‘Launch Of New 9-day Cheetah & Kruger Combination Voluntour’

News release
21 October 2009

According to Acacia Africa Soft Voluntourism Is Winning Out With Today's
Adventurers
'Launch Of New 9-day Cheetah & Kruger Combination Voluntour'

Voluntourism is still one of the major buzzwords when it comes to
holidays, but according to Acacia Africa, a softer version where
charitable pursuits are juxtaposed with adventure is winning out with
today's travellers. The tour operator's new 9-day Cheetah & Kruger
Combination Voluntour, which will be featured in the forthcoming
brochure, is the perfect example.

Heath Ashcroft, Marketing Director of Acacia Africa, comments: "A
growing number of travellers are looking to give something back to the
host country they are visiting, hence our decision to launch a dedicated
voluntour section late last year. However, adventurers still want to
experience the destination as a whole, whether that's enjoying the
traditional African safari, participating in village visits or
travelling off the beaten track on a overland journey."

A "hands on" experience, Acacia Africa's new itinerary includes
opportunities to be directly involved in the care and rehabilitation of
animals at the "Race Against Extinction Project; volunteers working in
close proximity with the brown hyena, suni antelope, wild dog, cheetah,
and a wide variety of vulture species. Adventurers can also enjoy Big
Five safaris in the Kruger National Park, two days of game viewing
completing the tour.

An established venture, the project, which is set in the foothills of
the beautiful Magaliesberg Mountains, is one of the oldest conservation
volunteer schemes for the African cheetah and has been in operation for
37 years.

£1,085pp (based on two sharing) + local payment from £94pp. The price
includes all tour highlights, transport, accommodation, park fees,
sleeping mat, road tolls and taxes, meals as indicated, camping and
cooking equipment and services of driver and tour leader. Excludes,
visas, travel insurance, flights, departure taxes, airport transfers,
tips, sleeping bag and items of a personal nature. Accommodation is
based in single, twin, triple and quad rooms with shared bathroom
facilities (5-nights), twin share rondavels at a private lodge
(one-night) and pre-erected two person dome tents (two-nights).

Departures Monday, Wednesday & Saturday year round.

Contact Acacia Africa on 020 7706 4700, email info@acacia-africa.com or
visit www.acacia-africa.com for further information. ATOL No. 6499 and
ABTA No. W4093 PROTECTED.

-ends-

For further information and images please contact tion London on 020
8180 1614 or email bespoke@tionlondon.co.uk.
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South African Corporates take Carbon Emissions Seriously

 

For immediate release

22 October 2009

 

Nedbank Group Tops the South African Carbon Disclosure Project Report 2009 Leadership Index

 

The National Business Initiative (NBi) announced the results of the 2009 South Africa Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) Report Leadership Index in Cape Town last night, on the eve of the United Nations Environment Finance Programme Initiative (UNEPFI) Round Table.

 

Nedbank was declared the 2009 overall winner of this prestigious leadership index, a shift that saw a move up from 4^th place in the 2008 CDP leadership index. Other corporates that placed included Bidvest Group, Woolworths Holdings, BHP Billiton, Goldfields and Sappi.  

 

 ‘While Nedbank’s reputation as South Africa’s ‘green’ bank has recently been cemented by a number of highly publicised industry accolades and awards*, including now topping the CDP 2009 Leadership Index, our position as a truly environmentally aware organisation is not the result of ad hoc environmental interventions. Rather, the external realisation of our green credentials is the natural consequence of a deeply ingrained commitment to a culture of sustainability - one that runs throughout our operations and is embraced as a value by our staff members, business partners, suppliers and other stakeholders.’ says Tom Boardman, Chief Executive, Nedbank Group.  

 

The Global CDP is the largest source of transparent information on carbon emissions in the world. By promoting higher levels of disclosure and transparency regarding carbon performance, the CDP is succeeding in significantly strengthening the case for emissions control as a strategic imperative for all organisations. It aims to provide investors with reliable information on the business risks and opportunities presented by climate change, and raise awareness within business on the impacts of climate change on company value.

