South Africa News, Travel and fun Blog

Each year since 2001, local Cape Town radio station 567 Cape Talk have put on this literally star-studded event on Clifton 4th, arguably the most beautiful beach in the Mother City.

While the live band may not consist of household names, their excellent renditions of golden oldies from the 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s were performed with class and energy this past Saturday night. The temperatures soared to the high-30s on the day and the South Easter which had been fanning veld-fires across the Peninsular for the past 2 weeks dropped, creating a balmy evening on the soft sandy beach.

Young and old, black and white, locals and foreigners all congregated en masse from late afternoon to find themselves a space on the sand, enjoy a sunset picnic and cool off in the icy water. Meanwhile, the band got themselves together and ran through a few practice numbers, giving a melodic hint of what was to follow.

The yachts and catamarans of a local marine club dropped anchor in the bay, creating an off-shore event of their own as their lights reflected on the darkening waves below and echoed the emerging stars above.

The event, sponsored by BP Garages, is in aid of the National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI). One of their helicopters did a fly-by before the entertainment kicked off at 18h00, with the crowd standing to salute the work of the men and women who save numerous lives in Cape Town each year.

The MC for the night, Aiden Thomas, introduced a marimba band to start the night’s entertainment. The group warmed up the crowds with some traditional African tunes before the main band got many dancing on the sand under the stars with hit after hit, beautifully performed and accompanied by stringed, wind, brass and percussion instruments.

The spectacular sunset stole the crowd’s attention for a few breath-taking minutes, then candles and glow sticks (sold by the NSRI) took on the job of lighting up the relaxed revelers. As no alcohol was allowed, the event was extremely mellow, with no unpleasant incidents to mar the family-friendly fun.

The night drew to a close on schedule at 20h30. We left the beach with happy memories, vowing to return to next year’s Moonstruck.

For a relaxed, free evening with fantastic music and a great Cape Town vibe, look out for Moonstruck 2009 which will be, as always, in the month of February, a perfect way to get into the mood for Valentine’s Day.

Unless you are a hard-news journalist, you may want to cross the following places off your ‘possible dream vacation’ list, following a poll which put them at the top of the World’s Most Dangerous Places register.

Sudan, Uganda and the Congo have the dubious honour of being the top three on this tragic list. Reasons such as ongoing wars and resultant death, disease and displacement to the millions of inhabitants were touted as reasons for their nominations.

The poll, carried out by Reuters AlertNet, released its findings on Tuesday, where-in approximately 50% of participants named Sudan, and specifically the western region of Darfur.

Well over a million children in the area are affected, and many of these are recruited to take up arms in the on-going conflicts. These children are especially vulnerable to disease and malnutrition.

Hollywood actor Mia Farrow visited the region last month. She said: “Everyone has lost family, seen villages burn, seen relatives raped, been raped.”

Still struggling to recover from a 21-year long civil war, Sudan faces ongoing violence, poverty and a lack of basic services.

With Uganda and the Congo hot on the heels of Sudan in the poll results, other countries named include Iraq, Somalia, India, the Palestinian territories, Afghanistan, Chechnya and Myanmar. But the top three were by far in the lead.

The children of these countries are seen as the main victims, with malnourishment, child recruitment into the ‘armies’, and resultant physical and psychological trauma named as the biggest negative effects on these innocent lives.

 An assistant professor at a university in the eastern Jiangsu province of China received a reprimand by a Chinese minister of culture after stripping during a lecture on ‘body art’.

The 56-year-old man, Mo Xiaoxin, got a bit carried away when attempting to convey to his shocked students the ‘power’ of the human body. In order to demonstrate his point, Mo, who was reportedly ‘emotionally excited’ at the time, undid his belt and removed his pants, then stood naked in the middle of the lecture hall.

Many of the students were uncomfortable with this unexpected display, and were uncertain how to respond or where to look.

Mo also organised four other models – two elderly and two younger people, of both sexes, to strip as part of his lecture which was aimed at challenging certain taboos. The lecture was in the context of a course held at the cutting edge ‘Human Body Art and Culture’ research institute – the first of its kind in China.

The professor took things even further by extending an invitation to the students and teachers present to remove their clothes too.

Tian Junting, the cultural minister in question, said “There are no taboos in the field of research, but to do this directly in the course of teaching is obviously not appropriate”.

He added that the course was still in a “research phase” and said it is unclear at this stage whether it had produced “positive or negative effects”.