Bloemfontein

Author:Samantha Black
Submitted:05 May 2009

Still on the floral and green theme, the Orchid House is a must for lovers of this beautiful plant family, of which South Africa has numerous species, and the Free State Botanical Gardens, on the outskirts of the town, is a real delight. Covering 70ha, large areas have been left in a close to natural state, showing the indigenous vegetation of the area, and creating a habitat for small game. There are lovely walks, a lawn to chill out on, a dam with a bird hide, a restaurant, an environmental education centre and an indigenous plants nursery. The more formal section of the garden includes a medicinal plants display and a garden highlighting water-conserving ways of gardening.

Bloemfontein is sort of the Cinderella city of South Africa. It's stuck out there on the N1 between Cape Town and Johannesburg. It has no Table Mountain, no ocean, and no big-city vibe. And no rush hour traffic, no road rage and no urban sprawl. It's just a nice little city in the middle of the country. The name, Bloemfontein, means Spring of Flowers - a rather pretty name that it does actually live up to. The city is planted with thousands of rose bushes, which makes for a fabulously colourful roadside display. A small nature reserve, strangely enough called Naval Hill, right in the middle of the city carries the green theme a bit further.

There's the usual smattering of art galleries and some interesting museums, including the War Museum and the National Women's Monument - a poignant reminder if ever there was one of the futility and downright stupidity of war. OK - so Bloemfontein is not exactly the tourist mecca of the universe, but it's a good stopover place if you're driving the N1, and it's probably worth spending a day there if you have the time. There are decent restaurants, some nice pubs and some good live music venues. It's also the closest city to the Kingdom of Lesotho.

Bloemfontein City Hall
© South African Tourism

SKIING, SNOWBOARDING & SANDBOARDING

 

Tiffindell Ski Resort

©South African Tourism

OK - South Africa is a sunny country so it's not exactly a skiing paradise. However, we do have winter and we do have mountains. There is one dedicated ski resort, high in the Drakensberg of the northern part of the Eastern Cape.

Swiss-style chalets, a snow machine for when mother nature doesn't oblige, and a vibrant après ski environment all contribute to a fun-filled snowy time. There is also excellent snow in the mountains of the Western Cape and local ski operators offer packages from Cape Town. For the more adventurous, and relatively well heeled, heli-skiing and heli-boarding are becoming more and more popular in the Western Cape mountains.

Atlantis dunes

©Gregg Stopforth

But - most of the time - we content ourselves with sandboarding. With a slightly modified snowboard, you whiz down sand dunes, either carving patterns in the sand showing off your skill, or tumbling head over heels showing off your underwear. It's not snow, but it is fun and it's warm and sunny. There is excellent sandboarding near Cape Town but the most spectacular is the enormously high red sand dunes of Namibia.

• Check out accommodation and things to do at Tiffindell Alpine resort
• View more about Sand and Snow on a Board!

Need to know! If you're planning to drive to Rhodes and Tiffindell Ski Resort make sure you have a enough fuel - there is no fuel for sale in Rhodes.

PARAGLIDING & HANG GLIDING

 

Lions Head flight

©South African Tourism

In order to have a good non-powered flight, you need one of two things - thermals or mountains with good ridge lift - and southern Africa has both. The coastal areas and escarpment, generally, have excellent ridge soaring, while the flatter interior produces fantastic thermals on hot summer days.

There are loads of good launch sites, but here are a few of the classics. Lions Head, in Cape Town, is a convenient, immensely scenic launch site. It's a short walk up a good path to the launch, and the flight offers views over the city and the Western Seaboard beaches, while Table Mountain looms at your back. You land on a convenient grassy field next to a beachfront pub. Wilderness is another classic site, with fabulous ridge lift on the dunes facing the sea. You often see whales and dolphins from the air. Tandem flights are offered at both these sites.

Wilderness paragliding

©South African Tourism

The mountains of Porterville in the Western Cape offer truly spectacular flying. It's a high take off with some good ridge lift, but you also get fabulous thermals from the flat valley below, so it's a great cross-country site. The Drakensberg, particularly at Bulwer and Oliviershoek, is another great spot, and the Mpumalanga escarpment also offers some great flying. The dry Northern Cape town of Jan Kempdorp is a favourite winch launching destination, as the thermals are fantastic.

Obviously, there are loads more launch sites, and almost every hill and sand dune is a potential flying site. There are paragliding schools in most of the major cities and some smaller centres, and the South African Hang gliding and Paragliding Association (SAHPA) oversees all the admin-type stuff - licensing, registration, safety, etc.

Hang gliding in KwaZulu-Natal

©Silent Wings

South Africa is a great place to learn to fly as you could complete all your required flights in a relatively short time because of the fabulous weather and flying conditions. And the exchange rate means it's quite a bit cheaper than learning in Europe or North America.

RELATED LINKS FOR HANG GLIDERS & PARAGLIDERS:

Silent Wings Hang Gliding School
Paragliding Schools and other stuff