What’s happening close to you this weekend?

This week­end is jam packed full of excit­ing things to keep you busy, enter­tained and informed... What are you wait­ing for? Call your friends and make a plan to be a part of these great events.

Chocolate Carnival

KwaZulu Natal has some­thing to answer every chocoholic’s fantasy – The Chocolate Carnival! The Suncoast Casino and Entertainment World plays host to this dec­ad­ent event from Friday 10 to Sunday 12 July 2009. Tickets can be pur­chased at the door and R40 for adults and R20 for pen­sion­ers and chil­dren. The fest­ival is open from 10h00 to 22h00 on Friday and Saturday and 10h00 to 18h00 on Sunday.

There will be exhib­it­ors show­cas­ing organic, exotic and of course basic chocol­ate as well as a host of other chocol­ate delights and if you fancy a bit of chocol­ate on your face why not give the chocol­ate make up a try? And while mom and dad are indul­ging ... you can rest assured your little ones will be enter­tained in the kiddie’s corner with chocol­ate paint­ing and mould­ing. The Chocolate Deli is where you can watch tips on cook­ing with chocol­ate from the chefs who will be bring­ing local celebrit­ies to par­ti­cip­ate in the demonstrations.

House & Garden Show

Once you have had your fill of chocol­ate you can head down to the Durban Exhibition Centre for the last 3 days of the East Coast Radio House & Garden Show. This has been run­ning since 3 July and comes to a close on Sunday 12 July. Here you can find the latest in home and life­style products. Since this is Durban’s largest life­style show you can expect the over 300 exhib­it­ors to wow you with cre­at­ive and inspir­a­tional ideas. The show is open on Friday and Saturday from 10h00 to 22h00 and on Sunday from 10h00 to 20h00.

If you find your­self in the Western Cape this week­end and are look­ing for some­thing fun to do with friends and fam­ily, then take a scenic drive down to Franschhoek for their annual Bastille Festival on Saturday 11 and Sunday 12 July. Celebrating their centuries-old French Huguenot her­it­age, South Africa’s Gourmet Capital will tan­tal­ise and entice you with enter­tain­ment, food and wine. This is fun for the whole fam­ily just be sure you don’t leave without tak­ing home a bottle of Franschhoek wine as a memory of the day.

Batille Festival

The award-winning res­taur­ants in Franschhoek cre­ate themed and inspired menus while the Bastille Food and Wine Marquee draw people from far and wide to taste wines and the deli­cious food on offer. The town is dec­or­ated in French apparel and you can immerse your­self in the fest­ival while brows­ing curio shops, boutiques, gal­ler­ies and enjoy the wide vari­ety of activ­it­ies that are on offer.

In the Garden Route the Knysna Oyster Festival is draw­ing to a close with the Pick ‘n Pay Cape Times Knysna Forest Marathon on Saturday 11 July with the entire fest­ival wind­ing down on Sunday 12 July.

Catch the last few days at the The Grahamstown National Arts Festival, Africa's largest and most col­our­ful cul­tural event which offers a choice of the very best of both indi­gen­ous and impor­ted tal­ent (Saturday 11^th is the final day), or, if you’re in the mood for some fant­astic surf then head over to Jeffreys Bay in the Eastern Cape. This is where the eyes of the surf world will be as it is Africa’s most pres­ti­gi­ous surf­ing tour­na­ment (Billabong Pro) with the venue, Supertubes, rank­ing in the world’s top 10 high per­form­ance surf breaks. The tal­en­ted surfers who take part in the event come from the USA, Spain, Brazil, Australia, Hawaii, Portugal and of course South Africa.

Billabong Pro

The event needs four full days of com­pet­i­tion how­ever there is a wait­ing period of 11 days and this year it begins on Thursday 9 July, this allows the organ­isers the lux­ury to choose the best pos­sible con­di­tions in order for these world class tal­ents to com­pete. Come and sup­port this year’s South African hopeful’s Jordy Smith, David Weare and Greg Emslie. Veteran Kelly Slater will also be put­ting the Supertubes waves to the test. There is also plenty of enter­tain­ment in the even­ing to keep you busy!

Photography fan­at­ics are in for a treat in Gauteng with the Photo and Film Festival tak­ing place at the Coca Cola Dome in Randburg, Johannesburg. Experience the latest hard­ware, soft­ware, tech­no­logy, light­ing, tech­niques, facil­it­ies and courses in both Still Photography and Film Production in South Africa. The fest­ival takes place from Friday 10 to Sunday 12 July so make you way to the Coca Cola Dome for some firsthand exper­i­ence from those in the know ...

And for those of you in Bloemfontein in the Free State, if you haven’t already been to the Volksblad Arts Festival (which star­ted on Wednesday 8 July) what are you wait­ing for – it is on until Monday 13 July and is not to be missed. There are never before seen pro­duc­tions ran­ging from plays, dance shows, musical theatre, clas­sical and con­tem­por­ary music per­form­ances and much more.

If you attend any of these events, please do co,me back and tell us about it by leav­ving a note in the com­ments field below. We would love to hear about your experiences!

Useful Links
Useful links to help you plan your week­end activ­it­ies in South Africa:
South Africa Events
Things to Do in South Africa
South Africa Accommodation