Africa Trail

Mar/11

Africa Trail

South Africa’s Best

Being tasked with selecting the top ten travel destinations in Southern Africa might sound easy. This is however simply not the case. Innumerable questions come to mind, a readers home location might make the trip too expensive; an adventure trail or 4x4 trail would limit accessibility by perhaps age, physical fitness or the availability of a suitable vehicle and numerous other factors that influence the subjectivity of the selection. Forive me in advance if your needs might differ, we have tried to select a broad cross section.

As South Africans we are so spoiled for choice in our lovely region that it is almost a sin to limit our selection to ten. Notwithstanding this, I have perhaps cheated a little with a few combined holiday options and start with the obvious choice, rated in the top destinations of international travellers, our lovely Cape Town and surrounds.

From Table Mountain to the Waterfront and the Two Oceans Aquarium, Cape Town has everything for everyone, shops; wine Estates; natural beauty and so Much More, we can comfortably boast this as being one of the best holiday destinations in the world, never mind southern Africa. When last have you been to Robben Island, taken a drive up and around Chapman’s Peak, The Cape Peninsula is unique and it belongs to us.

Our next choice must surely be a game park of which we have many to choose from. Whilst the final choice might depend on your personal taste in game or birding, or perhaps a different choice due to Your Own locality, the Kruger National Park, flagship of our well managed National Parks Department, thank you San Parks for both this and our natural beauty you succeed in maintaining so well. Watch this space in the future for the Addo National Park near Port Elizabeth, soon to be in our top ten.

I am cheating a little when I select the collective beauty and wonder of the Garden Route as one destination but the area from the Wilderness in the West to the Tsitsikamma in the East makes this a truly great destination. The lakes, birding opportunities and natural beauty of the area is simply stunning, this despite over development within the region. Knysna, the Birds of Eden Sanctuary near Keurbooms and the many other features of the area are not to be missed, if you have Never Been there, get there!

The Eastern Cape has quite simply got to be our best kept secret, for our top ten we will select two in this area, Port Alfred, the pearl of the Sunshine Coast and fabulous destination for a family holiday. Offering some of the best and quietest beaches in the country, the Kowie River, meandering for some amongst natural Eastern Cape bush for some 25km’s and also offering access to sea for those enjoying salt water fishing. Ideally situated midway between East London and Port Elizabeth, within an hour or two from Addo; Shamwari and an ever growing number of private game reserves and golf resorts in the area.

Also in the Eastern Cape, the East Coast from East London to Port St Johns is probably one of the most unspoiled natural coast lines in the world. The historical lack of development along the Wild Coast combined with the current development limitations will hopefully keep this beauty in tact. There are many accommodation options to suit every need from camping and roughing it through to top rated destinations catering for every need. Truly one of the last remaining unspoilt areas of coast line in the world.

Moving a little inland, centred around Clarens, the Eastern Free State is perhaps not as well known a holiday destination but an ideal one for the hikers; artists; naturalists and certainly a great place to swing a fly-line destination, get this one on to your to-do list, plan a trip and enjoy what this mountainous region has to offer.

I’m unfortunately left with only five options, this gets a little more difficult but I’ll head North into KZN and combine the St Lucia Estuary; Kosi Bay and recommend this as a combined holiday with perhaps Hluhluwe Game Reserve or Mkuzi and the other Game Reserve options in the area, plan to spend a few days at each and make it a full weeks holiday, more if You Are able, why not, our natural wonders become more threatened as you read.

One cannot exclude the flowers from our top ten list, the West Coast makes an ideal destination in the right season to view one of the natural wonders, the wild flowers and West Coast Nature Reserve, combined with a night or two in one of the quaint fishing villages along the coast, perhaps Paternoster or similar and you’ve had a unique and enjoyable holiday, unique to South Africa.

Glorious; dramatic; majestic are adjectives that fail to adequately convey the beauty of the Drakensberg. You might be after five star luxury, camping, climbing, it really doesn’t matter, select the resort or accommodation option to suit your personal taste but never leave the Drakensberg off your travel list.

I realise I might be cheating a little by combining destinations but travel is expensive, for family holidays a combination allows one to get the best of both worlds and reduce travel costs. Sun City and the Pilansberg Game Reserve is one of these ideal combination options. Sun City is by far our most fantastic single destination resort, comparible to the best in the world and catering more and more for a full family offering. Facilities include two of the top golf courses in the country; entertainment for every age group, combine this with a day or two at Pilansberg and you have made a good choice.

As far as hiking is concerned lest cheat a little again and consider two options, the Otter Trail along the garden route or the Matola Trail in the Eastern Cape, both rated up amongst the world best by nature lovers.

That’s ten and we haven’t even warmed up properly. A wise friend once suggested I should make a list of the top twenty things I would like to do before I die and plan when and how I was going to do these, after all, it’s not the things you did in life that you’ll regret.

About the Author

Alan Hawkins is the CEO of StaySA, www.staysa.co.za, The South Africa Accommodationportal.Visit StaySA the next time you are looking for a kind of Accommodation in South African

Where in Africa should I go?

My mother and I visited Tanzania a few years ago and we would love to return to Africa. We want to go to a relatively "safe" country but even farther off the beaten trail than Tanzania. We are primarily interested in culture as opposed to animal life which we covered on our first visit. We were thinking of Senegal, Mali, Benin, Ghana, Uganda, Rwanda. Which do you recommend?

If you are interested in culture, like you say, I'd go to Mali or Ghana. In Mali you can see the Mosque of Djenne and the river and the entire town, which is amazing and beautiful. Then you can go to Dogon country and trek with the Dogon and to their villages - one of my all-time favorite experiences. There are colorful and friendly markets all over the country, including the one in the capital, Bamako. And then you could even do a camel safari out in the desert, or go see the ancient city of Timbuktu.

In Ghana, along the coast there are several really interesting slave "castles" which you can tour to see the places where many slaves left the West African coast. In Kumasi, there's the largest open air market in West Africa (and one of the coolest markets I've ever been to in the world - probably my very favorite, actually). There are nice beaches on the coast, and near the coast there's a rain forest you can go to with a tree top rope bridge course that's really neat.

I wouldn't go to Senegal right off - there is great culture there, as far as music, dance, drumming, food, clothes, etc. But the Senegalese tend to be really aggressive, and so it can be intimidating to new travelers to Africa. They're okay once you get used to it - lovely, actually - but it wouldn't be my first choice.

I also really liked Togo, although there's not so much to do there, but it's pretty and nice to just have a lazy trip in the tropical heat and get to know people. I think Benin would probably be similar. Burkina Faso is also like that. Not much to see, but great friendly people.

Touareg Trail 2011 - the Return to Black Africa - official trailer.wmv