South Africa – some of my favourite places to visit

By | 27 October 2016
124 Comments

One of the advantages of my job (I can work from anywhere as long as there is internet access), is that it gives me the freedom to explore my beautiful country.

South Africa:

South Africa, found at the Southern tip of Africa, is a diverse and beautiful country. South Africa is a new democracy having come out of apartheid. South Africa’s first democratic elections were held in 1994. Approximately 12 million tourists visit South Africa yearly.

Some fun facts about South Africa:

  • South Africa is the only country in the world to have hosted the Rugby, Cricket and Soccer World Cups
  • South Africa has deserts, wetlands, grasslands, bush, subtropical forests, mountains and escarpments.
  • South Africa has eleven official languages
  • South Africa is home to the oldest meteor crater in the world.  The Vredefort Dome in a town called Parys is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
  • South Africa has three capital cities: Pretoria is the Executive Capital, Cape Town the Legislative Capital and Bloemfontein the judicial Capital.
  • South Africa is the second largest producer of fruit
  • South Africa converts coal to oil which in turn is used to create petroleum, amongst other products.

Having recently moved back to South Africa after a few years in Europe and the Middle East, I’ve been doing some exploring, and these are some of my favourite places I have recently visited.

 knp_map_small300The Kruger National Park

It is a common misconception that animals roam freely in South Africa. While insects, spiders, frogs, etc abound, and the odd snake might cross your path, most of South Africa’s wildlife are housed in private or national game parks. The largest of these is the Kruger National Park.

The Kruger Park is known for the Big Five, namely Elephant, Lion, Rhino, Leopard and Buffalo, and extends 360 kilometres (220 mi) from north to south and 65 kilometres (40 mi) from east to west.  The Kruger National Park is larger than some smaller countries.

Here are some of my experiences in the Kruger National Park:

Hogsback

Hogsback is a small holiday town situated at the top of a mountain, and consists of approximately 370 permanent residents.

Beside the numerous restaurants, forest walks and adventure activities like mountain biking, abseiling horse-riding, the real reason I enjoy Hogsback is the atmosphere. There is something spiritual about Hogsback, especially on the days when the mist is not rolling through the dense forest.

Urban legend has it that J.R.R. Tolkien lived in Hogsback and based his Hobbit and Lord of the Rings books on this misty mountain, but what is probably more of an accurate story is that Tolkien’s nanny came from Hogsback and fed him tales from this mountain gem.

capestfrancissmall300Cape St. Francis

Cape St. Francis is a little gem of a coastal holiday town that I have taken to visiting most weekends. Squeezed between a protected indigenous reserve and the warm Indian Ocean, this small town not only offers the freshest of coastal air, but also diverse walking trails.

A 30 km drive lands me in paradise.


Activity 1:

Write a post on some fun facts about your country.

In your post, include links to where you researched and some images with attribution. You might also want to a collage of images or a slideshow you have created.

Activity 2:

Write a post that shares some of the favorite places you have visited in your country.

In your post, include information that people from other countries mightn’t know and some images.  Remember to include image attribution if you don’t use your own photos.

Activity 3:

Visit at least 5 blogs from countries other than your own. Leave a comment on a post at each blog to ask them questions about their country.

Now write your own post including the comment you have left and linking to each post you commented on.

Activity 4 (Class Activity)

This activity is for classes that have a class twitter account.

Here are some activities for those that would like to share on Twitter:

  • Tweet, with the hashtag #ILoveMyCountry, some of the things you love about your country. These could be food, places, culture, basically anything.
  • Tweet, with the hashtag #ILoveMyCountry,, some photos of what you love about your country.   These could be food, places, culture, basically anything.
  • Tweet, with the hashtag #ILoveMyCountry,, some random facts about your country.
  • Check out the hashtag #ILoveMyCountry,, and use this as a way to connect with other classes to ask questions about their countries.

Leave your class twitter username as a comment on this post so I can check out your tweets to learn more about your country.

 

124 thoughts on “South Africa – some of my favourite places to visit”

  1. Alice

    Hi Eugene,
    I’m from the student blogging challenge and was really interested by your post because My dad’s side is South African. My dad,aunty and grandparents own a house in a private game reserve at the bottom of the Kruger National park. I went there in year two and loved seeing all the animals.

    Check out my blog http://aliceb23.edublogs.org/

    Alice

    ↓
    1. Eugene Brown Post author

      Hi Alice

      Your dad’s side of the family lives in a beautiful part of South Africa.

      I had a look at your blog and it looks really good! I also enjoy your writing style as it is easy to read.

