WG211/M14Schedule

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IFIP Working Group 2.11, Fourteenth Meeting

January 20-22, 2015, Stellenbosch, South Africa (excursion January 19)

The meeting will be held in Stellenbosch, South Africa, hosted by Bernd Fischer. There will be a full-day excursion to the Cape Peninsula on January 19. More details, program, and registration information will be appearing on this page before the end of September.

Travel

Note that the meeting will be in the southern Summer, and Stellenbosch (and all of South Africa) will be busy, so arrange your flights and accommodation early.

Visa Information

Visitors from link title most EU countries, US, Canada, Japan, Australia and most of South America don't need a visa to visit South Africa. The complete (official) list is available at the Department of Home Affairs. The Department also has the details for a visa application. Please contact Bernd Fischer if you need an invitation letter to obtain your visa.

UPDATE: The visa regulations are currently changing (or supposed to change - there's politics at work...). If you need a visa, or if you are planning to combine the meeting with a family vacation, please talk to the embassy!

Getting to Stellenbosch

The closest airport to Stellenbosch is Cape Town International (CPT). Most international flights connect in Johannesburg, but there are direct flghts from London (Virgin, BA), Amsterdam (KLM), Paris (Air France), Munich (Lufthansa), Zuerich (Edelweiss), Istanbul (Turkish Airlines), Doha (Qatar Airways), Dubai (Emirates), and Singapore (Singapore Airlines). Note that some of these flights are seasonal and operate only during the Summer, so they might not show up yet.

CPT is about 35km from Stellenbosch; the best transfer option is to book an airport shuttle:

Note that some companies provide a direct taxi service which is more convenient but more expensive (prices for this should be around US$40-45). Please contact the companies directly. If you book with Bettina's, please refer to the "IFIP meeting", and you will get the University rate.

Stellenbosch is small and easily navigatable by foot, and the venue is in walking distance to most hotels and B&Bs. You won't need a rental car unless you are planning to stay on a wine farm, or to go on a road-trip before or after the conference.

Accommodation

Stellenbosch offers a wide variety of different accommodation options. Prices range from about US$15 for a hostel to US$200+ for a top-end hotel; most B&Bs will be in the range from US$70 to US$150. Please make your own arrangements. Below is a list of downtown accommodations that have been used before by other meetings. The Stellenbosch tourist office has more alternatives, including wine farms.

Here is a number of guest houses that are between Stias and the central town area, covering different price ranges:

There are plenty of other guest houses / B&B's in town. Previous meeting attendees have also stayed at:

About South Africa and Stellenbosch

South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa, is a country located at the southern tip of Africa. It is divided into nine provinces and has 2,798 kilometres (1,739 mi) of coastline. To the north lie the neighbouring countries of Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe; to the east are Mozambique and Swaziland; while Lesotho is an enclave surrounded by South African territory. South Africa is the 25th largest country in the world by area and the 24th most populous country with over 51 million people. [more at Wikipedia]

Stellenbosch is a town in the Western Cape province of South Africa, situated about 50 kilometres (31 mi) east of Cape Town, along the banks of the Eerste River. It is the second oldest European settlement in the province, after Cape Town. The town became known as the City of Oaks or Eikestad in Afrikaans and Dutch due to the large number of oak trees that were planted by its founder, Simon van der Stel, to grace the streets and homesteads. [more at Wikipedia/]

The cost of living in South Africa is much lower than in Europe or the US. This is particularly true for tourist activities.

Excursions

We will do a joint excursion to the Cape Peninsula on Monday January 19th, those who register for the excursion will pay a single but higher fee for attending the meeting.

