I've spent most of my life in South Africa but know that i haven't seen nearly enough of my own country and it's often nice to hear from fellow travellers, especially people foreign to your home country, where they have been and where they would recommend others go... not only for my benefit, but for others who are planning trips to SA!

From a personal point of view, i would recommend a trip to the winelands in the Cape to sample some awesome wine and countryside and if you are into scuba diving a trip up the north coast of KZN to Sodwana Bay!

What are your recommendations?

Although I had never heard about them before I arrived in South Africa, I enjoyed the following activities very much:

* Hiking up Table Mountain in Cape Town from Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens via Skeleton Gorge, instead of using the lift. Walking across the "table" in solitude was a nice thing to do on a sunny day, and I was even alone on the viewpoint towards the city, as it turned out that the lift was not operating, due to strong winds.

* Walking the Saint Blaze trail from Mosselbaai to Dana Baai. Beautiful cliffs and greenery.

* Hluhluwe-Umfolozi National Park was a great discovery to me, who arrived in the country believing that the Kruger safariland was the best South Africa had to offer.

Bjørn
http://bjornfree.com/

quote:

Originally posted by uspn:
* Hluhluwe-Umfolozi National Park was a great discovery to me, who arrived in the country believing that the Kruger safariland was the best South Africa had to offer.

Great to hear you enjoyed Hluhluwe, it is my favourite game reserve... has everything you want to see and loads less commercialised!

thank you for the hiking up Table Mountain suggestion... i've been up the mountain via the lift, hiking up is something i'd like to do!

I agree about Table Mountain. Unfortunately I was lazy and took the gondola up to the top but walking around on the top was amazing. You have phenomenal views in every direction!

I loved Plettenberg Baai also - for the restaurants and bars and also the beach. But my favorite thing to do around Plett is a 3-4 hour trek called Robberg. Google Map of Robberg

I've just gone coast to coast for 7 weeks in SA, and my highlights were:

Coffee Bay to Hole in the wall coastal hike: incredible ocean and coastline views, and no 5 star hotels to mar the scenery. Coffee Shack was my favorite backpacker lodge out of the 15 or so we stayed at in SA. Very cool vibe.

Plettenberg Bay went the opposite way down the beach from Robberg towards Kuerboomstrand, and the beach is incredible there, with huge rocky crags, forested cliffs, and white sand. We actually saw the set (fake palm trees and all) for the Crusoe tv series filming there. Also a 3 hour paddle up the Kuerboomsriver was stunning.

Durban: grab a bunny-chow and a chip n' cheese roti from Johnny's and hit the botanical gardens for a picnic on a sunny winters day.

and the Drakensberge!

seb

I spent 7 weeks traveling from Cape Town to Joburg last year, and have to say Cape Town on the whole is gorgeous! Watching the clouds roll over Table Mountain is fun, and hiking atop Lion's Head at sunrise with a few Capetonians was a memorable moment.

Stellenbosh and a day long wine tour was idyllic.

Hermanus during the whale migration was beautiful. Such a cute little coastal town.

I loved the ocean views along Jeffrey's Bay, even though I can't surf for my life.


The green Drankensburg Mountains near the Sani Pass were a unique geography I hadn´t experienced before.

And of course going on safari through Kruger Park was just as I´d imagined it.

If you can´t tell already, I thought South Africa was an amazing country.