 1962 (Image copyright David Goldblatt)
9 March 2006 South African David Goldblatt has been named the recipient of the 2006 Hasselblad Foundation International Award in Photography, the most important photographic prize in the world. David Goldblatt by Lily Goldblatt, 2004 The award, announced on Wednesday, comes with US$70 000 (about R420 000) and a gold medal. It will be presented at a ceremony in Göteborg, Sweden in November. A new exhibition of Goldblatt's work, curated and organised by the Hasselblad Centre, will open at the same time. "David Goldblatt's work is a life-long observation of the social and political developments within South African society," the foundation says in its citation for the award. "His interest in the violent history of his country, and his awareness of the symbolic significance of architecture, form an extraordinary statement both personal and sociopolitical. "His acute historical and political perception provides a sense of the texture of daily life, and an important piece of missing information regarding life under apartheid in South Africa."

Major achievements

The 26-year-old Hasselblad award is presented to "a photographer recognised for major achievements" - someone who has made a pioneering achievement in photography, who has had a decisive impact on younger photographers, or who has implemented internationally significant photographic projects. Every year, the foundation's board of directors appoints an award committee of nationally and internationally prominent experts in photography. The committee nominates three candidates, and the final decision is made by the board. Goldblatt photographed South Africa for over 50 years, "exploring with a critical view the context in which evolve both the life of its people and the construction of its landscape," the Hasselblad Foundation says. His photographs have been exhibited in Europe, the US, Australia and South Africa, and form part of collections in world-class museums such as the South African National Gallery, the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris, London's Victoria and Albert Museum, the New York Museum of Modern Art, and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Barcelona. "For Goldblatt, photography is an instrument that allows him to analyze the social and cultural structures of his country, making possible to sketch a documented and testimonial journey of the evolution of colonialism and apartheid," the foundation says.

Tolerance and antiracism

David Goldblatt was born in 1930 in Randfontein near Johannesburg in South Africa, the son of Lithuanian parents who fled the persecution of Jews in the late 1800s. His parents were middle-class and moderately orthodox, and raised their children with an emphasis on tolerance and antiracism. His interest in photography began when he was at Krugersdorp High School, and continued while he studied commerce at university. He dreamed of becoming a magazine photographer. As a young man, he admired the great days of magazines such as Life, Look and Picture Post. After his father's death in 1963 he sold the family business and took up photography full-time. Goldblatt is not so much interested in events, in the news, as he is in the observation of conditions in the society before they emerge in the form of events. "Behind each one of Goldblatt's images there are several stories, most of them related to vital questions, which affect in a direct or tangential way the values by which the country moved and moves," the foundation says. "Throughout his career, Goldblatt has been searching for a photograph that would discover, probe, reveal or clarify some of these values."

Silence of observation and analysis

In one of his first publications, On the Mines (1973), Goldblatt portrayed his environment, the people that lived near him, in his community, and who worked in the mines. At the height of apartheid, he published Some Afrikaners Photographed (1975), in which he explored the values of Afrikaner nationalist culture. In the early 1970s Goldblatt photographed the townships Soweto, Transkei and Pageview, analysing daily life under apartheid. "Little by little, the cartography of the different social and political realities of the country took on a very personal shape," the foundation says, "in agreement with his particular way of conceiving the social use of photography; which avoided the stridency of protest to focus on the silence of observation and analysis." In the 1980s Goldblatt photographed migrant workers on their daily bus ride from the apartheid "homeland" of KwaNdebele to Pretoria and back. Many of them travelled eight hours every day to get to work and return home. Images of packed and sleeping bodies on the bus, with faces worn by tiredness, were published in 1989 with the title The Transported of KwaNdebele. The book reveals the almost banal daily evil of apartheid, under which black people in supposedly independent tribal homelands, which were anything but independent, had to endure great hardship in going to the "white" cities to earn a living.

