We would like to introduce our Complex Executive Chef, Romarlin Govender, who joined the Indaba Team in May 2023 with loads of experience under his chef's belt. Romarlin grew up in KZN and straight out of college, joined CHC Catering in his hometown of Pietermaritzburg under the guidance of Chef-Owner, Wade Coetzer.This busy commercial kitchen prov...

From April until June 2023, Gin School at Indaba Hotel have the amazing Old Packhouse Distillery in the sensorium for tantalising tastings and fun foodie pairings. We love the story behind this gin as well as the smoothness, purity and refreshing nature of their range of gins, so we had some burning questions for Old Packhouse Distillery's founder,...

We know a thing or two when it comes to creating a luxurious, hotel-style home! Hotel-style designs can make your home look and feel luxurious. Let's explore the best ways to give your home a hotel-style feel without breaking the budget.  Create an Inviting Atmosphere   Creating a home you're proud of and enjoy spending time in start...

How can South Africans work from anywhere?

Ok, maybe not everywhere. But the Indaba Hotel, Spa & Conference Centre can offer South Africans an escape from the dull drag that can be working from home.

It's probably been a whole year since you last stepped into the office, and you're likely pretty grateful for that! Still, the novelty of being close to the fridge, lounging about in PJs or stringing up that endless washing line of yoga pants has probably worn off.

Also read: Our expert advice for South Africans working from home.

Almost 365 days after Uncle Cyril declared lockdown, we still find ourselves ploughing on through peculiar times. Take it from us; we're living the paradox! Indaba means discussions. Pronounced "In-dah-bah", it comes from the isiZulu word meaning "business" or "matters". Usually, this requires great gatherings. Meetups.

Forgotten about your dear old mum? No fear! The Indaba Hotel is here to save Mothers Day. From picnics to bottomless bubbly to buffets to gin and chocolate pairings and spa spoils, there are plenty of affordable ways to show mom you truly cherish her.

1. Book a Bottomless Bubbly and Oyster Brunch

Kick back and relax with a glass or two of bubbly and make more memories with mom. Our Mother’s Day Jazz Brunch at the Indaba Hotel’s luxury Epsom Restaurant takes place on Sunday 9 May 2021 and she'll feel thoroughly spoil by our soothing live entertainment, bottomless bubbly, oysters, smoked salmon, scrumptious lamb, charcuterie platters, cheeseboards and lots more – definitely not your average breakfast1 Plus, we will even include a gorgeous gift for Mom absolutely free.

Cost: Only R235 per person.

Book: Call Didi now on 0118406600 to book.

T&Cs: Our Mother’s Day Brunch buffet will be open until 13H00 so lots of time to relax and enjoy precious moments with family and friends. Bottomless bubbly will be served from 10H00 to 13H00 only (strictly over 18’s only). Kids under 5 years eat free and kids 6-12 years only pay half price!

Indaba's in-room amenities; the 2-in-1 luxury Hair & Body Bars are water free, plastic free and cruelty free. They are born out of a proudly South African factory which adheres to the highest standards, using locally sourced ingredients. You might recognize this product as the ZERO bar, which can be purchased at your local beauty stor...

Summer days in Johannesburg are best enjoyed outdoors with a picnic, soaking up the warm sun and fresh breeze. Whether you want to go for the classic country-style picnic or are looking for something a bit more adventurous, there are some great spots in Johannesburg to enjoy the outdoors. A Country-style picnic offers a picturesque background and a...

Introduction For many, New Year's Eve is a time of partying the night away with fireworks dancing across the sky and a DJ spinning the ultimate song of the year. For others it might be a quiet time of reflection and perhaps taking the opportunity to think about resolutions and goals that lie ahead. However you decide to spend New Year's Eve, end 20...

This holiday season, ditch the expensive travel plans and opt for a staycation instead. With a little creativity, you can easily turn your home and local surroundings into a memorable festive and cosy retreat.  What is a staycation? A staycation is a vacation you take in your home country or city, very often it's close to where you live. It's ...

Oh. The endless trials of lockdown. Between trying to figure out how to wear a mask and perfecting your homemade pizza, many of us are also educating children in small apartments and trying to establish new office boundaries. We hate to break it to you, but working from home might just be your new normal.

These sure are unusual times. Take it from us, we’re living the paradox!

Indaba means discussions. Pronounced “In-dah-bah” it comes from the isiZulu word meaning "business" or "matters". Normally, this requires great gatherings. It’s all about ideas. Sharing innovations. Bringing people together. Meetups.

No. Not meat ups - although we’re great at that too!

As meetings go virtual, we’ve looked to our business professionals for their expert tips on working remotely.

