South Africa is a fantastic location yet for those that have never been there, people commonly have many concerns they might like answered just before that they opt to travel there.

The country possesses terrific airline routes to a lot of global airports. The vast majority of flights from the UK would be overnight and last roughly eleven hours. Once in South Africa, holidaymakers and visitors will see that although there are eleven recognized languages, English is actually widely spoken and the majority of road signs are usually in English.

As South Africa is such a substantial nation the weather varies from place to place though it is the ideal winter sun holiday destination simply because it offers amongst the highest number of ‘sunshine hours’ annually of any place in the earth.

The Mother City and the Western Cape is among the most sought after place for travellers to drop by and see while spots like Kruger National Park are highly regarded across the earth as a safari hot spot. It is usually worth staying some days in Joburg which is a modern urban centre while Durban is South Africa’s beach front playground.

Even though it receives a negative press, South Africa is quite a safe holiday location for holidaymakers, providing you take reasonable safeguards. One can find areas which can be less safe to take in than others though the same holds true of effectively almost every other nation in the globe.

For people wishing to explore South Africa on their own, a fly drive is a great choice. There’s a huge selection of hotels and guest houses across the nation so it’s simple to plan an itinerary to accommodate the individual. When driving, the principles of the road are very much like Britain.

Malaria is present in some regions of the north east of the country and it’s no hazard in the course of the South African winter months. Though occurrences of malaria in South Africa are unusual, you ought to seek assistance from a medical doctor prior to flying. HIV / AIDS in contrast are much more widespread compared with Europe and correct precautions should be observed.

You may also carry your cell phone with you on your South Africa holiday as there is an extensive GSM network. Having said that, you should check call costs with your network provider since calling are generally costly. On the other hand, you can acquire a local pre-paid SIM while you’re in South Africa.

You have received this email as you subscribed to our mailing list from one of our
BBM Explorer travel websites.

If you no longer want to receive these emails, you may unsubscribe using the link at the end of this email

The World Cup may be over but South Africa remains one of Ebookers most popular destinations and they have teamed up with South Africa's leading hotels to bring you some unbeatable Hotel deals.

From Monday 19th July until 22nd August, Ebookers are offering up to 50% savings on leading South African hotels.

Offers include:

Cape Town – 4* Crystal Towers Hotel and Spa
Stay 3 nights and save 20%

Stay 5 nights and save 30%
Stay 7 nights and save 50%

Johannesburg – 4* Protea Hotel Balalaika Sandton
Stay 3 nights and save 20%
Stay 5 nights and save 30%
Stay 7 nights and save 50%

These offers and more can be found here:
Browse South Africa hotel offers / book online>>

Limpopo and Mpumalanga leading Tourism Stakeholders will this evening experience the “Premier  Classe” train from Pretoria all the way to Hoedspruit in Limpopo via Mpumalanga.  Premier Classe is a luxury long distance rail service of PRASA (Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa). The moment you board the Premier Classe train, you step into a World that recaptures the elegance of a bygone era of the luxury train travel, enhanced by the convenience that modern technology can offer.

The Premier Classe departs from Johannesburg to Hoedspruit every Thursday evening, returning from Hoedspruit to Johannesburg every Sunday. The overnight trip between Johannesburg and Hoedspruit takes approximately 16 hours, departing from both venues in the afternoon thus arriving at the respective destinations the following morning very refreshed indeed.

The Premier Classe is a very luxurious train equipped with features such air-conditioning, technological sophistication in its dining lounge cars, conference coach and a smoking lounge that is equipped with a plasma screen and DVD player, spacious compartments  and well appointed bathrooms to name but a few new features.

The CEO of Limpopo Tourism and Parks, Mr. Robert Tooley will lead the Limpopo delegation that will experience this train. Tooley said, “The reintroduction of this train is indeed something very exciting and we feel it will enhance the tourism and thus add to the visits by various corporate organizations to the two provinces “.  He further said , “It is thus our firm belief that the train will increase a number of tourists in our province, particularly if PRASA can see the need for the introduction of such a train on the existing route  to various towns of Limpopo. We believe these things are possible as this will only happen once in a week”.

Source: TravelWires (http://www.travelwires.com/wp/2010/07/limpopo-and-mpumalanga-tourism-welcomes-premier-classe’s-new-route/)

South Africa is a sizeable and varied place getting travellers and tourists from all across the globe. There is such a lot to observe and accomplish in this phenomenal nation, it is just not possible to visit the entire country but naturally, there are some places that almost all visitors make an effort to take a trip to as part of their vacation.

