What to do in South Africa

South Africa, a premier wildlife-watching destination, beckons visitors to experience safaris. Lodges typically offer morning and afternoon game drives in custom 4x4s with expert guides and trackers. Some reserves provide walking safaris for a unique, up-close encounter with wildlife.

South Africa’s iconic Cape Winelands, an hour from Cape Town, boasts the country’s oldest wine route with nearly 150 wine farms and historic Cape Dutch-style estates. Franschhoek, a gastronomic haven, offers 50+ superb wineries and numerous dining options for delectable wine and gourmet cuisine pairings. Explore our SA Wine Guide for details.

South Africa’s diverse population has shaped a rich, global-influenced cuisine. Explore it through fresh seafood, street food like bunny chow, and local craft brews, best experienced on a guided Cape Town food tour.

Meerkats are part of the so-called Shy 5 which also includes the bat-eared fox, the aardvark, porcupine and aardwolf. Near the town of Oudtshoorn, there is a family of meerkats who are wild but are habituated and are not scared of people. You can join a guide to go out in the morning to the burrow and watch them wake up and go about their lives.

Ascending Table Mountain is a must for adventure seekers, offering diverse routes and rewarding panoramic vistas of Cape Town, V&A Waterfront, Table Bay, Robben Island, Cape Flats, and the Cape Peninsula from the summit.

Boulders Beach, near Cape Town, shelters a vital colony of African Penguins, an endangered species. A guided kayak journey from Simon’s Town allows you to observe these penguins, often accompanied by playful Cape Fur seals, as they swim past you, offering an intimate wildlife encounter.

A hiker’s paradise, the Drakensberg Mountain Range is part of the Great Escarpment, separating the high plateaus of the interior from the lower coastal lands. There are miles and miles of trails, from easy to strenuous climbs, bringing magnificent scenery and wildlife watching opportunities, from Rainbow Gorge, one of the top day hikes to the challenging Chain Ladders trek in Northern Drakensberg.

Witness some of South Africa’s checkered past by visiting Robben Island, the country’s most well-known historic site and the former location of a remote prison that held Nelson Mandela for 18 years, although it was used by everyone from the 17th-century Dutch to the South African government in the 21st century. Today the historic landmark offers tours led by former political prisoners.

Embark on a catamaran journey to Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela spent 18 years in a tiny cell. A former inmate guides you through this World Heritage Site, sharing the inmates’ experiences and the island’s multifaceted history as a prison, military base, leper colony, and mental institution.