Tourist Attractions & Monuments South Africa

Kimberley is a town in South Africa, situated at an altitude of 1,230 meters in the Northern Cape province. It is famous for its Big Hole diamond mine. Located in the middle of the Great Karoo Desert, Kimberley offers a unique landscape and a fascinating history. The town is administered by the Sol Plaatje municipality. According to the 2011 census, Kimberley has a population of around 96,977. The Kimberley urban area, including the townships of Galeshewe and Roodepan, has a population of around 225,160. The majority mother tongue is Afrikaans, followed by Setswana and South African English. For history and culture buffs, Kimberley offers many attractions, including the Diamond Museum and the Kimberley History Museum. Visitors can also visit the Big Hole, the largest hole ever dug by human hands, and learn more about the region's mining history.

The sculptor Jan van Wijk would have liked to represent here the contribution of Europeans, Africans and Malays to the development of the Afrikaans language, which Afrikaners have long "brandished like a club against their enemies", in the words of the writer Coetzee. You should know that the highest column is supposed to represent Afrikaans, then next to it, the Republic, the terrace being Africa and the column on the left, the West. Come and get an idea on the spot, in front of this monument which seems to be a curious political vestige. But the view is superb..

World of Birds. On the Valley Road, visit the Monkey and Wildlife Sanctuary. For those who were not traumatized by Alfred Hitchcock's film, this is the largest bird garden in Africa. Here you will come across around 3,000 birds of 450 different species. It's a real spectacle. Also, the park welcomes more than thirty new world monkeys, small agile and curious monkeys that frolic and play in all directions, be careful with your personal belongings!

A broussarde plot in the heart of the Cape Peninsula, convenient for those who don't have time to go into Bush. Come to the encounter of antelopes and buffles buffles. Restaurant and shop.

Simon's Town is home to one of the largest naval bases in the southern hemisphere. It was the British who built the port facilities, which have been used since 1957 by the South African Navy. The headquarters of the South African Navy Force, installed in the fort, is coupled with the listening centre in Silvermine. Guided tours only take place between 10:30 and 15:30, but you can enter freely. Another "big ear" had been implanted by the South African Army in Bob Denard's pilot farm in the Comoros.

Over 140 hectares of semi-desert vegetation and 10 hectares of plantations. It's a special place, since it's the only garden of desert succulents in the entire southern hemisphere... and the whole of Africa. A marvellous spectacle of flowers in spring, bulbous plants in autumn and aloes in winter. Special trail to understand the differences between the "Great", the "Little" and the "Hantam" Karoo, because there are three of them! And the Shale Trail in the koppies.

Most of the buildings on Church Street are privately owned, but many remain in public ownership. The oldest is the Oude Kerk Volksmuseum, built in 1743, opposite the Tourist Office. Note the thick walls that give this former church a pleasant coolness. A few dozen meters further on, you'll find the house of Huguenot Danie Theron, right next to the Paddagang gardens, where lovers of greenery will be delighted to stop off. An island of freshness, nicknamed "frog alley", the rendezvous of frogs during the mating season.

"Connecting people, communities and cultures through the experience of art" is the mission of the Worcester Art Museum. Academic partnerships and art workshop classes are also organized. Visiting this interesting open-air folk arts and traditions museum allows you to learn about the ways of life in the surrounding countryside. You will understand the making of wool, tobacco or alcohol, all worked in "live". This stage is very well done for children.

The creation of the garden dates back to 1954 and the name Sheilam corresponds to the acronyms of the first names of the children of the first owners. Twenty-four years after acquiring the premises, at the age of 84, they pass the hand to the current owners of this magical place. The garden is first and foremost a company that grows and exports cacti all over the world. There is no ideal time to visit the garden, the flowering periods are not the same according to the plants and sometimes they bloom only during one day! In the summer, it is best to visit the garden in the morning.

The former presbytery of 1714, formerly the Huguenot Museum, now houses Dutch antiquities and objects that trace Paarl's history. So the history certainly, but also the daily life of the inhabitants. It would not be surprising to find in this museum a citrus press or a vegetable grater relegated to the title of antique and good to be exhibited! It's always interesting when you get somewhere to start with the museum of the history of the city, it can help to understand a lot of things and to go through it differently.

Shamwari Game Reserve is a nature reserve offering an unforgettable wilderness experience. Visitors can enjoy game drives, bush walks, bird watching and even private villa stays. In addition to these activities, Shamwari Game Reserve is also home to conservation awareness centers, such as the Wildlife Rehab Centre and the Born Free Big Cat Sanctuaries, which enable visitors to learn about the reserve's conservation efforts.

We cross Murray and we borrow Parsonage Street until the Old Residency Gate, the city judge's former residence: Here is the illustration - like its neighbor Reinet House - of a primitive version of the Dutch style of Cape (early nineteenth century), on a structure called «H». It is now a museum of history with its guns from the Anglo-Boer War and its gallery of memories to recall the contemporary exploits of the South African army (Tripolitaine, campaign of Italy). Take Murray St. to the left direction Church Street.

Get off Church Street, cross Somerset and enter the Old Library museum home to the Fossil Gallery Lex Bremner: a skull and lower jaw is dated 230 million years. Through the meagre explanatory records, we learn that these proliféraient reptiles in the region are about 100 million years before the dinosaurs. Finish the visit while admiring a spécimen specimen as well as a defence and elephant femur, and the gallery of homage to the leader Robert Sobukwe, native of the city.

A territory of 49 000 ha, located near the Swaziland border, which houses 45 species of mammals (elephants, zebras, giraffes, rhinos, leopards) and 345 bird species. Signs of human implantation dating back to 400 BC were found here. It is here in Songimvelo that Michael Douglas and Val Kilmer came to the film L'Shadow et la Proie. And in the movie we see two ferocious lions getting their teeth on about railway workers! A true story at the end of the last century in English East Africa on the Tsavo side.