FM Travel February 2022 Edition

February 2022

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Beyond borders

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FROM THE EDITOR

Published by

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EDITORIAL

Editor: Keith Bain Content Manager: Raina Julies, rainaj@picasso.co.za Contributors: Katie Bigelow, Mart-Marié du Toit, Ethan Pitt Copy Editor: Nia Magoulianiti-McGregor Content Co-ordinator: Vanessa Payne, vanessap@picasso.co.za Digital Editor: Stacey Visser vissers@businessmediamags.co.za

DESIGN

Head of Studio: Jayne Macé-Ferguson Senior Designer: Mfundo Archie Ndzo Advert Designer: Bulelwa Sotashe Cover image: Keith Bain

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Going places

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ravelling these days is perhaps safe and healthy. Until a few months ago, more confusing than it’s ever inbound travellers not only had to present been. It’s not only your mask and a negative PCR test, but, at Maun airport, a spritz of sanitiser you need to were given a rapid-antigen test upon arrival, remember, but if you’re crossing too – an example, I thought, of zealous borders you’ll need to have received caution in the interest of saving lives. your COVID-19 test result Still, I don’t think any amount of before departing for the nasopharyngeal scavenging airport. And – increasingly can detract from the joy of – we will require visiting such a wondrous vaccination certificates, place. For an account of or digital immunity why the Okavango passports or whatever Delta ticks all the newfangled innovation right boxes, turn is next made to hopefully to page 5. simplify the matter.

Now, with vaccinations Editor Keith Bain visits Botswana We in the Global South increasingly granting access on page 5 – and, more so, in Africa – are to overseas destinations, the somewhat at the mercy of perceptions. world is steadily seeing the return of As we witnessed recently with the business travel (page 9), albeit with unprecedented hullabaloo that arose some unexpected twists. Most exciting in response to Omicron, it is basically new development? It looks like workers random bureaucracy that determines who have been permanently freed from whether or not our tourism industry the office might make a habit of installing survives or starts to recover. And whether themselves somewhere pretty and working or not folks can explore the world or visit from their laptops. loved ones and family.

The pandemic has also ushered in One place we’ve long been able to changes to where people choose to live. visit is Botswana, and while the country If you’ve visited the countryside recently, has gone though tough times too, it has you’ll have noticed a surge of people acted stringently in the interest of keeping migrating out of cities and making for travellers and people employed in its more rural places. On page 12, we look economically-vital hospitality industry at just one reason why Paarl should be on your radar. If you are city-bound, however, and looking for cool new quarters in the City of Gold, see our picks on page 2.

As always, I believe that travelling is the ultimate antidote – the best cure for whatever ails us. Nonetheless, now more than ever we need to travel mindfully, Mart-Marié du Toit preferably vaccinated, and with the safety forecasts the return of others in mind. of business travel on page 9

TRAVEL

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2022/01/24 9:22 AM

EN ROUTE JOHANNESBURG

Connections Ever abuzz with possibility, the City of Gold has an assortment of new accommodations to tempt you

 HOME OF A LEGEND

Something of an accommodation coup for Johannesburg is the recent launch of Sanctuary Mandela, the refurbished Madiba residence in leafy Houghton. With a mix of studios and suites, the hotel has been revamped to a modern aesthetic and incorporates various visual remembrances of the man whose legacy makes this house so special. Its celebration of the global icon is luxurious yet sober and the intimate scale means it genuinely feels like a sanctuary. And while Jo’burg is bursting with new restaurants to try, it’s worth setting aside a night to taste some of Madiba’s favourite dishes which are prepared by the in-house kitchen.

There’s also opportunity to dine with Xoliswa Ndoyiya, who was the great man’s chef for 20 years. sanctuarymandela.com

 RED-HOT DESIGN

It’s all about the playful aesthetic at Rosebank’s new Radisson RED. There’s nothing subtle about Jo’burg, and this hotel is designed to match the supersized flexing of South Africa’s economic hub with bold personality signatures – starting with the large-scale photographic images that immediately situate you in the heart of urban Africa. The contemporary, cutting-edge public spaces are delineated by creativity and playfulness. The design includes a snazzy rooftop terrace and pool where you can combine fresh air with city panoramas, DJ sets, cocktails and food from the ground-floor OUI Bar + KTCHN (which, by the way, lays on an impressive breakfast buffet). Bedrooms are compact but slick and imbued with all you might require, including touches of humour. There’s plenty of soul, too – funky, youthful staffers are on hand to help out with whatever you need, and the location means you’re close to an endless array of restaurants, shops and art galleries too. radissonhotels.com

For business travellers as well as long-stayers looking for a ‘home-from-home’ experience, The Catalyst is a 206-bedroom apartment hotel in suburban Sandton.

Management company Newmark’s design DNA is all over it, creating relaxing, tranquil spaces using a contemporary palette of neutral, muted tones. The look is chic without being ostentatious, and the smart-design beds and cushy linens emphasise a great night’s sleep. And you’ll love the Ben Sherman bathroom products. Kashew is The Catalyst’s ground-floor restaurant where emphasis is on unfussy flavours rather than overtly OTT fine dining. Plus, there’s a spa on site with very generous prices. A key feature is the green energy system which includes rooftop solar panels generating most of its power. There’s also a back-up generator to mitigate against load-shedding when the sun’s not cooperating. newmarkhotels.com ▪

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WORDS: ETHAN PITT PICTURES: SUPPLIED

 IGNITING DAYS, EXCITING NIGHTS

TRAVEL

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OK AVANGO DELTA AWAY

Beyond time Botswana’s Okavango Delta – UNESCO’s 1 000th World Heritage Site – is a mystical place that will connect you with a time before time itself began, writes Keith Bain

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imelessness is a precious thing, and difficult to experience these days. At every turn, we’re reminded of the strange moment we’re living through.

Our phones, social media, the complexities of crossing borders in the age of a pandemic …

But places where time matters less do exist. There are places where schedules are determined by the rising of the sun instead of the pressures of a deadline. Where you’re motivated by the desire to be in a specific spot to witness the sky doing a psychedelic dance or by the wish to wake up at 5am to see stars that are invisible in lightpolluted cities.

I am in love with Botswana. I am struck each time I am there by the impact its primordial majesty has on my soul. Its effect on me is radical, not only because being there enables me to slip into a relaxed rhythm, but because it nourishes my spirit, reminds

me of what it means to be alive, and to be touched by the grace and graciousness of creation.

Being there, I find – especially within the vast fan-shaped floodplain at its heart – I am better able to connect with something primitive and authentic within myself. It’s as though the universe and its secrets are closer at hand, as though you could reach out and touch those stars. It is possibly because of the absence of human bluster, the lack of concrete and traffic and noise. That decluttering brings clarity and focus. It enables you to cut through the nonsense, the fabricated stuff of modern existence that we confuse with meaning. Instead you see the world for what it is: A cycle of life and death, an endless, harmonious puzzle for which each piece has a home and a purpose.

Within this hallowed environment a few especially magnificent places stand out. Among the most restorative spots on the planet is Eagle Island, a lodge operated by the international Belmond hotel group, which also

owns Cape Town’s Mount Nelson. And while Belmond is well-known for its superlative hospitality, the warmth of its staff, and the many ingenious touches thrown into the mix to fuel your soul’s rejuvenation, here it is able to offer its guests something few places on earth can promise: Complete uncoupling from the energy-sapping rigours of daily life.

ABOVE US ONLY SKY The setting is extraordinary. Once you touch down on the dirt runway, just a short distance from the lodge, it’s as though you’ve journeyed to another realm. It has all those classic Delta features: That serenity; that ceaseless gabbling and Morse-coding of birds amassing in branches overhead; other birds, quieter and more focused, arranged in smart V-formations, winging it across the vast, open sky; elephants casually milling about; hippos honking; and that vision of tall palm trees silhouetted ›

“I am in love with Botswana. I am struck each time I am there by the impact its primordial majesty has on my soul.”

TRAVEL

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AWAY OK AVANGO DELTA

sundowner spots. The Fish Eagle Bar (pictured above left) is a castaway-style thatched gazebo set under a tree in which fish eagles do, in fact, make their nest. It’s scattered with sofas and cage-like swing chairs facing the point at which the sun descends casting the sky and water aglow as though some hippie god had strung her tie-dyed laundry across the horizon.

And, of course, there was that after-dark canopy of glittering stars, a vast twinkling reminder of just how small and insignificant we are in the vast scheme of things.

