travel – Chanters Lodge Livingstone

More Ty2

George da Soulchild (aka Kaufela) co-host of our Sunday night radio show on 107.7 fm wrote a follow up piece to my blog about Zambia’s sensational Ty2!

“Local ragea/ragga artist Mbangweta Mwendaweli aka Ty2 has one of the most powerful voices on the local music scene, some compare his style to that of award winning American musician Shaggy. Ty2’s biggest hit so far has to be his cross over song “Smile” from his first hit album of the same title, released under Mondo Music Co-operation, recorded under David Sling Studio “Sling Beats”in 2004. By 2005 the song had become an anthem receiving massive airplay on most Zambian radio stations and some outside Zambia as well. ‘Smile’ earned Ty2 a nomination at the Koral Awards (in the best international ragga/regea category) held in South Africa the same year.

Two years down the line music fans began to forget Ty2 – the biggest contributory factor must have been the three years he spent in England – but the Zambian music landscape was changing so fast that if you weren’t in it you’d be left behind – as is the case now with most pioneers of the so called ‘new Zambian music’ who all seem to be struggling with sales and shows. Ty2’s last two albums were fair but not well received by Zambian music fans, resulting in low CD sales. His signing with JK and Kayombo’s promotion/distribution company “Jakayo” didn’t really seem to help.

Now in 2011 TY2’s new single “Spotlight” featuring Kaufela, produced by Roni of Raising Sounds in Livingstone, seems to be turning things up for him, putting him back in the spotlight where he should be! He has the whole country dancing and singing along. The song’s music video has received a lot of hits on YouTube and is also receiving major airplay on local TV stations. Music critics predict that the song might just be as big for Ty2 as ‘Smile’.

Rumour has it that Ty2 is currently recording his new project with Raising Sounds Studio in Livingstone, I listened to some of his new music and it sounds good, new and improved. It’s usually hard for musicians anywhere in the world to make a comeback but it looks like Ty2 has it figured out and I wish him all the best.”

And so say all of us!

12
NOV

Africa, awards, entertainment, livingstone, Lusaka, music, radioshow, travel, uk, Zambia

Consumer Diaries

Here’s a good website for consumers in Zambia having a hard time at the moment! Consumer Diaries, written by Zambian consumers for Zambian consumers. The latest post involves the suspension of the air service permit for Zambezi Airlines by government – no great surprise there – they’ve been in a shambles for weeks with delayed and cancelled flights. Yesterday there were about 15 stranded travellers at Harry M Nkumbula International Airport in Livingstone, negotiating seats on other airlines flying to South Africa.

We hope Consumer Diaries will soon turn their attention to Zambia Breweries and the constant annual shortages of beer and soft drinks in Livingstone and other parts of Zambia through October and November – not alright in the nominated (should that be nominal?) ‘tourist capital’.

And what about Zesco? Most Zambian consumers thought that one of the first impacts of the new government would be restoration of constant power supplies – not so – even though the President did fire the Zesco MD nothing has changed there! Just as well we have a good stand by generator at Chanters Lodge!

“The Consumer Diaries is a Zambian consumer’s mouthpiece written strictly by consumers for other consumers. It contains a compilation of reviews and comparisons of consumer products and services based on reporting and results from consumers themselves. This is done in order to help people have an opportunity to rate product/service experiences that they have had, and also to investigate new products or services in order to make informed decisions.”

Wish them the best of luck!

The picture? A bottle of Zambia’s great Mosi beer – currently unavailable from distributors in Livingstone, Zambia.

31
OCT

Africa, airlines, Consumers, development, Economy, electricity, energy, guests, infrastructure, livingstone, management, politics, rsa, transport, travel, Zambia

Tourism in Africa

I liked a piece by Beth Kormanik on Hotel Interactive I’ve edited quite a lot of it and added my comments specifically for Zambia at the end.

“As the continent of Africa realizes new heights with global tourism – bolstered by the FIFA World Cup in South Africa last year – new facts and figures are telling the story of a continued growth in 2011. Key issues such as difficulty in crossing borders and concerns over security, though, are stalling that growth.

Tourist arrivals to Africa in 2010 reached 940 million, an increase of 6.6 percent compared with 2009. North Africa is the biggest draw, thanks to Egypt, with 29.7 million arrivals that accounted for $21.7 million in receipts. The figures were among those in just-published State of Tourism in Africa, a report sponsored by the World Bank, the Africa Travel Association and New York University’s Africa House.

