South Africa Travel Guide

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Top Things to See

Addo Elephant National Park
Elephants are easy to spot in this park in the Eastern Cape (www.addoelephant.com), which is also home to black rhino, buffalo and antelope. The elephant section was proclaimed in 1931, when only eleven elephants remained; today there are more than 450. Enjoy guided game drives, and horse, hiking and 4x4 trails.

Apartheid Museum
Johannesburg's excellent and moving Apartheid Museum (www.apartheidmuseum.org) tells the story of racially segregated South Africa. Your entrance ticket comes in "white" and "non-white" versions, determining which entrance you're allowed to use. The story is told through photographs, artifacts, newspaper clippings and film footage.

Boulders Beach penguins
A large colony of endearing African penguins make their home on a protected part of Boulders Beach in Simonstown, near Cape Town, and a small entrance fee lets you get up close and personal. Do take care when driving there - sometimes they waddle across the roads.

Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden
This extraordinarily beautiful landscaped garden, created by Cecil Rhodes in 1895 on the lower slopes of Table Mountain, is dedicated to indigenous plants and flowers, particularly those unique to the Cape. Sunday evening concerts in the summer make a perfect venue for sundowners. (www.sanbi.org).

KwaZulu-Natal Battlefields
Learn about the wars between the Zulus, Afrikaans and British (1830-1902) by exploring the frontline in northern KwaZulu-Natal: an area of rolling grassland and rocky hills, marked by graves, memorials and monuments (www.battlefields.kzn.org.za).

Panorama Route, Mpumalanga
At the top of the spectacularly scenic Blyde River Canyon in the northern Drakensberg are waterfalls, dramatic mountains, plunging cliffs and gorges. Blyde River Canyon, God's Window and the astonishing Bourke's Luck Potholes are highlights, along with the Pilgrim's Rest, a restored gold rush town. (www.mpumalanga.com).

Robben Island
A short ferry trip from Cape Town takes you to Robben Island (www.robben-island.org.za), where Nelson Mandela and other anti-apartheid activists were jailed. Tours are conducted by former political prisoners themselves for an accurate account of life at the time.

Route 62
This scenic drive (www.route62.co.za) takes you through the Breede Valley and charming little towns of Tulbagh, Worcester, Wellington and Ceres with their fine old buildings, quaint museums, stunning scenery, vineyards and fruit orchards.

Spring flowers in Namaqualand
The arid Namaqualand region (www.namaqualand.com) explodes with color between mid-August and mid-September, when wild flowers blanket the landscape. The West Coast National Park is one of the best places to see the phenomenon.

Victoria and Alfred Waterfront
Cape Town's main hub, the V&A Waterfront (www.waterfront.co.za) is a beautifully restored old Victorian harbor. It houses masses of shops, a craft market, an excellent aquarium, cinemas, a jazz club, bars and restaurants.

Top Things to Do

Climb Table Mountain
Cape Town's famous flat-topped Table Mountain offers glorious views across the Cape peninsula and the city below. But you have to work for them because it's not a walk in the park. The lazy but equally rewarding way is to take the cable car (www.tablemountain.net).

Explore the Winelands
More than a dozen wine routes tempt you with wine tastings and excellent cuisine in the wine estate restaurants. The views are splendid, with rolling hills and gorgeous old Cape-Dutch mansions. Foreigners love the prices too when they stock up on supplies (www.winelands.co.za)

Game drives
You can't come to South Africa and not track down the big five: elephant, lion, buffalo, rhino and leopard. They're elusive beasts and the best way to guarantee great sightings is to take a game drive with a ranger. The Kruger National Park is extremely popular (www.krugerpark.co.za). Tracking white or black rhino on foot under the guidance of an expert ranger is also a thrilling experience, but definitely not something to be tried alone.

Golf
The courses are world class and the weather is a blessing, so golfing fans should certainly pack their clubs. There are hundreds of courses across the country, many in scenic locations, and several designed by one of the greatest golfers of all time, South African Gary Player.

Hiking
The beautiful South African wilderness is excellent for hiking. Highlights include the Drakensberg mountain trails passing ancient yellowwood trees and Bushmen cave art, and the Otter Trail - a multi-day coastal hike through Tsitsikamma National Park. Several companies offer porters. (www.drakensberg.kzn.org.za) and (www.sanparks.org).

Scuba diving
The KwaZulu-Natal coast offers superb conditions for underwater exploration. Stunning Sodwana Bay near Durban is a popular base for reef dives among turtles and tropical fish, while Aliwal Shoal and Protea Banks further south are superb for sharks and wrecks.

Shark-diving
Adrenalin junkies can have a close encounter of the scary kind with shark diving operators. Don your breathing equipment and get lowered in steel cage into great white shark territory. Dyer Island in the Western Cape is their favorite hunting ground with a plethora of penguins, seals and game fish.

Surfing
You can take to the waves at Jeffrey's Bay near Port Elizabeth, which is home to Supertubes - considered by some surfers as the world's best right hand point break. (www.surfingsouthafrica.co.za).

Township tour
Join a guided tour of a township, the areas where blacks were forcibly relocated to during apartheid, to experience the vibrancy and sense of community. Tours run from most major cities; Soweto in Johannesburg and Cape Town's Cape Flats are most popular.

Whale-watching
Southern Right Whales migrate along the south coast every winter, from around June until September. The best place to watch them from is Hermanus, which hosts an annual Whale Festival (www.whalefestival.co.za). They come so close to shore you can view from your hotel window.