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Riding Tours:
South
Africa is one of the most geographically varied countries of the African
continent, comprising territory that ranges from the rolling, fertile plains of
the highveld and the wide open savanna of the Eastern Transvaal to the Kalahari
desert and the peaks of the Drakensberg Mountains. While all of its diverse
regions offer ample opportunities for adventure travel, the focus in South
Africa--as in much of sub-Saharan Africa--is the safari. In addition to
possessing two of the world's most renowned wildlife reserves, the Kruger and
the Kalahari Gemsbok National Parks, the country contains over a dozen smaller
regional parks and reserves. In addition, with its excellent road and rail
systems, its abundance of top-rated accommodations, and its bountiful farmlands
and vineyards, South Africa allows visitors ample opportunity for more luxurious
comfort along with adventuresome excitement.
South Africa is located, as one might expect,
on the southern tip of Africa. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean on the west,
the Indian Ocean on the south and east. Along its northern border, from west to
east, lie Namibia, Botswana, and Zimbabwe, and to the northeast are Mozambique
and Swaziland. Wholly-enclosed by South Africa, and situated in its eastern
central plain, is the independent kingdom of Lesotho.
Almost all of South Africa's 472,000 square
miles (1.2 million sq. km.) lie below the Tropic of Capricorn, and the country
is geographically composed of three primary regions: an expansive central
plateau, a nearly continuous escarpment of mountain ranges that ring the plateau
on the west, south, and east, and a narrow strip of low-lying land along the
coast. Most of the central plateau (and most of the country) consists of high
(4,000-6,000 ft/1,220-1,830 m), rolling grassland known as highveld. The highest
points of the mountainous escarpment are found in the stunning Drakensberg
(dragon's back) Mountains, where the tips of dragon's back can exceed heights of
10,000 ft (3,050 m).
In the northwest, South Africa's Kalahari
Gemsbok National Park, one of the continent's largest game reserves, extends
into the red sands and scrub grasslands of the great Kalahari Desert. In the
northeast, the highveld plateau descends to the Bushveld and Limpopo River
basins. The Bushveld comprises South Africa's extensive savanna, in which is
found the country's marvelously rich and diverse game reserve, the
world-renowned Kruger National Park.
Although South Africa's climate varies
considerably across its various regions and environments, temperatures remain
comfortable throughout the year. The best time to visit for safari is between
May to August, when there is less rain and much less dense vegetation, making
animal sightings far more frequent.
The Waterberg area in the north-western part of South Africa is rich in minerals
like iron, coal, tin, platinum, zinc, titanium and vanadium and crops like
tobacco, groundnuts, maize, grain sorghum, sunflower seeds, wheat, cotton,
citrus fruit and rice are grown here.
But this is also one of the country's premier wildlife areas and hosts the
Lapalala Game Reserve and the Mabula Game Reserve. The Lapalala Wilderness
Reserve is one of the last truly wild places in the country and was created as a
sanctuary for rare and endangered animals. At Mabula Game Reserve, visitors can
see the big five and many more animals.
The wildlife reserves are of diverse topography and vegetation ranging from
wide-open plains to beautiful mountainous areas, enabling to naturally sustain
the widest variety of game possible. They boast over 40 species of game
including the rare sable antelope, nyala, oryx, eland, giraffe, buffalo, white
rhino and well over 300 species of resident and migrant birds. In addition to
game drives, the reserves offer a safe and secluded environment to allow guests
of all ages to enjoy guided bush walks, horse rides, cycling and game drives.
Karongwe / Edeni Game Reserve teems with an abundance of game, birdlife and
diverse dense vegetation which provides the perfect habitat for the most
secretive of Africa's large cats, the leopard. The game drive and walk
experience is a modern-day journey into the past when this expanse of pristine
bushveld knew nothing else but a rich profusion of diverse game and virgin
vegetation.
 The
specially trained game rangers and trackers will take you on day and night
drives in comfortable open four-wheel drive landcruisers. Most of the rangers
and trackers are Shangaan and bring to the game experience the richness of their
culture and vast knowledge of nature. With their natural tracking abilities and
Edeni's modern bush telegraph, the rangers will go out of their way to bring you
as close to the Magnificent Seven (lion, leopard, elephant, buffalo, rhino,
cheetah and African wild dog) as they possibly can.
On one game drive you may stop an arms-length away from a leopard napping after
a kill, or just metres away from a couple of cheetah or stop in the middle of a
pride of lions, observing the king of the jungle watching over his cubs. At all
times, care and consideration for both guests and wildlife is of utmost
importance.
Edeni Private Game Reserve is an untamed garden of Eden where the spoor of
wildlife invites you to explore the timeless beauty of the bush; an oasis of
unimaginable luxury provides the greatest vantage point to the Big Five and its
vast, untouched wilderness ...
 Extending
from the northwestern border of Kwazulu Natal to the Tugela Region is the
spectacular Drakensberg mountain range, originally referred to as the "Dragon
Mountains" by early settlers. To the Zulu's living in the east, the rock
formation resembled a row of spears and they called it 'Ukhahlamba' (a barrier).
Nowadays, it is affectionately known to locals as the 'Berg'.
