SOUTH AFRICA
Madikwe Game Reserve is a conservation area in South Africa’s North West Province, bordering Botswana. The reserve’s grassland, forest and rocky Tshwene Tshwene hills are home to a variety of wildlife such as elephants, lions, leopards and rhinos, plus endangered wild dogs. Hundreds of bird species include ostrich, vultures and the large kori bustard. Animals often gather at the Madikwe Dam to drink at sunset.
Top attractions in South Africa
Cape Town
Cape Town is a port city on South Africa’s southwest coast, on a peninsula beneath the imposing Table Mountain. Slowly rotating cable cars climb to the mountain’s flat top, from which there are sweeping views of the city, the busy harbor and boats heading for Robben Island, the notorious prison that once held Nelson Mandela, which is now a living museum.
Johannesburg
Johannesburg, South Africa's biggest city and capital of Gauteng province, began as a 19th-century gold-mining settlement. Its sprawling Soweto township was once home to Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu. Mandela’s former residence is now the Mandela House museum. Other Soweto museums that recount the struggle to end segregation include the somber Apartheid Museum and Constitution Hill, a former prison complex
Kruger National Park
Kruger National Park, in northeastern South Africa, is one of Africa’s largest game reserves. Its high density of wild animals includes the Big 5: lions, leopards, rhinos, elephants and buffalos. Hundreds of other mammals make their home here, as do diverse bird species such as vultures, eagles and storks. Mountains, bush plains and tropical forests are all part of the landscape.
Durban
Durban, a coastal city in eastern South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal province, is known for its African, Indian and colonial influences. Refurbished for soccer’s 2010 World Cup, the seafront promenade runs from uShaka Marine World, a huge theme park with an aquarium, to the futuristic Moses Mabhida Stadium. The Durban Botanical Gardens showcases African plant species
Soweto
Soweto is a township of the city of Johannesburg in Gauteng, South Africa, bordering the city's mining belt in the south. Its name is an English syllabic abbreviation for South Western Townships. Formerly a separate municipality, it is now incorporated in the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality, Suburbs of Johannesburg.
Stellenbosch
Stellenbosch is a university town in South Africa's Western Cape province. It's surrounded by the vineyards of the Cape Winelands and the mountainous nature reserves of Jonkershoek and Simonsberg. The town's oak-shaded streets are lined with cafes, boutiques and art galleries. Cape Dutch architecture gives a sense of South Africa's Dutch colonial history, as do the Village Museum's period houses and gardens.
Tsitsikamma National Park
Tsitsikamma National Park is an area of the Garden Route National Park, on South Africa’s southern coast. It encompasses a marine reserve, deep gorges and local vegetation like the Big Tree, a towering yellowwood. The Mouth Trail crosses a suspension bridge over Storms River. The Otter Trail leads to Nature’s Valley, with birds including the Cape batis. The park is also home to small mammals, including bush pigs.
Kimberley, Northern Cape
Kimberley is the capital city of South Africa’s Northern Cape Province. It’s known for its 19th-century diamond mines, like the deep, hand-dug Big Hole. Nearby, the Kimberley Mine Museum is a re-creation of the town in its heyday, and displays jewellery and uncut diamonds. The William Humphreys Art Gallery exhibits South African work, Old Master drawings, 17th-century European paintings and modern art.
East London
East London is a city on the Indian Ocean, in South Africa’s Eastern Cape. It’s known for its beaches, such as Nahoon and Cove Rock. The Buffalo Pass is a road crossing a forested valley and the Buffalo River. Fossilised human and animal footprints, plus artefacts from the Xhosa-speaking people, are exhibited at the East London Museum. Elephants, lions, zebras and other wildlife roam in several nearby game reserves.
Richtersveld
The Richtersveld is a mountainous desert landscape characterised by rugged kloofs and high mountains, situated in the north-western corner of South Africa’s Northern Cape province.
Hermanus, Western Cape
Hermanus is a seaside town southeast of Cape Town, in South Africa’s Western Cape Province. It's known as a whale-watching destination. Beaches include Voëlklip Beach and the broad Grotto Beach, overlooking Walker Bay. The Old Harbour Museum is a site encompassing the old harbour, a fishermen’s village and the Whale House Museum. The latter has informative displays and a suspended skeleton of a whale.
Addo Elephant National Park
Country's 3rd-largest national park, with hundreds of elephants & also home to lions & black rhinos.
Pilanesberg Game Reserve
Pilanesberg Game Reserve is a provincial park in South Africa, northwest of Johannesburg. It’s set in an extinct volcanic crater, with grasslands, wooded valleys and multihued rock formations. Wildlife includes elephants, lions, leopards and rhinos. Animals drink at Mankwe Dam, a man-made lake. Abundant birdlife includes eagles and ostriches. Concealed wildlife-viewing shelters are scattered throughout the park.