The meaning of buildings

"One of the most outstanding features of the work of Goldblatt is his ability to discover the plights of a society by observing its constructions and its landscape," the foundation says. Over his career, Goldblatt has travelled South Africa, photographing the architecture that reveals the ideology of its purpose and creators. His images of houses, governmental buildings, public housing, churches, monuments, ornamental elements and settlements all reveal the historical values of South African society. Since 1999 Goldblatt has examined the various aspects of the post-apartheid society in colour photography. "His renewed interest in the elements of the construction of the South African landscape that reveal the complexities of this country continues to be the driving force of his work," the Hasselblad Foundation says. SAinfo reporter

South Africa's arts and crafts

At craft centres and roadside stalls all over South Africa you'll find fantastic pots, basketware, beadwork, embroidery and carvings (Photo: South African Tourism)
No doubt about it – South Africans are a crafty bunch. The country's people produce a remarkable range of arts and crafts, working from the pavements and markets of the big cities to deep rural enclaves, with every possible form of traditional artwork – and then some. There's a lot of new work in traditional media, with artists constantly developing the African crafts repertoire. These range from pretty tableware, Christmas tree decorations and magnificent embroidered cloths to the simplest of items, such as keyrings and candle-holders.
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With characteristic inventiveness, South Africans have adapted every possible medium to a market that feeds both locals and tourists. In addition to the standard materials such as beads, grass, leather, fabric and clay, pieces are made using telephone wire, plastic bags, petrol cans and bottle tops – even food tin labels are used to create brightly coloured papier mache bowls. On sale on many a South African street corner are objects made of wire, ranging from representations of the globe to cars and motorcycles – which are capable of manipulated movement – to joke cellphones and working radios. Shops, markets and collectives dealing in African craft are thriving, providing much-needed employment and income in communities such as Fugitive's Drift in KwaZulu-Natal, which offers a huge variety of basketry, or the Northern Cape Schmidtsdrift community of displaced San people, who produce paintings that constitute an imaginative and highly coloured extension of ancient rock art.

Folk art, high art

South African folk art is also making inroads into Western-style "high art". The work of ceramicist Bonnie Ntshalintshali, with its almost phantasmagoric detail, has gone well beyond the confines of traditional African pottery – yet her works could still be used at your table. Sculptor Phutuma Seoka is another artist who has taken a traditional form and given it a personal twist. In his case, the carving of figures using the inherent curves and forks of tree branches, common in the Venda region, is used to creating a cast of eccentric characters. Some South African artists in the folk art mode have come up with ideas quite out of left field – like the late Chickenman Mkize, who made (now highly valued) mock roadsigns out of cheap materials, emblazoning them with eccentric messages. The fact that Mkize was illiterate, and was transcribing words written out by others without noting the spaces between the words, adds to the charm of the works. One of them declares "NODRUNK ENBUMS"; another asks, pertinently, "BUTISI TART?" The Ndebele tradition of house-painting, part of the widespread African practice of painting or decorating the exteriors of homes, burgeoned amazingly with the advent of commercial paints. It also gave rise to artists such as Esther Mahlangu, who has put her adaptations of the distinctive, highly coloured geometric Ndebele designs on everything from cars to aeroplanes. By way of an enlightening contrast, as well as a pure visual feast, there are many Ndebele villages to be visited in Limpopo and Mpumalanga provinces – and the distinctive Ndebele style has been extended beautifully to beadwork.

From traditional to commercial

A high level of skill is brought to the production of work that has long been a part of African society, and has now found new commercial outlets. South African beadwork, once the insignia of tribal royalty alone, has today found a huge range of applications, from the creation of coverings for everything from bottles to matchboxes – and the reproduction of the red Aids ribbon in the form of small Zulu beadworks known as Zulu love letters. Basketry and ceramics, of course, were long ago brought to a pitch of perfection in traditional South African society, and the outgrowths of these forms today grace gallery plinths as often as they find a place on suburban shelves. There are several important collections of African art in South Africa, such as the Standard Bank collection at the Gertrude Posel Gallery at Wits University in Johannesburg, or the Durban Art Gallery, housing works of historical and anthropological significance. There can be few other places in the world where you can see this variety of African arts and crafts, whether they be masks made in one of the continent's many styles, or carved chairs, or embroidered or appliqué cloths. At the Rooftop Market at Johannesburg's Rosebank Mall, and at its African Craft Market, work from all over the continent jostles for buyers' attention. Many merchants and organisations sell craft goods online: check out the brief list of links at right.



