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South Africa – it’s not all soccer!March 22, 2010
Clive Bennett
How much football can one person watch without a break? Quite a lot, I should imagine, if you are passionate enough to come all the way down here for the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa™! But even if you stay totally football focussed every day in the group stage (3 games a day!) there are gaps in the schedule once the tournament goes into the last fortnight. What are you going to do?!
The list of options is endless, so I’ll just give you a few of my personal tips.
If you spend any time in Cape Town (and you’d be crazy not to – it’s got to be in the top 5 of the world’s best cities) then Table Mountain is a must. Seasoned travellers will tell you this view rivals anything they have seen anywhere else across the globe. If you’re reasonably fit you can climb to the Upper Cable Station via “Platteklip Gorge” in about 2.5 hours – and be down in just four minutes via the cable car! But schedule some time at the top for the view, and refreshments at the restaurant.
Great White Shark Diving
If you are more of an adrenalin junkie you could try climbing into a shark cage then being lowered beneath the waves to go eyeball to eyeball with the ocean’s most fearsome predator, the Great White. Best place to do this is near the 60,000-strong Cape fur seal colony. If you dare to take the plunge then you will soon realise why locals call it the “McDonald’s drive-through” for sharks.
Those who like to take life a little easier should certainly visit the wine growing region of Western Cape. Regarded as the most beautiful in the world, they are an easy one hour drive from Cape Town. Dutch settlers first started cultivating vines here in 1655 and today some of the world’s finest vintages are created in this idyllic landscape. Personally, I’d head for the Hemel-en-Aarde (Heaven and Earth) valley. Framed by mountains and within sight of the ocean at Walker Bay, it’s not only breathtakingly beautiful, it’s also home to Bouchard Finlayson, a boutique winery dedicated to the making of Pinot noir, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc wines of outstanding quality. Walker Bay is also the best spot for whale watching – the southern right whales come to calve here during our winter season, from July to November. So Walker Bay has wine and Whales to recommend it!
Bouchard Finlayson Winery
The matches are being played all over South Africa, so you’ll probably spend some time on the coast in Durban. This is in the heart of KwaZulu region, home of the Zulu nation. If the words Isandlwana, Rorke’s Drift, Colenso, Spioenkop, Ladysmith, Dundee, Churchill, Blood River, Cetshwayo and Boers ring some bells from your history lessons then don’t miss your chance to explore the internationally renowned KwaZulu-Natal battlefields and relive the amazing stories. The Drakensberg region is also reasonably nearby, combining staggering natural beauty with a wealth of biologically diverse fauna and flora. It’s a mountainous wilderness that remains virtually unchanged since the indigenous Bushmen roamed these dramatic hillsides 10,000 years ago.
So, on those days when there’s nothing to hold your attention on the pitch, you won’t be short of ways to pass the time!
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Hotel Manager
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