For almost 40 years, British Airways’ iconic High Life Magazine has provided passengers all over the world with a uniform view of the worlds of travel, glamour, fashion, style and luxury. Now, in a major change of policy it is to have a regional edition – for South Africa. More than 50% of High Life South Africa will be devoted to the continent.

“British Airways flights in South Africa are operated by franchisee Comair who previously published their own in flight magazine, Horizons,” commented Clare Broadbent CEO of Cedar, the creative and commercial content agency who publish High Life. ‘Now, as High Life approaches its fortieth birthday, we are extremely proud to launch High Life South Africa, High Life is already a leading global brand, but now BA customers flying in South Africa will have their own bespoke edition. Extending our magazine brands across channel and region is part of Cedar’s vision for growth and we are really excited by the opportunities for Cedar, as a creative and commercial content agency, in this region.’

“The challenge when making changes to a magazine as well-loved as High Life is to retain the integrity and soul of the existing publication which we have done by hiring the very best journalists and designers and producing a magazine which we are proud of and passengers are going to love.”

Fifty Wildest African Experiences is the theme of the premier issue. From AfrikaBurn, the annual Karoo festival where ‘burners’ swing gigantic balls of fire through the air, to a Pygmy-guided encounter with lowland gorillas in the Central African Republic, to ‘Nollywood’, Nigeria’s edgy film industry, this colourful collection defines the exciting hybrid of natural wonder and urban madness that is Africa today.

Jazz songbird Sibongile Khumalo is the subject of the issue’s ‘Destination Africa,’ which features a frequent African traveller of note, and in each edition a celebrity will chose their own ‘Fabulous Five’ tips to enjoying theatre, market, city, bed and club. Other articles range from an expert’s guide to running the Two Oceans Half Marathon to the latest bar trend sweeping the region – molecular cocktails.