stevie wonder tours south africa

Reizen op maat

• zonder kinderen
• met kinderen

Zuid-Afrika

• Villa Zuid-Afrika

wild van afrika

• Droomreizen naar Afrika
• Samengesteld door Kathleen (ex-K3) en Steven , letterlijk thuis in Zuid-Afrika
• Bezoek unieke plekjes waar je anders nooit zou belanden
• Nederlandstalige opvolging ter plaatse

Bestemmingen

Land met oneindig veel mogelijkheden. De ultieme vakantiebestemming voor wie van afwisseling houdt.

De natuur in al zijn glorie. Ongerept en betoverend mooi.

Het hart van de jungle. Sta oog in oog met berggorilla’s en chimpansees.

Bakermat van de safari. De ‘grote trek’ in de Serengeti. Kilimanjaro als eyecatcher.

Parel van de Indische Oceaan. Combineerbaar met een onvergetelijke safari. Duikparadijs.

Type reizen

Jouw Afrika-vakantie volledig volgens jouw interesses. Uitgestippeld van A tot Z voor 100% tevredenheid.

• Kies zelf wanneer je reist
• Kies het aantal personen
• Jij beslist of je zelf wilt rijden of liever reist met een chauffeur/gids of een combinatie van beiden
• Samengesteld volgens jouw budget
• Diverse vormen: huwelijksreis, familiereis, fietsvakantie, golfvakantie, …

Groepsreizen

Authentiek reizen door Zuid-Afrika in sfeervolle groep. Vol hoogtepunten maar voldoende tijd om te genieten.

• Vaste vertrekdata
• Met Nederlandstalige groep van max. 17 personen
• Met chauffeur en gids
• Luxe aan scherpe prijs
• Half-pension

Waarom ga je met ons op reis?

Wij kennen afrika.

Als gepassioneerde reizigers en inwoners van Zuid-Afrika hebben wij als geen ander kennis van zake. Dankzij onze 20 jaar ervaring kom je op de meest bijzondere plekjes.

Zelf getest en goedgekeurd

Charmante verblijfplaatsen en verborgen plekjes. Alles door ons onderworpen aan een strenge kwaliteitscontrole.

Opvolging ter plaatse

7 op 7 te bereiken, ook buiten de kantooruren. Wij staan klaar bij vragen of problemen. Reis met een gerust hart.

Alles in eigen beheer

Een persoonlijke aanpak van voorstel tot de effectieve afreis. Je boekt bij de mensen die het uitwerken en opvolgen.

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Gebaseerd op 26 reviews

Met dank aan Steviewondertours maakten we van onze droom om naar Zuid-Afrika te gaan waar! De persoonlijke behandeling van het hele team gaf ons echt een vertrouwd en gerust gevoel om dingen die we wilden zien ook te daadwerkelijk te zien. Van begin tot eind was onze reis top en konden steeds terug op het team beroep doen indien nodig. Dank je wel team StevieWonderTours.

– Tim P

Wat een zalige vakantie fantastisch geregeld door een top team niets is teveel altijd bereikbaar voor al je vragen. Zeer afwisselend programma met allemaal toplocaties . De troef van Steven en Kathleen is ze maken een droomreis op maat. En dan de afsluiter ons verblijf in La Cabriere Country House in Franschoek was een toppertje. Plannen voor naar Zuid Afrika te gaan zeker niet twijfelen boeken bij Stieviewondertours. Dank je Steven en Kathleen voor deze fijne ervaring Milan, Dominique en Marnix

– Dominique Daniels

Net een fantastische groepsreis gehad die tot in de puntjes geregeld was. Zo konden wij onbezorgd genieten van onze vakantie. Een topvakantie met super gidsen. Vooral met onze Corne werd er heel wat afgelachen. Stieviewonder is zeker een aanrader ! Bedankt.

– Nathalie Vandebuerie

Over StievieWonderTours

Reisbureau van kathleen en steven.

Na tal van vakanties naar Afrika, ruilden Kathleen en Steven België in voor het wondermooie Zuid-Afrika. Van daaruit besloten ze hun passie voor het land te delen in de vorm van een reisbureau. Noem hen gerust Afrika-ambassadeurs!

Vanuit hun kantoor in de prachtige wijnlanden van Paarl, op 40 minuten van Kaapstad, vormen en begeleiden ze authentieke kwaliteitsreizen naar Afrika.

