South Africa : With the Best Safari Destinations in Namibia and Botswana

by FODOR'S

• ISBN13: 9780679006855
• ISBN10: 0679006850
• Format: Trade Paper
• Copyright: 2001-01-01
• Publisher: Fodor's

Summary

Fodor's Exploring South Africa 3rd ed."Authoritatively written and superbly presented...Worthy reading before, during, or after a trip."-- Philadelphia Inquirer "Absolutely gorgeous. Fun, colorful, and sophisticated." -- Chicago Tribune Fodor's Exploring Guides are the most up-to-date, full-color guidebooks available. Covering destinations around the world, these guides are loaded with photos, essays on culture and history, descriptions of sights, and practical information. Full-color photos make these great guides to buy if you're still planning your itinerary (let the photos help you choose!), and they are perfect companions to general guidebooks, like Fodor's Gold Guides. What to SeeExtraordinary coverage of history and cultureItineraries, walks and excursions, on and off the beaten pathArchitecture and art Where to StayQuick tips in every price range Where to EatSavvy picks for all budgets The BasicsGetting there and getting aroundWhen to go & what to pack

Table of Contents

How to use this book	4	(1)
Contents pages	5	(3)
My South Africa	8	(2)
SOUTH AFRICA IS	10	(13)
Heaven and hell	10	(2)
The toe of Africa	12	(2)
The powerhouse of Africa	14	(2)
The Rainbow Nation	16	(2)
Urban	18	(2)
Rural	20	(2)
Liberal	22	(1)
SOUTH AFRICA WAS	23	(218)
Prehistoric	24	(2)
The Cape of Good Hope	26	(2)
The early colonists	28	(2)
The Mfecane	30	(2)
The Great Trek	32	(2)
The British Empire	34	(2)
The Randlords	36	(2)
The Anglo-Boer Wars	38	(2)
Apartheid	40	(2)
The Struggle	42	(2)
Freedom	44	(1)
A-Z
Western Cape	45	(57)
Introduction	46	(4)
Cape Town	50	(18)
Cape Town environs	68	(8)
The Breede River Valley area	76	(2)
Groot-Karoo	78	(1)
Klein-Karoo	79	(3)
Overberg and South Coast	82	(2)
West Coast and Cederberg	84	(2)
Winelands	86
Focus On
Coloreds and Cape Muslims	64	(10)
Flora	74	(14)
Wine	88
Walks
Historic Cape Town	66	(24)
Stellenbosch	90
Drives and tours
The Cape of Good Hope	71	(21)
The wineries	92	(2)
Swellendam to Agulhas	94	(2)
The Garden Route	96	(6)
Eastern Cape	102	(20)
Introduction	103	(9)
The Karoo	112	(4)
Port Elizabeth	116	(3)
The Wild Coast	119
Focus On
Cape architecture	114	(6)
The Nguni	120
Tour
The 1820 Settler Towns	110	(12)
Free State, Northern Cape, and North-West Province	122	(24)
Introduction	122	(4)
Free State	126	(2)
Eastern Highlands	128	(6)
Northern Cape	134	(3)
Kimberley	137	(7)
North-West Province	144
Focus On
The San	132	(8)
Diamond	140	(2)
Tour
Diamond drive	142	(4)
Gauteng	146	(28)
Introduction	147	(1)
Johannesburg	148	(10)
Johannesburg environs	158	(4)
Pretoria	162	(8)
Pretoria environs	170
Focus On
Gold	160	(12)
South African art	172
Walk
Central Pretoria	168	(6)
Mpumalanga and Northern Provice	174	(14)
Introduction	174	(4)
Northern Province	178	(3)
Mpumalanga	181	(3)
Drive
Rim of the escarpment	184	(4)
KwaZulu-Natal	188	(28)
Introduction	188	(4)
Durban	192	(8)
Durban environs	200	(2)
Battlefields	202	(6)
The Drakensberg	208	(2)
Pietermaritzburg and the Natal Midlands	210	(2)
Zululand	212	(2)
Northern KwaZulu	214
Focus On
Sports	198	(6)
Tour
The Disputed Territory	204	(12)
Beyond South Africa	216	(9)
Introduction	216	(2)
Lesotho	218	(1)
Swaziland	219	(1)
Zimbabwe	220	(2)
Botswana	222	(1)
Namibia	223	(1)
Mozambique	224	(1)
Practicalities	225	(16)
Accommodations	226	(2)
Food and Drink	228	(3)
Shopping	231	(1)
Entertainment	232	(2)
Trains	234	(2)
Hiking	236	(2)
Tours and Safaris	238	(3)
TRAVEL FACTS	241	(16)
ACCOMMODATIONS AND RESTAURANTS	257	(9)
Safari Guide	266	(19)
Index	285

Excerpts

Heaven and Hell

At first glance, South Africa looks like an affluent suburb superimposed on the African bush -- exactly the impression its former rulers, middleclass urban whites, tried so hard to create. If it seems a little old-fashioned in some ways, it is also superficially comfortable, familiar, well tended, and nonthreatening.

