Throughout the second half of the 20th century South Africa was
regarded by most of the world as a pariah state where the ruling
white minority passed a range of draconian laws to subdue and
enslave the black majority. All this changed in 1994 with the
release from prison of world-renowned freedom fighter and icon of
the oppressed, Nelson Mandela. A new age of democracy was ushered
in, and South Africa was suddenly revealed to the world in her
beautiful true colours: a rainbow nation with a kaleidoscope of
cultures and a host of attractions to enthral and entrance
visitors.
A decade later tourists are flocking to sunny South Africa in
droves, particularly to the Western Cape with its magnificent
scenery, beautiful beaches, majestic mountains and green
winelands.
The Republic, at the southern tip of Africa surrounded by ocean
on three sides, offers a taste of the African experience with the
chance to visit traditional tribal villages, game reserves and
sprawling townships. At the same time it also offers the trappings
of a first world holiday experience, with luxury hotels,
sophisticated shopping, exciting theme parks and clean beaches.
Have breakfast in a New York style deli; lunch in an African
shebeen; cocktails on a sunset cruise; and dine in style in a fine
British colonial restaurant. This is all possible in a South
African city.
It is not only cultural diversity that makes South Africa
magical. The country has a wealth of animal and plant life
scattered across its varied climactic zones from desert to
snow-covered mountains, forests to grasslands and mangrove swamps.
Historically, too, there is plenty to discover, from the fossils of
ancient hominids, to the pioneering spirit of the Dutch
'voortrekkers' and the settlement of the Eastern Cape frontier by
the British colonialists.
South Africa has been billed as 'a world in one country', and
any visitor who has experienced its delights, from the jumble of
Johannesburg, the city built on gold mines in the north, to the
sophistication of Cape Town in the south, is bound to agree.
