South African holidays and tours are best undertaken in the spring and autumn months. The benign climate is at its best when the seasons turn. In both seasons temperatures moderate from the extremes of mid-winter and mid-summer. Days are deliciously cool and nights are crisp with the promise of change.

Many planned tours to the country include a travel to the Kruger National Park. This area is three hundred and fifty kilometres long and about fifty kilometres wide and is about the size of Wales. Since the nineteen nineties the size of the park has been effectively increased as a number of conservation areas and private reserves have been merged with the park allowing more movement for animals.

The other great travel attraction is the beautiful mother city of Cape Town. Here the past and the present are melded together in a relaxed, smoothly running modern city. Town houses run up the sides of the mountain but never get near to the top where a huge table of wildness exists so close that the air of the city is always scented with vegetation or the freshness of the sea.

Because they are such great attractions many people beat a path to these places. But there are other places in South Africa that deserve the status of un-discovered gems because they are not crowded out, yet sufficiently developed to provide world class holidays and tours. The Eastern Cape is one such area. It is rich in game and also in history.

The long shoreline is mostly unspoilt, but it has treacherous seas for shipping. Storms have driven ships onto the rocks since the days of the Portuguese explorers searching for routes to the East. Along this stretch of coastline many ships like the Grosvener and the Sacramento. Survivors tried walking to known settlements either at the Cape or Mozambique. Some died, some were absorbed into local tribes and few reached their destinations.

This is known as the ‘frontier’ region because European settlers were sent here in the nineteenth century to create a buffer between the Nguni tribes migrating southwards and the Europeans migrating northwards. Many conflict spots and stories exist.

In addition to its historical attractions the Eastern Cape has famous surfing spots that attract enthusiasts from across the world. There are also game reserves and game viewing facilities that are among the best in the world.

Addo elephants provide the best elephant viewing in the country. The herd has grown to more than four hundred without being culled and this makes then friendly animals than can be seen in huge herds at times. The reserve has been extended by the inclusion of many private farms and stretches across five biomes, from the coast, across the famous Baviaans Kloof mountains into the Great Karroo. In this vast expanse an abundance of flora and fauna can be studied. Included are whales and great white sharks in adjacent marine reserves, and many species of birds and smaller animals. This is a great place for South African Tours and Holidays.

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