The chief operations officer for South African Tourism is on a mission to let travellers know that the destination offers so much more than game drives and landmark Table Mountain views.
“What we need to do as South African Tourism is make sure that the markets understand that South Africa is more than just Kruger and Cape Town,” explains Darryl Erasmus. “We do have nine provinces and we have phenomenal experiences that often exist in the most unexpected places.”
While first-time visitors are bound to add those iconic bucket-list worthy items to their itineraries, he encourages travellers to go a bit further, stay a little longer and delve deeper.
“Driving and exploring South Africa and really going to those lesser known places you begin to unearth those [places] — and those are the stories we have to also make sure we get into the market,” he says. “Whilst you’re here, you’re going to encounter another side of South Africa that you perhaps never knew existed, and you’re going to want to come back again.”
Durban’s delights and day tripping the Midlands
Although it’s South Africa’s third largest city, Durban isn’t as well known in the Canadian market as Cape Town or Johannesburg. From swimming in the Indian Ocean and walking along its famed Golden Mile beachfront to a vibrant food scene, the coastal city offers a lot in a compact area.
Within 35 km of the city is a stunning region called the Valley of 1,000 Hills, which like its name suggests is known for its scenery with numerous hills and valleys. Here travellers can experience PheZulu Safari Park, one of the privately owned safari parks in the area for the chance to encounter wildlife like zebras and giraffes.
“It really does look like you’re on top of the whole world,” says Matt Grant, manager of PheZulu Safari Park, from a lookout spot overlooking lush green hills.
Notably, the company’s fleet of open-air safari vehicles are named after characters from a beloved Disney movie.
“This one here is Simba, this is Zazu and this is Scar… They’re all named after The Lion King and the kids love it,” adds Grant.
Visitors can even embark on a walking safari, where the hiking trail is marked with the Lou Reed lyric, “Take a Walk on the Wild Side.”
An interactive show on the premise also allows guests to learn more about Zulu culture, history and traditions. This experience can be pre-booked for clients.
Meanwhile, the nearby Nelson Mandela Capture Site commemorates the spot where the anti-apartheid activist was arrested on August 5, 1962 before spending 27 years in prison. The visitor’s centre tells the moving story of Mandela’s life, struggles and accomplishments. Outdoors, a path called the Long Walk to Freedom allows visitors to follow a timeline of Mandela’s life and milestone moments, which puts into perspective just how much he managed to achieve even while spending a significant portion of his life in prison.
To mark the 50th anniversary of his capture, a remarkable sculpture created by Marco Cianfanelli and Jeremy Rose was added to the site at the end of the path. The piece is made from 50 laser cut steel columns that create an outline of Mandela’s face that’s only visible from certain angles. It’s highly recommended and located roughly 90 minutes from Durban.
While in the area, there are lots of things to do nearby like visit the Howick Falls, a scenic waterfall, or feast at a winery for lunch. Head to Highgate Wine Estate to take part in a wine tasting lesson and a tour through the cellar and the property. The Kassier family grows their own grapes with close to five hectares of vineyards, producing some 12,000 bottles of wine per year, predominantly Cabernet Sauvignon. For a treat, sample the homemade Limoncello.
For a memorable place to stay back in the city, clients can check into The Oyster Box, part of the Red Carnation Hotel Collection and a member of Leading Hotels of the World. The luxury boutique hotel features touches of red throughout and boasts a picturesque pool overlooking the shore and a lighthouse. The property even has its own movie theatre complete with treats. Even those who stay elsewhere can pop in for high tea or cocktails on the coast.
Coastal Cape Town cool
When a city garners a reputation as the Amalfi Coast of South Africa, amazing views are expected and Cape Town delivers.
“Apart from it being absolutely magnificent in scenic beauty — standing anywhere in Cape Town and turning around looking at Table Mountain, whether it has a table cloth on it or not, which is the cloud covering or not, driving along the Atlantic seaboard past The Twelve Apostles, I’m sure you will be moved just by the natural beauty of Cape Town,” says Erasmus. “Cape Town has done a phenomenal job in its culinary offering, these beautiful streets that have rows and rows of restaurants with the most fantastic eateries and cuisines. You don’t have to go very far when you start to enter the wine farms, where you have a plethora of opportunities to go and do wine tastings and experience some of the best wines in the world. Then you can go up the west side for the most magnificent dunes — you can go quad biking in the dunes — there is just so much to do in Cape Town.”
For an amazing vantage point, take to the skies with NAC Helicopters Cape Town to fly past Robben Island, where Mandela spent the majority of his prison sentence, and soar above the coast to admire Table Mountain and Lion’s Head peak jetting out 669 metres in the distance. A variety of tours are offered ranging from 12 to 45 minutes in the air.
Back on land, another scenic option is to hit the open road with Cape Sidecar Adventures in a sidecar attached to a vintage motorbike to admire Cape Town highlights like The Twelve Apostles. The sweet rides have fun names displayed on name tags attached to the bikes like Bubbles, Sexy and Bella, and garner a lot of smiles and waves from onlookers. Full and half day experiences are offered.
Another cool way to experience Cape Town is with Jeep Tours Cape Town, riding along the scenic Chapman’s Peak Drive and to take in the famous penguins of Boulders Beach with the top down. Day trips are fully customizable and can include private wine tastings at notable estates in Stellenbosch, Franschhoek and Constantia. Notably, the company employs all female drivers.
“We’ve seen a huge spike, or a very huge interest, in the North American market for authenticity,” adds Erasmus. “For me, personally, it was COVID-19, that’s a personal opinion, but I think COVID-19 changed the way in which people travel and what they want to get out of travel. I think that authenticity and that immersive experience that travellers are looking for is driving more community-based tourism.”
For tours that deliver exactly that, clients can delve into Khayelitsha, Cape Town’s largest township, by taking part in a walking tour or cooking class with ABCD Travel.
Our tour wrapped up with a drum circle lesson, where we were joined by dozens of children and adults from the nearby community, a truly moving experience.
To get a taste of Bo-Kaap, a historic community known for its vivid and colourful houses, book a course with Bo-Kaap Cooking Tour to learn more about the significance of the neighbourhood that was long populated by slaves. In front of a lime green and a hot pink house, Zayed Harris explains that during the Apartheid era, people of colour were restricted from owning property in the area.
“Fast forward to 1980, at the height of the political struggle of South Africa, Bo-Kaap was at the heart of the struggle here in Cape Town and the Apartheid regime noticed that and said calm down, for the first time ever you can now purchase the house your family’s been living in for 100s of years. It was a huge thing for us to finally own this piece of property. So we grabbed our savings, we bought the house and we found the cheapest paint we could find. Like naughty kids with crayons, we went crazy with colour.”
While the pastel toned painted houses still represent an expression of freedom, identity and cultural heritage, he says the colours change frequently, with the only rule being that you can’t paint your house the same colour as your neighbours’ house. “Next time you’re here and you think, now wasn’t that house green before? It probably was, the owner just got sick of it,” he notes, adding that it’s common for owners to slap on a fresh coat of paint every two to five years.
His mom, Zainie Misbach, runs the endeavour from his childhood home.
“Cape Malay cuisine is synonymous with Cape Town, you won’t find this anywhere else in the world,” he says, before we learn how to make Cape Malay dishes ranging from spicy curries to stews, roti and samosas. Not only is the tour insightful, but clients will be able to feast on the dishes they make.
