All of Alan's Musings and Other Sea, R, A, P.

September’s arrival in Johannesburg brings a quieter kind of invitation for spring travellers: a township experience that need not swallow an entire day. Mashaba Tours, a tour operator based in the city, wants arriving visitors to take a second look at its briefer, more adaptable township itineraries. With the crisp mornings of August fading into warmer, sunnier September, the company reports that demand is tilting toward half-day formats that slot easily between meetings, family … [Read more...] about Mashaba Tours Points Spring Visitors to Flexible Half-Day Soweto

With the first warmth of the new season settling over the Cape Winelands, Legaro Property Development is opening the doors of Drakenzicht, its lock-up-and-go estate in Paarl, and welcoming prospective buyers to walk through its designer homes. Nestled at the foot of the Drakenstein mountains in one of the Western Cape’s most celebrated wine regions, the estate is showing at its finest this September, when the milder days let the villas and their gardens be seen in full. From the outset, … [Read more...] about Drakenzicht Brings Designer Winelands Homes to Paarl This Spring

Spring 2026 is shaping up to be a busy buying season across Johannesburg, and Legaro Property Development has timed its latest move to meet it: Phase 6 at The Emerald is now on the market. The company’s luxury residential estate in Hyde Park, Sandton, expands with this release, bringing a new run of one, two, and three bedroom homes to one of the northern suburbs’ most talked-about addresses. Set in Hyde Park, The Emerald puts residents close to Sandton’s commercial heart as … [Read more...] about The Emerald Opens Phase 6 of Its Hyde Park Sandton Apartments

Few names in Johannesburg’s used auto spares trade carry the history of Lou Appel’s Auto Spares, and heading into August the veteran dealer has broadened the line-up of stripped vehicles at its Selby yard. The move makes affordable second hand car parts easier to reach for the city’s motorists, mechanics and workshops, as a growing number of makes and models roll in for stripping every week. Trading from Booysens Road in Selby, Johannesburg, the firm is familiar to countless … [Read more...] about Lou Appel’s Auto Spares Grows Its Stripped Vehicle Range in Johannesburg

For more than 24 years, Mann Made has been building live events, video and animation for brands right across Africa, and in August 2026 the Johannesburg agency is planting a firm flag around the way modern creative work ought to be built. Its theme for the year is uncomplicated. The old agency model was designed for a slower time, and the gap between a company’s vision and what finally lands in front of an audience has stretched too far. Mann Made is rebuilding itself around speed, … [Read more...] about Mann Made Blends AI and Human Craft to Deliver Brand Experiences

Durban: Every CEO eventually reaches the same point. The business wants to adopt AI. Budgets are being approved. Software vendors are making promises. The pressure to “do something with AI” is growing. But before signing another software agreement, every CEO should ask one simple question. Am I improving my business processes or simply buying AI? According to Arnold Muscat, Director of College Africa Group, the answer often determines whether AI becomes a competitive advantage or an expensive … [Read more...] about Am I Improving My Business Processes or Simply Buying AI?

Few moments in the southern African calendar reward travellers quite like the tail end of winter, and Kaelo Destinations is using August to highlight it. With the bush thinning out, waterholes retreating and mornings turning crisp, wildlife gathers and sightlines stretch far into the distance. These final weeks of the dry season are, the company suggests, the ideal cue for guests to design a trip that carries them from the reserve all the way to the coast. Kaelo Destinations is an expanding … [Read more...] about Kaelo Destinations Spotlights Late Dry Season Safari and Beach Travel

For countless South African families, the weeks after the mid-year school holidays and before the next salary lands can feel financially tight, and this August Loan On Cars wants drivers to remember that a car they have already paid off can do more than get them from A to B. Operating out of Gauteng and Limpopo, the lender lets owners convert a vehicle they own outright into quick, short-term cash without ever giving up the keys. The concept could hardly be simpler. Many people drive a … [Read more...] about Loan On Cars Shows What a Paid-Up Car Needs to Qualify This August

Table of Contents Durban: What if the biggest cost to your business isn’t making mistakes—but repeating them? Every repeated error quietly drains time, money and productivity. The same spreadsheet mistake. The same incorrect customer order. The same report that needs correcting. The same missed approval. The same conversation in next month’s management meeting. Most organisations accept these recurring problems as an unavoidable part of doing business. They aren’t. If the same mistakes keep … [Read more...] about Why Does Your Business Keep Fixing the Same Problems?

Few purchases carry as many hidden line items as a home by the sea, where transfer duty and conveyancing charges tend to appear only once buyers do the maths. Balwin Properties has decided to take two of the heaviest of those off the table at Izinga Eco-Estate in Umhlanga. Right now the developer is selling its apartments there with no attorney fees and no transfer costs, a shift that materially alters the arithmetic for anyone weighing a move to the KwaZulu-Natal north coast. With the warmer … [Read more...] about No Transfer Costs on Balwin’s Umhlanga Apartments at Izinga Eco-Estate

Sometimes the clearest read on a market is a single word: sold out. That is now the status of De Aan-Zicht, a Classic Collection estate that Balwin Properties built in Cape Town, and its complete take-up says a great deal about how eagerly buyers have chased affordable, secure apartments in the city. Anyone who arrived too late for that one still has room to act, though: Balwin has just opened a new phase at De Kuile and has additional phases lined up at two further estates. With spring … [Read more...] about Cape Town Demand Sells Out Balwin Estate as New Phases Releases

Table of Contents We all know just how expensive an overseas roaming package can be – in the early days it was only call based and resulted in some clients having to literally ‘sell the farm’ in order to pay their bill after taking calls from Ma, Pa, Kinders en Die Baas. With regards to data, if you do not buy a specific travel bundle and rely on default pay-as-you-use rates, you face a massive risk of “bill shock.” Local Provider Examples: Vodacom offer a Standard Out-of-Bundle Rate: ~R0.75 … [Read more...] about Need an eSIM for Roaming? Solved: Compare these Choices for South Africa and Africa

Under the banner “drink pure, live more”, water testing specialist H2O Guru has relocated to fresh premises with a showroom at 121 Soutpansberg Road, Riviera, Pretoria, and widened the scope of what it delivers from a single site. The accredited laboratory analysis it has always run now sits beside a stocked range of filtration systems, reverse osmosis systems, dispensers, filters and media, so households, farms and businesses can both have their water tested and have it treated … [Read more...] about H2O Guru Opens New Pretoria Showroom and Adds Water Filtration Rating

Table of Contents If I had R1.00 for every call from a Neanderthal glorifying a vehicle fire supposedly set off by a Lithium Ion Battery I would be able to buy a Tesla Cybertruck for cash… That is what one gets for being an early adopter and brand evangelist for renewable energy! But, maybe ‘brand evangelist’ is slightly incorrect as through Straton Solar I do get a small benefit for that. In response to the fire worries (way out of proportion I would say) the manufacturing market has provided … [Read more...] about Battery Energy Storage (BES): Comparing Sodium-Ion (Galvani) vs. Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP)