The Blue Train
What can beat that feeling of going to sleep with a Karoo moon in the sky outside, and waking up to a pot of fresh coffee, surrounded by Cape vineyards as the Blue Train makes her stately way into the Mother City?The newly refurbished Blue Train of South Africa can easily lay claim to being one of the top 3 luxury trains in the world, but a lot of its allure lies in its past.
‘Aah, the Blue Train,' South Africans will sigh at the sight of this elegant 5-star experience trundling across the landscape, its passengers enthralled by the world outside and utterly spoilt by staff inside. The Blue Train symbolizes excellence in South Africa and South Africans are justifiably proud of the luxury train and its image. Back in the early 1940s, the Union Limited-Union Express line had distinctive sapphire blue carriages - thus people started referring to the South African luxury train as ‘those blue trains'.
South African Beaches
South African boasts 2 500 kilometres of pristine beaches and coastline. The coastal cities and towns are renowned for their summer weather, making South Africa an extremely popular vacation destination. Mossel Bay in particular, was listed in the Guinness Book of Records for having the most consistent summer weather all year (22°C). Cape Town’s Cape Agulhus locks 250 000 visitors per year to witness the Indian Ocean clashing with the Atlantic Ocean.
The International Hydrographic Organisation (IHO) describes the western boundary of the Indian Ocean as follows: From the coast of the Antarctic continent northwards, along the meridian of 20º E to Cape Agulhas (34º 50’S – 20º 00’E), the southern extremity of the Republic of South Africa, in Africa (the common limit with the South Atlantic Ocean).
South Africa’s coastlines stretch from the cold waters off the arid West Coast region, south around the southern tip of Africa, heading toward the lush St Lucia estuary in the east.
Adventure activities in South Africa
South Africa is considered to have some of the best rock climbing sites in the world, particularly Cape Town. The Western Cape area claims literally hundreds of bolted and natural routes on excellent quality Cape granite, not to mention Table Mountain sandstone within the city limits. Mountain guides and climbing schools exist in all the main centres, as well as the availability of route guides from the majority of climbing shops.
South Africa also boasts popular river trips, ranging from scenic to grade five “whitewater washing machines”. Over 100 listed paragliding or hang gliding launch sites, and many more less known, with schools in every centre. Most cities also host opportunities for helicopter rides, zballoon flights, aerobatics, skydiving and microlight flights.The persistent summer weather in South Africa makes it a hotspot for hiking. With thousands of kilometres of hiking trails that wind around the countryside, forest, desert, mountains and coastal regions, hiking is a popular sport and pastime. In addition, many trails include adjacent mountain bike trails. Some hikes tend to be more luxurious - walking from hotel to hotel while your luggage is transported around, while others include 3 day hiking and canoeing trips and even horse riding. Horse riding includes easy horse trails through vineyards, on the beach or in the mountains and, for the adventurous and more experienced, horseback safaris in big game country.
South Africa’s Garden Route boasts the highest commercial bungee jump in the world (at 216 metres) at Bloukrans as well as plenty of beautiful abseiling and bridge swinging.
Combining adrenalin, peace and tranquility, and sheer beauty, try treetop canopy tours in the South Africa Garden Route’s Tsitsikamma.
The art of canyoning - known as kloofing in South Africa - is another hot favourite, with self-guided and escorted trips.
• Abseiling and rapp jumping
• Bungee jumping
• Paragliding, hang gliding and flying
• Rock climbing and mountaineering
• Mountain biking
• Canoeing, rafting and kayaking
• Hiking
• Horse riding
• Skydiving
• Scuba diving
Wine Routes of South Africa
South Africa has 15 official wine routes and 2 brandy routes – 99% of them in the country’s wine capital – the Western Cape. The bloodlines of the South African winemaking industry, our wine routes reflect not only the development of our winemaking tradition, but like a fine vintage, our country’s maturation into a full-bodied, flavourful democracy. All South African wine routes fall under the auspices of the Wine of Origin Scheme. Production is divided into official regions, districts and wards. There are 5 principle demarcations – Coastal, Breede River Valley, Little Karoo, Olifants River and Boberg, covering 21 districts and 61 wards. Stylistically, South African wines fit somewhere between Old World and New.
Sun City
Sun City, a huge entertainment complex 160km/100mi northwest of Johannesburg, draws a daily 25,000 visitors, who travel from Johannesburg by air or by car. It consists of four hotel complexes, of which the fairytale palace called the Lost City is the most exclusive, and offers every conceivable facility for the entertainment of its visitors, including cinemas, discotheques, a huge range of water sports and a golf course of international standing. There is a large stadium used for sporting events and pop concerts. This "Las Vegas of Southern Africa" lies on the territory of the former homeland of Bophuthatswana, surrounded by lush green parkland - an area which in 1977 was still a barren savanna steppe.