While President Cyril Ramaphosa has urged South Africans to proudly celebrate Heritage Day – on Thursday 24 September – by taking on the Jerusalema Dance Challenge, SA will actually not be the first country to use the gospel hit song for national celebrations (watch video below)… In Papua New Guinea, which marked its 45th Independence […]

Residents in St Francis Bay in the Eastern Cape, South Africa, have expressed concern for homes along the canals as the sea has this weekend broken through the sand barriers, and the mouth of the Kromme River has apparently turned and opened onto the properties on the ‘frontline’ of the canals… as can be seen […]

South Africans have been fiercely proud of ‘My Octopus Teacher’, the breathtaking documentary filmed in South Africa that’s currently enjoying popularity on Netflix internationally. It’s SA’s first Netflix Original Documentary and explores the moving relationship between Craig Foster and an octopus that he befriends in a kelp forest in the Cape Peninsula waters, during a […]

On the 21st of July, Wildlife ACT’s Community Conservation Manager and expert rhino tracker, Zama Ncube, and Priority Species Monitor Izzy Rowles, were on a monitoring session in Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park, when they came across an agitated White Rhino cow. A few seconds later they heard the sound of a White Rhino calf calling. This is […]

Step aside, Bear Grylls – South African adventurist Riaan Manser is bigger, badder and better at nature. And you can stream his travels on Showmax now. When it comes to roughing it, almost no one matches Riaan:  He was the first person to cycle around Africa – 37 000km. During his trip in 2006, he […]

Social media viewers around the world are falling in love with Sakhile Dube’s voice. Sakhile – a safari guide from St Lucia in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), South Africa – can be seen (and heard) demonstrating how the click sounds are pronounced in the Zulu language. His wonderful smile, welcoming viewers to iSimangaliso, and his smooth voice […]

Five young boys have been nicknamed ‘The Magnificent 5’ by the Animal Welfare Society of South Africa, after their caring rescue of a timid Labrador. The Animal Welfare Society (AWS) of South Africa – which offers a range of veterinary services to the underprivileged and disadvantaged communities of Cape Town – said the group of […]

The High Court of South Africa has dismissed the appeal filed by Zanchieta Wild Cat Farm against the judgment of Honourable Ms Justice Mokgohloa concerning Zanchieta’s inclusion in the award-winning Blood Lions documentary; and instructed Zanchieta to pay Blood Lions’ legal costs. Blood Lions’ documentary feature film – which blows the lid off claims made […]

A video filmed in the UK has gone viral on Twitter, showing a man with what appears to be a towel wrapped around his waist, on a construction site, yelling at a white-skinned South African (something he mentions) who is not in view. It appears that the South African may have been the foreman on […]

Away from the beaches and lagoons for which the seaside town of Plettenberg Bay is famous, at 8am on a Saturday morning in the industrial area, crowds of people gather with their dogs, which run around playing, barking and causing a ruckus alongside their owners who are queueing down the street. It is overcast and […]

After announcing four other original productions in July, Showmax has said it will be involved in another two new international co-productions: an epic African mythology series “Blood Psalms,” with Canal+ International, and the Megan Fox action movie “Rogue.”   “This continues a move towards co-productions from Showmax’s parent company, MultiChoice, which partnered with HBO on […]

This Sunday Carte Blanche investigates the situation in Standerton, South Africa, that has shocked the nation. Video footage this week of the streets of Standerton in the Lekwa municipal district in Mpumalanga, showed how the residents and municipal workers are burning fires late into the night and dumping their rubbish right outside the municipal buildings. […]

As communities, dance groups, hospitals, schools and many other people around the world continue to dance the #JerusalemaChallenge – which has lifted spirits globally during COVID – the original video of South African Master Kg’s brilliant song, sung by Nomcebo Zikode, has now been viewed 100 million times on YouTube. From Ghana to Italy to […]

South African musician David Scott – aka The Kiffness – has released his latest music video, a “sokkie treffer” called ‘Mevrou’ (watch below)… and his Afrikaans teacher from High School (Mevrou du Toit) has contacted him nogal! (See her message at the bottom of the page.) Dave said that following the success of The Kiffness’ […]

If you haven’t seen this yet, it sums up the South African mood as the country entered Lockdown Level 2 on Monday at midnight, and the ban on alcohol sales was lifted. The Kiffness (aka David Scott) says: “My Trollie’s vol en ek gaan zol. Chorus translation for my non-Afrikaans speaking friends: I’m going to […]

Between July and August 2020, 10 critically endangered African White-Backed Vultures have tragically been discovered dead in four separate incidents in northern KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Thanks to special GPS tracking units, these are helping identify what the threats to the species are… which unfortunately appear to be man-made threats. Of the 10 deceased birds, four […]

Lots of hospitals have been posting their staff doing the #JerusalemaChallenge – a great way to keep spirits up – but the latest, from Western Cape’s Red Cross War Memorial Hospital, is one of the best. Red Cross Hospital: [MUST WATCH] The team at the Red Cross War Memorial Childrens Hospital doing the #JerusalemaDanceChallenge! 👏🏼 […]

The exciting annual Encounters South African International Documentary Festival is happening again this year, but for the first time you can watch it from the comfort of home, and all the 50 films are free (with the option of a donation). It runs 20-30 August. Many incredible award-winning docs from around the world will be […]

Watch Springbok Captain Siya Kolisi trying to teach his wife Rachel how to dance to DJ Mata’s Bhenga Span. You can see him telling her at one stage to “relax”. Siya posted the video yesterday saying: “Caption this please! ?” His fans are loving it – many relating to Rachel, and most commenting on how […]

Social media has been going crazy in the past 24 hours, sharing a video of what is said to be a fireworks display for the Tokyo Olympics in Japan. The message – copied and pasted by most people – announces very movingly that since the Olympics had to be postponed to 2021 because of the […]

South Africa is not a good place for lions today, on World Lion Day – and it won’t be tomorrow either, with an estimated 11,000 lions held captive in more than 300 facilities across the country, according to Humane Society International-Africa (HSI-Africa). The captive lion breeding industry is marked by ongoing exposure of poor conditions […]

Dr Naledi Pandor, Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) Minister, sits down for a very candid interview: Naledi Pandor on her parents “Our parents played a very important role, especially our mother. Our father was very active in politics, in the struggle and so our mother was the one who was at home,” International […]

While most South African municipalities outside of the Western Cape are billions of rand in debt from irregular spending, mismanagement and corruption, the lone Midvaal in Gauteng has had a clean audit for the sixth year in a row. This week, to celebrate Women’s Month, women from the municipality came together to dance to Beyoncé’s […]

In a world-first for the endangered Temminck´s Ground Pangolin (Smutsia temminckii), a reintroduction program has been launched to release this species into an area where they became locally extinct decades ago – KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Manyoni Private Game Reserve in Zululand, KZN, is working closely with the African Pangolin Working Group, HSI Africa and Johannesburg […]

Rescue workers in Beirut, Lebanon, are frantically searching for at least 100 people who are still missing following a huge explosion which ripped through the port area of the capital city on Tuesday. The intensity of the blast was so massive that it was heard in Jordan and Cyprus. According to the Red Cross, at […]