South Africa Safari

Table Mountain from Melkbos on the West Coast

Routinely lauded as to one of the world’s most beautiful cities, Cape Town offers visitors a breathtaking portfolio of natural and cultural attractions. The City Bowl is enclosed by the lofty heights of Table Mountain to the south, the dramatic outcrops known as Lion’s Head and Signal Hill to the west, and the choppy waters of the Atlantic to the north. It is endowed with some fine colonial architecture, more than a dozen worthwhile museums reflecting every facet of its complex multicultural history, and the culinary and retail delights of the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront. Cape Town also provides an excellent base for day trips to sites as diverse as Table Mountain, the Alcatraz-like confines of Robben Island (where Nelson Mandela was incarcerated for 18 years), the peaceful Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens, the historic wine estates of the Constantia Valley, and the wave-battered cliffs of Cape Point.

Highlights

Table Mountain as the ‘tablecloth’ descends

Rising to an altitude of 1,086 m, iconic Table Mountain sometimes basked in golden sunlight, other times swathed in a misty shroud known as the tablecloth, dominates the city’s southern skyline. The ‘table top’, most easily reached by cable car, offers stunning views to reveal the geological drama of the Cape Peninsula.

Castle of Good Hope | Credit: Craig Howes

South Africa’s oldest working building, the pentagonal Castle of Good Hope was constructed over 1666-79 and served as the seat of the Dutch colonial government for more than a century. It now houses a military museum and art gallery.

Camps Bay Beach

Of the countless beaches in and around Cape Town, first choice among fashionistas is Camps Bay, set below the spectacular Twelve Apostles formation, while families tend to head to suburban Muizenberg. For a scenic beach walk, nowhere is Table Mountain seen to better advantage than from the aptly-named Bloubergstrand (Blue Mountain Beach) north of the city centre.

District Six Museum in Cape Town

The award-winning District Six Museum is arguably the city’s most engaging and poignant installation. Taped recollections, possessions and photographs donated by former residents evoke everyday life as it was in the cosmopolitan multiracial suburb of District Six prior to it being bulldozed by the apartheid government in 1966 and rezoned as a whites-only area.

Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens

Set on the eastern slopes of Table Mountain, the 528-hectare Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden is serviced by a network of well-marked trails passing through thematic beds of indigenous flora – most notably a lush cycad garden, but also a fascinating collection of ‘useful plants’, and a conservatory containing succulent species typical of the arid Kalahari and Namaqualand.

The colourful neighbourhood of the Bo-Kaap

The Bo-Kaap (Upper Cape) is the spiritual home of the Cape Malay community, whose colourfully painted houses include the Bo-Kaap Museum, a beautifully restored 1760s homestead that explores the history of this fascinating suburb.

The Victoria and Alfred Waterfront

Reputedly the most-visited tourist attraction in South Africa, Victoria & Alfred Waterfront is a vast harbour-front development comprising 50-plus restaurants, hundreds of shops, and boats offering sunset cruises around Table Bay, where dolphins and seals frolic below the outline of Table Mountain.

Robben Island | Credit: South African History

Now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Robben Island gained infamy as a site of the maximum-security block where Nelson Mandela and other prominent anti-apartheid leaders were detained in the height of the struggle. It can be visited on a boat-and-bus excursion that leaves from Victoria & Alfred Waterfront several times daily and includes a visit to the tiny cell Mandela was required to call home for 18 years.

Groot Constantia lies on the slopes of Table Mountain

The birthplace of Cape wine, the Constantia Valley houses some of the country’s most historic and beautiful estates, among them Groot Constantia, centred on an original 1680s homestead now preserved as a museum.

Cape Point is a great day-trip excursion

Now part of Table Mountain National Park, the 77 km2 Cape of Good Hope protects the most southerly section of the Cape Peninsula. The main focus is Cape Point Lighthouse, which stands atop a precipitous windswept cliff that rises 250 m from the rocky beach below. It’s also good for fynbos endemics such as the Cape sugarbird and Orange-bellied sunbird, while mammals include Cape fur seals and half-a-dozen antelope species, notably eland and bontebok.

Jackass penguins at Boulders Beach

Just five minutes drive south of Simon’s Town, Boulders Beach supports a permanent breeding colony of several thousand penguins, which can be observed strutting, surfing, squabbling and sunbathing from a network of boardwalks and viewing platforms.

Travel Tips

• Cape Town has all the amenities you’d expect of the country’s leading urban tourist destination. A world class dining scene and selection of cosmopolitan shops is complemented by a array of overnight options, ranging from five-start city and boutique hotels to backpacker hostels and B&Bs.
• Cape Town is served by an ever increasing number of international flights, as well as by several dozen daily flights from Johannesburg, and domestic flights to all other major centres in South Africa. All flights land at Cape Town International Airport, which lies 20km east of the city centre, and is connected to it by the N2 highway.
• The city lends itself to casual exploration using public transport such as the MyCiti bus service. The popular Cape Town Explorer is also an option as a hop-on-hop-off bus service that connects the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront to all the major museums as well as the Table Mountain Cableway, Camps Bay, Sea Point and Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden. Also worth considering is the Metrorail train service, which connects the central railway station on Adderley Street to Simon’s Town via the Southern Suburbs and Muizenberg. Self-drive, picking up a rental car at the airport, is also a viable option.

The most populous city and busiest port on the east coast of Africa, Durban is a vibrant and interesting city set in the municipality of eThekwini (a Zulu name meaning ‘Place of the Sea’). A substantial Indian population and sticky subtropical coastal climate combine to give Durban a slightly Asiatic feel, but the city’s main attraction is its fine beaches and sunny coastlines. The urban setting will appeal to those seeking a more down-to-earth, lived-in experience than one tends to associate with other beach resorts.

Common and Bottlenose dolphins frequent the waters of Durban and often interact with surfers

Durban lies midway along the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast, a 200 km stretch of subtropical Indian Ocean frontage stretching from the Tugela River Mouth south to the border with the Eastern Cape. This is South Africa’s most conventional beach holiday destination, a beach nirvana strung with palm-fringed expanses of broad white sand. Unlike Cape Town, the beaches around Durban cater mainly to domestic holidaymakers from landlocked Gauteng, and thus tend to get congested over school holidays and long weekends (especially around Christmas and Easter), but to be quiet at other times.

Tugela River Mouth | Credit: Fresh Water Health

Highlights

South Africa’s most resort-like urban beach, Durban’s Golden Mile is divided from the CBD by the pedestrianised OR Tambo Parade. Protected by shark nets and patrolled by lifeguards, the beach is ideal for swimming, sunbathing and surfing, though it can get very crowded during peak season.

Warm waters from the Indian Ocean make Durban beaches a pleasure to visit during the summer | Credit: South African Tourism

TheuShaka Marine Worldhouses the largest aquarium in the southern hemisphere. Marine life is on show where dolphins, seals, sharks, rays and penguins are the main attraction. Attached to this child-friendly installation is the Shaka Wet ‘n’ Wild Waterworld, a family fun park that incorporates the country’s largest waterslide.

Landmarks associated with Durban’s Indian population include the golden-domed Juma Mosque, the largest building of its type in southern Africa, and the less central Alayam Hindu Temple.

Hindu Temple in Durban | Credit: KZNIA.com

The central Durban Botanical Garden includes fabulous collections of prehistoric cycads and rare orchids.

Durban’s most ecologically important conservation area,Beachwood Mangroves Nature Reserve offers a rare opportunity to see mangrove dwellers such as the brilliant mangrove kingfisher and quirky mudskipper fish from a wooden boardwalk.

The popular resort town of Umhlanga Rocks, 20 minutes drive north of Durban, is home to the KwaZulu-Natal Sharks Board, where lifelike replicas of various sharks and rays can be viewed along with an audiovisual display emphasising the importance of these oft-maligned creatures in the marine ecology.

Ballito, 40 km north of Durban, is a thriving and well-equipped upmarket resort town with a 2.5 km long beachfront promenade and plenty of family friendly activities on offer. Its Willard Beach is ideal for swimming while Boulder Beach is popular with surfers.

Ballito is a popular holiday spot for locals

Carved by the Mzimkulwana River, the euphorbia-studded Oribi Gorge Nature Reserve is run through by several walking trails from which bushbuck, blue monkey and a vast array of colourful forest birds might be seen. White-water rafting and abseiling can be undertaken outside the reserve. The suspension bridge over the Oribi Gorge Nature Reserve | Credit: Wild 5 Adventures

A succession of wonderful beaches run along the 120 km stretch of coast south from Durban, among them Amanzimtoti, Umkomaas, Scottburgh, Port Shepstone, Margate and Ramsgate. Excellent snorkelling and diving opportunities are available at reefs and wrecks offshore of Amanzimtoti, Umkomaas and Shelley Beach.

Protecting a forested river gorge on the Eastern Cape border, Umtamvuna Nature Reserve offers some lovely coastal and forest hiking, and it harbours various small antelope, along with a breeding colony of the endangered Cape vulture.

The Cape vulture is a protected species due to the fact that many are killed for traditional medicine and their nesting sites destroyed as a result of habitat loss | Credit: The Flacks Wildlife Photography

Practical Information

King Shaka International Airport

• Durban is connected to Johannesburg, Cape Town and many other large centres by several flights daily. All flights land at King Shaka International Airport, 35 km north of the city centre. The usual car rental agencies are available here, and airport shuttles and taxis are available to get you to the city center or elsewhere on the coast.
• There is no shortage of hotels in Durban and the city is also serviced by many B&Bs and backpacker hostels. Hotels and resorts can also be found all along the coast flanking Durban, with Ballito and Umhlanga Rocks being particularly well endowed when it comes to stylish upmarket lodges.
• Indian cuisine is well represented in Durban and good seafood can be had throughout the region.

South Africa’s major safari destinations are mostly clustered in the country’s northern interior. Foremost among these is the iconic Kruger National Park and bordering private reserves, which collectively protect a vast tract of low-lying bushveld that offers some of the finest Big Five viewi
ng anywhere on the continent. Also very popular, particularly for those who want to avoid the slim risk of malaria associated with the Kruger, are the more westerly Madikwe and Pilanesberg Game Reserves, both of which harbour all the Big Five along with other safari favourites such as giraffe and wa
rthog in the malaria-free North-West Province.