“It seems there is room for us to be optimistic,” said Fatou Mas-Jobe Njie, Minister of Tourism and Culture for the Republic of The Gambia and president of the Africa Travel Association, which held its sixth annual Presidential Forum on Tourism Tuesday in New York. While travel and tourism hold the promise of growing GDP, creating jobs and encouraging sustainable development, the current reality is of low consumer confidence and investment.

“Still, we need to caution our optimism as uncertainty still remains,” she said. “We cannot ignore what happened to the tourism industries of Egypt and Tunisia after the shocks of political change.The reality is that the possibility of growth and development are not yet fully recognized or realized in Africa’s political corridors. That’s why ATA has a critical role to play. ATA can help raise awareness of the importance of the industry among decision makers and across the general public in Africa.”

First, though, African countries need to resolve long-standing issues that hamper travel, such as the difficulty crossing borders, according to Nigel Vere Nicoll, managing director of Advancing Tourism to Africa. “Why is it that the border between Kenya and Tanzania is impossible to cross?” he asked. “The two parties just don’t talk to each other. It doesn’t make sense.”
Ezekiel Maige, Tanzania’s Minister of Natural Resources and Tourism, said the two countries have issues over border security and also of a fair distribution of tourist dollars. “We are discussing in the region how we can sort out these problems,” he said. “The assurance I’ll give here is we’ve reached a very good stage.”

David Scowsill, president and CEO of The World Travel and Tourism Council, pointed out that air service agreements in Africa are terribly outdated – many in East Africa still operate under rules developed at the Chicago Convention in 1944. Travel across borders within Africa remains difficult. “I suspect our predecessors were having similar conversations 10, 15, 20 years ago,” Scowsill said. “We’re not working fast enough.” Being a tourism minister is a lonely place to be.The focus on travel and tourism and what it does for job creation and wealth creation overall is an agenda that is only going to be driven by the president of a country. If we could find two, three or four visionary African presidents who really understand the power of travel and tourism and are prepared collectively to move things and change things, to open the skies and to have common visas things would happen, without that, I can’t see anything changing very quickly.”

Another challenge is marketing Africa as a safe and desirable location, according to Gregg Truman, vice president of sales and marketing for South African Airways.

“If Africa wants to be recognized it must be willing to spend resources in marketing the destination,” he said. “That’s what we don’t do well most of the time. Yet we have beautiful scenery, a lot of cultural tourism, eco-tourism. We have diverse products that people can learn from and enjoy”

In Zambia’s case:

I should think our new Minister of Information, Broadcasting and Tourism, Given Lubinda and President Michael Sata are very busy with other things, but the sentence I’ve highlighted above about tourism needing to be presidentially driven bears thinking about!
The ATA has been around for a long time, I’m not sure how much they’ve really done for tourism in this country.

Recommendations for Zambia: 1. Re-introduce the successful visa waiver scheme for bona fide tourists with advance reservations.
2. Allocate a good budget to Zambia Tourist Board for overseas marketing in Europe and USA.
3. Improve tax incentives and concessions for the hospitality and travel industries in order to stabilize prices and to change the perception of Zambia being an expensive destination.
4. Improve air (and road) links between the different tourist destinations within Zambia and surrounding countries and encourage competition to reduce air fares.
5. Make the Victoria Falls accessible to tourists from both sides of the border without visas and immigration formalities. (Dreams division)

The photo? Victoria Falls – the Zimbabwe side for a change!

1
OCT

Africa, ATA, infrastructure, innovation, Kenya, Tanzania, tourism, travel, visas, Zambia

Emirates To Fly To Zambia!

From SkyClub.com

“Emirates is launching flights to two new African destinations from February next year. The airline will be offering five flights per week from Dubai to Lusaka, the capital of Zambia, and Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe, from 1st February 2012.

Travellers visiting Zambia or Zimbabwe with Emirates will be within easy reach of Victoria Falls- the largest waterfall in the world. Labelled a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Victoria Falls is 1.7km wide and cascades over 100 metres. Both destinations also have world-class national safari parks for any travellers wishing to observe some African wildlife.

Passengers travelling with Emirates to Zambia and Zimbabwe will be able to experience Emirates’ luxurious First and Business Class cabins. The A330-200 operating the route has a three-class configuration with 12 First Class seats, 42 Business Class seats and 183 Economy seats. Guests in all classes of travel will enjoy meals prepared by gourmet chefs, as well as hundreds of channels of entertainment and the facility to send and receive emails and text messages.

“Emirates has long understood the enormous potential of Africa, which today is one of the fastest-expanding economic regions of the world, benefitting from a combined market of over one billion people, rising consumer demand and an abundance of natural resources,” said His Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum, Chairman and Chief Executive, Emirates Airline & Group.

“Zambia and Zimbabwe will be our 20th and 21st African destinations and their addition to our global network will enable us to provide new flexibility and choice for customers, help to grow trade routes and create important new inbound and outbound markets for tourism,” added His Highness.”

Now, all we need is a direct flight from Europe to Livingstone. Come on!

29
SEP

Africa, airlines, infrastructure, innovation, livingstone, Lusaka, tourism, transport, travel, Zambia

Junior Sililo & Sandra Banda Taste The Chanters Lodge Experience

From time to time we feature members of the Chanters Lodge staff on our weekly radio show – The Chanters Lodge Experience with The Milli Jam Ingredient featuring George da Soulchild. The programme airs on Zambezi 107.7fm every Sunday between 20.30 and 21.30 hours Zambian time. 107.7 fm is Livingstone’s leading commercial local radio station reaching a radius of about 60 kms and has recently started streaming live on the internet, though there are undeniable teething problems in this respect.

The two Chanters Girls featured last Sunday, pictured above, were Junior Sililo (left) and Sandra Banda. Both had guested on previous shows but were excited about re-appearing. Junior told listeners that in the past year she’d moved from the position of Head Cook to Head Waitress in the restaurant, explaining that this also involved cleaning rooms and housekeeping duties. Sandra is also a restaurant waitress and Milli Jam demanded to know who was looking after the restaurant, seeing they were both on the show. The girls explained that they had a colleague Mirriam who’d recently joined the lodge and that she was on duty being helped by Anastasia and Susan (those who must be obeyed!)

Junior told listeners that she’d been employed by the lodge for six years having had some previous experience as a cook in a small restaurant in Livingstone. Sandra explained that she had not worked prior to joining Chanters 1 year and 9 months ago but that she’d undergone a course in food and beverage at Patience Pays Institute in Livingstone. Both girls had of course completed Grade 12 at secondary schools within Livingstone. Milli Jam asked the girls the biggest challenge they faced in their jobs and they had different opinions, Junior saying that ‘every day is a challenge in the hospitality industry’ while Sandra replied that as far as her job was concerned she took everything pretty much in her stride. Junior told listeners that she was busy studying to resit some subjects at Grade 12 level.

The music on the show was a treat for listeners, as usual. We played Example’s UK number one hit ‘Stay Awake’ at the top of the show coupled with ‘There She Goes’ – the latest offering from Taio Cruz featuring Pitbull. George featured ‘Banono’ by Jane Osborne and P-Jay as the first of his local tracks and this produced a reaction by text from the lodge – one of the girls messaging ‘hey that’s our kitchen song’! Next up was Omario with ‘Ichikonko’. I liked that one and asked what it meant. It was eventually decided that the title meant ‘bitter’. Boyz II Men’s comeback track ‘More Than You’ll Ever Know’ went down well.

We give away a dinner for two with drinks at Chanters Lodge on every show. At the moment we’re spinning an ‘oldie of the week’ and asking listeners to text us the name of the performing artist. The response is growing week by week. The general opinion in the studio was that ‘We Don’t Talk Any More’ might be a tricky one for the listeners but it didn’t take long for someone to text ‘Cliff Richard’ and win. We closed the show with Cover Drive’s ‘Lick Ya Down’.

Milli Jam asked the girls if they liked to go clubbing and dancing on their day off. Junior answered ‘Milli Jam, life’s too short not to do that’! Which is your favourite club he continued. ‘Ayoba!’ Yelled the girls in unison. Milli Jam looked as happy as you’d expect for the manager of that particular establishment! “Funny that” I remarked “whenever they have a night off I ask them if they’re going out and they always say no!” More laughter. “Are you dating?” Milli Jam asked the girls. Junior said she had a boyfriend. “Getting married soon?” He asked. “Milli Jam” said Junior “it’s not me to pop the question!” Sandra told listeners that she was ‘very single!’ George sighed.

We wanted to know which UK football team the girls supported and they nervously said ‘Chelsea’ and seemed to be in love with Didier Drogba. “What’s it like having a boss that supports Arsenal?” Milli Jam wanted to know. “We take cover when they lose” the girls replied! Favourite musical artists? Sandra favoured Beyonce, Junior – Kanye West.

The girls were asked where they would like to be and what they’d like to be doing in 10 years’ time. Junior said that she’d like to be travelling the world and seeing different countries. Sandra said she had a dream to be a nurse in Canada with two children (no mention of a husband!) In closing I remarked that it was great to see the girls with so much self-confidence, ambition and class! And so it was!