Geregistreerd touroperator bij SATSA (Southern Africa Tourism Services Association)

Steven en Kathleen zijn officiële, erkende gidsen door CATTHSETA

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Op een onvergetelijke vakantie naar afrika.

• Je eerste voorstel krijg je al binnen de 5 dagen
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StievieWonderTours - All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (2024)

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South Africa at its best with SWT - StievieWonderTours

• Africa    
• South Africa    
• Western Cape    
• Paarl    
• Paarl - Things to Do    
• StievieWonderTours

In August 2023 we spent 3 amazing weeks in South Africa with our family. StievieWonderTours... read more

Everything was very well organised, a perfect mix of activities and excursions. Our personal travel... read more

South Africa at its best with SWT

We had a wonderful time in South Africa because of StievieWondertours. The organisation was perfect, just like the communication by e-mail. We went to three different locations in 12 days. From the rental car to the accomodations, everything went as planned. In advance we received an extensive schedule with all the information we needed, so we could enjoy the trip for 200% Thank you!

StievieWondertours was a fantastic experience! It was a beautiful trip in South Africa. an individual tour you will never forget. personalized approach = Check a data Sim 5 days before the trip= Check permanently available 24/7= Check nice hotels= Check Baie dankie !

StevieWonder Tours arranged a wonderful trip for us in South Africa. We shared with them what we would like to see and experience and what our physical constraints allowed us to do. They made a perfect schedule for us, which contained all our wishes and gave us enough space to rest during the trip. We went for 2 weeks to the north west: the wildparks and 2 weeks at the south coast. At first we drove ourselves, but we noticed that we could not see as much of the environment as we wanted. When we called SWT they arranged in a few days a driver for us. From this point on it was an absolutely perfect trip. And it was alreay amazing before ;-) The last week we spend at Zanzibar in a great resort to relax. Also wonderful. The staff of StevieWonder Tours was from the first until the last contact most friendly and willing to assist us with all we asked for. Always a quick response and a good advice. We absolutely loved our vacation and recommend StevieWonder Tours to everybody!

StievieWondertours organized a perfect 12-day South Africa introductory trip for our family of 4 and provided a nice variety of locations and accommodations. We were also very well informed in advance. Completely planned according to our wishes and always available and very quick to respond to questions or problems. In short, a very personal approach adapted to the needs of our family. After a long flight we were happy to be met at the airport by a driver from StievieWonderTours to drive us to our first hotel and give us a very handy gift (a data SIM card) for our GPS/road trip. The first morning, when we got up in the beautiful Guesthouse Droom of Katleen and Steven, we were already contacted by Isabelle, an employee of SWT via Whatsapp to ask if everything was to our liking. That same morning we were warmly welcomed by Steven & Kathleen and their kids during breakfast, which was a very pleasant surprise. Such welcome and assistance is highly appreciated by travellers. We could also count on Isabelle's assistance during the rest of the trip, who was permanently available 24/7 with tips or advice if we asked her a question. We visited Cape Town and the Garden Route and everywhere we went we were blown away by the beautiful varied locations and the hotels they chose for us. We would therefore 100% recommend this travel agency to anyone wishing to visit South Africa, Namibia or Tanzania as we have seen the whole team go above and beyond to please the clients and make your trip a dream vacation! We definitely plan to visit other African countries with them. Baie thanks!

When we were planning our very first big trip ever, we conducted a long search for a tour company that met all our wishes. Finally, we contacted StevieWonderTours, and immediately felt at ease with their personal approach. During the trip we could count on their assistance 24/7. Thanks to them, we as 3 young women were able to make a wonderful and safe journey. We hope to travel again with StevieWonderTours in the future. They could not have given us a better introduction to beautiful South Africa.

3 years after our first trip with Stevie Wonder Tours, we came back to South Africa and again we're happy with the support of StevieWonderTours. An amazing trip through a part of the western and eastern cape this time. Thank you again for making us happy. Beautiful places to stay, arrangements in advace like we asked and well guided again. We come back whenever we can :-)

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Western Cape trip - StievieWonderTours

• Africa    
• South Africa    
• Western Cape    
• Paarl    
• Paarl - Things to Do    
• StievieWonderTours

In August 2023 we spent 3 amazing weeks in South Africa with our family. StievieWonderTours... read more

Everything was very well organised, a perfect mix of activities and excursions. Our personal travel... read more

Western Cape trip

The whole trip was great, but Botlierskop game reserve was a category on its own, with the whole staff going the extra mile to make it a magic experience. Many thanks to the whole SWT team for their fantastic help in making our journey an unforgettable one.