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The Pilanesberg Game Reserve is a great malaria-free destination for cautious travellers | Credit: Leon Rossouw

The main air gateway to these fine reserves is built-up Gauteng, a province that accounts for less than 1.5% of South Africa’s surface area but supports a full 20% of the national population and generates an astonishing 10% of the entire African GDP. Bustling, chaotic and unapologetically commerce-driven. Gauteng – a seSotho name meaning ‘Place of Gold’ – exists purely because of the immense mineral wealth that lies beneath its soil. It is home to four of South Africa’s most populous ten cities, including the national capital Pretoria and megapolis of Johannesburg.

Johannesburg is known as the “City of Gold”, a tribute to its humble gold-mining beginnings

Although its attractions may not be as immediate as those of, Cape Town or Durban for instance, the province does offer plenty of worthwhile sightseeing, from the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the Cradle of Humankind – one of the world’s most significant paleoanthropological sites, to the first history-making former ‘township’ of Soweto.

A hot air balloon experience is a great way to enjoy the panoramas of the Cradle of Humankind | Credit: Bill Harrop

Highlights

Quite simply one of the world’s largest and most rewarding safari destinations, the iconic Kruger National Park supports 147 mammal and 517 bird species, including substantial populations of all the Big Five. Included on of the most organised tours through South Africa, it is also an unusually straightforward goal for DIY safari-enthusiasts.

The African hornbill is a common sighting in the Kruger National Park

The best known of those private reserves sharing an open border with Kruger, Sabi Sand is home to several bar-setting game lodges and camps offering all-inclusive Big Five safaris to an exclusive clientele. Expertly guided game drives in open 4×4 vehicles offers some of the world’s most intimate leopard viewing.

The sheer escarpment that divides the sweltering lowveld of Kruger from the breezy highlands around Graskop can be explored on the Panorama Route, a loosely-defined road circuit that offers access to several beautiful waterfalls and viewpoints. Highlights include the restored goldrush village of Pilgrim’s Rest and the spectacular 1.4km deep Blyde River Canyon.

Blyde River Canyon is made up of great peaks and valleys

South Africa’s premier malaria-free safari destination, Madikwe Game Reserve offers excellent Big Five viewing, with lion, elephant and rhino being particularly conspicuous. It functions much like the private reserves bordering Kruger, with an emphasis on guided game drives in open 4x4s, and is serviced by a couple of dozen small and exclusive all-inclusive bush lodges

A study in contrasts only two hours’ drive north of Gauteng, the Pilanesberg Game Reserve and adjacent Sun City pits another fine malaria-free safari venue against the altogether more hedonistic pleasures of Sun City, a massive casino complex that sports two superb golf courses and plenty of child-friendly activities.

Sun City is a great family destination and is just two hours by car from Johannesburg

Founded above the world’s richest gold deposits in 1886, Johannesburg is South Africa’s largest city and main economic hub. The vibrant social fulcrum of the country’s most culturally integrated and forward-looking province, it is also renowned throughout Africa as a shoppers’ paradise. Visitors from further afield won’t regret making the effort to explore the Apartheid Museum and the exhaustive selection of photographs, old newsreels and other imaginative displays documenting the rise and fall of the system of institutionalised racism for which it is named.

The Apartheid Museum is a must-visit museum with poignant stories and a celebration of the struggle for democracy in South Africa

The ‘township’ of Soweto – rather prosaically, an acronym of South West Townships – was the setting of many pivotal events during the anti-apartheid struggle. Guided tours lead past such landmarks as the poignant Hector Pieterson Memorial, whose 13-year old namesake was felled by the wave of police fire that initiated the Soweto Rising on 16 July 1976, and the Calabash-shaped FNB Stadium, which hosted the 2010 FIFA World Cup final between Spain and the Netherlands. Soweto tours usually include a lunch break at one of its so-called shebeens – now legitimised hole-in-the-wall bars that thrived illegally under apartheid.

The Orlando Towers in Soweto

Inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999, the paleontological treasure trove dubbed the Cradle of Humankind protects an ancient Karstic landscape whose wealth of fossils forms a unique record of the last 3-4 million years of human evolution. Its centrepiece is the Maropeng Visitors Centre, an award-winning and unusually child-friendly installation where self-guided tours start with an exciting boat ride through a subterranean waterway that takes you backwards in time, reproducing the volatile seismic conditions that shaped our planet’s geology. The nearby Sterkfontein Caves are where, in 1936, Dr Robert Broom discovered the first fossil confirming Darwin’s theory that humans evolved in Africa.

Established in 1855, Pretoria – now part of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality – has long served as the administrative capital of South Africa. The avenues of the stately city centre are lined by jacarandas that bloom purple in October and century-old buildings. Foremost among the latter, the sandstone Union Buildings, designed by Sir Herbert Baker in 1913, is where Nelson Mandela’s presidential inauguration was held in 1994. Standing sentinel on the city’s southern outskirts, the hilltop Voortrekker Monument is an immense granite monolith built in the 1940s to commemorate the Afrikaner pioneers who trekked from the Cape to what is now Gauteng a century earlier.

The jacaranda trees line the streets of Pretoria and blossom in spring

Set on stark baobab-studded granitic hills running down to the south bank of the Limpopo, Mapungubwe National Park is the site of medieval trading city that supported some 5,000 people in its 13th-century peak as a supplier of gold, copper and ivory to the Swahili Coast of East Africa. Guided tours of the archaeological site, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, run every morning and an award-winning museum displays artefacts unearthed there. Elephant, kudu and klipspringer are regularly seen, and lion and leopard are also present.

Mapungubwe National Park has great cultural and historical significance | Credit: Scott Ramsay

Practical Information

O.R Tambo International Airport is one of the busiest airports in Southern Africa | Credit: Business Events Africa

• The terminus of most international flights to South Africa, OR Tambo International Airport lies on the eastern outskirts of Johannesburg, about one hour’s drive from from Pretoria and two hours from Pilanesberg and Sun City. OR Tambo is also the most important hub for domestic flights, with several connections to the likes of Cape Town, George, Port Elizabeth, East London, Durban and Kruger-Mpumalanga International Airport (for Kruger and the private reserves), as well as thrice-weekly flights to Pilanesberg. Self-drive is straightforward throughout and most major rental companies are represented at OR Tambo (and for that matter at Kruger-Mpumalanga International Airport) and there are also plenty of shuttles and taxis for those not being met by an operator or hotel shuttle.

• Johannesburg and Pretoria are served by literally hundreds of city hotels. Most rustic out-of-town lodges, B&Bs and backpacker hostels. A fair range of similar accommodation can be found in most other towns the region. In game reserves, the choice tends to slit between all-inclusive upmarket lodges (Madikwe and Sabi Sands) and simple but well-priced rest camps (Kruger, Mapungubwe and Pilanesberg).

iSimangaliso encompasses a variety of terrains that make it an important biodiverse region of the South Africa

South Africa’s third-largest protected area and oldest UNESCO World Heritage Site, the 3,320 square km iSimangaliso follows the Indian Ocean coastline for a full 220 km north of Lake St Lucia (Africa’s largest estuarine system) to Kosi Bay on the border with Mozambique. It is easily the country’s most biodiverse reserve, incorporating five separate Ramsar Wetlands, a lush tropical mosaic of mountains, bushveld, palm groves, wooded dunes, grassland and coastal forests, as well as a 5 km-wide marine section that harbours Africa’s most southerly coral reefs. The faunal diversity of iSimangaliso (Zulu word meaning ‘something wondrous’) was encapsulated by Nelson Mandela, who described it as “the only place on the globe where the oldest land mammal (rhinoceros) and the world’s biggest terrestrial mammal (elephant) share an ecosystem with the world’s oldest fish (coelacanth) and the world’s biggest marine mammal (whale)”. Indeed, iSimangaliso can boast a higher count of vertebrate species than any other African conservation area with 129 terrestrial and aquatic mammals, 525 birds, 128 reptiles, 50 amphibians, and 991 marine as well as 48 freshwater fish. Despite this, while wildlife is abundant in parts, the stunning coastal scenery is at least as big an attraction as the game viewing.

Hippos fight for territory in lake St Lucia | Credit: Scott Ramsay

Jungle-swathed St Lucia Village, fringing the freshwater estuary for which it is named, stands at the far south of iSimangaliso and is the park’s main travel hub. A contender for South Africa’s most wildlife-friendly settlement, it is home to plentiful hippos and crocs, as well as the likes of porcupine, bushbuck and warthog. The tropical birdlife includes African fish eagle, Trumpeter hornbill, Purple-crested turaco and Mangrove kingfisher. Popular activities include visits to an out-of-town crocodile farm and launch trips on the St Lucia Estuary.

Turtle tracking at iSimangaliso | Credit: Donna Scherer

Set below forested dunes on a reef-shielded beach north of St Lucia, Cape Vidal is a superb beach that offers good low-tide snorkelling and seasonal land-based whale and dolphin viewing. It also forms a vital seasonal nesting site for loggerhead and leatherback turtles.

Vervet monkeys in Cape Vidal

Halfway between St Lucia and Cape Vidal, the forested dunes around Mission Rocks are some of the world’s tallest and provide sanctuary to the secretive red duiker and localised blue monkey. Buffalo, rhino, elephant and possibly cheetah might be seen on the game-viewing loop to Lake Bhangazi.

The nyala antelope

The 400 km2 uMkhuze Game Reserve offers the finest game viewing within iSimangaliso. Home to elephant, buffalo, giraffe and and elusive populations of leopard and cheetah, it is popular with wildlife photographers thanks to some well-sited photographic hides that attract a steady stream of nyala, kudu, zebra, warthog, white rhino and black rhino. More than 420 bird species include the localised Yellow-spotted nicator, Livingstone’s turaco, Neergaard’s sunbird and African broadbill.

Snorkeling and diving are popular activities near Sodwana Bay

Africa’s southernmost coral reefs stand offshore of Sodwana Bay, whose Seven Mile Reef is ranked among the world’s most beautiful dive sites, with overhangs, drop-offs and mushroom rocks reaching around 20 m below the surface, and a dazzling array of colorful reef fish to be seen.

Lake Sibaya

South Africa’s largest natural freshwater body, Lake Sibaya is backed by tall forested dunes and supports around 150 hippos along with a wide diversity of aquatic birds.

