Top 10 Tourist Attractions in South Africa

Cape of Good Hope

The Cape of Good Hope is the landmark of Cape Town. Even Cape Town was built because of the Cape of Good Hope, and even the name of Cape Town came from the Cape of Good Hope. In the 16th century, traffic between the East and the West was blocked by the Arabs. In order to obtain oriental luxury goods such as spices, silk and porcelain, European countries have sent fleets to find new routes. The route bypassing the southern tip of Africa is undoubtedly the most important one. Until the opening of the Suez Canal, it was the only way on the sea between Europe and Asia, bringing wealth to all countries. The Cape of Good Hope therefore has special significance in the history of navigation and trade.

Even now, giant cargo ships that cannot pass through the Suez Canal still follow this route. The sea around the Cape of Good Hope is the area where the Atlantic Ocean and the Indian Ocean meet. The huge waves caused by the collision of currents are endless all year round. Therefore, Dias, the first European to come here, called it the "Storm Cape". But by bypassing here, there was hope of reaching the East and gaining wealth, so the king of Portugal renamed it the "Cape of Good Hope." Now, the Cape of Good Hope National Park is a world-famous tourist attraction. Every day, countless tourists take photos in front of the Cape Point sign.

Cape Agulas

Unlike most people's geographical concepts, the real southernmost point of Africa is not the Cape of Good Hope, but Cape Agulas, about 200 kilometers away. The geographical boundary between the Indian Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean is also here. "Agulas" means compass needle. It is said that here, navigators found that the compass needle pointed exactly north, and knew that this was the southernmost tip of the African continent. Agulas is a quiet town with two-story houses of varying shapes scattered among the trees, and there is only one main street leading directly to the lighthouse. Because of Cape Agulas, tourists visit the town from time to time, as well as family hotels and souvenir shops.

Lighthouse: The Agulas Lighthouse is built on a highland at the end of the town. The almost straight 90-degree stairs coupled with the constant wind all year round is a big test for those who climb the tower. But when you climb the lighthouse, you will never regret the infinite scenery in front of you. The southernmost tip of the African continent: There is a sign stand about one meter high, engraved with the latitude and longitude and the names of the Indian Ocean and Atlantic Ocean for tourists to take photos.

Background knowledge: The intersection of the two oceans is actually an artificial geographical concept. The obvious boundary between the two oceans cannot be seen at Cape Agulas. The difference between the two oceans is the water temperature. The water temperature of the Indian Ocean is about 6 ° C higher than that of the Atlantic Ocean. As the ocean currents change, the real dividing line continues to move between the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Agulas. Only through water temperature measurement can we find the exact location of the day.

Dining and drinks: There are several small restaurants on both sides of the town's main road, and fast food costs about 30-40 rand each. However, if you have enough time, it is recommended to choose an authentic local restaurant and enjoy a leisurely lunch.

Accommodation: There are no hotels in the town, but some families rent out an extra room or two. It would be good to take an in-depth look at the daily life of the local people. The price is about 200-250 rand per room.

Shopping: There are several local painters 'studios that sell their works, mostly themed by South African scenery and characters. There is a small souvenir shop under the lighthouse where you can buy a postcard and send it to yourself and your friends.

South China Temple, South Africa

Nanhua Temple is located in a cultural park on the outskirts of Blonges City, Gauteng Province, South Africa, about 50 kilometers away from Pretoria and covers an area of 2.4 square kilometers. It is the largest Buddhist temple in Africa and Fo Guang Shan in Africa. headquarters. Dr Hennie Senekal, chief executive of Blonghes and former church minister, once went to Taiwan to encourage local wealthy businessmen to invest in his hometown and become associated with Fo Guang Shan in Taiwan; in March 1992, Senekal donated 6 hectares of land to Fo Guang Shan to build a Buddhist cultural and educational temple.

