Top 15 Best Tourist Attractions in South Africa

South Africa, often described as ‘a world in one country’, is perhaps the most diverse of all African holiday destinations. The country’s incredible landscapes are made up of stark deserts, lush forests, grassy savannahs and jagged mountains. More than 20 national parks and hundreds of reserves protect a huge variety of wildlife. Throw in cosmopolitan cities, stunning beaches, award-winning wineries and an interesting melting pot of cultures and you’ve got a world-class tourist destination. While it is impossible to list all of the country’s treasures, below is a shortlist of the best places to visit in South Africa.

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1. Kruger National Park

Kruger is South Africa’s most popular safari destination. Whether you’re on a tour or a self-drive safari, the country’s most iconic park is a great choice for a Big Five adventure. It is the size of a small country and is home to a huge variety of animals aside from the sought-after Big Five shortlist of lion, leopard, buffalo, rhino and elephant. And then there is the birdlife; with more than 500 species recorded, you’ll be able to rack up a significant list over a few days.

430 Kruger Tours

2. Sabi Sand Nature Reserve

A more pricey but exciting alternative to Kruger is Sabi Sands, a private game reserve that shares an unfenced border with the national park. The 650km²/251mi² tract of wilderness is dotted with stylish lodges offering superb service and fine dining. Game drives are conducted in open safari vehicles by knowledgeable guides, who will go off-road to secure close-up encounters of all of the Big Five, including the notoriously secretive leopard.

102 Sabi Sands Tours

3. Cape Town

Cape Town is South Africa’s oldest and most beautiful city. Hemmed in between the sea and scenic Table Mountain, Cape Town is best known for its white sandy beaches, historic architecture, breathtaking viewpoints and charming vineyards.

204 Cape Town Tours

4. Blyde River Canyon

The Blyde River Canyon is the world’s third-largest riverine gorge, after Arizona’s Grand Canyon and Namibia’s Fish River Canyon. Known for its lush vegetation and incredible beauty, it is also the world’s largest ‘green canyon’. To appreciate its vast scale from above, drive along the scenic Panorama Route, stopping at viewpoints such as the Three Rondavels and Pinnacle Rock. Alternatively, hike along one of the gorgeous day trails that run deep into the canyon or book a boat trip on the spectacular artificial lake that covers part of its floor. For a different perspective on the Blyde River, don’t miss out on the geologically fascinating Bourke’s Luck Potholes.

25 Blyde River Canyon Tours

5. The Garden Route

The 200km/125mi coastline stretching between Mossel Bay and Tsitsikamma is called the Garden Route in reference to its unique natural beauty. It features picturesque beaches, fairy-tale forests, majestic mountains, meandering rivers and lagoons brimming with birdlife. No wonder it is one of South Africa’s most popular tourist attractions.

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6. Cape Winelands

The area known as the Cape Winelands is home to hundreds of different vineyards and lies within easy day-tripping distance of South Africa’s most loved city, Cape Town. Expect majestic mountain scenery, historic colonial Cape Dutch architecture in beautiful estates, award-winning restaurants and the opportunity to taste and buy some of the country’s best wines.

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7. Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park

Straddling the border between South Africa and Botswana, Kgalagadi is a transfrontier park in the Kalahari desert region. The lifelines of the park are two ancient and normally dry riverbeds that traverse an endless sea of red dunes. Migrating herds of springbok, wildebeest and gemsbok attract an unusually high concentration of big cats. Most notable are the Kalahari lions, known for their impressive black manes.

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8. iSimangaliso Wetland Park

iSimangaliso Wetland Park is a patchwork of protected areas along the KwaZulu-Natal coast. At the heart of this diverse region is Lake St Lucia, a vast estuary densely populated with hippos, crocodiles and water-associated birds, such as flamingos and pelicans. Sodwana Bay, with its beautiful coral reefs, is South Africa’s diving hot spot, and uMkhuze Game Reserve is an all-time favorite with photographers seeking out the excellent photographic hides.

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9. uKhahlamba-Drakensberg Park

The Drakensberg is associated with some of South Africa’s most impressive landscapes. Boasting several dozen peaks topping the 3,000m/9,800ft mark, this vast wilderness area is Africa’s highest mountain range south of Kilimanjaro. Known for the scenic beauty of its hidden valleys, deep gorges, undulating plateaus and ragged peaks, the range features a unique abundance of prehistoric rock paintings and can be explored along some of the country’s best hiking trails. All this has led to Unesco inscribing uKhahlamba-Drakensberg Park (which protects the utterly majestic part of the range in KwaZulu-Natal province) as a cross-border World Heritage Site that also includes Lesotho’s Sehlabathebe National Park.

Drakensberg Tours

10. Addo Elephant National Park

Addo makes for a perfect add-on to a self-drive road trip from Cape Town along the Garden Route. The park’s super-habituated elephants offer a thrilling opportunity to watch these giants close up. Other wildlife includes lion, black rhino, buffalo and the majestic spiral-horned greater kudu antelope. The endemic flightless dung beetles can often be seen rolling the balls of dung in which they lay their eggs.

10 Addo Elephant Tours

11. Cradle of Humankind

A Unesco World Heritage Site, the Cradle of Humankind is a paleoanthropological site where more than half the world’s early hominid fossils have been found. Child-friendly self-guided tours start at the innovative Maropeng Visitors Centre. A tour of the nearby Sterkfontein Caves leads to a cavern where the most complete Australopithecus africanus skull ever discovered – the 2.5-million-year-old ‘Mrs Ples’ – was unearthed in 1936.

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12. Mapungubwe National Park

Mapungubwe is situated at the confluence of two mighty rivers where three countries meet: South Africa, Botswana and Zimbabwe. With its sandstone formations, impressive baobab trees and riverine forests, the park is a place of great scenic beauty; the perfect setting for day and night game drives. It is, however, the importance of the Mapungubwe Cultural Landscape that has given the park Unesco World Heritage Site status. No visit here is complete without a tour of the famous Iron Age site known as ‘Hill of the Jackals’, the remains of South Africa’s oldest known kingdom, which dates back to 900 to 1300 CE.

13. Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park

Hluhluwe-iMfolozi, one of South Africa’s oldest game reserves, is roughly three hours’ drive from the sprawling port city of Durban. It was originally established as a sanctuary for what was then the world’s last remaining population of southern white rhino. The initiative has been overwhelmingly successful and it is now one of the best places in Africa to see this threatened heavyweight. Other animals you might spot here include giraffe, elephant, lion and a variety of antelope including the gracious nyala.

Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Tours

14. Namaqualand

Namaqualand is a semi-desert in the remote coastal region of South Africa’s Northern Cape. Despite being a biodiversity hot spot containing the world’s greatest variety of succulent plant species, the area doesn’t look that impressive to the untrained eye most of the time. However, every year from August to September, the monochrome landscape transforms into a spectacular wildflower display with multihued carpets of daisies, violets, aloes and other flowers.

15. The Wild Coast

The appropriately named Wild Coast features some of the country’s most spectacular Indian Ocean beaches. This outdoor paradise with rugged cliffs, sheltered bays, mysterious shipwrecks and dense coastal forests will appeal more to outdoor enthusiasts than it will to those looking for a conventional beach holiday. Most of the land is communally owned by the local Xhosa people, many of whom still live a very traditional lifestyle.

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By Ariadne van Zandbergen

ZA

Ariadne is an Africa expert. She and her husband form a team who author ‘The Rough Guide to Game Parks of South Africa’.

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