South Africa
Useful links
http://www.mg.co.za/: Business, travel, news, sport, you name it!
AllAfrica.com : A news website aggregating information from over 300 sources, together with specially commissioned articles and commentaries.
AfricaGuide.com: Exhaustive resource website covering the whole of Africa – climate, travel and medical advice, visas and money, public holidays, getting around, people and culture, shopping and forums.
The Lonely Planet and TripAdvisor websites may also provide useful information.
South Africa lies at the southernmost part of the African continent. It is bordered to the north by Botswana and Zimbabwe, to the northeast by Mozambique and Swaziland and to the northwest by Namibia. On the east coastline lies the Indian Ocean, the Southern coastline the confluence of the Indian and Atlantic Oceans, and Atlantic Ocean on the western side. South Africa completely surrounds Lesotho. South Africa’s history is well-documented – from the Boer War, through Apartheid, to its current day fame for hosting the 2010 Football World Cup!
Undoubtedly South Africa has the widest range of holiday experiences to offer of any country in Africa, and, although less safe than, say, Zambia, it remains a country that the intending traveller can visit with some confidence, although it would probably be best to avoid areas such as downtown Johannesburg.
Where to start? Cape Town is one of the world’s favourite resorts, and the opportunity to visit the Cape of Good Hope, in addition to being able to explore the wine lands of Stellenbosch and the surrounding areas, remains a magnet for many travellers. Fishing, surfing and whale watching are also popular activities in the area of the Cape.
For golfers South Africa is a paradise, with many top level courses, set in stunning scenery, and many people choose to combine a golfing holiday with a wild-life safari. Cultural experiences abound, from Robben Island, near Cape Town (where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for so long), through a (guided) visit to Soweto township (just south of Johannesburg ), to the Zulu battlefields of Kwa-Zulu/Natal.
Travel on the famous ‘Blue Train’ (the South African equivalent of the Orient Express) is an unforgettable, if expensive, experience, and for dramatic countryside it is difficult to beat the Drakensberg Mountains in the west of the country.
A visit to the Drakensberg leads naturally on to South Africa’s most well-known game park – the Kruger National Park. However don’t expect a deeply ‘bushy’ experience – South Africa is represented more by expensive luxury game lodges, than by intimate bush camps. This is why we prefer to concentrate on the true ‘Wild Africa’ experience to be encountered in countries such as Zambia, Tanzania, Kenya and Botswana, and hence South Africa is not a country in which we currently offer a tourism product.