Comprising eight lakes and a series of connecting channels that drain into the Indian Ocean through a sandy estuary, scenic Kosi Bay offers unusually calm snorkelling conditions and the opportunity to seek out 150 marine fish species on the rocky reef in the estuary mouth. The complex fishing traps set in the estuary by the local Thonga people represent a highly sustainable form of traditional resource management, since the estuarine fish are readily replenished from the open sea.

iSimangaliso is a wonderful family safari destination

St Lucia village is a convenient base for day safaris to the nearby Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Game Reserve, providing refuge to all the Big Five, including the world’s densest populations of both white and black rhino. Other wildlife includes African wild dog, giraffe, zebra, impala, nyala, greater kudu, warthog, Vervet monkey and almost 400 bird species.

A cheetah family in the Phinda Game Reserve

Sharing its eastern boundary with iSimangaliso, the private Phinda Resource Reserve is KwaZulu-Natal’s most prestigious safari destination. All-inclusive packages with guided game drives in an open 4×4 are also certain to yield all the Big Five over the course of a two- to three-night stay. A dense population of habituated cheetahs allows for great close-up behavioural viewing.

Not strictly speaking a private reserve, but effectively functioning as one, the 300 km2 Tembe Elephant Park is best known for its giant tuskers, but the rest of the Big Five are also present, and the birdlife is fantastic.

Practical Advice

• Several scheduled flights daily connect Johannesburg to Richards bay, a large industrial port town about one hour’s drive southwest of St Lucia Village by road. There are also regular flights from most major South African cities to Durban, about three hours’ drive from St Lucia along the N2. Some visitors to Phinda and other private reserves use direct charter flights.

• Most Durban-based tour operators offer overnight trips to southern iSimangaliso and/or Hluhluwe-Imfolozi. The region is also well suited to self-drive visits, though 4×4 is required for most places that lie north of Mkhuze Game Reserve and east of the N2.

• A varied selection of budget to mid-range accommodation can be found in St Lucia Village. Most reserves set within or associated with iSimangaliso have inexpensive but comfortable rest camps. Upmarket bush camps can be found in Phinda, on the outskirts of Hluhluwe-Imfolozi, and at certain sites along the iSimangaliso coastline north of Sodwana.

Extending over a mind-boggling 19,485 km², the Kruger National Park is one of Africa’s largest and most iconic safari destinations, comparable in area to Wales or the state of New Jersey, and sharing open borders with several smaller private reserves as well as two transfrontier national parks in the form of Gonarezhou (Zimbabwe) and Limpopo (Mozambique). It vies with with Cape Town as South Africa’s top destination, attracting more than one million visitors annually, and the park itself is better suited to affordable self-drive safaris than any other major African park. By contrast, the exclusive private reserves that border Kruger, and ‘concession lodges’ that occupy exclusive enclaves within it, set the bar when it comes to all-inclusive luxury safaris in open 4×4 vehicles driven by expert guides.

Having a professional guide to rack wildlife in the bush is the best way to enjoy a trip to Kruger National Park

Set in the hot eastern lowveld, Kruger is traversed by several rivers and punctuated by a few hilly areas, but mostly it comprises flat savannah dominated by acacia trees in the south and mopane woodland in the north. A tally of 147 mammal species includes all the Big Five (around 40,000 buffalo, 13,000 elephant, 1,600 lion, 2,000 leopard and 7,000 white and 400 black rhino) along with other safari favourites such as cheetah, hippo, zebra, giraffe, warthog, baboon, Vervet monkey and a full 21 antelope species.

Elephant in the Kruger National Park

The Nile crocodile is the most conspicuous of 114 reptile and 34 amphibian species, but the ethereal communal calls of the Bubbling kassina and other tree-frogs often provide a haunting aural backdrop to dusk waterhole vigils. Kruger is a magnet for bird lovers, with 517 bird species recorded, ranging from the spectacularly colourful Lilac-breasted roller and White-fronted bee-eater to several heftier species now rare outside of protected areas, among them the eyelid-fluttering Southern ground hornbill, the bizarre Secretary-bird, the massive Kori bustard (the world’s heaviest flying bird), the macabre Marabou stork, and of course the ostrich.

The colourful lilac-breasted roller

Highlights

Thanks to its relative proximity to Gauteng, Southern Kruger carries the highest volume of safari goers. The far south offers the park’s most reliable game viewing: the surfaced H4-1 that follows the Sabie River from Skukuza to Lower Sabie often throws up elephant, buffalo, lion and even leopard, and is also a favourite with birdwatchers, while the H4-2 and associated dirt roads running south to Crocodile Bridge explore the park’s best rhino country.

Rhino in the Kruger National Park. Dedicated teams work around the clock to protect these animals from poachers

The focal point of the lightly-wooded savannah of Central Kruger, Satara stands at the crossroads of some superb game-viewing roads. Seasonal concentrations of wildebeest and zebra are reminiscent of the Serengeti, and it is the best place to look for cheetah and to see lion kills – the latter also often attracting jackals and hyenas. The aptly-named Olifants River is favoured haunt of elephants and it also often attracts immense herds of thirsty buffalo.

Cheetah cubs in the Satara region of the Kruger National Park. Long golden grasses provide a great camouflage for these cubs

Wildlife viewing in the remote Northern Kruger is challenging, for while buffalo and elephant are conspicuous, lion, leopard or rhino encounters are rare. Balanced against that, the untrammelled north possesses a mesmerising wilderness feel, and hosts a great many localised bird species absent further south. Thulamela Heritage Site, on the south bank of the Luvuvhu River, protects the substantial ruins of a 16th-century Zimbabwe-style stone-wall royal village.

A lone elephant makes his way around Pafuri in the far north of the Kruger National Park | Credit: Rudolph de Girardier

The 240 km² Makuleke Contractual Park, which runs south from the Limpopo River as it runs along the border with Zimbabwe, was annexed to Kruger following the forcible relocation of its inhabitants in 1969. Restored to the Makuleke community in the 1990s, it is still managed as part of Kruger, and hosts two private lodges that offer much to keen birdwatchers or anybody seeking a genuine wilderness escape. An excellent place to seek out the likes of Pel’s fishing owl, Racket-tailed roller and Triple-banded courser, it also offers exclusive access to the spectacular Lanner Gorge and lush Fever-tree forest at Crooks Corner.

Pel’s Fishing Owl is a rare sighting on safari

Home to some of South Africa’s most lauded game lodges, the Sabi Sand Reserve was amalgamated from several now jointly-managed private properties in 1948. It shares an open boundary with southern Kruger, and expertly guided game drives in open 4×4 vehicles often throw up all the Big Five, as well as cheetah and African wild dog. The reserve also arguably offers the world’s best and most intimate leopard viewing. But while the game viewing is peerless, shared traversing rights with neighbouring properties.

The Singita Boulder’s Lodge in the Sabi Sand is an example of the five-star luxury you can find in this corner of the Kruger

Immediately north of Sabi Sand, Manyeleti Game Reserve, whose Shangaan name means ‘Place of Stars’, was set aside in 1964 and now shares an unfenced 30 km eastern border with Kruger and supports a similar selection of wildlife, though poaching and low tourist volumes mean that game viewing isn’t quite up there with several of its neighbours.

Close encounters with wildlife in the Manyeleti Game Reserve

Named after the seasonal river that flows close to its southern boundary before crossing into Kruger, the private Timbavati Nature Reserve, created in 1962, and now unfenced along its border with Kruger, operates in a similar manner to Sabi Sand. Game drives don’t quite match up when it comes to leopard and rhino sightings, but since camps are more spread out, they tend to operate at a more relaxed and impulsive pace.

The Kruger’s dozen-or-so privately-run Concession Lodges stand on individual enclaves of national park land where exclusive traversing rights have been awarded to the concessionaire. Much like the private reserves bordering Kruger, each concession hosts between one and three exclusive small camps that offer guests an upmarket package inclusive of expertly guided game drives in open 4x4s. However, the concessions are typically much larger than the private reserves, wildlife is less habituated to vehicles, and there is no cross-traversing with other lodges – the net result being that game viewing tends to be more erratic but the overall experience is arguably more holistically satisfying.

Tanda Tula in the Timbavati Game Reserve

Practical Information

Kruger National Park offers great self-drive opportunities, which may be less expensive than a stay in a luxury lodge

• Kruger is well suited to affordable self-drive safaris. A good network of sealed roads can easily be explored in an ordinary saloon car. The 20-odd rest camps offer inexpensive but comfortable accommodation, and most have grocery shops, filling stations and restaurants. In addition, an excellent selection of maps, guidebooks and other interpretive material is available on site.
• Kruger-Mpumalanga International Airport (KMIA) lies within an hour’s drive of Numbi and Phabeni Gates. It is connected to Gauteng’s OR Tambo International Airport by several scheduled flights daily, and several car rental companies are represented there. For couples or families, it may be more affordable to rent a car out of Gauteng and drive, following the N4 east from Pretoria to Mbombela, or the N12 from Johannesburg/OR Tambo to connect with the N4 at eMalahleni (formerly Witbank). Allow five hours for the drive.
• The private and concession lodges associated with Kruger offer a very different and somewhat more costly experience. Most exude an aura of safari chic, pamper clients with gourmet meals and service levels in line with a luxury spa, and include a guided evening and morning game drive in rack rate. These lodges are normally visited as a two- or three-night all-inclusive fly-in or drive-down package from Gauteng. You could also tag one night at a private reserve to the end of a self-drive Kruger safari – though be sure to time things so that you arrive at camp in time and leave late enough to do all game drives.
• Kruger is hot and seasonally humid, with summer daytime temperatures routinely topping the 30°C mark (frequently 40°C in the north). The air dries out in winter, when nights can be very cold, and you’ll want plenty of warm clothing for evening and early morning game drives.

South Africa’s most ecologically diverse province, KwaZulu-Natal is flanked by two vast and very different but equally important and alluring UNESCO World Heritage Sites: the lush subtropical Indian Ocean coastline protected within iSimangaliso Wetland Park and the lofty 3,000-plus metre peaks of the hiker-friendly uKhahlamba-Drakensberg.

(P.S. If you’re looking for affordable KwaZulu-Natal accommodation specials, we’ve got some great travel deals for you.)

Snorkelling in the temperate waters of iSimangaliso Wetland Park, which offers visitors a variety of landscapes to explore both on land and underwater

Other attractions include the seaside city of Durban, the countless smaller beach resorts that flank it on either side, the top-notch Big Five game-viewing offered at the likes of Hluhluwe-Imfolozi and Phinda Game Reserves, and a wealth of historical and cultural sites associated with the Zulu nation for which the province is named.

The beautiful coastline of Durban

Highlights

South Africa’s third largest city, the vibrant port of Durban stands at the hub of a 200 km stretch of Indian Ocean coastline endowed with an endless succession of perfect beaches.

