Friday, 20 December 2013

South Africa Culture and Travel - Explorer's View

South Africa is one of the most fascinating and wonderful countries in Africa and in the world. South Africa famous for its natural beauty, wildlife and sunshine. South Africa's immensely varied terrain supports a rich diversity of animals, birds, and plant-life and offers an incomparable range of experiences. South Africa is a popular tourist destination, with the main tourist attractions are the diverse and picturesque culture, the game reserves and the highly regarded local wines. Exotic combinations of landscapes, people, history and culture offer the tourist a unique and inspiring experience.


South Africa is full of surprises and my top list of things to do includes riding an Ostrich, canoeing through a desert in bloom, riding a luxury train, spending the night in a  tree-house, cage-diving with the Great White shark, playing golf, relaxing a a spa, and checking out a local soccer (football) game.

South Africa has set aside much of the country for the protection of wildlife. The largest and best known reserve is Kruger. The state-owned-and-operated sanctuary is also one of the most affordable and therefore requires a reservation far ahead of a visit. Accommodations range from camp sites to luxury "private" camps. Visitors usually view the animals from their cars, but they can also sign up for walks in the company of armed rangers. With its majestic Table Mountain background, Cape Town is one of the most beautiful cities in the world and most fascinating South africa tourist Attractions. A harmonious blend of architectural styles reflects the tastes of dictates of the past as well as today's more functional requirements. Between the high-rise office blocks, Edwardian and Victorian buildings have been meticulously preserved, and many outstanding examples of Cape Dutch architecture are found. Narrow, cobble stone streets and the strongly Islamic ambiance of the Bo-Kaap enhance the cosmopolitan ambiance of the city. South Africa is famous for its terrestrial fauna, including the "Big Five" (lion, leopard, buffalo, rhino, and elephant). But the country is surrounded on three sides by oceans teeming with life, including whales, flying sharks, seals, sea otters, dolphins, tuna, and penguins and other marine birds. The annual sardine run is a mass migration so large that thousands of people crowd the beaches to scoop up the small silvery fish in buckets. One of the best places to view breaching whales is at Hermanus, a few hours' drive from Cape Town. The town has its own whale crier, an official who keeps a lookout and blows a horn whenever whales come in to the bay, sometimes only yards away from the shore.
Johannesburg is the economic powerhouse of Africa. South Africa’s pulsating African heartbeat is felt in the ‘City of Gold’ with its endless opportunities for shopping, entertainment, freedom tours and eating out. Johannesburg is a booming, happening city and the emphasis is on making money - whether in business or on the streets - and has been since its beginnings when the world’s richest gold fields were discovered in Johannesburg during the 1880s.



One of Africa's most famous landmarks, Table Mountain has welcomed seafarers to South Africa for centuries. The sandstone mountain is some two miles (three kilometers) wide and 3,500 feet (1,000 meters) high, offering magnificent views of Table Bay, Robben Island, and the Cape Town metro area, which completely encircles it. The Big Hole in Kimberley, is a remnant of South Africa's great diamond rush of the 19th century. Thousands of people from all over the world poured into the region after diamonds were discovered. They dug this 550-yard-wide (500-meter-wide) hole, which was on a farm owned by the De Beer family, by hand. Today the hole is Kimberley's most popular tourist attraction, along with a museum that recalls the town's glory days.

The Robben island is most famous prisoner, Nelson Mandela, has turned this institute of brutality into a symbol of the triumph of the human spirit over enormous hardship. Robben Island Museum goes way beyond a prison and the telling of its history; it has symbolic significance not only for South African society with its great diversity of cultures, but for the world. Over and above its emotional story stretching back to the mid-1600s, it is a symbol of justice, human rights and self-sacrifice.
The Palace of the Lost City is an entirely modern inventiona giant casino, entertainment, and leisure complex built in the bush. The theme of the resort is that it is a palace in the African jungle inhabited by a lost tribe of gentle people. The nearby Pilanesberg National Park is the third largest game reserve in South Africa and a good place to see big game and thousands of other animals in their natural wilderness setting.