South Africa

What to see

Cape Town

Set below iconic Table Mountain, this beautiful seaside city, South Africa’s oldest town, has a bustling waterfront area full of activity and life. Take the cable car up the mountain on a cloud-free day for the best views. Chill out on the waterfront and sample the region’s food and wines or seek out adrenaline activities including the highest bungee jump in the world and diving with sharks.

Soweto

Johannesburg’s sprawling, turbulent, hope-filled heart, this township, the world’s largest, offers a potted glimpse of the country as a whole.

Kruger National Park

A vast nature reserve the size of Wales, Kruger is one of Africa’s top game parks, boasting a range of camps and lodges, making it a great introduction to the Big Five.

Drakensberg

A breathtaking escarpment with superb walking opportunities amidst the magnificent peaks and plunging valleys.

Top experiences / sites of particular interest

Robben Island

A short boat ride from Cape Town takes you to this infamous prison where Nelson Mandela was held in captivity.

Wine Route

Centred on towns such as Paarl and Stellenbosch, this is celebrated wine-producing country, with more than 106 cellars and a wide variety of grapes to try.

Garden Route

A once heavily forested route along the south coast, the now largely cleared pathways still showcase the area’s stunning beauty, with excellent beaches and nature reserves on offer.

Hermanus

Head to this seaside town between June and December for the world’s best whale watching, which can be done from a boat or even from the cliffs that overlook Walker Bay.

When to go

Weather & Seasons: South Africa is generally sunny, warm and pleasant making it a pretty good year-round destination. Winters are usually mild although there can be strong winds in some coastal areas that make it feel colder. For the best combination of weather and fewer crowds visit in Spring, September to November, or Autumn, April to May.

Getting there / around

Flights: There are international airports in Johannesburg (JNB) as well as Cape Town (CPT), Durban (DUR), Port Elizabeth (PLZ) and Bloemfontein (BFN). There are plenty of internal flights that make exploring large chunks of the country feasible.

Road & Rail: The rail network is erratic but road systems are far more reliable with a number of bus and coach companies providing means to explore and get around.There are also car hire opportunities as well as car and driver set-ups and plenty of taxis for shorter journeys.

Potential itineraries

First Time Visitors: Since South Africa is so vast, you’ll have to tackle chunks of the country if you only have a couple of weeks to spare. For a great introduction to the Cape and coast in just a fortnight, fly into Cape Town then set off along good roads to visit Wine Country before hitting the coast and heading via Hermanus and the De Hoop Nature Reserve to the Little Karoo, where the artists’ enclave of Montague and the ostrich centre at Oudtshoorn will delay you. Head on to Knysna and scenic Plettenberg Bay before doubling back.

Nature Enthusiasts: For wildlife spotting start in Johannesburg then take two weeks to nip to Pilanesberg and Marakele National Parks before pushing onto the Kruger and the adjoining private reserves. A detour south takes you to the grassland reserves of Swaziland then the exceptional parks in Kwazulu-Natal.

Overall South Africa: A full circuit of the country, covering some 5000km from Cape Town along the coast and north to Kwazulu-Natal, Swaziland and the capital before looping back through Free State and the Northern Cape will take you around two months but provide an excellent overview.

Guides

Overall Country Guides: All the major publishers produce guidebooks for South Africa. Look out for comprehensive guides from Lonely Planet and Footprint if putting an itinerary together or more heavily illustrated guidebooks from Insight if after inspiration and background detail.

Cape Town Guides: Cape Town is well catered for with individual city guides from Time Out, Lonely Planet, Eyewitness, Insight and Frommers.

Johannesburg Guides: There are Johannesburg guidebooks fromWallpaper and Hg2.

Walking Guide: Cicerone’s guide to Walking in The Drakensberg is ideal for people getting out on foot.

Maps

Country Maps: There is a good whole country map of South Africa available fromFreytag & Berndt. Map Studio also produces a range of sectional maps at far more detailed scale.

Street Maps: Insight has a flexi street plan for Cape Town. Map Studio also publishes a Cape Town street plan in addition to street plans for Durban and Port Elizabeth.

Walking Maps: Walkers should look out for the Garden Route from Slingsby Maps as well as a range of Drakensberg walking maps from NPB.

Read More

There are various biographies or books on Nelson Mandela, best of which is the inspirational autobiography Long Walk to Freedom.

JM Coetzee is one of the highest profile South African novelists. His award winning books include Age of Iron, which confronts the horrors of apartheid, Disgrace, which looks at the violent dilemmas facing the new South Africa, and the semi-autobiographical Summertime.

Nadine Gordimer is similarly high profile – lookout for The Conservationist about a farmer whose world falls apart and July’s People, in which she chronicles the terrifying, tacit understandings and misunderstandings between blacks and whites and the demise of white rule.

Local Dishes

Typical dishes include sosaties, a type of kebab, bobotie, a curried mince dish, and bredies, meat and vegetable, tomato-based stews. Biltong, dried strips of meat, is popular and widespread.

South Africa produces a range of excellent red and white wines, and also distils its own Sherries, brandies and liqueurs particular to the country.

Sight & Sound

Music: South Africa has a varied and extensive musical history – Nelson Mandela once declared that music would be the salvation of his people. There is no ‘typical’ sound, instead expect to hear rock, jazz, classical, gospel, rap, reggae, marabi, maskanda, mbaqanga, kwaito and any number of fusions and variations.

Film: Tsotsi was made into a pulsating, Oscar-winning film staring Presley Chweneyagae.

Language

Afrikaans and English are widely spoken but there are also a multitude of other languages including Ndebele, Pedi, Sotho, Swati, Tsonga, Tswana, Venda, Xhosa and Zulu used.

Currency

Rand (R)

Visas

Visas are not required for UK or US citizens.

Health issues

Innoculations for Cholera, Hep A, Hep B, Typhoid, rabies and Yellow Fever are recommended.

Malaria is also present in the country.

Safety, FO travel advice

South Africa is now politically stable but there are instances of crime, especially in some of the urban centres, where tourists should exercise caution and show common sense when exploring areas.Johannesburg is infamous for carjackings and there are instances of tourists being mugged as well.

Useful Telephone Numbers

South African country representatives can be found

in the UK at

and in the US at

There is a tourist board

in the UK at

and in the US at

For more information visit: www.southafricahouse.com, www.southafrica.net, www.saembassy.org, www.southafrica.com, www.sanparks.org, www.gradenroute.co.za, www.joburg.co.za, www.touriscapetown.co.za or www.wine.co.za.