Wilderness
Wilderness is a town in South Africa’s Western Cape Province, on a coastal stretch known as the Garden Route. It’s home to wide beaches and trails. The Map of Africa, a hilltop lookout point, has views of the Indian Ocean, the Outeniqua Mountains and the Kaaimans River. Nearby Wilderness Natural Park, part of the sprawling Garden Route National Park, is a habitat for wildlife including leopards, monkeys and eagles.
Margate, KwaZulu-Natal
Margate is a seaside resort town on the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast, about 20 kilometres southwest of Port Shepstone. The river which flows into the sea at Margate is called "Nkhongweni" because the original inhabitants were reputed to be so mean that travellers had to beg for hospitality. In 1908, Henry Richardson, an English surveyor laid out the town and named it Margate after another seaside resort on the northern coast of the county of Kent, in the United Kingdom. It features Blue Flag Beaches for swimming, snorkelling, and surfing. Many apartment buildings offer accommodation for residents and visitors. It also contains a shopping street and many restaurants, pubs, and nightclubs, Margate is a spot where many South Africans and foreign visitors spend their vacation.
Worcester
Worcester is a town in the Western Cape, South Africa. It is located 120 kilometres north-east of Cape Town on the N1 highway north to Johannesburg. Being the largest town in the Western Cape's interior region, it serves as the administrative capital of the Breede Valley Local Municipality and as regional headquarters for most central and Provincial Government Departments. The town also serves as the hub of the Western Cape's interior commercial, distribution and retail activity with a shopping mall, well developed central business district and infrastructure. Worcester is located at an elevation of 220 metres and can be reached by road either travelling on the N1 highway through the Huguenot Tunnel or by driving through spectacular Mountain passes.
Plettenberg Bay
Plettenberg Bay is a seaside town on the Garden Route in South Africa’s Western Cape Province. The sandy Central Beach and Lookout Beach both have surf breaks. To the south, Robberg Nature Reserve is a rocky peninsula with trails and the Stone Age Nelson Bay Caves. Northeast are Birds of Eden, a free-flight bird sanctuary in indigenous forest, and an elephant sanctuary. Whales come near the coast in migration season.
Franschhoek
Franschhoek is a town in South Africa’s Western Cape with centuries-old vineyards and Cape Dutch architecture. Trails wind through flowers and wildlife at Mont Rochelle Nature Reserve to views over Franschhoek Valley. The Huguenot Memorial Museum and neighboring monument honor the area’s French settlers, who arrived in the 17th and 18th centuries. Franschhoek Motor Museum displays vintage cars amid mountain farmland.
Bloemfontein
Bloemfontein is the capital city of the province of Free State of South Africa; and, as the judicial capital of the nation, one of South Africa's three national capitals. Bloemfontein is the sixth largest city in South Africa. Bloemfontein was popularly and poetically known as "the city of roses", owing to the abundance of these flowers and the annual rose festival held there.
George
George is a city in South Africa’s Western Cape, on a coastal stretch known as the Garden Route. It’s known for its golf courses and the George Museum, which has exhibits on the local timber industry. The Outeniqua Transport Museum has steam trains and vintage cars. The Garden Route Botanical Garden features trails and local fynbos plants. The Seven Passes road to Knysna town winds through the Outeniqua Mountains.
Jeffreys Bay
Jeffreys Bay is a town located in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. The town is situated just off the N2 Highway, about 75 km southwest of Port Elizabeth.
Hartbeespoort
Hartbeespoort is a South African resort town north of Johannesburg. It’s known for the Hartbeespoort Dam and the whitewater rapids of the Crocodile River. Both are visible from the Hartbeespoort Aerial Cableway, which ascends to the top of the Magaliesberg mountains. Outside of town, Miracle Waters is a spring-water dive site in a former chrome mine. Also nearby is the Ann van Dyk Cheetah Centre, a big-cat sanctuary.
Paarl
Paarl is a city with 191,013 inhabitants in the Western Cape province of South Africa. It is the third oldest town and European settlement in the Republic of South Africa and the largest town in the Cape Winelands. Due to the growth of the Mbekweni township, it is now a de facto urban unit with Wellington. It is situated about 60 kilometres northeast of Cape Town in the Western Cape Province and is renowned for its haunting scenic beauty and deep viticulture and fruit growing heritage. Paarl is the seat of the Drakenstein Local Municipality; although not part of the Cape Town metropolitan area, it falls within its economic catchment. Paarl is unusual in South Africa in that the name of the place is pronounced differently in English and Afrikaans.