A magnet for hikers and ramblers, the uKhahlamba-Drakensberg Park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site remarkable not only for its scenic beauty, but also for its botanical diversity, wealth of endemic birds, and prehistoric rock art dating back up to 3,000 years.

The Drakensberg is a hiking paradise | Credit: Places.co.za

KwaZulu-Natal’s most important Big Five destination, the 960 km2 Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Game Reserve was first accorded official protection in 1895, and formerly served as the royal hunting ground of King Shaka Zulu. The reserve has played a crucial role in the conservation of both African rhino species, and it now protects the world’s densest population of these endangered creatures. Other prominent residents include elephant, buffalo, giraffe, zebra, impala, nyala, greater kudu, warthog and to a lesser extent lion and leopard. From mid-March to mid-December, four-night wilderness trails lead through a 300 km2 area closed to vehicular traffic.

Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Game Reserve is an important conservation area, with a healthy population of African wild dogs

Another UNESCO World Heritage Site, the coastal iSimangaliso Wetland Park incorporates five separate Ramsar Wetlands and a checklist of more than 2,000 vertebrate species, more than any other African conservation area.

The Dhlinza Forest Reserve, bordering the small town of Eshowe, protects the country’s most accessible patch of mistbelt forest. Home to the diminutive Blue duiker and an interesting selection of forest birds, it is traversed by a 125 m aerial boardwalk that terminates at a tall tower offering grandstand views to the Indian Ocean.

The Dhlinza Forest Reserve is home to many indigenous trees and offers a fairy-tale experience for hikers | Credit: Biotree.earth

Sleepy Howick overlooks the spectacular 95m-high Howick Falls and offers access to the Karkloof Nature Reserve, which protects the country’s largest remaining stand of mist-belt forest. It is also the focal point of the Midlands Meander, which comprises a few dozen loosely-affiliated cottage industries ranging art and pottery studios to craft workshops and cheese producers. An imaginative sculpture comprising 50 steel columns marks the out-of-town Nelson Mandela Capture Site, the place where its namesake was arrested for anti-apartheid activities in 1962.

The showy but exuberant cultural program at Shakaland provides an informative and enjoyable introduction to the culture of the province’s numerically dominant Zulu people.

Shakaland celebrates the Zulu culture. Visitors can learn about traditional ways of life at this cultural centre | Credit: Robert Harding

The 250 km2 eMakhosini Heritage Park protects the Zulu ‘Valley of Kings’ and includes such cultural landmarks such as King Shaka’s Grave, the reconstructed residence of King Dingane, and the Hill of Execution where the voortrekker party led by Piet Retief was slaughtered. It is also home to rhinos and other typical Zululand wildlife.

The so-called Battlefields Route through the province’s northern interior comprises a number of important sites associated with what was the 19th-century Zulu-Boer and Anglo-Zulu Wars, and Anglo-Boer War of 1899-1902. These include Blood River, Isandlwana, Rorke’s Drift and Spionkop Hill.

The inland city of Pietermaritzburg, founded in 1838 as part of a short-lived Boer Republic called Natalia, has been the provincial capital since 1843. Its pedestrian-friendly CBD contains several well-preserved Victorian buildings, among them the redbrick City Hall, the Railway Station, the former Supreme Court (now the Tatham Art Gallery) and the Voortrekker Msunduzi Museum.

Practical Information

Kwazulu-Natal offers a variety of accommodations to suit any budget | Credit: Hartford House

• The main air gateway to KwaZulu-Natal is King Shaka International Airport, which lies 35 km north of the central Durban. It is connected to Johannesburg, Cape Town and many other large centres by several daily flights.

• An alternative port of entry for the northern part of the province is Richards Bay, which is connected by daily scheduled flights to Johannesburg, and lies about one hour’s drive southwest of iSimangaliso’s St Lucia Village or Hluhluwe-Imfolozi. The usual car rental agencies are available at both airports, and airport shuttles and taxis are available to get you to Durban or elsewhere on the coast.

• Travelling between Gauteng and Durban by road, the uKhahlamba-Drakensberg Park lies about halfway between the two and makes for an excellent place to break up the journey for a couple of nights. Hotels, B&Bs and backpacker hostels are plentiful in most parts if the province. The provincial conservation authority also operates an extensive network of affordable and comfortable rest camps set in its various reserves.

Pride of lions in the Madikwe Game Reserve

Situated in the blandly-named low-profile North West Province, these two relatively recently-created reserves have grown in popularity in recent years thanks to their family-friendly location in a malaria free-zone and excellent Big Five viewing. Pilanesberg and Madikwe are quite similar in ecological terms, both being situated on the transitional zone to the moist eastern bushveld and the semi-arid Kalahari biome that extends into neighbouring Botswana. The usual safari favourites are supplemented by many dry-country species at the eastern limit of their range. However, two reserves cater to very different clienteles. Pilanesberg, only two hours from Gauteng, stands adjacent to the glitzy Sun City casino and resort complex and is geared primarily towards self-drive day and overnight visitors. By contrast, the more remote Madikwe is closed to day visitors and caters exclusively to the top end of the safari market, hosting a few dozen exclusive bush camps that offer plush accommodation and all-inclusive packages comparable to the private reserves bordering Kruger.

Zebra in the Madikwe Game Reserve

Now entrenched as South Africa’s premier malaria-free safari destination, the 750 km2 Madikwe Game Reserve abuts the Botswana border some four hours’ drive northwest of Gauteng. Flanked by the perennial Great Marico River, the reserve was established in 1991 following a government study that concluded it could be utilised more profitably and offer greater benefits to local communities as a conservation area than as an unproductive farm. Following an extensive program of reintroduction, it now offers an excellent chance of sighting three of the ‘Big Five’ – lion, elephant and rhino – while buffalo and leopard are also present, but scarcer. Common grazers include giraffe, zebra, greater kudu, springbok, Red hartebeest and tsessebe. It is also possibly the most reliable reserve in South Africa for encounters with the endangered African wild dog, and night drives frequently offer good sightings of the shy brown hyena and bizarre aardwolf. A checklist of 350 bird species includes several northwestern specials, most conspicuously the Southern pied babbler (dubbed the ‘flying snowball’ for reasons that become obvious when you first encounter one) and the exquisite Crimson-breasted shrike, Shaft-tailed whydah and Violet-eared waxbill.

Rhino are quite at home in the Pilanesberg Game Reserve

Nestled scenically within a collapsed volcanic crater, the 550 km2 Pilanesberg Game Reserve supports game densities similar to the likes of Kruger, and ranks as one of the best places anywhere in South Africa for close-up encounters with white rhino and elephant. Situated only two-hours drive north of Gauteng, it forms a realistic goal for time-pressed travellers looking for a malaria-free overnight safari destination out of Johannesburg or Pretoria. Large predator sightings are comparatively hit-and-miss, but odds of encountering lion or leopard – along with the strictly nocturnal brown hyena and aardwolf improve greatly if you join a guided night drive into the reserve. As with Madikwe, a checklist of 350 bird species includes several species that reflect its transitional location.

Sun City resort

Established in 1976, Sun City is sometimes dubbed Las-Vegas-in-the-bush. While the massive casino at the complex’s heart just about justifies this tag, it also doubles as a fun family-friendly destination boasting a fake inland beach called the Valley of Waves, two superb golf courses designed by Gary Player, and day safaris into the adjacent Pilanesberg.

Travel Tips

• Three scheduled flights weekly connect Johannesburg to Pilanesberg Airport, which also serves Sun City. It is arguably easier (and quicker) to drive. This takes about two hours from O.R Tambo Airport, Johannesburg or Sandton, or 90 minutes from Pretoria, via the scenic Hartebeespoort Dam. It is also easy to arrange a road transfer to Sun City or Pilanesberg.

• It’s more like four hours’ drive from Johannesburg to Madikwe, and since all lodges here offer all-inclusive packages and self-drive exploration is forbidden, the best option is to fly.

• Accommodation at Madikwe is limited to upmarket lodges. Pilanesberg and Sun City offer everything from five-star resort hotels and upmarket game lodges to budget-friendly rest camps within the reserve.

The beautiful landscape of the Stellenbosch wine valley

The scenic Boland (literally ‘Upland’) immediately inland of Cape Town enjoys twin claims to fame. Not only is it home to some of South Africa’s oldest and most vivid towns (most notably Stellenbosch and Franschhoek), but it also forms the hub of the Cape’s burgeoning wine industry. Characterized by lush vine-planted valleys set below spectacular mountain ranges such as the Simonsberg, Groot Drakenstein and Helderberg, these beautiful areas are collectively referred to as the Cape Winelands, and few visitors pass up the opportunity to enjoy a ‘wine tour’ through some of its more famous estates, most of which offer free or inexpensive tasting facilities. Stellenbosch and some of the older wine estates also house some handsome examples of Cape Dutch architecture, a uniquely South African style typified by whitewashed thatched buildings with a rounded and ornately bordered gable set above the main door, and two flanking perpendicular wings.

Impressive Cape Dutch buildings can be found all over Stellenbosch |Credit: Johan Fourie

Established in 1679, South Africa’s second-oldest town Stellenbosch is named after its founder Simon van der Stel. Nicknamed Eikestad (Town of Oaks), it retains a pleasingly time-warped Cape Dutch character whilst also hosting a lively selection of contemporary restaurants, cafés and shops. The Stellenbosch Village Museum comprises four restored houses – the oldest being the Schreuderhuis, one of the few buildings to survive the great fire of 1710 – representing different phases in the town’s development.

Lanzerac wine estate

Founded on the outskirts of Stellenbosch in 1692, the scenic Lanzerac Estate is known for its stately Cape Dutch architecture and for producing the world’s first commercial Pinotage (a red cultivar unique to South Africa) in 1959, and it includes a five-star restaurant and hotel.

The best way to enjoy Franschhoek is a delicious meal at one of the many award-winning eateries | Credit: Petit Plaisir

Named for the many Huguenot refugees who settled there in the late 1680s, pretty little Franschhoek (‘French Corner’) hosts a few historic buildings, notably a pastoral Cape Dutch church built in in 1848. Its French roots are reflected in the handsome arched Huguenot Monument built on its outskirts in the 1840s, and the adjacent Huguenot Memorial Museum. The village is a culinary Mecca, hosting several of the country’s finest restaurants.

