On the first leg of my trip to Southern Africa, I headed to the eastern edge of the country to Kruger National Park, the massive wildlife preserve roughly the size of Israel.

Kruger is one of the world’s best places for wildlife viewing. In this video I go in search of lion, while also catching glimpses of giraffes, elephants, rhinos, buffalo, hyenas, and baboons.

SOUTH AFRICA

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With over 21 public reserves within its borders (not to mention the scores of others located in bordering Mozambique and Botswana), safariing in South Africa can be both accessible and affordable, you just need to know where to go.

The Sydney Morning Herald names their three top spots for game-watching and nature-gawking on the cheap.

1) Kruger: Home to the Big Five, Kruger is by far the country’s biggest park and has 12 camps spread about for you to crash in after a long day of hippo-watching. (That should be their motto, what do you think?)

2) Addo Elephant National Park: One of the only parks in the country where you have the chance to glimpse southern right whales and great white sharks, tents can be had in this Eastern Cape preserve.

3) Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park: Emsbok (a big desert antelope) can be seen in this park located in the Kalahari; cabins running on solar energy are only natural in this desert outpost.

Kruger may be better known, but South Africa’s iSimangaliso Wetland Park has its fair share of wildlife, including hippos, Zambezi sharks, crocodiles, antelope, and over 500 species of birds.

Located in the northeastern part of the country, just south of Mozambique, iSimangaliso boasts five ecosystems and can safely be described as “South Africa’s answer to the Great Barrier Reef.” I get the sense that visiting here would be something like spring break for “Planet Earth” fans.

If you’re looking for a way to get away from the madding crowds in Cape Town, try these 8 alternative ways to see the city through a different lens.

By Lucy Corne

Cape Town is one of those places that everyone should visit in their lifetime. It has everything: natural beauty, a vibrant cocktail of cultures, belt-expanding food and wonderfully welcoming people. Many attractions have reputations that precede them — I’d heard of the Cape of Good Hope and Robben Island before I had any idea what or where they were — but what if you want to step off the beaten track? The main attractions are undeniably outstanding, but when the swarms of tourists get too much, you might want to seek out a quieter way to enjoy the “Mother City.” Here are eight alternatives to the tour bus favorites.

1) Follow the crowds: Take the cable car up Table Mountain

An original take: Hike to the top of Lion’s Head

Table Mountain tops most people’s list of things to do in Cape Town, but there are more options than just jumping on the revolving cableway to reach the mountain’s flat top. You could join the energetic travelers who hike to the 1,086-meter summit or, for a less congested hike, opt to scale nearby Lion’s Head. It’s a challenging hike that takes in narrow paths, steep drops and occasionally has you grasping on to chains to haul yourself up the rocks. Still it’s all worth it for the stunning views — in my opinion far superior to the vistas from the top of Table Mountain. Of course, since Lion’s Head is just a couple of kilometers away from the mountain, the panoramas are similar: ocean views and the city laid out beneath you. But seen from Lion’s Head you get an added bonus, Table Mountain is part of the view as well. If clambering to the top is not thrilling enough for you, book a paragliding tour and take the more adventurous route back to sea level.

2) Follow the crowds: Sip wine in picture-perfect Constantia

An original take: Down beer at the SAB Brewery in Newlands

South Africa is often associated with wine, but you don’t have to spend long in the country to realize that you’re in a nation of beer lovers. The Ohlsson’s Brewery in Newlands might lack the aesthetic value of the Constantia winelands just south of the city, but the informative tour through a fully functioning brewery makes up for the lack of prettiness. And of course, once the hour-long tour ends, the fun really begins as you’re left in the on-site pub to taste SAB’s many different brews. (more…)

Kruger National Park, the massive, 7,332-square-mile reserve in northeastern South Africa, is home to 517 species of birds and 147 species of mammals, including the Big Five (lion, leopard, buffalo, elephant and the rhino).

The best part? Don’t expect Kruger to be some sort of South Africa-Disneyland: “Kruger is not a glorified tourist trap, but a classical conservation showcase – there has been no need to invent Disney-type cartoon-mouse attractions here. Within its fences, ecosystems function much as they always have, with a little human tinkering here and there.”

No offense Yellowstone, but last time I was there I saw some geysers and a couple of buffalo. You’re going to have to do a little better than that to compete with Kruger. (Yes, I understand, this is not a competition.)

According to the park’s official site, the best time to go is surprisingly enough, during their winter (July to September): “This period is very dry in the bush with very cold night temperatures and therefore chilly during the early morning and late afternoon game drives. Game viewing is generally fantastic as the visibility is good and the game is concentrated around any water source.”

For a chance to really get away, there’s even some job openings there. And you thought your time spent in your cubicle was exciting.

Nestled against the eastern coastline of South Africa is Phinda Resource Reserve, a 57,000-acre reserve boasting the Big Five, 380 bird species and a coastline teeming with marine life.

The Independent Online has a great story of one woman’s trek into the bush to track down and catch a peek of one of the 50 rhinos that roam these grasslands. Apparently, to track rhino means you must be comfortable with both touching and smelling their feces, which is why I would probably never make it as a safari guide.

It’s South Africa, so everything about a trip there must be expensive, right? Wrong. I’m on the South African Airlines e-mail list, and every month there’s a new deal for flights from North America (New York/Washington) to Cape Town or Johannesburg for a little over US$1,000.00. You can sign up here.

If you’re heading to Cape Town (which is consistently ranked near the top of the Top 10 Cities in the world) there’s a ton of free places to see and things to do. Like most cities, if you visit during certain times of the year the museums are open to the public for free. (Museums in Cape Town vary from the National Gallery to galleries featuring contempory works.)

Cape Town’s most prominent landmark is of course Table Mountain, which is also home to the city’s largest national park boasting miles of trails (offering some of the best views of the city) which are free to the public.

For more tips on visiting Cape Town on the cheap check out this article.

Budget Travel came out with their 2008 list of the top 10 “new” places to visit this year which, by “new,” I think they mean “not overrun by tourists yet” rather than physical age. (I have a feeling Bergerac, France is probably not that new.) Here are a few highlights.

● Trying to get off-the-beaten-path in South Africa? Skip Cape Town and Johannesburg and explore
Graskop, the Berkeley of
South Africa. Just four hours from Johannesburg, this artist-friendly hamlet is home to an outdoorsy population which thrives on some of the best views in the country.

● Kick back and relax in the famed hot springs of Tanabe, Japan, and explore unblemished Japan at its best.

● Bypass Bordeaux and head to Bergerac, France, for some of the region’s best wines and exquisite meals. There’s also some sort of tobacco museum there, which Wikipedia so elegantly includes
in its city description with this:
“Bergerac . . .features a tobacco museum, at which no smoking is allowed.” I’ll stick to the wine, thank you.