South Africans used to pride themselves on clinging to the old virtues by which everyone went to church on Sunday, women stayed at home to look after their families, and the niceties of afternoon tea were strictly observed. It was a squeaky clean image based on the biggest conjuring trick in history -- nearly 40 million people were made to vanish. The harsh laws of apartheid kept Africa and poverty out of sight in huge settlements of corrugated iron and cardboard that appeared on no map or signpost. Black people were only allowed into view if they were smiling and subservient. Most towns were -- and are -- as European as possible, filled with chintz and antiques, trendy boutiques and coffee shops.

Tourism, designed largely for the South African home market, has always concentrated on the coast, whites-only game parks, and cool, green uplands where golf courses stretch amid the pine plantations.

Of course, this image of rich white/poor black, good black/bad white is as simplistic and unrealistic as any other cultural stereotype. The truth is far more complicated. South Africa has a population of about 41 million, with 11 official languages and cultural traditions from across Europe, Asia, and Africa. There has been violence and oppression, the nonwhites have been shamefully used, and the townships are a sin against humanity, but today luxury dwellings and run-down shanties stand side by side on the same street. Tribal chiefs and traditional healers live and work alongside pinstriped politicians and orthodox medical professionals. There are black millionaires and professors, white taxi drivers, waiters, and beggars, and even, astonishingly, black people who mourn the passing of apartheid.

The New South Africa is a mind-bending paradox: a sunny land of apparent peace and harmony with a boiling undercurrent of violent crime in its centers. Voices of doom mutter about chaos and corruption or talk of betrayal. A surprisingly large number of people embraced the Government of National Unity's call for "Masakhane" ("Working together for a better future"). Most people, of whatever color, are still waiting to see what will happen.

It may seem as if little has changed so far, but these are still early days for the New South Africa. It will take time for people to be rehoused, for economic as well as political power to shift, for the richness of African culture to emerge from the townships and villages, for the history books and museums to be revised, and for a people used to being invisible to take possession of their true heritage. Meanwhile, tourists still live largely in a luxurious and almost totally white world, with only a quick tour of black South Africa. The difference is that they can now wander the lush gardens, swim in limpid pools, and quaff fine wines without the slightest twinge of conscience.

The Toe of Africa

South Africa has land borders with Mozambique, Swaziland, Zimbabwe, Botswana, and Namibia, and totally surrounds the enclave of Lesotho. Since the 1994 elections, the country has been redivided into nine provinces, along roughly tribal lines -- Western Cape, Eastern Cape, Northern Cape, North -- West Province, Gauteng, Northern Province, Mpumalanga, the Free State, and KwaZulu-Natal. At the time of writing, it still has three capitals, a legacy from the Second Anglo-Boer War. The legislature is in Cape Town (the former British capital); the administration is in Pretoria (capital of the old Transvaal); and the judiciary is in Bloemfontein (capital of the Orange Free State). Pretoria is currently the favorite to become sole capital should it be decided to consolidate them into one.

The terrain ranges in altitude from sea level to South Africa's highest peak, Injasuti (11,178 feet) in the Drakensberg, near the border with Lesotho, and covers ecosystems from tropical forest to desert dunes. Almost every crop known to humanity can find a natural home somewhere in the country.

The Western Cape, cut off from the hinterland by the mountains of the Cederberg, Hex River, and Swartberg, has a distinct Mediterranean climate with cool, gray, wet, and windy winters and warmer, sunny summers. It is ideal for wine and deciduous fruits. The more northerly KwaZulu-Natal coast, also cut off by the vast wall of the Drakensberg, is subtropical, hot, and humid, clipped by the southwest monsoon. Here, the main crops are tropical fruits, such as bananas (the country's most profitable product), pineapples, and sugarcane.

Beyond the mountains is the Karoo, a dramatic semidesert capable of supporting only sheep, ostriches and, increasingly, antelope, while in the west blow the barren red sands of the Kalahari. In the center, the land climbs on to the high, flat central plateau, to the cattle and corn prairies of the Free State and, most importantly, the gold and diamond deposits of Kimberley and the Witwatersrand.

Finally, in the northeast, the highveld drops off a dramatic escarpment in a flurry of mountains where tea and avocados, cherries and bananas, eucalyptus and pine all flourish cheek by jowl. Below, the lowveld provides a hot, dry habitat for baobabs and acacias, elephant and lion.

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Excerpted from South Africa: With the Best Safari Destinations in Namibia and Botswana
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