Nestled among ancient oak trees, Boschendal has a unique history

Set in a verdant valley flanked by the Groot Drakenstein and Simonsberg Mountains midway between Stellenbosch and Franschhoek, the perennially popular Boschendal Estate was first planted with vines in 1685, and is notable both for its superb Cape Dutch architecture and Mediterranean-style picnics served on the oak-shaded lawn.

Spring blooms of vibrant colours in the quaint West Coast town of Darling | Credit: Darling Tourism

Regularly known for its spring wildflowers and sleepy museum, the quaint town of Darling not only has its own wine route but is home to the cabaret venue and supper club Evita se Perron (named after Evita Bezuidenhout, a politicized South African equivalent to Dame Edna Everage created by the cross-dressing satirist Pieter-Dirk Uys).

Picnicking on the lawns of Spier Wine Estate is a popular weekend activity

The family-friendly Spier Estate might lack the ambience of its older counterparts, but an excellent range of activities and amenities include a swimming pool, spa, playground, cheetah outreach programme, raptor centre, horseback excursions and two onsite restaurants. Thus making it an excellent family-friendly venue.

Vergelegen offers a wonderful wine tasting experience | Credit: Cape town Travel

Founded in 1685 on the slopes of the Helderberg, Vergelegen (roughly translated as ‘far away’) is arguably the loveliest estate anywhere in the Winelands thanks to its gracious manor house, octagonal garden and row of gnarled camphor trees planted circa 1700. The restaurant and award-winning wines are also exceptional.

As the third-oldest town in South Africa, Paarl and its famous wine valley brim with ancient folklore and terrific wines

The Winelands’ largest town, Paarl is redeemed from mundanity by the pearl-smooth granite dome of the adjacent Paarl (‘Pearl’) Mountain, reached on a footpath through the protea-rich slopes of the nature reserve bordering the town centre. The Taal Monument, built in 1975 to commemorate the centenary of Afrikaans’ recognition as an official language, lies on its lower slopes.

Tulbagh experiences snow on the surrounding mountains in winter

A recommended diversion for devotees of Cape Dutch architecture is modest Tulbagh, whose Church Street has been restored in traditional style following a devastating earthquake in 1970.

Fairview’s goat tower is a huge hit with the kids

Ideal for those travelling with children, unpretentious Fairview Estate combines a laidback farmyard atmosphere with a superb deli serving a fabulous range of handcrafted cheeses and homegrown wines.

Travel Tips

• Stellenbosch lies a mere 50 km inland of Cape Town and 35 km from Cape Town International Airport, which is served by a number of international flights, as well as by several dozen daily flights from Johannesburg, and domestic flights to all other major centres in South Africa.

• The winelands can easily be visited as a day trip out of Cape Town. For those who prefer an overnight stay, the region is also well-endowed with hotels, B&Bs and backpacker hostels, most of which offer a more countrified feel than their coastal and city counterparts around Cape Town.

• Although self-drive is a straightforward option, the best way to sample a few of the region’s wine estate is on an organized day excursion out of Cape Town, Stellenbosch or Franschhoek. These usually take in around five different estates and is recommended because the self-drive wine-tasting option is in contravention of both commonsense and the law.

• Opening hours vary, but you can safely assume that any name estate will be open for tasting over 09.00-16.00 Mon-Fri, and most also open on Saturdays and even Sundays.

The Garden Route stretches from Mossel Bay to Storms River Mouth

The 200 km stretch of coast connecting Mossel Bay to the Storms River Mouth is commonly referred to as the Garden Route in reference to its beguiling diversity of wide sandy beaches, lovely lakes and lagoons, shady evergreen forests and protea-studded slopes. Lined with family-friendly beaches, but also ideally suited to hikers and other outdoor enthusiasts, the region is home to the patchwork Garden Route National Park and a host of protected indigenous forests. Large terrestrial wildlife is scarce, but the region offers fabulous aquatic and forest bird watching, including striking avian endemics such as Knysna turaco, yellow-throated warbler and olive woodpecker, while seals, dolphins and whales are commonly seen from seaside cliffs.

Storms River Mouth

The Tsitsikamma sector of the Garden Route National Park protects a vast tract of indigenous forest along with a series of breathtaking cliffs that rise 180 m above the breakers below. Highlights include the thrilling suspension bridge across the Storms River Mouth, and the 6 km Waterfall Trail, which follows the same stretch of rocky wave-battered shore as the legendary five-day Otter Trail.

Bungee jump from the world’s highest bridge if you dare

A short distance inland of Tsitsikamma, the 215 m Bloukrans Bridge bungee jump is reputedly the world’s highest.

Birds of Eden sanctuary is a safe haven for rescued and abandoned birds from all over the world

Family friendly Monkeyland is a private sanctuary offering refuge to more than a dozen species of monkey and lemur, all rescued from domestic captivity. The adjacent Birds of Eden is a massive free-flight aviary run through by a 1km walkway and suspension bridge. A third associated sanctuary Jukani is home to rescued lions and various other big cats and smaller carnivores.

Robberg Nature Reserve offers stunning vistas over the ocean; perfect for a hike | Credit: Scott Ramsay

Set on the aptly named Baia Formosa (Beautiful Bay), the perennially popular resort town of Plettenberg Bay boasts one of the South Africa’s loveliest and calmest urban beaches, along with a great selection of seafood and other restaurants.

Adjacent to Plettenberg Bay, the towering cliffs of the Robberg Nature Reserve, home to large numbers of Cape fur seal, are circumnavigated by a stunning day trail from which dolphins, humpback whales and the endemic African black oystercatcher are often observed.

The twin peaks of the Knysna heads. Take a boating trip during the annual Knysna Oyster Festival

The charming town of Knysna, whose Holy Trinity Church might have been transplanted from a sleepy English village, stands on a pretty lagoon hemmed in by a pair of sheer rock faces known as the Knysna Heads. Several quayside eateries specialise in fresh oysters cultivated in the lagoon and crafts beers such as those pioneered by the legendary Mitchell’s Brewery. Despite its genteel veneer, Knysna supports a thriving alternative scene whose annual highlight is the Pink Loerie Mardi Gras and Arts Festival, a five-day gay pride event held every April or May.

A Cape sugarbird in the Garden Route National Park | Credit: Diary of a birder

Sandwiched between beach and lagoon, the resort village of Wilderness flanks a sector of the Garden Route National Park whose vast network of freshwater lakes and forested waterways form a genuine birdwatcher’s paradise. It can be explored along a network of six easy walking trails, each named for one of the park’s half-dozen kingfisher species, or by canoeing through a stunning forested gorge formed by the Touws River.

The ostrich the the world’s largest bird

Set in the arid Little Karoo an hour’s drive inland, Oudtshoorn is was the booming centre of a lucrative trade in ostrich feathers in the late 19th century. The CP Nel Museum has good displays on the ostrich trade while a number of out-of-town ostrich farms offer travellers the opportunity to learn about, pet and ride these bizarre outsized birds.

The Swartberg pass

In the scenic Swartberg (Black Mountains) north of Oudtshoorn, guided 60-minute trips lead deep underground through the sequence of well-lit labyrinths of the Cango Caves, whose chambers are decorated by all manner of unusual limestone formations. An extended 90 minute ‘adventure’ tour into Cango Caves entails squeezing and clambering through crevices unsuited to the claustrophobic or seriously overweight.

Shark cage-diving off the coast of Mossel Bay

Mossel Bay is where, on 3 February 1488, Bartolomeu Dias became the first European to set foot on South African soil. Three years later, it is where a stranded Portuguese navigator left an account of his misfortunes in an old shoe suspended from a milkwood tree that went on to serve as South Africa’s first ‘post office’ for decades. The post office tree still stands in the grounds of the Bartolomeu Dias Museum, but Mossel Bay is now better known as a base for caged shark dives and boat trips to the aptly named Seal Island.

Practical Advice

• The main gateway to the Garden Route is George, a well-equipped city whose out-of-town airport is connected to Cape Town and Johannesburg by regular scheduled flights, and has all the usual car rental agencies. It is also possible to drive along the well-maintained 430 km N2 between Cape Town and George in 4-5 hours. The Garden Route is studded with literally hundreds of hotels, beach resorts and B&Bs, so it’s usually easy to find a competitively priced room, though rates rocket sky high, and booking is usually necessary, over the South Africa Christmas and New Year holidays.

The Panorama Route is a geological extension of the Drakensberg

A popular add-on to Kruger safaris but also well worth exploring in its own right, the Panorama Route is a loose circuit of mostly natural attractions associated with the towering cliffs that divide the highveld around Sabie and Graskop from the lowveld of the Kruger Park and Mpumalanga’s provincial capital Mbombela (formerly Nelspruit). A scenic and ecologically-varied region, its defining feature is the Mpumalanga Escarpment, a geological extension of the Drakensberg that rises sharply from the coastal plain (below 500m) to several peaks that top the 2,000 m mark. Although much of the region is given over to exotic plantations, significant tracts of indigenous forest remain, especially on steep cliffs, as do several areas of grassland studded with proteas and red-hot pokers. The region is notable historically as the site of South Africa’s earliest gold rush, one that proved to be short lived, as far richer seams of gold were discovered soon after in the vicinity of Johannesburg.

Highlights

The African finfoot

Well worth a stop if you pass through Mbombela, the 169 ha Lowveld National Botanical Garden, set on the confluence of the Nels and Crocodile Rivers, is of equal interest to botanists and ornithologists. The rainforest section protects a vast collection of prehistoric cycads, while a bird checklist of 250 species includes Purple-crested turaco, Half-collared kingfisher and African finfoot.

Mac Mac Falls

This 65 m Mac-Mac Falls is named after a pair of Scottish prospectors who camped above it in the gold rush era. You can swim in the pool at the base of the falls, or continue by car for 2 km to the start of a 4 km day-trail to the little-visited Forest Falls. Natural potholes at Bourke’s Luck

Situated at the confluence of the Blyde (Joy) and Treur (Sorrow) rivers, the bizarre riverine formation known as Bourke’s Luck comprise a series of deep cylindrical potholes created entirely by water erosion, and can be explored along a short network of paths and footbridges.

Blyde River Canyon

The 25 km-long and 1.4 km-deep red sandstone Blyde River Canyon, protected within a 270 km2 nature reserve, is one of the largest and most spectacular features of its type on earth. It offers much to keen walkers and wildlife lovers, with the most rewarding of several day hikes being the Kadishi Trail, which leads through lush indigenous evergreen forest, inhabited by Vervet and Blue monkeys, to an impressive stalactite-like Tufa waterfall. Look out for localised and endemic birds such as Knysna turaco, Narina trogon, Southern bald ibis, Cape vulture and Gurney’s sugarbird.