How to set up a productive workspace

Find a place with limited noise (we know, easier said than done if you’re sharing the house with the cooped-up kids), great light and near to a well-lit window. Sunlight is said to boost productivity and is better for your mood that that dark corner. So is a comfortable chair. Create a space of your own. This way, it’s easier to distinguish between work and unwinding. How do you know if it’s good enough? You should be able to leave/pack up/ignore your workspace at the end of a day, but easily resume the next morning.

Encourage efficiency

Lumka Dhlabo, Key Accounts Manager for Indaba Group recommends a regular schedule and may other professionals agree. “My tip for working from home during lockdown is to have a routine. I wake up at the same time every day, take my bath, prepare my workstation and make myself breakfast. I find that this helps because I wake up with a purpose every day”.

After you’ve gotten dressed (all the expert agree on this one - nothing screams futility as much as working in your PJs), grab a coffee and sit down clear your inbox. Give yourself 45 minutes to suss out what’s vital. After that, limit your email-checks and alerts to two or three times a day (again before lunch and lastly before the end of the workday for urgent matters). This is step one to freeing up actual work time.

Another neat hack to try is the oldest productivity trick in the book - the Pomodoro Method. Your brain needs short periods of rest. Set a timer for 25-minutes and assign yourself a task. Focus on it for the period without any interruptions. When the beeper rings off, take a five-minute break to regroup. Make a cup of tea and refocus or set up the next task. Knowing there’s less than half an hour per session means you’re likely to work at your best. Studies show that this mental attitude can increase your output. Give it a try with the Tomato-Timer.com website.

Since we’re talking about rest. Likewise, lunchtime is not a treat, it’s a necessity. Remember to give yourself a proper break - a shared lunchtime is also an opportunity to be present for your family.

New to Zoom? Here’s your etiquette education

Candice Geyser, Key Accounts Manager for Indaba Group, has some useful tips.

“Think of a Zoom Meeting as a face-to-face meeting and conduct yourself as you would if you were all present in the same room. Join early – up to five minutes before the meeting start time. If you haven’t used Zoom before, be sure to download the program beforehand. Check your position and try to avoid backlight from bright windows. Mute your microphone when not talking”

Even though you might be wearing your pantoffels (let’s be honest, we all are) don’t forget you are on camera. Remain professional and try to avoid doing other tasks, such as looking at your phone.

Candice also suggests we get creative. “COVID-19 is forcing lots of businesses to cut back on travel and in-person meetings. That means web-based presentations are more important than ever. Start repackaging your pitch into a full-blown virtual presentation. Be prepared to do more of your pitch over the web instead of on-site meetings”.

Free online resources to up your at-home worklife

Need a crash course in managing your team remotely? There are some great free resources for creating beautiful presentations and advice for grappling with this new balancing act. Here are our favourites.

1. LinkedIn, The Learning Blog: From free career courses to mindfulness trick, this is a great collection of professional working advice.
2. Canva: The easiest and free graphic design platform around. Use it to ramp up the beauty of your next presentation.
3. Slack: This is the go-to business chat for many companies, but even more useful is this compliation of remote work tips.
4. Hubspot: If you're in marketing, this blog is packed with tips, resources and how-tos.
5. Google Drive: Beyond search, this is a wonderful collabration platform. Create with your co-workers using a shared document, a video meeting or by creating an email list or a chat room. Here are more of Google's tips for working remotly.

Steeped in history as one of the oldest accommodation options in Fourways, Johannesburg, the charming Indaba Hotel now welcomes guests with a refreshing facelift and spruced up restaurants, including the new Bistro 407, that honour the hotel’s countryside roots.

History of the Indaba Hotel

At 67 years old this year, the Indaba Hotel was first known as the Little Rose Neath Hotel and straddled the outskirts of Johannesburg in the 1950s. Back then, the journey was a day's trip from the centre of Johannesburg, but it was one willingly made for the hotel’s sumptuous Sunday lunches.

The Indaba Hotel has been revamped

Today, the spacious Indaba Hotel is still true to its warm country house feel of 1952. Thatched rooms temper the weather and a revamped reception area, filled with light, is imbued with the greens and golds so characteristic of Johannesburg’s highveld grasslands. Sprawling Egoli eventually gobbled up those flaxen fields, bringing the city limits closer to the countryside, but the Indaba remains a calm, homely oasis despite the energy of bustling Fourways beyond its walls.

Rob Mickel, Director of the Indaba Group of Hotels proudly enthuses how, ‘Everyone has fond memories of the Indaba Hotel with many people celebrating a special occasion with us over the years. We really are part of the Fourways history. With the recent development of Fourways, we decided to upgrade and improve facilities whilst still maintaining the country look and feel, and “Mein Host” hospitality for which the Indaba Hotel Fourways is renowned’.

