Top 10 Favorites: South Africa

Posted in South Africa

Second in a Series: To celebrate the tenth anniversary of my first Round the World excursion I am doing a “Top 10” of some of the countries I visited on that trip. Today’s spotlight is on South Africa. Here are 10 of my favorite things about that country.
1. Hiking up Table Mountain (Cape Town) – You can take the cable car up as well, but if you are able, take the time to do the hike.
2. Skydiving over Cape Town – as beautiful as Cape Town is from the ground, seeing it from the comfort of a parachute is both beautiful and exhilarating. 
  
3. Sundowners – the collective activity of grabbing a cold cocktail or beer and watching the sunset.
4. Rooibos Tea – every morning of my overland trip started off with a nice hot cup of rooibos tea with milk and sugar.  Delicious!

5. The Xhosa language – I love the sound of a language with clicks. 
6. The Baz Bus and Hosteling system – made it so easy to get from place to place with a  warm bed waiting for you at the end of the day
7. Springbok shots – Amarula and Crème de Menthe. A hostel bar favorite.


8. Hike to the Hole in the Wall – From the Coffee Bay area, you can pay a local kid a couple of bucks and he’ll escort you across the wild open plains for about an hour to see the hole in the wall; a rock formation that was eroded by crashing waves.
9. Hogsback – this village in the Eastern Cape is known for its beautiful wooded areas, waterfalls and, if you believe…winged fairies.
Photo Credit: Ruth Burchell

10. Johnny Clegg – ok totally kidding on this last one, but his music will always remind me of South Africa. 

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8 comments… add one
  • Astrid Becker February 7, 2012, 8:58 am

    thanks for this appropriate summary, i feel like having a sundowner on a sanddune now 🙂
    laughed out loud at the last point- it’s all douwe’s fault!

    • Nailah February 7, 2012, 5:35 pm

      Great to hear from you Astrid and thank you for reading. Can you believe that trip was 10 years ago?? And it was absolutely Douwe’s fault! Hahaha.

  • Rio February 7, 2012, 5:04 pm

    Sad to say, I’ve heard about the extreme poverty of Cape Town,South Africa which distorts one’s perception. Thank you for opening my eyes to it’s beauty.

    • Nailah February 7, 2012, 5:36 pm

      The issues with poverty in S. Africa are real and should not be overshadowed, but there are also many many beautiful people and areas that need to be celebrated.

  • Kate Els February 15, 2012, 1:25 pm

    You’ll just have to come back and visit again!

    • Nailah February 16, 2012, 12:46 am

      I so want to! South Africa is not the kind of place you only visit once. Thanks for stopping by and having a read!

  • South African Tourism February 15, 2012, 3:00 pm

    Good one!

    Thanks for sharing this with your friends.

    And here’s something with a click for you: Sinqwenela uphinda sikubone kwakhona ( means: We hope to see you again soon), here’s how you pronounce it:
    Sinqwenela – Seen(Click)were-ne-la
    uphinda – ooh-pin-da
    sikubone – see-koo-bow-ne
    kwakhona – coo-ah-co-na (coo as in cool and co as in the abbreviation of company)

    • Nailah February 16, 2012, 12:45 am

      That’s fantastic! Thank you for sharing…I’m going to practice that for my next visit!

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