South Africa’s irresistible offering of sundrenched scenic beauty, its splendid outdoors and fascinating culture have made it a tourist magnet and one of the fastest growing travel destinations in the world.
The country is culturally diverse, and each culture has preserved its own distinctive art forms, music and rituals. Community tours give visitors an authentic feel of South Africa.
Interestingly, business travellers are beginning to make an increasingly significant impact on South Africa’s tourism. Several business travellers also do some leisure travel while there, and actually spend much more than leisure travellers. In 2007, business travellers made up an estimated seven percent of total tourist arrivals.
South Africa is home to eight UNESCO World Heritage sites:
- iSimangaliso Wetland Park: South Africa’s first heritage site is one of exceptional biodiversity. It is one of the largest estuary systems in Africa and includes wide submarine canyons, sandy beaches, forested dune cordon, wetlands, grasslands, forests, lakes and savannah.
- Robben Island: Robben Island has the notoriety of having housed the maximum security prison where Nelson Mandela spent 18 of his 27 years of imprisonment, along with other anti-apartheid activists. The small island is now home to the world-renowned Robben Island Museum and is regarded a symbol of the triumph of the human spirit and democracy over oppression.
- Cradle of Humankind: the region of Sterkfontein, Swartkrans, Kromdraai and its surroundings have among the world's richest concentrations of hominid fossils and evidence of human evolution over the last 3.5 million years.
- uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park: has the largest and most concentrated series of rock art paintings in Africa. It also has the highest mountain range in Africa south of the Kilimanjaro and is an area of exceptional natural beauty.
- Mapungubwe Cultural Landscape: Mapungubwe was South Africa's first kingdom, lasting for 400 years before it was abandoned in the 14th century. Its people are believed to have been highly sophisticated and are known to have traded gold and ivory with China, India and Egypt. Interestingly, after its discovery in 1932, the findings were kept secret until 1993, because evidence of a highly advanced indigenous society existing centuries before European colonialism ran contrary to the apartheid regime belief in their supremacy.
- Cape Floral Region: This region, which covers only 0.04 percent of the world's land area, contains an astonishing 3 percent of its plant species, making it one of the richest areas of biodiversity in the world.
- Vredefort Dome: is an area where a meteorite larger than Table Mountain hit the earth around two billion years ago, creating an enormous crater. It is possible that this impact may have increased the earth's oxygen levels enough to have paved the way for the development of multi-cellular life. The crater is located about 100 km southwest of Johannesburg.
- Richtersveld Cultural and Botanical Landscape: is a mountainous desert inhabited by the Nama people to whom the land was returned recently as part of South Africa’s land restitution programme.
The country offers plenty of other attractions in addition to the UNESCO sites:
- Adventure sports like shark cage diving, cage diving with crocodiles and sky diving.
- Parks like the Table Mountain National Park and Cederberg Conservancy.
- The town of Rustenberg with its cultural and historical sites and adjoining areas of interest like the Pilanesberg National Park and game reserve, and the Hartebeespoort Dam. Rustenberg also has a range of entertainment options.
- Dumazulu Traditional Village is situated in the heart of Zululand, and is a sort of live museum. It is the largest traditional Zulu village of its kind in the southern hemisphere, and is home to over 50 Zulu residents. Visitors may opt for a day tour, or stay overnight at the village in traditional accommodation, and learn about Zulu customs, etiquette, experience their way of life and eat what the locals eat.
- Gold Reef City: Gold Reef City Casino has recreated the atmosphere of old-time gold-rush Johannesburg, and the theme park offers a lot of fun with some history thrown in.
Fair Trade in Tourism South Africa (FTTSA) is a non-profit organisation that promotes sustainable tourism development, and tourists who patronise FTTSA approved services or establishments have an assurance that these businesses are run ethically, and that the money they spend will benefit local communities.
Image: Cape Town Waterfront, with Table Mountain in the background.
Travel and entertainment on bidorbuy.co.za
