SA attractions that should be on your bucket list
SOUTH Africa has some of the most beautiful places and landscapes in the world. Here are five popular heritage spots, in no particular order, from around the country well worth a visit.
Mapungubwe National Park, Limpopo
Mapungubwe National Park is a national park in Limpopo. It protects the historical site of Mapungubwe Hill, which was the capital of the Kingdom of Mapungubwe. It also protects the heritage of wildlife and riverine forests along the Limpopo River.
Mapungubwe Hill was the site of a community dating back to the Iron Age, believed to be a prosperous community, as archaeologists uncovered the famous golden rhino figurine from the site.
Augrabies Falls National Park, Northern Cape
According to Sanparks, the Khoi people called the Augrabies Falls “Aukoerebis”, the place of the Great Noise, referring to the Orange River thundering down 60 metres in a spectacular waterfall. The falls are sacred
to the Khoi, who believe a giant snake lives at the bottom, a powerful mythical creature with mesmeric eyes, shimmering scales and a huge flawless diamond on its head as a crown. Drakensberg, KZN
Another place where the Bushmen have left a piece of their history is the
Drakensberg, or “Dragon Mountains”.
The mountains join the Eastern Cape, Lesotho, the Free State, Mpumalanga and Kwazulu-natal.
The Drakensberg is unique in the sense that it carries a vast history of the first people who walked South Africa.
It’s a world heritage site that has the most extensive and perhaps exceptional repository of rock art in the world, with close to 30 000 examples.
Kruger National Park, Limpopo, Mpumalanga
The Kruger National Park is one of the oldest and largest game reserves in Africa, home of The Big Five.
It was established by the president of the Transvaal, Paul Kruger, in 1898. There are 254 known cultural heritage sites in the Kruger, including 130 rock art sites.
Homo erectus roamed the area about 500 000 years ago, and cultural artefacts from 100 000 to 30 000 years ago have been found and confirmed. More than 300 archaeological sites of Stone Age humans have been found.
The park is managed by Sanparks, and you can enjoy a self-guided tour of the park or experience a luxury safari stay at private lodges around the park. Stellenbosch, Western Cape Stellenbosch is the second oldest European settlement in the Cape, where the history of South Africa’s contact with Europeans began.
Vine-cloaked fields, old oaks, cobbled streets and charming Cape Dutchstyle buildings are remnants of the cultural heritage this town has to offer.
There is a lot of South African history to be unpacked in this town, so a visit to the Village Museum – four houses dating from 1709 to 1850, which have been carefully restored and furnished in the original style – and the Rupert Museum, focusing on South African art, is well worth the time.