South Africa Guide
The Eastern Cape
Sandwiched between the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa's two most popular coastal provinces, the Eastern Cape tends to be bypassed by visitors – and for all the wrong reasons. The relative neglect it has suffered as a tourist destination and at the hands of the government is precisely where its charm lies. You can still find traditional African villages here, and the region's 1000km of undeveloped coastline alone justify a visit, sweeping back inland in immense undulations of vegetated dunefields. For anyone wanting to get off the beaten track, the province is, in fact, one of the most rewarding regions in South Africa.
Port Elizabeth is the province's commercial centre, principally used to start or end a trip along the Garden Route, though it's a useful springboard for launching out into the rest of South Africa – the city is the transport hub of the Eastern Cape, well served by flights, trains, buses and car rental companies. The northwest is dominated by the sparse beauty of the Karoo, the thorny semi-desert stretching across much of central South Africa. The eastern part of the province, largely the former Transkei, is by far the least developed, with rural Xhosa villages predominating.
Highlights
1 Port Elizabeth township tour Several guides run very accessible tours into the African areas of the province's largest city.
2 Addo Elephant National Park See pachyderms and the rest of the Big Five in the best public game reserve in the malaria-free southern half of the country.
3 Kwandwe Private Game Reserve The Eastern Cape's top private Big Five destination for those with money to burn.
4 The Tuishuise Accommodation in a street of beautifully restored and and furnished Victorian houses in the historic frontier town of Cradock.
5 Bulungula Backpacker Lodge In a remote Wild Coast village, this brilliant base offers a vivid experience of Xhosa life and culture.