With 20 days left to the the greatest spectacle showcasing the “beautiful game” in South Africa, there has been a lot of preparation going on behind the scenes and a lot of talk in the South African blogosphere on various issues surrounding the World Cup. There is Official Government site covering the World Cup where all the “official” information and updates on what is being done to prepare for the World Cup can be found. Still not sure what exactly the World Cup is and especially clueless on any information about the World Cup 2010? The World Cup Blog has a great Beginners’ Guide to the World Cup which covers the basics very succinctly. First up in the blogosphere, though, let's start with traffic situation. The Portfolio Travel Blog points out various road closures which will be taking place in Cape Town around the time of the World Cup: The City of Cape Town has released the following road closure information for all in the Mother City during the World Cup. “Traffic will be affected on match days in Cape Town during the 2010 FIFA World Cup™ due to a number of necessary road closures. The City asks the public to be aware of these and to plan their routes and travel times accordingly.We apologise for any inconvenience caused,” said the City’s Director: Communication and 2010 Spokesperson, Pieter Cronje. Public transport services have been extended as part of the City’s transport plan for the event. “We encourage commuters to utilise these extended public transport services offered by the City,” said Peter Sole, Manager: 2010 Transport Operations. All trains and certain train stations will have additional security for the duration of the World Cup. In addition, the use of non-motorised transport and car pooling is greatly encouraged. You can get all the additional details on these road closures by visiting the full blog post. I hope the same is not the same for the other host cities. I'm sure this is a special case. Keeping with the theme of transport, The Mpumalanga Explorer highlights how the FIFA World Cup Official page is misrepresenting information about one particular town which will host a few World Cup Games, Nelspruit. The Mpumalanga Province is regarded as one of the most tourist-friendly provinces in South Africa. Despite its close proximity to some neighbouring countries, such as Mozambique, the province is also less than three hours drive from Johannesburg and some four hours from Polokwane” Fair enough all this is factual. I am guessing that at some point along the border of Mpumalanga you could get to Polokwane in four hours, but the facts are that it would take another 2 hours from there to Nelspruit. The FIFA World Cup™ tournament games are being held in Mpumalanga, but more specifically Nelspruit which is approximately 360 km's from Johannesburg, which distance can be covered in 3 hours with no stops and no other traffic if the rules of the road are adhered to. Polokwane is another couple of hours from Johannesburg going north. Aside from the world-acclaimed Kruger National Park which is the main tourist destination in Mpumalanga Province, very little is known about this province and its surroundings.” What utter claptrap. Mpumalanga is known for more than just the Kruger Park. Making it sound like Mpumalanga is largely unexplored and wild is foolish. The roads in Mpumalanga, specifically in the Lowveld are largely tarred. We have many tourists visiting the smaller towns like Graskop, Hazyview Sabie and Barberton because of the attractions they offer. These towns are not unknown as much as FIFA wish to claim that. The blog does go into other inaccurate information on the FIFA World Cup page. It seems FIFA's not done it's homework on this one. Some great news now for World Cup Ticket Holders from Capeinfo blogs…there is free Metrorail for World Cup ticket holders: Metrorail will transport match ticket holders of the 2010 FIFA World Cup free of charge on its special dedicated trains to host stadiums. Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) will run special commuter services through its Metrorail and Shosholoza Meyl intercity services during the tournament. This is an additional special train service over and above the normal services provided, and will be synchronised according to match schedules. Additional rail services will be scheduled to cope with the demand as government has promised that by 2010 there will be a train available every five minutes during peak times. Train services will be running between 14 and 16 hours every day. Metrorail Gauteng Region will service a total of 12 routes namely Soccer City with 14 train sets, Coca-Cola Park with 13 train sets and Loftus Versfeld with 14 more trains.