Glamour, glitz as Lagos holds 2014 carnival

Tue, 22/04/2014 - 13:09 Written by
Adegboyega Odumesi





The fifth edition of the annual Lagos Carnival held yesterday at the Tafawa Balewa Square, TBS, Lagos.
Expectedly, Lagos residents were treated to scintillating, rhythmic displays and performances from participating carnival bands.
The event, which began with processions by different carnival groups from Awolowo Road, Ikoyi; Campus Square, Lagos and TBS, attracted not only Nigerians from different backgrounds, but also tourists from across the globe.
This year’s edition featured many carnival groups like Ikorodu Itunla Fanty; Ikoyi Legacy group; Emeralds; Epetedo; Oko Faaji; Olowogbowo; Campos and Ilasamaja Youths, among others.
The 2014 edition was attended by the crème de la crème in the tourism sector in Nigeria. Eminent personalities at the event include; Edem Duke, Nigeria’s minister of culture, tourism and national orientation; Governor Babatunde Fashola; his wife, Abimbola Fashola; Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire, Lagos State deputy governor; Erelu Abiola-Dosunmu; Molade Okoya-Thomas; Ademola Adeniji-Adele, among others.
Fashola, who relishes the patronage, described the carnival as the new spirit of Lagos.
“This carnival is the new spirit of Lagos. Over the last five years, we have organized our own carnival to showcase our rich cultural heritage. I pray that this carnival will grow from strength to strength,” he said.
For Sandra Amadio, a South African tourist, the experience was an incredible one.
“I just feel the love among Nigerians; the incredible happiness. You should be very proud as Nigerians on a day like this. In South Africa, we don’t have any cultural event that has a semblance with this,” Amadio said.
Although the event was marred by some security issues, it is one that will go down the memory lane as a display of the richness of Nigeria’s cultural heritage.




The A to Z of South African culture



Handicrafts made from wire and beads are to be found on many South African street corners (Image: Rootz Creationz)
South Africa is more than a cultural melting pot, it's a big warm potjie of culture, full of different ingredients and yummy surprises, and developing its rich flavour over centuries. Get a taste of cultural alphabet soup from archaeology to Zulu, with a dash of Corné, jukskei, kwaito and quagga on the way.

A is for Archaeology

Mapungubwe in Limpopo is one of the richest archaeological sites in Africa. A Shona capital inhabited between 1200 and 1650, the city was a centre for the trade in gold and ivory with the Islamic areas of the East African coast, India and China's Song Dynasty. The Iron Age site, discovered in 1932 but hidden from public attention until only recently, has been declared a World Heritage Site by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation.

B is for Battles

Two globally important wars took place on South African soil in the 19th and early 20th centuries: the Anglo Boer War and the Anglo Zulu War. In both, small indigenous populations fiercely opposed the heavy might of the British Empire, winning important battles before the vast imperial military machine brought them to submission. In the Anglo Zulu War, Zulu impis armed only with spears famously took on and trounced British forces armed with the most modern firepower of the time. The British were only able to defeat King Cetshwayo kaMpande's nation after British troops were rushed to South Africa from around the Empire. The Anglo Boer War is considered the world's first modern war. Guerrilla tactics, camouflage uniforms, concentration camps and attacks on civilian targets, all the ugly signatures of 20th century warfare, were first used in that campaign. The war killed 22 000 British soldiers, 7 000 Boers, 24 000 black men, women and children, and 22 000 white women and children, many of whom died in almost 200 concentration camps.