Subsequently, the Fo Guang Shan Religious Affairs Committee sent Master Huili, then the Engineering Supervision Institute, to South Africa to open a new page for the spread of Buddhism in Africa. Construction of Nanhua Temple began in 1992 and officially opened in 2005. Most Venerable Hsin Pei, the seventh abbot of Foguang Mountain (since 2005) and the 49th successor of the Linji Orthodox Church, visited the site.

Since the completion of the main temple of Nanhua Temple, buildings such as Nan Hua Buddhist Temple Guesthouse, African Buddhist Seminary, Nan Hua Village, and Assembly Hall have been built one after another. Nanhua Temple uses charitable assistance as a bridge. From donations of food, clothing, medicines and even wheelchairs, it has knocked on all classes of originally closed South Africa step by step, forged good relationships, and slowly integrated into the land of Africa.

Night Owl House

The Owl House is located in the city of Nieu Bethesda, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. It is an art gallery built by artist Helen Martins to commemorate her deceased parents. In 1991, the Owl House became a national cultural relic in South Africa and one of the most famous cultural attractions in South Africa.

In 1945, Helen began to decorate her home with cement, glass and wires, and later made sculptures in her garden. In 1964, black Koos Malgas joined to help her make sculptures together in the garden, but at the time, Helen and Koos's relationship had been highly suspected and criticized due to apartheid in South Africa.

Almost all of Helen's artistic inspiration comes from stories in the Christian Bible, the poems of the Persian poet Omar Khayyam, and the works of William Blake. Her sculptures mainly feature owls, camels and people, and most of them face east. In the era when Helen lived, these works have always been the object of ridicule and suspicion. Few people supported these works, and no one was interested in these "inconspicuous sculptures." Imagine what perseverance she used to complete them at that time. In 1976, Helen's vision dropped sharply, and she eventually committed suicide by consuming caustic soda. These sculptures did not attract people's attention until after Helen's death. According to Helen's wishes, her home, the Owl House, became a museum and is now a famous local tourist attraction, attracting many art lovers at home and abroad to visit.

Franschock Automobile Museum The Franschock Automobile Museum provides visitors with an opportunity to learn about the history of automobiles more than a hundred years ago, while also enjoying rare antique cars, motorcycles, bicycles and important local souvenirs. The Franschock Motor Museum is actually a private museum for car collectors. The owner is John Rupert, South Africa's second-richest man, and was then chairman of the Richmont Group, the world's second-largest luxury goods group. Its brands include Cartier, Van Cleef and Arpels, Earl, Vacheron Constantin, Lange, Wanguo, Montblanc, etc., covering many fields such as jewelry, watches, fashion and firearms.

Unlike the traditional glass cabinet displays in people's usual impressions, the Franschock Motor Museum is located on the outskirts of the beautiful Franschock Vineyard, backed by the towering Groot Drakenstein Mountains, and the surrounding environment is beautiful and the air is fresh. This is a row of white houses in the Cape Dutch-style style, with more than 220 precious cars hidden inside, and its exhibition area reaches 2700 square meters. The vehicles in the museum are mainly displayed in chronological order. From the Biston motor tricycle in 1898 to the Ferrari Enzo supercar in 2003, each vehicle is valuable, and 80 vehicles are displayed every once in a while. Walking into the Franschock Museum, when cars of all eras come into view in the hall, it feels like walking through a time tunnel and wandering through the history of modern automobiles. It is a truly charming super experience!

Pilanesberg National Park

Pillingsburg National Park surrounds Sun City and covers an area of 550 square kilometers. It is the fourth largest national park in South Africa. Enter the park in a convertible jeep and if you are lucky, you can see the famous "Five African tyrants"-elephants, lions, cheetahs, African buffaloes and rhinos. But even if you don't see these large animals, lively antelopes, silent wildebeest, elegant giraffes, and swarms of zebras will make you feel worthwhile.

Recommendation: Choose the evening of the dry season to enter the park, and you will have the most opportunities to see animals. In the dry season, the vegetation is relatively low and sparse, making it easy to find traces of wild animals; most animals come out to exercise in the evening to find food or drink water; it is easy to see large numbers of animals gathering near the pond.

