Emmarentia Dam in Johannesburg’s northern suburbs offers an excellent retreat from the urban jungle that surrounds it, whether you are a watersports enthusiast, fishing fanatic or simply looking for some peace and tranquility. A large variety of avian life inhabits the area around the dam that borders the Johannesburg Botanical Gardens. more

Glengarry Country Club, part of the Drakensberg Gardens Golf & Spa Resort, is a great place for a bit of reflection in nature. Just be careful of the crafty water hazards, or reflection will suddenly have a literal meaning! Either way, you are sure to enjoy the remote setting. more

Overlooking the Constantia Valley and with views stretching as far as Muizenberg, Chart Farm offers visitors tranquility in the heart of suburbia. There aren't many public places today where you can pick your own roses, which is what has made Chart Farm so popular. more

The KwaZulu-Natal Sharks Board has protected the province’s bathing beaches from shark attacks for more than 40 years. The Sharks Board is also involved in vital shark research and educates the public about sharks and their behaviour. more

Thonga Beach Lodge is one of those places that simply must be on your bucket list if you are a diver or a snorkeller, or if you enjoy prolific birdlife and animals, especially turtles, elephants and whales. The lodge falls within South Africa’s first World Heritage Site – the iSimangaliso Wetland Park. more

With the magnificent Gariep Dam as its centre spot, this road trip through the southern Free State takes you back in time to the days of early human habitation and the violent era of the South African War (also known as the Anglo-Boer War), and to quiet little villages that have hardly been touched by the hands of time. more

The road trip from Rouxville to Fouriesburg exposes you to some of the best visual and historic elements of the eastern Free State, from driving around its vast sandstone cliffs, to visiting its cherry harvests, and to the nostalgic experience of riding in an old steam locomotive. more

If you want to travel with the stars, drive on dusty back roads, visit an old-time country trading store, walk through a semi-desert with the waking sun, and go on a belly safari for a close-up of nature, then the upper Karoo in the Northern Cape is calling your name. more

If you want a route that offers riverine rabbits, spiritual skies, corbelled houses, the presence of space-listening telescopes, windmill landscapes and small towns that know little of stress, traffic and deadlines, then hit this 'upper Karoo route', which winds through the Northern Cape from Victoria West to Calvinia. more

The West Coast Fossil Park near Langebaan north of Cape Town has one of the world’s richest concentration of fossils dating back to the early Pliocene era 5 million years ago. Once sabre-toothed cats roamed this land, along with short-necked giraffes, four-tusked elephants and strange, three-toed horses. more

Known as Africa’s most famous jumper, Godfrey Khotso Mokoena has been taking the athletics world by storm in the past decade, culminating with a silver medal for the long jump at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. But the Mokoena Magic still continues, and Godfrey has his sights set on new records all the time. more

Visit the area that once belonged to the original Griquas and famous missionaries that included Robert Moffat, John Campbell and David Livingstone, who later become one of the colonial era’s top explorers through Africa. Included on this route is the exotically named stop of Putsonderwater ('well without water'). more

One day he would steal a man’s horse, on another he would give money to a hard-pressed widow – or join in a posse in search of himself. That was Scotty Smith, a Kalahari crook with a great sense of humour and a love for the high road. more

BirdLife South Africa is a non-profit organisation dedicated to conserving and protecting South Africa’s birds. Become a member online, read BirdLife’s own magazine, get the information and discover how you can help to protect the birds that are a crucial part of our world’s biodiversity. more