C is for Corné and Twakkie

"So to all you golden kids out there who always believed in the Dream and shared in the Love, we just want to say: Come on! Believe it! Thanks." Meet Corné and Twakkie, comedians and stars of The Most Amazing Show (T*M*A*S). If you're not South African, you'll probably find them scary. If you are you'll find them scary anyway, but you'll laugh a lot too. As they would say, Corné and Twakkie are totally not kak. They're like a bad seventies flashback: mullets, insane facial hair, tight shiny shorts last worn on a high school hockey pitch in 1974, and wonderfully mangled SA English. According to their website, Corné - the Love Captain - is 6ft 4in (23in x 4in), "the fabulous host of The Most Amazing Show and part-time healer at the Dai Maharaj Centre for Healing through Eastern Eroticism." His co-host Twakkie is 4ft 6in, and has 84 broken bones and eight metal plates. "He made a name for himself as a stuntman in the golden decade of the 1980s and still struggles to cope with the unbearable stress of stardom."

D is for Dance

In one field especially, the new freedoms of post-apartheid South Africa have brought new life - dance has became a prime means of artistic expression, with dance companies expanding and exploring new territory. Music and dance are pulling in new audiences and a number of home-grown productions, particularly those aimed at the popular market, are wowing audiences both at home and abroad. Among these are entrepreneurial producer Richard Loring's African Footprint, which performed in London at the 2000 Royal Variety show, the musical Umoja, which has toured the world to huge critical acclaim, and the drumming feast Drumstruck, which has taken New York by storm.

E is for Earth

The rock formations around Barberton in Mpumalanga and Mapungubwe in Limpopo were formed in the earth's kindergarten period, dating back billions of years. The Magaliesberg is said to be the oldest mountain range on earth. The magnificent Drakensberg range of mountains, which runs the length of the country, has been named a Unesco World Heritage site. And then there's the Vredefort Dome. Two billion years ago a meteorite bigger than Table Mountain hit the earth 100km southwest of Johannesburg, causing a 1 000-megaton blast that vaporised 70 cubic kilometres of rock and may have changed the earth's climate to make multicellular life possible. The resulting crater, known as the Vredefort Dome, is the oldest and largest clearly visible meteorite impact site in the world. Although now considerably eroded, the original crater was probably 250 to 300 kilometres in diameter. The Vredefort Dome is also a Unesco World Heritage site.

F is for Festivals

South Africa has a celebration for every event, place, art form, food, drink and agricultural commodity. There's the Ficksburg Cherry Festival, the National Arts Festival, countless mud-and-dust music festivals, hundreds of mud-and-manure farm shows, the Lambert's Bay Kreeffees (crayfish festival), Hantam Vleisfees (meat festival) and more. The Prickly Pear Festival in Uitenhage offers traditional food such as potjiekos, home-made jam, braais and bunnychow. The Philippolis Witblits Festival celebrates a proud local tradition - witblits (Afrikaans for "white lightning") is South African moonshine. And every year, southern right whales travel thousands of miles to the Cape south coast to mate and calve in the bays. To celebrate the season the villagers of Hermanus put on a major festival which includes the best land-based whale watching in the world.

G is for Goldblatt

South African photographer David Goldblatt has documented his country for over 50 years, "exploring with a critical view the context in which evolve both the life of its people and the construction of its landscape," according to the Hasselblad Foundation says. In early 2006 he was named the recipient of the 2006 Hasselblad Foundation International Award in Photography, widely regarded as the most important photographic prize in the world. His photographs have been exhibited in Europe, the US, Australia and South Africa, and form part of collections in world-class museums such as the South African National Gallery, the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris, London's Victoria and Albert Museum, the New York Museum of Modern Art, and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Barcelona.

H is for Handicrafts

No doubt about it - South Africans are a crafty bunch. The country's people produce a remarkable range of arts and crafts, working from the pavements and markets of the big cities to deep rural enclaves, with every possible form of traditional artwork - and then some. The country has a wide range of craftwork styles: tribal designs, Afro-French wirework, wood carvings, world-class pottery and bronze casting, stained glass, basket weaving, clay and stone sculpting, paper from elephant dung and ornaments made from waste.