Catering: Drinks and simple foods can be purchased at rest stops in the park. The rest station is a building built in 1936 and used to be a rural court. When the national park was established in 1979, all residents moved out.

Transportation: You must take a car to enter the national park. You can book day and night adventure tours at the Wild Adventure Counter of Sun City Reception Center, and take the shuttle bus to the entrance of the park at the appointed time.

The rules for visiting the national park: 1. No getting off the car; 2. No talking loudly; 3. No honking; 4. No sudden movements. In addition, a tip of 10 rand per person should be paid to the drivers after the visit.

National Zoo of South Africa

The South African National Zoo, also known as the Pretoria Zoo, is located on Boom Street in Pretoria. It is one of the largest zoos in the world and the largest zoo in South Africa. South Africa's National Zoo covers an area of 85 hectares and has more than 3500 species of animals. The number of tourists visiting it every year exceeds 600,000. The founder of the zoo is J. w. b. Gang Ning (J.W. b. Gunning) was first established in 1899 at the outbreak of the second Boer War and became an officially recognized national zoo in 1916.

Half of the zoo is on the plains, and the other half is on the mountainside. The two areas are separated by an Apis River with two bridges over the river. The entire zoo has a 6-kilometer-long viewing corridor and golf carts can be rented if you are too lazy to walk, but not all attractions can be reached. The plain area and mountainside area can be reached by cable car, there are two restaurants in the park, and there are also picnic areas on both sides of the Apis River. Tourists can take the cable car to reach the Liao Observatory above the island cage.

The South African National Zoo has an aquarium, reptile park, bird area, Australia area, primate area and carnivore area. There are many diverse animals that make people dizzying. It would be a pity if you came to the capital of South Africa and didn't visit this zoo.

Golden Gate Highlands National Park

Golden Gate Heights National Park is located in the Free State Province of South Africa, covering an area of 340 square kilometers. It is the only national park in the province and one of South Africa's most famous attractions. The park is famous for its golden, yellow and orange sandstone cliffs and exposed rocks, from which the Kinmen Heights came. It is said that in 1875, a farmer and his wife, on their way to their farm, passed the sandstone cliffs at both ends of the river valley and noticed that the sunlight reflected off the cliffs like gold. They immediately called the area Golden Gate Heights.

In 1963, Golden Gate Heights National Park was established to protect the fantastic geological beauty of the area, which was only 47.92 square kilometers; in 1981 and 1998, it expanded to 62.41 square kilometers and 116.33 square kilometers respectively; in 2007, it merged with nearby QwaQwa National Park, increasing its area to 340 square kilometers.

Golden Gate Highlands National Park is not only beautiful scenery, with strange rocks, but also introduces many wild animals such as African five tyrants (elephant, rhinoceros, lion, leopard, African buffalo), meerkats, oryx, zebra and more than 100 kinds of birds. Tourists can rent a car to visit the park. In addition, there are many caves in the park, the walls of the cave engraved with a lot of holy rock paintings, paleontologists have also found dinosaur eggs fossils and dinosaur skeletons in the park.

Fossil sites at Stekfontein, SwartCorrans, Koromdrai and Verrons

The fossil sites of Stekfontein, Swartcorans, Koromdrai and Verrons contain a large number of cave remains inhabited by ancient humans. Their evolutionary history dates back to 33 million years ago and are favorable evidence of human evolution and origin. The fossils found here can be used as multiple specimens to confirm early primitive humans, and are also evidence of animal domestication 18 million to 1 million years ago.

Among them, many caves in the Stekfontein Valley contain a wealth of scientific information about the evolution of modern humans over the past 3.5 million years, human lives, the animals that live with humans, and those that humans use as food. The Stekfontein site includes a particularly large and scientifically important group of sites that help understand the early conditions of human ancestors. It contains rich scientific information and has huge potential. The Stekfontanized Cave is formed by the dissolution and deposition of dolomite below the groundwater table. It is considered to be one of the areas with the richest fossils of primitive humans in Africa.