Pietermaritzburg
Pietermaritzburg is the capital and second-largest city in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa and is also regarded as the birth place of legends. It was founded in 1838 and is currently governed by the Msunduzi Local Municipality. Its Zulu name umGungundlovu is the name used for the district municipality. Pietermaritzburg is popularly called Maritzburg in English and Zulu alike, and often informally abbreviated to PMB. It is a regionally important industrial hub, producing aluminium, timber and dairy products. It is home to many schools and tertiary education institutions, including a campus of the University of KwaZulu-Natal. It had a population of 228,549 in 1991; the estimated current population is around 500,000 and has one of the largest populations of Indian South Africans in South Africa.
Ballito
Ballito is a holiday town located in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Ballito is situated about 40 kilometres north of Durban. It forms part of the KwaDukuza Local Municipality, and iLembe District Municipality. Dolphins are common on this stretch of the North Coast shoreline, hence the nickname Dolphin Coast.
Hazyview, Mpumalanga
Hazyview is a small farming town in Mpumalanga, South Africa and is renowned for its banana industry. Close to Kruger National Park, the town's name is derived from the shimmering haze that occurs during the heat of summer. Most of Mpumalanga's private game reserves are found just east of Hazyview.
City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality
The City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality is the metropolitan municipality that forms the local government of northern Gauteng Province, South Africa.
Underberg, KwaZulu-Natal
Underberg is an administrative town in a dairy and cattle farming community in the Mzimkulu River valley of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.
Prince Albert
Prince Albert is a town at the foot of the Swartberg Mountains, in South Africa’s Western Cape. It's ringed by vineyards and fruit and olive farms. Local history exhibits in the Fransie Pienaar Museum include fossils and a working moonshine distillery. The nearby 19th-century Swartberg Pass runs through Swartberg Nature Reserve and has dramatic mountain views. The reserve is dotted with caves featuring San rock art.
Cradle of Humankind
131,000-acre, World Heritage listed area with caves containing primate fossils and rich wildlife.
Sun City
Sun City is a luxury resort and casino, situated in the North West Province of South Africa. It is located between the Elands River and the Pilanesberg, about two hours' drive from Johannesburg, near the city of Rustenburg. The complex borders the Pilanesberg Game Reserve.
Hout Bay
Hout Bay is a town near Cape Town, South Africa situated in a valley on the Atlantic seaboard of the Cape Peninsula, twenty kilometres south of the Central Business District of Cape Town. The name "Hout Bay" can refer to the town, the bay on which it is situated, or the entire valley.
Alexandra, Gauteng
Alexandra, informally abbreviated to Alex, is a township in the Gauteng province of South Africa. It forms part of the city of Johannesburg and is located near the upper-class suburb of Sandton. Alexandra is bounded by Wynberg on the west, Marlboro and Kelvin on the north, Kew, Lombardy West and Lombardy East on the south. It is commonly known as "Gomorrah" among local residents. Alexandra is one of the poorest urban areas in the country. Alexandra is situated on the banks of the Jukskei River. In addition to its original, reasonably well-built houses, it also has a large number of informal dwellings or "shacks".
Golden Gate Highlands National Park
National park & camp in foothills known for vibrant rock colors, rare bearded vultures & bald ibis'.
Clarens
Clarens is a small town situated in the foothills of the Maluti Mountains in the Free State province of South Africa and nicknamed the "Jewel of the Eastern Free State". It was established in 1912 and named after the town of Clarens in Switzerland where exiled Paul Kruger spent his last days. It is situated 336 km from Johannesburg, 284 km from Bloemfontein, 389 km from Durban.
Robertson
Robertson is a town in the Western Cape Province of South Africa known as the valley of wine and roses, at the heart of the wine route - Route 62.
Langebaan
Langebaan is a town in the Western Cape province of South Africa on the eastern shore of Langebaan Lagoon. Langebaan is situated 120 km north of Cape Town, just off the R27, about 28 km from Vredenburg and 20 km from Saldanha Bay. The Lagoon stretches for 17 km from Saldanha Bay, past Langebaan to Geelbek in the South. In places it is up to 4 km wide.
Hluhluwe–Imfolozi Park
Hluhluwe–Imfolozi Park, formerly Hluhluwe–Umfolozi Game Reserve, is the oldest proclaimed nature reserve in Africa
Table Mountain National Park
Massive Table Mountain National Park stretches from north of Cape Town down the Cape Peninsula to Africa’s southwestern extremity, the Cape of Good Hope. Iconic, flat-topped Table Mountain is its centerpiece. The mountain’s 1,086m summit affords sweeping views of Cape Town and Table Bay, and is reachable by cableway, bicycle, automobile or on foot. The park is also among the world’s richest floral regions.
Madikwe Game Reserve
Madikwe Game Reserve is a conservation area in South Africa’s North West Province, bordering Botswana. The reserve’s grassland, forest and rocky Tshwene Tshwene hills are home to a variety of wildlife such as elephants, lions, leopards and rhinos, plus endangered wild dogs. Hundreds of bird species include ostrich, vultures and the large kori bustard. Animals often gather at the Madikwe Dam to drink at sunset.