I is for Indigenous Art

The massive Drakensberg range of mountains is the world's largest art gallery - indoors or out - and a monument to the San Bushmen hunter-gatherers who lived there from the Stone Age until the late 19th century. Living in the sandstone caves and rock shelters of the Drakensberg's valleys, the San made paintings Unesco describes as "world famous and widely considered one of the supreme achievements of humankind … outstanding in quality and diversity of subject and in their depiction of animals and human beings … which throws much light on their way of life and their beliefs." In 2000 Unesco named the Drakensberg as a World Heritage site, for both its natural beauty and the unique cultural heritage of the mountains' rich store of San art. "The rock art of the Drakensberg is the largest and most concentrated group of rock paintings in Africa south of the Sahara, and is outstanding both in quality and diversity of subject," Unesco says.

J is for Jukskei

A game in which the player throws a wooden pin - known in Afrikaans as a skei - at a peg in the ground, jukskei is as South African as you get. The game is said to date back to 1734, and grew out of bored transport riders passing the time by plant a stick in the ground and see who could hit it from a distance with one of the pins from the oxen yokes. Out of this developed a complicated game of skill, still played by hundreds of South Africans today. During the apartheid era the game was closely associated with the cultural identity drive of the government and actively revived and encouraged by Afrikaner nationalists - doing the game more harm than good in the long term. In 2001 South Africa's new government launched the Indigenous Games Project, which identified jukskei as one of seven indigenous games that should be encouraged and developed.

K is for Kwaito

As the fog of apartheid clears, South African youth culture is finding its own voice in a style of music known as kwaito and spawning a new - and profitable - industry. Summarising the state of the kwaito industry is like trying to condense the history of US hip hop music into a few pages. Some broad brushstrokes will serve as an introduction, but to fully appreciate kwaito, you’ve got to hear it for yourself. Like hip hop, kwaito is not just music. It is an expression and a validation of a way of life - the way South Africans dress, talk and dance. It is a street style as lifestyle, where the music reflects life in the townships, much the same way hip hop mimics life in the US ghetto. Just as many of the influences on hip hop come from the streets of New York and California, kwaito is known as the musical voice of young, black, urban South Africa. It's a mixture of all that 1990s South African youth grew up on: SA disco, hip hop, R&B, Ragga, and a heavy, heavy dose of American and British house music.

L is for Literature

Thomas Pringle, Rider Haggard and Olive Schreiner , Wilbur Smith, JM Coetzee, Nadine Gordimer, Bessie Head, Athol Fugard, Credo Mutwa, Sol Plaatjie, NP van Wyk Louw, Andre Brink, Etienne Leroux, C.Louis Leipoldt, Can Themba, Breyten Breytenbach, Alan Paton, Eugene Marais and Herman Charles Bosman all wrote from these shores. South Africa has produced two Nobel literature laureates: JM Coetzee and Nadine Gordimer. The country has had a rich history of literary output. Until relatively recently, realism dominated the production of fiction - perhaps because authors felt an overriding concern to capture the country's turbulent history and the experiences of its people. Fiction has been written in all of South Africa's 11 official languages - with a large body of work in Afrikaans, in particular. Many of the first black authors were missionary-educated, and the majority wrote in either English or Afrikaans. One of the first novels by a black author in an African language was Sol Plaatje's Mhudi, written in 1930.

M is for Mbube

In 1939 a tall, shy Zulu migrant worker named Solomon Linda stepped up to the microphone and produced a three-chord song with lyrics something like "Lion! Ha! You're a lion!", inspired by boyhood memories of chasing lions stalking the family cattle. The song was called Mbube, Zulu for "lion". It's estimated that Linda received a total of 10 shillings for the song. Yet the tune went on to become Pete Seeger's runaway hit Wimoweh, then the Tokens' The Lion Sleeps Tonight, on to at least 160 covers, before ending up in the voices of Timon and Pumbaa, the meerkat and warthog characters in Disney's classic movie and Broadway hit The Lion King. Along the way, it is said to have earned some US$15-million (R90-million) in royalties - but not for Linda. The musician died in 1962 with less than R100 in his bank account. His widow couldn't afford a headstone for his grave. In February 2006, Linda's legacy finally received some justice. After a six-year battle his daughters, who had claimed almost R10-million from copyright holder Abilene Music, settled their dispute for an undisclosed sum.

