What's in the name?

By Hendrik Marais

Forum Homini? It's a somewhat unusual name for a super luxury hotel in the Cradle of Humankind - with a serious fine dining restaurant facility. So why WAS it called Forum Homini?

Let us start with the "cradle" - the place where something begins. Isn't the very idea that we can look at the rolling savannah just beyond Johannesburg and in our minds imagine how humans developed - right here - as a result of the very same savannah we are looking at? It's a wonderfully romantic concept!

Of course, we know that humans did not evolve exclusively on these hills. Most changes, dead ends and selections took place across Africa. That does not diminish the romance of knowing that most of the oldest hominid bones, the long dead embers of the first camp fires of a million years ago, and many of the stone tools carefully crafted by pre-humans have all been found exactly here - Kromdraai, Blaauwbank, Swartkrans, Sterkfontein, Dri Molen.

Slowly, slowly... this is where it happened, over the last four or five million years.

Fossils of rain forest trees and animals have given us a picture of the environment before it started to dry out and the slowly encroaching grasslands, bushveld and treed koppies of the savannah became the norm. This slow but dramatic change allowed the forest plants and animals to co-evolve and adapt together and to each other.

Small forest lions grew bigger, stronger, faster while shy forest antelope turned into huge herds of strong, fast and self-confident gemsbok, eland and wildebeest. Apes leaving the forest found their recipe for survival in walking upright, freeing hands to throw stones and dig for roots. These same hands would later make tools, tend fires and make it possible for us to become what we are. The apes learnt to use their limbs - and then they learnt to use their minds.

They say the rest is history: but a history we will never fully understand. Through fossils, D.N.A. analysis, brain research and many high tech scientific methods, we are learning about the earth, ecology and about ourselves. Listening to the dire predictions of global warming, we can only hope that we'll gain the necessary knowledge and wisdom in time to survive another potential catastrophe - this time of our own making!

Forum Homini - a place where people can talk to each other, enjoy being together, celebrate being human, appreciate good food and art, luxuriate in the comfort of the suites. It is here, in the African savannah where it started, that we can use our intellect whilst enjoying the legacy of those that have gone and contemplate the thousands of generations that came before us.

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Wine Tasting with Gourmet Dinner: Ernst & Co

Wednesday, 2 May 2007
Time: 19h00
Dinner: R250pp (including wine option)

Ernst & Co Wines is a dedicated family affair with a passion for the fruit of the vine. Husband and wife team, Ernst and Gwenda Gouws, assisted by their winemaker daughter, Ezanne are the soul and drive behind this refined wine company in the Cape Winelands.

Education and 30 years experience in the South African and international wine industry, facilitate the Gouws family wine concern to focus on their core business of offering consumers high quality wines at realistic prices.

French Gastronomic Dinner: Provence

Wednesday, 16 May 2007
Time: 19h00
Dinner: R 220pp + R 120 (wine option)

Gastronomy in Provence is not an occasional restaurant outing, but a day-to-day experience, a convivial celebration of the earth and what it has to offer. Join us in Haute-Provence, where the cuisine always has a hint of garlic and a scent of sunshine with fresh common ingredients including artichokes, olives, chick peas & lentils, fresh fish, herbs and young vegetables which have characterized Provençal cuisine for centuries.

The Provençal sweet tooth had, for centuries, contented itself merely with fresh and dried fruit, locally produced honey, and almonds-all combined into chewy nougat.

Photos from our last events:

Mother & Daughter Pamper Day

Spoil your mom - and yourself - with a mother-daughter pamper day. Start off with a relaxing Tai chi session, followed by a gourmet brunch. The pampering continues with a sound therapy session and a head, neck and back massage. Later, enjoy a cooking class before ending off a perfect day with a "tea ceremony" in the Zen garden.

Cost: Blissful pamper package valued at R1600 per mother-daughter pair.

Date: Saturday, 12 May 2007

Also Remember:

Saturday brunch
After a well deserved sleep-in on a Saturday morning you can treat yourself to a laidback 5 course brunch and a glass of sparkling wine, served from 10:00 - 14:30 every Saturday. Cost R150.00 per person.

Sunday Jazz Lunch
Enjoy live Jazz music with a gastronomic 6 course Sunday lunch, served from 12:00pm - 16:00pm. Cost R245.00 per person.

Reserve now to avoid disappointment. Also open for breakfast, lunch & dinner

Please note children over 12 are welcome at full price.

Mid Year Business Retreats:

Business woman's packages

Breakaway opportunity for busy business woman alone or with a friend with the option to have partner join for dinner, bed and breakfast. Includes 3 x gourmet meals, 2 x in-room massage sessions and plenty of relaxation. Packages from R2400.00pp

Business lunches

Need to treat a colleague, client or supplier? Why not impress them with a midweek business lunch at roots. Lunches: R135pp wine optional additional @ R55pp

June At A Glance:

Wine Tasting with gourmet dinner: Neil Ellis Estate
Wednesday 6 June 2007

French Gastronomic dinner: Dordogne
Wednesday: 20 June 2007

Father's Day!
Enjoy a special Whiskey tasting evening with your dad. Try unusual Whiskeys for the connoisseur palate.
Friday: 15 June 2007 at 19:00
Dinner & Tasting: R300pp

For more information on roots or Forum Homini please visit our website on www.forumhomini.co.za or contact us on 011 668 7000.

I hope you enjoyed reading our newsletter and I look forward to sending similar correspondence out to you on a regular basis.

Warm regards,