Cape Town is the “Mother City” and is part of the itineraries of a staggering 70% of people to South Africa from the United Kingdom. The well-known Table Mountain is the background to this memorable city which is at the very end of Africa where the Indian and Atlantic Oceans meet. Renowned attractions in and about The Mother City include the Victoria and Albert Waterfront, Robben Island or an outing to the top of Table Mountain. It is also an excellent base to experience the Winelands of the Western Cape of the Western Cape.

Kruger National Park is undoubtedly one of the most popular safari parks worldwide. Established in the North East part of South Africa, it covers an area around the size of Israel and is home to the “Big Five” (Leopard, Lion, Rhino, Elephant, Buffalo). Although there are actually hundreds of national parks in South africa, Kruger national park is easily the best known.

The Garden Route is an attractive section of shoreline in the Western Cape. It is preferred with adventure seekers and outdoor enthusiasts. During parts of the year at Hermanus, it is possible to watch the Southern Right Whales from the shoreline as they make their way past. There are a lot of fantastic small towns to discover along this stretch of coast line.

Durban’s Shores are dramatic. The golden sands attract sun-seekers throughout the year as the mercury even in mid winter easily hits 25 Celcius. It is a terrific location for surfers too and the newly opened uShaka Marineworld is another well known place to pay a visit to.

South African wine is one of the most preferred in the world and plenty of of the winelands date back hundreds of years to the time of the Dutch settlers. Spots like Paarl, Franschoek and Stellenbosch can all be reached on day tours from The Mother City or otherwise, you could possibly stay in undoubtedly one of the many homesteads in the region.

Coming to the decision to drop by and see South Africa is not hard. The harder thing travellers have is striving to put together their itinerary for their South Africa holidays.

Returning World Cup visitors questioned in a snap poll in the departures lounge at Cape Town International Airport on Wednesday almost all gave South Africa an overall rating of 9.06 out of 10 as a destination and 66 percent said they would return with their families.

They included one who was robbed of his camera in the street but still rated this country at 9 out of 10.

Before the start of the World Cup negative publicity in the UK and northern European press, mainly about crime, made many visitors apprehensive. But by the time they left 50 percent of those questioned said they felt “much more positively about South Africa”, according to the results of the poll.

A total of 50 travellers took part in the poll. According to their passports they were from 13 countries – the US, UK, Dubai, Netherlands, Hong Kong, Mexico, China, Montenegro, the Cayman Islands. Singapore, Switzerland and Germany. But the majority of those leaving, according to Alan Winde, Minister of Tourism for the Western Cape, were from the UK and US – “probably because their teams were now out of the World Cup”.

Admitting that the responses came from a small sample of the thousands of visitors who came to this country for the event, he said several organisations were conducting polls in which more people would be questioned but their results would be announced and analysed only after it was over, giving a reliable indication of the effect of hosting it on our economy.

Winde said the average age of those questioned was 40 and they were “predominantly male.” Most of them- 60 percent – had stayed in hotels and 32 percent in guest houses.

Most of them – 70 percent – considered restaurant prices to be moderate and 66 percent of them gave this rating to accommodation charges.

The average spend on accommodation was R1 199 a night and most had spent about R900 a day in addition to this.. Most had spent 7.64 days in the Western Cape out of 10.38 nights in South Africa and an average had watched almost three games in a stadium and one in a fan park.

The Winelands was the most popular region to visit in the Western Cape, with 72 percent saying they had gone there and a number had travelled up the West Coast. “The rating shows that just about everyone who came to the Western Cape found it an outstanding experience,” said Winde.

Taxis were the most popular mode of transport in this country, with 56 percent using them and 32 percent using hired cars.
The top 3 most positive experiences apart from soccer were going up Table Mountain, visiting Cape Point and meeting the people of South Africa.

“The perception of the destination was much more positive (on leaving) than on arrival”, Winde said, “with 50 percent saying they felt much more positively about South Africa since coming here. There were no respondents who said they felt more negatively.

“These figures suggest that hosting the World Cup has had a positive influence on the reputation of South Africa as a tourist destination. We may see a boost to the economy around the tourist industry for years to come.”

Source: Business Report (http://www.busrep.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=566&fArticleId=5539126)