13
SEP

Africa, Canada, Chanters, entertainment, music, radioshow, staff, travel

Lusaka International Airport

LusakaTimes reports:

Government has entered into an agreement with a Turkish firm Guris Holding to upgrade the Lusaka International Airport. The re-modeling will be done in three areas including the face-lifting of the terminal building, the VIP section and the improvement of the marketing side.

He added that Government will not use any money on the project but that this will be financed by the private sector. Minister of Finance Dr. Musokotwane could however not disclose the total cost of the project but said that will be determined after negotiations are concluded in four weeks time.

31
JUL

Africa, airlines, Lusaka, tourism, travel, Zambia

Fly Zambia Airline

This piece from Times of Zambia caught my attention: The investors say they’d like to use the old Zambia Airways logo and in a blast from the past there’s a photo of one of the old airline’s planes clearly showing the much loved logo. Most people felt it was a great mistake to allow the airline to go out of business in the 90’s.

A GROUP of investors from South Africa and Zambia have formed a partnership and staked about K105 billion for a new national airline called Fly Zambia Airline which will be launched in September this year. The company is in consultation with the Government on the possibility of adopting the logo which was previously used by the defunct Zambia Airways.

Fly Zambia Airline Limited chief executive officer Theunis Crous said his company was in discussion with the Government to allow the firm use the Zambia Airways flag and logo on their Fokker aircraft. The defunct Zambia Airways was founded in 1964 as a subsidiary of Central African Airways, but went into liquidation in 1995.

In an interview in Lusaka, Mr Crous explained that the establishment of a national airline was a private initiative hence would be managed by experienced Zambian and South African team.
Mr Crous said the airline would use the Fokker 100 and Fokker 50 aircraft which have low operational costs. “We will start with four aircraft, two of which are Fokker 100 and the other two will be Fokker 50 including a cargo aircraft. We will do a lot of training of the staff in the aviation sector because our planes will be landing in Zambia for the first time and they need to be shown how they operate,” Mr Crous said. He said the airline would initially start with local and regional routes before expanding its routes internationally.

The regional routes include Zambabwe, Angola, South Africa and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). “The firm will also service the domestic market and will set up a car hire company linked directly to the airline,” Mr Crous said. He said as a result of the investment, the airline would create 150 jobs for the local people.

Mr Crous said the introduction of the national airline in Zambia would give the local people the glory of having their own national airline. He said they would use the airline to attract tourists because tourism was a fast-growing industry. “The tourism industry has the potential to even grow and we shall aim to promote tourism from within the region and make Zambia the best destination by providing the services through our airline,” Mr Crous said. He said due to improved macroeconomic indicators and attractive investment incentive, the airline was able to invest in the aviation sector.

Mr Crous commended the Zambian Government for its continued efforts in enhancing the business environment for the private sector to invest in Zambia.

15
JUL

2011, Africa, airlines, development, entrepreneurship, infrastructure, innovation, tourism, travel, Zambia

Paul & Lesley Jenkins on Zambezi fm

Meet Paul and Lesley Jenkins (above) from Cambridge, England, guests on the latest edition of The Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring George da Soulchild – that’s our regular Sunday night radio show airing live between 20.30 and 21.30 hrs on Zambezi 107.7 fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station, reaching a radius of about 75 kms and streaming live on the internet. (Just go to the Zambezi fm website and click ‘listen live’). Lesley and Paul were guests at Chanters Lodge and kindly agreed to appear on our show.

Lesley told listeners that she’d been in Zambia longer than Paul, as she’d been volunteering with Book Bus and went on to explain that The Book Bus aims to improve child literacy rates in Africa and South America by providing children with books and the inspiration to read them, books impart knowledge, fire the imagination and open up new horizons; they are also a tremendous source of enjoyment. The Book Bus is currently working to improve literacy rates at a community level in Zambia. She had much enjoyed her time as a volunteer.

Paul explained that he had only arrived in Zambia two days before the show but had managed to pack in a lot of activity in that short time! He and Lesley had taken the sunset cruise on Lady Livingstone the previous evening and on the morning of the show he’d taken a 15 minute microlight flight while Lesley looked on! He reported the view of Victoria Falls from the air as ‘amazing’. Before coming on the show they’d taken the rhino walk with Bwaato Adventures and had been happy to find and photograph one large rhino with its baby.

