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PLAY IT AGAIN SAM |
| There was a time not
long ago, when Kwa Zulu Natal ranked as the poor third
cousin in the eyes of international travellers in particular.
That’s changed in recent years, and if the outcome
of the Visa/House & Leisure Best of SA
competition is anything to judge our province by, it
seems the world has finally awakened to the beauty and
diversity of this spectacular region.
Within the walls of the province, there has long existed
an intimate collection of hospitality properties known
as the Land Of Legends, whose common
glue is their celebration of culture, tradition and
history, and their outstanding records of social upliftment
and environmental preservation. These establishments
include Hartford House, Phinda Private Game
Reserve, Fordoun Hotel and Spa, the Beverley Hills and
Rocktail Beach Camp, and the first three of
these recently made the final five in each of their
respective categories in the Visa/House & Leisure
competition.
Given that the best names in South African hospitality
were among the finalists in each category, its not only
a wonderful tribute to the Land Of Legends in general
and these properties specifically, but it’s a
compliment to the depth and diversity of Kwa Zulu Natal’s
offerings, that all three were voted national winners
by the readers of South Africa’s most popular
lifestyle magazine, for the second consecutive
year.
Hartford House topped the podium as the nation’s
best restaurant in that category, which
included the Tasting Room at Le Quartier Francaise and
Le Colombe at Constantia Uitsig, both of which rank
in the World Top Fifty. Some achievement for celebrity
chef, Jackie Cameron, and her team, considering the
remoteness of their locality, 10kms on the Giants Castle
side of Mooi River.
Hardly surprising, for their well established reputation
for excellence, was the Phinda’s Homestead
Lodge’s top spot in the Best Of SA Lodge
category, and here again, we should be mindful that
the finalists included Ivory Lodge, Singita Sweni and
Makanyane Safari Lodge.
In the Spa category, there were two Kwa Zulu Natal-based
properties among the finalists, Fordoun Hotel
and Spa and the Karkloof Spa, with the outstanding
Nottingham Road-based Fordoun the voter’s favourite
for a second time.
While the voting was not confined to South African readers
alone, the outcomes were probably as much a statement
about the excellence of these Kwa Zulu Natal establishments,
as they were for the values South Africans treasure
most: excellent quality, great dependability
and outstanding value, and the fact
that increasingly, modern travellers have originality,
authenticity and genuine hospitality at the top of their
shopping lists, in the choice of where they eat and
where they choose to stay.
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The World Leader in Responsible Tourism |
| We are absolutely
thrilled to announce that &Beyond
has been awarded the World’s Responsible Tourism
Award at the prestigious 2010 World Travel Awards in
London. We were also voted Africa’s
Leading Responsible Tourism Company and received
Africa’s Leading Responsible Tourism Award.
Described by the Wall Street Journal as the
‘Oscars’ of the travel industry,
this is a great accolade for our company
and a fantastic endorsement of our responsible
tourism practices. We are most grateful to
everyone who took the time to vote for us,
and extremely proud of the great work being
done at our lodges. We look forward to continuing
to welcome and delight guests with our outstanding local
hospitality, luxurious accommodation, interpretive wildlife
experiences, unexpected surprises, and so much more.
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Brides Know Best |
| &Beyond
Phinda Private Game Reserve has been voted the Best
Safari in UK Brides magazine’s annual honeymoon
guide of the Top 100 Honeymoon Destinations in the World.
“Swap beaches for the bush at luxe (yet community-conscious)
safari outfit &Beyond’s Phinda Private Game
Reserve. WOW FACTOR: Watching elephants and other wildlife
drink from your private swimming pool.” |
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Two more “Legends” for the Land Of Legends
  Ten
years ago, a compendium of Kwa Zulu Natal’s top boutique
hotels formed the Land Of Legends, a collection
whose “glue” is a celebration of history, tradition
and culture, and a long-standing record in the upliftment
of people and the preservation of the environment. These were
icons of their trade, either in the form of the personalities
at the helm, the history behind the properties, or the stories
they told.
At the time of the formation of the Land
Of Legends, KwaZulu Natal was only the third destination
of choice for visitors to South Africa, with just
4% of foreigners including these KwaZulu Natal properties
on their maiden visits to the country. The magnetism of the
brand was quickly apparent, with the flow of international
guests including “Legends” on
their first itineraries to the country, increasing to close
to 40%. This talks to/shows the value of the diversity, the
originality and the authenticity the region represents. A
visit to these parts, is an intimate experience, bringing
the traveller closer to nature, closer to our roots, and closer
to the exuberance of the African people.
As recently as September, in the Visa/House
& Leisure Best of South Africa awards, Phinda
Homestead Lodge was proclaimed the best lodge in the land,
Hartford House’s restaurant the number one in the country,
and Fordoun Hotel and Spa took the
laurels in the spa category. Given the number and
the calibre of the competition, that’s saying something,
not only of the establishments themselves, but the offerings
of KwaZulu Natal as a destination.
Quite
why it’s taken so long to welcome them into the fraternity
is not apparent, but the latest news is that the Beverley
Hills Hotel and Ardmore Ceramic Art have joined the fold.
In what ranks as a “first” in the history of the
Land Of Legends, the members have reached out beyond the hospitality
trade in welcoming Fee Halstead’s world famous
Ardmore Ceramic Art, a story of heroic proportions
in opportunity and upliftment of a rural community. The
artists, whose work adorns the finest Auctions in London (Christies
and Bonhams) and galleries in New York and Los Angeles, is
a triumph against the odds and a tale of a lady whose life
embraces the best in creativity, courage and endeavour.
That the internationally celebrated Rovos Rail should choose
to pull up their trains at Ardmore’s front door, is
testament to the cult status of this jewel of the Midlands.
For those whose memories stretch back to
the 1960s, who could ever forget the day “The
Bev” changed the skyline of Umhlanga Rocks forever.
In another beating-the-odds story common in the Land Of Legends,
the “Sun King”, Sol Kerzner opened the doors of
Durban’s grand dame forty years ago, in a location considered
too far from town and too way out, to succeed. That it remains
the destination of choice for royalty, film stars,
sportsmen and captains of industry, is a vindication of his
vision, and we should never forget that it was the
success of the Beverley Hills that inspired the likes
of Sun City, the Lost City, Atlantis and the One and Only.
The Beverley Hills and Ardmore Ceramic
Art join Rocktail Beach Lodge, Phinda Private Game Reserve,
Hartford House and Fordoun Hotel and Spa as a serious destination
challenger to Cape Town and the Garden Route, and
the Kruger National Park and Mpumalanga,
as the premier source of travellers’ intrigue. |