      Eugene Brown
      Account Manager
      Edublogs | CampusPress
      @Edublogs_Eugene

      ↓
    2. KmikeA

      Hi Alice.
      I’ve got South African blood too. My dad is from Durban, somewhere near Whiteriver? Not too sure. my mum is from Joburg. My dad grew up on a farm, but then moved here (England). Did you see? The Springboks lost by 2 points to England! Sad Sad.I wonder if anyone here (Page)supports the Springboks?(Of course!)

      KmikeA

      ↓
  3. Roberta Caudill

    Mr. Brown,
    I really like the twitter activity for the class! I have a Twitter question, though. If we use images from another source for a tweet, should we give attribution to the image in our tweets? Including a URL or even a website would use up many of the allotted characters in a tweet.

    Can you advise? I want to be sure I have my students do this correctly.

    Thanks!

    ↓
  5. Jasim Zoobi

    Hi Mr. Eugene,

    I love your post about South Africa! My dad went there and promised to take us too for vacation! I tweeted about my country too (I’m from Ghana, Kenya and Lebanon but I chose Kenya). Please take a look at it! My username is @jzoobs_802

    ↓
  6. Daniela

    Hi Eugene,
    I’m also in the student blogging challenge. I think your post is really interesting to read and it shows some amazing things about South Africa. I never knew about The Kruger National Park, but your pictures show that it looks incredible and I really want to go there to see the animals and the natural beauty of South Africa.

    Daniela

    ↓
  7. Lara

    Hi Eugene,
    You have put a lot of hard work and effort into your South Africa Virtual Tour.
    The videos and photos of the animals were really interesting. I now know a lot about Africa- It’s animals, cities and places. Your Virtual Tour was great!
    Check out my blog: http://laran23.edublogs.org
    Lara

    ↓
  8. mujamad

    Before I read your blog, I knew so little about South Africa. I can tell that you put a lot of effort into writing this blog post and I liked how you included images and videos of the animals. There were some things that I didn’t know about, like for example the The Kruger National Park. I am happy to say that your blog was very interesting and thank you for sharing. Please check out my at: https://muhjahmadarati.wordpress.com/

    ↓
  11. Max

    Hello Eugene! South Africa seems to be very fun and I wouldn’t mind actually to travel there to check it out! It’s cool that you capture the scene and post it on Twitter, that is very neat in all honesty.

    ↓
  12. pruthomas

    Hi Eugene,
    I am the teacher of Lara (who commented on your blog). She was a little concerned that you could alter her blogpost by going into her dashboard.
    We speak a lot about online safety at school and when she saw a message to say that you had “control of her dashboard and she was locked out” she was concerned.
    Now that I have read your reply to her here, I will assure her on Monday that all is well. Her reaction was to delete her post and talk to me about it, so I commended her for being cautious.

    I am assuming that you can get into her dashboard because your work for edublogs.
    Not sure if other students have had the same concern.

    Thanks for your involvement with the student blogging challenge – all my students are enjoying it and participating actively.

    ↓
    1. Eugene Brown Post author

      Hi “pruthomas”

      Thank you for the feedback and for participating in the Student Challenge.

      We try be as hands-on as we can in helping teachers and students at Edublogs. Please apologise from me to Lara for giving her and scare, and congratulate her on her response.

      Well done on the level of blogging with your students!

      Eugene Brown
      Account Manager
      Edublogs | CampusPress
      @Edublogs_Eugene

      ↓
  13. Sienna

    Hi Eugene,

    I live in Australia, did you know that you can see the Great Barrier Reef (which is in Australia) from space!
    I loved your virtual tour, I have always wanted to go to South Africa! I learnt so much about all the animals. What is your favorite African animal? I love Elephants. Your photographs are amazing! You are so great at photography! Thank you for sharing all the great moments of your trip.

    This is the URL to my blog: http://siennas23.edublogs.org
    From Sienna

    ↓
  18. Emily

    Hi Eugene

    I love the facts about South Africa I love how you set it up. And I also like how you told them in a interesting way.

    I did not know that South Africa has 11 official languages. Thats cool!
    My favorite animal in Africa is a elephant. Whats your favorite animal in Africa?

    ↓
  37. katelyn

    I liked how you used a lot of animal pictures.And how you put some maps so people know where the place is that your talking about. have you evey traveled out side of your home state?

    ↓
  42. kiana

    Hello Eugene! I really love your blog and how you talk about your adventures in South Africa. I wish I could visit there someday because I want to see the fascinating animals that live there. What’s your favorite place to visit in South Africa? And what’s your favorite animal? Leave a comment on my blog: http://afascinatingblogbykiana.edublogs.org

    And I also did your activity 1 on facts about my country, the U.S. If you want to check it out here it the link to the blog post: http://afascinatingblogbykiana.edublogs.org/2016/11/05/fun-facts-about-my-country-sbc4/

    ↓
  44. patricia

    Hello Mr. Eugene!
    It’s a pleasure to read your blog.
    It is full of fantastic information.

