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:: South Africa at a glance

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	Cape Town		Garden Route		Kruger National Park		Stellenbosch
	Drakensberg Mountains		Hluhluwe & Umfolozi		St. Lucia Wetlands		Transkei

:: Cape Town

Often touted as the most beautiful city in the world, Cape Town's spectacular location combines with its cosmopolitan history to offer visitors a fascinating mix of culture and scenery. The first people to inhabit the Cape Peninsula were stone age tribes, followed by San hunter-gatherers and the KhoiKhoi who were closely related to their San predecessors. The first Europeans arrived at the Cape in 1487 when Bartholomeu Dias sailed around the edge of the continent and named it the "Cape of Good Hope". Cape Town is located 40km from the Cape of Good Hope itself, and lies nestled in the lee of Table Mountain, possibly the most photographed landmark in South Africa.

The city and surrounds offer a huge variety of attractions in addition to Table Mountain. These include the Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens, located on the opposite side of the mountain to the main city centre and bequeathed to the nation in 1902 by Cecil Rhodes. The gardens are planted with mainly indigenous species and 9000 of South Africa's 22,000 native plant species are represented. The Cape of Good Hope nature reserve boasts an amazing variety of plant species including the country's national flower, the Protea. The unique fynbos flora found here constitutes the world's smallest unique floral kingdom. Visitors to Cape Town may also like to visit Robben Island, the isolated jail of Nelson Mandela for so many years.

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