Uyaphi.com Africa Travel Newsletter

• Experience the true romance of Africa in a Tented Camp
• Victoria Falls - the smoke that thunders
• Freedom and Tradition in South Africa
• Uyaphi News: We are moving!
• Travel Special: 3 Countries in 6 Days

For further information on any of the accommodation establishments or tours offered by Uyaphi Safaris, please consult our website or email us directly.

Many people are put off the idea of a Tented Camp. Who wants to be on holiday to experience the deprivations of “roughing it” after all?

But this could not be farther from the truth. You would be hard pressed to find any hardship and suffering in the Tented Camps available these days. In fact, Tented Camps offer you almost every convenience you’d expect in conventional bricks and mortar safari lodges: tents come with everything from Persian carpets and full size beds, to gracious furniture, hot showers and the other little luxuries that make a holiday worthwhile.

The big advantage of a Tented Camp is that you get to experience Africa under canvas, as close to the smells and sounds of the bush as possible without actually having to sleep outside! Tented Camps capture the romance of the safaris of the great hunter/adventurers Selous, Stanley and Livingstone. They allow the visitor to relive the wildness and freedom of the novels of Rider Haggard.

Tented Camps give you the feeling of being an explorer ... you will hear the lions roaring, the hyaenas "woo-upp, woo-upp" and the "ah, ah, ah" of the hippos as they come out of the water at night to feed ... and all the while you lie snuggled under crisp cotton sheets surrounded by every modern convenience.

Tented Camps are an eco friendly approach to tourist accommodation in wilderness areas. They are more easily assembled, so they can be located in more remote areas, close to the wildlife and far away from the haunt of large tour groups. You can expect sundowners in spectacular locations and dining al fresco under a full canopy of stars.

Our suppliers have gone out of their way to provide every luxury possible in this setting, yet still retaining the allure of a true African Safari. For a true African adventure, Tented Camps are the best compromise between getting away from it all and still having the luxuries we have become accustomed to in modern life.

Uyaphi’s TOP TENTED CAMPS:

BOTSWANA Mashatu Tented Camp Xigera Camp TANZANIA (Serengeti) Sabora Tented Camp Kirawira Camp ZAMBIA Lechwe Plains Tented Camp Puku Ridge Tented Camp NAMIBIA Kulala Wilderness Camp Ongava Tented Camp KENYA (Masai Mara) Saruni Tented Camp Kichwa Tembo Tented Camp

SOUTH AFRICA Mpumalanga / Kruger National Park Hamiltons Tented Camp Camp Shonga Limpopo Kwafubesi Tented Safari Camp Honeyguide Mantobeni Camp Kwa-Zulu Natal Thanda Tented Camp Mkuze Falls Tented Camp Eastern Cape Shamwari Bayethe Lodge Lalibela Tree Tops Lodge

[back to top]

• Victoria Falls Accommodation

[back to top]

South Africa celebrates the miracle of her democracy in April. 27 April is Freedom Day, a celebration of the day in 1994 that saw millions of South Africans queue in patient lines to cast their vote in the first democratic elections. For the vast majority, this was the first time they had been allowed to vote in their lifetime.

The miracle of what has been dubbed the “rainbow nation” is the peace and goodwill with which all her people embraced those elections together. To mark this special occasion, we take a look at cultural tourism in South Africa. There are a number of opportunities for visitors wanting to scratch a little below the surface ... to get to understand a little more about this fascinating land and the complex mix of people who call her home.

UYAPHI’s TOP CULTURAL SITES

Robben Island
For nearly 400 years Robben Island served as a place of banishment, exile, isolation and imprisonment for political troublemakers, social outcasts and the unwanted of society. Most recently it was the turn of anti-apartheid activists of the ilk of Nelson Mandela to be incarcerated for more than a quarter of a century for their beliefs.