The Koromdraai Fossil Cave is 40 meters high, 125 meters long and 50 meters wide. Visitors do not have to bend down when passing through the entrance. Follow the built stairs and enter the elevator located 22 meters underground. When you come out, the tourists have already reached 40 meters underground. The Koromdraai cave is still in an active state, and many of the formations inside are growing at a rate of 1 mm-1 cm every 100 years, which is a miracle.

Ganguodong

In southern South Africa, along the Indian Ocean coast, there is a scenic route that is popular among travelers. From Georgetown to Nesna to Port Elizabeth, the entire route has beautiful scenery and beautiful scenery everywhere. Coupled with the smooth road network, it is called "Garden Road" GardenRoute). In the inland part of Garden Avenue, in the mountains 30 kilometers north of Otssong, there is a huge natural stalactite cave called CangoCaves. It is as famous as Otssong and has become a must-visit for tourists.

Ganguo Cave was discovered in 1780. Due to its huge scale, exploration is still under way. But the part open for tourists has already penetrated 3.2 miles into the cave. Traces of Bushman residence and insect fossils will be found in Gango Cave, which is of great academic research value.

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We slowly entered from the cave entrance. There are murals left by the Bushmen on the rock wall about 50 meters away from the cave entrance, indicating that the Bushmen lived and lived here at that time. Therefore, this place has been designated as a Bushman ecological area, and the lifelike wax figures fully reveal the life style of the Bushman people in the Middle Ages. At that time, the Bushmen lived a social life. They hunted for a living, knew how to drill wood to make fire, and also used simple pottery, beginning the pottery civilization.

After visiting the Bushman Ecological Area, we continued along the cave. There is a small stone staircase at about 100 meters away. As we descend the steps, our eyes suddenly become clear. What is in front of us is a vast cave. It is said that a symphony orchestra once performed here. This cave has excellent echo and can accommodate about 1,500 people. There are many stalactite pillars and stalagmites around the cave, some even as high as 10 meters. These stalagmites have been verified to be more than 150,000 years old.

The

moves along the path behind the cave, and there is a new scene in front of you. In the wide space, there are huge stalactite columns and stalagmites standing among them. The staff turned on the lights and saw colorful lights shining on the stone columns and stalagmites. In an instant, the stone columns turned into the Virgin Mary. Isn't the stalagmites a saint child? And the stalagmite on the rock wall happens to be the twelve disciples. At this time, the symphony sounded, both gorgeous and solemn; Ganguo Cave was like a music hall and a theater.

The management staff of Ganguo Cave took great pains to make these stalactite pillars and stalagmites artistic and humane, making Ganguo Cave more instructive. Then the managers led us up the trail again. The trail in the cave twists and turns, sometimes climbing and sometimes descending. Arriving at the third exhibition, the management introduced tourists to stalactites and introduced everyone to a very special stalagmite. The management staff turned out all the lights, and everyone held their breath to wait. Suddenly, they heard a drum sound coming from far to near, from slow to dramatic, and then stopped abruptly.

Everyone was quite surprised at the

. It was only after the manager turned on the lights and knocked on the stalactite next to the rock wall that we suddenly realized that the stalactite here was hollow. The manager held a flashlight to illuminate the stalactite. The stalactite turned into a faint yellow milky white due to the light. The creator was really magical.

On the other end of the rock, a clump of ferns grew. In the originally dark cave, plants could not grow. After the keeper explained, he understood that there was an electric light on the rock, and the light was like sunlight; and there were water droplets dripping on the rock. With sunlight and water, the ferns grew. After passing through this area, the trail narrows and continues to advance underground. People must move forward. The caretaker solicited the tourists 'wishes and that if people without physical strength could follow the original path to the cave. Those with physical strength and interest can continue to visit.​​