A tourist attraction is a place of interest where tourists visit, typically for its inherent or exhibited natural or cultural value, historical significance, natural or built beauty, offering leisure, adventure and amusement.

1. T ERM 3
T OURIST AT T RACT IONS
GRADE 10
MAIN T OURIST AT T RACT IONS IN T HE
EAST ERN CAPE, FREE ST AT E, AND
GAUT ENG

2. National Arts Festival in Grahamstown
1.2. The National Arts Festival (NAF) is an annual festival of performing arts
in Grahamstown, South Africa. It is the largest arts festival on the African
continent and one of the largest performing arts festivals in the world by visitor
numbers.
The festival runs for 11 days, from the last week of June to the first week of July every
year. It takes place in the small university city of Grahamstown, in the Eastern
Cape province of South Africa. The NAF consists of a main programme and a fringe
festival, both administered by the National Arts Festival Office, a non-profit Section 21
Company. The festival programme includes performing arts (theatre, dance, stand-up
comedy and live music), visual art exhibitions, films, talks and workshops, a large food
and craft fair and historical tours of the city. The NAF runs a children's arts festival
over the same period and a number of other festivals take place in Grahamstown over
the period of the NAF, such as the National Youth Jazz Festival.
Performances take place across the city in approximately 60 venues (such as theatres,
churches, schools) as well as in various outdoor locations for the street performances.

3. 1.3 GREAT FISH RIVER
The Great Fish River (called great to distinguish it from the Namibian Fish River)
(Afrikaans: Groot-Visrivier) is a river running 644 kilometres (400 mi) through the South
African province of the Eastern Cape. The coastal area between Port Elizabeth and
the Fish River mouth is known as the Sunshine Coast. The Great Fish River was
originally named Rio do Infante, after João Infante, the captain of one of the caravels
of Bartolomeu Dias. Infante visited the river in the late 1480s. The Great Fish River
originates east of Graaff-Reinet and runs through Cradock. Further south the Tarka
River joins its left bank. Thence it makes a zig-zag turn to Cookhouse, from where it
meanders down the escarpment east of Grahamstown before its final near-straight run
to its estuary 8 km northeast of Sea field, into the Indian Ocean.
The river is generally permanent, having water all year round, although its headwaters
rise in an arid region, and the natural flow can be sluggish in the dry season beyond
the ebb and flow of the tidal reaches; now, water from the Orange River system can
be used to keep up its flow in dry periods. The river is tidal for approximately 20 km.
Its main tributaries are the Groot Brak River, the Tarka River and the Kap River on the
left side, and the Little Fish River (Afrikaans: Klein-Visrivier) on the right side. The
Great Fish River is part of the Fish to Tsitsikama Water Management Area.[3

4. Vredefort Dome − imagine an asteroid the size of Table Mountain heading for
Earth at a speed of 20km per second. Packing more punch than multiple nuclear
bombs, it penetrates 17km deep into the Earth and leaves an impact crater so
large it’s been declared a World Heritage Site.
DID YOU KNOW?
Another crater impact site, the Tswaing meteorite crater, is located outside Pretoria.
Thankfully the meteorite collision that formed the Vredefort Dome happened a long
time ago, more than two-million years back, before life as we know it. In its wake,
pulverised rock powder rained down on the Earth for months, blotting out the sun. But,
curiously, scientists speculate that the incident may have increased the planet's
oxygen levels to the point of making life possible. The cataclysmic event left behind
the Vredefort Dome, a South African World Heritage Site.
You'll come upon the dome near the Free State town of Parys, where the meteorite,
some 10km in diameter and heated from its passage through the atmosphere,
ploughed into the Earth as a blinding, hissing fireball.

5. 2.2. GOLDEN GATE HIGHLANDS NATIONAL
PARK
Golden Gate Highlands National Park is located in Free State, South Africa, near
the Lesotho border. It covers an area of 340 km2 (130 sq. mi).[1] The park's most
notable features are its golden, ochre, and orange-hued
deeply eroded sandstone cliffs and outcrops, especially the Brandwag rock. Another
feature of the area is the numerous caves and shelters displaying San rock paintings.
Wildlife featured at the park includes mongooses, eland, zebras, and over 100 bird
species. It is the Free State's only national park, and is more famous for the beauty of
its landscape than for its wildlife. Numerous palaeontology finds have been made in
the park including dinosaur eggs and skeletons.
Golden Gate" refers to the sandstone cliffs that are found on either side of the valley
at the Golden Gate dam. In 1875, a farmer called J.N.R. van Reenen and his wife
stopped here as they travelled to their new farm in Kurland. He named the location
"Golden Gate" when he saw the last rays of the setting sun fall on the cliffs. In 1963,
47.92 square kilometres (11,840 acres) were proclaimed as a national park,
specifically to preserve the scenic beauty of the area. In 1981 the park was enlarged
to 62.41 km2 (15,420 acres) and in 1988 it was enlarged to 116.33 km2 (28,750 acres).
In 2004 it was announced that the park would be joined with the
neighbouring QwaQwa National Park. The amalgamation of QwaQwa National Park
was completed in 2007, increasing the park's area to 340 km2 (84,000 acres).

6. 3. TOURIST ATTRACTONS IN GAUTENG
3.1 CRADLE OF HUMANKIND
The Cradle of Humankind is a paleoanthropological site about 50 kilometres
northwest of Johannesburg, South Africa in the Gauteng province. Declared a World
Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1999, the site currently occupies 47,000 hectares
(180 sq. mi) and it contains a complex of limestone caves. The registered name of the
site in the list of World Heritage Sites is Fossil Hominid Sites of South Africa.
The Sterkfontein Caves were the site of the discovery of a 2.3-million-year-old
fossil Australopithecus africanus(nicknamed "Mrs. Ples"), found in 1947 by Robert
Broom and John T. Robinson. The find helped corroborate the 1924 discovery of the
juvenile Australopithecus africanus skull known as the "Taung Child", by Raymond
Dart, at Taung in the North West Province of South Africa, where excavations still
continue.

7. 3.2 APARTHEID MUSEUM
The Apartheid Museum, close to downtown Johannesburg, focuses on the notorious
system of racial discrimination that became synonymous with South Africa from 1948
(when the white-minority National Party was voted into power) until 1994, the year in
which the country held its first fully democratic elections.

8. 3.3
Gold Reef City is an amusement park in Johannesburg, South Africa. Located on an
old gold mine which closed in 1971, the park is themed around the gold rush that
started in 1886 on the Witwatersrand. Park staff wear period costumes of the 1880s,
and the buildings on the park are designed to mimic the same period. There is
a museum dedicated to gold mining on the grounds where it is possible to see a gold-
containing ore vein and see how real gold is poured into barrels.
There are many attractions at Gold Reef City, including water rides, roller coasters
and the famous Gold Reef City Casino. The live shows of Idols South Africa are filmed
live in the "Hippodrome", a large auditorium based in the park. Gold Reef City is
located to the south of the Central Business District off of the M1. It is also the site of
the Apartheid Museum.

9. 3.4 HERIT AGE OF SOWET O
Soweto Heritage - Place of change. The much spoken-about township of Soweto is
situated just outside Johannesburg. It is the most popular tourist attraction in the
Gauteng Province. ... Soweto is filled with a diversity of colour; from music taverns,
also known to the locals as “Shabeens”.