The German's came to town

I joined Will Lawson from EcoTraining and a group of German media participants from South African Tourism on a fact finding tour, on a very unusual Safari this week.

We tried to understand the inter connection of nature with its surroundings and how Biomimicry can be utilised to provide us answers to a myriad of questions.

The more time we spent in the bush, learning about examples nature provided while following the spoor of two male cheetahs that formed a coalition to enhance their menu options. The more I came to realise that we are a lot less advanced and inspired than we should have been. I realised that we had a full research and development team that we haven’t been utilising. We spend years in developing products that nature developed (better I might add) years ago.

This is one of the aspects that Biomimicry is all about, providing answers to structural engineering, Architecture and many more advances in our daily life.

For more information on the scheduled Biomimicry courses, contact enquiries@ecotraining.co.za or visit the website at www.ecotraining.co.za

SANPARKS Wild Card

SANPARKS ANNOUNCES IMMEDIATE CHANGES TO ITS WILD CARD PROGRAMME


South African National Parks (SANParks) has announced the change in the management of the Wild Card from Infinity with immediate effect.

The Wild Card is a programme that provides nature lovers with unlimited access to some of Southern Africa’s premier conservation areas.

According to Glenn Phillips, Managing Executive Tourism Development and Marketing at South African National Parks (SANParks), this move will enable SANParks and all its partners – Big Game Parks of Swaziland, CapeNature, Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife and Msinsi Resorts and Reserves - to ensure more relevant benefits to our loyal Wild Card holders, as well as greater control of the Wild Card Programme itself.

“Over the past year, through comprehensive research and customer feedback, it has become evident that we need to move the Wild Card Programme to more advanced technology that will enable SANParks and its partners to provide relevant benefits to our loyal card holders.

Phillips said, the current Infinity Wild Card will be replaced with the distinctive New Wild Card, as the ‘old’ card will no longer be accepted at Wild Card partner parks and nature reserves, after 31 December 2010.

“It is against this background that we call upon all Wild Card holders to please update their membership details timeously, in order for them to receive the New Wild Card as well as continued access.

Updates must be completed at any one of the Wild Card partner websites, at www.wildcard.co.za or alternatively contact our call centre on 0861 GO WILD (46 9453).

Applications for renewal of expired cards and new purchases may also be processed on-line,

Phillips further explained that the issuing of Infinity Cashback rewards will also cease with immediate effect. Wild Cardholders, who still have Cashback rewards, will be able to redeem their Cashback rewards, using the old Infinity Wild Card, at any of the current Infinity redemption partners. For more information on Infinity redeemable points or Cashback rewards, kindly contact Infinity directly on 0861 23 4002.

SANParks had planned to ensure a seamless transition to the new programme, however the limited access to accurate cardholder records and personal contact details, has necessitated this urgent call to action. SANParks and its Conservation Partners appreciate the support of our most loyal customers.

Partners to the Wild Card programme include SANParks (www.sanparks.org ), Big Game Parks of Swaziland (www.biggameparks.org ), CapeNature (www.capenature.co.za ), Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife (www.kznwildlife.com ) and Msinsi Resorts (www.msinsi.co.za ).