South Africa's Cedarberg / West Coast

     Visitors to South Africa would be well advised to make time to venture outside of the main centres, where the most glorious, wilderness awaits exploration - the Cedarberg Wilderness Area and the semi-arid Klein Karoo are two such prime areas. The large and lovely Olifants river, which has its source in the Cedarberg range, nurtures the citrus orchards around the town of Citrusdal, providing much of the wealth of this immensely fertile region.

     The focus of tourism, however, is the high and scenically superb mountains of the Cedarberg Wilderness Area, a mere 3.5 hour drive north of Cape Town. The Cedarberg can be baking hot in summer and bitterly cold during the winter months, when snow mantles the higher peaks.