Monday, June 22, 2009

Knysna Oyster Festival

Knysna is renowned for its oysters, which are celebrated each year during the Knysna Oyster Festival.The Knysna Oyster Festival attracts around 65,000 visitors each year, among them dozens of food lovers, who come to the festival to slurp their way through platefuls of Crassostrea gigas ,Knysna’s home-grown oyster.They are some of the tastiest on the planet. Oysters taste even better with a glass of wine or bubbly.Oyster festival is all about life ,fun and sports events and also enjoy seafood and wine celebrations.During the festival there are numerous competitions to enter or watch, sport events, including a snowboard competition on a specially set-up snow ramp, and for the little ones include puppet shows, fun workshops. The first Knysna Oyster Festival was held in 1983, on the initiative of a local businessman keen to attract visitors to the Garden Route and one of its favourite resorts in the winter months. The festival is essentially a lifestyle celebration of sport and the good life and has established itself as one of the most popular annual events in the Western Cape.
Soft adventure and sports include bowling,golf,canoeing, navigation event. Some tough competitors can enter the drift dive challenge or the forest marathon while the cycle tour is the biggest mountain and biking event in Southafrica. From Arts & Crafts to Sports, Exhibitions, Fun Fairs, Boat Shows,Food and Wine and other entertainment covered many areas from the Old Goal Maritime Museum to the Belvidere Manor House, Thesen’s Jetty, Lorie Park, Waterfront Knysna Quays, the Heads and other locations along the picturesque beauty scenery of Knysna. More than 80 exciting events ranging from super-popular sports events and adventure challenges to wine and whisky tasting and gala evenings, draw a large crowd to the beautiful Garden Route town. Whether you're sporty , pleasure seeker, adventurous or just plain hungry, Knysna is the place to be in July. Party goers should check out Rockspots, various live music gigs and a variety of entertainment on every day of the festival in July.

Friday, June 19, 2009

Jingdong Grand Cnyon

Jingdong Canyon scenic area, located north of Yuzishan Village, is composed of two scenic areas ?? the grand canyon and Jingtai Mountain. The scenic area is adjacent to Panshan Mountain in the south, and to the Jingdong Cave, Jinhai Lake, Huangyaguan Great Wall, the Eastern Tombs of the Qing Dynasty and Wuling Mountain in the east, and is about 82 kilometers from downtown Beijing. Since its opening in 1992, many visitors have flocked to the area and it is a well-known scenic area in Beijing and Tianjin.The canyon, about three kilometers long, boasts of dozens of natural sceneries and landscapes, such as green mountain and crystal water, caves and ponds, waterfalls and springs. Jingdong Grand Canyon is situated about 85 kilometers east of the center of Beijing. From an aerial view the canyon, thanks to its many water surfaces, looks like a glittering gem inlaid within the triangle formed by the three big cities of Beijing, Tianjing, and Tangshan. To the south of the canyon lies Panshan Mountain, while to the east lies Huangyaguan Great Wall, Duyue Temple, the Imperial Tombs of the Ming (CE 1368-1644) & Qing (CE 1644-1911) Dynasties, and Wuling Mountains, to name the most noteworthy sites. The best season to explore this vast natural wonder is in early autumn, in August or September.
Also called Wulongtan ("Deep Pool of Five Dragons") Grand Canyon, Jingdong Grand Canyon spans some 6 square kilometers. Inside the canyon are numerous caves, deep pools, craggy peaks, splashing waterfalls, and an enormous reservoir. Hundreds of hectares of pine trees grow in the canyon. Nestled here and there under the verdant pines are small villas and log cabins where visitors to the canyon can pause for a rest. The reservoir's 30-meter-high dam provides deep water for those fond of water sports.

In the sunny spring time, flowers are everywhere on the mountains; in summer, all mountains become green, mountain springs gush and flow, and visitors here would feel cool away from the suffocating summer heat; in autumn, all trees on the mountain turn red and golden, and visitors have the chance to harvest ripe fruits; and in winter, the mountains are covered with snow and ice, and the waterfalls become icy, producing a polar scenery.The scenic area has more than 60 tourist attractions. It has two special scenic areas ?? the Jingtaishan Forest Scenic Area and the Canyon Scenic Area. At the bottom of the canyon, there are five deep ponds connected by brooks, six tourist function zones namely canyon expedition zone, mountain-top sightseeing zone, water amusement zone, exhibition zone, fruit-picking zone and the leisure .

Gold Reef City

Gold Reef City is a place of pleasure in Joburg.Gold Reef City is a combination of entertainment complex made up of a theme park and casino facilities. Gold Reef City is a combination of fun and fantasy. Located on an old gold mine, the park is themed around the gold rush on the Witwatersrand. Park staff wear period costumes of the 1880s.The buildings built inside the compound designed like the same period.


The Apartheid museum is located next to Gold Reef City, which is a good place to spend to find out more about the apartheid era.The museum exhibits include antique clothing and children's toys, which take the visitor back 100 years to the city that was.The carefully-documented history of Apartheid,beautifully depicted in the Museum, is a must-see on a South African visit. And nowhere else will the tourist find such a comprehensive and colourful depiction of mining life at the turn of the nineteenth century.
The Theme park has an abundance of adventures rides, gaming, restaurants, and tours for you to enjoy. Its a fun place to take the kids. Youngs as well as old enjoy the adventure rides. From the skyline, the Giant Wheel, Anaconda and Tower of Terror will beckon all you find here. The Anaconda is the only inverted roller coaster in the world and is currently the record holder for the fastest and tallest inverted roller coaster in Africa. The Tower of Terror is a vertical drop roller coaster which features a drop of 47 meters, and a pull-out which features a positive G-Force of a massive 6.3G's.
You can also visit the original gold mine in a lift that goes down to 220 meters below the surface.Those interested in gold mining can see the gold-containing ore veins in an old mine, or observe in a small museum how real gold is poured into barrels.Thousands of feet down to a shaft of the Crown Mines there were round the looooong tunnels and the mine workers demonstrated how the gold was mined which gave a vivid impression of the work of the gold-miners.


The casino at Gold Reef City offers abundance of gaming choices. The casino at Gold Reef City is open 24 hours a day. Your gaming options include slots, various tables, for the high rollers and much more. Everyone from international travellers to family groups will find here something to keep them occupied. With 1600 slot machines and 50 tables ranging from Blackjack, Roulette, Baccarat and various different kinds of Poker, there is an abundance of entertainment.
Gold Reef City provides educational aspect to any visit. The combination of Apartheid museum, historical theme park, rides, restuarants and casino is a superb combination.International travellers savour the offering of traditional African music, dance and history found throughout the complex. It is well worth a visit to Gold Reef City, to see how this entertainment package is put together and presented.