It was a wonderful journey, from the activities to the accomodations, from the people who work for Stievie Wonder Tours, from Africa to America from the Himalayas to the desert, everything was so nice :-) We will never forget this trip and we can only speak positive about the way of communication and the way of understanding from our desires towards us. Kathleen & Steven have a really nice business going on with amazing people! Besides from that, Africa is such a wonderful & diverse country which you need to visit!

We had a great trip to South-Africa in october 2022 ! Everything was well organized, follow up, accomodations, really 110 % ! Perfect !

The team organises your trip TOGETHER according to wishes, needs, type of traveller you are , personal interests, no off-the-shelf- standard package. Excellent and quick interactive communication thoughout the journey (from planning to coming home). You receive a full detailed roadbook before departure with ALL the info that you need : reservations, tips for restaurants, tips & tricks for your destionation... All the partners they work with are of high quality, friendly, customer focused. It was the 1st time that I didn't organize our holiday myself and I can only say "wauw, what a perfect organisation & trip : not 1 minute stress nor worries/concerns from start to end !" THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR OUR UNFORGETTABLE HOLIDAY IN SOUTH-AFRICA ! WE WILL BE BACK !

We have a wonderfull trip to Namibie, thankx to stieviewondertours it was everything we wanted everything well organized, definitely recommended thank you

We booked our honeymoon in Namibia through them. From the start to even on the trip, there was very direct communication. Even if things changed, they were immediately managed by heb. Certain hotels got slightly inferior feedback and they adjusted them immediately. Other than that, we were able to leave without any stress. Thank you

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heerlijk Zuid Afrika met SWT - StievieWonderTours

• Africa    
• South Africa    
• Western Cape    
• Paarl    
• Paarl - Things to Do    
• StievieWonderTours

In August 2023 we spent 3 amazing weeks in South Africa with our family. StievieWonderTours... read more

Everything was very well organised, a perfect mix of activities and excursions. Our personal travel... read more

heerlijk Zuid Afrika met SWT

3 years after our first trip with Stevie Wonder Tours, we came back to South Africa and again we're happy with the support of StevieWonderTours. An amazing trip through a part of the western and eastern cape this time. Thank you again for making us happy. Beautiful places to stay, arrangements in advace like we asked and well guided again. We come back whenever we can :-)

From the moment we made plans to travel to South Africa last year, we felt warmly welcomed and well-informed by the Stieviewondertours-team. Due to Covid -19 we had to cancel our original trip but the team moved heaven and earth for us to make similar bookings work for this year. After a long flight, we were happy to find Mister Descence at the airport to drive us to our first hotel and give us a very useful present (a data SIM-card) for our gps/roadtrip. We visited Capetown and the Garden Route and everywhere we came , we were overwhelmed by the beautiful locations and the hotels they picked out for us. We should recommend this travel agency to everyone who wants to visit South Africa, Namibia or Tanzania because we have seen that the whole team goes up and beyond to please the customers and make your trip a dream-holiday!

We landed in Johannesburg and crossed RSA tot Cape Town. The road book of SWT was complete and the car and locations were great. Communication with SWT was without problems en the recommendations made sense.

For the 2nd year in a row and we can only say it was another fantastic trip. Everything arranged down to the last detail no problems and if there was ever something it was immediately resolved. With great gratitude to our personal guide and of course the entire STW tours team. Thanks to google translate 😉

We a garden route tour among friends to South-Africa in November-December, moving up from Cape Town all the way to Port Elisabeth, having overnight stays in about 10 different locations. It was a customized experience, organized by StevieWonderTours, and it was nothing less but excellent! Congrats to the SWT team, who was very communicative, supportive and kind during our trip. Even all the trip preparations were already exciting and created high expectations. They all became trough and we occasionally even got blown away. A well deserved 5 stars score and we warmly recommend STW to those who consider visiting South-Africa in the near future!

The whole trip was great, but Botlierskop game reserve was a category on its own, with the whole staff going the extra mile to make it a magic experience. Many thanks to the whole SWT team for their fantastic help in making our journey an unforgettable one.

StievieWonderTours

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Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.

Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as waiting time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.

