10 Best Destinations For First -Time Travellers

Ideal for old timers too!

- Inder Raj Ahluwalia

If you’re a first-time traveller, you owe it to yourself to settle for the very best. Exciting and interesting destinations await you, and provide true value for money.

1 Etosha (Namibia)

Home to thousands of animals, the famed Etosha Park in Northern Namibia is an outstanding symbol of conservation and a major tourist destination. Etosha literally means ‘the great white place of dry water’, an apt description when one considers its barrenness. With an area of 22,700 sq km, the huge park features a diverse landscape of wooded areas giving way to open meadows and vast flatlands, forests and bush land.

In Etosha the light falls on shrubs and mopane grass, making animals easy to sight even from a distance. The abundant resident wildlife includes the lion, elephant, leopard, cheetah and black rhino. Scavengers like spotted hyenas and jackals follow their hunting tracks. Antelope are present in their thousands, and include the springbok, zebra, kudu, wildebeest and impala.

It is all this density and rich diversity of game, thriving in a near-desert environment that makes Etosha rank amongst the highest rated parks in game-rich Southern Africa.

2 Stellenbosch (South Africa)

Entering Stellenbosch via historic Dorp Street is like stepping into the pages of a history book. The town reflects history in its neo-Dutch, Georgian and modern architecture.

The first eye-catching symbol is the trees, with rows of the famous local oaks towering above the buildings.

Tourists flock here to walk the wide oak-flanked avenues, and enjoy the special leisurely aura in an atmosphere where art, music and theatre reign.

Embraced by the majestic Simonsberg, Stellenbosch, Jonkershoek, Pieke (Twin Peaks) and Helderberg Mountains, the countryside is truly beautiful.