TOURISM & CONFERENCING

FEEL-GOOD

ADVENTURES

City tours are great add-ons for incentive itineraries as well as conference or meeting programmes where delegates have travelled far and wide. If you go this route, why not seek out alternatives to the destination’s famed sightseeing spots – like the ideas we have listed here.

Bonus: All these businesses are geared towards impact tourism. That means that, not only will your delegates have an amazing experience, but they will also have a positive impact on their destination through the community or environmental benefits they are supporting.

CAPE TOWN

Tapi Tapi is an artisanal African ice-cream brand created by microbiologist turned ice-cream maker Tapiwa Guzha. Guzha believes that colonialism has given us very Eurocentric ideas about food and has made indigenous cuisine seem somehow inferior. It is his mission to change this.

To this end, Guzha’s handcrafted ice cream serves up fabulous flavours from across the continent. Ingredients include a nutritious edible clay that pregnant women in Africa enjoy, the ash and smoke of imphepho (liquorice plant), amasi (a fermented milk product) and sorghum.

As well as serving clients from his outdoor ice-cream parlour in the vibrant Observatory neighbourhood, Guzha feeds hungry locals through his food accessibility project, dubbed ‘Iwe neni’. This provides nutritious meals and allows people who would normally not be able to afford his ice cream the chance to try it.

Free ice-cream making sessions are open to everyone on Monday mornings, and participants get to take some dessert home. Guzha will also accept an ingredient you think will make a good flavour in exchange for some of the resultant ice cream! www.tapitapi.co.za

Cape Research and Diver Development (Cape Radd) offers guided scuba, snorkelling and boatbased opportunities for volunteers to participate in science expeditions in False Bay. Participants

eNanda Tours join marine biologists and members of the Cape Radd team to help with research, all while learning about life in the ocean in an adventurous and hands-on way.

The snorkelling and scuba excursions involve swimming or diving in kelp forests, while collecting data on fish and other marine life in the area. The boat-based expedition is an exclusively onboard experience where drop cameras open a window into the lives of seals, penguins, whales, dolphins and sharks.

Cape Radd specialises in projects that monitor and investigate the biodiversity of a global hotspot home to more than 3 500 endemic marine species, with conservation at the heart of their purpose. www.caperadd.com

DURBAN

Durban delegates can visit one of five contemporary and colourful WOWZULU Marketplaces located at Inanda Durban, Emazizini, Khula Village, KwaNzimakwe and Ilembe.

Bellevue giraffe tracking safari

The marketplaces started out as a space for rural craft organisations to sell their beautiful handmade products, under the Africa! Ignite programme. Most of the crafters are women who come from areas with poor infrastructure, high unemployment and a high incidence of HIV/Aids, so this opportunity provides them with a much-needed source of income.

However, the WOWZULU Marketplaces have evolved into something much bigger, and now combine craft sales with vibrant cultural experiences and attractions such as traditional culinary experiences, storytelling, rural home stays, and opportunities to learn timehonoured craft techniques while creating special keepsakes.

Africa! Ignite is a leading South African nonprofit rural enterprise development agency that has worked across rural KwaZulu-Natal for more than a decade. In 2019, it launched its WOWBiz social franchises. The WOWBiz centres offer critical support for emerging businesses through services such as business registration compliance and planning, printing, marketing, branding, social media and mentorship – thus expanding on the entrepreneurial support they are providing to these communities. africaignite.co.za www.wowzulu.co.za

In the heart of the vast and stunningly beautiful Inanda Valley, adventure awaits. Situated right on Durban’s doorstep, eNanda Adventures describes itself as “a hidden gem with everything you need to revitalise and break free from the hustle and bustle of city life”.

Visitors can go on a guided hike to the majestic Mzinyathi Falls and discover Inanda’s cultural treasures etched into the landscape along the way. The Inanda Dam offers an array of activities from canoeing to fishing to waterskiing while spotting the vibrant birdlife found in the area. eNanda Adventures is also home to one of the GO!Durban Cycle Academy’s tracks with mountain bike cycling trails available for cycling enthusiasts. Bookings for eNanda Adventures can be done through the Durban Green Corridor, a social-purpose and impact-focused organisation that aims to see communities thrive in balance with the habitats around them. Green Corridors explains, “We co-create open spaces in key local destinations that balance environmental ‘musts’ with the challenges and opportunities of the communities that live, work and thrive within them.” durbangreencorridor.co.za

Eyitha Tours Tapi Tapi

JOHANNESBURG

For an authentically African beer tasting experience, head to Tolokazi Beer in Roodepoort. The craft beers and ciders, including an alcohol-free beer, are made with indigenous African ingredients such as sorghum, African Queen and Simcoe hops, rooibos and hibiscus.

Tolokazi is not a new brand, but a revamp of the Brewsters Craft range that Apiwe NxusaniMawela launched in 2019. She says, “Tolokazi is a beer that honours the African brewing heritage, as beer brewing has always been the province of women in Southern Africa. And just as the name suggests (brewster is the name for a female brewer), the company’s staff complement is made up almost entirely of women.”

Nxusani-Mawela has also used her position and influence to advance brewing qualifications

WOWZULU Marketplaces across the African continent, especially for black women. tolokazibeer.co.za

Eyitha Tours offers walking and theatre tours, including the highly recommended From Sophiatown to Soweto. Owner Mbali Zwane explains, “Sophiatown was a vibrant place, the home of jazz, the mother of style, the Chicago of South Africa, the place that gave birth to many jazz icons like Thandi Klassen, Bra Hugh Masekela and countless others! Our aim is to share the hidden treasures of Johannesburg by unveiling the forgotten stories of Sophiatown though tours, poems, dance, music and stories from the victims.”

Delegates will meet and talk to people who experienced the forced removals and later returned to live in Sophiatown. To finish off the tour, they will be taught a dance inspired by these stories. web.facebook.com/sophiatowntours

GQEBERHA

Take a walk on the wild side, with a giraffe tracking safari. This on-foot adventure takes just under two hours, is led by a highly experienced, trained and armed trail guide and is suited to smaller groups of no more than 10 people.

Technically, this isn’t a city escape, as the tour takes place in Bellevue Forest Reserve, a 2 500 hectare private game reserve in the Greater Addo region. But it is easily accessible from Gqeberha (formerly Port Elizabeth), being a quick hour’s drive.

From an impact perspective, Bellevue Forest Reserve is involved in the ecological restoration of natural wildscapes and original wildlife corridors, while preserving endangered flora and fauna. Its Foundation funds sustainable projects in educational, community and environmental projects in the Eastern Cape, and guests are welcome to participate in community activities and experience this upliftment first-hand. bellevueforest.co.za

WOWZULU Marketplaces

Incentive Accommodation & Venues, including Year-end Options

From our vast economic potential in key sectors, such as life sciences and manufacturing, to our incredible natural and cultural assets, South Africa really does have it all.”

Zinhle Nzama, Acting Chief Convention Bureau Officer at SANCB