STIEVIEWONDERTOURS (Paarl) - All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go

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heerlijk Zuid Afrika met SWT - StievieWonderTours

• Africa    
• South Africa    
• Western Cape    
• Paarl    
• Paarl - Places to Visit    
• StievieWonderTours

In August 2023 we spent 3 amazing weeks in South Africa with our family. StievieWonderTours... read more

Everything was very well organised, a perfect mix of activities and excursions. Our personal travel... read more

heerlijk Zuid Afrika met SWT

3 years after our first trip with Stevie Wonder Tours, we came back to South Africa and again we're happy with the support of StevieWonderTours. An amazing trip through a part of the western and eastern cape this time. Thank you again for making us happy. Beautiful places to stay, arrangements in advace like we asked and well guided again. We come back whenever we can :-)

From the moment we made plans to travel to South Africa last year, we felt warmly welcomed and well-informed by the Stieviewondertours-team. Due to Covid -19 we had to cancel our original trip but the team moved heaven and earth for us to make similar bookings work for this year. After a long flight, we were happy to find Mister Descence at the airport to drive us to our first hotel and give us a very useful present (a data SIM-card) for our gps/roadtrip. We visited Capetown and the Garden Route and everywhere we came , we were overwhelmed by the beautiful locations and the hotels they picked out for us. We should recommend this travel agency to everyone who wants to visit South Africa, Namibia or Tanzania because we have seen that the whole team goes up and beyond to please the customers and make your trip a dream-holiday!

We landed in Johannesburg and crossed RSA tot Cape Town. The road book of SWT was complete and the car and locations were great. Communication with SWT was without problems en the recommendations made sense.

For the 2nd year in a row and we can only say it was another fantastic trip. Everything arranged down to the last detail no problems and if there was ever something it was immediately resolved. With great gratitude to our personal guide and of course the entire STW tours team. Thanks to google translate 😉

We a garden route tour among friends to South-Africa in November-December, moving up from Cape Town all the way to Port Elisabeth, having overnight stays in about 10 different locations. It was a customized experience, organized by StevieWonderTours, and it was nothing less but excellent! Congrats to the SWT team, who was very communicative, supportive and kind during our trip. Even all the trip preparations were already exciting and created high expectations. They all became trough and we occasionally even got blown away. A well deserved 5 stars score and we warmly recommend STW to those who consider visiting South-Africa in the near future!

The whole trip was great, but Botlierskop game reserve was a category on its own, with the whole staff going the extra mile to make it a magic experience. Many thanks to the whole SWT team for their fantastic help in making our journey an unforgettable one.

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Wonderland: the cultural and historical importance of Stevie Wonder

Motown's most enduring and recognisable performer will bring his storied legacy to yas arena, and his fans have every reason to expect that he won't set aside his piano anytime soon..

Stevie Wonder is a man of astonishing achievement. To date he has won 22 Grammys, as well as an Academy Award.

It took 60 years for Stevie Wonder to make his way to Abu Dhabi , a journey he will mark with a concert that will no doubt shake the foundations of Yas Arena this evening, a night when the man with an infectious smile will turn back the pages of time for a few hours. For the capital, this is no trifling event. Indeed, it represents a great leap forward of sorts, into the unmatched musical realm that one could call Wonderland. The engagement represents a leap forward too for the star of the show who, after years of globe-trotting performances, will alight in the Middle East for the first time.

The Motown legend - the only one to still record under the banner of the era-defining label - doesn't get around as much as he used to. But then, what 60-year-old could? During his days dominating the rock and soul charts, he was in constant motion, endlessly touring the world. Today, he takes his music where the spirit moves him. Meaning that he takes his choices of venues very seriously, something befitting a man who in 2009 was named a United Nations Messenger of Peace, as an advocate for people with disabilities.

Actually, he always did take such decisions seriously, even when he was lean, hungry and known as Little Stevie Wonder. Over the course of a fabled 50-year career - this being the golden anniversary of his signing by Berry Gordy to the Motown label - the native of Saginaw, Michigan has perhaps played in more countries as any other entertainer. He only ever took to the sky because he felt something telling him deep within that he would be better for going to a distant land, and so, by extension, would it. As a result, he has left more than echoes of his music in these places.

Wonder was one of the first black Americans to take his music to the land of its roots, touring Africa in the early 1970s. So clear and so urgent was that call to him that he even considered living in Africa, working with blind children. Subsequently, of course, he became the world's leading voice in the campaign to end apartheid in South Africa.