Through the walls of my tent, I tapped into the endless bush symphony that resounded through the night, a riveting opera that lulled me to sleep. And I woke deeply aware that I’d slept in riveting proximity to a primitive, unspoiled paradise. There were the whispers of elephants padding gently on the grass outside, and when the sun began to stir, my deck became an auditorium with a front-row view of a land before time.

And that’s another, almost unspoken, thing about Eagle Island Lodge – its effortless, beguiling design. The guest tents are voluminous and have thatched roofs and plunge pools and space to lounge about and stare at the water channels and watch elephants and buffalo and other creatures traipse about right in front of you. And yet HORIZON HEAVEN they’re made to almost disappear, their There were also other ways of getting about sophistication hinging on the fact that they Getting to and seeing the island from a variety seamlessly integrate their inhabitants into Eagle Island of angles. To get deeper into the the environment. And your sole task is It’s a rare privilege indeed to reach a channels, we explored by motorboat, let that environment sink into every place so steeped in nature’s abundance. and for a sundowner splurge we fibre of your being.

The richness of life, the magnificence of the set off by barge, but nothing could setting – it’s truly miraculous. And yet getting That close connection to nature there could not be easier. All of Eagle Island’s quite prepare us for the way the – that sense of escape from the majesty is accessible via regularly scheduled plane scenes were laid bare from above. bonds of time itself – might in rides from Cape Town and Johannesburg, touching We took off from the helipad fact represent the very pinnacle down in the small frontier town of Maun, at the with a young New Zealand-born of luxury in the world right now: Delta’s southern end. Upon arrival in Maun, you’ll pilot who – despite having flown Having the opportunity to be fully be met by a representative from your lodge who above Eagle Island countless present when you enter such a rare, will get you checked in for your Mack Air times – was in his element, his face sanctified world. flight to Eagle Island, where the runway

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TRAVEL

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plastered with the sort of hearty grin that comes from witnessing something you suspect proves that miracles are possible.

Such flips in an open-door helicopter, gazing down at wild animals going about their business are among the most thrilling experiences on earth. From this angle, we got close enough to yawn-faced hippos to see their dental cavities, make out the unimpressed snarls on the faces of dozy crocs, and sailed above giraffes as they galloped across the slushy grass plains in that funky, long-legged gait of theirs.

At dusk, after the rapture of being poled about or circling in the sky overhead, we gave in to a different kind of reverie, watching the sun sink from what is inarguably one of the planet’s most romantic

“that sense of escape from the bonds of time itself might represent the very pinnacle of luxury in the world right now.”

PICTURES: KEITH BAIN, SUPPLIED

along the edges of water channels, as though this were some sort of Venice-in-the-wilderness. Which is precisely what it is: Venice forged by Nature. And, down by the jetty at the end of the boardwalk, mokoros ready to take us on up-close-to-nature jaunts through this soaked, serene wonderland.

By day it was all about watching huge gatherings of birds – spoonbills, egrets, saddle-billed storks, pink-backed pelicans, spur-winged geese – engaged in feeding frenzies while raptors glided overhead on the thermals and red lechwe bounded across the swampy wetness like African reindeer.

We explored the channels unencumbered by combustion engines or mechanical whirrs, with only the gentlest ploop-ploop of a wooden pole through the water. Mokoro rides are an incredible way to combine game viewing with a genuine sense of slipping back in time. You’re poled along by a genius guide who not only knows and understands these waterways intimately but who can pick out an array of creatures at huge distances. Ask him how he manages to not fall over while standing in such an unsteady contraption and he’ll tell you that it’s ingrained from tumbling into the water frequently while learning this skill from a young age.

is spitting distance from the lodge. belmond.com/safaris

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PANDEMIC REBOOT BUSINESS CLASS

Back to business?

If you hold a South African passport, you may feel there’s no way out of the quagmire of global travel restrictions. But, says Mart-Marié du Toit, the future of business travel is here

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e’ve become accustomed to keeping our facial expressions professional in Zoom meetings while thinking about lying on a beach in some exotic location.

We’ve worn pants at home, just in case, and even – perhaps – put on a tie, or taken the trouble to figure out how to add a fabulous backdrop when we’re basically sitting at the kitchen table. We play dress-up and use digital enhancements in an attempt to make the distances between us seem somehow less isolating.

Now, with borders slowly opening up, business travellers are willing but wary.

We want to shake hands, toast deals with proper champagne, look our counterpart in the eye and know they’re wearing pants

for real. Business travel is, after all, really about relationships more than it is about transactions, according to United CEO, Scott Kirby.

But the risks are real, and with the current global predicament any trip can backfire.

“Red lists, travel bans, and government-imposed quarantines have had a massive impact on business travel,” says Oz Desai, GM of Corporate Traveller.

“Companies simply cannot afford the cost of quarantine – or the impact on productivity. Obviously, employees don’t like the idea of 10 days or more in a hotel room pre- or post-trip either. It’s been the biggest barrier to international business travel.” ›

Seize the day The future may well be one of more travel, more adventure – at least for those who are now permanently untethered from physical office spaces.

Accounting and consulting firm PwC told Reuters that all of its 40 000 US client services employees would be allowed to work virtually and live anywhere they want in perpetuity.

Olivier Perillat-Piratoine, Club Med Southern Africa’s interim managing director, says his company has recognised that work and leisure would be increasingly intertwined in future.

“We launched the Club Med Work Hub concept, which gives our guests the chance to get away with their families for well-earned post-pandemic relaxation, but still get their work done remotely, in well-equipped spaces.

There are also adult-only Zen zones that are in keeping with the renowned Club Med vibe and level of service.”

Such moves may suggest a new norm for skilled workers whose job description permits a work-from-home scenario. The norm may well be that we see “bleisure” (business + leisure) making a comeback, especially after so many of us have discovered that life is short and that our day-to-day reality can change rapidly and unexpectedly.

With that in mind, those who have the ability to travel more and take their jobs on the road with them, will likely make use of whatever opportunities to do so arise.

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BUSINESS CLASS PANDEMIC REBOOT

It’s not only governmental travel bans that are the problem. Businesses are cautious as well. In a bid to keep employees and clients safe, some companies, like JP Morgan Chase, the largest bank in the United States, banned unvaccinated employees from having inperson meetings or travelling for work.

HIT THE ROAD, JACK Business travel’s future may be uncertain, but some travel experts are predicting exciting changes. Bonnie Smith, GM of FCM, Flight Centre’s global management company, says we can look forward to using the latest technology focused on solid communication channels and instant support – so travellers can hit the road with confidence. “More and more companies want to be able to track their travellers so that they can bring them home quickly should the need arise,” she says. Smith also thinks we’ll book fewer trips but have longer stays. “Quality over quantity,” she says.

There’s some scepticism, though, when it comes to business travel for those in possession of so-called less desirable passports. According to the Henley Passport Index, which relies heavily on data from the International Air

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Transport Association, a clear trend is emerging: Countries in the Global North with so-called high-ranking passports are enforcing stricter inbound COVID-19 travel restrictions compared with countries in the Global South with our “lower-ranking passports”. Nations such as South Africa have relaxed their borders without seeing the openness reciprocated. Experts reckon this difference in border restrictions is conveniently being retained to contain mobility from the Global South.

What is certain, though, is that your health and vaccination status will likely become as critical for international travel access as your passport. As more and more countries adopt a digital system of proof of vaccination, it is becoming crucially important that a central decisionmaking body ensures a fair approach to how health certificates are used to regulate international travel. Since October, vaccinated South Africans have been able to download their own digital vaccination certificates, hinting that in due course these may serve to give travellers entry to countries requiring proof of inoculation, or for border-crossings where vaccinated travellers are no longer required to present costly PCR test results.

A United States travel association report estimates that households and businesses spent a total of $1.1 trillion on travel in 2019. Of that, business travel accounted for approximately $334.2 billion. In 2020, that figure was 70 per cent lower, while leisure travel was only down 27 per cent. The same report predicts that business travel will only bounce back to pre-pandemic numbers in 2024 – or even later.

While travel companies were optimistic about a rebound in business travel early in 2021 after leisure travel rebounded quickly, the Delta variant, travel restrictions, and then Omicron have all delayed recovery.