Its mountains rise as high as 3000m, and host some of the most popular South
African Nature Reserves. Well-known names, such as Mount-aux-Sources and the
Natal Royal National Park, recently renamed the uKhahlamba-Drakensberg Park,
draw the attention of local as well as overseas tourists to enjoy the unique,
majestic and breathtaking views. The uKhahlamba-Drakensberg Park has also
recently been declared the fourth World Heritage Site in South Africa.
The northern Drakensberg is an area of magnificent natural beauty. One such
scenic wonder is the Amphitheatre which lies on the eastern edge of the
Mount-aux-Sources, a 3000m high plateau and the source of the Tugela River and
eight other rivers. In the Tugela River one can see the most spectacular
waterfall, the Tugela Falls which is the second highest waterfall in the world.
 Stretching over 350 miles from north to
south, and teeming with wildlife, Kruger National Park is justly rated as one of
the world's finest game reserves. Kruger is home to more species of wildlife
than any other game sanctuary on the continent, and is one of Africa's few
remaining havens for big cats. Well over a thousand lions, and large populations
of leopard and cheetah, roam freely here, along with substantial numbers of
elephant, zebra, rhino, giraffe, hippopotamus, impala, and kudu--more than
enough to satisfy even the most shutter-happy photographer. Kruger is also--like
South Africa as a whole--an outstanding destination for birdwatchers, offering a
scarcely believable diversity and abundance of species.
Founded in 1898 by Paul Kruger, the
park has over the last century been well tended and carefully developed. Unlike
many reserves and sanctuaries, it is blessed with an outstanding road network,
and in recent years its perimeter fencing has been substantially reduced,
allowing greater migration ranges and increased wildlife populations. Stretching
along the park's western border are a number of private reserves, supplementing
the land available to Kruger's game and allowing greatly enhanced opportunities
for safari visits. On the private reserves, visitors are permitted to travel on
foot, in open vehicles, and to view wildlife at night, none of which activities
are permitted within the park itself.
 Hidden
in the folds of the ancient Barberton Mountains lies the 49 000 hectare
Songimvelo Game Reserve. This is an area of stunning landscapes with a
tremendously rich biodiversity. Songimvelo is the Boards largest reserve
extending over 50 000 hectares in a little known corner of the Province amongst
the mountains of the Swaziland border.
The diverse landscapes of grasslands, mountains and forested ravines are home to
a variety of game. The broad Komati River winds through the valley floor before
flowing out of the reserve and into Swaziland on its way to the sea.
More than twenty species of large herbivores have been introduced to the reserve
since it was established in 1986. The grassy plains are home to herds of
buffalo, zebra, blue wildebeest red hartebeest, waterbuck and blesbok. In the
more wooded areas are herds of giraffe, kudu and impala. Songimvelo also has a
herd of elephant introduced from the Kruger park and numbers of white rhino.
Although there are no lions the predators niche is filled by brown hyaena,
black-backed jackal and leopard.
The reserve is rich in bird species and more than 300 have been recorded. Common
species include Shelleys francolin, shrikes, golden-breasted bunting and a range
of pipits, cisticolas and warblers. In the forests of the ravines are Knysna
louries, olive-bush shrikes, grey sunbirds, collared sunbirds and olive
sunbirds, whilst on the forest margins you may see green twinspots.
Geologically Songimvelo is a treasure house. In places it is possible to see,
and even walk, on some of the very first rocks to solidify in the earths crust
4000 million years ago. The area has been inhabited for hundreds of years and
archaeological sites comprised of circular walls and ruins of small houses and
religious structures date back to perhaps 400 BC.
Every year more and more visitors flock, from all over the world, to this
once unknown region with unrivalled geographical diversity. The Western Cape's
'West Coast' has beautiful unspoilt beaches, magnificent mountain ranges, and
the most spectacular wild flowers which bloom in the spring. The West Coast area
of the Cape consists of three main areas, West Coast, Swartland & Sandveld and
Olifants River Valley.
The fertile green valleys of Cape Town's winelands are surrounded by proud
mountain ranges. Towns and villages have many historic homesteads and monuments,
and every so often fruit orchards are to be seen, whose produce may be found in
all corners of the world. It is the Mediterranean climate and winter rainfall
area of the south-western Cape that produces some of the best wines in the
country. The rich, fertile soils along the Breede River and especially the areas
of Somerset West, Stellenbosch, Franschhoek and Paarl, have become world famous
for their whites, reds, sherries, ports and brandies.
The Breede River Valley is the largest fruit and wine producing valley in the
Western Cape and is South Africa's leading racehorse breeding area. The area
stretches from Gouda in the west and McGregor in the south, to Montagu in the
east and the Tankwa-Karoo National Park in the north. This semiarid area, part
of the Little Karoo, offers magnificent scenery and is known for its indigenous
fynbos and proteas. The clear mountain streams are in stark contrast with their
rugged surrounds and the wildlife in the reserves offer visitors a chance to get
a taste of the real African bush.
South Africa's population of forty million is
three-quarters black (African) and about 15% white (European), with the
remaining 10% comprised of people of mixed white, Malayan, and black descent and
people of Asian (mostly Indian) descent. The African majority is composed of
many different ethnic groups, the largest of which are Zulu, Xhosa, Tswana, and
Bapedi. Until very recently, the country's racial divisions were harshly
enforced as part of the government's official policy of Apartheid, or apartness.
Although the government began to dismantle apartheid in 1989 after prolonged
resistance, protest, and international economic sanctions, racial inequality
remains pronounced in South Africa.
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