Cape Town & Surrounds
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Table Mountain is Cape Town’s most famous landmark. A quick spin by revolving cable
car to the 1 086m summit will give the visitor a grand view of one of the most
beautiful cities in the world, and of course the equally famous South African
`Alcatraz’ – Robben Island.
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The most visited attraction
in Cape Town is the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront with its assortment of
shopping, eating, entertainment and sightseeing facilities, all set within a
working harbour.
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Take an emotional journey
to the former prison of Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela
and many other anti-apartheid activists spent many of their adult years. An
absolute must on any journey to the Cape.
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The oldest surviving
building in South Africa is the Castle of Good Hope - the pentagonal
fortress built by personnel of the Dutch East India Company back in the
1660s-70s. Today it houses the regional headquarters of the South African
Defence Force in the Western Cape, and a military museum.
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A stop at Cape
Point gives the visitor the opportunity to boast of having been at the
most southern point of the Cape Peninsula. Some 26 shipwrecks have been
recorded at Cape Point, some of them presenting good diving spots. A funicular
takes visitors on scenic trips to an old lighthouse and the spot is a bird
watcher’s paradise.
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Guided township tours are
extremely popular with international tourists who want to get to know the
‘real’ Cape Town. In Guguletu and Langa expect to be overwhelmed by
hospitality, informal roadside traders, rowdy taverns servinglocal beer and
toe-tapping jazz.
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A day in Cape Town might
end with a classical concert at sundown in one of the world’s great botanical
gardens – Kirstenbosch, a repository for many rare fynbos species and a
wealth of indigenous plants, trees and flowers.
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Cape Town city centre is known to many as the party capital of Africa, down just a few
streets in the Mother City there are hundreds of bars, restaurants and clubs
just waiting to be explored through to the wee hours of the morning. Cape Town
is also known as a ‘pink city’, offering a warm welcome to the gay and lesbian
community.
The West Coast
The West Coast offers some
of the greatest of small town experiences in South Africa. Road trips along the
West Coast are a firm favourite with locals and international visitors. Not only
does the area offer some of the most beautiful scenery in the world –
mountains, oceans and views that go onforever, this coast is also a haven for
the finest South African hospitality.
The Winelands
Just a 45-minute drive from
Cape Town and you’re in the mountains and valleys of the Winelands – all
gracious gabled Cape Dutch homesteads, cask-lined cellars, oak-treed towns and
ultra fine restaurants. The towns of Stellenbosch, Franschoek and Paarlare
delightful and beg to be explored and savoured very slowly, like good wine.
The Garden Route
This land of lakes, bays,
mountains and forests languishes on the southern coast from Heidelberg to the
Eastern Cape's Tsitsikamma Forest and Storms River Mouth. A coastal drive along
the Garden Route links a series of charming towns interspersed with natural
wonder. Along the way, every kind of adventure activity is possible – scuba
diving, abseiling, fishing and more.
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Oudtshoorn - the ostrich capital of the country, near the Cango Caves
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George, the largest town
along the Route
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Knysna, one of the most
popular tourist destinations
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Storms River, the Gate to
the Tsitsikamma National Park
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Plettenberg Bay with its
beaches
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Mossel Bay, this is where
Bartolomeu Dias set foot ashore in 1488 and South Africa`s first post office
was founded in 1500
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Nature's Valley, One of the
few remaining areas of truly outstanding natural beauty along the Garden Route