What to do in winter in SA

Get strung out

A number of activities allow you to experience Africa’s sights and sounds with a rush of adrenaline, all while safely tethered:

The Cape Canopy Tour in the Hottentots Holland Nature Reserve recently opened hundreds of meters of ziplining – foefie-slides in local vernacular – through majestic mountains near Grabouw. You’ll slide on steel cables through this World Heritage Site and over valleys and waterfalls. Four-by-four vehicles provide access to the slides. Similar experiences are offered in the Magaliesberg, in Karkloof and the Drakensberg in KwaZulu-Natal, in the giant Outeniqua yellow-wood trees of the Tzitzikamma forest, and in Magoebaskloof in Mpumalanga. See www.capecanopytour.co.za

Tandem paragliding enables you to glide over Cape Town, taking off from Lion’s Head or Signal Hill, with up to 30 minutes of airborne ogling of the city and Table Bay, steered by a qualified instructor. See www.paraglide.co.za

If you prefer a little more altitude, you can trytandem skydiving at a number of venues around South Africa. Arguably the most spectacular is the jump over the Robertson Valley, about an hour’s drive from Cape Town, offered by Mother City Skydiving www.mothercityskydiving.co.za. No experience is needed, as you jump tethered to an instructor. Jumps are also available in other areas such as Durban, Mossel Bay, Plettenberg Bay, Rustenberg and Parys. See www.skydiveafrica.co.za

Look up

Winter in South Africa offers a time to don your warmest gear and head to some stargazing facilities. In the chilly – seriously, it’s the coldest place in the country – climes of Sutherland in the Karoo, you can see the Milky Way through the Southern African Large Telescope (www.salt.ac.za), the southern hemisphere’s largest telescope. Astronomy is a kind of space-travel and in Sutherland, it comes with the bonus of the Karoo cuisine. A number of game reserves also offer a combination of game-viewing and stargazing.

Let it slide

The recently-opened Long Tom Taboggan at the Misty Mountain resort near Sabie in Mpumalanga is a track of nearly 2km of steel rail. You’ll ride for a couple of minutes at around 40km/h through picturesque scenery. See www.facebook.com/LongTomToboggan

Go upscale

Cape Town’s Two Oceans Aquarium (www.aquarium.co.za) recently opened its new exhibits after more than two years of work. The much-expanded I&J Ocean Exhibit holds 1.6m litres of seawater and a 10m-long tunnel offering up-close views of dozens of species of sea-life. A large new exhibit of jellyfish has also opened.

Caffeine with a cause

You probably wouldn’t travel to another city just to have some coffee there, but if you need a caffeine jolt while in Cape Town, consider one – or both – of two new coffee-shops that contribute to social development. Brownies and Downies www.browniesanddownies.co.za is a coffee-shop and lunch-room that’s also a training-centre for people with intellectual disabilities such as autism, Down Syndrome and learning disabilities, while I Love Coffee www.eatout.co.za/venue/love-coffee-shop is operated entirely by people who are deaf. It’s run in conjunction with Tribe Coffee Roasting www.tribecoffee.co.za in the Woodstock Foundry.