New Bistro 407 launched at Indaba Hotel

A new a la carte restaurant opened on 4 March 2019 within the well-established Epsom Restaurant, which remains synonymous with splendid buffet breakfast displays and excellent lunch variety. Bistro 407 is a smaller, more intimate eatery within the larger hotel dining area and is now open for more upscale dinners.

The name of the new bistro is another nod to the history of the Indaba Hotel, as the property began its life located on lot 407 of the original farm, Zevenfontein. More heritage commemoration can be found in the two new signature cocktails, namely the 407 Lavender Pina Colada and the decadent 407 Toasted Marshmallow Daiquiri, which features Toasted Marshmallow Flavouring and White Chocolate Sauce. Other tempting Bistro 407 menu options include Scottish Salmon, Wild mushroom & sun-dried tomato risotto, Lamb Noisette, perfect Smoked Pork Belly and the 407 Death by Chocolate dessert.

The last balmy summer days are perfect for al fresco dining on the wonderful outdoor deck or there’s Prive, the private dining room, which seats 12, for cosy winter dinners.

In addition to Bistro 407, other Indaba Hotel upgrades include the spruced up Courtyard Bar, which is an outdoors cafe set below the tall trees of Johannesburg’s urban forest and centred around an original farmhouse feature, a sweet 1950s-era fountain. There are also three swish new Executive Suites, three luxe Junior Suites and the very popular Indaba Gin School, supported by Inverroche.

These developments are the first completions of the Indaba’s 20/20 Vision, says Rob Mickel. ‘We are also extending our current Kgotla Venue with the new multi-purpose venue being 1200 square meters under roof. Ideal for large conferences and events this venue will be open in August 2019. Further extensions to our Mowana Spa, with a dedicated pedicure deck, will also be completed this March and current bathroom upgrades in our 9th block family and queen twin deluxe rooms are well underway. All upgrades and improvements will be completed by the beginning of 2020’.

What does it take to make a hotel feel like home?

The Indaba Hotel in Fourways is currently operating as a quarantine hotel facility for a group of repatriated South African residents.

With just under a day's notice to prepare bedrooms and gather resources, the hotel team stepped up to cater for their unusual guests. The last of the repatriated residents arrived at 3am on Friday, 1 May 2020.

"We met on Friday for briefings from the South African Government Department of Health and got all of the correct standard operating procedures in place", explains Crystal Muller, the hotel's marketing administrator. For example, there are now on-site healthcare providers to conduct regular testing for Covid-19 symptoms.

The Indaba Hotel staff have also had to adjust their skillsets. Steve Smit acts typically as the banqueting manager but is currently the Indaba Hotel's health and safety officer for repatriation groups. "The most important part of making us Covid-19 ready was conducting comprehensive risk assessments for every process and employee in the workplace. These were then translated into Safe Working Procedures, and we had intense training sessions", says Steve. "A great deal of ongoing research is done to ensure that we adhere to world-class protocols to keep everyone safe. We require hundreds of litres of alcohol-based sanitiser to clean every surface that guests or staff come into contact with and compliance with set protocols is also strictly monitored".

Thuli Ntuli, the sous chef, knows all about adjustment. She is hard at work as the mealtime miracle worker and shares a little about new protocols. "Preparing food for quarantine has been very difficult because everything has changed. When the delivery arrives we sanitise all the packages, even the hands and feet of drivers before they are allowed in the kitchen. The chefs are wearing masks and gloves all the time but we change gloves regularly as we move to another task. For example, if I am buttering rolls, I would wash and sanitise my hands, put on gloves and then start working with the rolls. After that, I'll wash and sanitise and put on a new set of gloves to start the next task. Masks are changed three times during a single shift and we sanitise our work stations after every task. We have always followed these processes but it is now done more frequently. I need a good hand lotion as my hands are starting to look like an older woman's! Everybody is pulling their weight and doing the best they can under the difficult circumstances we are all facing".

As you know, the Indaba Hotel is an oasis in the concrete jungle with 17 hectares of landscaped indigenous gardens, 2 dams and lots of gorgeous “me time” spots where you can escape the hustle and the bustle of the city.

A destination this beautiful attracts an interesting mix of guests from local and international conference guests to chilled out spa go-ers, and our absolute favourite; International Leisure Guests on a 1 or 2 night stop-over on their way to Southern Africa’s beautiful Big 5 Destinations. All Guests have 1 thing in common (other than their love for our Epsom Breakfast and Chiefs Boma African Dining Experience) — they are all here to visit us and we make sure we give them a true INDABA WELCOME.