South Africa
Looking for a wild time? Then SA is the place to be. Sightings of the “big five” are almost guaranteed at Kruger, the best-known of the country’s 200 game parks.
Overnight on the Blue Train from Pretoria to Cape Town and enjoy the pageant of landscapes through the carriage windows. Few places can challenge Cape Town’s marriage of mountains and sea. You’ll spot Table Mountain, covered by its cloudy cloth, long before the train hits the city. You could hike the heights, but it’s easier to take the cable car.
Shop at the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront with its picturesque restored wharfs or take a boat to Robben Island where Nelson Mandela was incarcerated for 18 years.
Sleep over in nearby Stellenbosch or Franschhoek and be seduced by wines, vines, and Cape Dutch gables offset against the mountains.
Towards Africa’s southernmost tip, the Grootbos nature reserve offers 2,500 acres of fynbos, a carpet of scrub and wild flowers classified as one of the earth’s seven floral kingdoms. The Cape has the richest, with 8,500 species.
Enjoy horse-riding, forest walks, the Cape fur seals, penguins or even great white sharks, but come between July and December to see southern right whales frolicking in the swells of Walker’s Bay or Hermanus.
Venture through the Outeniqua forests at the foot of Robinson Pass and over the mountains to Oudtshoorn, famous for its ostriches. It’s also the gateway to the arid Little Karoo.
George, the scenic Garden Route’s largest town, is the starting point for the Outeniqua Choo-Choo, a 1920s steam train that chugs between the forests and lagoons of the Wilderness National Park to Knysna.
Plettenberg Bay is famous for Pezula, a cliff-top golf course overlooking the Indian Ocean. To the south, the Robberg Peninsula towers over a pristine crescent of sand and sea that stretches towards the Tsitsikamma National Park with its ancient trees and estuaries. Sail up the Keurbooms River, marvel at Nature’s Valley and continue towards the fynbos plateau that plunges past hanging vines and giant ferns into the Bloukrans Gorge near Storms River Mouth, a great spot for coastal walks.
Catch a wave at Jeffrey’s Bay or head inland from Port Elizabeth for Shamwari or Addo to see the elephants.
On the KZN coast Durban is the gateway to the Zulu kingdom, its sensual beaches, historic battlegrounds, Hluhluwe/Umfolozi game reserves and the rugged Drakensberg.
And we haven’t even touched on Mpumalanga, north west province, Sun City or sophisticated Johannesburg. There’s so much more to explore. South Africa really is a world in one country!