Fun things to do in South Africa

If you are lucky enough to have a reasonable period to tour around South Africa, and are planning to visit several of the national parks, you could potentially save yourself lots of money by investing in a Wild Card.

The Wild Card gives you unlimited access to national parks for a year. Local residents can buy Wild Cards for a 'cluster' of parks in a particular region (for example, the Bushveld or the Cape clusters), which is cheaper, but to be eligible for this, you need to be able to provide proof of residence. For international tourists, the only option available is for all the parks.

At the time of writing (June 2010), the cost of an international Wild Card was:
R1065 per person
R1850 per couple
R2495 per family (regardless of number of children)

If you tally up the entrance fees for the parks that you're planning to visit, you will find that it's easy to exceed the cost of the Wild Card (plus the convenience of having 'pre paid'). We have also found that it has encouraged us to visit parks that we might otherwise not have ventured into 'because it's free' - for example, we once 'popped into' Kruger for a couple of hours when we arrived at Palaborwa airport a little early. If you only have a couple of hours spare, it is not always possible to justify the park entry fee, and by passing on the opportunity, you could miss out on a great experience.

Bear in mind that not all parks in South Africa are national parks: for example, the Pilanesberg is not a national park and there are also municipal reserves that would be excluded.

One note of caution: the website warns that card issue takes 3-4 weeks, and my experience is that this time frame is pretty realistic. Add on to that the time for the card to be delivered to your overseas address, and you should probably reckon on a 2 month lead time to be safe.

Update (February 2011): Local cluster Wild Cards are only available to South African and SADC Nationals. Unfortunately Wild Cards are no longer available to foreign nationals unless they hold a valid South African work or resident permit (in which case they can only purchase Wild Cards for the International All Parks cluster).

At the time of writing, the family Wild Card covering all clusters for South African nationals (covering two parents and up to five children) was excellent value at R700 (individuals and couples are R340 and R560 respectively).

For the International All parks cluster, the rates are R 1,310, R 2,195 and R 2,620 for individuals, couples and families respectively.

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I don't think you need three days in Sun City. It's not Africa at all, in my opinion. It's like a very hot Disneyland. If you want to go there I would think a half a day would be sufficient with the rest of the day in Pilanesberg which is right beside Sun City. Or maybe you would like a full day in Pilanesberg and then go to the Apartheid Museum which I am sorry I missed.

This was written in response to a question in the South African forum.

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We visited the beautiful Elgin Valley with a tour group. This is a wonderful valley surrounded by mountains. It is 45 minutes from Cape Town and well worth the trip. The Valley is famous for it's fruits and flowers.
We visited a few sites, all of which were featuring their flowers.

The South African Astronomical Observatory headquarters in Observatory, Cape Town is open for night-time visits on the second Saturday of each month at 20:00. Day tours for large groups by arrangement in advance may be booked through the Observatory on 021 447 0025.

There is no fee, but a donation would be appreciated. A gift shop sells t-shirts, posters, books etc. on Open Nights.

Other professional observatories are at Sutherland (in the Karoo), Mazelspoort (near Bloemfontein), Hartebeesthoek (near Krugersdorp outside Johannesburg), UNISA (Pretoria) and in Namibia.

There are several private and amateur observatories in South Africa.

This 17 meter high piece of art, titled "Tomorrow's Joy", is created from recycled plastic bottle tops. It has been displayed at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown, the Arts Alive Festival in Johannesburg, and now it is welcoming delegates to the COP 17 World Conference as they come through OR Tambo Airport.

http://www.joburg.org.za/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7459&catid=88&Itemid=266

If you are planning to visit Southern Africa (or would just like to be an armchair tourist), the ideal planning guide is "1001 Places to See Before You Die: Places to Go, Things to See in Southern Africa: Places to go, things to do in Southern Africa" (published by Random House Struik).

I gave this book to my husband as a Christmas gift a couple of years ago - an act of self-interested altruism, as I had every intention of using this to further extend our already lengthy 'To Visit' list! It is a beautifully presented book, with lovely photos, and is structured in a very accessible manner, with short chapters on specific themes (for example, ghosts or train trips) which make it ideal to dip into. For those who are performance driven, a charming aspect of the format is the inclusion of a little tick box by each 'thing' which you can check off once you have 'done' it (and a master list at the end, so that you can see how well you're progressing towards the magic 1001!). There are also good links to websites.

I particularly like this book because many of the items included are quirky - sometimes verging on the barking mad - and there are lots of things in this that don't make it into conventional guide books (eg. a walking tour of stormwater tunnels in Cape Town) and are new and interesting even to those of us who live here. I would use this as a resource to highlight some of the things that you would like to see, and then plan the details of your trip with a more conventional guidebook. The title specifically mentions Southern Africa, but it's worth noting that probably over 75% of the things to do are in South Africa itself (with some more limited coverage of Namibia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland, Zambia and Mozambique)

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Danielsrust Game farm is a mere 45 minutes from Johannesburg and is a wonderful escape and a great way to experience a little piece of Africa. The horse ride that I went on was amazing. They have 13 species of plains game, eg. Zebra, Eland, Gemsbok etc. We were able to ride fairly close to the animals which was incredible. All the horses are well trained and very responsive, no bolting for home!

If you find yourself in Johannesburg and you want to get out into the country for a while take a drive out to the Cradle of Humankind there is so much to see and do. If you enjoy riding or have wanted to always try it then I highly recommend Danielsrust.

Happy holidays

You haven't been to Africa if you haven't visited a Shebeen!!!!!!!
guided village tour of all the various tribes, their history and architecture.
cultural performances consisting of beautiful singing and cultural dancing by the very talented Village People.
a real Sangoma lady is present who communicates with the deceased ancestors by throwing the bones and she can assist with guests' life questions
the Village has a Curio Shop selling a variety of local African craft and art
guests are able to taste true traditional African foods
experience the beauty of the African landscape as you have never seen it before, embark on a helicopter flight for individuals and corporates
the Village Boma & Shebeen is available for cultural theme evenings to be enjoyed by conference and incentive groups, private parties. Dinner, tradional and praise singing, dances and cultural rituals and ceremonies. Caters up to 800 pax. Venue hire is R6000.00. Private venue hire requires a minimum of 50 people. Venue hire is applicable at the Village if the Traditional Dining experience is not utilised
Minimum pax required for a buffet is 30 people (non-privatised)
the Cultural Village will be adding a very real African Shebeen where all will be able to enjoyy true South African hospitality
A Butterfly World : Join us for a spectacular tour through our Butterfly World, where you will stroll through an Indoor Garden, home to a wide variety of Tropical Butterflies and learn about their entire life cycle. In addtion to the butterflies our Indoor Garden also hosts some local bird speciesa dn fish ponds. Operating hours: 09h00 - 17h30 daily. R10.00 per child & R15.00 per adult.