South Africa is the most logistically varied country in the region, and the reason most itineraries there combine three or four quite different places rather than settling in one. A single trip can hold a Big Five reserve, a coastal city, a wine region and a stretch of shoreline, and the internal flight network makes that practical in a fortnight.
It is also the country where a first-time visitor to Africa is most likely to start. The road network is good, the tourism infrastructure is mature, English is widely spoken, and the malaria-free reserves in the north make it workable for families who would rather not take prophylaxis.
The Greater Kruger is South Africa's principal safari region: the national park itself plus a belt of private reserves sharing unfenced boundaries with it.
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Cape Town is the city most itineraries are anchored to, and the Peninsula gives it a coastline, a mountain and a wine region within an hour of the centre.
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Stellenbosch, Franschhoek and Paarl form the classic winelands triangle, about an hour inland from Cape Town.
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The Garden Route runs roughly from Mossel Bay to Storms River along the southern coast, and is the country's classic self-drive stretch.
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KwaZulu-Natal combines a warm coastline, the Drakensberg mountains and Big Five reserves that are malaria-free or low-risk.
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The Eastern Cape's private reserves are malaria-free and sit within reach of the Garden Route, which is why they so often close a family itinerary.
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