Although most of our country still "appears to be in the grip of winter" nature-wise, the daily temperatures are mostly summer-like at this time of the year. A trip along the Panorama Route (Mpumalanga Province) is scenically beautiful all year round, and includes many waterfalls, like the Lone Creek Fall.
In the Kruger National Park, lumbering old elephant bulls, on their way to a nearby water-hole, always manages to amaze.
After travelling through Swaziland and on entering KwaZulu-Natal, the entertainment during lunch consisted of an "invasion" of dancing young Zulu warriors.
On to the Hluhluwe Game reserve, where visitors are often treated to magnificent game-viewing opportunities - like this peacefully grazing herd of buffalo as well as a White rhino.
A visit to this area of our country doesn't seem "complete" without taking a boat-trip along the St Lucia Estuary (lagoon), which was the first declared UNESCO World Heritage Site in South Africa. Here hundreds of hippos are at home, other than over a thousand Nile crocodiles amongst other land & water animals and a great variety of birds.
Not all tours of South Africa include excursions to the majestic Drakensberg (uKhahlamba) mountain range (also a UNESCO site), but the last tour included two days/nights in the Cathedral Peak area.
A short flight from Durban to Port Elizabeth means a "drastic" change in scenery = the ocean. In the Tsitsikamma National Park waves, crashing against rocks, create a magnificent "back-drop".
After crossing the Outeniqua mountain range, yet another fascinating facet of South Africa's scenic beauty can be "discovered" whilst driving through Meiringspoort . . .
. . . or along the steep Swartberg mountain pass, which resembles a long, winding snake - with photo-stops of "patchwork-like" valleys far below.
Although the Chapman's Peak drive (along the Cape Peninsula) is listed amongst the most scenic
coastal drives in the world, I believe that the coastal road on the "other side" of False Bay, is equally magnificent - with the Hottentots-Holland Mountains "completing" the picture.
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