Highlights
Cape Town with the Cape Peninsula // Wine growing areas around Stellenbosch // Whale Coast and Garden Route // Wildlife paradise Kruger National Park // Private safari parks with exclusive lodges // Hiking paradise Drakensberg and Blyde River Canyon // Wild Coast and KwaZulu Natal
Facts
Population: approx. 60 million // Size: 1,221,000 km² // Official languages: Afrikaans, English and various local languages // Currency: South African Rand (ZAR) // International Airports: Johannesburg (JNB), Cape Town (CPT), Durban (DUR)
South Africa has the nickname “Rainbow Nation” for good reason. At the southernmost end of Africa, Muslims, Hindus and Christians, blacks, whites and coloreds live peacefully and successfully together. As you know, that was of course very different. It was only when the great Nelson Mandela was released from prison in 1990 and brought peace and reconciliation to South Africa as the first black president in 1994 that the country was finally able to develop freely and became very attractive to visitors from all over the world.
Of course, there are still big differences in the living standards of South Africans. For example, while in Constantia and the wine country around Stellenbosch one resides in dignified Cape Dutch estates with park-like gardens, not far away in Kayelithsa, large families live in a corrugated iron hut in a very small space. A meal in Johannesburg’s gourmet temples can easily cost as much as the monthly wages of a humble provincial worker. We think that sensible tourism can help flatten out these contrasts.
South Africa is rich in scenic beauties from lonely sandy beaches to the dry red soil of the Kalahari, from the green forests along the Garden Route to the 3000 m high Drakensberg, from Cape Town on the cold Atlantic to Durban on the warm Indian Ocean – great photo opportunities everywhere!
Of course, no visit to South Africa is complete without a safari. The most famous destination for this is certainly the huge Kruger National Park, which stretches along the Mozambican border in the east of the country over an area of almost 20,000 km². But also the countless state and private game reserves around the Kruger, in KwaZulu Natal and on the Western and Eastern Cape attract visitors with the Big 5 (elephant, lion, rhino, buffalo and leopard) and numerous other animal species. The offer ranges from camping safaris to ultra-luxurious lodges, which fortunately have become more sustainable and environmentally conscious in recent years.
For marine life lovers, South Africa also offers the ocean’s Big 5 (whales, sharks, dolphins, seals and penguins) on the Atlantic and Indian coasts. In particular, the opportunities for whale watching from land and in the water are excellent here and the brave are offered the opportunity, protected in a cage, to dive with great white sharks.
South Africa has something to offer for every age and every holiday wish: accompanied round trip, rental car tour, hike, bike tour, adventure safari or exclusive flight safari – decide for yourself what is suitable for you … South Africa is definitely ready , to welcome you with its unique, opulent hospitality!
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Photo credits: www.pixabay.com / www.unsplash.com – please see photo credits for more details