DESTINATIONS SOUTH AFRICA | AFRICA
the wild s
outh Africa is the ideal all-rounder, with good food and wine, great wildlife and cultural attractions galore. Its northeastern
corner, which I visited along with eight travel agents on a South African Tourism fam trip, is a terrific snapshot of almost everything the country has to offer, from rich history and culture to adventure and animal-spotting activities.
HISTORY LESSONS Our first stop is Johannesburg – where many UK travellers will fly to – which has gold-rush history literally written on the land. Evidence of 19th-century mining activity has left scars on the land, which we see on our 50-minute drive from the airport to Soweto (a portmanteau for South Western Townships), but scars of a more brutal kind are documented at Soweto’s Hector Pieterson Museum. Named after the 12-year-old student shot by police on June 16, 1976, during school protests, the museum is filled with moving artefacts and images related to the Soweto uprisings, including Sam Nzima’s harrowing photograph of anti-apartheid activist Mbuyisa Makhubo carrying Hector’s body.
A further taste of South African history comes during our lunch at Sakhumzi restaurant. It’s located on Vilakazi Street, the road where Nobel Peace Prize winners Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Nelson
Mandela lived. After a meal of local dishes including chakalaka, a spicy vegetable relish, we stop by 8115 Vilakazi Street, the red-brick house Mandela returned to after 27 years in prison. Louise Grant, travel consultant for Fare Wise Travel
in Hungerford, says: “I felt a real sense of honour to be able to visit. It was inspiring and humbling. You could spend hours here soaking up the history.”
HEART-PUMPING PURSUITS Leaving behind The Maslow Hotel in the glitzy Jo’burg suburb of Sandton, the road becomes more scenic as we reach the dark green forested peaks and waterfalls of Mpumalanga province, famed for the Panorama Route – a 100-mile stretch from Echo Caves to the Long Tom Pass.
Many of the towns established on and near
the route during the late-19th-century Witwatersrand Gold Rush – including Lyndenburg, Sabie and the national monument of Pilgrim’s Rest – are now ²
travelweekly.co.uk 7 NOVEMBER 2024
A fam trip through South Africa’s beguiling northeast combines game drives, gorge adventures and gold-rush history for Francesca Young
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PICTURE: South African Tourism
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