Some links for the Stellenbosch Winelands

Ideas for a few extra days:

  • Spend the weekend in Cape Town and explore the city - Table Mountain is certainly a prime target. You could also go to Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden (although the prime bloom will be over then), and even climb Table Mountain from there (although this could be hot and strenuous that time of the year). Cape Town has quite a lot of night life, especially on the weekend.
  • Explore the Stellenbosch surroundings. For this, you should probably get a rental car. There are literally hundreds of wine farms in the surroundings, if you want to go for a tasting. The Paarl Taal Monument (monument to the Afrikaans language) is an interesting cultural experience, and you can go on to the Paarl rock (large granite Boulder). Franschhoeck is a another cute town.
  • Get out to the Cederberg Mountains - a nice mountainous area about 2-3hours north of Cape Town, with nice mountain walks (Wolfberg Cracks, some caves). You could stay at Clanwilliam, or look for a place in the mountain reserve (look for Algeria). The roads are mostly dirt (ie unpaved) but we have driven them in a Polo...
  • Hike the Bosmanskloof Traverse (either as an overnight hike, or as a day-hike), staying in McGregor or Grayton.
  • Go to Calitzdorp for Port tasting, Oudtshoorn for the ostriches (and the very tourist-trappy Cango Caves, a huge limestone cave), and drive some of the "poorts" (ie old Mountain passes), like Swartbergpass into Prince Albert, a quaint Karoo town.
  • Go shark cage diving in Struisbaai.

Exept for the Cape Town weekend, most trips will require a rental car. You can get a driver for the wine tasting tour, which is probably a smart idea in the first place...

Safaris

There are no lions running around in Stellenbosch ;-). The closest ones are at the Drakenstein Lion Park, which is basically a retirement home for lions. There are a few private game reserves within two to three hours drive of Stellenbosch (e.g., Sanbona), but they are not cheap. The closest National Parks with substantial wildlife are Mountain Zebra NP and Addo Elephant NP (about 8-10hrs drive from Stellenbosch, but Addo is quite close to Port Elizabeth, which is one hour by plane from Cape Town). If you plan to visit Krueger NP you should probably fly with a stop-over in Johannesburg, and plan on at least four extra days.

Venue

The meeting will be held at the Wallenberg Center of the Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study (Streetview Schematic map). This is to the east of the Stellenbosch University Campus (Campus map). Most B&B's, hotels, and restaurants are within 10-15mins walk.

Registration

Registration fees will be USD 250 / EUR 200 / GBP 160 / ZAR 2800. Registration is simply by adding your name to the attendance list below. There will be two payment options:

  • Cash (ZAR) on the first day of the meeting. Note that there are plenty of ATMs in Stellenbosch.
  • Bank transfer (USD / EUR / GBP). If you prefer bank transfer, mail me and I will mail you account information in the US, UK, or Germany.

The cost for the excursion will depend on the number of participants; I aim to keep it in a range of USD 70-100, including National Park entrance fees and food. Please register for the excursion by adding your name below.

On arrival, you will receive a single receipt on University letterhead. This will be issued for the currency you used for your payment. The registration fee covers all meals. (Note that STIAS doesn't serve breakfast before the meeting starts, but that should be covered by your B&B).

Attendance

Members: please add yourself here (in alphabetical order by last name) or email a chair-person to be added.

Anya Bagge, Sandrine Blazy, Bernd Fischer, Ralf Lämmel, Julia Lawall, Klaus Ostermann, Markus Püschel, Tiark Rompf, Ina Schaefer, Ulrik Pagh Schultz, Sven-Bodo Scholz, Walid Taha, Tony Sloane, Yannis Smaragdakis, Eelco Visser, Bruce Watson, Eric Van Wyk

Talks and Schedule

Tuesday (6 talks)

Wednesday (5 talks)

Thursday (6 talks)

Excursion

If you want to participate on the pre-meeting excursion (January 19, Boulders Beach and walk at Cape of Good Hope, USD 70-100), please add yourself here (in alphabetical order by last name) or email a chair-person to be added. The tour will include a sandwich lunch and a dinner at Raphael's at Asara, a winery outside Stellenbosch.

Anya Helene Bagge (x2), Sandrine Blazy, Bernd Fischer, Klaus Ostermann, Peter Pepper, Markus Püschel, Christoph Reichenbach, Tiark Rompf, Ulrik Schultz, Sven-Bodo Scholz, Tony Sloane, Walid Taha, Eelco Visser, Eric Van Wyk

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