The music on the show was great. We opened as usual with ‘Candy’ by Aggro Santos ft Kim Wyatt, followed after the introductions by ‘Moves Like Jagger’ – Maroon 5 ft Christina Aguilera, back to back with ‘Don’t Wanna Go Home’ – Jason Derulo, the current UK number 1. “Up to date as usual on The Experience” I commented. Our Zambian tracks were ‘Mukondo’ by 4th Rock From The Sun coupled with ‘Move Me’ – Sobre, KRay Jay ft Salma. Milli Jam chose ‘Just A Dream’ by Nelly and Rihanna’s ‘Man Down’. We also played Flo Rida’s ‘Good Feeling’ and ‘TGIF’ by Katy Perry. The Chanters Girls rocked back at the lodge!

Paul and Lesley told listeners that Paul was a season ticket holder at Portsmouth FC in UK, that they’d been married for more than 30 years and had a son Matthew 21 and daughter Emma 24, back home in England. Paul is a banker. Lesley had recently visited Rwanda where she’d seen and been captivated watching the mountain gorillas. She’d also spent time in Mombasa,Kenya. Lesley said she’d love to volunteer again with Book Bus. She passed her greetings on to all the staff and volunteers with whom she’d worked in Livingstone, especially Kelly. The day after the show this funny and loving couple told listeners they were going to spend a week in the South Luangwa National Park.

Finally we gave away the usual dinner for two at Chanters Lodge to the first person to text us telling us which country Paul and Lesley came from. There was an excellent response some of which gave a new meaning to predictive texting as they told us the answer before we’d asked the question! Our weekly prize is very popular in Livingstone!

6
JUL

accommodation, activities, Africa, Chanters, computers, education, entertainment, music, radioshow, travel, victoriafalls, volunteers, wildlife, Zambia

Aircraft Maintenance

Another classic from Judy in Australia! Airline unnamed!

Repair Division Of A Famous International Airline.

In case you need a laugh!

Remember, it takes a college degree to fly a plane but only a high school diploma to fix one. After every flight, pilots fill out a form, called a ‘Gripe Sheet’ which tells mechanics about problems with the aircraft. The mechanics correct the problems, document their repairs on the form and then pilots review the Gripe Sheets before the next flight. Never let it be said that ground crews lack a sense of humour! Here are some actual maintenance complaints submitted by pilots (marked with a P) and the solutions recorded (marked with an S) by maintenance engineers.

By the way this airline is the only major airline that has never, ever, had an accident.

P: Left inside main tyre almost needs replacement.
S: Almost replaced left inside main tyre.

P: Test flight OK, except auto-land very rough.
S: Auto-land not installed on this aircraft.

P: Something loose in cockpit.
S: Something tightened in cockpit.

P: Dead bugs on windshield.
S: Live bugs on back-order.

P: Autopilot in altitude-hold mode produces a 200 feet per minute descent.
S: Cannot reproduce problem on ground.

P: Evidence of leak on right main landing gear.
S: Evidence removed.

P: DME volume unbelievably loud.
S: DME volume set to more believable level.

P: Friction locks cause throttle levers to stick.
S: That’s what friction locks are for.

P: Suspected crack in windshield.
S: Suspect you’re right.

P: Number 3 engine missing.
S: Engine found on right wing after brief search.

P: Aircraft handles funny………… (I love this one!)
S: Aircraft warned to straighten up, fly right, and be serious.

P: Target radar hums.
S: Reprogrammed target radar with lyrics.

P: Mouse in cockpit.
S: Cat installed.

And the best one for last………………
P: Noise coming from under instrument panel. Sounds like a midget pounding on something with a hammer.
S: Took hammer away from midget.

6
JUN

airlines, communications, management, staff, travel

Yellow Fever – Zambia

SASTM Newsflash

Subject: Yellow fever vaccination recommendations: Africa

The WHO has revised the Yellow Fever (YF) vaccination recommendations for Africa. However, the South
African Department of Health has issued the following information regarding the requirements for travellers
from and to South Africa. Effective 1st June 2011

1. Tanzania
Returning travellers from South Africa to Tanzania and those from Tanzania travelling to South Africa willrequire proof of YF vaccination. This is unchanged from the present regulations.

2. Zambia
Returning travellers from South Africa to Zambia and travellers from Zambia to South Africa will now require
proof of YF vaccination. Previously, proof of YF vaccination was not required.

3. In-transit passengers, irrespective of the time period in-transit, will still require proof of YF vaccination.

2
JUN

Africa, medical, rsa, Tanzania, tourism, travel, Zambia

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