 

Nedbank’s participation in the CDP forms part of its commitment to taking the lead in the promotion of climate change awareness and activism, a commitment that was further cemented with its recent move towards becoming carbon neutral.

 

The bank is working towards reducing its carbon footprint by means of a robust, well entrenched carbon management programme, which includes ongoing awareness creation, energy efficiency targets, paper and waste reduction initiatives, travel reduction, and various other methods of internal carbon reduction.

 

‘Nedbank is serious about influencing others to follow our lead, by linking environmental considerations to all our financing activities, an aggressive green procurement policy that encourages suppliers to operate in an environmentally friendly manner, and a Green Affinity that raises awareness among our clients of the need to be environmentally aware and affords them the opportunity to contribute towards conservation projects simply by utilising affinity-linked Nedbank products,’ Boardman states.

 

‘If our years of involvement in preserving the environment have taught us anything, it is that we have a responsibility to leave the planet a better place for tomorrow’s generations.  And we, at Nedbank, can think of no better way of achieving that than by ensuring we tread on it as lightly as possible today,’  he concludes.     

 

Ends

 

 

Notes to the Editor:

 

*Recent Nedbank Accolades include:

• Best Socially Responsible Bank – African Banker Awards
• ‘Leading Green SA corporate’  - Ask Afrika 2009 Trust Barometer
• Top Honours Financial Sector - ACCA SA Sustainability Awards
• Only SA bank to be included in the Dow Jones World Sustainability Index

 

 

Issued by Nedbank Group Communications         

Contact: Kerri Savin

              Tel: 011 295 5672

              Cell: 082 672 7571

  Email: kerris@nedbank.co.za

[Fwd: TEO's Founder Releases Second Book]

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TEO's Founder Releases Second Book

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Lawrence Anthonys second book, The Elephant Whisperer: My Life with the Herd in the African Wild, is on its way to becoming a best seller in the UK and in South Africa; it is flying off the shelves! It is going to be released November 10th in the U.S. and pre-orders will help us get Lawrence to the U.S. for a national book tour. It is an incredible book and a fabulous read! You truly will love it!

We just received notification from Amazon that you can now pre-order your copy of The Elephant Whisperer, for $16.49, a savings of 34%! If you purchase a copy through Good Search, Amazon will donate 1.5% of your purchase to The Earth Organization!

 

Just follow these quick and easy steps:
1) Click here
2) Under "Who do you support?" type in "The Earth Organization", and hit Enter
3) Choose Amazon
4) Click the bright yellow "Goodshop This Store" button
5) Type in "The Elephant Whisperer" to Amazon's search bar
6) Add The Elephant Whisperer: My Life with the Herd in the African Wild to your shopping cart, and that's it!

What an amazing holiday gift for the animal and adventure lovers in your life!

Here is what Amazon has to say:
It had been nearly a century since elephants had lived in Southern Zululand, South Africa, where Lawrence Anthony founded his wildlife reserve. Yet one day a surprise phone call changed all that. A troubled, unpredictable herd needed a new home. In order to save their lives, Lawrence took them in and in the years that followed found that they had a lot to teach him about life, loyalty, and freedom.

The Elephant Whisperer is a heartwarming, exciting, funny, and sometimes sad account of his experiences with these huge yet sympathetic creatures. He tells of hair-raising fights with poachers, of elephants as surprise dinner guests, of raising a baby elephant in his home, and other incredible stories that will amaze animal-lovers everywhere.

The Earth Organization is a grass roots international non-profit, conservation and environment organization, with new solutions, committed to the creative responsible rehabilitation of Planet Earth and the plant and animal kingdoms.
www.earthorganization.com
Email: info@earthorganization.com

Let's have a birthday party for VINCENT

 

Dear All

 

A very good morning to you!

