Diversity - South Africa

South Africa is a large, diverse and incredibly beautiful country. The size of France and Spain combined, it varies from the picturesque Garden Route towns of the Western Cape to the raw stretch of subtropical coast in northern KwaZulu-Natal. It's also one of the great cultural meeting points of the African continent,

a fact obscured by years of enforced racial segregation, but now manifest in the big cities. Yet South Africa is also something of an enigma; it has the best travel facilities on the African continent, but also the most difficult surface to scratch. After so long as an international pariah, the "rainbow nation" is still struggling to find its identity.

Many visitors are pleasantly surprised by South Africa's excellent infrastructure , which draws favourable comparison with countries such as Australia or the United States. Good air links and bus networks, excellent roads and a growing number of first-class B&Bs and guesthouses make South Africa a perfect touring country and - with the dramatic slide of the rand in 2001 - a cheap one too for visitors. For those on a budget, rapidly mushrooming backpacker hostels and backpacker buses provide an efficient means of exploring.

When to go
indoor heating is limited, and everything is geared to fine weather. You'll need to pack with the weather in mind, especially in winter. Southern hemisphere seasons are the reverse of those in the north, with midwinter occurring in June and July and midsummer over December and January, when the country shuts down for its annual holiday.

South Africa has distinct climatic zones. Cape Town and the Garden Route coastal belt have a so-called Mediterranean climate, influenced by winds blowing in from the South Atlantic. Summers tend to be warm, mild and unpredictable; rain can fall at any time of the year and winter days can be cold and wet. Many Capetonians regard March to May as the perfect season, when the nagging winds drop, it's beautifully mild and the tourists have all gone home. Subtropical KwaZulu-Natal has warm, sunny winters, coral reefs and tepid seas; the province's Drakensberg range sees misty summer days and mountain snow in winter. Johannesburg and Pretoria lie on a plateau and have a near-perfect climate; summer days are hot, with none of the humidity of the KwaZulu-Natal coast, while the winters are dry with chilly nights. East of Johannesburg, the Lowveld , the low-lying wedge along the Mozambique border that includes the Kruger National Park , is subject to similar summer and winter rainfall patterns to the Highveld, but experiences far greater extremes of temperature because of its considerably lower altitude.

Visas
No visa is required by EU nationals, as well as those of the USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, to enter South Africa. As long as you carry a valid passport you will be granted a temporary visitors permit, which allows you to stay for up to three months in South Africa. All visitors should have a valid return ticket; without one, you may be required to deposit the equivalent of your fare home with customs (the money will be refunded to you after you have left the country). Visitors may also need to prove that they have sufficient funds to cover their stay.

Safety
Despite horror stories of sky-high crime rates, most people visit South Africa without incident. This is not to minimize the problem - crime is probably the most serious problem facing the country. However, once you realize crime follows demographic patterns, the scale becomes less terrifying. The greatest proportion of violent crime takes place in the poorer areas - predominantly townships - and in Johannesburg, where the dangers are the worst in the country. Be careful, but don't be paranoid.

You'll notice that most middle-class homes subscribe to the services of armed, private security firms to protect their property. Protecting property and "security" are major national obsessions, and it's difficult to imagine what many South Africans would discuss at their dinner parties if the problem disappeared. The other obvious manifestation of this obsession is the huge number of alarms, bars, high walls and electronically controlled gates you'll find, not just in the suburbs, but even in less deprived areas of some townships.

Where to go
While you could circuit the whole of South Africa in a matter of weeks, a more satisfying approach is to focus your attention on one section of the country. Every one of the nine provinces (plus Lesotho and Swaziland) holds at least a couple of compelling reasons to visit, although, depending on the time of year and your interests, you'd be wise to concentrate on either the west or the east .

The west , best visited in the warmer months (Nov-April), has the outstanding attraction of Cape Town , worth experiencing for its matchless setting beneath Table Mountain, at the foot of the continent. Half a day's drive from here can take you to any other destination in the Western Cape , a province which owes its distinctive character to the fact that it has the longest-established colonial heritage in the country. You'll find gabled Cape Dutch architecture, historic towns and vineyard-covered mountains in the Winelands ; forested coast along the Garden Route ; and a dry interior punctuated by Afrikaner dorps in the Little Karoo .

If the west sounds a bit too pretty and you're after a more "African" experience, head for the eastern flank of the country, best visited in the cooler months (May-Oct). Johannesburg is likely to be your point of entry to this area: its frenetic street life, soaring office blocks and lively mix of people make it quite unlike anywhere else in the country. Half a day away by car lie the Northern Province and Mpumalanga, which share the mighty Kruger National Park . Of South Africa's roughly two dozen major parks, the Kruger attracts the largest number of first-time visitors, and is unrivalled on the continent for its cross-section of mammal species.