South Africa - known as a World in One Country because of its remarkable diversity: from spectacular natural beauty to the vibrant "rainbow nation" mix of cultures. A sunny climate, world-famous game parks, sophisticated infrastructure and cosmopolitan cities like Cape Town - situated at the tip of the continent - attract visitors to this scenic country year-round.
Considered as one of the most desirable travel destination on earth, South Africa is unashamedly proud of her riches. Subtropical beach forests, isolated deserts, bush wilderness, tribal villages, vast outdoor Bushman (San) art galleries, the “big five”, extraordinarily rich birdlife, cutting edge art, the panache of the world’s premier tourist destination, Cape Town,
and world class wines . . . South Africa has it all.
Whether it is its magnificent natural beauty, its rich cultural heritage or its world-renowned wines, the Winelands Region is synonymous with all the best that the Cape has to offer. A 45-minute drive from Cape Town brings you to this area where splendid mountains form a dramatic backdrop to lush vineyards and gabled Cape Dutch homesteads steeped in history. The excellent wines produced in this area are world-renowned. Rather than follow routine and host our winelands tours at the large commercial wineries of Stellenbosch, AFRICA SAFARIS chooses to base their guests at the charming and historical French village of Franschhoek in the South African winelands. Your stay here is at an intimate, limited-room guest house which offers ecceptional wine-tasting on horseback or via carriage-ride. In the winter, balloon safaris over the winelands are also possible.
The Garden Route offers scenic coastal drives and superb whale watching. Hermanus is the whale-watching capital of the world and is a must-see during the whale migration in winter [May to October]. Calving occurs in May when the whales first to arrive, however the optimal month to visit is October. By December the whale have left the region. The Hermanus Whale crier carrying a board and horn adds to the charm of this beautiful seaside resort by offering information on where and when the day's whale sightings occured as he walks through the main tourist areas.
The world-famous Kruger National Park is the largest wildlife sanctuary in South Africa. However, the crowds at Kruger have led to lodges acquiring or managing private concessions in and around Kruger National Park. In large private game reserves is where the best game viewing now occurs in South Africa, far from the crowds of public national parks. Lebombo and Sabi Sand are perfect examples of this.
Often described as the Jewel of the Kruger Park, Singita's Lebombo concession is located in the 500 mile long Lebombo mountain range in South Africa’s north-eastern Kruger National Park region, close to the Mozambique border. Singita Lebombo Lodge rests lightly among the ancient boulders of the Lebombo mountains, overlooking the African plain where the two rivers, Nwanetsi and Sweni, meet. This is a 15000 hectare private concession called the Nwanetsi - a remote wilderness teaming with the highest concentration of wildlife in Kruger - set aside for the exclusive use of guests staying at Singita Lebombo.
The Sabi Sand Game Reserve is a mostly flat landscape of undulating crests with some rocky outcrops, bisected by the Sand River.. The characteristic species of the Sabi Sand are impala, greater kudu, giraffe, buffalo, lion and leopard. Open water channels and pools are favoured by hippo. Reedbeds are favoured by buffalo and elephant. Riverine forest along the river is green all year round, and is the haunt of leopard, greater bush baby (galago) and bushbuck. The dainty-hoofed klipspringer and rock dassie (hyrax) are the only larger mammals restricted to rocky outcrops in the Sabi Sand. Chacma baboons use the outcrops as vantage points. The Sabi Sand is made up of several private game reserves such as Londolozi and Singita, which are by far the finest picks.
Phinda Private Game Reserve in Kwa-Zulu Natal [South of Kruger] is home to an incredible diversity of mammals. Predators like cheetah, leopard and lion are tracked on a daily basis and visitors stand extremely good chances of seeing them. The territorial white rhino favour waterholes and wallows. Herds of elephant and buffalo move throughout the reserve and are easily spotted. Impressive nyala antelope feed alongside impala and warthog. Nocturnal aardvark, bushpig and greater bushbaby may be encountered on exciting night game-drives. Mountain reedbuck dwell on rocky slopes, while common reedbuck favour palmveld and wetlands. Tonga red squirrel are restricted to Sand Forest where tiny suni and red duiker are most abundant. The extraordinary four-toed elephant-shrew forages among leaf-litter in forest and thickets. Phinda is emerging as the leading South African game viewing reserve.
