Things to do in South Africa

Cape Town, beneath Table Mountain, has one of the most spectacular settings of any city, with beaches, the Cape Peninsula, penguins at Boulders Beach and Robben Island in the bay. Johannesburg, the economic heart, tells the country's story at the Apartheid Museum, Constitution Hill and in Soweto, and is where many safari journeys begin.

Kruger National Park, in the northeast, is one of Africa's great wildlife reserves, home to lions, leopards, elephants, rhinos and buffalo. The Garden Route runs along the southern coast past lagoons and forests, the Cape Winelands produce celebrated wines around Stellenbosch and Franschhoek, and the Drakensberg mountains offer hiking and ancient rock art.

The braai, a wood-fire barbecue, is a national ritual, and bobotie, bunny chow and biltong are tastes to seek out, with excellent local wine. South of the equator the calendar flips: the dry winter months from about May to September are best for safari, while summer is the time for the beaches of the Cape. Whales visit the southern coast from winter into spring.