One of the most scenic spots anywhere in South Africa, the Three Rondavels viewpoint gazes across the wide Blyde River Canyon – the river itself a blue ribbon hundreds of metres below – to a striking trio of outcrops that recall traditional thatched rondavels (round houses).

The dank, cool chambers of the Sudwala Caves support some wonderful limestone drip formations and can be explored on regular guided tours that lead about 500 m deep into the subterranean labyrinth.

The Royal Hotel in Prilgrim’s Rest

Pilgrim’s Rest mushroomed into life in 1873 following the discovery of a large deposit of alluvial gold. The boomtown’s heyday was short lived, but it was later restored as a living museum evoking the gold rush era. Points of interest include the Anglican Church (built in 1884), the Methodist Church (1911), Catholic Church (1928), Old Police Station (1902), and the hilltop cemetery whose graves all point in the same direction, the one exception being an anonymous Robber’s Grave.

God’s window offers heavenly views

The finest of several viewpoints offering views along the R532, God’s Window offers a splendid view over the edge of the escarpment to the expansive lowveld more than 1,000m below, though its impact depends on very clear weather.

The tallest single-drop waterfall in the region, the twin-stream Lisbon Falls plunges over a 90m stone amphitheater whose base is accessible via a steep footpath.

Travel Tips

• The main air gateway to Mpumalanga is Kruger-Mpumalanga International Airport (KMIA), which stands about 25 km northeast of Mbombela off the R40 to White River. It is connected to Gauteng’s OR Tambo International Airport by several scheduled flights daily, there are also direct flights from Durban and Cape Town, and several car rental companies are represented there.

• For couples or families, it may well be more affordable to rent a car out of Gauteng and drive, following the N4 east from Pretoria to Mbombela, or the N12 from Johannesburg/OR Tambo to connect with the N4 at eMalahleni (formerly Witbank). The drive takes 3-5 hours, depending on your ultimate destination.

• Self-drivers could visit most sites along the Panorama Route in one day, but two would be better. A good variety of hotels and lodges are available in Mbombela as well as smaller towns such as Hazyview, Sabie and Graskop.

Collectively protecting around two-thirds of South Africa’s phenomenal coastline, the country’s two most southerly provinces also incorporate several of its oldest and most characterful settlements. The main regional travel hub (and administrative capital of the Western Cape) is the city of Cape Town, which boasts an incomparable setting on the Atlantic coastline below the slopes of majestic Table Mountain. For nature lovers, the adjacent Cape Peninsula stands at the core of the world’s smallest and most botanically diverse floral kingdom, one that supports a wealth of endemic plants and animals, ranging from the beautiful King Protea to the endangered Cape mountain zebra and striking Cape sugarbird.

(P.S. If you’re looking for affordable Western Cape or Eastern Cape accommodation specials, we’ve got some great travel deals for you.)

The iconic Table Mountain is the landmark of Cape Town, boasting city, beaches and the pleasures of nature

Further afield, some of the world’s finest and most scenic wine estates are concentrated around the historic towns of Stellenbosch and Franschhoek. The clifftop resort town of Hermanus offers the world’s best land-based whale-watching, while the Garden Route is named for its lush vistas of scenic lagoons and beaches framed by tall mountains and evergreen forests. The garden route runs into the the Eastern Cape, a province that is less popular with international tourists than its western counterpart, but almost as rich in attractions. These range from the idyllic Wild Coast and surfing scene at Jeffrey’s Bay to the malaria-free Big Five game-viewing on offer in the Addo Elephant National Park and the National Arts Festival held in Grahamstown every July.

The quaint, old frontier town of Grahamstown in the Eastern Cape hosts the National Arts Festival each year, drawing thousands of performers and artists from all over the country | Credit: The Goodman Gallery

Highlights

One of the world’s most scenic and culturally rewarding cities, Cape Town is the gateway to any number of fine swimming beaches as well as a magnificent mountainous peninsula that terminates at the sheer wave-battered cliffs of Cape Point.

Clifton beach in Cape Town is a popular spot for sunbathers and yachts during the summer months

A perennially popular day or overnight excursion out of Cape Town runs inland to the Cape Winelands, where dozens of historic wine estates offer tasting sessions in characterful Cape Dutch buildings shadowed by spectacular mountain ranges such as the Simonsberg and Groot Drakenstein.

The picturesque winelands outside of Cape Town offers delightful wine farms and beautiful scenery

Stretching for 200 km between Mossel Bay and the dramatic Storms River mouth, the Garden Route is lined with family-friendly Indian Ocean beaches, but its plethora of lakes, forests and mountains – many protected in the patchwork Garden Route National Park – offer rich pickings to hikers, birdwatchers and other outdoor enthusiasts.

Storms River Mouth along the famous Garden Route

Set on the cliffs above Walker Bay 120 km southeast of Cape Town, Hermanus is an attractive town of cobbled alleys and relaxed seafood restaurants best known for offering some of the world’s finest land-based whale-watching. The season runs from Jun to Nov and peaks over Sep-Oct, when around 100 Southern Right whales and a smaller number of Humpback whales converge there to calve.

The seaside town of Hermanus draws visitors from all over the world during the whale-watching season between July and November | Credit: Hermanus Tourism

Protected within the recently created Agulhas National Park, the rocky headland known to the Portuguese as Cabo das Agulhas (Cape of Needles) is not only the southernmost tip of Africa, but also forms the semi-official divide between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. More than 250 ships fell victim to the jagged offshore rocks for which Agulhas is named prior to the construction of what is now the country’s second-oldest lighthouse.

Cape Agulhas is at the Southernmost tip of Africa and has claimed many lives due to the rough seas and unpredictable weather | Crdit: Pam Golding

The West Coast National Park north of Cape Town is centred on the vast Langebaan Lagoon, a globally important site for marine birds, ten species of which breed there colonially. It is also renowned for its multihued spring wildflower displays, which usually take place over Aug-Sep.

The West Coast National Park is well-known for Spring flowers, a blue lagoon and great birding opportunities

Eastern Cape’s Wild Coast is studded with scenic gems, ranging from arty Port St Johns on the Mzimvubu River mouth to the sea-eroded rock formation known as Hole in the Wall or EsiKhaleni (isiXhosa for ‘Place of Noise’). It is also the birthplace if Nelson Mandela, whose three-hut maternal home is preserved as a museum annex in the village of Qunu.

The Hole-in-wall of Coffee Bay along the Wild Coast of the Eastern Cape

Founded by the British immigrants known as the 1820 settlers, the well groomed university town of Grahamstown is studded with Georgian and Victorian buildings, including an astonishing 40 churches. The 11-day National Arts Festival held here in early July is the premier event of its type in South Africa, hosting everything from Shakespearean plays to live African music and a multitude of street artists.

The National Arts Festival brings many different people together in a celebration of South African creativity and talent | Credit: Michelle Cunliffe

Created in 1931 to protect the region’s last 11 surviving elephants, Addo Elephant National Park is now one of the country’s top malaria-fee Big Five safari destinations. Roughly 500 elephants roam the park, alongside naturally occurring populations of leopard, buffalo and greater kudu, and reintroduced black rhino, lion and spotted hyena. While Addo is ideal for self-drivers, several neighbouring private offer guided luxury safaris in game lodges comparable to those in Sabi Sands.

There are over 600 elephants in the Addo Elephant National Park

The attractive Blue Flag beach at Jeffreys Bay is dominated by what many surfers regard to be the world’s longest and most perfect right-hand break: supertubes. Scintillating surfing aside, dolphins are frequently observed from the unspoilt coastline protected within the nearby Cape St Francis Nature Reserve.

Jeffreys Bay is considered the surfing mecca of South Africa where surfers from all over the world come to compete for glory in the waves

Travel Tips

South Africa has a variety of well-maintained roads and beautiful scenic coast lines. While there are numerous airports around the country, sometimes it’s worth taking a road trip | Credit: TravelNation.co.za

• The main air gateway to the region is Cape Town International Airport (CTIA), which lies about 20 km east of the city centre and 35 km from Stellenbosch in the Cape Winelands. An increasing number of international flights land at CTIA, and it’s also serviced by dozens of flights daily from Johannesburg, and domestic flights to all other major centres in South Africa.

• Other important airports can be found at George (the largest town on the Garden Route), Port Elizabeth (capital of the Eastern Cape) and East London (gateway to the Wild Coast). Depending on how long you have to spare and where you want to visit, an excellent way to explore the region independently would be to fly into Cape Town, self-drive east as far as George, Port Elizabeth or East London, then fly back out. It is also possible to continue driving northeast of East London via the Wild Coast and southern KwaZulu-Natal to Durban.

• As South Africa’s most travelled province, the Western Cape offers a immense selection of overnight options, ranging from five-star city and boutique hotels to backpacker hostels and B&Bs. Overnight options in the Eastern Cape are also profuse and varied. Although it is usually straightforward enough to find a competitively priced room, rates rocket sky high, and booking is usually necessary, over the South Africa Christmas and New Year school holidays.

The majestic Drakensberg mountains | Credit: Joe Cornish

Africa’s largest protected montane wilderness – the 2,500km2 uKhahlamba-Drakensberg National Park extends for a full 200 km along the border of KwaZulu-Natal and Lesotho, and incorporates several dozen peaks with the highest rising to 3,000m. Its name combines the isiZulu uKhahlamba (“Barrier of Spears”) with the Afrikaans Drakensberg (“Dragon’s Mountain”). South Africa’s ultimate destination for high-altitude day walks and overnight hikes, the park is a hub of botanical diversity and some 15% of its 2,500 identified plant species occur nowhere else in the world.

Verreaux’s eagle nests atop the high peaks of the mountain range

Large wildlife includes baboon, eland, bushbuck, mountain reedbuck, grey rhebok and grey duiker, as well as 300-strong bird checklist that is strong on cliff-associated raptors such as Verreaux’s eagle, Jackal buzzard, Cape vulture and lammergeyer, and also includes 20 species whose range is restricted to South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland.

Rock art in the Kamberg area

An important repository of prehistoric rock art, uKhahlamba-Drakensberg contains at least 500 painted caves and shelters where monochrome human figures and finely shaded polychrome elands share wall space with bizarre half-human-half-animal creatures known as therianthropes. Executed between 3,000 and 200 years ago, the art depicts the ritual trances experienced by shamans, and their complex relationships with revered animals. uKhahlamba-Drakensberg’s combination of rich biodiversity and prolific rock art has gained it recognition as one of only 35 ‘mixed’ natural and cultural sites on the UNESCO World Heritage list.

