Choosing the winners

Since TravelGround opened only 6 months ago we have received almost 250,000 page views (see our blog post about our Traffic Growth in 2009) and thousands of accommodation enquiries, bookings and reviews. To choose the winners we simply calculated which accommodation establishments drew the most attention, potential bussiness and completed business in each region.

So, in truth we didn’t choose the winners – our users did!

The prize

Each winner has received a custom badge made for their website. Below we have a sample of the Award that was designed in-house here at TravelGround.com.

A sample of what each of the awards will look like when displayed in full

And the winners are…

We have 35 winners of TravelGround’s Most Popular Accommodation Awards for 2009. Each award is for a distinct region of South Africa. Click on any of the awards below to see the winner’s page on TravelGround.com.

You can have fun trying to figure out what the winner’s might have in common. You will quickly realise that the winners have extremely varied accommodations – from price ranges to star-gradings to service. Yet the specific prospects of each property drew guests to that page more than any in the surrounding region, and then prompted them to action. If you can figure out the pattern, please let us know!

Inspired by how islands are able to capture the imagination of us landlocked folk we decided to collect an awesome illustrated list of the world’s 5 most interesting islands. So in no particular order, here we go!

Svalbard

Svalbard is an archipelago off the remote Northern coast of Norway, inhabited by a small population of only 2140 people (according to Statistics Norway). It is a place defined by dramatic physical beauty, fascinating facilities and being very cold. Really really cold. The sun simply doesn’t rise for two months of the year (apparently you just see a sort of pre-dawn glow on the horizon at midday!) and the average temperature for Summer is a chilly 5 °C  (41 °F).

Hopen, one of the Svalbard islands. Total permanent population: 4!

As a result of its remoteness and year-round low temperatures one of the islands in the archipelago (Spitsbergen) was selected as the location of a unique and potentially incredibly important project for the entire planet! This is the Svalbard Global Seed Vault – an armored bunker dug deep into the mountains to provide a permanently frozen haven for millions of seeds.

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Food crops around the world face a number of problems from diminishing genetic variability and so by taking a snapshot of all current types of crops we can ensure that it is always possible to at least re-introduce the genetic variants that are currently present. There are already so-called “genebanks” set up in many countries to safely store seeds in order to facilitate this but what was really needed was a secure “global backup” of these vital seeds.

The seed vault entrance. Courtesy of Svalbard Global Seed Vault/Mari Tefre

The Norwegian government kindly paid to built this secure facility in order to ensure that global crop genetic diversity should not be lost in the case of a massive regional catastrophe. The seed vault contains over 100 million seeds and is largely kept cool by its frigid surrounds – but also makes use of clever engineering and a cooling system to ensure that the seeds are always kept frozen. According to wikipedia, part of the vault’s operating costs are paid for by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation!

And if that wasn’t enough, Svalbard even has its own dedicated dual fibre optic cables running under the sea back to Norway. Despite the archipelago being property of one of the most economically developed countries in the world, this bandwidth is in fact not for residents to download movies at extreme speeds. Instead the connectivity is for a remote NASA outpost that supposedly tracks satellites in orbit above the Arctic Circle. We think, however, that this is probably just a cover story for something far more awesome!

If you’re interested in pursuing a degree in Arctic studies then the University Centre in Svalbard would be a good college choice! There are not too many students but the environs are just about unparalleled – UNIS is the northern-most university in the world. If you want to make your college experience seem a little tame read here how students must pass an Arctic Survival course in order to study at UNIS…

According to SkyScanner you can fly from Oslo to Svalbard’s main island for as little as $400 or so. The cost of living on the island is as high as can be expected considering that its literally on the edge of the Arctic – fresh fruit and most other amenities (except fish!) have to be imported.

St. Helena

Saint Helena was first discovered as a completely deserted island by Portuguese explorers in 1502 and is today a lively bustling metropolis of, err, well, 7637 people (according to the CIA World Factbook). It has an interesting history as it was used by the British as a remote prison where particularly troubling enemies could be kept in exile.

Saint Helena, photographed from the International Space Station by NASA.

The two most famous prisoners sent to St. Helena were the Zulu king Dinuzulu kaCetshwayo and none other than Napoleon Bonaparte. Dinuzulu spent 7 years in exile on the island for raising an army against the British in southern Africa while Napoleon was exiled to St. Helena after he demanded political asylum from the British following his army’s defeat at Waterloo. Napoleon ultimately died on the island and although his remains were later returned to France it is possible to visit the Valley of the Willows where he was first buried.

Zulu king Dinuzulu kaCetshwayo

There is no airport on St. Helena and so the only way you can access the island is via ship. The RMS St. Helena travels regularly between Cape Town, South Africa and the island and is the easiest way for tourists to visit this interesting place. If you’re looking for a chance to disconnect from the crazyness of the modern world for a while then a slow trip across the Atlantic on a cargo ship to the remote island of St. Helena is a pretty good choice!

Tristan de Cunha

Tristan de Cunha is another Atlantic island and is part of the same administrative region as St. Helena. This isn’t too intuitive considering that Tristan de Cunha is in fact 2173 Km from St. Helena. Even more crazy is that St. Helena is actually Tristan de Cunha’s nearest neighbor – making this small island the single most isolated spot in the world!

The island was first discovered by the renowned Portuguese explorer Tristão da Cunha – who promptly named the volcanic rock after himself. The 275 people who live on Tristan de Cunha today are mainly farmers or fishermen and have only 8 different surnames. Genealogical records indicate that it is likely that the current occupants of the island descend from only 8 males and 7 females who arrived at various times during the last two centuries. The descendants of these early settlers got television for the first time as recently as 2001 and don’t let any foreigners live permanently on the island!

