Roaringly Good

Southern Africa is a place full of adventure, beauty and nature, but it is also a fantastic destination for a meeting, conference or event

They say Africa gets under your skin and enters your soul — once you have been, it will always be part of you.

That’s all well and good, but for us, the best thing about Africa is it’s a cracking place to go and have a meeting, conference, incentive or event.

Obviously Africa as a continent is vast and it would be naïve to think it is possible to cover it in any depth on three pages.

So MIME will concentrate on Southern Africa for this feature and visit central and Northern Africa at a later date.

Sun International Hotels will be instantly recognisable to those in the Middle East as the company behind The Atlantis.

However, the core of the company’s hotels are based in Southern Africa, providing an eclectic mix of hotels and venues to conduct any type of meeting, conference or incentive.

The options for incentive activities and team-bonding/building sessions are practically endless with access to world-class golf courses, wildlife safaris, state-of-the-art spas, rugged mountain rages, adrenalin sports, surfing and scuba diving to name but a few.

TABLE BAY

The Table Bay Hotel in Cape Town is ideal for conferences for up to 300 people and provides easy access to the vibrant shopping area, the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront.

Conferences can be held in The Ballroom that can be divided into two sections, seat 200 for dinner, or can be converted into a cinema-style arrangement accommodating 300.

There is also a pre-function area that can cater to 200 people and 100 on the terrace.

For those looking for a more discreet meeting or event The Pavillion, a beautiful Victorian-style building, fits the bill.

CONTACT:

TEL: +2721 406 5874
EMAIL: grouptbh@sunint.co.za

THE CASCADES HOTEL

The second floor boardroom can accommodate up to eight people.

The fourth floor boardroom can accommodate up to 20 people around the room, but 10 people around the table.

SUN CITY RESORT

Surrounded by the Pilanesberg mountains in South Africa’s North West province, Sun City consists of four hotels, a water park and two world class golf courses.

Pilanesberg National Park is also home to South Africa’s big five — elephant, rhino, lion, leopard and buffalo.

Combine this with a range of conference and meeting options that most venues would give their right wing for, the package is more than hard to resist.

The Hall of Treasures in the Entertainment Centre has two areas accommodating a cocktail function of up to 700.

The Pilanesberg Room in the Entertainment Centre can accommodate 800 for cocktails or 600 for a banquet at round tables.
 
On the promenade level of the Entertainment Centre is the Royal Ballroom, which can accommodate 1200 in conference style seating, or 800 for a banquet at round tables.

There are 13 breakaway rooms at the Entertainment Centre that can accommodate from 10 to 90 people.

The Centre is also home to the Superbowl, a venue for sports, entertainment and product launches which  can seat 6855 people for a show or handle 10,500 standing.

The Baobab, Acacia and Jacaranda conference rooms at Sun City Hotel accommodate up to 650 delegates for cocktails or 360 in a conference-style arrangement. 

RESORT OUTDOOR VENUES

Botsalanong Boma and Letsatsing Boma are two unique open-air African banqueting venues, which with a huge bonfire and African dancers make it an unforgettable experience under the stars. 

The Letsatsing Boma now offers a unique dining experience called The African Way. 

This includes welcome drinks, an African barbecue, marshmallow toasting and cultural dancers to entertain. 
 
The Elephant Wallow is situated at the Letsatsing Game Park, a large thatched venue overlooking a magnificent waterhole catering for up to 65 guests under thatch. Bush dinners and lunch barbeques can be taken with the Elephants themselves providing the main attraction.

The Cultural Village caters to groups of up to 80 people sitting. It is a village-style boma ideal for special cultural themed evenings. 
 
CONTACT:

The Inventory Department on scenq@za.suninternational.com

THE PALACE

The Baobab Outlook, situated behind the Palace Pool Deck, is an ideal outdoor venue that has a great view and can be used for many different types of events.

The venue can accommodate 110 for seated dinner with a buffet set up and 150 for cocktail set up.

The Royal Chambers at The Palace is a double volume area, which can accommodate 80 for a banquet and 120 in conference style seating. 

The Council Room is a boardroom, which can seat 14. This venue is located in the Palace.

The Protea and Orchid meeting rooms can accommodate up to 80 people each in cinema style seating.

The Palace Business Centre Boardroom seats up to 10 people and can be booked for private meetings.

The great Zambezi River thunders into the Batoka Gorge, otherwise known as Victoria Falls.

Locally translated as The Smoke That Thunders, the world-famous waterfall provides a powerful backdrop to any event.

The Royal Livingstone takes advantage of this to provide a meetings venue full of colonial sophistication and natural beauty.

The hotel creates an air of authenticity by tastefully decorating the conference venues in African theme — nobody wants to travel to Africa to feel like they could be anywhere else in the world.

The main ballroom caters to 450 delegates in a theatre style and seats 360.

There are also a choice of boardrooms including Kafue and Luangwa and the Royal Livingstone Boardroom that all seat up to 10 or 12 people.

However, the jewels in the Livingstone crown are the Bomas (boma has many meanings in African culture, but it is thought to originate from the Persian word, buum, which means garrison or a place where one can dwell in safety) and Royal Livingstone Lawns.

Traditional African food is cooked on open coal fires and entertainment can be organised including acrobats, dancers and bands in the bomas.

CONTACT:

TEL: +260 (21) 3321122
EMAIL: zambia.reservations@zm.suninternational.com

2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa

Africa will be hosting the FIFA World Cup for the first time ever in 2010 and as with any major sporting event, corporate hospitality is the dream ticket for many.

MATCH Hospitality hold the exclusive rights for the official hospitality programme for the tournament and it has developed five hospitality packages.

Packages vary in content, some of the options allowing you to follow a certain team or watch all the final matches.

Why not incentivise your staff, or sweeten up top clients with the promise of the world’s greatest football event next year?

CONTACT:

MATCH HOSPITALITY
TEL: +27 (0) 86 155 2010
EMAIL: info@match-hospitality.com
WEB: www.FIFA.com/hospitality

The International Convention Centre Durban (ICC) is one of the most advanced conference facilities in the world.
 
It is a purpose-built, fully air-conditioned centre with three convention halls that are interlinked but separate. Moveable walls allow for a number of different, tailored venue configurations.

Alternatively the halls can be opened up to form one large venue with seating for 5000 delegates or 7000m² of column free floor space. Together with its sister venue, the Durban Exhibition Centre, the ICC can double its capacity to accommodate 10,000 conference delegates.

The centres can function independently or as two halves of one whole. This is achieved by closing Walnut Road, a brick-paved concourse between the two centres, to provide easy access for delegates.

CONTACT:

TEL: +27 31 360 1000
EMAIL: mktg@icc.co.za
WEB: www.icc.co.za