At the same time, he brought home even more authentic African elements, giving bite to the synthesizer-based funk he practically created. This fuelled his most creative period - a time of four consecutive magnum opus albums that swept to Grammy-winning success in their day and remain classics now.

Wonder, of course, dominated music then, something we are reminded of every time Superstition, Higher Ground or Living for the City streams from a radio - which they still do, endlessly, hundreds of thousands of times every year, keeping him, like the Rolling Stones, among the world's wealthiest sexagenarians. But he is no golden oldie; remarkably, those old songs, sung and played with as much relish now as then, sound just as fresh, just as relevant today.

He is a man of astonishing achievement, having recorded more than 30 Top 10 hits in the United States and accepted 22 Grammys - more than any other solo artist - as well as a Lifetime Achievement Award and an Academy Award. He has also been inducted into the Rock and Roll and Songwriters' halls of fame.

If his newer albums, which continue to display his ever-regenerative creativity, no longer dominate the charts, they do, nonetheless, provide comforting reassurance that Stevie Wonder is still here, still strong in voice and as youthfully optimistic as he was when he was crooning Uptight, (Outta Sight) and I Was Made to Love Her. Several generations of musicians and singers have covered and sampled his music, with rap and hip-hop artists picking his catalogue as clean as a Thanksgiving turkey - listen again to the scalpel-sharp compositions Pastime Paradise and Village Ghetto Land and behold the birth of a new musical order, later to find new life as Coolio's Gangsta's Paradise and Warren G's Ghetto Village.

Even so, a masterpiece like I Wish can be sampled a thousand times - even by Will Smith - but only out of Stevie's mouth can it conjure all the possibilities a human soul can hope for. In other words, as two other Motown legends, Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell once noted, ain't nothing like the real thing, baby.

This is why Stevie's visit to Abu Dhabi is such major news.

Bringing him here underlines once again the emirate's ambitions to establish itself as a cultural and entertainment centre. Indeed, prefacing Stevie's arrival, over the past 18 months, Flash Entertainment, the promoters of the concert, have delivered an enviable roster of talent to Yas Arena, including Beyoncé, Kanye West, Aerosmith, Prince, the Kings of Leon, Guns 'N Roses, Eric Clapton, and Thirty Seconds to Mars. For its part, the Flash Entertainment spokesperson Shatha al Romaithi said simply that the organisation was "delighted that Stevie agreed to perform on Yas Island and bring our Show Weekends to a fitting finale."

For Wonder, the decision to play that "fitting finale" in Abu Dhabi was not as straightforward as it may seem. Yes, one assumes, he will be well compensated for his troubles. That should hardly be surprising. He is, after all, an instantly recognisable figure, with dedicated fans in every conceivable age group. (Consider, too, that it was Stevie Wonder who broke the bank for all rock stars back in the early 1970s when he shrewdly negotiated a $32 million contract from Motown.) But it takes more than that. Wonder, who had regularly toured Europe as far back as the 1960s, did not play a single concert on the continent for eight years before suddenly returning for a major tour in 2008. As ever, it only mattered that it felt right to him.

In these decisions is a looking glass into the essence of Stevie Wonder. A life, any life, is much like a song; it's about filling time and space, about form, metre and rhythm. Thus, the title of my biography of the man I call the Mozart of Soul - Signed, Sealed and Delivered: The Soulful Journey of Stevie Wonder.

That long (and still unfinished) journey has not merely been from the hardscrabble streets of Saginaw - where he was born Stevland Hardaway Judkins in 1950, the blind son of an alcoholic, failed musician who beat his sons and wife, then forced her to sell her body to the night - to the pantheon of contemporary popular music. It is also one from the deepest place within Wonder's soul. It is said, with only slight exaggeration, that Wonder never sleeps. "Stevie time," is what his associates call the erratic rhythm of life around him - though he may have coined the most knowing phrase for it, in the title of his brilliant anti-apartheid anthem The Clock of Now.

Relieved of the common routines of daily living, he is bathed only in the visions of his mind. What we hear in his music is not what we hear in other artists' music. To Wonder, the cosmic can happen at any given moment. As he puts it, "I understand that when you don't hear anything and then you hear this very high frequency, that's the sound of the universe."