Tristan de Cunha, as photographed from space by NASA.

35 Km south of Tristan de Cunha proper is a smaller and uninhabited volcanic rock that has been called Inaccessible Island ever since it was discovered by the Dutch in 1652. This island’s name combined with the fact that it is surrounded by massive cliffs pretty much says it all…

Easter Island

Easter Island is almost as remote as Tristan de Cunha and famous for having played host to a fascinating civilization that built the world renowned Moai statues. Called Easter Island after it was discovered on Easter Sunday in 1722, this island is the result of an ancient underwater volcanic eruption.

There is debate as to when exactly people first landed on Easter Island but estimates place the first settlers arriving sometime between 400 to 1200 AD. These intrepid islanders would have had to sail across a truly massive expanse of ocean before chancing upon this tiny island. The nearest of 3 different archipelagos that would have been inhabited at the time is over 2000 Km distant and the other 2 both over 3000 Km away!

The Moai statues were built during a surprisingly short period that seems to have ended quite abruptly. The majority of the statues did not even reach their final locations – instead they are to be found either partly completed in the quarries where the stone was obtained or lying on paths still on the way to the stone platforms they were usually erected on. The statues were also affected by a period of civil war in the 1770′s known as huri mo’ai, during which most of the Moai were toppled over by warring clans.

Easter Island Moai statues

There are a number of unanswered questions surrounding Easter Island – such as how to read Rongorongo, the native writing script which is made up of pictographs. These symbols are a puzzling phenomenon for anthropologists – who, despite numerous attempts, have not yet been able to decode the various pictures that make up the writing. Further questions surround the decline of the society that once produced the Moai. Early records from European ships that visited the island indicated it being quite populous, but years of internal strife, Peruvian slavers raiding the island during the 19th century and the introduction of diseases like smallpox ultimately reduced the remaining population to just a few hundreds. There are a number of theories on the initial causes of the decline of Easter Island’s society – for one point of view consider reading Collapse by Jarred Diamond.

Bazaruto

Bazaruto is part of a small archipelago that lies close to the shore of Mozambique. It’s interesting because its one of the few truly beautiful tropical islands that has not yet been swamped by tourists from all over the world.

The setting sun as seen from Bazaruto

I would tell you more about this incredible place, but I would hate to start creating hype about an unspoiled paradise. If you’re sufficiently interested in visiting this island then I’m sure you will be able to find it…

• Settling in with the Swiss by Anneliese Mostert: 29-year old Anneliese has only been running the Settling in with the Swiss Blog since January this year, but she has already amassed some fantastic anecdotes of her life in Switzerland (and the temptation of encountering Swiss Chocolates at every turn!). Anneliese’s blog is kept lively not only because of experiences that feel so foreign to a South African (like heading up to Engelberg to witness the first snows), but also because each post is regularly peppered with photos of her new life in Switzerland.
  

  South African's enjoying a real Swiss Fondue

• The Canadian Chronicles: Observations of a South African Emigre: Geraldine’s blog is the story of a South African in Canada. There are the usual whimsical stories of day to day life as a South African in a far off land, but this blog can also be slightly more cutting than some of the others in our round-up. This is the kind of sarcasm that only a South African can achieve, and it can be absolutely hilarious!
  • “When you ask me if I’m Australian, it fills me with such joy. Especially if you ask me if I’m British, after I tell you I’m actually South African. It’s ok if you ignore my 4th generation South African roots, I really don’t mind. I mean, I’m practically a British citizen, aren’t I?“
• Greedy Gourmet: Always thinking of the next meal: The Greedy Gourmet Blog isn’t strictly a Travel Blog, but its a fantastically-well written site by a South African woman (Michelle) who married a Brit and now lives in Essex (where she claims there aren’t any decent restaurants!).  Michelle’s recipe’s are an exploration of the palette (or at least they seem to be as I haven’t cooked any of them myself), but the post’s that I’ve enjoyed the most are of her travels to France, including the Schengen Visa issues involved (agh!!).
  

  Michelle's (the Greedy Gourmet's) Creamy Asparagus Soup

• The Tales of Cherry-Blossom by Moyra Makina: Historically Moyra’s Blog is simply the tale of her life told for her friends and family, but it took on an exciting twist when she recently departed from South Africa on a long journey to Bali! Her posts are not fast and furious, but each entry is a substantial update, romantically recounted and covering all aspects of this bubbly personality’s adventures in tropical paradise. Her first encounter with Bali can be found here…
  

  Moyra's tough life of surfing in Bali

• Yours is the Earth by Andrew Barry: Andrew is a Saffer that recently landed himself a job for 2 years in New York City. This blog is brand new, but the first few post have been the perfect mix of story-telling and humorous observations. Being a new blog, this is the perfect place to begin following a Travel Blog… after all, the real fun is not in reading back over someone’s experience of a foreign country (you could buy a book for that), but in being involved in their experiences as they happen. And if the person is a South African then all the better!! If you would like to subscibe to the RSS feed of Andrew’s blog then click here. You won’t be disappointed.
  

  The view of NYC from Andrew's apartment in New Jersey

If you’d like to continue exploring some of South Africa’s best blogs of the year, then the South African Blog Award Winners 2009 is a good place to start (especially since that list includes 2 of our Top 5 Travel Blogs listed above).