It’s very easy to rave about South Africa as a holiday destination. From spectacularly beautiful scenery to vibrant cities and some of Africa’s best game viewing, it offers visitors a warm welcome, top quality accommodation, excellent food and wines, great service and real value for money.

The famed diversity relates not only to the landscape. This is a country with 11 official languages and some 20 ethnic groups. Meeting the locals is one of the pleasures of being in South Africa.

Apartheid has been erased from the statute books, but its relics remain in many guises. One of them is the townships – huge residential areas on the outskirts of cities and towns created by the policy of racial segregation. Every city offers organised township tours; do go on one, the experience is unforgettable in so many ways, particularly if you stay overnight at one of the welcoming B&Bs.


Table Mountain with Devil's Peak in the background

The Glorious Cape

Its setting, cradled between flat-topped Table Mountain and the sweep of Table Bay, makes cosmopolitan Cape Town one of the world’s loveliest cities. Head for the lively Victoria and Alfred Waterfront to stroll among the shops, restaurants and smart hotels, listen to live music and visit the big African crafts market. Then step aboard a boat trip to Robben Island where Nelson Mandela spent years of his life incarcerated.

Take the cable car up Table Mountain for panoramic views, and meander on pathways among boulders and wild flowers. In the city centre, walk through the tranquil Company’s Gardens, visit museums and art galleries, admire the colonial architecture and discover the colourful Bo-Kaap area.

Fringed by white-sand beaches, the Cape Peninsula has a network of walking trails amid mountain, forest and the Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve. Keep an eye out for southern right whales in early summer, and don’t miss Boulders – a sheltered cove where hundreds of jackass penguins make their homes in the sand dunes and are a delight to watch.


Clifton Beach, Cape Town

Inland, the Cape Winelands offer spectacular scenery, graceful Cape Dutch manor houses, leafy towns and Michelin-starred restaurants.

Heading into the Southern Cape, Route 62 negotiates towering mountain passes, winds among orchards and vineyards, and snakes across vast purple plains to reach Oudtshoorn (‘ostrich capital of the world’) and the dramatic Cango Caves. The dizzying Outeniqua Pass descends to the coast and the famed Garden Route.

Backed by mountains and hugging the coast, the N2 national road takes you on a journey through small towns and forest parks, by long sandy beaches and bird-filled lagoons. Detours on side roads reveal deep ravines and awesome gorges, rugged cliffs, pounding surf and walking trails among towering yellowwood trees. The Garden Route is one of the world’s great drives. Beyond lie Port Elizabeth, the Addo Elephant National Park and numerous luxurious private game reserves.

Kwa-Zulu Natal

Durban, with its subtropical climate and year-round sunshine, numerous hotels, pubs, clubs, shops, restaurants and endless entertainment, is South Africa’s playground. Family-friendly beaches stretch for miles and the popular u-Shaka Marine World, with its dolphins and sharks, is an aquarium with a difference.


People from the proud Zulu Nation

Go north for wildlife reserves, game viewing, the birding heaven of Lake St Lucia and Shakaland – a Zulu cultural village at Eshowe. Head inland for lush valleys, undulating hills, the jagged Drakensberg Mountains and peaceful grasslands – site of bitter battles between the Zulus, the Boers and the British in the 19th century (a signed Battlefields Route explores this history).

Johannesburg

The ‘City of Gold’, affectionately known as Jozi, is surprisingly green. Criss-crossed by highways, it sprawls for miles. The luxurious hotels and shopping malls cluster into affluent Sandton and the fashionable northern suburbs.


Johannesburg skyline

Newtown, in the revitalised downtown city centre, has the excellent Market Theatre and Museum Africa. It’s a short taxi ride from here to the Constitution Hill Museum in Braamfontein. A striking building on the site of a notorious prison, it includes an interesting collection of South African art.

South of the city, the powerful Apartheid Museum is a must-see. Here you get a sense of the country’s history since 1948. Nearby, Gold Reef City – a theme park built around a disused gold mine – has a lively reconstruction of Johannesburg’s early mining days, tours down a mineshaft, white-knuckle rides, shops, restaurants, a casino and two theatres.

Do book an organised tour to Soweto, home to around six million people. It’s an eye-opening and utterly memorable experience.

The Panorama Route & Kruger National Park

In South Africa’s northeast, Mpumalanga Province is lush and green with forested mountains, cascading waterfalls, orchards of citrus and exotic fruits, and some fascinating little pioneer towns. The Panorama Route is a stunningly scenic drive that takes in the vast Blyde River Canyon. Gouged by the river and eroded over millennia into plateaux and cliffs of red and gold, it’s an awesome sight.


Kruger National Park

The Kruger National Park is the size of a small country and home to countless birds and animals, including the ‘big five’. You can drive yourself on the network of roads and stay in a variety of types of accommodation. The private reserves and exclusive lodges that adjoin the park offer a different ‘bush experience’ and are a much more luxurious option.

Football & Beyond

Whether participating or just watching, South Africans are passionate about sport. Winning the Rugby World Cup in 1995 united a nation long scarred by Apartheid, and their excitement at hosting the 2010 FIFA World Cup knew no bounds. Existing world-class facilities were upgraded and impressive new state-of-the-art stadiums, seating from 40,000 to 90,000 spectators, were constructed for the occasion.


The Moses Mabhida World Cup Stadium

All the host cities have spectacular scenery and highlight visits on their doorstep. From Port Elizabeth, spend a few days in one of the Eastern Cape’s private game reserves or drive the glorious Garden Route. Head up the coast from Durban for the wetland reserves or inland to the Drakensberg Mountains and historic battlefields. The great diamond mine at Kimberley is about an hour’s drive from Bloemfontein; Rustenberg is within easy reach of the tranquil Pilanesberg National Park and glitzy Sun City. The Kruger National Park is a short flight from Johannesburg or an easy drive from both Polokwane and Nelspruit.

Aspiring adventurers

Did you know South Africa is home to - The World’s highest bungee jump bridge – Bloukrans Bridge, Tsitsikamma (700 ft)

• The World’s highest commercial abseil – Table Mountain (1,066 meters)
• The World’s most extreme 19th hole at Legend Golf and Safari Resort, Entabeni, Limpopo - with a USD 1 million incentive to anyone who achieves a hole in one.

Check out the range of activity and adventure itineraries available through South African Tourism.
Visit www.southafrica.net