N is for Nguni Cattle

So you think a cow is a cow is a cow? Think again. South Africa's indigenous Nguni cattle, long the mainstay of traditional Zulu culture, are possibly the most beautiful cattle in the world, with their variously patterned and multicoloured hides everywhere in demand. For hundreds of years, the well-being of the herds and the Zulu people have been so closely connected that cattle have become a part of the people's spiritual and aesthetic lives. This has given rise to a poetic and complex naming practice. The fine and subtle nuance of the isiZulu language captures the delicate interrelationship between cattle terminology and the natural world, where the colour and pattern of a hide or the shape of a pair of horns is linked to images in nature.

O is for Owl House

In the remote Karoo village of Nieu Bethesda is a fascinating world of sculpture in concrete and glass, fantastic figures and mythical beasts set around a house decorated with luminous paint and multicoloured panes of glass. This is the Owl House, created by the reclusive Helen Martins and her labourer Koos Malgas in the 1940s and now regarded as a masterpiece of visionary art. In her late forties Martins found herself divorced and alone, her parents dead, and back in the tiny town in which she grew up. The Owl House was her attempt to bring light, life and colour into her lonely grey world, and soon became a major obsession.

P is for Palaeontology

Known in South Africa as the Cradle of Humankind, the region of Sterkfontein, Swartkrans, Kromdraai and environs has one of the world's richest concentrations of hominid fossils, evidence of human evolution over the last 3.5-million years. Found in the provinces of Gauteng and North West, the fossil sites cover an area of 47 000 hectares. The remains of ancient forms of animals, plants and hominids - our early ancestors and their relatives - are captured in a bed of dolomite deposited 2.5-billion years ago. Although other sites in south and east Africa have similar remains, the Cradle has produced more than 950 hominid fossil specimens. Sites in the area supply crucial information about members of one of the oldest hominids, the australopithecines - two-footed, small-brained primates that appeared about 5-million years ago.

Q is for Quagga

Extinction is forever - or is it? On 12 August 1883 the last living quagga died at the Amsterdam zoo, and the world believed this unusual type of zebra had gone the way of the dodo. The quagga lived in the Karoo and southern Free State, unlike regular zebras, was striped on the front half of its body only, coloured a creamy light brown on its upper parts and whitish on its belly and legs. For the last 20 years a team of South Africans have been working to bring the beast back from the dead, with the third generation of specially bred foals now being born.

R is for Robot

South African English is both rich and peculiar. Here, cars stop at robots, not traffic lights. A pickup truck is a bakkie, sneakers are takkies, a hangover is a babbelas, and people greet each other with a heita or howzit. Eish! expresses surprise, frustration or outrage, and a juicy piece of gossip is likely to be greeted with a drawn-out see-ree-ous!. An particularly handy word is sharp (often doubled up for effect as sharp-sharp!), used as a greeting, a farewell, for agreement or just to express enthusiasm. Voetsek! means go away right now - or else - and a bliksem is what will happen to you if you don't voetsek. Those who won't voetsek and aren't scared of a bliksem are known to skrik vir niks - unless they're simply spookgerook.

S is for Shuttleworth

With an appropriate name, South African internet entrepreneur Mark Shuttleworth used the millions he earned selling his company in his late twenties to become the first African in space. Joining a Russian crew on the International Space Station in 2002, SA's Afronaut has gone on to become a major philanthropist, setting up the Mark Shuttleworth Foundation to promote science education and open-source software. Shuttleworth's Go Open Source campaign aims to create awareness, educate and provide access to the software - which is created by volunteers and free for anyone to download, use and modify. Software developed by Shuttleworth companies includes Ubuntu, a leading open-source operating system used, among others, by Google.

T is for Tsotsi

Tsotsi is the first South African film to win an Oscar, and has put the country's movie industry firmly in the spotlight - and vindicated the government's multimillion-rand strategy to increase the volume of local films and market South Africa as a film-making country. Based on acclaimed playwright Athol Fugard's only novel, Tsotsi - the word means "thug" or "hoodlum" - tells the story of a violent young street criminal who finds redemption after he inadvertently abducts a baby during a car hijacking. The film cost $5-million to make and was filmed on location in Kliptown in Soweto, Gauteng. Written and directed by Gavin Hood, it stars Presley Chweneyagae, Terry Pheto, Zola, Kenneth Nkosi, Mothusi Magano and Zenzo Ngqobe.

U is for Unesco World Heritage

Did you know that Table Mountain National Park has more plant species in its 22 000 hectares than the British Isles or New Zealand? Or that the Drakensberg has both the highest mountain range in Africa south of Kilimanjaro and the continent's richest concentration of rock art? South Africa is home to seven Unesco World Heritage sites, places of "outstanding value to humanity". Natural heritage sites are the St Lucia wetlands, the Cape Floral Region and the Vredefort Dome meteor impact site. Cultural heritage includes the archaeological site of Mapungubwe, and Robben Island, for centuries a jail for political prisoners - including Nelson Mandela. The Drakensberg mountain range, with its dramatic scenery and rich store of rock art, is a mixed natural and cultural World Heritage site.

V is for Villages

South African cultural villages allow tourists to experience first-hand the traditional ways of life of South Africa's people, from the Basotho Cultural Village in the Free State, the Shakaland Zulu village in KwaZulu Natal, the Shangana Cultural Village and South Ndebele Open-Air Museum in Mpumalanga, and the Lesedi Cultural Village in Gauteng. Visitors get to eat traditional food, be entertained by traditional dance and music, and sleep in authentic dwellings. And the villages are more than a unique holiday experience: owned and run by local communities, they help uplift the often marginalised communities of rural areas.

W is for Wine

The vineyards of the Western Cape have been producing wine since the 17th century, with perhaps the most famous estate, Groot Constantia, established in 1685. Members of the British royal house, Napoleon Bonaparte, Louis Philippe of France, Frederick II of Prussia, the Lords Seventeen of the VOC, governors, admirals and captains coveted the Constantia label and treated their special guests to it. South Africa now has 100 200 hectares under vines for wine production, with the annual harvest some 600-million litres. The country produces 3,1% of the world's wine and ranks as number nine in overall volume production. The Winelands are set in magnificent Cape mountain scenery, with estates offering wine tastings, restaurants and accommodation. Some of the world's top eateries are to be found in the region.

Y is for Yum

Two dances of the sea, four guises of salmon, iced peanut butter and kassler soup, chocolate risotto … yum, yum and yum again. And these are just the starters. Yum restaurant in Johannesburg has developed a new and funky South African cuisine, and was rewarded with an Eat Out Johnnie Walker Restaurant of the Year award in 2005. Yum has been in the top 10 restaurant list five times before. Owner and head chef Mario de Angeli (33) has no formal training, yet was named chef of the year in 2003. He describes Yum's menu as "new South African cuisine, our interpretation of global food from South Africa - world food by South African people".

Z is for Zulu

The Zulu people are South Africa's largest population group, with isiZulu the most common home language. They also have the country's largest monarchy, headed by King Goodwill Zwelathini, and a rich and enduring culture going back centuries. Shaka, who ruled the Zulu in the 19th century, is possibly their most famous leader, an almost mythical figure and the stuff of legend - not to mention a fair amount of colonial fabrication. In the 19th century, the Zulu nation took on the British Empire and, armed only with spears, won stunning victories before succumbing to the relentless might of the empire. The war was the subject of the 1964 movie Zulu, starring Michael Caine. The nation has also given its name to a revered New Orleans social club: the 100-year-old Zulu Social Aid & Pleasure Club.

 

 

National Elephant Day in Thailand




National Elephant Day aims to raise awareness about elephant conservation as the latest census shows Thailand's population dropping to fewer than 5,000

   

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