South Africa: A visual tour through its regions, by Toast Coetzer and Samantha Reinders

South Africa: A visual tour through its regions, by Toast Coetzer and Samantha Reinders. Sunbird Publishers. South Africa 2010. ISBN 9781920289119 / ISBN 978-1-920289-11-9

South African journalists Toast Coetzer and Samantha Reinders are the authors of the illustrated book "South Africa: A visual tour through its regions".

Toast Coetzer  Samantha Reinders  

Having just left the subtropical valleys of KwaZulu-Natal you can be traversing a mountain pass in the spectacular Drakensberg range and half an hour later roll into the gentle grasslands of the Highveld. Crossing any of the equally formidable Cape fold mountain ranges such as the Swartberg likewise lets you out onto the vast, arid expanses of the Karoo semi-desert. Off the Cape of Good Hope's mountainous seascapes you can see southern right whales cavorting during mating and calving season while much further inland, in Limpopo province, it's the Big Five game, elephant, rhino, lion, buffalo and leopard, that draw the crowds and the clicking cameras. If you are looking for a relaxing, sun-soaked beach holiday, South Africa's 2 800 km of coastline offers everything from safe bathing beaches to wild, rocky coastlines where anglers will feel right at home. With legendary national parks such as the Kruger and the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park as well as a host of smaller provincial and private reserves, it is easv to get up close and personal with big game such as lions, elephants and rhinos. There are eight World Heritage Sites in South Africa, ranging from rhose of cultural and historical significance such as Robben Island, the Cradle of Humankind (Sterkfontein's hominid fossils) and Mapungubwe to the Richtersveld and the Cape floral region for their plant life, iSimangaliso Wetland Park (birds, wildlife) and the scenic splendour of the uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park. This book celebrates all the grand glory of the landscape, but also the moments in between, when seasons change in the Winelands, when farmers turn homeward in the Klein Karoo and when hippos in the Lctaba River start grunting their approval at the onset of evening. With Table Mountain's iconic outline as its backdrop, the city of Gape Town is almost synonymous with a visit to South Africa. There is certainly much to attract your attention, with the white sand beaches of Camps Bay and Clifton barely ten minutes from the city centre, stunning scenic drives all round the peninsula, and the historic World Heritage Site of Robben Island (its most famous political prisoner was Nelson Mandela) to explore. Most of rhe Wesrern (Jape's more than five million inhabitants live on the Cape Flats, the broad piece of land linking the mountainous peninsula with the interior. Then, suddenly and amidst both working-class neighbourhoods and perfectly manicured golf estates, the Winelands start. Stellenbosch, Paarl and Franschhoek are rhe premier wine-producing towns. The province is one of the world's finest land-based whale watching sites, with towns such as Herman us, Struisbaai and Witsand arrracting large numbers of especially southern right whales during mating and calving season (July to November). With heavy winter rainfall, this part of the province has an almost Mediterranean climare with wet winters and dry summers, unlike the interior of the country, which relies on summer rains. Once you move deeper into the province, beyond the Cederberg and over the Hex River mounrains, the climate changes, becoming the arid Karoo. If you drive northwards along the coastline from Gape Town you will discover rhe West Coast, famous for its quaint fishing villages and the rich bird life of the Fangebaan lagoon. [...]

This is an extract from the book: South Africa: A visual tour through its regions, by Toast Coetzer and Samantha Reinders.

Title: South Africa
Subtitle:  A visual tour through its regions
Author: Toast Coetzer; Samantha Reinders
Genre: Illustrated book
Imprint: Sunbird Publishers
Publisher: Jonathan Ball Publishers
Johannesburg, South Africa 2010
ISBN 9781920289119 / ISBN 978-1-920289-11-9
Hardcover, 20 x 20 cm, 160 pages, 200 colour photos