The Veolia Environment Wildlife Photographer of the Year award is one of the most prestigious photographic awards in the world. Every year thousands of wildlife photographers vie for top honours; an achievement which will secure their careers for the rest of their lives. Runners up positions are not to be sniffed at either, as those chosen few are considered the elite on the international photography scene. You can see 118 of the best wildlife photos in the world on display at the Iziko South African Museum in Cape Town.

Photos have been on display since 9 December 2010 and the exhibition will run until 13 March 2011.

Art is not as well supported in South Africa as it should be. It pales in popularity when compared to music and dance productions and even theatre. It’s seen as a very niche form of entertainment, supported by the cliquey wealthy, but most South African art is, more often than not, reflective of general society and, as such, should be enjoyed by all demographics in the country. This holiday, as a special treat, or just to try something different, we recommend you try some of the following:

South African Photography 1950 – 2010: Apartheid – Struggle – Freedomclaims to be the most comprehensive attempt to showcase South Africa’s history and culture in a range of photographic collections from various famous photographers and publications, including Bonile Bam, Jodie Bieber, David Goldblatt, Gedeon Mendel, Santu Mofokeng, and DRUM magazine.

Johannesburg art gallery, Gallery MOMO, will be hosting a retrospective exhibition by Nigerian photographer JD Okhai Ojeikere in the coming New Year.

From 3 February until 28 March 2011 the Gallery invites visitors to come and explore JD Okhai’s work. The exhibition is titled “Sartorial Moments and the Nearness of Yesterday” and will feature a poignant selection of images that interact with modern notions and nationalism through fashion.

JD Okhai recently celebrated his 80^th birthday and is well-known for his documentation of Nigerian hairstyles common in the 60s and 70s. “Sartorial Moments” was jointly curated by CCA (Centre for Contemporary Art) artistic director, Bisi Silva, Gallery MOMO curator and director, Monna Mokoena and Foto Ojeikere. The exhibition is intended to serve as a reminder to the public that Ojeikere also recorded the independence era fashions with his camera lens.

2010 has seen a mishmash of international musicians play on our local stages, and it looks like 2011 is set to be even bigger! Bands like Crowded House, 30 Seconds to Mars and for the FIFA World Cup, Black Eyed Peas, Shakira and John Legend have wowed southern African crowds no end but there’s still more to come.

International rock band, U2, will be playing to packed stadiums in South Africa on 13 (FNB Stadium, Johannesburg) and 18 (Cape Town Stadium, Cape Town) February 2011. Their 360 degree tour is already making waves in the sea of speculation that is South African fans. This is the first time they return to our soil since the 1998 PopMart Tour.

Cape Town ska band, Captain Stu, released their much-anticipated EP Free Music earlier this month. The EP was produced by SAMA Award-winning producer Neal Snyman and the band is very excited about its latest offering.

While the songs still maintain elements of their signature bouncy, energetic vibes, the new stuff reflects a more mature sound, which the band members believe to be the best of their entire musical career.

There are some obvious progressions from their last album, The Adventures of Captain Stu. New additions to the band include Matt Willis on keyboard and trombone as well as Ryk Otto on drums, but the most glaring difference is the lead singer. James Klopper now fronts the well-known local ska band, and he has bravely sung it through some scepticism from the local music scene.

Local Cape Town band, The Plastics, have just released their second single, “Jukebox”, to radio stations nationwide. This is the second single to come from their critically acclaimed album SHARK. Their first single, “Caves”, reached number one on the TUKSfm SA Top 10 shortly after release.

“Jukebox” was written about six months before the release of SHARK and explores how the modern musical space has made it difficult for new bands to reach the ears of listeners, largely because of the inundation of commercial carbon-copied songs. Lead singer, Pascal Righini, talks about how this affects musicians in a poetic light: “There is such an overload of material coming out that nothing seems to matter and the bravest most relevant music often get pushed aside by mass-produced commercial trash, but the truth remains that good music is relevant and always matters.”

Local Cape Town DJ act, Haezer, has got some great things happening both at home and internationally. He’s known for his signature electro/trash sound and has captured the hearts of many South African party-animals, but he also seems intent on taking over the world.

Haezer has been performing since 2008 and in that time has opened for visiting international DJs such as Steve Aoki, Gtronic, Le Castle Vania and more. But he hasn’t just been spinning the decks on his home ground; this talented DJ has performed in Germany and Australia, touring with many well-known international acts.

He has just recently released a new EP Dominator featuring CIRCE, which showcases remixes by Ikki, Black Dove Underground, Snap Crack, KRFTKDZ and Boomzers. This is his second EP and was released digitally by Italian label Onion Records on BEATPORT.

Of course we all know that part of Die Antwoord’s “charm” is their love of being daring and pretty much telling the clean-cut, law-abiding citizens all over the world to f-off. So it’s no surprise then to hear that they’ve recently been involved in a very public and controversial disagreement with director and photographer Sean Meterlerkamp. And then to top off their divisive and decadent “trouble pie” is the appropriate “cherry”: having their new music video banned from YouTube.

How it all started: Die Antwoord posted what the media is calling a ‘libelous’ statement on their Facebook page: