Africa
Get a Personal Pick →South Africa
65 destinations
Wilderness Addo Elephant National Park
"Elephants gather at a dust-ringed waterhole close enough to hear each breath."
Water Aliwal Shoal
"Ragged-tooth sharks hover above a fossil dune reef washed by warm current."
Water Arniston
"A tidal cave hides beneath whitewashed cottages, broad enough for an ox wagon."
Water Augrabies Falls National Park
"Aukoerebis takes its name from the roar as the Orange River plunges fifty-six metres."
Wilderness Baviaanskloof
"A rough road threads folded mountains, river crossings and farms through a hundred-mile valley."
Mountain Blyde River Canyon
"Green canyon walls fold around a blue reservoir beneath three round mountain heads."
Water Bulungula
"A village-owned lodge faces empty surf while daily life continues behind the dunes."
Water Cape Agulhas
"Africa ends in low fynbos, shipwreck water and a red-striped lighthouse."
City Cape Town
"Dawn crowns a flat-topped mountain while penguins waddle the southern shore below."
Mountain Cederberg
"Red sandstone arches hold the last heat while rooibos valleys fall into shadow."
Wilderness Cradle of Humankind
"Fossils surface from limestone darkness, pulling the human family tree millions of years backwards."
City Cullinan
"The world's largest gem diamond emerged behind a town still living beside its mine."
Water De Hoop Nature Reserve
"Whales roll beyond white dunes while eland move through the fynbos behind you."
Mountain Drakensberg
"Basalt walls rise above sandstone caves painted across thousands of years."
Water Gansbaai
"Seals bark beyond the kelp while open-ocean predators circle a working fishing harbour."
Mountain Giant's Castle
"Vulture thermals circle above high grassland folded beneath the Drakensberg escarpment."
Mountain Golden Gate Highlands National Park
"Sandstone walls flare gold above grassland where black wildebeest graze."
Wilderness Gondwana Game Reserve
"Fynbos-covered hills carry safari wildlife within reach of the Garden Route coast."
City Graaff-Reinet
"Whitewashed Cape Dutch streets end at a valley of leaning dolerite pillars."
Water Hermanus
"Southern right whales surface five metres from shore beside a cliff path through town."
Wilderness Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park
"White rhino cross thornveld where a landmark conservation programme rebuilt their population."
Wilderness Hogsback
"Mist gathers in indigenous forest above waterfalls, gardens and a small mountain village."
Water Hole in the Wall
"Surf booms through a freestanding cliff pierced by one immense sea arch."
Water Howick Falls and Mandela Capture Site
"Fifty steel columns resolve into Mandela's face near the road where police arrested him."
Wilderness Isandlwana and Rorke's Drift
"Two battlefields one day apart expose victory, defeat and imperial myth from opposite hills."
Water iSimangaliso Wetland Park
"Hippos surface in an estuary beside dune forest, beaches and reefs on one protected coast."
Water Jeffreys Bay
"A long right-hand wave peels past rocks while dolphins clear the next line outside."
Wilderness Kagga Kamma
"Sandstone outcrops shelter rock art, cave rooms and star-heavy Cederberg nights."
Wilderness Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park
"Black-maned lions patrol dry riverbeds between red dunes and camelthorn trees."
City Kimberley
"Thousands of miners erased a hill and built a diamond empire around the void."
Wilderness Kruger National Park
"A leopard crosses the road at dusk while the bush changes shift around the car."
Water Kuruman
"Twenty million litres rise daily from Kalahari rock, filling a clear pool in town."
Water Lambert's Bay
"Thousands of Cape gannets crowd an island reached on foot from a fishing harbour."
Mountain Marakele National Park
"A mountain road climbs towards a cliff colony of Cape vultures above savanna."
City Matjiesfontein
"A Victorian railway village keeps its red postbox, pub piano and desert silence."
Water Mbotyi
"Waterfalls, forest and empty beaches line a community-guided stretch of Pondoland coast."
Wilderness Mkambati Nature Reserve
"Grassland rivers fall onto empty beaches along an undeveloped Indian Ocean shore."
Water Nature's Valley
"One road dies at a forest lagoon where beach begins and almost nothing follows."
Water Orange River (Vioolsdrif)
"A green river corridor carries rafts between bare Richtersveld mountains."
Mountain Oribi Gorge
"A river cuts deep through forested sandstone, with suspension bridges hanging above the gorge."
City Oudtshoorn
"Ostrich-feather palaces line the streets while Cango Caves drip in cathedral silence."
Wilderness Pafuri (Makuleke Concession)
"Baobabs and fever trees stand on northern Kruger land restored to the Makuleke community."
Wilderness Pilanesberg National Park
"Elephants and lions move through the eroded rings of an ancient volcano."
City Pilgrim's Rest
"A gold-rush town survives as corrugated roofs, museum rooms and one long mountain street."
Water Plettenberg Bay
"A seal-rich peninsula folds cliffs, dunes and a narrow sand spit into one walk."
Water Port St Johns
"Twin cliffs guard a river mouth where forest, settlement and Indian Ocean meet."
Mountain Royal Natal National Park
"The Amphitheatre's five-kilometre rock wall fills the sky above a river-cut mountain valley."
Wilderness Sabi Sands Game Reserve
"Leopard tracks cross unfenced bush before guides follow them off-road into the riverbed."
Wilderness Samara Private Game Reserve
"Reintroduced cheetahs cross restored Karoo grassland beneath a vast ring of mountains."
Mountain Sani Pass
"A switchback road climbs from green foothills to a high border above the clouds."
Water Sodwana Bay
"Warm current washes coral reefs where turtles pass above fossilised dune ledges."
Mountain Soutpansberg
"Mist forest and baobab country meet along a mountain named for salt."
City Soweto
"One Soweto street holds two Nobel homes beside music, memory and kota smoke."
Wilderness Tankwa Karoo
"Silence spreads between black escarpment and plains where a single track becomes company."
Water Tsitsikamma
"Storms River forces through black rock beneath a swaying suspension bridge."
Wilderness Tswalu Kalahari Reserve
"Meerkats rise from red sand while private guides search the dusk for pangolin."
Wilderness uMkhuze Game Reserve
"Hides sink to water level where nyala, rhino and birds arrive through sand forest."
Wilderness Witsand Nature Reserve
"White Kalahari dunes can rumble underfoot when heat and dryness align."
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Legendary Destinations
Little-known places, unlike anywhere else, that leave you awestruck and full of stories.
7 destinations
Legendary Destination
These rocks remember an Earth on which life was only beginning.
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Legendary Destination
The tide turns. Woven traps have been waiting for it for centuries.
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Legendary Destination
A small golden rhinoceros carries the memory of a kingdom.
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Legendary Destination
When the desert flowers, the daisies follow the sun.
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Legendary Destination
One yard holds owls, camels and a universe of crushed glass.
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Legendary Destination
A sea cave keeps old evidence of how humans learned to survive.
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Legendary Destination
Desert trees lean north, looking almost like people keeping watch.
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