    Lisbon is the capital of Portugal. Lisbon is the largest city in an area of 100,05km2.
    It has about 552700 thousand habitants within its area, and its urban area extends beyond its “borders” and has 2.7 million people.
    Lisbon has several places where we can stroll, for example, on the river bank which has lots of restaurants and cafés where we can go to enjoy the day; we can also go to the Lisbon Oceanarium, the Castle of São Jorge connecting the low and High Lisbon, the Chiado, Belém, which is also very famous for their custard cakes, also for the Belém Tower and the Belém Cultural Centre.
    The city is very big,so you can not to walk all the time, only if you want to, but we can travel by tuk-tuk, which is great fun, by tram which is also very funny and by car, but it’s not so fun.
    Along the coast between Lisbon and Cascais there are many extremely popular beaches to the residents of Lisbon.

    I hope you come to Portugal and visit.
    Best wishes

    Patrícia

    ↓
  46. Rebekah

    I live i the united states sometimes called the U.S.A.. I have lived there my whole life. On July 4, 1776 The deceleration of independence was issued. The first person to walk on the moon was an american named, Neil Armstrong. I am very proud of my country and from these few facts I hope you just learned a little bit more about the U.S.A..

    ↓
  48. Diogo

    Hello, Mr.Eugene!
    I became quite interested in your blog.
    It is full of lots of interesting material for my classes.

    Porto is situated along the Douro river estuary in Northern Portugal and it is the second largest city in Portugal after Lisbon and one of the major urban areas of the Iberian Peninsula.
    This Portuguese city is one of the oldest European centres, and its historical core was proclaimed a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, in 1996.
    In Porto, you can find beautiful monuments such as Clérigos Tower, Church of São Francisco and Porto Cathedral.
    One of Portugal’s internationally famous exports is port wine.
    Typical dishes from this city are Tripas à Moda do Porto and Francesinha (exactly Frenchy).

    I hope you appreciate my post.

    Best wishes

    Diogo

    ↓
  49. Soraia

    Hello Mr. Eugene!

    Sintra is a town on the Estoril Coast, Lisbon and Sintra are ideal places to visit.
    It’s one of the most delightful places to go because of the wide range of green, especially in the Serra de Sintra.
    Sintra is not only beautiful because of the Sintra Mountain. It’s also has priceless archaeological remains especially from the Roman period.
    This Portuguese city was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1995.
    Sintra’s abundant architectural and historical attractions include Pena National Palace, Sintra National Palace, Quinta de Regaleira, Monserrate Palace, Castle of the Moors, and Seteais Palace.

    I hope you appreciate my post.
    Best wishes

    Soraia

    ↓
  50. Beatriz

    Hello Mr. Eugene! It’s a pleasure to read your blog. It’s full of interesting information.

    I’m from Portugal and my favourite place in Portugal is Braga.
    Braga is a city on the northwest Portugal that was the European Youth Capital in 2012. The name Braga comes from the Romans (Bracara Augusta). It’s situated between the Rivers Douro and Minho and it’s a very environmental friendly region. Braga is full of historical and religious monuments and buildings. The most important monument is called Bom Jesus de Braga; it’s a worldwide known monument consisting of a very big and beautiful church and a huge stairway. This monument was dedicated to the Holy Cross and rebuilt in the 15th Century.

    I hope you appreciate my post.
    Best wishes
    Beatriz

    ↓
  51. Rita

    HI Mr. Eugine!
    I became quite interested in your blog.
    Portugal is a republic, with 92.212 km2 and 10.341.330 (83rd) which also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of the Azores and Madeira.
    It Is on Iberian Peninsula, southwestern Europe.
    The capital is Lisbon and the official language is Portuguese.
    Lisbon is my favourite city in Portugal.
    This beautiful city is the capital of Portugal It is on the river bank of Tagus (the large river in Portugal).
    Lisbon is the city with more population in Portugal: it has 547 733 inhabitants because it is a huge city.
    It is the most important city due to financial, commercial, artistic and educational aspects in Portugal and has a lot of interesting tourist attractions with million years.
    I hope you appreciate my post!

