Emirates Premium Travel with Boeing 777-300ER

 

Emirates welcomes the arrival of its inaugural Boeing 777-300ER

The new 354-seat aircraft introduces Emirates’ renowned First Class cabin on the Durban route and boosts passenger capacity by close to 30 percent, confirming Emirates’ continuing growth in South Africa.

The Boeing 777 offers the highest standards of passenger comfort, with eight luxurious private suites in First Class, 42 lie-flat beds in Business Class and 304 generously-sized Economy Class seats. All classes of the aircraft are equipped with Emirates award-winning ice entertainment system with more than 1,200 channels of on-demand entertainment to choose from. This includes 200 movies from around the world, 100 TV channels, more than 500 audio channels, 100 video games and news, as well as sports and business headlines.

Customers can also look forward to gourmet food in all cabins and seamless transfers to the Emirates’ extensive global network through the airline’s state-of-the-art Terminal 3 hub in Dubai.

Emirates Broadens Its African Network with Lusaka and Harare 

Extending its reach into Africa with the launch of a new linked service to Lusaka and Harare. Now flying to 22 points within Africa, Emirates airlines will connect Zambia and Zimbabwe to key markets across Europe, the Far East, Australasia and the Indian Subcontinent.

To support the linked service, Emirates will promote Zambia and Zimbabwe’s tourism attractions, including Victoria Falls, the Zambezi River, game reserves and safaris, in advertising campaigns executed across the airline’s global network.

Emirates Holidays also feature eight pages on Zimbabwe and Zambia in its 2012 World of Choice brochure.

“Zambia and Zimbabwe are both important emerging business and industrial centres, with economies that are projected to grow by over five per cent annually during the coming years,” said Nabil Sultan, Divisional Senior Vice President Revenue Optimisation & Distribution. “Emirates’ new service will play a significant role in supporting this growth by connecting Lusaka and Harare to our worldwide network, opening new conduits for trade, investment and tourism.”

Upon arrival at Kenneth Kaunda International Airport in Lusaka, Emirates’ inaugural Flight 713 was greeted by a traditional water cannon salute. "Emirates’ decision to operate to Lusaka represents new economic doors being opened to our country. The fact that this airline, which is successful on all continents, is entering markets like ours as part of its expansion plans is clear evidence of excellent future prospects for Zambia and Zambians,” said the Honourable Given Lubinda, the Zambian Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Emirates services to Lusaka will be a huge boost to its tourism industry, helping to support the Zambia Tourism Board’s target for increasing visitor arrivals by 22.5 percent to one million visitors in 2012. The onward connection to Harare, operated by Zimbabwean Captain Ca Busiso Ndlovu, also received a warm welcome at Harare International Airport.

"The arrival of Emirates to Zimbabwe is a very significant development for the market. We welcome the entrance of a truly global airline; with an extensive network, large fleet and great reputation for quality service which will greatly improve choice and connectivity for Zimbabwean travelers," said the Honourable Nicholas Goche, Zimbabwean Minister of Transport, Communications and Infrastructural Development. "Emirates will bring greater capacity and fare competitiveness, which will certainly lead to traffic growth to and from Zimbabwe."

Emirates’ services to Harare will support the Tourism Ministry’s projections that the sector will contribute over US$5 billion to the country’s economy by 2015. Following the launch of Lusaka and Harare, Emirates started services to Dallas, Texas on 2nd February and Seattle on 1st March, Ho Chi Minh City on 4th June and Barcelona on 3rd July. Emirates' 173-strong fleet is one of the youngest in the skies. Emirates SkyCargo’s fleet includes eight freighters (two Boeing 747-400Fs, two 747-400ERF and four 777Fs) that now serves 123 destinations in 73 countries on six continents.

Relais & Châteaux's Singita Pamushana Welcomes A New Chef

Singita Game Reserves has appointed Zimbabwean-born chef Sara Rickard (26) as Sous Chef at Singita Pamushana Lodge in the Malilangwe Wildlife Reserve in South Eastern Zimbabwe.  This move is a return to home soil for this passionate young chef, who has worked aboard luxury yachts and at some of South Africa’s top hotels and restaurants in Cape Town. With her deep-seated love for the African bush and her penchant for traditional cuisine, she is set to bring refreshing new flavours with a delicious international ‘twist’, to the dining experience at this award-winning Relais & Châteaux lodge.

Rickard describes her unique cooking style as ‘wholesome’, without much fuss and frills, yet bursting with flavour. She loves taking advantage of the freshest seasonal ingredients available at local markets to enhance the flavours of her dishes. Rickard strongly believes that a successful chef is only as good as the team in the kitchen, and enjoys enhancing the skills of her fellow kitchen employees to develop skills at every level.

For Rickard this return to her roots after ‘sailing the seas’ in search of culinary excellence, signifies the pinnacle of a career spanning some six years, during which she has gained invaluable international experience. With her heart set on becoming a chef ever since completing her advanced A Levels in Zimbabwe in 2004, she enrolled at the Silwood School of Cookery in Cape Town and graduated with her Cordon Bleu Grande Diploma in 2007.

Since then she has carved an impressive career as a top notch chef, having trained at award-winning restaurants such as Terroir Restaurant at the Kleine Zalze Wine Estate in Stellenbosch; The River Café in Cape Town’s Constantia Valley; and the Cape Grace Hotel at the V&A Waterfront. Then followed a stint as Chef de Partie at Ellerman House Hotel in Bantry Bay, where she worked with Former Executive Head Chef Jonathan Gargan, honing her skills under his expert guidance. Her desire to expand her culinary influences then saw her heading for foreign shores to prepare delicious cuisine for the guests and crew aboard three luxury yachts in the Mediterranean and the Caribbean, before joining the Singita team, to return to her country of birth.

With her flair for infusing locally inspired dishes with international culinary influences, guests at Singita Pamushana Lodge can look forward to a world-class dining experience in one of the world’s most dramatic wilderness settings, prepared with characteristic flair. There is no doubt that her signature dish that consists of crispy duck breast served on pomme boulangere with glazed carrots, roast baby beetroot, a red wine reduction, orange marmalade and fresh thyme, will be served with the same passion and delight that has earned the Singita team no less than 15 ‘Best Hotel in the World’ awards, and each of their four idyllic destinations in Africa the global reputation as a ‘place of miracles’.