Weekly Travel News Recap, 12 April: Storm rips through Western Cape, SA to end captive lion breeding, and more

Catch up on all the latest travel news with Drive South Africa.

Each week, our team scours the web for the most interesting, trending, and unusual travel news, conservation news, and motoring news stories. Here are this week’s biggest scoops.

Travel News

• Stormchaser captures incredible images of devastating Western Cape storm. Disruptive rain, flooding, and winds caused extensive damage across the Western Cape last weekend, carrying over into this week. Photographer Kyle Goetsch captured images of towering waves smashing into the Kalk Bay pier, noting that he hadn’t seen such large swells since 2016.

• International arrivals at Cape Town International Airport surpassed 200,000 between January and February. According to Wesgro, this was a record-breaking period for international travel to Cape Town, reflecting the 20% increase in visitor numbers at key attractions in the Western Cape year-on-year. Wesgro adds that for every 100 international visitors to the province, R2.1 million in direct tourist spend is generated.

• Africa Travel Week returns to Cape Town for 11th edition. This year’s Africa Travel Week included the World Travel Market (WTM) Africa B2B event, which got underway on 10 April at the Cape Town International Convention Centre.

• English runner becomes first person to run the length of Africa. Russel Cook, also known as “Hardest Geezer”, began his journey at the southern tip of Africa and finished more than 15,000 km away in Tunisia. He describes the run as “360 marathons in 240 days” through 16 different countries.

• Lufthansa increases number of direct flights to South Africa. The German airline says it will launch a new direct flight between Munich and Johannesburg on 4 June 2024, reintroducing a route last serviced in 2005. The number of German visitors to South Africa increased by 42% in 2023.

• OR Tambo International Airport could face fuel supply issues in coming months. According to Travel News, jet fuel supplies at the airport fell below its five-day supply benchmark last week, reflecting discussions between Sars and the South African Petroleum Industry Association over a tax dispute.

Conservation News

• US citizen tragically killed by elephant in Zambia. According to reports, the 80-year-old woman died after a bull elephant unexpectedly charged a game viewing vehicle in Kafue National Park. Investigations are ongoing.

• South Africa set to ban captive lion breeding. According to Discover Africa, there are 7,838 captive lions in 342 facilities in South Africa. Many were bred for lion cub petting facilities and canned hunting, but the Department of Forestry, Fisheries, and the Environment will now phase out captive breeding over the next two years.

• Wildlife trafficker commits suicide by snakebite after being arrested by South African police. According to reports, Marius Joubert, a security guard and alleged illegal animal smuggler, died after putting his hand into tanks containing an Indochinese spitting cobra and another snake. It’s alleged that instead of facing up to 25 years of prison time, he chose to end his own life.

• President of Botswana threatens to send 20,000 elephants to Germany following conservation dispute. Following suggestions from the German environmental ministry that there should be harsher limits on the importing of trophies from hunting, Botswanan president Mokgweetsi Masisi has argued that Germans should “live together with the animals, in the way you are trying to tell us to”. He argues that trophy hunting helps keep elephant numbers in check and that limits would impoverish more people in his country. Botswana is currently home to a third of the world’s African elephants.

Automotive News

• Petrol price set to increase again in May. According to data from the Central Energy Fund, the petrol price is likely to increase on the first Wednesday in May, while the diesel price is set to decrease slightly. Make sure to use our DSA Fuel Cost Calculator to work out the effect on your monthly fuel budget.

• Win a defensive driving course when you vote for the 2024 SA Car of the Year. The South African Guild of Motoring Journalists has completed testing of the 18 candidates for SA Car of the Year. Consumers are now being encouraged to vote for their choice to stand a chance to win a MasterDrive defensive driving course.

• Nissan ceases production of NP200 bakkie at Rosslyn factory. After 16 years, Nissan will no longer offer its NP200 bakkie in South Africa, meaning locals now have no options when it comes to half-tonne utility vehicles.

• Kia likely to launch Tasman double-cab bakkie in South Africa. According to reports, Kia has applied to secure the “Tasman” trademark in South Africa, implying that it will launch the recently-unveiled double-cab here in due course. Kia is yet to officially announce the introduction.

• Toyota set to launch Starlet Cross crossover as early as June 2024. The coupé-style crossover is effectively a rebadged Suzuki Fronx and will be offered in four derivatives in South Africa from this year. Cars.co.za expects prices to start around the R300,000 mark.

Missed out on this week’s Drive South Africa blogs? Catch up on them here.

All the Winners from the 2024 World Car Awards 🚗

10 Fun Things to Do in Cape Town Under R200 🛶

The Best 4×4 Forums in South Africa 🚙

Reintroducing our DSA Fuel Cost Calculator 💸

Travel News Image Credits: Unsplash

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