Hiker celebrates the beauty of the Drakensberg Amphitheatre

No single feature encapsulates the mountains’ majesty quite like the Amphitheatre, a 5km-long, kilometre-high wall of burnished sandstone that dominates the skyline of Royal Natal National Park. A must for keen walkers is the half-day Gorge Trail, which follows a pretty riverine gorge past natural swimming pools to the 949m-tall five-stage Tugela Falls.

A feasible day hike from Royal Natal is the Witsieshoek’s Chain Ladder Trail. It’s the easiest hike to the top of the escarpment, and offers sensational views from the lip of the Tugela Falls as it crashes over the Amphitheatre.

The ideal goal perfect for those who want to enjoy splendid submontane scenery without breaking a sweat, Champagne Valley is overlooked by a trio of distinctive high peaks – domed Champagne Castle, fang-like Monk’s Cowl, and freestanding Cathkin Peak. It also houses a great selection of golf courses, stables, shopping malls, craft factories and the like.

Camping below Giant’s Castle | Credit: Drakensberg Hikes

Named after a 3,314m basaltic protrusion that stands at the convergence of the mountains’ northern and southern escarpments, Giant’s Castle Game Reserve is renowned for its rock art, in particular the hundreds of superb images that adorn Main Cave. It’s also a good place to see the stately eland antelope and other large mammals and raptors.

Didima Rock Art Centre contains life-size reproductions of several inaccessible rock art panels set higher in the mountains. Only 45 minutes’ walk away, the Lower Mushroom Cave is decorated with a wonderful scene of stick men evading a marauding leopard.

Cathedral Peak

The striking 3,005m Cathedral Peak, which towers above the main escarpment like a squatted version of the cow horn alluded to in its traditional name Mponjwane, is an attainable goal for a tough full-day guided hike from Didima.

The undulating slopes of Kamberg support fair numbers of eland and mountain reedbuck. A three-hour round hike leads to the Game Pass Shelter, a superbly preserved rock art panel dubbed the Rosetta Stone in double reference to its significance in helping scholars ‘crack the code’ of shamanistic symbolism that underlies the prehistoric paintings.

The Mountain pipit

The only motorable track to breach the Barriers of Spears, rocky 4×4-only Sani Pass follows a series of switchbacks uphill to a remote Lesotho border post (passport required) set at a windswept altitude of 2,865m. Here, the tussocky grass, mossy boulders and clumped heather of the Alpine zone acquires an ethereal beauty in the soft light of dusk or dawn. It’s also the easiest place to see high altitude endemic birds such as the Drakensberg rockjumper and mountain pipit.

Practical Advice

• The rugged topography of uKhahlamba-Drakensberg divides the park into a dozen-odd different sectors, each effectively a self-contained destination with its own attractions and access roads. Most visitors will only have time to explore one or two. As a guideline, Royal Natal ranks highest for scenic impact, Champagne Valley for upmarket tourist development, Giant’s Castle and Kamberg for accessible rock art, and Sani Pass for birdwatching and 4×4 enthusiasts.

• uKhahlamba-Drakensberg is geared best to active self-drive travellers who are willing to explore its slopes on foot. Bank on at least up to four hours to cover the 350 km from Gauteng to Royal Natal Park (in the north), or two hours from Durban to Himeville (near the base of Sani Pass).

• For ecological reasons, no hotels exist within the park, but the park authorities operate rest camps at several entrance gates, and there are private hotels in Champagne Valley and in the vicinity of Royal Natal, Cathedral Peak and Sani Pass.

• uKhahlamba-Drakensberg’s non-nannyish management policy stands in contrast to the strict regulations and hefty costs associated with other iconic African mountains – simply pitch up at any entrance gate, hand over the nominal entrance fee, sign into the mountain register, and off you go.

• Hikers on the upper slopes frequently get trapped in stormy or misty conditions, so dress suitably, and be prepared to turn back or stay put as weather conditions dictate.

This is your chance to see Africa’s wonderful nocturnal life. Unlike the daytime activities, during night drives, the chances of spotting nightjars, porcupine, scorpions, chameleons and bush babies are high. Of course, it’s also a great opportunity to see leopard, lion, civet and genet. Perhaps even a pangolin or aardvark. The trick is to search for their glinting eyes in the vehicle’s headlights or the spotlights shone across the bush.

For safety and practical reasons, many parks and reserves in Africa still don’t allow visitors to drive around the park after the sun has set. A lot of the time, it’s the main parks like the Kruger National Park, Serengeti and Masai Mara that are reluctant to conduct night drives. But the private concessions and conservancies surrounding these famous reserves do allow and support game drives at night.

Night drives are incredibly rewarding, and although it’s a bit more tricky to take good pictures, it’s more about the unique animals that you’ll get to see and the night time sounds that you hear. These aren’t things you’ll ever experience during a daytime game drive. It really completes an African safari.

A self-drive adventure helps to keep costs down

An excellent option for those who want to travel in reasonable comfort whilst keeping down costs is to self-drive some or all of the time. Rental cars can be arranged in all major centres (as well as at all airports) and roads are generally up to international standards, though potholes are increasingly prevalent in smaller towns.

The Kruger National Park ranks as Africa’s ultimate DIY self-drive safari destination, thanks to its good network of (mostly surfaced) roads and well-equipped and affordable rest camps, but similar facilities are available at most public major public reserves including iSimangaliso, Hluhluwe-Imfolozi, Pilanesberg, uKhahlamba-Drakensberg and any number of less publicised places.

South Africa is a destination that caters to all budgets, offering something special that is sure to meet your expectations. The level of three or even four-star graded establishments is generally higher than that of European standards for example and therefore you are able to travel on a more restricted budget.

South Africa is well-suited to budget travellers. There are backpacker hostels and affordable B&Bs as well as self-catering options in all major centres. There are also very affordable and well-equipped campsites, usually with hot water in the ablution blocks and electricity. For transport, the perennially popular <a href=https://www.bazbus.com/”>hop-on, hop-off Baz Bus connects Johannesburg to Cape Town via the uKhahlamba-Drakensberg, Durban, East London, Port Elizabeth and the Garden Route. Good and very affordable coach services run along with these and most other trunk routes.

Most backpacker hostels offer or can arrange a variety of excursions – from half-day, wine-tasting trips out of Cape Town to multi-night Kruger safaris out of Johannesburg – at prices that cater to their intended clientele. Although restaurants in South Africa are very affordable by international standards, the cost of eating out three times a day will add up, and you can save a lot of money by self-catering and buying ingredients and drinks directly from supermarkets and liquor stores.

Low Season Rates

You’ll be able to take advantage of some very generous low season pricing offered by several safari lodges depending on the time of year that you travel for your budget safari holiday in South Africa.

Low season rates in South Africa are available from the beginning of May to the end of September when the country is experiencing its winter. Surprisingly, for Kruger National Park and many other private reserves in South Africa, this is not the rainy season. Rather, the rainy weather in Cape Town is to blame for the low season prices all around South Africa!

This is excellent news for wildlife enthusiasts, as these are the greatest months to go on a budget safari holiday in South Africa. May through September is the dry season for Kruger and Madikwe. The bush isn’t as lush and green at this time of year, allowing for greater game viewing, and the animals are more dependant on waterholes and rivers because it’s the dry season.

This also makes it easier to locate the game in the winter. This is the perfect place to go if you want to see a variety of African animals collected around a waterhole early in the morning before the heat of the day sets in on your budget safari holiday in South Africa.

Budget Safari Lodges

South Africa, in particular, has a wide choice of less expensive or budget private lodges. While they aren’t exactly budget, they provide the same game viewing experiences as their more expensive neighbours at a fraction of the expense.

You can’t go wrong with one of these budget lodges if you’re going to South Africa primarily for the animals. While the accommodations aren’t quite as polished and elegant, and the food isn’t quite as sumptuous, they offer fantastic value for money and world-class safaris.

A must-for for anybody with a taste for bush luxury is a stay at one of the small and exclusive camps or lodges set in private reserves or concessions such as the Kruger concessions, Sabi Sand, Madikwe, Phinda and the vicinity of Addo Elephant National Park.

Typically these lodges combine chic Africa-themed accommodation with world-class cuisine, fine wines, attentive staff and most importantly, thrilling game drives led by expert guides in open-sided 4x4s. A three-night stay at any given lodge or camp is probably ideal for a luxury South Africa Safari.

The five-star Singita Lebombo in the Kruger is an example of safari luxury

Elsewhere, the likes of Cape Town, the nearby Cape Winelands and Garden Route are studded with small but superb boutique hotels that combine five-star service and amenities with individualistic decor. The most comfortable way to travel on a luxury holiday would fly between major centres, and then arrange airport pick-ups and drop-offs, as well as any required outings, with the lodge or hotel you book into.

When it comes to wining and dining on a generous budget, South Africa is a real treat. Any good tour operator can put together a package of this sort for those who don’t want the bother of arranging it themselves.

For more luxury safaris in Africa, have a look at the options we offer.

Certain camps and lodges offer guests professional photographic equipment for hire | Credit: Sabi Sands, Kruger National Park

South Africa is a highly photogenic country, especially in the summer months (November-April) when the air is least hazy and landscapes are at their greenest. The coastline and mountains all make great subjects, but the country’s most popular venues for photography are its game reserves, with their magnificent array of wildlife, which tends to be better for photographing during winter.

For dedicated photographers, it’s worth weighing off the pros and cons of a guided safari in a private reserve such as Sabi Sand, or a self-drive trip in a public one such as Kruger. Private reserves are generally a lot more costly to visit, and guides tend to focus strongly on the Big Five rather than less glamorous but equally photogenic subjects such as birds and antelope. In addition people with long lenses may find the seating arrangements in the open 4x4s to be rather crammed unless they arrange private game drives in advance.

Close-up of a lioness

On the other hand, most private reserves offer far superior sightings of lions, leopards and other photogenic predators that you can hope for in public reserves. Also, the ability to drive off-road means you can stick with the subject for longer, and usually get far closer to it and line up better.

Stunning landscape shot of Kommetjie beach in Cape Town | Credit: Juan Wernecke

First-time safari goers should also be aware that wildlife photography requires faster and higher-magnification lenses than most other subjects. The ideal lens combination would be a zoom that goes up to 300 together with a fixed 400, with a fastest f-stop of 4 or better, 2.8. A beanbag upon which to rest your lens to minimise the risk of camera shake is a vital accessory. To save weight you can travel with an empty bean bag and fill it up with rice or something similar upon arrival at your destination.

