| ''I dream of the realisation of the unity of Africa, whereby its leaders combine in their efforts to solve the problems of this continent.
I dream of our vast deserts, of our forests, of all our great wildernesses.''
Nelson Mandela.
Known previously for its policy of apartheid, and for the sanctions that followed, South Africa today is another country.
Politically, economically, it remains the most developed country in Africa. The handover years - when the National Party effectively gave way to the African National Congress - were remarkable not only for the ease with which power changed hands, but also for the pragmatism with which Nelson Mandela's government managed the economy. Open, transparent, forgiving, the first ten years of South African independence witnessed a staggeringly powerful coming together of its peoples, and, with this, the emergence of South Africa as the accepted key player in southern African politics.
However, not even the national goodwill generated by someone of Mandela's undoubted stature could instantly answer the hopes and dreams of South Africa's poor, the majority of whom continue to subsist in conditions - though obviously better than those presided over by the apartheid administration - very different from those enjoyed by the urban elite. Add to this the recently ousted Thabo Mbeki's baffling denial with regards to the AIDS endemic, and it is easy to see why South Africa is still a developing - as opposed to developed - country.
This said, post-apartheid South Africa is simply unbeatable for those interested in seeing an Africa of the future. Massive, bordered by both the Atlantic and the Indian oceans, and possessing a coastline some two and a half thousand kilometres long, it is home to a multicultural population of almost fifty million, to a country that - topographically speaking - ranges from the desert of south Namib to the lush band of tropical forest north of Swaziland, and it is one of the few places in the world that can claim to be megadiverse, such is the rich diversity of its plant life.
Both wild and modern, South Africa has the infrastructure to support the most idiosyncratic of itineraries - from shark-cage diving to wine tasting in the Franschoek Valley to game drives in the world reknowned Sabi Sand - and, it goes without saying, the service and accommodation is first rate.
A country of fascinating contrasts, of intense beauty, of the most incredible people, South Africa is immediate, raw, urbane, and, being so, will suit those open to experiencing an Africa that is at once ageless and wonderfully luxurious. |
