South Africa is about so much more than the iconic Table Mountain, Garden Route, Kruger National Park and Nelson Mandela.
Just like the USA is not just about the Grand Canyon and New York city, the sum of this country is indeed greater than its parts. The legendary Kruger is indeed one of Africa’s finest safari destinations, but not the only one.
This is the only destination on earth that the traveller will find beaches lining both the Atlantic and Indian oceans, textured and subtropical landscapes buffering both. Inland, travellers find mountains, forests, and desert.
Wines, Craft coffees and beers are enmeshed in South African culture, as are the tales of colonial conquest and liberation. All are waiting to speak to the traveller.
*Our Top Picks:
Cape Winelands · Kruger National Park · Drakensburg Mountains · Garden Route
BEACHES
Cape Town is home to a host of stunning beach locations, with fresh, bracing water. Boulders and Fisherman’s beaches outside Simonstown are known for penguins and little coves hidden amongst the giant boulders. The long sands of Muizenberg are great for surfing, especially beginners. The waters of Blouberg beach are cold, but legendary amongst kite-surfers.
WILDLIFE
This is not a wildlife destination. The early settlers shot out the leopards and lions on and around the mountain. However, penguins, otters, sharks and seals, and whales in season, are there to be seen in False Bay, with operators offering appropriate activities, from diving to boat-cruises.
FOOD AND WINE
Cape Town is firmly entrenched as a global food and wine capital. Its restaurants regularly appear on the ‘world’s top 50’ list, while its new world wines, Cap Classique and brandy are increasingly in demand.
OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES
Few cities offer what Cape Town can. Mountain and rock-climbing, road-running, diving, kayaking, surfing, kitesurfing, hiking, horse-riding, paragliding, mountain-biking and even foraging for seafood on the coastline. And so, the list goes on.
EXPERIENCES IN SOUTH AFRICA
Cape Winelands
The winelands in and outside Cape Town have staked their claim as something special among new world wines. The reputations of our cool-climate sauvignon blanc and chenin blanc are catching up to our world-famous deep and heavy reds of Stellenbosch, the city’s most famous wine region.
Stellenbosch lies in a valley about 40 minutes from the city, hot and humid in summer - which produces the excellent reds. Roughly 20 minutes further north is Franschhoek, established by French Huguenots in the late 17th century.
Kruger National Park
For one English pound, the first motorists entered the Kruger National Park in 1927. But ‘the Kruger’ - as it is known to South Africans - was really established by President Paul Kruger of the Transvaal, in 1898, when, on realising that the wildlife was being hunted out, he set aside land to be protected.
Today the Kruger is a global wildlife icon, 19,633 square kilometres in size and host to hundreds of animal and bird species. There are 254 known cultural heritage sites in the Kruger, including 130 rock art sites. Homo erectus once walked here. People who visit the park usually depart with tales of at least a few of lions, leopards, elephants, cheetah, rhinos, wild dogs, and the little creatures in between. Camp or lodge location often dictates what wildlife and birdlife guests will see, with the park comprising savannah, woodland and higher altitude areas, and certain animals preferring certain habitats.
Garden Route
Some people think that this route stretches from Cape Town (CT) to Port Elizabeth. We would say, having driven the area many times, that it pretty much covers the drive along the N2 motorway from CT to Tsitsikamma National Park, because most of it is quite beautiful, with the ocean to the south, sometimes out of sight, and mountain ranges ever-present to the north. Standout towns and villages worth visiting or staying at along the way are Swellendam, Knysna, Wilderness, Victoria Bay, Plettenberg Bay and Nature’s Valley, with mountain roads and beaches accessible most of the way.
Drakensberg
The earliest Dutch settlers named the escarpment, ‘Drakensbergen’, or Dragons' Mountains. It is known in Zulu as uKhahlamba and as Maluti in Sotho, directly translated as "Barrier of up-pointed spears", within which are found wildlife, Zulu villages, mountain treks, walks, trout fishing and hundreds of examples of rock art.
That gives you an idea of the Drakensberg landscape, which stretches from southern KwaZulu-Natal province northwest for a couple hundred kilometres, and east to what is known as the Panorama tourist route, home to God’s Window and Blyde River canyon, closer to the Kruger National Park. So, the Drakensberg can work perfectly within a beach, mountains, culture, and game reserve itinerary.