Discover the beaches of the Wild Coast in Eastern Cape on a leisurely adventure at your own pace

South Africa’s lovely coastline offers ideal conditions for chilling out, catching a tan, taking the occasional dip, and relaxing over a paperback or magazine. Most coastal resorts also boast a fine array of restaurants where seafood and other cuisines can be enjoyed along with fine homegrown white and red wines.

If you want to punctuate lazy seaside days with the occasional gentle stroll, you’re probably best heading for one of the rural or suburban beaches that line the Garden Route and Eastern Cape coast.

A stay at a resort means a relaxing time with all your needs catered to | Credit: Oliver’s Restaurant and Lodge

For those who prefer a more overtly resort-like setting, the standout region is Durban and the south KwaZulu-Natal coast, while Cape Town and the adjacent peninsula is ideal for those wanting the modern amenities and varied cultural life associated with a world-class city.

People seeking a relaxed holiday might prefer to limit their itinerary to a couple of venues, spending up to a week at each in order to minimise day-to-day travel and to really settle in.

Trail biking in South Africa

With its fine year-round climate and varied landscapes, South Africa is custom-made for active travellers. Indeed, there are a few parts of the country where a good selection of fun activities can be integrated into a regular holiday.

Surfing in Ballito Bay

A lovely area for active travellers is the Garden Route, where low-key physical activities range from canoeing along the Touws River and several excellent mountain biking routes to any number of coastal and montane day walks ranging from 5 km to 20 km in duration – none finer perhaps than the cliff top trail through Robberg Nature Reserve. The Garden Route is also a great area for swimming, surfing, sea-kayaking and other marine activities.

Cape Town and environs offers a similar array of activities to the Garden Route. These range from cliff walks in the whale-watching capital of Hermanus or on the stunning Cape of Good Hope, to a steep but scenic day hike from the City Bowl to the summit of Table Mountain.

Another popular walking destination is the uKhahlamba-Drakensberg. The foothills of this lovely range can easily be explored by casual ramblers, but the upper slopes are unpredictable in terms of weather, and recommended only to experienced and properly equipped hikers.

Hiking up Table Mountain

Generally speaking, game viewing is a rather inactive pursuit, since most reserves understandably forbid unguided walking.

Overnight guided wilderness trails are available in the likes of the the Kruger National Park and Hluhluwe-Imfolozi, but these must usually be booked well in advance. Most private reserves will also offer guided walks as an alternative to game drives, but these tend to focus on birds, insects and other small wildlife rather than seeking out the Big Five. Unguided nature trails are typically free and up to 10 km in duration. They can be found in many minor reserves that lack dangerous wildlife.

Horseback riding on Noordhoek beach, Cape Town

South Africa has a strong culture of recreational running and cycling. Mountain bikes can easily be hired at most destinations with good cycling possibilities, and you can ask local running clubs about park runs, time trials and other good local routes.

If you plan on walking a lot, bring suitable footwear and a few pairs of thick socks. A walking stick can be useful in more hilly areas or trails with loose rocks underfoot. Binoculars will greatly enhance bird and other wildlife sightings on the trail.

Exploring the Fish River Canyon | Credit Getaway Magazine

South Africa is a brilliant destination for adventurous travellers. Hard to
beat, in fact. Depending on your tastes, interests, age and level of fitness, activities on offer range from week-long rafting excursions along the Orange River as it follows the border between the Northern Cape and neighbouring Namibia, to multi-day coastal hikes such as the world-famous Otter or Oystercatcher Trails. Mountain biking in the remote montane heights of the uKhahlamba-Drakensberg is a highlight, as is an overnight guided wilderness trail looking for wildlife and camping wild in Big Five reserves such as the Kruger National Park or Hluhluwe-Imfolozi. Whilst the Garden Route is renowned for its paragliding courses.

Abseiling off Table Mountain, Cape Town | Credit: Abseil Africa

Other popular one-off adventure activities range from caged shark-diving in Mossel Bay and diving the coral reefs off Sodwana Bay to the world’s highest bungee jump (215m) off the Bloukrans Bridge and abseiling off Cape Town’s Table Mountain.

Longer adventure activities such as hiking trails, rafting trips and wilderness trails should definitely be booked well in advance in order to build your itinerary around the dates.

Discovering South Africa’s landscape

Adventure travellers should pack sensible outdoor clothing as well as waterproof clothing (trousers and jackets) and appropriate walking shoes or hiking boots, It would also be advisable to check if any specialist clothing and gear is required to bring from home. Day activities such as bungee jumps or caged dives can usually be arranged on the spot, or with a day or two’s warning. Probably the best part of South Africa for tackling a wide array of adventure activities on to your itinerary is in Cape Town and the Garden Route.

Cape Town has some of the best beaches in the world

South Africa is an ideal location for a beach and bush holiday. Time permitting, best perhaps to split the ‘bush’ and ‘beach’ components. For the former, try the Kruger National Park and associated private reserves for a great chance of ticking the Big Five, or almost-as-good but malaria-free Madikwe and Pilanesberg Game reserves northwest of Johannesburg.

For beaches, it would be hard to beat the Garden Route (best in the southern summer) or KwaZulu-Natal south coast (good in winter too). For a shorter best-of-both-worlds holiday, no better candidate than the iSimangaliso Wetland Park, with a night or two’s diversion to nearby Hluhluwe-Imfolozi or Phinda.

The most elusive of the Big Five; the leopard will drag its prey high up into the trees to escape scavengers

For many first time visitors to Africa, a top priority is ticking off the so-called Big Five: lion, leopard, buffalo, elephant and rhino. South Africa offers many excellent opportunities to do this, and it is the easiest place in Africa to see rhinos, since it supports more than 90% of the continental population of these endangered creatures. It is also the African country best suited to self-drive safaris.

South Africa’s top Big Five destination is the Kruger National Park, which extends over almost 20,000 km² to form one of Africa’s largest and most iconic safari destinations. Kruger is home around 40,000 buffalo, 13,000 elephant, 1,600 lion, 2,000 leopard, 7,000 white rhino and 400 black rhino. For those who can afford it, great alternatives to Kruger are the exclusive private reserves that border it, and ‘concession lodges’ that occupy enclaves within it.

The Cape buffalo can weight up to 850 kilograms

South Africa boasts many other world-class safari destinations, among them the malaria-free Pilanesberg and Madikwe Game Reserves northwest of Johannesburg.

The narina trogon in iSimangaliso Wetland Park

South Africa is a superb bird watching destination. The national checklist comprises around 840 species, and includes the world’s largest bird (ostrich) and what is reputedly its bulkiest flying species (kori bustard) along with a dazzling variety of birds of prey, ranging from the largely terrestrial secretary-bird to the charismatic African fish eagle and macabre Lappet-faced vulture. It also supports a dazzling array of colourful bee-eaters, turacos, parrot, rollers and waxbills.

A kori bustard in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park

There are several sites in South Africa where a moderately skilled birder could tick 100 species in a day. Foremost among these – and an excellent overall introduction to African birds – is the Kruger National Park, though some would argue that it is outranked by iSimagaliso Wetland Park. But rewarding birdwatching can be enjoyed anywhere in South Africa, even in the suburbs of Cape Town and Johannesburg.

Of particular interest to visiting birders are the 35 species more-or-less endemic to South Africa (some have a range extending into the small bordering kingdoms of Swaziland and Lesotho) and several other near-endemics with a range that extends a small way into Namibia and/or Botswana. Good sites for these localised species include the Western Cape, the uKhahlamba-Drakensberg and Pilanesberg/Madikwe.

Southern double-collared sunbird in the Western Cape | Credit: Jaime MacArthur

Avian variety is greatest in the southern summer (Nov-Mar) when several resident species assume a colourful breeding plumage and dozens of migrant species arrive from Europe or elsewhere in Africa. Several good regional field guides can be bought at any decent bookshop in South Africa.

Cape Town by night | Credit: SA Visas

No other country matches South Africa when it comes to offering a world-class city and bush holiday. Cape Town is quite simply the most beautiful city in Africa, and also arguably the best equipped when it comes to urban attractions such as museums, live music, restaurants and wine-tasting venues. Cape Town also offers access to some fabulous beaches and the incomparable Table Mountain.

Giraffe in the Kruger National Park

It can be twinned with the Kruger National Park (and/or associated private reserves) for a Big Five safari to match anything else Africa has to offer (though those seeking a malaria-free safari experience might prefer Madikwe and Pilanesberg Game Reserves northwest of Johannesburg.

Carbon Bistro in Johannesburg

South Africa’s larger cities have thriving culinary scenes and visitors will find the quality to be very high and prices very affordable by international standards. A celebrated facet of South Africa’s cuisine is the superb variety of good, affordable wine produced mainly in the Western Cape. Cape Town and the nearby Cape Winelands are rightly renowned as the culinary capitals of South Africa, and would form the obvious starting point of any foodie tour of the country.

Crayfish risotto at Reuben’s at the One and Only Hotel, Cape Town

Seafood is particularly recommended anywhere along the coast, while excellent venison can be enjoyed in the vicinity of the Kruger National Park. Oudtshoorn in the Karoo region is famed for its lean, free-range ostrich meat (and eggs), while Durban excels when it comes to Indian restaurants, the latter usually offering a good vegetarian selection.

Roti is a very popular side to curries and stews in Cape Malay cuisine

Don’t forget to try some of the several dishes that are more-or-less unique to South Africa. ‘Cape Malay’ specialties include sosatie kebabs (a variation on the Indonesian satay) and a fruit-sweetened baked mincemeat dish called bobotie. Spicy boerewors ‘farmer’s sausage’ is an integral component of any casual braai (barbecue) countrywide, while biltong is an air-dried strip of salted and spiced beef or game meat reminiscent of American jerky.

The Cape winelands pair fine dining with delicious wines | Credit: Sarah Graham

An aardvark in the malaria-free Kichaka Game Reserve in the Eastern Cape

Although malaria is a major travel concern in much of Africa, it has a very limited presence in South Africa. Indeed, more than 95% of South Africa, and most of its major attractions, are entirely free of malaria. There are only two exceptions. The eastern lowveld of Mpumalanga and Limpopo, which includes the Kruger National Park and associated private reserves, is classified as moderate risk.