Tailor-made safaris and travel to Southern Africa

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CLASSIC AFRICAN CULTURE

southern Africa is attracting rapidly growing interest from around the world for its rich and diverse cultural heritage.

Humankind was born in southern Africa approximately 3.3 million years ago with Australopithecus africanus, and every subsequent phase of our development can be traced in the region's wealth of archaeological sites. The most important of these, the so-called 'Cradle of Humankind' (a UNESCO World Heritage Site), is a short drive outside Johannesburg and Pretoria, and showcases the various stages of our evolution in three spectacular caves. South Africa also boasts the oldest remains of our species, Homo sapiens sapiens, found in a cave in KwaZulu-Natal's Lebombo Mountains, and dated at 120,000 years old. This was most likely the first of the San bushmen, hunter-gatherers who roamed this fertile paradise for 118,000 years, endowing it with one of the world's greatest cultural treasures: well over 16,000 sites of ancient rock art, the most extensive collection on Earth.

The San were eventually displaced by migrant iron-age pastoralists from central and east Africa, Bantu tribes who were to establish extensive civilizations (such as Great Zimbabwe) and mighty kingdoms (like the empire built by Zulu warriors). The most recent tribe to arrive at the southern tip of Africa was a rag-tag mix of outcasts and adventurers from Europe; for 350 years these white Africans have been an indelible part of the cultural landscape in southern Africa and, for better or worse, have changed the face of the region forever.

Contemporary southern Africa is a potpourri of cultural, ethnic, and religious groups. South Africa alone has 11 official languages and 20 major ethnic groups, with origins in Africa, Europe, and Asia. It is a country at the cutting edge of politics in Africa, with one of the most sophisticated constitutions and complex racial structures in the world. Its peaceful transition to democracy during the early 1990s is widely regarded as one of the great miracles of the 20th century. Zimbabwe and Namibia are equally as diverse and varied, with an emerging class of urbane African professionals alongside vibrant urban townships and some of the world's most traditional rural tribes.

Each of the many peoples of southern Africa possesses a unique way of life, embodied in their socio-political and economic systems, spiritual and ritual practices, material culture (including art, architecture, clothing and adornments), music, cuisine, and daily-life activities. The Classic African cultural experience offers a rare opportunity to explore our common African past and gain insight into different 'ways of seeing', opening the pathways towards mutual human understanding and a celebration of our diversity.

Bushmen exposure (limited) - Makgadikgadi Pans; rockart in Cederberg Mountains and Drakensberg Mountains

Traditional rural Bantu tribes - Skeleton Coast / Kaokaveld (Himba) ; Victoria Falls ; Drakenberg Mountains and Zululand ; some big game safari camps/lodges in South Africa and Zambia

Cosmopolitan urban culture and township life - Cape Town, Winelands, and Johannesburg

Call toll-free on 1-888-227-8311 or email us at info@classicafrica.com