    ↓
  52. Pedro Cirilo

    Hi Mr. Eugene,

    I really like your blog and I also like all of the pictures and videos about South Africa.
    Let me share with you some facts about my country Portugal:

    1 Our country was born of a family fight between mother and son.

    2 We are one of the oldest nations in Europe.

    3 We are the country with the oldest borders in Europe.

    4 We divided the world in two, with Spain.

    5 The Portuguese empire lasted six centuries. It was the longest global empire in history.

    6 We have the world´s oldest alliance in force, and we still take it seriously

    7 The second city with more Portuguese is outside Portugal is in Paris.

    8 There are more Portuguese natives outside Portugal than in Portugal itself.

    9 We abolished slavery in 1751, more than a century before the United States

    10 Portugal was the first country in the world to abolish the death penalty

    11 Ambassador Sousa Mendes saved more Jews than Oscar Schindler

    12 During World War II Cascais (a city of Portugal near Lisbon), had more kings without a throne than it had five-star hotels

    13 Portugal was in Macau, China, for over 446 years.

    14 We are the only country to have taken an amateur team to the rugby world cup.

    15 Portugal are the new champions of Europe in football.

    16 The oldest bookshop in the world is in Portugal.

    Best regards

    Pedro Cirilo

    ↓
  53. Maria Inês

    Hello Mr. Eugene,

    I’m a student Portuguese and my favourite place in Portugal is Oporto.
    Oporto is a city situated in the north of the country, Portugal and has a area of 45Km. The population is about the 240 000 people. Some say that  Oporto is considered to be very similar to Lisbon.
    Oporto has many beautiful places such as  Torre dos Clèricos, Ponte D.Luìs and Torre Das Carmelitas and many more

    ↓
  54. Maria José Paiva

    Hello Eugene!

    I’m the English teacher of Beatriz, Diogo, Patrícia, Pedro, Rita and Soraia from Portugal.
    As perhaps you know already,they learn English as a second foreign language.So it’s quite important for them to write to you.This helps them a lot with writing skillls!
    They don’t have their own blog, because, this school year, I decided to join this SBC as a first class experience. However, we have a class blog! I share the link: :http://englishclassspg.blogspot.pt/p/student-blogging-challenge.html

    Feel free to give your opinion about it: it will certainly mean a lot to everyone!
    Your blog is amazing and when I showed it to the class, they became quite interested in choosing one of the activites there.

    Hope you enjoy to know more about our country! Thanks for sharing some facts about South Africa!

    Maria José

    ↓
    1. Eugene Brown Post author

      Hi Maria

      Thank you to you and your students for visiting my blog,and thank you for sharing your blogging approach with me.

      I must congratulate yo and the standard of English of your students. It is very high. And thank you for your kind words about my blog. I developed it to teach from and am glad to see that it is still being used even though I am no longer in the Classroom.

      Thank you for sharing your blog. I will follow your student’s progress closely, and hopefully visit your school one day. Portugal is one of the countries I would love to visit.

      Eugene Brown
      Account Manager
      Edublogs | CampusPress
      @Edublogs_Eugene

      ↓
      1. Maria José Paiva

        Hello Eugene!

        Thank you for your kind words!
        It will be a pleasure to receive you in our school!
        Portugal is worthwhile visiting and its becoming one of tourists favourite European countries to spend their holidays!

        Maria José

        ↓
    1. Eugene Brown Post author

      Hi Angela

      It is always good to have a wish-list, and I’m glad to hear South Africa is on your wish-list.

      I really enjoy your writing style on your blog. It is a very relaxed writing style, and flows very well; and there is good use of humour.
      Wow, you saw Broadway shows. That must have been amazing!

      Eugene Brown
      Account Manager
      Edublogs | CampusPress
      @Edublogs_Eugene

      ↓
  56. Catarina Alexandre

    Hi Eugene!
    A portuguese comment…

    Adorei o teu post e todas as fotografias!
    Definitivamente levamos a querer conhecer esta maravilhosa África do Sul.
    Fico ansiosa a aguardar pelas tuas próximas viagens.

    Beijinhos
    Catarina

    ↓
  57. Abigail Davis

    Hi Eugene,
    It is really interesting that you come from South Africa, I went there and I really loved it. Where is your favorite place in South Africa?
    If IT interests you, you can check out my account.

    ↓
  59. Alpha

    i really liked your blog about South Africa. It is good to see you take pride in where you live in and what you are interested in. I myself am i big fan of Africa and its animals so i found this very entertaining.

    ↓
  60. Raya

    Hi Mr. Eugene

    I really enjoyed reading about South Africa. There are so many different kinds of plants and animals. I live on the island of O’ahu. There aren’t so many “wild animals” as there is in South Africa. It is very humid and hot here. There is A LOT of rainfall. Almost everything on our island is green. I really enjoyed reading about your country. Your posts show that you take pride into it. Come check out my blog! http://hmsraya.edublogs.org/

    ↓

Leave a Reply