Travel Massive Cape Town Celebrated 2017 at the Chavonnes Battery Museum

On the 25th of January, Cape Town Travel Massive literally blasted into 2017 with a bang, as we came together for our first event of the year.

Gathering at the Chavonnes Battery Museum with Cape Town Tourism as our key sponsors for the night, we enjoyed chats and networking, simultaneously raising money for an essential cause – tour guide training.

Ever mindful that as Travel Massive Cape Town we’ve enjoyed helicopter flights, shark tanks and kelp forests, glamorous catamarans, mystical walks and a collection of inspiring women uniting in celebration of the role they play in defining our travel industry.

This event was more focused on giving back.

Hosted by Chavonnes Battery Museum, a too-often-overlooked area in the popular tourist spot and a living museum where you can walk next to a piece of the Cape’s history and original shoreline that has been preserved with meticulous care. This is the exact site where centuries ago ships on the trade route between Europe and the East would stop to replenish supplies and stock up on fresh water.

A crowd of 88 showed up to enjoy chocolate and wine parings from Ormonde Wines, tea from Carmien Tea and beer from Darling Brew, all in partnership with the West Coast Way. The music and the chatter continued late into the evening, where we were able to hand out some wonderful sponsored prizes to our community members, two included being able to fire off a cannon as the sun set over the Tourist hot spot of Cape Town’s V&A Waterfront.

Our venue is what really made the occasion special. Everyone who attended was asked to make an R50 contribution to the museum’s social enterprise that invests itself in the social development of the youth of Cape Town, and more specifically to aid in providing work experience and training for unemployed youth and Tourism Management students and graduates wanting to be Tourist Guides.

The Museum is a visitor attraction detailing the early history of Cape Town, currently on exhibition are a collection of thought provoking images collectively entitled: 1%: Privilege in a Time of Global Inequality Photo Exhibition. This exhibition brings 40 images by the world’s leading photographers to our shores and highlights the disparity in communities around the world.

Green Girls in Africa launched their #HandsOffOurWildlife ethical tourism campaign with Louise de Waal introducing us to the importance of #AnimalRightsInTourism. A message we need to communicate to our visitors and the tourist industry at large – no petting, no performing, no riding, no trading. Members were encouraged to get involved and tell us how they intend to #HOWL about animal rights.

With thanks to our generous sponsors Dale Dodgen of Chavonnes, Cape Town Tourism who are such generous supporters of Travel Massive, Darling Brew who kept us in fine craft beer, Carmien Tea with their flavor infused rooibos, Ormonde Wines who offered a wine and chocolate pairing and Carmen Lerm of West Coast Way for bringing it all together.

Here’s to moving into 2017 positive, inspired and driven to give back to our wonderful industry.

Chapter Leaders Linda Markovina and Dawn Jorgensen hosted the event, with photographs by Mahmud Fredericks.

Dawn Jorgensen is a Travel Writer and Advocate for conscious travel over at The Incidental Tourist. Dawn is an ever conscious traveler who’s proudly African. She is also the Travel Massive Chapter Leader for Cape Town and was a part of the Travel Massive Podcast which shares her full experience as a travel writer in Africa.