10D9N Waka Waka It's Time for Africa (2020)
Departure Dates: June 11-20, 2020; December 01-10, 2020
Rates from USD 2,888+ per person
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Every country in the world displays some diversity,
but South Africa, stretching from the hippos in the Limpopo River to the
penguins waddling on the Cape, takes some beating. It befits its position at
the southern end of the world’s most epic continent, with more types of terrain
than photographers can shake their zoom lens at. There’s the deserted Kalahari,
Namakwa’s springtime symphony of wildflowers, iconic Table
Mountain and Cape Point, Kruger
National Park’s wildlife-stalked savannah (scene of the famous
lion-buffalo-crocodile battle watched more than 40 million times on YouTube)
and, running through the east of the country and into Lesotho,
the Drakensberg.KwaZulu-Natal’s
iSimangaliso Wetland Park alone has five distinct ecosystems, attracting both
zebras and dolphins.
If you’re interested in another kind of wildlife,
hit the nightclubs on Cape Town’s
jumping Long St or sample African homebrew in a township shebeen (unlicensed
bar). When it’s time to reflect on it all, do it over seafood on the Garden
Route, curry in Durban’s
Indian Area, a sizzling Cape Malay dish, or a braai (barbecue) in the
wilderness – accompanied by a bottle of pinotage produced by the oldest wine
industry outside Europe.
Of course, it's impossible for
travellers to South Africa to remain oblivious to the fact that, despite the
rise of ‘black diamonds’ (middle-class black folk), racial inequality persists
here. Black and coloured townships face problems such as a horrific HIV/AIDS
rate and xenophobic tensions caused by economic refugees from nearby countries.
Nonetheless, South Africans are some of the most
upbeat, welcoming and humorous folk you’ll encounter anywhere, from farmers in
the rural north who tell you to drive safely on those dirt roads, to
Khayelitsha kids who wish you molo (‘good morning’ in Xhosa).
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| See lions and zebras in Lalibela Game Reserve in the Eastern Cape |
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| Sun City, Johannesburg |
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| Capetown, South Africa |
