South Africa Travel
South Africa promises visitors an experience of a lifetime.
South Africa has a wide assortment of habitats including deserts, mountains, escarpments, plateaus, grasslands, bush, wetlands, and subtropical forests. Within these habitats is a wide variety of game including two sets of “Big Five” – lion, elephant, leopard, rhino, and buffalo on land, as well as 900 species of birds including the largest bird, the ostrich, and the heaviest flying bird, the Kori Bustard. Offshore you can find whales, sharks, dolphins, marlin and tuna. With such a diverse collection of animal life, there is something to please everyone when you travel in South Africa.
The world-renowned Kruger National Park, one of the country’s most valuable tourism assets, is more than 300 km long and two million hectares in size. Certainly a must-see on any South African trip, this park alone is home to 147 mammal species, more than 400 bird species, and numerous reptiles, amphibians, and insects. In addition to the Kruger National Park, there are numerous other national and private game reserves in all nine provinces, all of which offer unique opportunities for viewing wildlife up close.
Golden Fish Travel can take you to less crowded reserves through Africa with abundant wildlife as well as arrange times according to migration scheduled. We and our guides know exactly where to find the leopards, or view a kill by the cheetah, or hundreds of elephant herds in the deltas. Our guides live and breathe the terrain every day and know it intimately. You can have an ordinary sundowner with 50 other tourists, or a quiet, intimate view of wild life at dusk.
But South Africa is not just known for its animals. It is also ranked first in the world for its floral kingdom. The unique Cape Floral Kingdom is one of only six Plant Kingdoms covering the world. For reference, there is a greater variety of naturally occurring species of flowers just around Cape Town than there are in the whole of North America or Europe. Mkambati in the Eastern Cape, a small area of three thousand hectares, contains a larger variety of plants than can be found in the whole of Great Britain.
Likewise, the South African fossil record dating back three to four million years sheds invaluable light on humankind’s origins. It also has some of mankind’s oldest art with paintings by the San people that are thousands of years old and found across the country. Over 70,000 years old, they predate the Lascaux cave paintings in France by 30,000 years.
Other Attractions
If you’ve had your fill of wildlife, rejoin the modern world. South Africa’s food has Dutch, Malay, French Huguenot, British and African influences, making it incredibly diverse, delicious, and most importantly, memorable. For a quality drinking experience, South Africa’s fifteen different wine routes offer visitors the opportunity to visit beautiful wine estates, some which date back more than 300 years, to do cellar tours and to taste a variety of excellent wines.
With more than 400 golf courses and its excellent weather conditions, South Africa is a golfer’s paradise. Durban Country Club, Leopard Creek, Phalaborwa, Sun City, the Links at Fancourt and Pezula have consistently been ranked among the top courses in the world.
Several of the many luxury game lodges and hotels in South Africa are annually included in the top 10 hotels in the world. In 2004 Singita Game Reserve, Londolozi Private Game Reserve, Bushman’s Kloof Wilderness Reserve, Mala Mala Game Reserve, and Phinda Private Game Reserve shared this honour.
Goldenfish offers custom tours and travel packages for trips to South Africa. For more details and full itineraries, call or email us.