 

I've been sitting with an idea for the last couple of years now, but just never got around starting anything, as we're always too busy, and every season goes by without me starting up what i had in mind.

 

VINCENT is an icon in St Lucia / iSimangaliso, we have sooo many stunning photographs taken of Vincent over the last 11yrs doing our Hippo / Croc Tours.

Vincent was also painted by the artist in Richardsbay after he was on our boat for a couple of tours, the first time him and his wife came on the boat we were fortunate to have Vincent in close proximity to the boat, playing around with members of his pod.

 

So many other neigbouring towns have festivals, and St Lucia besides from the Skiboat Club Fishing functions and competitions don't have anything formal.

 

Let's have a ''birthday'' party for Vincent every year, it can be twice a year, as during August we have the peak of our overseas tourists visiting, and in December we have most inland locals visiting.

My idea was :::: that is if i can get the support of everybody and the authorities :::::

 

It will be Vincent's birthday in August and again from 20December to 5th of January, we will have a fund where money will be paid in, with this money I want to go and purchase purple balloons, and purple t-shirts, throughout this period you will get to wear your purple t-shirt, with words saying ''happy birthday Vincent''  - and your purple balloons will be in your offices / guesthouse lobby /restaurant entrance / Clubhouse /etc - ALL businesses in St Lucia must participate.

 

People will obviously ask WHO or WHAT is Vincent, i have many beautiful pictures of Vincent, and a newspaper article that was written a while back, it will be good if i can make everybody a laminated copy of a photo of Vincent and the article, then no one has to waste time to explain to each client who Vincent is, they can just point them to the article and the photo.

 

The only things that is going to cost money is the balloons, t-shirts and the laminated copy - i'll take it on me to go buy everything, and then distribute to all everybody that paid their contribution.

 

If we do get the okay from all the authorities to go through with this and have this from now on annually, new t-shirts and laminated copies won't neccessarily be needed every year, maybe every 2nd /3rd year new t-shirts, as people will be asked to put their t-shirts somewhere where they can find it again, it's only going  to be neccessary to buy new balloons twice a year as the balloons obviously won't last. We can maybe also have banner made for the entrance of town.

 

it's then up to every business to decide what kind of little extra you're going to offer for Vincent's birthday, maybe 5% off ticket price, or free little gift ( doens't have to be expensive, it's the idea that counts) or free coffee if you order Hippo breakfast or whatever.....! 

people from the local community can make little purple beaded crafts, and paintings and sell in the main street and at the jetty's- (( go and have a look at my two purple hippo paintings on the wall at the Purple Hippo Cafe ), we can all participate in advising the community what kind of little curious they can make that will be the most popular for the tourists to buy to take back home ) 

 

Please let me know what you think of the idea and I'll keep in touch and let you know if the authorities will support this event.

 

Fond Regards

Riette Bennett

 

 

 

 

 ****please scroll down and read all the notices **** URGENT  - for some or other reason my computer is showing a g-mail address on all outgoing mail, please make sure always to e-mail me on advantage@zululink.co.za and not the gmail account.

                        

Warm Regards
Riëtte Bennett
St.Lucia Tours & Charters t/a Advantage Cruiser CC
e-mail:  advantage@zululink.co.za

web :    www.advantagetours.co.za - NEW UPDATED VERSION  - EXCITING - PLEASE CHECK IT OUT!!!!

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Tel   : +27 ( 035 ) 5901259

Fax  : +27 ( 035 ) 5901053

Cell  : 083 487 2762
Box 151, St Lucia,South Africa 3936
1 McKenzie Street,  St Lucia 3936, ** corner of Dolphin Supermarket  , the very first information office as you enter the town of St Lucia after crossing the bridge , at the traffic circle find parking immediately on the right (next to PEP stores) **

our GPS co-ordinates are :: S28 22. 335 E32 24. 773   ....St Lucia Village South Africa