South Africa Experience

Catherine Maguire 07 December 2007
I experienced an amazing and exciting trip to South Africa In December 2007. Cape Town was my first port of call; known as the Mother City it is a must see destination for all who visit South Africa. There are so many wonderful sights including the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront, a working port and Cape Town’s most popular shopping, dining and entertainment district. Also Robben Island, one of South Africa’s most important historical sights, where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for 18 years.

Table Mountain is where you can take the revolving cable car to its peak and has the most breathtaking views when looking down on Cape Town city and the fab long white sandy beaches.

I now have first hand information on some of the hotels of Cape Town and the V&A waterfront. The hotel we stayed in on arrival for one night was the Fountains Hotel; a nice 3 star hotel located within walking distance from the V&A waterfront. This hotel has a bright spacious restaurant that serves breakfast and dinner. This hotel also has an indoor pool and fully equipped gym and sauna. Perfect for our arrival!

We then took a flight to Port Elizabeth where we were transferred to Lalibela. Unique in the Eastern Cape, Lalibela Game reserve has no public roads running through its property. Home to the ‘ Big 5’, all of the animals are free to roam throughout the entire reserve. Open vehicle game drives bring you face to face with elephant, rhino, buffalo, lion and cheetah, African wild dog, hippo, giraffe, zebra, warthog and antelope. Food is true safari cuisine. This whole experience of a safari was a unique experience to me but one I would highly recommend and would love to do again.

We then continued down the coast to Monkeyland where we had a 1 hour guided tour. This was a different experience but was also an enjoyable one as the guide was very informative .

During my time in South Africa we visited a lot of hotels and experienced a wide array of activities, but nothing beats seeing the 'Big 5' in their natural environment.

This was by far one of the most exciting and enjoyable destinations I have ever been to and now after experiencing Cape Town and the Garden Route and the Safari first hand I can understand why a lot of people are heading there - especially honeymooners. I feel really confident talking about South Africa now and would love to share the excitement of this wonderful destination with my clients.