Not that Wonder is caged by his own genius. To be sure, he has meandered into troubled times. But these periods have never blunted his love of life and of mankind. This has allowed him to maintain his unrelentingly sunny nature and moral compass. There is, after all, something envious in that keyboard-wide smile of his. It is as if he knows he has something more to smile about than the rest of us.

For one thing, celebrity is something he never courted, never felt comfortable with. This is one of the many dichotomies of Stevie Wonder - that a man who speaks for and to so many, and can portray in the sweetest, most evocative words and music the precise nature of love, is in fact at ease with so few. Always though, his music has saved him.

It was the breadth and splendour of his work in the Seventies that took Stevie several light years deeper into his journey, from the infectious street rhythms of Motown to the metaphysical bliss of Talking Book, Innervisions, Fulfillingness' First Finale, and Songs in the Key of Life. Anyone looking for clues to anything that can be defined as soul or funk or rap or hip-hop can find all of them in these works, and much, much more that cannot be defined. Wonder began working in digital formats before that word had any meaning for musicians. Calling him the fountainhead would be an understatement, since he still makes music that breaks new ground -higher ground, if you will.

Signed, Sealed and Delivered is not the story of a saint. The contradictions that streak through Wonder's life do not paint him as perfect, nor a model for anyone to follow. There simply is though no other artist like Stevie Wonder. It is, rather, a case study in how and why a unique man has filled the time and space of so many lives and imaginations. His appeal is written in his name, a sense - actually, many senses - of wonder. For me, the joy started a journey to places I didn't know could even exist. As he moves deeper into his sixties, how many more places will he take us? The answer, as John Lennon once sang, is written in the stars. And in Stevie's mind.

How much should we envy Stevie for what he sees? The barriers of conventionalism simply do not exist in his private sight lines. He can, and probably has, done what we can only dream of doing. There was the time when he addressed the United Nations General Assembly on the evils of apartheid and, feeling the groove, broke into an impromptu song.

A similar groove, on an obscure Bob Marley record, led him to hop on a plane to Jamaica and jam with Marley, then cut an album not to copy Marley's reggae beat but to fuse it with US soul, a profound milestone in rock and roll. Wonder does not jump into something idly, or without real conviction. He laboured long and hard to make the martyred Dr Martin Luther King's birthday a national holiday in America - he was in the gallery of the Congress when the bill was passed - and to rally a flood tide of entertainers to boycott apartheid-era South Africa's Sun City resort. His has never been the superficial role of a dilettante. During the apartheid fight, he was arrested outside of the South African embassy in Washington DC.

Today, many of the battles he fought have been won. The Motown sound that once was so daring, and was in many ways the soundtrack of the American civil rights movement, long ago achieved its initial goal by crossing over into the mainstream, becoming infused into the marrow of contemporary pop.

There's no deeper message in soul music than pure enjoyment, And this is why Stevie Wonder persists, why he comes to Abu Dhabi. He is nothing if not walking history himself. Forgotten now is how utterly relevant he was even at the age of 13, when the joyous noise of Fingertips (Part 2) wafted from transistor radios through the humid air above the Lincoln and Washington memorials on August 28, 1963, the day Dr. King delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech. It was then the No1 song in America and a testament to the gospel joy that stoked the passion of the black struggle.

The closing of this circle happened when a black man was elected president. For Wonder, it was beyond anything he had dreamed of. He had laboured hard for Barack Obama's election, and at the inauguration stole the show with a rollicking set. Last year, he received the Gershwin Prize one of the top honours for any musician, at the White House, presented to him by the president for whom in many ways he had helped clear a path.

All of this, then, is a prelude to every Stevie Wonder song in his extensive catalogue. He walks through the history he has written. Once, nothing was beyond his musical grasp. His breathtaking spectrum of idioms was such that he was able to make your blood boil with the racial bile of Living in the City, then, barely taking a pause, turn your insides gooey with the romantic yearning of You Are the Sunshine of My Life, then get you on your feet grooving to the exhilaration of Sir Duke and Master Blaster. Wonder had all the bases covered: R&B, blues, jazz, rock, soul. When FM radio was young, he lifted the roof of what had been a white rock bastion, making room for the fusions he unleashed. When the Rolling Stones enlisted him to open for them on their infamous Exile on Main Street American tour, crowds left humming his tunes.

