A major rescue operation on Sunday saw 41 people trapped on the Butha Buthe Pass en route to Afri-Ski and the Oxbow Lodge, in Lesotho, brought to safety. Check out video footage inside.
Winter is now pretty much in full swing and snow has begun to fall in many provinces as temperatures keep dropping across the country. As beautiful as the snowy icing may to look some, the harsh conditions have caused widespread havoc, particularly on national roads, and claimed at least five lives to date.
Rescue workers at the scene of a horrific accident involving a train and a truck in Mpumalanga are having a hard time determining the extent of the damages. Officials say that identifying bodies is proving difficult as many have been torn up by the impact, with some being thrown as far as 200m.
Have you ever been so hungry that you could steal food from a pride of 15 hungry lions? No? Me neither. But for a couple of chaps north of our border it’s common practice. Click through for the sweat-inducing how-to video.
A bull has gored two Britons and an American during the running of the bulls festival in Pamplona over the weekend. The three were among several people caught and attacked by the animal after he had had broken free from the pack.
Heavy rains and winds lashed Cape Town and its surrounds over the weekend, causing widespread damage and havoc for residents. As of this morning, disaster response teams had assisted 2 566 people in the flood-stricken areas with social relief.
The Arctic is under constant threat from “oil drilling, industrial fishing and conflict” yet very little official action has been taken to curb that, probably because it’s making a lot of people a lot of money. After numerous failed attempts to contact leaders directly, Greenpeace are approaching the masses to convey their message. If this video doesn’t trigger any emotions in you, it’s safe to say that you’re a robot.
Durban is soon to set itself apart from other South African cities as a leader on the tourism front. A US hospitality group is planning a fleet of six see-through tourist submarines, underwater restaurants and nightclubs, and a 17 000-seat amphitheatre for live music performances on the KwaZulu-Natal coast.
A Japanese parliamentary panel has said in a report that the crisis at the Fukushima nuclear plant was “a profoundly man-made disaster”, and that the disaster “could and should have been foreseen and prevented”. The report also blamed cultural conventions and a reluctance to question authority.
If you weren’t aware of just how prolific Chinese investment is in Africa, wait until you see these startling images of what’s going on in Angola.
Incredibly, the US National Ocean Service of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) had to issue a statement in the last week confirming the non-existence of mermaids after Animal Planet aired “Mermaids: The Body Found” and a whole bunch of Americans thought it was real.
The seaside town of Pringle Bay in the Western Cape is outraged at a National Geographic documentary that used food to lure baboons to a specially modified and fully furnished cottage in the area. The cottage is part of the Cape Hangklip Hotel, and the television series, Big Baboon House, raises ethical questions.
More worrying news from the climate change front. Scientists have said that even if deep emissions cuts lower global average temperatures, sea levels will continue to rise over the next couple of hundred years.
Last week, a young American graduate student who was leading a tour at the Jane Goodall Institute Chimpanzee Eden, Nelspruit, was pulled into the chimps’ enclosure by two alpha males after entering a restricted area. He was brutally assaulted and suffered multiple injuries that left him in critical condition fighting for his life.
Scientists say that the catastrophic wildfires in the US West offer a preview of the kind of disasters that human-caused climate change could bring. Apocalyptic like fires have been raging across Colorado, Montana and Utah for weeks, and scientists say are a damaging impact of global warming.
The Department of Environmental Affairs (read: the South African government) has welcomed (obviously?) the Council of the Global Environment Facility’s approval of R25 million worth of funding aimed at strengthening the current wildlife forensic capabilities in South Africa. The donation will help combat wildlife crimes like rhino poaching.
It’s been about a month and a half since the Eihatsu Maru ran aground in Clifton. Amongst all the questions and mysteries surrounding the entire incident, one of the most prominent was: “Who’s going to be paying for all this?” The unexpected answer is that the ship’s owner has actually made an offer to the salvagers – who would have thought it?
The issue of the construction of a luxury hotel development in the Kruger National Park was discussed at length on 2oceansVibe last year when the weighty issue of hotel development in the Kruger National Park became public knowledge. The first of these developments, to be built near the Malelane Gate, the most convenient entrance from Johannesburg and the airport in nearby Nelspruit, is finally about to get underway.
Yesterday Lonesome George, the last of the Pinta Island subspecies of the giant tortoise, died, marking the total extinction of his subspecies. It’s a sad day, as Lonesome George became a symbol of other species on the brink of extinction, and an ambassador for Ecuador’s Galapagos Islands.
More than a year after 2oceasnVibe first covered the story about South Africa’s only ski resort going under the hammer, the resort will finally be sold in a “no reserve” auction on July 12 this year. Now you can really own it. Auction Alliance didn’t crack the nod for this one, so expect everything to be above board.
Chad’s father passed away last year. He had suffered from Alzheimer’s, and his deterioration into dementia was quick and incredibly painful. Chad’s father spent the last six weeks of his life in hospital, and Chad spent every one of those days at his side. In the end, he suffered more than any person deserved. Chad’s […]
“Rhinos Under Threat” is a new YouTube documentary aiming to raise public awareness of the current crisis faced by poaching. It launched at the Rio+20 Conference earlier this week. See the full 28-minute film inside, however be warned that it might be upsetting for sensitive viewers.
Fruit and Veg City has been taking a social media lambasting from irate consumers that caught the fresh food retailer selling endangered fish species in a few of their stores. Debate was intense, with both customers and Fruit and Veg City getting in on the action. The retailer has since issued an official statement detailing how they plan to handle the situation of endangered fish “slipping through their nets”.
Michael Jamison hails from Brakpan and has a girlfriend named Jackie. He also has a 200kg pet tiger named Enzo. They all get along pretty great. Check out this photo gallery of the threesome that appeared in Britain’s most prestigious newspaper yesterday, The Daily Mail.
Greenpeace recently teamed up with activist pranksters, The Yes Men. Their goal? To rip Shell a new one over their planned Arctic oil drilling. Step inside, and watch a great (and hilarious) example of how social media and activism have become inseparable.
30 years later the famous case of baby Azaria Chamberlain being eaten by a dingo while on holiday has finally been put to rest. Her mother, Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton, long maintained that a dingo took her baby, even as she was sentenced to life in jail for her daughter’s murder, a conviction that was later quashed.
Very few people are privileged enough to travel the world and even fewer can say they’ve set foot on all seven continents. Thankfully we have been blessed with photographers like Sean F. White, who has not only accomplished both, but chose to record the journey and share it via an amazing time-lapse recording. Click through for a magnificent six-minute trip around the world.
In a rather feeble attempt to garner attention for the plight of abused animals everywhere, PETA has launched an adult content site peta.xxx [NSFW, sort of]. The site has been in the pipeline for a while now, and features porn stars like Ron Jeremy and Jenna Jameson. Although, to be honest, there is harder porn on late night E-tv.
Called “pop-up forests” forest by a New York Times blogger, areas of the Arctic Tundra are greening faster and faster as temperatures rise. What is worse, is that with the increase of vegetation, more sunlight is absorbed and contributes to the increase in temperatures.
A wild leopard was shot dead yesterday at the Oil India Limited field headquarters campus at Duliajan, India. The leopard injured 13 people during a day-long rampage. See photos of the animal attacking a security guard after he tried to rescue his colleague – after the jump.