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| LIFESTYLE GUIDE |
| ADVENTURE |
You've landed in adventure heaven. Whatever your preference, there's bound to be an adventure to keep you happy. We have some of the best rock climbing in the world, with Cape Town particularly well endowed. There are literally hundreds of bolted and natural routes on excellent quality Cape granite or Table Mountain sandstone within the city limits. There are climbing schools and mountain guides in all the main centres, and route guides are available from climbing shops.
River trips range from the mostly scenic to grade-five whitewater washing machines. There are over a hundred listed paragliding or hang gliding launch sites, and schools in every centre. Also up in the air, there are many opportunities for helicopter rides, balloon flights, aerobatics, skydiving and micro-light flights.
Thousands of kilometres of hiking trails wind around the country's deserts, forests, mountains, and coast, and many have adjacent mountain bike trails. Some hikes are a bit more luxurious - you walk from hotel to hotel and have your luggage taken round.
There are wonderful horse trails easing through vineyards, on the beach, or in the mountains and, for the adventurous and more experienced, horseback safaris in big game country.
The art of canyoning - known as kloofing in South Africa - is another hot favourite, with self-guided and escorted trips. South Africa has the highest commercial bungee jump in the world. At 216 metres, it's not for the faint-hearted. Run by Face Adrenalin, the Bloukrans is on the border of the Eastern and Western Cape. |
| THE ARTS |
The visual arts have a rich history in South Africa, and the contemporary art scene is no less exciting. From the traditional artifacts of ancient cultures to the cutting-edge work of today's practitioners, South Africa's art museums and galleries offer visitors a rich artistic feast.
In one field especially, the new freedoms of post-apartheid South Africa have brought new life - dance has became a prime means of artistic expression, with dance companies expanding and exploring new territory. Music and dance are pulling in new audiences and a number of homegrown productions, particularly those aimed at the popular market, and have taken South Africa, and in some cases the world, by storm.
South Africa has had a long tradition of fine classical ballet but, until relatively recently, contemporary dance was not an important feature of the local dance scene. Since the late 1970s though, that has changed, and contemporary dance companies have burgeoned and spawned an "Afrofusion" that combines the techniques of formal dance training with a spirit that is purely African.
The story of South African music is one of dialogue with imported forms, and varying degrees of hybridisation over the years. From the earliest colonial days until the present time, South African music has created itself out of the mingling of local ideas and forms with those imported from outside the country, giving it all a special twist that carries with it the unmistakable flavour of the country. |
| WINE |
Wine from the "Dark Continent"? To many European and American wine drinkers, this is a strange concept. In fact, there are vineyards all over Africa. Algeria and Morocco have been producing wines for decades and modern wine-making has been set up in places like Zimbabwe and Kenya.
But it is down south in the Cape, where climatic and topographic conditions simulate those of the old wine countries, that the continent's finest wines are produced. Today, the best of South African wine is up there with the rest, while in the "easy-drinking" category, no one beats us. History has a way with wine and the Cape's wine culture, which goes back 350 years, is one that reflects the country's sad colonial and apartheid past, but also shines with the potential and expectation of the modern wine world.
From that long history comes a wine tradition of tastes and styles with its roots in the classic "Old World" of France, Germany, and Italy, but also an acute awareness of the contemporary consumer, defined by winemaking in the "New World" of California and Australia. |
| EATING OUT |
When it comes to food, South Africa is triply blessed. A long and varied coastline supplies us with an astonishing amount and variety of seafood; our fertile soils and wonderful climate work together to produce an enormous range of agricultural products; and our chequered history has endowed us with a population with such diverse cultural backgrounds that fusion is hardly anything new here.
Of course, you will find a whole range of restaurants serving anything from hamburgers to sushi, but let's concentrate on our specialities. Our seafood is legendary, and is best sampled at one of the West Coast's open-air restaurants - not much more than simple shelters on the beach. As well as mussels, fish stew, grilled fish, and lobster, you may be offered pickled fish - a well-loved dish which you'll also find in some traditional Cape Malay restaurants. Other Malay specialities include fruity, spicy, but not overpowering curries, smoorsnoek (a fish dish not unlike kedgeree), koeksusters (a sweet, syrupy treat), bobotie (a spicy mince dish), and some Indian specialities, such as rotis and samosas, with a local twist.
But our cuisine truly is multicultural, and nowhere is this more apparent than at a typical South African braai (barbecue). Now, braais are assumed to be the domain of the Afrikaner male, but the reality is not nearly so simple. Yes, there is an awesome amount of meat, most notably the Afrikaner boerewors (a spicy, fatty sausage), but there will almost certainly be sosaties too. This is a lightly curried meat kebab, not unlike an Indonesian satay, which was brought to this country by the Malays hundreds of years ago. And of course, no braai is complete without pap en sous, which is the staple diet of most of Africa. It's a grits-like maize porridge, cooked up stiff, and served with a relish of vegetables, usually tomato and onion at a braai, or wild spinach (merogo or imifi no) in a traditional African environment. You'll get the opportunity to try this at most cultural villages, or at one of the many African restaurants which are scattered all over the country.
For the more daring diner, South Africa offers culinary challenges from crocodile sirloins to fried caterpillars to sheep's heads. All three are reputed to be delicious. Those who prefer to play it altogether safe will find that most eateries offer a familiarly global menu - anything from hamburgers to pad thai to spaghetti bolognaise. |
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