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- Cape Minstrel Carnival, South Africa
The New Year and Tweede Nuwe Jaar (Second New Year) Coon Carnival
dates from 1834 and the liberation of slaves. Every year about 12 troupes
ranging from 200 to 1 000 men and boys dressed in costumes influenced by
those of 19th-century American minstrels, march through Cape Town,
performing as they walk. They finish by competing before an audience at
Green Point Stadium.
 Soweto,
South Africa
Book a tour of this sprawling ‘township’ and see a different South
Africa. Shacks built from any available material, regulation two-room
houses, mansions, shebeens and road side stalls line the streets in this
vibrant city, parts of which are often still shrouded by the smoke of coal
fires.
- The Pioneer Open-Air Museum, Pretoria,
South Africa
The warm, yeasty smell of freshly baked bread greets visitors to this
Voortrekker farmhouse, built from raw earth and anthill bricks, with dung
floors. Staff dressed in period costume take you through the rudiments of
butter churning, soap making and milking, and treat you to a “pioneer’s
picnic” under whispering willows.
- A Swazi picnic at Lupisi, White
River, South Africa
A Swazi chief, his elders and their wives dressed in red, white and black
cloth meet you when you arrive at this ‘picnic site.’ They lead you to
the shady banks of a river, singing your praises as you walk, and place you
before tables laden with traditional dishes cooked on an open fire. Singing
and dancing entertain you while you eat.
 The
Basotho
Cultural Village, Qwa
Qwa Park, South Africa
This collection of beehive reed-and-stick structures, and mud huts decorated
with combed and painted patterns, is truly authentic in that it was built
and designed by the Sotho people who work and act here. Your visit is
announced to the headmen and you are invited inside the khotla, or
courtyard, where you taste sorghum beer, watch men weaving large grain
baskets and, have your fortune predicted by a Sotho traditional healer.
 Shakaland,
South Africa
A call from a lookout hut on high poles announces your arrival at this
Zulu village,
where you can watch spear making, beer brewing, beadwork, weaving an
even traditional stick fighting. Then help yourself to dinner from three-legged
pots and eat it from a wooden spoon. Thatched huts with electricity
provide comfortable accommodation.
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