South Africa Things to Do

Although classed as a “New World” producer, South Africa can look back at a wine-making tradition of some three and a half centuries, with the first vintage rolling out a few years after the first European settlement. They’ve had a long time to get things right and their products are welcomed by wine lovers around the world, either as pleasant table wines or more sophisticated boutique varieties.

Going to South Africa and expecting to see animals in the wild is pretty standard stuff. Most people think of lions, giraffes, elephants and hippos as what they might see from the backseat of a safari vehicle – it’s another thing entirely to walk along a sun-splashed beach and find the sand covered with hundreds of knee-high flightless birds.

Yep, South Africa has penguins – lots of them, actually – and they’re one of the things that should be on your must-see list if you’re headed to Cape Town.

When you travel to the southern-most country on the African continent, chances are you don’t expect to find some of the best Indian food you’ll ever have, but that’s exactly what happens when you arrive in South Africa. Particularly in Durban, the biggest city in the KwaZulu-Natal province on the eastern coast of the country – and South Africa’s third largest city – which is home to the biggest Indian population outside of India.

South Africa’s National Arts Festival (June 30th-July 10th) isn’t hosted by Cape Town, Johannesburg or Pretoria as you might expect, but the small Eastern Cape city of Grahamstown, about halfway between East London and Port Elizabeth. The biggest annual arts event on the continent, it represents a breadth of talent and disciplines which would be the envy of many larger cities.

Go eye-to-eye with the birds as you glide or stroll the treetops of South Africa’s fascinating forests. Here are five essential low-impact, high-energy adventures.

Europe or Africa? Well if you’re not fussy (at all) about authenticity, you can – almost, kind of – have both at the same time. The complex of Montecasino in the Fourways district of northern Johannesburg is, as the name suggests, dominated by gambling. As that name further suggests, there is an Italian theme running through the whole operation.