South Africa: Country Profile

The so-called Big Five - lion, leopard, elephant, rhino and buffalo - are all present in the Kruger in significant numbers, along with such perennial favourites as zebra, giraffe, wildebeest and warthog, more than a dozen antelope species, and less celebrated predators such as jackal, hyaena, hunting dog and cheetah.

But the thick bush often makes game-spotting a real challenge; those who want to be sure of seeing most of the above-mentioned species are advised to spend a couple of nights in one of the more upmarket private reserves adjoining the Kruger. Here, off-road game drives in open vehicles are led by experienced guides and trackers, and visitors are practically guaranteed the opportunity to eyeball lions, leopards and the rest at chillingly close proximity.

South Africa boasts several other fine bush reserves, most notably the cluster in the northern part of KwaZulu-Natal Province, arguably the best place on the continent to see white and black rhinos. On the other side of the country, the infrequently visited Kalahari Gemsbok park is a prime candidate for that trusty old 'best-kept secret' tag.

Situated in the vast and sparsely populated Northern Cape Province, bordering Botswana and Namibia, this 10,000 square kilometre tract of rolling red dunes and deep blue skies is the country's second largest reserve. The apparent inhospitality of its climate is belied by the plethora of large mammals it supports - the elegant gemsbok, dainty springbok, massive eland and ungainly wildebeest.

This is the country's finest reserve for predators, and the open terrain makes it easy to spot all three of Africa's big cats, as well as smaller predators such as the endearing bat-eared fox. Bush reserves represent a mere fraction of South Africa's natural diversity.

At the heart of the country are the Drakensberg Mountains, an immense and spectacularly scenic range returned to year after year by keen hikers and ramblers. The Cape Town area is renowned for its fynbos, a heath-like vegetation cover unique to this mountainous part of the country and regarded as constituting one of the world's six floral kingdoms.

Particularly rich in proteas, the fynbos biome supports one of the most varied floras in the world - the tiny Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve, for instance, protects more indigenous plant species than are found in the British Isles. Another unique biome occurs in the Namaqua region to the north of Cape Town, where the dry stony earth erupts into an unrivalled display of wild flowers every spring.

Then there is the Garden Route, the outstandingly beautiful stretch of coast that lies to the east of Cape Town, with its heath-covered cliffs, lush indigenous forests, idyllic lagoons, picture-postcard beaches and quaint seaside towns. It is worth noting, too, the several special interest groups that are catered for in South Africa.