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An appointment with the big five
South Africa is the African continent’s trump card. Energetic and brimming with self-confidence, no other country can match it for sheer variety.
It holds some of Africa’s very best attractions , neatly linked by an efficient, visitor-friendly infrastructure with good onward connections to other countries.
If you are on a cruise to South Africa and your idea of the perfect African adventure boils down to a spot of Big Five game-watching, a few days on a glorious beach and a quick taste of history and heritage, then this country will fit the bill nicely.
However, you’d be doing the place an injustice if you left it at that.
Make time during your cruises to stride along some of its many stunning hiking trails , sip Pinotage on its Cape Dutch wine estates , cruise its happening nightclubs or track down rare creatures such as great white sharks, southern right whales and African penguins, and you have the makings of a truly memorable trip .
Culturally, it’s complex and fragmented. A favourite wry quip is that while apartheid may be history, it’s not yet in the past.
To dig a little deeper into the realities of present-day segregation and survival in the Rainbow Nation you could take in a cultural visit to a rural district, or spend a day in a township with a local guide.