In South Africa there are fantastic events and entertainment activities to enjoy for people from all walks of life. South Africa has one of the second oldest Film Industries in the world. South Africa also has a large variety of adventure activities to keep any fitness enthusiast busy, one of the most popular sporting events in the country, The Cape Argus Cycle Tour which is the largest timed cycle race in the world. There is also the Comrades Marathon as well as The Midmar Mile Race, these sporting events take place every year and are enjoyed by many people, local and international alike.

Accommodation in Durban has expanded greatly, especially because of the beautiful and expansive beaches and warm climate. The Golden Mile is a famous skyline and beachfront full of shark-free waters. While development was mostly booming in the 1970s, there are plenty of beautiful architectural wonders including art-deco inspiration.

South Africa is also a great place to retire and live in as there are great places to travel to. Magnificent mountain and ocean views can be enjoyed and beautiful nature parks and game reserves can be explored, one of which is the Kruger National Park. This vast game reserve in South Africa is home to the greatest variety of wildlife species on the African continent. It is roughly the size of Wales which makes it the eighth largest reserve in the world.

Home to one of the world’s 6 floral kingdoms, South Africa has one-tenth (23 200) of the world’s flowering plants, of which nearly 19 000 are endemic, making it the richest region in the world in terms of species to area – 1.7 times richer even than Brazil. It is home to more kinds of mammals than North and South America combined.

Should Cape Town be your city of choice apart from Johannesburg, Durban and the rural and coastal areas in between, it is home to the famous Table Mountain which is one of the seven wonders of the geological world.

Standing at just over 580 feet, Table Mountain dominates the city’s skyline. Table Mountain can be seen as far as 130 miles out to sea. Cape Town also has many wonderful hotels which can be visited such as the Cape Grace Hotel which is located at the wonderful Victoria and Alfred Waterfront shopping complex.

Paarl in the Cape Winelands is South Africa’s third oldest town and home to the KWV Cellars, the largest wine cellar in the world covering 22 hectares. The sea also brings many spectacular sightings such as Seal Island in False Bay which is the only place in the world where Great White Sharks consistently breach, leaping completely out of the water, to catch their prey, mainly seals.

Make South Africa your country of choice to retire as it is a unique place to live with magnificent wildlife, great weather and good infrastructure.

Some popular places to visit when retiring in South Africa:

Kimberley’s ‘Big Hole’ is the largest hand-dug hole in the world and is deeper than Table Mountain is high. Kimberley also has the only drive-in pubs in the world.

The Mpumalanga province in South Africa is home to the Blyde River Canyon, which is the third largest canyon in the world.

The Tugela Falls in KwaZulu-Natal, at 948m (3110ft), is the second highest waterfall in the world.

The world’s best land-based whale-watching spot is located in Hermanus, in close proximity to Cape Town in the Western Cape.

According to ‘Trivial Pursuit’, Graaf-Reinett in the Western Cape has the world’s biggest grapevine.

The Boesmansgat in South Africa is renowned as the second deepest sinkhole and the largest of its kind in the world. Many attempts have been made at world records in cave-diving in this exceptional sinkhole.

Near Oudtshoorn one can find the Cango Caves which are a 3 km long sequence of caverns of glittering stalagmites and stalactites, which makes it the longest underground cave sequence in the world.

Fossilized footprints were found at Langebaan Lagoon, Western Cape, in a sand-dune-turned-rock. The 117,000 year-old fossils are the oldest known footprints of an anatomically modern human.

The Sterkfontein Caves, in Gauteng, is the location where the oldest human skeletal remains were found in the world (3,5 million years old). This location is also referred to as the Cradle of Humankind.

The 2,02 billion year-old crater in Vredefort is the oldest known crater on Earth. The general estimate of its original diameter is roughly 300 km, which makes it the largest crater on the planet, as well.

The St. Lucia estuarine system, in KwaZulu-Natal, is the largest estuarine system in Africa.

This post was written by Ryan Mackie of www.south-african-hotels.com. Ryan is based in Cape Town and regularly contributes to travel blogs.

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