South Africa is what I like to call the European country in Africa because it’s quite modernized and very Westernized. South Africa is the country that hosted the 2010 FIFA World Cup and essentially represented the entire continent. It was the first time that a country in Africa hosted the world cup.
So yeah. Hold my beer while I play “Waka Waka – This Time for Africa” by Shakira on repeat.
How I got There
As usual whenever I travel, I either take a United flight or search for the cheapest flight on kayak.com. I wrote an article about how I stick to flying on United as much as possible to cash out big with my miles.
For this trip, I took a flight on South African Airways from Antananarivo, Madagascar.
Here are my top 3 favorite things I did in South Africa:
1. Table Mountain – Cape Town
Hiking Table Mountain took me about 2 hours to hike up to the top the first time on a rainy day. It took me about 1 hour the second time on a gorgeous, sunny day.
Table Mountain – Cape Town
If I was not a hiker, I would have taken the cable car. But regardless, making up to the top was incredible.
Shoutout to my good friends Troy and Andres for being my hiking partners on this one.
2. The Garden Route
What’s the Garden Route you might ask? Well… it compares very well to the Pacific Coast Highway of California (SR-1/US-101) because you’re just riding along the beautiful coast from North to South.
Brb, putting on my Picasso hat to a paint a picture.
The Garden Route
The Garden Route starts (or ends) from Cape Town and continues on until George/Port Elizabeth.
I chose a tour group that stopped by Knysna, a mini-safari, and animal sanctuaries, including those of elephants.
A Giraffe
An Elephant
3. The Trip from Cape Town to the Cape of Good Hope
This was absolutely worth a day trip. Let me draw (yet another) picture. Wow I’m 2 for 2 on paintings. Anyway, here’s a map of the trip from Cape Town to the Cape of Good Hope:
Cape Town to the Cape of Good Hope
The Cape of Good Hope is the southwestern-most tip on the continent of Africa. The day tour from the city of Cape Town concluded here.
There’s actually quite a lot to see on the way to the Cape of Good Hope. We stopped by Simon Town to see the penguins at Boulder’s Beach.
Boulder’s Beach
Light House of Cape of Good Hope
I climbed up to the lighthouse to get the best view of Cape of Good Hope.
Cape of Good Hope
Side Note: I waited 10 long-ass minutes for that picture above. But worth it, yea?
Honorable Mentions
Johannesburg, but everybody calls it Joburg. I remember getting swarmed by taxi drivers at the airport. That was delightful. Anyway, I stopped by the Apartheid Museum and thought that was interesting. I didn’t get to experience much in Joburg and didn’t have a particular emotional attachment to the city because I almost got robbed. But yolo.
Cape Town – Hiking Lion’s Head.
Side Note: I thought the Lion’s Head hike was way easier than hiking Table Mountain AND had better views of the city.
Surfing in Muizenburg was great.
Surfing in Muizenburg
Also, I ate ostrich meat for the first time. And I liked it.
Mzoli’s Place (Google Maps location) in Cape Town for live bands and meats. Yup, that’s a thing.
Where I Stayed
When I was in Cape Town, I stayed with the volunteering organization. Afterwards, I stayed at a hostel that I found on hostelworld.com.
By the way, I wrote a separate article on How I Choose Where I Stay when I Travel.
If I Had More Time, I Would Have…
This is the part where I avoid eye contact with everybody, but in the 3 weeks I was in South Africa, I didn’t make it to Kruger National Park. Tripadvisor reviews tell me I’m dumb for that, and… yeah I know. Next time, tho.
East London I’ve heard is wonderful. I would have loved to complete the Garden Route to Port Elizabeth.
Closing Remarks
In my opinion, when you say “I’ve been to Africa” and you follow that up with “only South Africa”… I’m not sure that *counts*, because the culture and history of South Africa are much different than those of other countries that I’ve visited in Africa.
What language do they speak in South Africa? Well it’s English and ten other official languages. Wow, ok. One of the ten other languages is Afrikaans – and apparently, my Dutch friend told me that he would speak Dutch to South African kids and they would respond in Afrikaans, and they would all understand each other. I thought that was a head-scratching yet very cool thing. Told ya there was a huge European influence.
I will say this as a bottomline: South Africa is absolutely a country worth visiting.
