Fortitude. This is the most important characteristic one needs when becoming an immigrant. It’s that special resolve you develop to survive, to make distances between those you love feel closer, and to find joy… writes LAUREN BRADLEY, South African expat in the UK. It’s also, in my view, an outlook on life. You can see misery […]

Major Nandi Zama has just flown into the history books by becoming the first black woman commander (the equivalent of a civilian captain) to fly the C-130 military cargo plane. And she’s only 31. According to the Sowetan Live, Nandi made her maiden journey on Friday 24 March 2017 when she flew the C-130 from the […]

Twenty-one year old Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters was crowned Miss South Africa 2017 at a gala event at Sun City on Sunday evening.  (UPDATE 27 November 2017: South Africa’s Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters has been crowned Miss Universe!) Here are 10 things you should know about Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters… She hails from Sedgefield in the Western Cape. She’s a B.Com […]

Congratulations to Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters who has been crowned Miss South Africa 2017 at Sun City Sunday evening. “She’s 21, she’s graceful and she is your new Miss South Africa,” said the official Miss South Africa facebook page. Demi-Leigh hails from Sedgefield in the Western Cape. According to her facebook page, she is a B.Com Business Management and […]

Three South African yachtsmen are finally back on dry land, after being stuck at sea for a week on a wrecked boat in the middle of the Indian Ocean. The men had set out a month ago on a voyage from Durban to Wellington… but hit bad weather a week ago. A 35-foot swell and gusts of […]

PRETORIA – 18-year-old Ontlametse Phalatse has ticked off one of her goals on her wish list: meeting the President of the country. The bubbly teenager, who has captured the hearts of South Africans and well-wishers the world over, celebrates a major milestone in the life of a teenager today – Saturday, 25 March. Turning 18 is a big […]

South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma has never had a good relationship with numbers, and it tripped him up again during his Human Rights Day address in King William’s Town in the Eastern Cape earlier this week. President Zuma was talking about the Early Childhood Development Programme which ensures that even poor and working class children get […]

South African comedian Trevor Noah just engaged in an awesome conversation with ‘Uganda’ (tweeps on Twitter) that’s ended with him promising to visit their country as soon as he can. It began when he denied rumours from a media outlet that he would be headlining Uganda’s first ever International Music and Culture Week in November… […]

The artwork of Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, mounted on the side of the Civic Centre in Cape Town’s CBD is now complete. Cape Town Mayor, Patricia de Lille, made the exciting announcement on Twitter Friday, saying: “The artwork of our Arch is complete!” In a statement last week De Lille said the new installation would honour Tutu […]

Never shy to step into hot topics that affect real South Africans, here’s Nando’s latest advert as another controversial week in South Africa comes to an end. (See the Spur Incident here.) The teaser, from Nando’s, says: “Whether you’re a Xoliswa van der Merwe or a Susan Dlamini, South Africans like to #MixItUp.” Watch to […]

Former Springbok fly-half Joel Stransky is on the road to recovery after his horrific injuries in the Cape Epic mountain bike race. He posted a photo today from the race saying how “cool” it was to be there “watching friends come in”. He was discharged this morning. Stransky (49) has kept fans updated with photos […]

Eish. We thought South Africans loved to braai… but there’s a video of a mega barbecue in Uruguay going viral that shows these South Americans have the same passion as us! The video was taken at the annual “Festival de la Carne” in Pando, Uruguay. Watch below. The caption basically means (according to Google!) ‘The Day […]

South African cuisine takes centre stage at a restaurant in London. Situated near Buckingham Palace, bbar serves everything from boerewors to bunny chow. A hop and a skip away from Buckingham Palace in London lies bbar, a cocktail bar and restaurant offering an array of South African dishes. Think bobotie springrolls, biltong, chakalaka, boerewors and […]

Angélique van der Merwe captured this beautiful footage of six Cape Clawless Otters venturing onto the shore at Onrus Beach yesterday morning at around 07h00. She came upon the special sighting whilst out on a morning stroll. Angélique (Lelulu on Instagram) said: “I stumbled upon them. I have seen one at night at the lagoon […]

A baby girl from the Ivory Coast has been successfully separated from her parasitic twin in what her surgeons are calling a ‘medical miracle’. Ten-month-old baby Dominique was born with an undeveloped parasitic conjoined twin that caused her to be born with four legs and two spines. Doctors say it is an exceedingly rare condition. A press […]

It’s not often that Cape Town in the Western Cape of South Africa gets lightning… but when it does, it’s DAZZLING… JON KERRIN – from Where The Light Is: Photography by Jon Kerrin – captured this photo in Simon’s Town: “Mother Nature treated Cape Town to a spectacular light show last night!!!” he says. LEONARD HEIN captured this photo, and announced: […]

Clare Wiese-Wentzel shares an interview with her father – South African retail tycoon Christo Wiese – on what defines happiness, what doesn’t matter and what keeps him grounded… A few years ago (OK, if I were to give away my age and be brutally honest, I would confess it was about 14 years ago), I found myself working […]

Tonight’s sunset in Cape Town was so beautiful and romantic we had to put it in a video… especially since the evening finished with a downpour of much-welcomed rain (as well as some great rolls of thunder at the end of the video). Photos by Alan Rudnicki, Kenneth David Brookes (including concave rain) and Lucinda Joy […]

Okay, this was actually filmed in 2013, and it’s an Austrian acrobatic group, not South African… BUT it was filmed in South Africa and the video has gone viral this weekend (March 2017) – with over 1 million shares in three days (and millions more views). So, since today is International Day of Happiness, here’s the perfect internationally happy […]

A new wildlife organisation has launched with the ambitious aim of saving every single surviving rhino or elephant victim of poaching. It’s called The Now or Never African Wildlife Trust (NNAWT)… and it has search giant Google on its side! NNAWT brings together key players – with extensive experience and contacts – in the war on poaching, […]

An orphaned little rhino in South Africa – named J’aime, in tribute to the poached rhino in a French zoo near Paris – is happily thriving, according to The Rhino Orphanage founder, Jamie Traynor. J’aime was herself the survivor of the horrific mutilation and killing of 16 rhino across South Africa, in the space of two days, just […]

The New York Times held a live Facebook session with Pretty Yende on Friday, as the star from Piet Retief in Mpumulanga performs in Gounod’s “Roméo et Juliette” at the prestigious Metropolitan Opera. Apart from a delightful performance that had both her, and pianist Valeriya Polunina, smiling joyfully; Pretty answered questions from NYT reporter Josh Barone that had […]

First the “Kid Interrupts BBC Interview” went viral and was watched by MILLIONS… and now it’s the parody interviews that are everywhere. Here – for your convenience – are four of the best… The video – of Professor Robert Kelly’s children gatecrashing his very serious interview about South Korea – was heralded as a Perfect 10 […]

Joburg is the leading destination in Africa on the Fortune 500 List, according to a new report released by global business research company, Infomineo. The company, which specialises in the Middle East and Africa (MEA), says the region has become increasingly important for the majority of global Fortune 500 countries. The report focuses on multinationals looking at entering, […]

CAPE TOWN (Reuters) – Airbnb expects to maintain its rapid growth in Africa this year and double its customer numbers to 1.5 million, its Chief Executive Brian Chesky and regional head told Reuters on Friday. The number of people using the online room rental service on the continent rose by 143 percent to about 765,000 […]