Research commissioned earlier last year by SAP Concur, the world’s leading provider of travel and expense management services, found that 31 per cent of business travellers in 2021 found that the actual trip was the most stressful, down from 45 per cent in 2020. Nevertheless, 96 per cent of respondents said they were willing to travel for business with the majority (68 per cent) advocating for a return to business travel.

Of these, it’s Baby Boomers who are most likely to push their employers to return to business travel. One in five (18 per cent), including 29 per cent of Gen Z respondents, worry they could lose their job if they cannot increase their business travel.

One in five global business travellers are looking forward to having the ability to dress up to go somewhere (19 per cent), and one in 10 say that their partner wants them out of the house (11 per cent).

PICTURES: ISTOCKPHOTO.COM

Statistically speaking

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ARTYFACT PA ARL

Pioneering Avondale

From biodynamic farming with a mob of pest-eradicating ducks, to wine aged in clay, Avondale Estate in Paarl now also has the continent’s longest mountain bike flow trail, some of the Cape’s finest food, and an art gallery, too

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contribute to the wellbeing of the planet. airview’s goats, intense summer heat, This is achieved by enriching the soil rather the longest main road this side of the Equator … Our associations with Paarl than denuding it of nutrients. The knockon impact for the planet is that the land is are in need of a shake-up. Certainly not only richer in nutrients but acts as a the town that’s always been a kind massive carbon sink. This form of carbon of a third wheel on a Winelands’ date with Stellenbosch and Franschhoek, is brimming sequestration is among the most potent ways of reversing climate change. It’s just with possibility right now. a question of convincing millions of farmers Part of that has to do with the aftermath – especially large-scale agricultural entities of almost two years of dampened spirits.

– to change their ways as has been done Also evident is the influx of urban exiles, at this pioneering Paarl estate. people transplanting themselves closer to In the meantime, biodynamic farming the countryside, seeking escape from the is the driving force behind everything that hustle – and hassle – of city life. There’s happens at Avondale, including winemaker also been an abundance of new ideas, Corné Marais’ pursuit of utterly distinctive collaborations and innovations. wines. They’re characterised by the fact Percolating with inventiveness while keeping it old-school is that they’re made as naturally as Avondale, a wine estate on possible. Using wild yeasts and a largely hands-off the slopes of the Klein approach, his organic Drakenstein mountains. winemaking aims to It’s a wholeheartedly express the terroir family affair, and more honestly and when Johnathan three-dimensionally Grieve’s parents than is achieved through brought the place in the conventional farming.

1980s, it was a typical, Samsara, commercially-farmed wine And if looking to the future Avondale wine estate where chemicals and isn’t enough, Avondale is also the first winery in South Africa to use fertilisers and all the usual suspects clay qvevri (that’s “kwe-vree” to anyone were used. unfamiliar with Georgian pronunciation) in Johnathan, an artist by training, realised the cellar. These egg-shaped earthenware that it was time to level-up. He pioneered vessels from the Black Sea region were the push towards organic – and then first used to age and store wine some biodynamic – farming, establishing a sustainability-focused mission for Avondale. 8 000 years ago, presumably in the world’s oldest winemaking region. ▪ Johnathan’s aim is to use farming to

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Dale Stevens

Beyond the cellar Avondale, which survived lockdown’s roughest patches thanks to demand from the European market which places a premium on organic wine, has plenty beyond its cellar to encourage visitors to stop by.

A few months old is the estate’s new mountain biking flow track – the rugged off-road trail is the longest of its kind on the continent. The farm offers lovely walks, too. The gardens are gorgeous, and it can be a real tonic seeing the Grieves’ mob of ducks going about their business – these are working birds and responsible for clearing out pests in the most natural way possible.

Among the best reasons to visit Avondale, though, is Faber, the excellent, award-winning restaurant helmed by Dale Stevens (pictured above) whose culinary practice is pointedly informed by Avondale’s focus on sustainability.

Faber means craftsman or maker, and that’s a concept that’s taken to heart. Dale’s farm-to-fork philosophy means nature’s goodness resides in every morsel as the superior provenance produce is organic, free-range and sourced from lowcarbon emitting suppliers. Plus, the restaurant, which is above the cellar, also serves as the Winelands Art Gallery where regular exhibitions add colour to the interior walls. avondalewine.co.za

WORDS: KATIE BIGELOW PICTURES: SUPPLIED

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