The reason so many visitors come from so many different countries is clear: There is nothing quite like the African bush. Visitors can experience its splendour in a variety of ways, too: Driving through one of the many provincial or national parks, or staying in a luxury private lodge where you will be treated like royalty

You could also join an overland excursion and concentrate on spotting the game and abundant bird life while someone else does the driving.

If you’re looking for a typical game experience, you should visit the lowveld of Limpopo Province, Mpumalanga, North West or KwaZulu-Natal, where elephants lumber gracefully through the bush, and lions rest during the heat of the day after a long night of hunting.

You’ll see vervet monkeys grooming each other in the trees and - if you’re very astute - dung beetles rolling their heavy loads clumsily and steadfastly along dusty roads. Leopards sit camouflaged in the dappled light and it takes a good eye to spot one. Beautifully striped graze out in the open, ever alert to danger, their stripes mingling with the shadows of the grass. You may see kudu feeding off the tiny, thorn-bedecked leaves of an acacia or springbok “bouncing” through the veldt.

The province of Gauteng is home to smaller game farms where you can see animals in a semi-natural environment. It’s ideal for those who only have a short time in the region and many of the accomodations are superb.

With its vastly different climate and vegetation to the rest of South Africa, the Western Cape doesn’t offer elephants and lions, but you will see springbok, Cape mountain zebra, bontebok, black wildebeest and a variety of other species.

The Eastern Cape is transitional between the Western Cape and the lowveld game areas. Game-wise, the region is becoming a favourite safari destination, not least due to its malaria-free status. The Addo Elephant National Park - a must-see if pachyderms are your delight -  is constantly being enlarged and will extend over a huge range of biomes, from marine to mountain. There are some superlative private reserves in this province, most notably Shamwari.

While the Free State does not have much in the way of game parks, the scenic Golden Gate National Park is well known for its high altitude game such as eland and black wildebeest. The province also offers exceptional scenery, unmarred by massive buildings and overcrowding!

Arid and most definitely an acquired taste, the Northern Cape does offer some wonderful game destinations. The Augrabies Falls National Park is mostly scenic, but does have some excellent game and wonderful birds. Photographers often have a special place in their hearts for the Northern Cape.

Tswalu Desert Reserve is a very exclusive upmarket lodge where you will see a variety of desert big game, including rhinos, and the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, Africa’s first cross-border park, is famed for its huge, black-maned Kalahari lions and for the elegant, gemsbok, or oryx, which is found there in abundance.

Source: SouthAfrica.info
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and web portal to South Africa.