Visible from the city, Robben Island lies just 12 kilometres from Cape Town. It is surrounded by the icy and shark infested waters of the Atlantic Ocean, which has ensured that very few people in history have ever tried to escape. These days the island is a museum offering a unique insight into the history of South Africa and those souls incarcerated here.

District Six
The Apartheid Group Areas Act saw millions of people forcibly removed from their houses in a social engineering policy designed to segregate different races into their own living areas. District Six in the heart of Cape Town is a stark reminder of this ill-conceived idea. 60 000 Capetonian families were forcibly removed from this once vibrant ghetto area between 1966 and 1982. The residents were sent to the barren outlying areas aptly known as the Cape Flats, and their houses in District Six were flattened by bulldozers. Yet the area remains an undeveloped wasteland. The District Six Museum nearby displays the memories and experiences of those forced removals.

Township Tours
Coloured, black and Asian people were forcibly relocated by the Apartheid government into segregated townships which border every town and city in the country. Against all odds township life prevails to this day with vibrant good humour. A township tour offers a unique window into this world. Visit the informal spaza shops, shebeens (pubs) and migrant labour hostels at the heart of these communties.

Township tours are available in most major centres in South Africa. Visit Langa, Cape Town’s oldest formal black township or take in the immense size of Soweto the most populous black urban residential area in the country on the doorstep of Johannesburg.

The Apartheid Museum
In 1948 the white elected National Party government of the Republic of South Africa implemented the policy of Apartheid that turned 20 million people into second-class citizens overnight. The Apartheid Museum in Johannesburg is the first of its kind exploring the rise and fall of this curious social experiment. Exhibits have been assembled by a multi-disciplinary team of curators, filmmakers, historians and designers to provide visitors with an experience of what Apartheid South Africa was really like.

Tribal African Culture
South Africa is a melting pot of cultures as her 11 official languages can testify. We have a number of experiences to offer guests an insight into the vibrant and colourful traditions of the tribes who settled in South Africa long before the arrival of European colonists.

Lesedi Village lies just an hour’s drive north of Johannesburg. It offers a glimpse into the traditions and practices of the Basotho, Ndebele, Pedi, Xhosa and Zulu people. Visit for a short tour or even stay overnight at the Cultural Village.

Shakaland offers a unique experience of zulu life in a traditional "umuzi" or homestead. This unique resort was built for the filming of movies Shaka Zulu and John Ross. Now you can relive the pulsating rhythm and romance of the days of Shaka, King of the Zulus, in this authentic re-creation of his Great Kraal. Watch assegaai-wielding warriors, share the fascinating secrets of the Sangomas (shamans) and witness traditional customs such as tribal dancing, spear making and beer-drinking ceremonies.

Ancient Culture – the Cradle of Humankind
Just an hour’s drive north of Johannesburg is a strip of dolomite limestone caves containing the fossilised remains of ancient forms of animals, plants and hominids. The limestone has provided the perfect medium to preserve these early traces. Evidence of human occupation dating back some 3.3 million years has given scientists clues to the origin and evolution of humankind. Fossils found there have enabled the identification of several specimens of early hominids, not to mention evidence of domestication of fire over 1 million years ago.

Only two sites are open to the public: The Sterkfontein Caves are famous for a long list of fossil discoveries, the most remarkable of which is ‘Mrs Ples’ estimated to be between 2.8 and 2.6 million years old. Sterkfontein boasts the world’s longest sustained archeological excavation ever carried out at an ancient hominid site. Work began in 1966 and continues today. The public can view the excavation site from a gravel platform.

The Wonder Cave
It is an enormous cave chamber believed to be 2.2 million years old. It offers the best example in the region of a relatively young taluscone cave and boasts drip stone formations, stalactites and stalagmites, as beautiful as those in the Cango Caves. It also has a resident bat population.

The Cradle of Humankind can be visited as a day trip from Johannesburg or surrounds.

• Gauteng accommodation
• Johannesburg tours
• Cape Town tours
• Natal Day tours
• Zululand Day Tours

[back to top]