South Africa

There’s a lot happening in South Africa these days, and I’m not talking Julius Malema or President Zuma’s spouse collection.

No, I’m talking tourism, and two weeks ago, at Indaba in Durban, South Africa’s showcase of tourism and travel, everyone was buzzing.

Every tourist operator was there, from five-star resorts to township stays, from larney game reserves to our national parks. As were operators of shark diving, dolphin spotting, ballooning, cycling, mountaineering, sailing, scuba diving, and stalking wildlife tours. Adventure travel was big news and folk were queueing to find out what is available.

t’s no secret that we’re described as the most beautiful, interesting and varied country in the world, and although I tend to be cynical about such descriptions, I reckon for once the pundits have got it right.

Take the first point. Beauty.

Our coastline zaps across two oceans, the Indian and the Atlantic, and our beaches really do go on for ever.

We have lakes, mountains and valleys, we have vineyards and deserts and we have wildlife like virtually no other country. What is more, unlike most other countries north of the Limpopo, our wildlife management is superb and you won’t find scenarios where there are 35 cars jostling around a lion kill. Even in our open national parks, we tread carefully and our game management is regarded as excellent.

So where should a visitor go? To miss Joburg is a shame. I know it’s not top of the pops tourism-wise, but Jozi is a vibrant city. Yes, it’s not safe to go out and about by yourself, and it’s definitely not safe to go roaming around alone after dark. That said, take reasonable care and you can have the time of your life.

Joburg’s eateries are legendary and varied, the nightlife is vibrant, and theatre, music and culture alive and well.

While Pretoria – or should it be Tshwane? – is known as Jacaranda City, the name is erroneous, for there are far more jacarandas in Joburg than in Pretoria, a fact of which most people are unaware. Highveld winters sparkle with brilliant blue skies looking down on crisp, chilly days.

Situated between Table Mountain and the sea, the Mother City, Cape Town, is an essential stop-over.

From the top of Table Mountain, on a clear day you can almost see the end of the world. A tip – go up in the late afternoon and enjoy the sun setting over Clifton beach and the almost transparent gold and pink clouds sliding down the mountain slopes.

Then have an indifferent meal at the cable station restaurant, sadly the only one around. The food is lousy but the wine drinkable. Then check out Cape Town with the night lights twinkling and take the cable car down in the dark.

One of the first guide books I ever read was Discovering Southern Africa written by TV Bulpin in 1970.

It tempted my travel taste buds. Take, for instance, his chapter on Houhoek. It begins: “Houhoek (ravine glen) lies in a narrow fertile valley known as Poespas (higgeldy-piggeldy).

“Down this valley where the Jakkals River flows, the old road and the railway originally found a complex twisting route out of the mountains (the railway still follows this route).”

He then writes about the inn, the regular staging post. “Lady Anne Barnard stayed there in 1798, eating boiled chicken ‘fit for an emperor’. As did Lady Duff Gordon, who recommended the place as she found it ‘clean and no louses’.”

Now how can one not fall in love with a country with a way through the mountains called Poespas?

The Great Karoo Bulpin describes as “vast, moody, lonely, melancholy, autumnal in its moods and stillness.

“Remote, elusive, harsh in the midday sun, but transformed by the approach of night into a place of gorgeous sunsets with cool shadows rising out of valleys and hollows, slowly enveloping the land in a blanket of sleep while the heavens gleam with so brilliant a display of stars that the Karoo seems to be washed with a soft dew of falling light.”

So where to go? Everywhere will do.

Try to find yourself somewhere among KwaZulu’s Valley of a Thousand Hills on a Sunday morning, then find a hill upon which perches a tiny white-washed church – there are many.

Join the local villagers climbing upwards and enjoy the Zulu singing that floods the heavens.

You’ll be warmly welcomed by the villagers who will offer what they have – precious little – for you to share.

Along the east coast on the border with Mozambique, you’ll find coastal forests filled will birds such as the brilliantly coloured Nerina trogan.

At dusk, you can sit beneath a lime-coloured fever tree, where you might just be eaten alive by mosquitoes, so remember your repellent.

Then shut your eyes and catch the sound of a Pels fishing owl. During the day, it’s the haunting shriek of the fish eagle that will make the hairs of your arms prickle.

Our bird life is abundant and twitchers are green with envy. I remember once finding myself at a loch in Scotland, a wildlife area where the ranger told us with pride of their 29 bird species.

We were four South African journalists and we smiled appreciatively. And kept quiet as the thought of our wildlife and wilderness areas with more than 400 species of birds flew through our minds.

While some might believe the Karoo to be a bleak desert, they haven’t spent time in Namaqualand, where the dunes are red and a gemsbok surprises you as you drive the remote road between the dunes.

In Kimberley, you can take the touristy diamond route but then gaze into that vast hole and think of the hundreds of miners who eked out a living digging.

Or perhaps take a drive out to Cullinan and plunge into the bowels of the earth while visiting a gold mine.

The second word describing South Africa is “interesting”. Ah yes, our politics are alive and well and very African. I mean, I can’t imagine David Cameron, prime minister of Britain, discussing whether or not his foreskin is circumcised, whereas our Jacob has revealed all. Well, some.

We also laugh heartily, something which other countries just don’t seem to do so well.

Sit on the underground in London, Paris, Toronto or New York, not to mention Singapore, and everyone seems morosely silent. That’s not the way we travel in Africa, where conversation on public transport is loud and laughter-filled.

We’re interesting because of the nature of our terrain, totally varied; the diversity of our people, totally varied; and the deliciousness of our food tickles the belly. Curries, stews, chakalaka, poached eggs on fresh spinach – our food will delight the most serious of foodies.

Yes, we have problems. The gap between haves and have-nots widens by the minute. The homeless increase by the minute. Crime is a menace and HIV/Aids is rampant.

Sometimes the reality is so appalling that being South African makes one feel schizophrenic. But, somehow, the optimism breaks through.

It’s because of, and despite, our history that we are a resilient people, hence our strength.

One thing is definite. It is never boring in South Africa, and yes, there are those who say boring is good. Naah, variety is the spice of life.

So, to get back to variety. Have you done the highest bungee jump in the southern hemisphere off the Bloukrans bridge? For those who keep records, it’s the third-highest in the world. Have you dived with great whites off Gansbaai? Have you eyeballed an elephant at Addo so closely that you can see the individual hairs on her skin?

Have you been kite-sailing at Langebaan and almost, but not quite, been swept out to sea? Have you ballooned over the Magaliesberg or paddleskied among dolphins off Muizenberg beach?

Have you watched a pied kingfisher make a catch or watched dozens of vultures feasting at a kill?

Have you ridden your mountain bike through the Knysna forests or come upon an elusive Knysna elephant? No, you haven’t, otherwise you’d have made world news. I mean spotting the elephants in this case.

Have you gone for a lengthy hike up some kloof and enjoyed a beer at the top? Have you fried in the sun, sensibly covered in sunblock so thick that even the sharpest beam cannot penetrate? Have you watched four-metre crocs slide effortlessly into the water and felt sorry for any animal who might become an instant snack?

Then there are the vast herds of buffalo that thunder up the veld and the solitary cheetah running off into the sunset.

It’s all South Africa. Just a smidgeon of what we’re all about.      By Carol Lazar