South Aftrica Best Holiday Destination

The Telegraph Newspaper in the U.K. has announced its Ultra travel Awards, where readers have decided which luxury hotels, airlines, cruise companies, spas and destinations are the best on the planet.

 

The Best Holiday Destination was won by South Africa southafrica.net, with the runners-up bing Dubai dubaitourism.ae,  Maldives visitmaldives.com,  Australia australia.com,  and Italy italiantouristboard.co.uk

South Africa,  the Rainbow Nation has landscapes of breathtaking beauty: raw, diverse and in the main unspoilt.

Along the coasts, some of the world's largest sand dunes roll in from seas teeming with marine life (it is off KwaZulu Natal's beaches that flocks of birds gather for their annual feast during the great sardine run, and whales migrate to give birth in sheltered coves).

Mountain ranges thick with ancient trees are crisscrossed with waterfalls and rivers made for swimming. Game reserves as big as Wales – all baobabs, rolling grasslands and kopjies indented with rock caves decorated with ancient San art – protect the Plant Five, the Little Five and the Big Five. It's not unknown to see lion, leopard, buffalo, elephant and rhino in one day, alongside leopard orchids, buffalo weavers, elephant grass and rhino beetles.

And the country is not just for nature-lovers, either. From the winelands in the south to the deserts bordering Namibia, there is plenty of variety to keep most holidaymakers happy: child-friendly museums, cutting-edge hotels and 17th-century Cape Dutch b&b homesteads, gourmet restaurants, game lodges housing local art, and diversions ranging from shark diving and bungee-jumping to African herbal spas.Best thing of all? It is all reassuringly familiar, despite being on a different continent.

The people of South Africa not only speak the same language as we do (in addition to 10 others) and drive on the same side of the road, but, after years of isolation during the era of apartheid, relish overseas visitors. In this relatively new tourist destination, even the passport officers welcome new arrivals with a smile.

As a finalist for this award, South Africa had plenty of competition: Dubai, with its five-star hotels; the Maldives, with its idyllic island life; Australia, with its open bush, wine and fine tucker; and Italy, with its historical and cultural allure. Having won, the Rainbow Nation should dust off its vuvuzelas. In spite of its troubles, it is now among the winners of an Ultra – an achievement that really is worth trumpeting about.