That was so long ago, too long for many to care to quantify, but when Wonder sits at his piano and begins tinkling the keys tonight, this rock elder will be very much alive and kicking, his genius and instincts still keen. Friends talk about him as if he were plotting for yet another comeback, gauging when time and space will merge with creative impulse and detonate a new round of recording. A man named John Glover may know him better than anyone. He still is the only person to ever play in a group with Stevie - when they were both pubescent performers back on the streets of Detroit.

Glover, who subsequently moved to Motown himself as a producer, thinks he can read his old friend's mind. "With Stevie," he says, "it's always, 'Hey man, wait till you hear what I'm doin'.' And I believe he's got something up his sleeve. Something that he really believes is the best he's ever done. Nobody's ever made important albums at [his] age, not the Stones, Dylan, McCartney, anyone. They accept that. But Stevie doesn't."

That is a constant with Wonder, the sense of anticipation and timing that give birth to his next brilliant work. It may never happen, but if it does, we all will sit up and listen. Hard. Mozart cannot be ignored.

At the very least, during those few historic hours at the Yas Arena - yet more historic hours for Steve Wonder - the world will stop and listen. And, in many ways, discernible or perceived, Abu Dhabi will never be quite the same. That's what being in Wonderland is all about.

Mark Ribowsky's book Signed, Sealed and Delivered: The Soulful Journey of Stevie Wonder is published by John Wiley & Sons. He is currently working on a book about the Beastie Boys.

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Stievie Wondertours is really a... - StievieWonderTours

• Africa    
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• StievieWonderTours

In August 2023 we spent 3 amazing weeks in South Africa with our family. StievieWonderTours... read more

Everything was very well organised, a perfect mix of activities and excursions. Our personal travel... read more

Stievie Wondertours is really a DROOM-team

We had a wonderful time in South-Africa, a 17 days trip organised by the wonderful team of Stievie Wondertours. We started in Johannesburg and went to Krugerpark to spot the Big Five. We were lucky to see them all. It was really great to drive with your own car through a world full of animals. In Hippo Hollow we had dinner and saw hippo's in the garden. We also went to Cape Town and ended our trip in Franschoek in the guesthouse DROOM , also really a dream.... If you ever want to go to Africa, I just want to recommend you Stievie WonderTours. They really organise your trip and give you the best advise! The whole team is thinking together with you off everything and if you ever have a question, you always got an answer in a few hours....

We just came back from a 2 weeks road trip in South-Africa, organised by StevieWonderTours. From the roadbook & local SIM card received upfront, up to the vouchers & special arrangements at the destination, everything was organised very professionally. We even got contacted pro-actively when our flight out of BRU was cancelled, offering the necessary support & adjusting the program accordingly. This allowed us to enjoy the beautifulness of South-Africa even more, from the BIG 5 in the Kruger to the Ostriches in Oudtshoorn, from the panoramic route in the north to the garden route in the south, from the relaxing atmosphere at the SA vineyards to the city vibes in Cape Town. Keep up to good job SWT & Droom team.

We look back at an incredible South African adventure organized and managed by StevieWonderTours. Not only did they make a great holiday planning and selected great stays but what made the biggest difference is the guidance and tips they gave us during the trip when unexpected situations occurred. We would absolutely recommend the organization for any trip as they delivered an incredible experience for our whole family.

We are back home a few days from our tour of South Africa. For each of us (there were 5 of us), it was a beautiful, fun, exciting, sometimes sad and educational journey from start to finish. The first surprise was that, after a few hours on South African soil, we were called by Isabelle to ask how the trip had gone. We were followed from beginning to end by StievieWonderTours. We could go to them with any question and any uncertainty was removed by them. Even after office hours and in the weekend. Not that we had any real problems. Sometimes we just wanted to share an incredible experience with them or give them a tip. We always got a response. Never before have we been so well followed up and guided during a trip. There is no doubt about which organisation we will book our next South Africa trip with.

We enjoyed it! Everything was very well prepared. Everything was described from departure to arrival. If you had any questions, you could always reach them by email or telephone and you will receive an answer very quickly. This is the way to travel if you don't want to worry. Thank you!!!!

A few weeks ago, we traveled to South Africa for the first time. Thanks to StievieWonderTours, we had an amazing experience. Even though we booked it last minute, they made sure that everything we wanted to visit was included during our stay: from snorkeling to game drives and much more :-) We felt safe and comfortable during our whole stay, since the StievieWonderTours-crew was available for help at all times. Thank you so much for this wonderful experience! We will be back for sure!